Rose

[just_the_doctor]

The signal was getting stronger. It was definitely coming from the roof. The Nestene Consciousness had a relay device up there; he was sure of it. All he had to do was sneak up there and take care of it. He had the explosive all set -- a little something he picked up from Ace, naturally.

Halfway up the stairwell, a small alarm starts beeping in his pocket. "Hell," he mutters before heading back down. Someone's tripped one of the sensors in the basement. Which is not, on the whole, good. And while part of him would love to shrug it off and call it 'collateral damage', he knows he's better than that. The relay will still be there after he escorts whatever blundering ape is down there out of the building.

The Doctor tracks the human signal with a palmheld device and is almost on it when it cuts out suddenly. Sure enough, he turns the corner and sees the fallen body, clearly beaten to death. He's about to head back to the stairs when his device begins beeping again. There's another one. He hastily tosses a blanket over the body and sets off in search of the new signal, hoping that this time, he's not too late.

Comments

[whats-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

Just her luck to get saddled with the lottery money again, thinks Rose. Down in the basement, hardly the most welcoming of places in the middle of the day, let alone just now. And of course ("y'there?") Wilson's nowhere in sight, and ("I can't hang about cause they're closing the shop") isn't opening his door, or answering ("--hello? Wilson, 's Rose!") her shouts from somewhere else.

There's a noise from behind her and she whirls her head round, expecting to see Wilson finally wandering back -- but no one's there. Still, someone's making noises, so she heads for them warily, and realises they're coming from the stock room where the dummies are kept.

It's dark in there, though, and she can't see anyone moving. Maybe the lights went out -- but they turn on for her fine, and she still can't see anything that isn't plastic. So she starts to look, still calling for Wilson -- when the door shuts of its own accord. And she runs to it, and tugs on it, but it refuses to open no matter how hard or frantically she pulls.

"You're kiddin' me--"

There's another noise ("is that someone muckin' about?") and she's frightened now, though she's trying not to be, because it's probably just a joke, isn't it? Yeah, so she calls to whoever's making noises and shutting doors--

Then the plastic shop dummies move.

Rose stumbles backwards, swallowing as she watches them. "--y'got me," she manages eventually, still heading backwards. "Very funny." They don't stop. "Right, I've got the joke! Whose idea was this? Is it Derek's?"

She's starting to panic, now, and she's still stumbling backwards and ("Derek, is this you?") wants to know what's going on but most of all wants them to stop it, and she wants to get out. She falls over something and scrambles to her feet, and for a moment she's absurdly pleased that she's still got a hold of the plastic wallet of lottery money, because that's important when you're being attacked by walking shop dummies, isn't it?

And then there's a wall and she's stuck and they're there and she doesn't know what to do.