The Kind Ones, Chapter 1
Author's Note:
This is a story that's been in the making for some time, and represents my best attempt at a spooky DW story, which I have been craving but unable to find many examples of. If you don't like scary stories, I won't be offended if you don't want to read it- I did try to make it psychologically frightening, rather than violent/gory.
Rating:
R for Adult themes, sex, language
Summary:
The Doctor and Rose are pulled toward Kvetwaw, a planet that shouldn't exist since it was decimated in the 65th Century. They quickly realize a coterie of beings known as the Kind Ones were involved in a pact that rescued the Kvetwaw people for a price... Blood-eyed demons, a relentless hum, and ritualistic sacrifice are just the beginning. The real question is, what's hiding in the Kind House?
Chapter 1
The Doctor knew something was very, very wrong with his ship.
He’d just been joking with Rose about her mother’s upcoming birthday, when he experienced a violent, internal yanking sensation that broke his psychic connection to the TARDIS. The Doctor jerked with surprise, and didn’t hear Rose call his name as he slunk to the floor. He felt numbly along the sides of his temples as he tried to reestablish the link, but all he could hear was a tuneless hum droning relentlessly at the back of his mind. The sound was so unpleasant that he blocked it out, favoring silence over the eery noise that grated like someone running nails up and down a piano string.
Rose’s voice broke in at last, and the Doctor stared up with a pained expression on his face.
“We’re crashing!” she exclaimed as the TARDIS banked to one side like a ship in a tempest. It was the last thing he heard before darkness took them both.
Rose woke up to the sight of the TARDIS ablaze. The air was churning with thick smoke, so she covered her mouth with her shirt before reaching out for the Doctor. She found his hand in the darkness and pulled her body to his. She could tell he was unconscious, but didn’t know if he’d sustained any critical injuries. She stood up on shaky legs as she tugged on the back of his suit jacket, taking one step after another toward the exit. She had just made it down the ramp when an explosion rocked the TARDIS, and the impact sent her and the Doctor flying out the front door.
They landed on the freezing cold ground of the outside world and Rose hacked in excruciating pain until she could breathe again. When she’d recovered sufficiently, she pulled the Doctor farther away from the crash site to the edge of a gnarled forest.
“Doctor, please!” she urged. Black branches cast shadows from where they tangled overhead in the moonlight.
She touched his face and brought her ear to his chest, hoping for the reassuring sound of a double heartbeat. She found the desired rhythm steady and let herself relax, releasing her viselike grip on his torso. She checked over the rest of his body and found it blessedly free from harm. Her own was miraculously untouched as well.
Once she managed to take in their surroundings, she realized they were in the middle of nowhere. The threshold of the forest she’d moved them into was deathly quiet. Not even the wind stirred.
Rose didn’t even know what planet they’d landed on when they fell from the vortex. It was possible that it was uninhabited. She shivered with the thought and the dangerously low temperature. If they didn’t find shelter or aid, they could easily freeze.
Rose heard a soft noise and looked toward the Doctor, thinking he could be waking up, but he showed no indication. The sound repeated and Rose followed her ears to the shadowy brush, identifying the general direction from where it had originated. A few seconds of silence, and then the noise came again, slightly higher and longer. Rose could almost swear it sounded like an obscene laugh.
“Is somebody out there?” Rose shouted bravely. “We need help! Please!”
A cold chill crept down the back of her neck, and Rose flinched at the sensation. She checked behind her but saw the field was empty. Rose turned her attention back to the thicket, just catching a glimpse of a gauzy bit of white disappearing behind a tree. Rose stood up and fisted her hands at her sides.
“This isn’t funny!” Rose cried out. “My friend is badly hurt!” She felt the beads of sweat begin to form on her forehead, from fear and anger combined.
The laughing sound grew louder and more vehement, and Rose nearly tripped backwards when a clawed hand curled around the front of a nearby tree trunk, followed by a white face with blood red eyes. It looked like a woman…but Rose knew instinctively that it wasn’t. It was dressed all in white, contrasting with tangled black hair under a halo of white feathers. The creature continued to laugh piteously, then twisted it into a lamenting cry that made the hair on Rose’s arms stand on end. Rose didn’t even realize she was trembling until she held her hands out in front of her.
“Stay away!” Rose shouted. She stood protectively in front of the Doctor, ready to do anything necessary to keep him safe.
The creature tilted its head into an unnatural angle and began to shake convulsively. Its mouth opened wider and wider, pulling apart like putty over crooked, sharp teeth. Rose screamed but was cut off by the sound of something rushing past her, and she vaguely registered the outline of a man in the darkness.
He shouted haltingly in a foreign tongue, until the creature receded into the trees, repelled as if by incantation. Rose closed her eyes and lowered her head, willing some semblance of sanity to return after the terrifying encounter. Her gaze flipped back up when she heard the man was coming back toward her, and she stared cautiously at him, still guarding her Doctor.
“Who are you? What was that thing? Where are we?” Rose asked in a blur of words.
The man peered at her through the moonlight and dug in his pocket until he found an ancient looking pipe. He struck a match and took a few long drags of a tobacco-scented substance before answering.
“Allo,” he said gruffly, revealing his advanced age with one word. “Vy understand Ukraniski?” The combination of his tall fur turban pushed low over his brow and his long white beard obscured most of his face. He was waiting patiently for a response.
Rose stuttered. Apparently the TARDIS translation system was failing slightly, which may prove a big problem if the Doctor remained unresponsive.
“Sorry, did you say Ukraine?” Rose asked incredulously. “Are we on earth?”
“Earth, no!” the man started, as if hearing a word that had long fallen into disuse. “You are far from home,” he said cryptically. A tendril of smoke escaped the cave of his mouth and proliferated around him. He muttered something in his language and Rose sighed deeply.
“Where are we?” she attempted, pointing around them.
“Kvetwaw,” the man returned, walking past her as if to leave. “You should not stay here,” he advised from over one shoulder.
Rose stood up to follow him. “Please! Our ship crashed and we’re stranded here. Can’t you help us?”
The man walked up to wagon that was hooked up behind a rudimentary bicycle. Rose noticed the cart was stacked full of furniture and bags, like the old man was moving, or perhaps working as an itinerant peddler. He pointed a thumb at the back and shook his head with resignation.
“I can’t help you, but you can help yourself. There is a village this way I am going, twenty miles down. You should start now to keep the cold out of your bones. If you stay here, you will die…one way or another.”
Rose blanched, looking back at the inert form of the Doctor. “There’s nowhere closer?” she asked. She glanced down the other end of the road from where the man had come, and saw the faint outline of rooftops. She pointed triumphantly. “But what’s that there?” she demanded, as if he were trying to trick her.
“Ni! Ni!” the man cried, grasping her shoulders painfully. “You must not go there. Better to stay out here with the Bozalosc! That place you look at is where the Kind Ones dwell…” The man broke off, shaking his off a suppressed shudder. He backed away from Rose and climbed up into his wagon.
“What are the Kind Ones? What’s a Bozalosc?” Rose demanded, hoping to keep his attention and his company.
The man ignored her as he dragged off of his pipe while staring into the distance.
“Make your way to Lubka,” he advised her, pointing back toward the hopelessly far village. “And pray. Always pray…that the Kind Ones do not follow.” The old man settled on his bike and was off before Rose could argue with him. What was she supposed to do? She shuddered to think of that red-eyed creature coming back for her and the Doctor.
The old man’s wagon was shrinking in the distance when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.
(Next Chapter)
This is a story that's been in the making for some time, and represents my best attempt at a spooky DW story, which I have been craving but unable to find many examples of. If you don't like scary stories, I won't be offended if you don't want to read it- I did try to make it psychologically frightening, rather than violent/gory.
Rating:
R for Adult themes, sex, language
Summary:
The Doctor and Rose are pulled toward Kvetwaw, a planet that shouldn't exist since it was decimated in the 65th Century. They quickly realize a coterie of beings known as the Kind Ones were involved in a pact that rescued the Kvetwaw people for a price... Blood-eyed demons, a relentless hum, and ritualistic sacrifice are just the beginning. The real question is, what's hiding in the Kind House?
Chapter 1
The Doctor knew something was very, very wrong with his ship.
He’d just been joking with Rose about her mother’s upcoming birthday, when he experienced a violent, internal yanking sensation that broke his psychic connection to the TARDIS. The Doctor jerked with surprise, and didn’t hear Rose call his name as he slunk to the floor. He felt numbly along the sides of his temples as he tried to reestablish the link, but all he could hear was a tuneless hum droning relentlessly at the back of his mind. The sound was so unpleasant that he blocked it out, favoring silence over the eery noise that grated like someone running nails up and down a piano string.
Rose’s voice broke in at last, and the Doctor stared up with a pained expression on his face.
“We’re crashing!” she exclaimed as the TARDIS banked to one side like a ship in a tempest. It was the last thing he heard before darkness took them both.
Rose woke up to the sight of the TARDIS ablaze. The air was churning with thick smoke, so she covered her mouth with her shirt before reaching out for the Doctor. She found his hand in the darkness and pulled her body to his. She could tell he was unconscious, but didn’t know if he’d sustained any critical injuries. She stood up on shaky legs as she tugged on the back of his suit jacket, taking one step after another toward the exit. She had just made it down the ramp when an explosion rocked the TARDIS, and the impact sent her and the Doctor flying out the front door.
They landed on the freezing cold ground of the outside world and Rose hacked in excruciating pain until she could breathe again. When she’d recovered sufficiently, she pulled the Doctor farther away from the crash site to the edge of a gnarled forest.
“Doctor, please!” she urged. Black branches cast shadows from where they tangled overhead in the moonlight.
She touched his face and brought her ear to his chest, hoping for the reassuring sound of a double heartbeat. She found the desired rhythm steady and let herself relax, releasing her viselike grip on his torso. She checked over the rest of his body and found it blessedly free from harm. Her own was miraculously untouched as well.
Once she managed to take in their surroundings, she realized they were in the middle of nowhere. The threshold of the forest she’d moved them into was deathly quiet. Not even the wind stirred.
Rose didn’t even know what planet they’d landed on when they fell from the vortex. It was possible that it was uninhabited. She shivered with the thought and the dangerously low temperature. If they didn’t find shelter or aid, they could easily freeze.
Rose heard a soft noise and looked toward the Doctor, thinking he could be waking up, but he showed no indication. The sound repeated and Rose followed her ears to the shadowy brush, identifying the general direction from where it had originated. A few seconds of silence, and then the noise came again, slightly higher and longer. Rose could almost swear it sounded like an obscene laugh.
“Is somebody out there?” Rose shouted bravely. “We need help! Please!”
A cold chill crept down the back of her neck, and Rose flinched at the sensation. She checked behind her but saw the field was empty. Rose turned her attention back to the thicket, just catching a glimpse of a gauzy bit of white disappearing behind a tree. Rose stood up and fisted her hands at her sides.
“This isn’t funny!” Rose cried out. “My friend is badly hurt!” She felt the beads of sweat begin to form on her forehead, from fear and anger combined.
The laughing sound grew louder and more vehement, and Rose nearly tripped backwards when a clawed hand curled around the front of a nearby tree trunk, followed by a white face with blood red eyes. It looked like a woman…but Rose knew instinctively that it wasn’t. It was dressed all in white, contrasting with tangled black hair under a halo of white feathers. The creature continued to laugh piteously, then twisted it into a lamenting cry that made the hair on Rose’s arms stand on end. Rose didn’t even realize she was trembling until she held her hands out in front of her.
“Stay away!” Rose shouted. She stood protectively in front of the Doctor, ready to do anything necessary to keep him safe.
The creature tilted its head into an unnatural angle and began to shake convulsively. Its mouth opened wider and wider, pulling apart like putty over crooked, sharp teeth. Rose screamed but was cut off by the sound of something rushing past her, and she vaguely registered the outline of a man in the darkness.
He shouted haltingly in a foreign tongue, until the creature receded into the trees, repelled as if by incantation. Rose closed her eyes and lowered her head, willing some semblance of sanity to return after the terrifying encounter. Her gaze flipped back up when she heard the man was coming back toward her, and she stared cautiously at him, still guarding her Doctor.
“Who are you? What was that thing? Where are we?” Rose asked in a blur of words.
The man peered at her through the moonlight and dug in his pocket until he found an ancient looking pipe. He struck a match and took a few long drags of a tobacco-scented substance before answering.
“Allo,” he said gruffly, revealing his advanced age with one word. “Vy understand Ukraniski?” The combination of his tall fur turban pushed low over his brow and his long white beard obscured most of his face. He was waiting patiently for a response.
Rose stuttered. Apparently the TARDIS translation system was failing slightly, which may prove a big problem if the Doctor remained unresponsive.
“Sorry, did you say Ukraine?” Rose asked incredulously. “Are we on earth?”
“Earth, no!” the man started, as if hearing a word that had long fallen into disuse. “You are far from home,” he said cryptically. A tendril of smoke escaped the cave of his mouth and proliferated around him. He muttered something in his language and Rose sighed deeply.
“Where are we?” she attempted, pointing around them.
“Kvetwaw,” the man returned, walking past her as if to leave. “You should not stay here,” he advised from over one shoulder.
Rose stood up to follow him. “Please! Our ship crashed and we’re stranded here. Can’t you help us?”
The man walked up to wagon that was hooked up behind a rudimentary bicycle. Rose noticed the cart was stacked full of furniture and bags, like the old man was moving, or perhaps working as an itinerant peddler. He pointed a thumb at the back and shook his head with resignation.
“I can’t help you, but you can help yourself. There is a village this way I am going, twenty miles down. You should start now to keep the cold out of your bones. If you stay here, you will die…one way or another.”
Rose blanched, looking back at the inert form of the Doctor. “There’s nowhere closer?” she asked. She glanced down the other end of the road from where the man had come, and saw the faint outline of rooftops. She pointed triumphantly. “But what’s that there?” she demanded, as if he were trying to trick her.
“Ni! Ni!” the man cried, grasping her shoulders painfully. “You must not go there. Better to stay out here with the Bozalosc! That place you look at is where the Kind Ones dwell…” The man broke off, shaking his off a suppressed shudder. He backed away from Rose and climbed up into his wagon.
“What are the Kind Ones? What’s a Bozalosc?” Rose demanded, hoping to keep his attention and his company.
The man ignored her as he dragged off of his pipe while staring into the distance.
“Make your way to Lubka,” he advised her, pointing back toward the hopelessly far village. “And pray. Always pray…that the Kind Ones do not follow.” The old man settled on his bike and was off before Rose could argue with him. What was she supposed to do? She shuddered to think of that red-eyed creature coming back for her and the Doctor.
The old man’s wagon was shrinking in the distance when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.
(Next Chapter)