-Earth, United Kingdom, South London-
An alarm clock went off at 7:30. A young blonde woman, Rose, got up and got dressed, kissing her mother, Jackie, goodbye. Her mother was still in her dressing gown while watching TV "Bye!"
"See you later!" Rose took the bus to Central London and got off outside Henricks Department Store. A banner advertising 'Henrick's sale sale Henrick's'. Rose went through the day moving display clothes around the ladies wear section and meeting her boyfriend, Mickey, for a snack lunch in Trafalgar Square and eventually back to work.
"This is a customer announcement. The store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you," Rose and a couple of her lady coworkers headed for the main door only for her to get caught by one of the security guards.
"Oi!" He shook a clear plastic bag in front of her which she took and ran for the lift heading towards the basement.
"Wilson?" she called out "Wilson, I've got the lottery money. Wilson, are you there?" she came to the door with a large 'danger of electric shock' sign along with a sign claiming the room to be the office of H P Wilson, CEO. "I can't hang about 'cos they're closing the shop. Wilson!" she shouted "Oh, come on," a clattering sound caught her attention "Hello? Hello," she opened the door to the store room "Wilson, it's Rose. Hello? Wilson?" she turned on the lights, revealing nothing but boxes of clothes and dressed up dummies "Wilson? Wilson!" she explored further only for the door to slam behind her. She ran back only to find herself locked in "You're kidding me." she turned around "Is that someone mucking about? Who is it?" one of the dummies turned to watch her and approached "Yeah, you got me. Very funny," a second one began to move and then a third "Right, I've got the joke. Who's idea was this? Is it Derek's? Is it? Derek, is this you?" more shop dummies began moving and Rose kept backing away unitl she was up against the wall. A hand grabbed Rose's wrist causing her to turn and meet the face of a man.
"Run," he told her even though he dragged Rose through the basement, the dummies following and into a lift. The lead dummy put its arm through the closing doors, the man tugging at it until he successfully pulled it off and the doors closed.
"You pulled his arm off,"
"Yep. Plastic,"
"Very clever. Nice trick! Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?"
"Why would they be students?"
"'Cos to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students,"
The man nodded "That makes sense. Well done,"
"Thanks," Rose breathed
"They're not students,"
"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's going to call the police,"
"Who's Wilson?"
"Chief electrician,"
"Wilson's dead," he exited the lift, Rose following behind.
"That's just not funny. That's sick!"
"Hold on. Mind your eyes," he zapped the controls
"I've had enough of this now." she watched as the man used something to cause the lift mechanism to spark "Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there?" the man didn't answer "I said, who are they?"
"They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." he showed her, what looked like an explosive device "So, I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go hom. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed." he shut the door behind him only to open it again "I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"
"Rose,"
"Nice to meet you, Rose." he smiled "Run for your life!"
Rose didn't have to be told twice and made her way to the main road, nervous of the dummies in the shop window. She ran across the road nearly becoming a hood ornament for a black cab. "Watch it!" the driver shouted only for an explosion to take over and she looked up as a huge fireball took out the upper floor of Hendrik's. She ran back home, passing an out of date blue police telephone box.
When Rose returned home the endevor was already frontlining the BBC news 'The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire. Early reports indicate..." but the remainder of the report was drowned out by Jackie's babbling on the phone.
"I know. It's on the telly. It's everywhere. She's lucky to be alive. Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter," Mickey ran into the room and Jackie rolled her eyes "Oh, and here's himself,"
"I've been phoning your mobile. You could've been dead. It's on the news and everything. I can't believe that your shop went up!"
"I'm all right, honestly, I'm fine! Don't make a fuss," Rose told him
"Well, what happened?"
"I don't know!"
"What was it though? What caused it?"
"I wasn't in the shop." she lied "I was outside. I didn't see anything,"
Jackie looked at the duo "It's Debbie on the end. She knows a man on the Mirror. 500 quid for an interview,"
"Oh that's brillaint!" Rose said sarcastically "Give it here," she took the phone and ended the call
"Well, you've got to find some way of making money. Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out." The phone rang again and Jackie picked it up "Bev! She's alive. I've told her, sue for compensation. She was within seconds of death,"
"What're you drinking," Mickey asked her until he saw the mug of tea "tea? Nah, nah, that's no good, that's no good. You're in shock. You need something stronger,"
"I'm all right,"
"Now, come on, you deserve a proper drink. We're going down the pub, you and me. My treat. How about it?"
Rose smirked "Is there a match on?"
"No, I'm just thinking about you, babe,"
Rose's smirk grew "There's a match on, ain't there,"
"That's not the point," but he sighed "but we could catch the last five minutes,"
"Go on, then. I'm fine, really. Go. Get rid of that," Rose threw him the dummy arm and they kissed.
"Bye, bye,"
"Bye," Mickey pretended to be strangled by the arm and left the room.
"Fire then spread throughout the store. 15 fire crews are in attendance though it's thought there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure," Rose sighed as she watched the news, her mind wandering to the mysterious man who called himself the Doctor.