Scouting for Aliens (Chapter 7)

Chapter 7 (Underneath the Stars, Underneath the Earth)

It was dark now. Nicole and Arthur hadn’t made any progress. When they had discovered that the cars had gone, they had headed down the mud track to look for the camp, but instead of finding the route into the heart of the woods they had instead found themselves back at the beginning of the path. Arthur had blamed his own navigational skills and they had set off again only to find themselves back at the car parking area again.

“This is silly,” said Nicole.

“Something is stopping us from getting into those woods,” said Arthur. “Something supernatural.”

“I still find that hard to believe,” said Nicole, sitting down on an overturned log. “I mean what could actually make two people go around in circles and miss an entire camp?”

“Something supernatural,” said Arthur again, nodding to himself.

Nicole sighed. “Right, well we need to make a decision. It’s dark now and we can’t stay out here all night.”

“We need to get the car fixed,” said Arthur, twiddling his thumbs.

“How? I know nothing about cars, the phones are all dead and there’s nothing for miles around.”

“There must be something we can do,” said Arthur, punching the palm of his hand. “I’m so sorry for getting you into this mess, Mrs Sibley.”

“Not your fault, Arthur,” she said, rubbing her belly. “I want Andy safe as much as you want Felicity safe.”

Without warning their came a vibration from under the ground. The rumble grew stronger and stronger and then it settled. Nicole sat frozen solid on the log, daring not to move. Once she was sure it was over she looked up at Arthur. “Okay, what was that?”

“I don’t know,” said Arthur, “but I do think we should head back to the car. At least we can rest. Get some sleep.”

“We can’t stay out here all night,” said Nicole, starting to feel nervous.

“But we’d be better off in the car than anywhere else. At least we can keep warm. You need to think of your baby.”

They began their journey back down the road towards the car. It was only when they turned the corner that they saw it – a large, glowing light. At first they thought they’d left the headlights on, but they soon realised that it was too bright for headlights.

“What is that?” asked Nicole, shielding her eyes from the light.

“I have no idea, Mrs Sibley,” said Arthur, stopping in his tracks and holding Nicole back. “Maybe we should head back to the woods.”

“It’s getting bigger,” said Nicole.

“Not bigger,” said Arthur, “but closer.” He pointed towards the glowing ball of light as it headed towards them. “I know this may be a stupid question, but can you run?”

“I’m eight months pregnant, Arthur. I have another person inside me. What do you think?”

“I thought that might be your response.”

“I suppose we could try though,” she said.

Arthur grabbed her hand. The ball was almost on top of them now. “I don’t think we’ll make it, my dear.”

Nicole closed her eyes. The light was unbearably bright now. “Hold on, Arthur, hold on.”

The ball engulfed them. Arthur and Nicole both screamed out, but their screams were drowned out by the crackling and fizzing of the ball. And then...there was nothing. The light disappeared, but so had Nicole and Arthur.



“So who exactly are you?” asked Andy.

“First things first – who are you?” asked the man, as he knelt down to examine the metal structure.

“I asked the question first,” said Andy.

Felicity sighed. “We’re Scout Leaders. We have a camp just over that way,” she said, nodding back the way they had come.

“Ah, the Scouts, dib-dib-dob,” he said, making the Scout salute.

“How very original,” said Felicity.

“Good old Baden Powel,” smiled the Doctor. “I often told him our movement would go far.”

“What?” said Felicity.

“Forget about Baden Powel,” said Graham. “Tell us who you are and why you’re out here on your own in private bloody woodlands.”

“I’m not on my own,” said the Doctor, sitting himself on top of the structure. “My two friends are asleep in my own camp, and it’s only private to the public. I’m not the public.” He smiled.

“But that still doesn’t explain what you’re doing out here,” said Mark.

“Trying to make sure you blundering apes don’t bring a heap of hassle down on you.”

“Charming,” said Mark.

“But you said we had made a mistake,” said Felicity, feeling worried.

“Oh, yes,” said the Doctor. He patted the metal structure. “This, my dear Leaders, is an energy nodule.”

“I beg your pardon?” said Graham.

“It’s an energy nodule. I wondered if I’d find one out here.”

“You’re not making any sense,” said Andy. “An energy nodule in the middle of the woods?”

“Yep,” he said, jumping down from the structure. “You kicking it, Big Foot, reactivated it. At least momentarily.”

“Watch it, beardy,” said Graham.

“But what’s it an energy nodule for? And why’s it in the middle of the woods?” said Mark. “I mean, you don’t get stuff like that usually.”

“Well, I don’t know if you’re ready for the answer yet, Scotty,” said the Doctor to Mark. “Oooh, I used to have a Scottish friend. Lilly her name was. I miss her grumpiness.”

“You’re Scottish yourself,” said Mark.

“Oh,” said the Doctor, putting a hand to his mouth. “No, no, no. My accent might be Scottish, but I’m certainly not Scottish. Come to think of it neither was Lilly actually.”

“Look, we’re just going round and round in circles here,” said Andy.

“Agreed,” said the Doctor. “You four need to head back to your camp and pack your things up.”

“But why?” asked Felicity. “We have too many questions.”

“For that reason alone,” said the Doctor. “Questions, in general, lead to danger.”

“Doctor?” came a girl’s voice. Holly and Richard emerged from the woods, the both of them looking a little shaken. “What was that tremor? Was it an earthquake?”

“It was a quake beneath the earth,” said the Doctor, “but it wasn’t an earthquake.”

“And who are these two?” said Andy.

“My friends,” said the Doctor. “Holly Dangerfield and Richard Hicks. Holly’s an ex-librarian and Richard’s an ex...what?”

“Fruit and veg stall man,” he said glumly. “I hope I still can be one after all this is over.”

“That’s the one,” he said, smiling and clicking his fingers.

“Well seeing as though we’re making introductions,” said Felicity, “I’m Flick, this is Graham, Andy and the over protective Scottish man is Mark.”

The three men nodded at the three strangers.

“You still haven’t explained what this energy nodule thing is,” said Andy. “I mean what does the middle of the forest need energy for.”

The Doctor waggled his finger at the bemused Scout leader. “It’s not an energy nodule for the forest. It’s an energy nodule for something underneath the forest.”

“You have to be kidding,” said Graham. “There’s nothing under this ground, mate. It’s been here for centuries, this woodland.”

“You know something, don’t you, Doctor?” said Holly, closing in on him.

“Did we seriously come here for a camping trip,” said Richard, “or did you know something else was going to happen?”

The Doctor turned and smiled knowingly to his two friends. “I’ve been meaning to check out the Harrington Estate for some time now. Every now and again the TARDIS would pick up strange signals from here, but it was on a low level. Nothing major. Nothing that warranted by immediate attention.”

Flick was about to mention her mysterious encounter when their came a scream from somewhere back towards the Scout camp.

“That sounded like Joy,” said Andy, looking worriedly to Graham.

“We better get back to her,” said Graham. “Probably an owl flown into her hair or something.”

“Doctor, should we go and check?” asked Holly.

The Doctor pointed to Richard. “Go with them if you would, Richard. Check they’re okay.”

“But what am I checking for?” asked Richard, moving off to follow Andy and Graham.

The Doctor raced up to him and pulled him in close. “Try and keep it quiet. Try and get them out of here alive.”

“Alive?” he said, frowning.

“Just do what you can. And stay safe. Once they’re out then come back to us.”

Richard nodded.

“And stay safe,” he said as Richard disappeared into the darkness.

“What about these two?” said Holly, as she watched Flick and Mark examine the now inert nodule.

“The lady with the blue hair has a few stories she could tell us,” said the Doctor.

Flick looked up at him. “How do you know?”

“I read about it in the news. Your friend went missing.”

“That was years ago though.”

“I told you I always meant to come and check out the Harrington Estate. Better late than never.” He smiled.

“Should we get back to the others?” suggested Mark.

“I don’t think Flick here came all the way out here just to turn back, did you?” asked the Doctor.

“No,” said Flick.

“Then you better tell me exactly what happened that day.”

Flick sighed and sat down on top of the nodule.

“I remember the day as clear as I can see you three now. It was a mild, autumn afternoon. The light was filtering through the trees. It was like the world was bathed in gold. The trees were so still though.

Lucy spotted the fence first. We’d only meant to go walking a little way from the house, but we’d walked and talked further than we had expected. We knew the woods were out of bounds and we’d never gone out this far before. The fence was mostly concealed by trees and bushes, but it was quite high – definitely too high for anyone to climb.

But Lucy spotted a gap in it. I don’t know how it had happened, but one of the railings had come away. We were both only small and were able to squeeze through easily. I was a bit worried, but Lucy told me it’d be fun.

We walked for ages, picking brambles and laughing and joking about friends and school and boys. And that’s when we arrived at the clearing. It was just grass. A grass clearing surrounded by the rest of the woods. We looked up and could see the grey clouds floating on by. But there was nothing else.

And then something happened.”

“What?” asked the Doctor, crouching down in front of her.

“I don’t know. It’s so difficult to remember. I think we found something.”

“Was it like one these nodes?”

“No. It wasn’t anything like that. It’s just....too hard. Lucy reached out for something and then there was a light. Like a flash of light and then I remember waking up and my Dad standing over me. Lucy was nowhere to be seen. But I remembered the eyes. The green eyes.”


“Green eyes?”

“Bright, big green eyes looking at me. They were not Human eyes either.”



Richard, Andy and Graham arrived at the Scout camp to find the entire place in disarray. The fire was still burning under the wooden structure, but part of the structure had collapsed. Joy Castle was sat up on a high tree stump, her knees drawn in and shaking like a leaf. One of the other leaders – Linda – was trying to calm her down whilst glancing over her shoulder nervously.

Tom was there was well. He was busy helping the others to clear up. The camp had been completely torn apart. Hammocks and rucksacks and sleeping bags lay all over and people were standing around, their hands on their hips, shaking their heads.

“What happened?” said Andy, running up to Tom.

“Who’s this?” said Tom, nodding towards Richard.

“He’s out camping in the woods with his mates,” said Graham.

“This is private woodland,” said Tom, angrily to Richard. “You’re not with the company.”

“Forget that, pal,” said Richard. “What happened here?”

“You better ask Mrs Castle,” said Tom. “We can’t get any sense out of her.”

“We were asleep,” said Linda, as they walked over to her and the quaking Joy. “I’d just dozed off when I heard Joy screaming. It sounded like rustling and things being thrown about. By the time the rest of us had gotten out of our hammocks we found Joy screaming.”

“What happened, Joy?” asked Andy, kneeling down beside her. She was an annoying woman at times, but he’d never seen her looking so terrified.

She shook her head. “No. No.”

“You have to tell us, Joy,” said Graham. “Did someone break in and trash the place?”

“Come to think of it,” said Tom, “where did you two go? And where’s your other two friends?”

Andy rolled his eyes and turned to face the bearded man. “We went out to explore.”

“I told you all to stay here and not wander off.”

“Yes,” said Graham, rounding on the guide. “Sorry chief. We do apologise,” he said sarcastically. “But I think what’s more important is finding out what happened here.”

“Joy, you need to tell us,” said Linda, helping her down off the tree stump.

Joy was shaking and instead slumped to the ground.

“We’re not gonna get anything out of her,” said Andy, sitting down beside her.

Joy turned to face him, her mouth quivering. “It was...it was...green eyes. Green eyes looking out from...from the woods.”

“Flick said green eyes as well,” said Graham.

“I beg your pardon?” said Tom.

“Look,” said Richard, “you need to get your guys out of here. This place is dangerous.”

“It’s just a forest!” said Tom.

“A forest that has sent a normally lucid person crazy!” said Andy.

“The new boy’s right,” said Graham. “We need to pack up and get the hell out of here right now.”

“We need to call the police,” said Linda.

“No signal,” said Andy. “I tried to call Nicole earlier on.”

Linda closed her eyes. “This is insane!”

“It wasn’t....Human,” gibbered Joy.

“Not Human?” said Tom, sounding doubtful.

“It saw...it saw me looking at it. I...it came out me and I screamed....it destroyed the camp.”

“But what did it look like?” said Andy, leaning in closer.

“It looked...I don’t know...like an alien,” said Joy. And then she burst into tears again.

Richard looked at Tom. “Get them packed up and out of here now.”

Tom looked from him to Joy and then back at Richard again. With a sharp, single nod he turned and headed towards the remaining leaders.



Nicole opened her eyes. She was expecting to find herself lying on the road beside the woods, but instead she was lying on something smooth. Smooth and metallic. When the light had engulfed them she had passed out. She felt a little disorientated now, but not too bad. It felt like she had a mild headache, but it was already easing off.

She sat up as quickly as she could and her first instinct was to check on her baby. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the baby kicking.

“Are you okay?” asked Arthur. He was leaning against a metallic wall a metre away from her.

“Yes,” said Nicole, “we’re both doing fine.”

“Good. I’m relieved,” said Arthur, smiling at her.

“What happened?”

“I have no idea,” he said. “It looks like we’re in some kind of holding area. I only woke up about two minutes before you.”

The room was dark, but they could still make out the walls. It was some kind of dome shape with smooth walls and a flat floor. In the far side was a curved doorway and a single glass portal looking out of it. The air smelt of tin.

“Is it some kind of bunker?”

“Well, I’d go and check,” said Arthur, “but so far I’ve not been able to move my legs.”

Nicole looked down at her own legs and found she couldn’t move hers either. It was like she was bolted in place.

“Perhaps we should shout?” she suggested.

“I don’t know if it’d do any good, my dear,” said Arthur.

“Well we can’t just stay here.” She was getting irritated. She had come on a mission to make sure her husband was okay following supernatural stories, and now she was sat in a dark, metal room with no clue as to where she was.

Before she made the attempt to shout there was a clunk towards the metal door. It slowly grated open, the door sliding upwards and from the dark corridor beyond a strange figure appeared. It was barely 3-foot, red, had a large pot-belly, thin arms and legs and dark, black eyes. Down the front of its head and around the back was a ridge of spikes. It tilted its head to look at them.

Nicole tried to push herself back but couldn’t.

“Welcome to the Krask, Earthlings,” came it’s husky, stern voice. “You are now the prisoners of the Volatine.”

Nicole couldn’t help it. She screamed.

To be continued...