Author's Note: Early upload, since I'm putting my bed frame together this Saturday and assume it will take me all day, so I'll need Sunday to recover, lol. Enjoy!

Emerald Green

Chapter Fourteen

The Jersey Devil

A little over two weeks later, Molly sat on the stairs of the TARDIS while the Doctor leaned against the railing of the stairs leading down to where he liked to do repairs. They were both focused on the little electronic device in their hands, that occasionally made little beeps. They'd picked up the Tamagotchis during a trip to the 90s, where Molly also invested in Pogs and a couple slap bracelets.

Molly finished feeding her little electronic pet, and glanced across at the Doctor. "How's yours doing?"

The Doctor's expression showed distress. "I think it just died."

"Are you serious? It's been like three days; how did you kill it? Did you feed it?"

"…was I supposed to?"

Molly sighed and rolled her eyes. "That's one of the major interactions. Yes, Doctor, you're supposed to feed your pet."

"Well, I'm bored anyway," he said, and tossed the Tamagotchi over his shoulder as he stood. He ran up to the console. "Let's go somewhere."

Slipping the Tamagotchi into the pocket of her shorts – hers wasn't going to die of starvation – Molly used the railing to pull herself back to her feet. "Where do you want to go?"

The Doctor was already setting a destination. Molly watched as he worked. She should ask to learn how to fly the TARDIS sometime, at least learn some basics. They seemed to have endless time – the TARDIS was taking longer than she thought it would to get her home – even though being sick had knocked out a few days. The Doctor kept trying to come in to help her, and she kept having to send him back to bed with tissues and some cold medicine. She thought he did it more so she'd take care of him then because he wanted to keep taking care of her. He hadn't been sick often, and he was completely miserable the whole time. He hated having to sit still and do nothing.

But once they were over it, they traveled some, mostly to Earth in various decades, and some days stayed in the TARDIS so Molly didn't have to push her body too hard as it recovered. Today, they had a nice trip to the Wild West. She'd have been happy just to sit and take care of her digital pet the rest of the day, but she couldn't blame the Doctor for wanting to get on the move again, now that he could finally get out of bed without Molly threatening to follow him to his room and stand there to make sure he didn't get up again.

"Camping!" he announced. "I want to go camping. Nice, pleasant camping trip. Tents, campfire, s'mores, ghost stories, nice trees. Have you ever been camping?"

"I'm a country girl," Molly said, figuring that was all the answer she needed to give. "Have you?"

"I'm over two thousand years old. I must have at some point."

"Right." Molly remembered that she really should ask sometime how long it had been since Christmas.

"Can't remember the last time, though," he said. "Maybe it was with the Huns? Or on a safari? On Moon Omega?" He paused to look up at the ceiling quizzically. "No idea. About time I went camping again, then!"

"Moon Omega? I swear you make some of these up."

"Oh, like you'd know," he scoffed. The TARDIS shook at they traveled through…whatever it was they traveled through. She could've had fun with this, sort of like a carnival ride, if she could pretend they weren't in space. "So, I'll go get some camping equipment! You head down and get the torches."

"Where are we?" Molly shouted after the Doctor, but he was already almost out of the room. She shook her head and went down the stairs and grabbed the flashlights. She headed back and waited a few minutes before taking the Tamagotchi back out and playing with it until she heard the Doctor's footsteps.

She looked up, and immediately laughed.

"What?" the Doctor asked. He was loaded down with two camp chairs in bags swung over each shoulder, and a full hiking backpack on each, as well, complete with blanket rolls on top. He'd hooked a lantern on one arm, a first aid kit on the other, a shovel tucked under his right arm, and he was holding two large tent bags, two tarps, some rope, and something that looked like a horizontal metal detector. She'd never seen someone with their arms so full before.

He took one careful step down the stairs, but on the second a tent bag slipped, and down it came, taking the tarp and the rope and the other tent with it. Next the chairs and backpacks slipped off, and all of it came rolling down to the bottom of the stairs.

Molly couldn't help breaking into another laugh while the Doctor glared, and then headed down to start picking things up. Molly walked up and slid one chair and one backpack over her shoulder. "You could have asked me to help, you know," she said, picking up one of the tents.

"I had it," the Doctor argued. Now with a lighter load, he headed for the door and swung it open. They stepped out into a sunny day, warm and humid but not sweltering, like a summer day approaching autumn. The smell of earth and wood filled her nostrils as she looked up at the trees that seemed impossibly tall, and she heard the birds singing to each other about them as they flitted from branch to branch. The light filtered through the leaves, giving the world an almost-green filter. They were in a little clearing in a forest, just large enough for the TARDIS, a couple tents between trees, and maybe a campfire between them.

"Where are we?" she asked again, as she followed the Doctor to the middle of the clearing.

The Doctor set his load down carefully. "Welcome to the Pine Barrens! We're in New Jersey, in America."

Molly opened her arms and let everything fall. "The Pine Barrens?" she said skeptically.

"Yes! Lovely forest, especially this time of year, lots of-"

"You want to go looking for the Jersey Devil, don't you?"

He looked affronted, and then grinned. "Yes. Yes, I do."

"Is that what this is?" she asked, gently kicking the weird metal detector. "Ghost hunting equipment?"

"Well, technically, it's a cryptid, strictly speaking," replied the Doctor. He snatched the equipment up as though Molly was about to stomp on it. "Very fragile equipment."

Molly raised her brows. "Are you sure it survived the drop?"

"It's fine," said the Doctor, and he turned away to walk to another side of the clearing, but Molly could see him start examining it. Seeming satisfied, he leaned it against the tree, then turned back to her. "Very interesting, the Jersey Devil. Of course, it's not real. Well, not an actual devil."

"No kidding," Molly said dryly as she bent down to pick up a tent bag.

"Do you want to be smarmy, or do you want to hear about the Jersey Devil?"

"…be what?"

"Smarmy."

"That. I want to be that."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, and then promptly ignored her. "The Jersey Devil can be traced to the Leeds family, in the early 1700s. People claimed that when so-called Mother Leeds was pregnant with her thirteenth child, she cursed it and called it a devil. So shortly after it was born, it turned into the Jersey Devil, then called the Leeds Devil, and flew away. But the real Leeds Devil was Daniel Leeds. Daniel was hated by the Quaker community for being an occultist and he hated them right back. He was hated by the colonists for being loyal to the crown. He and Benjamin Franklin picked fights with each other through their competing almanacs." He paused. "I know from personal experience that Benny isn't someone to get into a verbal sparring match with."

"…you got into a verbal sparring match with Benjamin Franklin? And lost?"

"I didn't say I lost! I said – well – it's doesn't matter." The Doctor waved a hand dismissively. "There's also the fact that the Leeds family lived in the Pine Barrens. The people who lived in the Pine Barrens were looked down on."

Molly had been kicking a few sticks and rocks aside from the spot she'd chosen for her tent, but turned to him with an overdramatic yawn, hoping to encourage him to get to the point. He mocked the gesture back at her, and continued. "So of course, the Jersey Devil isn't real, not in the way people believe. It was a vicious rumor that grew from a man so disliked they called him the Devil. Plus, his family crest is the wyvern, and the Jersey Devil has the characteristics of one."

"Well, how do you know they didn't just name the Jersey Devil after Daniel Leeds, and made up the story about his wife to pin them for the existence of the Jersey Devil?"

The Doctor paused in unpacking his own tent to look at her in surprise. "You believe in the Jersey Devil?"

Molly laughed. "No, I just like irritating you." She yanked the tent from her bag, and looked at the bent poles in confusion, trying to piece them together. "But there are some things that can't be explained."

"Of course they can be, everything can be explained." He paused a moment. "I mean, there are other stories: a scorned, weeping woman with golden hair; a white stag that leads people away from danger; a headless ghost pirate protecting his treasure. Now, that one I want to see." He seemed to daydream about it for a moment before coming back to the present time. "We're not here to investigate those. But they definitely have an explanation."

Molly lifted the poles and watched them all unfold and hang from strings, unattached to each other. She sat down and decided that the best course of action was trying to put the poles back together. "So, if you don't believe in the Jersey Devil, then what are we investigating?"

The Doctor already had his tent all laid out flat, and the poles put together. Molly decided to watch him to see if she could solve the mystery of how to put a tent up. "The Jersey Devil is often described as wyvern-like, as I mentioned, standing on two cloven hooves, bat wings, a forked tail, clawed hands, and a horse's head with goat horns."

Molly stood again and found herself tangled in the poles. She started trying to shake them off. "And?"

"And," replied the Doctor, "There is a race called the Osain that have a human-like but thin torso, goat-like legs, with a deer head, horns that look like a mountain goats', and wings. They don't have clawed hands or a forked tail, but the description is close enough that I believe it may have been an Osain that crashed here."

"But that was in the 1700s," she said, and her eyes widened. "Are we in the 1700s?"

"No, no. The Osain live for hundreds of years. Well, Earth years. For an Osain it's only about ten."

"Then when are we?"

"We're in, uh…" He stuck his tongue out for a moment, then pulled it back in and smacked his lips a few times. "2003. No – 2005."

Molly gave him a blank stare. "You know no one believes you when you do that, right?"

"How could you-"

"You set the location and date when we go somewhere."

The Doctor looked like he was going to argue, but then his chest inflated. "Fine. This is what I get for traveling with someone who has seen a whole television show about me."

"No one else believes it, either."

"Oh, just put up your tent," he said dismissively.

Molly looked back down at the mess that was supposed to be her tent. "I think I should start with something else."

"Then build a fire pit," the Doctor suggested.

"Right, I'll just, uh…" she walked over to the pile of things and picked out the shovel. "Dig a hole?"

The Doctor looked up at her uncertain tone. "You said you'd been camping before."

"I have been camping." Molly turned and gave him a sheepish look. "It might have been in a cabin. With air conditioning. And a fire pit built into the back deck. And a barbecue grill."

The Doctor stared a moment, then ran a hand down his face. "Okay. How about you go get some firewood?"

"I can do that," she said, tossing the shovel aside and wincing as it made a loud CLANG against a rock. She headed off towards some trees, and decided it would be better if she guessed what good firewood looked like instead of asking and exposing just how ignorant she was in the ways of camping to him.

"Don't wander off too far!" the Doctor warned her as she walked further from him. "There are black bears. And rattlesnakes. And bobcats."

Molly stopped dead and turned on a dime. "Rattlesnakes and bobcats and bears?"

"Oh my," replied the Doctor.

"There are bears here?"

"We're probably fine," the Doctor said, and Molly knew in that phrase that they probably weren't. "If you see one, just give a shout."

"Oh, you'll hear me, alright," replied Molly, turning and taking a few more steps further away. "I'll be screaming, but you'll hear me."

She continued mumbling to herself as she headed out to where she saw a few downed branches. She picked a few out that weren't too long, but thicker around. They'd had a wood burning fireplace growing up, but bought the wood from a neighbor. She remembered her father complaining because they were given pine wood once, saying it was the absolute worst wood to burn. She looked around and spotted a few oak trees, but they would take a few minutes to walk to. She glanced back at the Doctor, and then around the forest to be certain she didn't see any bobcats, and then headed over, watching the ground for snakes. Rattlesnakes she could handle. She'd grown up with snakes getting into the house. But that didn't mean she wanted to step on one.

Once she started to relax, it was actually a pretty walk. Sunlight speckled the ground, and in some places she saw it peek through the leaves in beams. The dust she saw dancing in them made her a bit nervous after the Vashta Nerada, but she reassured herself by remembering that in the episode in the library, the Doctor had said that on Earth they were harmless. The trees went on forever, and seemed, to her, impossibly tall.

And the smell was absolutely incredible. The pine filled the air, with a hint of the rich earth and vegetation that grew on it. The air was so fresh. She'd lived in New York City too long; she'd forgotten what fresh air tasted like.

Okay, maybe a camping trip had been a good idea.

Molly reached the oaks and looked around for a few fallen branches and twigs. She picked up what she could find and cradled it in her arms, and continued to walk and pick up wood, making certain to go in as straight a line as she could so she wouldn't get lost. Once she felt her arms were so full she'd drop everything if she bent over again, she turned to head back, but saw a flash of white speed by in the corner of her eye. She spun back around, and watched between the trees. For a moment, she thought she saw a white deer staring back at her from the shade about fifteen yards away, but when she walked forward and squinted to see better, all she could find was a white branch jutting out from a new tree.

She shook her head and headed back. The Doctor's stories were stuck in her mind and playing tricks on her. She was probably going to wake up in the middle of the night and think she saw the Jersey Devil.

Molly turned and headed back to where the Doctor had already set up his tent, and was struggling with hers, though he'd managed to set it up halfway. Molly dropped the wood she'd found near their supplies and headed over, holding up part of the tent so it no longer was crashing against his head.

"Ah, I see you survived," he replied, pulling a pole through some hollow part of the tent Molly couldn't see.

"Almost got eaten by the Jersey Devil, but yeah, I'm good." The Doctor looked at her with concern and hope, and Molly shook her head. "I'm kidding."

He sighed and moved on to the next pole. She followed him and held the tent still, pretty much the only skill she had here. "We'll just spend the day getting set up," the Doctor said. "Finish with the tents and setting up sleeping bags, get the fire pit put together, and I'll go back into the TARDIS and get some food for us to cook over the fire. Oh, and we'll make s'mores. I already have that in the bags. S'mores are the most important part of camping."

"Just so long as you don't stick a fish stick in them," she teased.

"Keep mouthing off and I will," he objected. "We'll start looking for the potential Osain tomorrow."

"Aren't you supposed to ghost hunt at night?"

"Again, it's not a ghost, it's a cryptid," he said, then frowned and waved his hand dismissively. "No, no, I mean it's an alien."

"Sure." Molly wasn't sure if she believed his theory or not. Sure, the resemblance seemed a hell of a coincidence, but for an alien to crash on Earth and be there for hundreds of years without being caught seemed far-fetched, as did… "So, if it did crash here, why is it alone?"

The Doctor took up one of the backpacks. "Maybe the others died in the crash? Or maybe it isn't alone, and all the sightings across various states are all its crewmates that have spread out."

Molly thought about it a moment. "I guess that makes sense. Maybe that's why viewings went up in the early 1900s, they decided to spread out."

The Doctor glanced at her on his way back to his tent. "So you do know about the Jersey Devil!"

"Never said I didn't," Molly replied, picking up her backpack. "Isla and I used to…" Her voice dropped off. Isla. They weren't the best of friends, but she'd still cared about Isla. Leaving her behind had been difficult. Now being in an entirely different universe was…harder. She hoped the Isla here was okay. She'd been nearing eviction when Molly replied to the roommate want ad.

She cleared her throat. "Isla and I used to watch documentaries on various creepy things on the weekends, sometimes. Usually while still working on writing our articles, but still. I think I mentioned that a couple weeks ago. But I got really into the Jersey Devil one. I missed a deadline because I was watching too closely."

"Why am I not surprised?" the Doctor shouted from his tent. Molly dropped her bag in her tent and turned to see the Doctor coming back out of his. "Okay," he said, clapping his hands. "Let's get to work."

Molly pulled her coat around her tighter as she leaned towards the fire. It was just the right time

in the season for it to be warm in the day, and cold at night. After living in New York for so long, she was used to the cold. That didn't mean she liked it one bit.

Still, the campsite had turned out pretty nice. Both tents were set up (thanks to the Doctor) with tarps over them to protect from rain (thanks to the Doctor), a beautiful fire was blazing (thanks to the Doctor), and they'd had little foil-wrapped campfire meals for dinner (did it really need to be said again?). Now they sat in their camp chairs with sticks holding marshmallows while the stars sparkled above them, even through the tree branches. While the Doctor turned his carefully to get a perfect golden brown, Molly stuck hers directly in the flames to set them ablaze, and then waved them around like a torch until the flames were put out.

Her style of marshmallow roasting disturbed the Doctor. "Why would you burn them to ash?"

"I'm not burning them to ash," she said, but then blew on the marshmallows to get rid of the layer of ash. "I'm making them crispy and bitter on the outside and melty and sweet on the inside."

The Doctor panicked when one of his caught fire, and he blew it out before looking over at her. "Sweet, yet savory."

Molly grinned. "Exactly." And then her face fell. "No. No, nothing like that. Nothing like fish pudding."

"Same sentiment," argued the Doctor, as he reached for the graham cracker box by his feet.

"Not at all." Molly held her hand out until he passed the box to her. "You should try it, though."

"I don't think so," replied the Doctor. "I like mine perfectly golden and roasted, not set ablaze."

"Have you ever tried it?" asked Molly, beginning the precarious job of building a s'more on her lap.

"No, of course not."

"Then you really should-"

"Remember when I told you to try the fish sticks and custard? And you said I should listen next time when you said you wouldn't like it?"

Molly shrugged as she set a chocolate piece on the cracker. "Yeah, but I have good taste." She saw the Doctor make a face at her out of the corner of her eye. "Come on. At least set the marshmallow on fire. It's fun."

The Doctor had just taken a big bite of his s'more, but only chewed a few times before saying around the food in his mouth: "Mmf, ders luke liyk foon."

Molly pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. "Maybe try that again after you swallow."

She watched the Doctor chew as she took her first bite. It was impossible to eat a s'more neatly, so she kept having to adjust to be sure it wouldn't fall apart. After a moment the Doctor repeated, "Does look like fun." He stuffed the rest of his s'more in his mouth, and then stuck another marshmallow on the stick. Molly tried not to choke herself laughing as she watched him stop to try to chew the giant mouthful of chocolate and marshmallow and cracker. It took almost a full two minutes before he managed to get it down.

"Hard to believe you once got Marilyn Monroe to marry you."

The Doctor winced. "Don't remind me. It shouldn't even count; it wasn't a real chapel."

"Mhm, sure." Molly started setting herself up with another marshmallow as she watched the Doctor stick his in the flames. It took him a couple tries before it was actually on fire when he pulled it out. He put the stick over his head and waved it around a few times, grinning.

"Okay. This is fun."

"You're gonna want to blow it out soon."

She watched as he blew the marshmallow out, and then bit it off the stick. He immediately leaned over and let it fall out of his mouth. "Hot!"

"Yeah, you need to let it cool," she laughed.

"It's like molten lava."

"Not my fault you ate it wrong," she replied. But the Doctor had the last laugh when her marshmallow slid right off the stick and into the fire. She sighed and tossed her stick in. "Well, I'm done now."

"Already?"

"I had like, three s'mores while you were telling me the history of s'mores."

"Well, I thought you should-"

"Know you accidentally invented them," Molly finished for him. "Yep. Got it. Campers everywhere owe you a huge favor. Now I'm going back to the TARDIS to change for bed."

"We didn't even tell ghost stories yet," he objected.

Molly stood and wrapped the coat around her tighter. "Well, you can shout them at me while I'm hiding from the cold in my tent. Or, you know, wait until tomorrow night. I imagine it's going to take more than a day to find the Jersey Devil or Osain or whatever it is."

The Doctor nodded. "Excellent point. Can't go through all the good stories the first night."

Molly gave a quick wave as she turned and headed into the TARDIS to change. Once she had tracked down some good, thick flannel pajamas, she changed and headed back out to her tent. The Doctor had already put the fire out and was headed back to his own tent.

"Goodnight!" She said as she unzipped her door.

"Sweet dreams," he responded. She wasn't sure if he was actually planning on sleeping; she'd spotted a pile of books in his tent.

She zipped the door closed behind her and settled into the sleeping bag. Staring up at the obnoxiously orange fabric and black venting above her, she wriggled and settled, wriggled and settled, wriggled and settled, trying to get comfortable. She knew she'd cleared the area well, but she was still convinced there was a rock digging into her back.

With a sigh, she decided to ignore it and closed her eyes. But she still thought she could see the shadows of the trees against her tent, and opened them again to check. Of course she couldn't. It was too dark for the trees to even have shadows. But now the cold was prickling at her nose, so she turned onto her side and pulled the sleeping bag up over her head. Except now she couldn't breathe as well, and she was still cold.

It was going to be a long night.

How many hours later was it? She wasn't sure. Was sunrise coming? She almost hoped it would. Though it meant no sleep, at least she could stop lying on the cold ground surrounded by cold air, with even the fabric of her sleeping bag chilled. Her nose felt frozen.

Time to call it quits.

Slowly, Molly sat up, unzipped the sleeping bag, and slipped out of it. She pulled her boots on, stuck the end of the sleeping bag on top of her head like a giant hat and wrapped the edges around her, and then braved the outside world.

The wind made it even worse. She should have expected it, hearing the wind blow at her tent like it had a vendetta. She shivered as she made her way towards the TARDIS, and warmth.

"Where are you going?"

Molly groaned, and took tiny steps to shift herself around to look at the Doctor, who was peeking out of his tent. "To Walmart. I thought I'd steal a few more tents to wrap around mine." He raised his eyebrows at the sarcasm in her voice. "Where do you think? The only other place I can go here."

"You can't go back to the TARDIS!" he objected. "That ruins the experience."

"What, the experience of freezing to death?" The top of the sleeping bag slipped off her head and she tilted forward to get it back on, and got rewarded with a hit to the face. She heard the Doctor half-snort as she readjusted the top of the bag.

"The great outdoors!" the Doctor said when he'd finished laughing at her. "Nature! The wild! Fresh air!"

"Icicles! Forming! On my eyelashes!" Molly added.

The Doctor peeked around her at her tent. "You set yourself in a sort of wind tunnel over there."

Molly glanced back. "Why didn't you say something before?"

"You told me you'd been camping, I thought you knew what you were doing."

"Do I ever know what I'm doing?" She regretted it the instant it came out of her mouth.

She watched the Doctor smirk. "No, I don't think you do, but I like to go along with it."

"Oh, shut up," she said, and turned back to shuffle towards the TARDIS.

"Just come in here," the Doctor suggested. "There'll be more body heat, and no wind tunnel." Molly turned to him with her eyebrows about as high as her hairline. She could see the exact moment the Doctor realized why when he opened and closed his mouth a few times before saying, "No! Not like that, I just mean – no!"

Molly was happy to get a chance to laugh at him, so soon after he'd laughed at her. "I know what you mean, you naughty Doctor."

His face was turning an interesting shade of pink. "No – but – I," he sputtered. He made a sound that was half sigh and half dismissive grunt, and closed the tent door.

"Hey. Let me in," she said as she walked up to the door of the tent and kicked it with her foot. "I mean, you don't put out any body heat, but at least I won't freeze to death alone. And I won't ruin the camping experience."

She was relieved when he unzipped the door. She tried to enter the tent gracefully, but the top of her sleeping bag got caught on the door, and she had to force her way through. She half-fell in, and gave the Doctor a warning glare not to laugh. She still heard him laugh quietly.

Molly got herself situated as the Doctor closed the door. The tent was lit by a golden light, coming from a lantern. The Doctor was seated to one side, and as she expected, he was up reading a book on string theory.

Molly leaned down into her sleeping bag, pulling the top over her head. "It is a bit warmer over here."

"Told you," replied the Doctor. "Get some sleep. We have hiking to do tomorrow."

Molly groaned. She'd tried to hike a few times. She'd always given up partway through. Isla had been right in calling her out on that. And hiking when she hadn't slept enough? She didn't look forward to it. But then, the Pine Barrens were really pretty. It'd be worth it to see more of it. And maybe pick up a stranded alien.

She had just started to feel herself fade, when she heard a scratching sound behind her head, on the other side of the tent. Her eyes darted open, and she pulled the sleeping bag down so she could turn and look at the back of the tent. She didn't see anything.

"Did you hear that?"

The Doctor glanced over at her from his book, looking over the rim of his glasses. "Hear what?"

Molly's eyes narrowed at the space behind the tent she'd heard the scratching coming from. She reached out and poked it. "There was a scratching sound."

"I didn't hear anything."

The sound came again, this time on the Doctor's side. He turned around, and put the glasses on top of his head. "Okay. That time I heard it."

"What do you think it is?" Molly asked, and the sound came from nearer the top of the tent. Her heart was racing as her imagination fed her all sorts of images of devils and ghost pirates.

The Doctor stared up at the top of the tent for a moment, then shrugged and put his glasses back on. "Probably an insect of some kind."

"A bug?" she squeaked.

"Yeah. Nothing to be worried about."

That was worse than ghost pirates.

She whipped her head around when the sound came from her left. She scooted away from it, closer to the Doctor. "Can it get inside?"

"Shouldn't think so." He looked her up and down, at how tense her body was, and wide her eyes were. "Are you alright?"

"I'm scared of bugs."

The Doctor looked skeptical. "You're afraid of bugs?"

"Yes."

"You're scared of bugs, scared of space. Anything you're not scared of?"

Molly cleared her throat as she thought about it. She turned to him with as serious an expression as she could muster. "Time Lords."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Ah ha ha, very funny," he replied dryly, reaching over to gently bonk her on the top of her head with his book. "Go to sleep."

Molly sighed and collapsed backwards again. It took her a while to stop listening for the scratching – which thankfully seemed to have stopped – and closed her eyes again. She focused on settling her breathing.

Then a soft 'whuff'ing noise came from behind, and she sat up again. It sounded something like a cow, but higher pitched. She looked at the Doctor. "You heard that, right?"

The Doctor lowered his book and looked behind them uncertainly. "Yes. Yes, that I heard."

The sound came again, louder this time, and closer. "What do you think it is?" She didn't know why she was whispering.

"No idea." At least he was whispering, too.

The sound came again, even louder, now accompanied at the end by a quieter sound that almost sounded like a scream or a whine, despite its softness. Molly swallowed. "How about now? Any idea now?" The Doctor shook his head, and she held her breath a moment. There was the distinct sound of tiny footsteps approaching. "Is it the Osain?"

The Doctor shook his head. "They walk on two legs. Whatever this is has four."

The screaming sound started again, and got louder and louder until it was like a woman shrieking behind them. Molly remembered the golden-haired wailing woman the Doctor had mentioned, and shot up to her knees. "That's it, I'm going back to the TARDIS," she said, as she jerked the zipper open in a panic.

She heard the Doctor drop his book. "I'm right behind you!"

Molly stuck her head out and didn't see anything. Whatever it was, it was still behind them. "The TARDIS is unlocked, right?"

"Yeah."

Molly peeked back. "After you."

"After you."

"Coward."

"Yup. Go, go!" The Doctor gave her an encouraging nudge and it was all she needed. She was on her feet and bolting to the TARDIS in a heartbeat. She practically flew inside, and turned and saw the Doctor just in time to step out of his way. He slammed the door shut, then peeked back out as Molly backed away from the door. "I don't see anything."

"I'm not going back out there."

The Doctor shut and locked the door. "Me, neither. Forget camping, camping is terrible. Nature? Blech. We're much better off sleeping on the TARDIS."

"Hear, hear."