Scouting for Aliens (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6 ("X" Makes the Spot)

Andy finished the last of his coffee. He, Graham, Mark and Felicity were sat around a small fire nearer to their hammocks. The rest of the group were with Tom under the shelter talking about how to cut wood and carve sticks into tools.

When Graham had returned with Mark, Flick and Andy had seen how shaken he was and had excused themselves from the main group.

“It must have been an animal,” said Andy. “There’s no chance anyone could have been in there.”

“That’s right,” said Graham. “I pulled back the tarp and there was nothing there, mate.”

“Next you’ll be telling me it was the wind,” said Mark, laughing to himself.

“Well what else could it have been?”

“Did you check everywhere in the toilet,” said Flick.

Graham turned to her and laughed. “Well I wasn’t about to go and look under the seat.”

“No,” said Flick, “but that thing is just a raised wooden box with straw inside. The...well, the waste drops through the hole onto the straw. It’s a big enough area for something small to hide in.”

Andy and Graham burst out laughing.

“You’re joking aren’t you, Flick?” said Andy. “Why would anyone hide in a compost toilet?”

“I don’t know,” said Flick, irritated. “I’m just trying to come up with a reason.”

“It was the wind,” said Graham, deadpan.

“Maybe we should go and look,” said Flick.

“Uh-uh,” said Mark. “I’m no coward, but I’m not going back there. Something about the place just didn’t feel right to me.”

“What if you need the loo?” said Andy.

“There’s a bloody shovel over there,” said Mark, nodding towards the shelter. “I’ll find a spot in the woods and dig myself a hole.”

“I still think we should go check it out,” said Flick.

“Ever the adventurer,” said Graham.

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea,” said Andy. “It’s starting to get dark now. We best stay with the group.”

Flick thought for a moment. She picked at a bit of dry mud on the ground and started running her finger through it. She was nervous. She wondered if she should really say anything, but she had come here on a mission – with a purpose. She had to say something.

“I’ve been here before.”

“Eh?” said Mark. “In these woods?”

“When I was a kid,” she answered, looking down at the floor. “It was all fenced off back then. It was totally private.”

“Naughty,” said Graham, pointing a finger at her.

“I was only 12,” said Flick. “My friend and I went exploring.” She looked uncomfortable.

“You okay?” said Mark, putting a hand on his.

“Something....well, something bad happened.”

The three of them didn’t reply. Flick took that as her cue to continue.

“We were out investigating when we arrived at a clearing. Something didn’t feel right. And then there was some kind of...I don’t know...like a flash or something. The next thing I remember was lying on the ground and Lucy being gone.”

“Hang on...you’re telling us this now?” said Andy, looking over his shoulder nervously.

“I just don’t remember anything and they never found Lucy. Lord Harrington wouldn’t let the police conduct proper searches and in the end my family moved away from the area.”

“And they never found her? At all?” said Mark.

“Sounds like that Lord Harrington was up to no good. The dirty ba-”

“It wasn’t Harrington,” said Flick. “He died just recently, which is why this place has been opened up now. Lucy’s parents asked the police to check his manor for any sign of Lucy, but they didn’t find anything.”

“Did they look under the patio?” said Graham.

Flick frowned at him.

“Sorry, Flick,” he said, realising how insensitive he could be at times. “But are you sure he didn’t have anything to do with it?”

“The house was gutted from wall to wall. The grounds where checked. There was absolutely nothing. The police did a search of these woods but there was nothing at all. Lucy had just vanished and my memories were gone.”

“Hang on a mo,” said Graham, realising something wasn’t quite adding up, “why didn’t you try and get here before?”

“It was all locked off. I got on with my life, went to uni, got a job at the vets. You just forget about these things. And then one night I had a nightmare.”

“About Lucy?” said Andy.

“Not exactly. It was about this place. These woods. It was almost like a memory coming back. In the dream I remember standing in a clearing. There was a bright light and then nothing else. I woke up.”

“So you decided to set up this training weekend?” said Mark.

Flick looked a little sheepish. “In hindsight it probably wasn’t the best way of going about it, but Harrington died and the council let it out to the Forest Fall. I just saw the opportunity.”

“But this place is alright,” said Andy, looking around him. “It’s been open for a few months now and nothing bad’s happened.”

“That doesn’t mean that something bad won’t happen.”

Graham scratched at the back of his head and then crossed his legs. “So what are you gonna do?”

“I have a map,” said Flick, ducking into her tent and then pulling out her piece of A4 paper. She pointed at the red cross. “That’s where they found me and in the dream that’s where the light was coming from. It’s about a 45 minute trek from him.”

“Woah, hold on, Flick,” said Mark, holding his hands up. “Do you think it’s a good idea to go off looking for this place?”

“Oh, come off it Mark,” said Graham. “No offence, Flick, but I don’t know if I believe it myself.”

“Things happened to Flick,” said Mark, looking frustrated. “What about what I heard behind the tarp.”

“It’s okay,” said Flick, folding her map away. “I don’t expect anyone to come with me or even believe me.”

“We believe you,” said Andy, “but it’s a bit dangerous, isn’t it?”

“That’s why we wait till nightfall,” said Flick.

“Oh, Jesus, it just gets better,” said Graham, looking away.

“Tom’s not gonna let us go and explore that far out. He’s got a duty to keep tabs on us. We wait till it’s dark – when he’s asleep with the rest of the camp, and then we head out. It’s just 45 minutes away.”

“And you want us to come with you?” said Andy.

“Please,” said Flick, hopefully. “I was gonna go out there alone at first, but-”

“No chance,” said Mark quickly. “You’re not going anywhere on your own. Not out there.”

Flick smiled at him. “Thanks, Mark.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”

“Get a tent, you two,” said Graham, rolling his eyes.

“Are you all in then?” said Flick, the eagerness in her eyes.

Andy sighed and looked at Graham who reluctantly nodded. He then looked at Mark.

“At the first sign of trouble or anything weird we head back, yeah?” said Mark.

“Agreed,” said Flick, nodding.

“Okay then. I’m in.”

“Then I guess I am too,” said Andy. He looked back at the rest of the camp. “Come on, we better get back to them or they’ll start to get suspicious.”



Darkness had fallen. The embers of the fire were going out as Holly prodded at them, causing them to flare up again and fizz with orange light. She watched as little sparks of light danced and floated up into the night air before blinking out of existence.

Richard had retired to his hammock and the Doctor was sat, crossed legged, his torch out as he avidly read a book. She couldn’t make out what it was, but every now and then the Doctor would chuckle to himself.

She looked into the darkness and listened to the silence that seemed to envelope everything around her. She closed her eyes. She could stay like this forever in the peace and quiet. She always liked to go out into the countryside when she was younger and would stay out playing until dusk. She felt she could live here. All she needed was a little log cabin and a few provisions and she’d be sorted.

Well, apart from a log cabin she also needed Lilly. She missed her terribly and wished she was here right now with her. She smiled to herself and felt her heart flutter a little. She hadn’t even felt this way about anyone before. She’d had boyfriends in the past, but it was never anything like this. It had never felt so real and intense as what she felt for Lilly. Now she was apart from her all she wanted was to be back with her again. She wondered if she was up there somewhere, on Gallifrey, wearing that dress and being a princess. The Princess of Jacarthia.

Her heart ached a little more for her.

“I’m going for a walk,” came the Doctor’s voice, pushing away her thoughts.

“A walk? In the dark?”

“I’ve got my torch,” he said, shining it in his face. It reminded her of the first time she had met him beside the cemetery back home.

“Just be careful, won’t you? Maybe I should come with you,” she said, getting to her feet.

“You need to look after Richard,” said the Doctor, nodding towards Richard as he tossed and turned uncomfortably in his hammock.

He bid her goodbye and then disappeared into the darkness. She wondered what was going on in that head of his. As much as she knew about him, it sometimes felt like she didn’t know anything at all. He always seemed to be on alert for something, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.

“Cheryl...” she heard Richard mutter in his sleep.

She contemplated retiring to her own hammock, but then decided instead to sit back down, prodding at the dying fire, thinking of being with Lilly again...



“Madness,” said Graham as he glanced back at the ever-decreasing fire back at their camp. The rest of the group had gone to bed. They’d given it a good hour to make sure everyone was asleep and then headed out of camp armed with torches, packs and a flare gun – just in case.

“You can always go back,” said Andy, as he ducked under a large tree branch.

“And miss all the fun?” He looked at Andy and smiled. “Nah, I said I’d go now. I never duck out of a promise.”

“Nicole would go mad if she knew I was out here doing this,” said Andy, his thoughts floating back to his wife.

“Do you believe her then?” said Graham, just out of earshot of Flick and Mark, who were a few metres ahead, leading the way.

“It sounds a bit crazy,” said Andy, scratching at his beard, “but I don’t see why she would lie. It’s a pretty twisted lie.”

“Unless she’s a psychopath,” said Graham.

“Don’t be stupid,” said Andy, laughing. “She has a map. I think she’s genuine.”

“Yeah, but what do you reckon it is? I mean is it drugs?”

“They were just kids,” said Andy. “It’s not drugs, believe me.”

“Then what? Ghosts? Aliens?”

“I guess we’ll just have to find out,” said Andy.

“Are you serious? You don’t believe in the supernatural, do you?”

“Oh yeah, I regularly enjoy a coffee with my dead grandfather every Sunday.”

Graham whacked Andy on the shoulder and laughed. “Come on, Spengler.”

They walked for a good few minutes before Flick shouted “ow!” and swore under her breath.

“Everything okay?” asked Andy, making his way through the trees to join her and Mark with Graham following up, a little more reluctantly, from behind.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Flick, rubbing her knee. “I don’t know what I just walked into though.”

Mark shone his torch just in front of Flick. There appeared to be some sort of tree stump, about two-foot high and covered in vines that snaked up from the forest floor and engulfed the stump.

“That’s odd,” said Andy, reaching out and touching the vines. “Why cut down a tree in the middle of the woods?”

“Maybe it fell down,” said Graham, shining his own torch down at it.

“No,” said Andy. “It’s a clean cut through on top.” He ran his hand over the top of the stump and then frowned.

“What’s up?” asked Mark.

“That’s not a tree stump,” said Andy.

“What? What is it then?”

“It’s smooth. A bit rusted, but it’s metal.”

“What?” said Graham and Mark in unison.

“What’s a big cylinder of metal doing out here?” asked Flick, kneeling down to look at it. She reached out her hand and touched the side. Beneath the vines she could feel the cool, rusted metal surface.

“Shine the torch closer,” said Andy, kneeling down beside Flick.

It was difficult to make out, but it was definitely something like a metal drum, but solid. The vines had grown around it and concealed it.

Graham lifted up his foot and gave it a good kick.

“No, Graham!” said Flick as Graham’s boot met with the metal with a large thud.

“It’s just some junk,” said Graham, stuffing his hands in his coat pockets.

“It could be important,” said Mark.

All was silent in the woods, but suddenly something felt a little off. Flick frowned and put her hand on the ground. She felt around in the dirt, scrambling to find what she was looking for.

“What’s up?” asked Mark, feeling around with her.

“Can you feel that?” she said. “Press down hard. Can you feel it?”

Mark felt and then frowned. “Yeah.”

Andy and Graham both dropped to their knees and felt around. “What the hell is that?” said Andy.

“It’s like a vibration,” said Graham. “There aren’t any roads under here are there? Or pipes?”

“It’s private, ancient woodland,” said Flick. “There’s nothing at all.”

“It’s getting stronger,” said Mark, pulling his hand away.

Flick also pulled her hand away. The four of them could now feel it through their feet. The vibration had turned to a rumbling.

“Maybe we should go back,” suggested Andy.

“I came here for answers,” said Flick.

The four of them stood in the darkness, none of them daring to move a muscle as the vibration and rumbling got stronger and stronger and stronger. The tremors rolled under them and Mark, Andy and Graham found themselves reaching for trees to hang on to. Flick remained standing beside the metal stump, but she had backed away from it a little.

“We need to go back!” said Graham, over the rumbling.

“No chance,” said Flick. “This is it.”

And then, as quickly as it started, the rumbling stopped dead and all was silent.

“Oh,” said Andy, feeling relieved but also a little disappointed.

“Maybe it was just a tremor,” said Mark. “We get them in the UK sometimes.”

“It wasn’t a tremor,” came a voice from up ahead.

The four of them jumped and backed towards each other. Standing with a torch shining under his chin was a man with dark hair, an unkempt beard and piercing blue eyes. He was wearing a long, grey coat and was smiling at the four of them.

“Who the bloody hell are you?”



He stepped closer to them. “I’m the Doctor, and I think you may have just made the biggest mistake of your lives.”

To be continued...

Scouting for Aliens (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5 (Tracks in the Mud)

Nicole and Arthur had clambered into the old man’s battered Ford Fiesta and were haring down the motorway towards Grantham. Nicole was concerned at the speed they were going and she rubbed her belly gently, but then her thoughts went back to her husband and the danger he may be in.

She laughed to herself. She could scarcely believe she was actually doing this. The old man had told her a spooky story about his adopted daughter in the woods and her friend disappearing, but what evidence did he have? It could have been an accident. She could have witnessed her friend have a tragic accident, her body never found, whilst Felicity could have suppressed those memories. It was known to happen. Selective amnesia.

But something was telling her that that wasn’t the case at all. Something wasn’t right here. Arthur looked terrified as he gripped the steering wheel, his eyes firmly transfixed on the road. He believed in the supernatural danger, and that in turn made her believe in it.

“Should be there soon,” said Arthur without turning to look at her.

“I need to pee,” said Nicole, realising the shaking car wasn’t helping her.

Arthur frowned at her.

“Pitfalls of being pregnant, I’m afraid,” she said, looking a little embarrassed.

“There are no service stations around here,” said Arthur, as they hurtled down a road lined with woodland either side.

“Then we’ll just have to pull over,” said Nicole.

Arthur looked across to her again. “Can you not wait, Mrs Sibley?”

“Have you ever been pregnant?” said Nicole, arching her eyebrows at him.

He let out a huge sigh. “Oh, very well.”

He pulled the car to the side of the road near to a more secluded area. Nicole got out and disappeared into the buses. A few minutes later she re-emerged looking a little more relaxed. She smiled at him as she got back into the car.

“Thank you, Arthur,” she smiled.

“Don’t mention it,” said Arthur. He was about to start the car up when there was a blast of some kind of high-pitched sound. It pierced their eardrums and Nicole clamped her hands over her ears.

“What the hell is that?” she shouted over the noise.

“I don’t know,” yelled Arthur.

And then it stopped dead. The silence in the air was almost deafening. Nicole let go of her ears and looked around her. The road was quiet and the woods around looked still and silent.

“Was it a plane?” said Nicole.

“I don’t know,” said Arthur again. “I don’t like it though.” He turned the key in the ignition. The car spluttered for a few moments, but it didn’t start.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” said Nicole.

He tried the key again. Still nothing.

“It’s dead,” said Arthur. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “They know we’re coming.”

“They?” said Nicole. “Your supernatural things?” Nicole shook her head. “Even if it is something supernatural, how could it affect a car?”

“We’re close by. Maybe a twenty minute walk away from the entrance to the camp. This whole wood is part of the Harrington Estate.”

Nicole looked out of the window. The trees looked dark as their leaves blew ominously in the wind. “But what could actually do something like that?”

He tried the ignition again. “Blast it!” he said, hitting the palm of his hand on the wheel.

“We better call the AA,” said Nicole, reaching for her phone. The screen was dead. She pressed the power button. Nothing.

“Problems?” said Arthur.

“The phone’s dead.” Nicole put it back into her handbag. “Did you say we were only a twenty minute walk away?”

“About that,” said Arthur.

“Then I reckon we should leave the car here and make our way on foot. At least we’ll get to Andy and the others and we can get a lift back with them.”

Arthur nodded. “Do you feel up to it?” he said, nodding at her very round belly.

“Well, knowing my luck baby will decide to pay us a visit today.” She laughed and patted her bump. “At least Andy will be there, and we can’t stay here.”

The two of them got out of the car and locked the doors. Nicole slung her handbag over her shoulder as the two of them made their way down the road.



The sun was beginning to set. The Doctor had gotten a rather large fire going and the three of them were sat around it toasting marshmallows. The Doctor popped a whole one into his mouth and smiled in satisfaction.

“Do you know any ghost stories?” said Holly.

“Real ones or fake ones?” said the Doctor.

“Real ones of course,” said Holly. “Like, ones that happened to you.”

The Doctor stuck another marshmallow onto the end of a stick and looked at the fire, watching the soft, fluffy shape begin to brown and turn crisp. “Well there was one time a while back. My friends and I found ourselves at a haunted prison-”

“Time I took a leak,” said Richard, getting to his feet.

Holly laughed at him. “You’re not scared, are you, Ricky boy?”

“Don’t be daft,” said Richard, looking at her with his eyebrows arched. “I just always pick my toilet breaks at the dullest point in movies.”

“Hey,” said the Doctor, “you haven’t even heard the story yet!”

“Carry on without me,” smiled Richard as he disappeared into the woods.

“Shall I?”

“The moments gone,” said Holly, as she popped a marshmallow into her mouth. “You know, I’m glad we did this. You know, come out here.”

“Me too,” said the Doctor. “It’s what we all needed. Richard needs to come to a decision on his wife, and you and I need a break from Stark and the Master and all the upheaval.” He put his now marshmallow-less stick on the ground and looked at her. “Have you given any more thoughts to leaving?”

“I don’t know,” said Holly. “I just have absolutely no idea. One minute I want to stay and the next I don’t. I don’t want to be here without Lilly though.”

“Well, I’m no expert on relationships,” said the Doctor, “but if you ask me if something is worth fighting for then you should stick with it.”

Holly nodded. “I know exactly what you’re saying, Doctor, but am I big enough for her to take her away from her home planet?”

“Gallifrey isn’t everything,” said the Doctor, shrugging his shoulders. “I left, remember? Once you get past the beautiful scenery and the towering cities it becomes just another ordinary planet.”

Richard was a little way off and had just zipped up his flies when he heard the crack of a twig. He turned around to look for a sign of movement, but there was nothing there. He frowned and glanced over to where the other fire was. The smoke was still gently rising. He wondered if someone from that camp was out here somewhere. He was concerned – they had no idea who they were.

The sun had set and it was starting to get dark. The birds were twittering their early-evening calls and it was starting to feel a little chillier. He could see the Doctor and Holly back towards the fire in deep conversation.

And then he heard the crack of the twig again.

He spun around and out of the corner of his eye, as fast as lightening; he saw a flash of something disappear through the undergrowth. Something greyish.

Bloody rabbits, thought Richard.

And then he felt the impact in the backs of his legs and he fell forward, colliding with the tree.

“What the hell!” he shouted as he scrambled around to see what had pushed him over.

There came the cracking of twigs again.

“Who did that?!” shouted Richard, angry with himself for being taken off guard.

“Are you okay, Richard?” came the Doctor’s voice from back towards the hammocks.

“I’m fine,” said Richard, brushing his jeans down. “I just...I don’t know...slipped or something.”

“Are you injured?” said the Doctor.

“Just annoyed,” said Richard as he got to his feet. He scanned the area for any sign of the grey blur or the culprit of the attack (he felt stupid for thinking of it like that), but there was nothing. “Must have been a deer,” he muttered to himself as he headed back to the camp.



“Here it is,” said Arthur. “The pathway leading to the survival camp. Not far now.” They had reached the turn off from the road just as the sun had gone down.

Nicole was out of breath and put her hands on her hips, leaning backwards slightly to stretch her back. “Did they take their cars down there?” said Nicole, nodding towards the narrow path.

“No, the whole point of these things is to make you feel like you’re out in the wild.”

“So where are the cars then?” said Nicole.

Arthur’s face fell. He walked over to the large open area where the cars should have been parked. There were tracks in the dried mud showing the cars arriving, but not leaving.

“They were here.”

“How many cars did they have?”

“I don’t know,” said Arthur.

“There were about a dozen leaders,” said Nicole, trying to remember what Andy had told her. “So maybe half a dozen cars.”

“They arrived, but they’re not here now,” said Arthur.

“So where the hell have the cars gone?” said Nicole, as she began to shiver in the evening air.

To be continued...

Scouting for Aliens (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 (Behind the Tarp)

“Proper in the middle of nowhere,” said Holly, looking up at the trees as they towered above her.

“Hmmm,” said Richard, picking at some loose bark on a tree trunk.

“Hmmm?” queried the Doctor, locking the TARDIS door.

“Well it’s another load of trees again, isn’t it?” said Richard. “Gandra wasn’t too long ago, remember?”

“Gandra was a jungle world,” said the Doctor, smiling as he looked up to the green canopy of trees. “This is a forest. A good, old English forest.”

“I like it,” said Holly, closing her eyes and listening to the sound of bird song echoing around the forest. “It’s very restful.”

“Indeed it is,” said the Doctor. “This is exactly what we need. What we need to do is find a clearing somewhere nearby and get a fire going.”

“Can’t we just start a fire here?” said Richard, kicking some foliage out the way.

“We’d set fire to the forest,” said Holly. She’d started a few fires as a teenager back in the den in the woods. One time Simon had started it too close to a bush and had nearly set the whole of the woods on fire. She’d been careful since then.

“So we need to find a clearing then?” said Richard, starting to make his way through the long grass.

“And collect some firewood as we go. And we also need to find some nice, big trees to put our hammocks up in,” said the Doctor, hefting his bag onto his shoulders.

Holly watched Richard head off through the trees and turned to the Doctor. “Do you reckon he’ll be okay? He seems a bit down.”

“He’s struggling with the situation with his wife,” said the Doctor. “He’ll be fine. This is exactly what he needs to clear his head.” The Doctor turned to Holly and put his hands on her shoulders, looking down at her. “Are you alright?”

She nodded. “As well as I can be considering the circumstances.” She smiled at him and then took his hand.

The Doctor looked down at her curiously. Nobody had held his hand in a long time. It made him uncomfortable, but rather than pull away, he allowed Holly to continue to hold onto him. She was clearly feeling quite lonely.

“I was thinking of going back home,” she said.

“Really?” said the Doctor. “Are you sure?”

“I only said I was thinking,” she said, smiling at him.

“Well, it’s easy enough to understand your reasons. You came along for Lilly. Now she’s gone...”

“She’s coming back though,” said Holly. She was still trying to convince herself of that.

The Doctor nodded, although he didn’t think it was set in stone. She had found something in Jacarthia. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but so far he couldn’t compete with it. He hoped that Lilly’s feelings for Holly would bring her back eventually.

“Hey, you two,” came Richard’s voice from up ahead.

“You called?” said the Doctor.

Richard was stood on a slight rise in the ground, looking towards something. In the distance, about a mile away there looked to be a wisp of smoke rising gently into the sky.

“Has someone set the forest on fire?” asked Holly.

“Looks more like a camp fire,” said the Doctor.

“Should we go and speak to them?” asked Richard.

The Doctor considered it for a moment and then shook his head. “No. We’re meant to be getting out here to rest. This place is as good as any to set up camp. Maybe we’ll come across other people later on, but as far as I’m concerned this is about us.”

“I bags that big tree,” said Holly, grabbing her hammock pack from the Doctor.

“Is she alright?” asked Richard, watching Holly as she headed towards a large, fat tree trunk.

“She will be,” said the Doctor. He watched as Richard headed off towards a nearby tree with his hammock and then crouched down. He put his hand to the ground and felt around in the damp, earth. He closed his eyes, nodded to himself and then stood up. To himself he said, “Yes, this place will do quite nicely.”



It hadn’t taken long for the group to put up their hammocks. Andy had put his up close to the central camp whereas Graham had opted to be further away. Tom had shown them all how to tie the ropes to the trees and Andy was now sat in his hammock, his legs dangling over the edge, swinging gently and testing his weight in the hammock.

“Alright, isn’t it?” said Graham. “I told you it wouldn’t spin around.”

“It seems quite comfortable,” said Andy. “I don’t know whether I’ll get to sleep in it though.” He grabbed his phone from his pocket and frowned. “Looks like Nicole tried to call on the way in. I didn’t hear it.”

“No signal now, mate,” said Graham, picking at some bark on the tree. “Did she leave a message?”

“No. I told her to text me if it was an emergency.”

“Probably just calling to say how much she loves you.” Graham smiled across at Andy.

“Yeah, yeah, cut it out.”

“You boys alright?” said Mark, his boots already thick with mud from the wood-collecting they had done.

“Yeah, you?”

“Got my hammock set up by Flick’s tent.”

Andy and Graham looked across, through the trees and saw Flick’s blue-coloured tent set up not too far away. “How come she’s not in a hammock?”

Mark shrugged. “She said she didn’t get on with them. She’s got a bad back or something and a tent would be better for her.”

“I wish I’d have come up with that one!” said Andy.

Across in Flick’s tent she was sat with her map out. She kept staring at the red cross and then rubbed her eyes, looking up at the top of the tent. “Oh, god, what am I doing?”

“Flick?” came Mark’s Scottish tones from outside the tent.

She quickly closed the map and stuffed it in her sleeping bag as he unzipped the flaps and poked his head inside. “Fully clothed, are you?”

Flick blushed. “Just resting my feet for five minutes,” she smiled. “Are you all set up?”

“Yeah, not too far from you. That way if you get scared in the night I’ll be there to fight off the beasties.”

Flick frowned and nodded. “Yeah,” she said slowly.

“It’s a joke, Flick,” said Mark.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she said, feeling embarrassed.

“There’s nothing but birds and animals out here.”

“Yep,” said Flick, nodding slowly and making sure her map was safely tucked away even further. “Nothing but birds and animals.”

Outside, in the shelter, Tom was getting ready to show the rest of the group the best ways to start a fire. Flick and Mark exited her tent and Mark strode over to the shelter. Flick held back a little and looked around her. Nothing about the place was familiar, but the feeling of being here was familiar. She remembered the fear she felt when she had become lost with Lucy and the complete and utter oppression that seemed to be projected from all around her.

“You coming?” said Mark; he was turned to look back at her.

“Yeah, just taking in nature,” said Flick, flashing him a smile. She brushed the strands of her hair out of her eyes and walked over to the shelter.

After a good twenty minutes of being shown everything from rubbing sticks together to char cloth and then to throwing white spirits on a pile of sticks, Mark decided to go and visit the bathroom. It wasn’t exactly a bathroom, just a composting toilet hidden behind a green tarp a good 500 metres away from the main camp.

He made his way through the trees, crossed a dry ditch and finally arrived at the composting toilet. The tarp was pulled across the entrance. Tom had told them to only pull the tarp across when someone was inside it so the next person new to wait.

Mark put his hands in his pockets, started whistling idly to himself and looked across to the wooden frame of the toilet again. He could her movement from behind it.

“Come on, pal,” said Mark. “Some of us have been waiting all day to use one of these,” he laughed.

There was no response, just some more shuffling from behind the tarp.

And it was then that Mark realised that something wasn’t quite right. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it felt like he was missing something. He felt his blood run cold when he realised that nobody else had actually left the camp to go to the toilet.

“Who’s in there?” he said, feeling stupid as soon as he said it. No response. He hadn’t expected it. “Come on. Who’s in there? It’s meant to be private woodlands.”

Still no response. Mark edged forward a little. This was stupid. It was probably an animal or something. Perhaps a fox had wandered in there. Or a badger or something. There was a loud thump from the wooden panels inside and Mark jumped back.

“Who the bloody hell is it?!” he shouted.

The tarp shook.

Mark stole his nerve, stepped up onto the wooden steps, reached out a hand and -

“Alright, Mark,” came Graham’s voice from behind him.

Mark jumped, span around, fell down the steps and landed hard on the ground. Graham was over him in an instance.

“Who were you talking to?” said Graham, helping him up. “We were about to send out a search party for you, mate.”

“There’s something in there,” said Mark, pointing back towards the toilet.

“What?” said Graham, walking up the steps and pulling the tarp back to reveal...nothing.

“There was something in there shuffling around. I thought it was one of our lot.”

“You’re the only one out here,” said Graham.

Mark was shaking. He felt stupid though. There was clearly nothing there. “I know that. I figured that out.”

“Come on, mate, let’s get you back to the shelter. I brought a flask of brandy with me. I think you could do with some.”



Mark nodded as Graham helped him back to his feet. But as he was guided away from the toilet he found it difficult to not look back. There wasn’t anything there now, but something wasn’t right. Something felt wrong.

To be continued...

Scouting for Aliens (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 (The Mystery of the Trees)

Richard stood in his bedroom looking down at his mobile phone. The Doctor had “diddled it” with his screwdriver so that he could make calls from here to anywhere in the world. He had brought up his contacts and was looking down at Cheryl’s name, his finger hovering over it.

On the one hand he wanted to call her. On the other he daren’t. It’d be like getting a telephone call from a ghost. He couldn’t put her through that. If he was going to reveal the truth to his wife he had to do it in person.

They were heading back to Earth now, but Grantham was a good few hours away from Huxley. If he was going to do it he needed to make sure he actually went home first.

“Ready, Richard?” asked the Doctor, popping his head around the door.

“Yeah,” said Richard, putting his phone away quickly. “What year is it?”

“The year? Does it matter? The woods are the woods,” smiled the Doctor.

“It matters,” said Richard.

The Doctor smiled sadly at him. “Thinking of popping over to Huxley to see your good wife?”

Richard shrugged. “I thought about it.”

“You’re from 2015, Richard,” said the Doctor. “We’re about to land in 2007 - eight years before your fake death. Eight years before you left with me.”

“Good,” said Richard.

“Good?”

“If it was 2015 I’d be too tempted to go and see her. I need time to work this out. How I’m going to do it and everything.”

The Doctor smiled and patted him on the back. “This is what this holiday is about - clearing all of our heads and coming to terms with our losses.” The Doctor’s face dropped again. “And it’s about planning for the future.”

Richard nodded and smiled. “You’re right. A good few nights out under the stars will do us some good.” He hefted his rucksack onto his back and made his way out of his room. “Just a shame there’s no mini bar and TV though.”

The Doctor laughed.



Holly was stood in the console room in a fawn-coloured waterproof jacket, jeans and a black bobble hat. She was idly flicking the controls until the TARDIS groaned out in defiance at her.

“Calm down, lady,” she said.

“Don’t press the green, round button,” said the Doctor as he emerged with Richard. “You’ll jettison half the ship over Leicestershire.”

Holly quickly pulled her hand away.

The Doctor switched on the scanner. They were hanging in space, Earth glowing like a beautiful green and blue jewel amongst a blanket of glittering stars.

“You could take me to all the planets in the universe,” said Richard, “but nothing is as beautiful as my own planet.”

“Indeed,” said the Doctor. And then he thought. “Well, apart from maybe Mook.”

“Mook?” said Holly with a frown.

“Mmm-hmm. It changes colour with the mood of its inhabitants.”

“Wow!” said Holly. “Can we go there instead?”

The Doctor laughed. “I don’t think Mook could cope with our range of emotions at the moment.”

“Earth it is,” said Holly.



Nicole came in with two cups of tea and a plate of custard creams. Arthur Jenkins was sat on the sofa, but wasn’t relaxing. He was leaning forward looking nervous. She was prepared to listen to him, but she wasn’t about to go rushing off. She may have been worried about Andy, but she most certainly had common sense woven into her brain.

“Thank you,” said Arthur as she handed him the cup. He took a sip. “Oh, lovely. Earl Grey?”

Nicole nodded. “My husband’s favourite.” She sat down in an armchair. “Now, what’s this all about?”

Arthur put his cup down on the floor and sighed. “You were the only one I had any contact information for. I believe Felicity had a parcel delivered here once. When I realised Felicity had taken the map I knew I had to find one of you.”

“Wait a minute, back up please,” said Nicole, her hands outstretched. “What map?”

Arthur nodded. “Your husband and another eleven Scout leaders have gone to private woodlands in Grantham, yes?”

“Yes, for a survival camp weekend. There’s an instructor and everything so they’re safe.”

“I only wish that were true, Mrs Sibley.” He took another sip of his tea. “My late wife and I used to live near Grantham – near Belvoir castle. Lovely little cottage with apple trees in the front garden.”

Nicole shook her head. “Mr Jenkins, please, you said they were in danger?”

Arthur nodded. “We adopted Felicity in our middle ages. She was a lovely child but was always extremely curious. We didn’t live too far from the woodlands, but they were owned by Lord Harrington.”

“He died the other year, didn’t he?” Nicole remembered reading about it when she and Andy were looking up info about the survival course.

“Yes. Up until then nobody was allowed to go into the woods. Even now you still need special permission from his estate, but Harrington kept the whole place locked down. It was not opened up for anyone at all.”

“Let me guess,” said Nicole, “Felicity snuck in?”

Arthur nodded. “One summer’s day she went off playing with her friend. They were gone for hours. When it started to get dark I went looking for her. I found that they’d cut a hole in the wire fence that surrounded the perimeter of the woods. I didn’t have a choice – I had to go in and find her.”

“But she was alright, wasn’t she? I mean she’s okay now.”

Arthur closed his eyes. “I found Felicity deep in the woods. She was unconscious and stayed like that for days in hospital. When she woke up she couldn’t remember anything except for one thing – green eyes. She said there were green eyes watching her from the trees.”

Nicole felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. “What about her friend?”

“We never found that poor unfortunate girl,” said Arthur. “It destroyed her parents. It destroyed us.”

“But surely the police mounted an investigation,” said Nicole.

Arthur shook his head. “Harrington put a stop to it.”

“What?” Nicole could barely believe what she was hearing.

“He had some pull with the authorities, apparently. He wouldn’t let anyone set foot inside his woods. He said he’d press charges if we didn’t leave the area immediately. He threatened to have been prosecuted for that initial search for Felicity.”

“And you moved here?”

“We had no choice. We got threats, letters...all manner of pressure. We cut our losses. We moved away. Twelve years ago that was. Felicity got better and we moved on with our lives.”

“But what about Felicity? I mean she seems well-liked with the Scouts and everything. She seems...well, okay from what I remember at least.”

Arthur shook his head and finished his tea. “I knew it was bad when Harrington died. He had no heirs or descendents and so the land passed on to the council. A few months later they began to allow these courses to take place.”

“But no bad things have happened,” said Nicole. “There’ve been open for these survival camps for a few months already and nothing’s been reported.”

“Nothing has been reported yet,” said Arthur. “It was Felicity who persuaded Joy Castle to organise this trip.”

“So she could look for her friend?”

“Stupidly, I got a map of the area. I had always intended to go up there and investigate myself. And then Martha died and my priorities changed. But Felicity found the map with the red cross showing the location of where I’d found her.”

“So she’s on a mission,” said Nicole, suddenly worried about her husband’s safety.

“She’s on a mission,” said Arthur. “And we need to go out there and bring them back before it’s too late.”



It had been a good few hours, but they had finally arrived. The sun was high in the sky now and was beating down on the cars. Graham had wound down the windows to let a bit of air in.

Andy gazed out of the window as the huge wood loomed up in front of them. They reached a turn off down a small side road that led between two fields and towards the woods. Soon the road ended and they reached a wooden gate.

“Here we are,” said Graham as the rest of the group parked up their cars.

“It’s massive!” said Andy as they got out of the car and gazed at the woods.

“You’re telling me!” said Graham.

“Good ride?” said Felicity, getting out of her Beetle and hoisting her pack onto her back.

“Not bad. Good to stretch the legs though,” said Andy.

“We’ll be doing plenty of that this weekend,” said Graham as he opened the boot up and got out their packs.

“It’s beautiful,” said Mark gazing up at the trees. “Reminds me of when we used to go camping as kids.”

“Yep,” said Felicity, looking around her. “It definitely brings back memories.”

“Okay everyone,” came Joy’s booming voice, breaking the relative silence of the countryside. Andy wasn’t certain, but he thought he saw a few birds evacuate the nearby trees. “Gather round. Just a few rules whilst we’re here.”

There came a clearing of a throat and a man with long, blonde hair, dark beard and green shirt and cargo shorts emerged from the woods, holding a knife and smiling at them.

Joy looked like someone had just interrupted a very important speech. “Is it Mr Carter?”

“Just call me Tom,” said the man as he approached the wooden gate.

“Nice to meet you, Tom,” said Joy, smiling at him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your talk,” smiled Tom, allowing Joy to continue.

“No, not at all,” said Joy, stepping back. “Ladies and gentleman, if you haven’t already guessed, this is Tom Carter. He’s our guide and instructor on this survival camp. He will show you exactly what to do, where to do it and how to do it. I’ll just sit back and let him do all the work.” There was a hint of sarcasm in Joy’s voice, but she then turned back to Tom and smiled at him.

Tom greeted the group, gave his health and safety talk and then began to lead the group down a track that led from the gate and down into the trees. They walked for about fifteen minutes until they came across a small, wooden bridge that spanned a narrow stream and then led onto a dirt track that curved around tall, oak trees before turning to a clearing.

Sat in the clearing was a wooden structure. It consisted of a number of logs fixed together to make a large, shelter which was covered with canvas with a hole in the top to allow smoke to come from a fire that I had already been lit in the middle.

This was going to be their home for the rest of the day and night.

Andy stood and looked around him. There was nothing about them. No traffic noise, no unnatural light. Nothing but bird song and the cracking and popping of the logs on the fire.

“Blood marvellous, isn’t it?” said Graham dumping his pack on the ground.

“Just a bit,” said Andy. “I could get used to it here.”

“Definitely,” said Graham. He turned to Flick who was looking around her and peering into the distance. “Don’t you reckon, Flick?”

“What?” she said, realising someone had been trying to talk to her.

“You could live out here.”

“I don’t know about living out here,” said Flick. “But yeah, it’s peaceful.” She smiled at them and then headed into the shelter.



Andy was momentarily distracted by a faint sound from somewhere in the distance. It sounded like a high-pitched grinding sound followed by a large thud. He frowned and tried to concentrate on the sound, but no sooner had it started up it had disappeared. He shook his head, smiled to himself and then made his way towards the shelter and the rest of the group. It must have been the wind.

To be continued...