Halfway Out Of The Dark || The Doctor

Fear Her

"Is it me, or is there a bit of a nip in the air?" the Artist remarked, zipping her jacket up.

"Yeah, why's it so cold?" the Doctor agreed, "Something's reducing the temperature."

"Sez here they all went missing this week." Rose frowned, looking at the posters, "Why would a person do something like this?"

"What makes you think it's a person?" the Doctor asked.

The Artist at the moment noticed a woman putting her rubbish out and eyeing the trio suspiciously. "Well, whatever it is, it's got the whole street on edge." the Artist noted. The Doctor took her hand, and they rushed off further into the cul-de-sac. They both stopped by a front garden, and put their hands out. They both got an unsettling feeling, and the Doctor crouched down to examine a patch of grass.

Rose was walking down to join them when she saw a car grind to a halt right by her. A black man in overalls, who was unloading tools from a van came over to help the car owner. "There ya go!" the workman remarked, "Fifth today! That's not natural, is it?"

"Dunno what happened. I only had it serviced less than a month ago." the puzzled driver said.

"Nah, don't even try and explain it, mate." the workman replied, "All the cars are doing it, and ya know what, it's bonkers." He went round to the back of the car to push, the driver getting out to do the same. "Come on, pal. I'll help ya shift it. Quicker ya on ya way, the happier you'll be." They both began to push.

"D'you wanna a hand?" Rose offered.

"Nah, we're alright, love." the workman waved her off.

"Well, you're not." Rose laughed, seeing how he was really straining himself. "I'm tougher than I look, honest." She began to push the car too.

Suddenly, the car's engine roared back into life, causing the workman to trip over. "Cheers, mate." the driver called as he jumped back in and drove off.

"Does this happen a lot?" Rose asked the workman as he picked himself up.

"Been doing it all week." he grumbled.

"Since those children started going missing?"

"Yeah, s'pose so."

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"Hmm, tickles." the Doctor laughed as he wiggled his fingers in mid-air above the patch he'd examined.

"Doctor..." the Artist called, and the Doctor looked up to see a rather irate-looking man standing there. This was the homeowner.

"What's your game?" the man demanded.

"My, um... Snakes and Ladders?" the Doctor offered, "Quite good at squash... Reasonable. I'm being facetious, aren't I?" he asked the Artist.

"Very." she nodded, then fished in her pockets to find her psychic paper.

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Rose and the workman, Kel, were walking down the street discussing the car problems. "Every car cuts out." Kel explained, "Council's going nuts. I mean, they've given this street the works, re-named it. I've been tarmacking every pothole." He gestured to a newly-tarmacked patch of road. "Look at that. Beauty, ain't it? Yep, and all this is because that Olympic torch comes right by the end of this close. Just down there. Everything's gotta be perfect, ain't it? Only it ain't."

An elderly woman stopped by them. "It takes 'em when they're playing." she said.

"What takes 'em?" Rose asked.