SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Chapter Seventy Five The next morning, the three of them woke early and began to make preparations to leave. “Mary bother you any more?” Rose asked Alan. He shook his head. “No, if she did, I didn’t notice. I think she got the hint after I yelled at her.” He sighed. “I just hope she can find some peace eventually.” Rose nodded and squeezed his shoulder. “Yeah, me too.” I don’t blame her staying around after death to search for her lost love. I would do the exact same thing if I lost you, she added in her mind. They finished gathering everything together, checked out and went to get some breakfast before heading towards Lookout Mountain. “Wow, this is gorgeous,” Alan said as they rode the railway up to the top of Lookout Mountain. Rose stood in front of him taking pictures with her camera. She smiled when she got an idea. “Alan,” she said. Alan looked at her with an inquisitive look on his face which Rose promptly caught with her camera. She giggled as she stared at his face on the view screen and showed it to Awinita. Alan eyed them when they snorted out laughter. “Love the clueless look on his face there,” Awinita said. “I know, I’ll have to save this and when we get back to London, I’ll use this as my desktop.” “Oh no you won’t.” He tried to grab the camera to delete the picture but Rose jerked it away from him. “Nope, my camera. I decide what stays and what goes,” she said. Alan went back to looking at the scenery. Then, without warning, he snatched the camera from Rose’s hands, quickly took a picture of her ass and handed it back to her. “There you go, a Kodak moment if ever there was one,” he said as Awinita bent over laughing. “Aaaaaah, smell that mornin’ air,” Alan said as they stood atop Lookout Mountain. In front of them was a small wooden plaque pointing out the seven states they could see from their vantage point. “Wow, we can see all the way to Kentucky, supposedly,” he said, looking at it. He looked over at Rose who was looking that way with a telescope. He strolled over. “Swing that in my direction. I’m much more interesting to look at,” he said. “Not now, I see a cloud in the shape of a bunny.” She giggled as she glanced at Alan. “Well, I do, it’s fascinating. You should take a look. “Okey-dokey.” He walked around behind Rose and rammed his face into the back of her head. “Funny, I can’t see anything except masses of hair,” he said, breathing heavily. Rose moved away. “Oh! I see, you were in the way. Much better,” he said as Rose flipped him off. He looked through the telescope while Rose walked over to Awinita who was standing nearby. She was reading a bronze plague that described The Battle Above The Clouds. “Amazing that they fought a battle up here,” she said, glancing at Rose. “I know, I would have hated to been in the thick of it here. Actually I would have hated to have been in the thick of it, full stop.” “I had some relatives I think who fought in the Civil War, Confederate side since we were in North Carolina,” Awinita said. “Don’t know what battles they fought in though.” “The Doctor was at Gettysburg,” Alan said, matter-of-factly. “And Appomattox Courthouse where Lee surrendered to Grant. He helped Grant draw up the terms of surrender so they’d be fair to the Confederacy.” “Then of course there’s blabbymouth over there who loves to namedrop every chance he gets,” Awinita said. Rose bent over laughing as Alan’s mouth dropped open. “Well, you do that, you know. Everywhere we go; the Doctor’s been there and done this and that. It’s like that old Kilroy Was Here thing or Washington Slept Here,” she said to him. She went over and gave him a friendly peck on the cheek. “Just kidding, Alan,” she said. “I love hearing your stories, so don’t go all Oncoming Storm on me, alright? It’s only a bit of teasing.” Alan smiled fondly at her. He walked over to Rose and put his arms around her. “Beautiful, isn’t it,” he said. “Open air, boundless skies, all these states just ready and waiting to be explored by us. “We’ve already explored all of them except Tennessee and Kentucky,” Rose said. “Plus, we really didn’t get to explore Alabama since we were on the run from the hurricane.” “Okay, well just look out at the view and imagine all the states we have yet to see. All those states and then all the countries. The whole wide world, Amo’tiri, and we get to choose exactly where to go. No restraints, no boundaries. And when we get our TARDIS…then we’ll have the stars up above and beyond.” Rose sighed softly and leaned back into him. “I can’t wait,” she said. “Neither can I, neither can I,” he breathed. He looked over the railing “Course we could just take a lover’s plunge right here and now,” he said. Rose looked around at him. “What?” “Oh, you know, the whole lover’s death plunge. Imagine falling to our deaths from Lookout Mountain, our bodies intertwined and our hands down each other’s trousers as the ground rushes up to meet us.” “What the hell is he babbling about now?” Rose heard Awinita said. “I’m talking about coppin’ a feel while we plunge off Lookout Mountain, do ya mind?” he said to her. “I’m in the middle of a romantic moment here!” He turned back around while Awinita said, “Sometimes I wonder about you, Alan.” “Think of it, my love. The park rangers finding our bashed and broken bodies with our hands down each other’s pants. It’ll make the front page of every newspaper not to mention the evening news.” “I think I’ll pass,” Rose said. “Okay, how about we do a Thelma and Louise when we get to the Grand Canyon?” “No thanks.” “Jump off the Taj Mahal? A maharajah built that in honor of his dead wife, you know. So we’d be jumping off a monument to love.” “No. What’s with the sudden need to jump to our deaths?” she asked. “Just throwing out ideas on more fun things we can do,” he said, shrugging. “Well, I’ll give the whole lover’s death jump a miss if it’s all the same to ya,” she said. “That’s fine, just brainstorming, dear.” Awinita walked up beside them. “The Doctor, was he this goofy?” she said. “Sorta, not…quite as silly as Alan but he had his moments,” Rose said. She smiled. “We used to bet all the time on different things as we traveled,” she told her. “I won most of the time, naturally.” Alan snorted. “That’s because he let you win,” he said. “One time we met Queen Victoria and I bet the Doctor ten quid I could make her say, “We are not amused,” and she did. “Actually, as I recall it, she said I am not amused, not we. So you really didn’t win the bet technically,” Alan said. “Oh and I suppose that’s why the Doctor never paid up?” Rose said. “Partly, mostly because he didn’t want to,” Alan said, shrugging. “That figures,” Rose muttered. “What was Queen Victoria like?” Awinita asked. “She was a crazy old codger who would have burned the Doctor and Rose at the stake, had she gotten the chance,” Alan said. Awinita stared at him in shock. “Huh?” she said. Alan turned and put his fingers to her temples. He closed his eyes and showed her the Doctor and Rose’s knighting and the aftermath. Once he was finished, he wrapped his arms back around Rose’s body. “So, technically, you can’t set foot in England,” Awinita said. “Not here, the other universe,” Alan said. “And as for that, the Doctor did what he always did when people threatened him. He ignored it.” “And of course, we did go home and did get caught eventually,” Rose said. “Because in the other universe Torchwood was founded by Queen Victoria to keep an eye out for the Doctor if he ever did come back. Eventually that grew to include keeping an eye out for any alien threat and eliminating them.” Rose felt Alan’s arms tighten around her. “Like their damn “ghosts,” he muttered to himself. Rose, sensing the reason for the tighter hug rubbed one of his arms and smiled when he kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, the other Torchwood is the reason I ended up stuck here in the first place,” she said to Awinita. “They were messing around with the void and brought the Cybermen and Daleks through to our universe. The Doctor and I sucked them back in but I almost got pulled in too. My dad caught me and took me back here but by that time it was too late. The gap between the universes was sealed and the Doctor and I were separated. One of the worse days of my life.” “For him too,” Alan muttered. “And if this universe’s Torchwood ever tries anything like that, I will tear open a hole in the void with my bare hands and send the whole building into it. I don’t trust them and I never will. The only Torchwood I would ever trust is Jack’s outfit and that’s because I know Jack would never pull a stunt like that. I can’t stand the fact that you work for the organization that was responsible for trapping you over here in the first place.” “There are good people there though,” Rose said. “Oh, I don’t doubt it. There were good people working at the other Torchwood too. It’s not the ordinary workforce I’m concerned about. It’s the ones in charge of the decision making. You said yourself that this Torchwood isn’t entirely on the up and up and there are some things that even you find questionable. That’s why I don’t trust them. Mark my words, one day we’ll probably have to go up against them again. Their meddling, good or bad, is not only potentially harming the universe, they’re also drawing outside attention to Earth. Even that dimension cannon was a bad idea. I know how badly you wanted to see the Doctor again but you just can’t mess with void travel like that. The Doctor wasn’t kidding when he said that breaching the void would make two universes collapse. You’re lucky the void did begin to weaken and allow you through before that happened and you’re lucky you didn’t get stuck in another universe or end up somewhere where you might have gotten killed.” He sighed. “But, I guess it was all meant to be in the end,” he said. “Just as I was meant to come out of the hand and Donna was meant to get my mind, so there’s no point in griping about it. But, I am glad that you weren’t harmed getting back to the Doctor.” Rose smiled and kissed his cheek. “You were in other universes besides this one and your original one?” Awinita said. “Yeah, there was a lot of trial and error to find the right universe after the dimension cannon started to work. Most of the ones I went to were basically the same as our dimensions since they were only parallel. There were just tiny differences in each one. There was one, however, that I happened upon where I guess the Nazis had succeeded in taking over the world after World War 2 and every country on Earth was a totalitarian police state. It was horrifying. And I actually went to a universe that was created entirely around Donna and that’s where I first met her face to face. In that universe…” She swallowed hard. “The Doctor had died. He had drowned when he was battling this Racnoss queen and the entire universe began to go to Hell because he wasn’t around to protect everyone. That was horrifying too.” Alan smiled. “My Donna, so unique, entire universes spring up around her,” he said. He looked at Awinita. “I hope to God you get to meet her someday,” he said to her. “I think you’d like her. She can be mouthy at times but she has a heart of gold.” He raised his eyebrow. “And both of you can scream like banshees, come to think of it,” he said as Rose laughed. He let out a contented sigh. “But enough chit chat for now, you guys wanna head to the underground waterfalls?” he asked. “Sounds heavenly,” Rose said. “I’m ready when you guys are,” Awinita said. Alan squeezed Rose once more. Letting go, he took her hand. “Well to borrow the words of my illustrious sire, allons-y!” The three of them stood near the entrance to Ruby Falls. They noticed a sign nearby that advertised a Haunted Cavern. “Hmmm, should we go in this one too?” Alan asked. “Do you want to?” Rose said. “You ‘bout dozed off on the Haunted Mansion ride.” “Yeah, but a haunted cavern sounds scarier to me. It might be fun.” “I’ll go through it,” Rose said as Awinita nodded in agreement. “Okay, so which one should go through fast?” Alan asked. “Let’s go through this one first since we’re here and then we’ll finish up with the haunted one,” Rose said. Both of them nodded and they joined the queue. Rose was in awe. The cavern was spectacular. They were following a small tour group while one of the employees told them about the history of Ruby Falls and pointed out different things. “This is gorgeous,” she said to Alan. “Very,” he replied, nodding. Awinita looked at him. “Got any good Doctor and cave stories?” she said. “Oh yes, tons. The Doctor’s been to tons of caves, some of them voluntarily.” Awinita raised her eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “It means that a surprising number of baddies like to make their home in caves and the Doctor would find himself imprisoned in a fair number of them. Caves are surprisingly useful, you know. Plenty of shelter from the wind and rain, no one can hear the tormented screams of your victims and lots of bats and rats that you can use as pets and henchmen. But since you asked, I will say that one time the Doctor did stumble upon a particular cave dweller who was quite an odd bloke. Seemed to have a penchant for dressing up as a bat and going out to foil evildoer’s villainous schemes. Had a really snazzy car too. He invited the Doctor in for tea, had a very polite butler who served them cucumber sandwiches if memory serves me right.” “Yeah, right, Alan,” Awinita said. He gave her a shocked look. “What?” “Batman is not real, doofus,” she said as Rose laughed. “Ahem, did I, at any time, utter the name Batman?” he said. “Well, no, but…” “Well, don’t jump to conclusions, Harris. Assuming makes an ass out of you and me,” he said as Rose laughed harder. “He was not Batman. His name was, in fact, Gerald Vervoidia VI, so there, shows what you know.” “You are so full of shit sometimes, Alan.” He stared at her, shocked, while Rose gripped a railing and held her side, laughing. “Um, were you there?” “No and neither were you.” “True, but unlike you, I have the memories of the person who was, so don’t give me lip and call me a liar. I only speak the truth.” “Except when you don’t,” Rose muttered. Awinita snickered as he turned his head and gave her a dirty look. Finally they reached Ruby Falls. Everyone stood in awe and stared at it as it cascaded down the cavern wall. Rose pulled out her camera and took several pictures of it. “Imagine that, Rose, underground waterfall,” Alan said, putting his arm around her. “And it’s not on some far-flung world, its right here on Earth. See, Earth has natural wonders that rival the other planets in magnificence.” “It’s gorgeous, it’s so incredible,” Rose said. “And we get the privilege of being here to see it,” Alan whispered to her. “And there’s no one I’d rather see it with than you,” Rose whispered back. They shared a kiss. “Okay, so now let’s see what this Haunted Cavern is all about,” Alan said. As the walked up to the line, they noticed a small Plexiglas box with some brochures in it for the attraction. Alan opened the box, pulled one out and read it aloud to Rose and Awinita as they stood in line. “For generations the Grimsby Slaughter House has been the Chattanooga area’s largest providers of bulk meat and meat products.” “The secret to Grimsby Meat’s success is claimed to be held deep within the recesses of a secluded cave on their family property. Since the early 1980’s all the“New Cattle” is brought to this underground facility for slaughtering and then is processed and packaged in their above ground slaughterhouse.” “It was a series of tragedies that lead to the discovery of this new process that produces what the family simply calls “New Meat”. The year was 1979, and the Grimsby Meat Processing Company was near foreclosure. In a fit of desperation fourth generation owner Henry Grimsby burned down his family’s home with himself and the rest of the Grimsby family still inside. Luckily, Henry’s wife Maebelle (Mama) was able to get everyone out of the house safely except for the youngest two children, Luscious and Milo. Both Luscious and Milo did survive the blaze, but were badly burned and disfigured. Henry was also injured in the fire and was paralyzed when part of the house collapsed on him.” “With the family farm in ruins and Henry unable to continue in his lead role, Mama took over interest in the family farm. She soon realized the horrible situation that drove Henry to madness as the foreclosure letters and loan forfeits began arriving by mail. To make matters worse, their usual livestock providers began refusing to provide them with necessary cattle for processing. Another source of meat was needed and needed quickly. This new source of meat was soon discovered one day when a pair of bank collectors made an unannounced visit to the Grimsby Slaughterhouse. The collectors were captured by Mama and her two eldest sons. Both were slaughtered and processed into fine meat cuts. The Grimsby’s called these cuts the “New Meat” “Soon after that, Max and Floyd along with their cousin Nathan became full time herders for the “New Cattle”. These three would often find their prey on area hiking trails around the Grimsby Farm. One day as they were herding the “New Cattle” back to the slaughterhouse, one escaped and was chased into an old abandoned cave on the Grimsby farm.” “This cave which is accessible via an old mining elevator also happened to be connected to a popular tourist attraction named Ruby Falls.” “A constant supply of “New Cattle”was found.” “Developing a greater thirst for blood and wanting to seclude themselves from society Mama Grimsby and the family moved deep inside the Grimsby cave to live and slaughter the “New Cattle” full time. Out of sight from the public’s prying eyes and deep underground where even the loudest of screams cannot be heard above, the Grimsby’s are able to slaughter their innocent victims without any unwanted attention.” “The Grimsby Meat Processing Company is back in business.” “So, there you have it, ladies, our back-story,” Alan said as he finished reading. He handed the brochure back to Awinita who put it back in the box. He smiled at Rose. “Is it me or does this whole scenario sound like something you and the Doctor would stumble on?” he said with a wink. “Yeah, it does,” she said. “Hmmm, then perhaps it was fate that brought us here to shut down the Grimsby’s dastardly operation,” he said. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Although…if this were real life, you would be carted off and made into one of the “New Cattle” and I would have to bravely risk life and limb to save you before you ended up in the slaughterhouse,” he said. “What about me?” Awinita asked. “Um, not sure, are you a trouble magnet like Blondie here?” he said as Rose swatted the back of his head. “I hope not.” “Well then I can’t really make a judgment call right now. I just know if anyone would end up a human cow it’d be my fiancée.” He ducked when Rose tried to swat his head again. “Not calling you a human cow, mind, because you’re absolutely beautiful. But apparently that’s how the Grimsby’s view you. Yup, just a big old hunk of walkin’ sirloin that I’ll have to save from the meat grinder. But, don’t worry; I’ll protect both my women from becoming the next filet mignon. Wouldn’t want to marry that. It might look strange, not to mention your mum would be putting me in the meat grinder right after you.” He looked over when a guy stepped in front of the cavern entrance and waved them in. “Here we go, guys,” Alan said as they walked in. Alan was laughing at Rose and Awinita. He wasn’t scared in the least but both of them kept screaming when people would jump out at them from the corners of the darkened cavern. “Come on, Tyler; show some of that pluck you had traveling with the Doctor. Quit getting scared every time a costumed git jumps out at you.” Just then someone reached through the ceiling and touched the back of Rose’s head. Alan bent over laughing when she screamed again. “I give up, Starlight, scream to your heart’s content,” he said. “I’m sorry, it’s dark in here!” Rose said, slapping his back. “Yeah, but do you hear me screaming? No!” he teased. They stopped in front of an iron gate. A lady dressed in a white shroud with blackened eyes and blood on her face glared at them from the other side. “Evening, are you the proprietor of this fine establishment?” Alan said as Rose and Awinita laughed. “Fine facility, but if I were you, I’d bring it up to code. The health inspector might frown on you operating a slaughterhouse in a cave.” The woman rolled her eyes and muttered to herself while she opened the gate and let them through. “I don’t think she appreciated your teasing,” Awinita said as they walked by her. “Eh,” Rose said, “she’s probably heard all kinds of sarky remarks from people. I…” She screamed as someone grabbed her neck from behind. Alan bent over laughing while Rose turned and saw a woman in a cage. “Help me!” the woman implored, melodramatically. “Save me!” Rose and Awinita quickly caught up to Alan. “Well, are you gonna help her?” he said to them. “No, that’s your job,” Rose said. “It’s your job too. You’re the companion, remember? Both of you. For shame, not letting the human cow out of her stall. Shame, shame, shame.” They went into another section of the cavern and saw wrapped bodies hanging on meat hooks. Alan paused at one body that was writhing and jiggling. “I guess this one is rare meat,” he said, gesturing to it. He looked up and noticed a severed arm hanging overhead. “Tsk, tsk, look at that. Laying out where dirt and germs can get on the meat. I’m telling ya, health inspector needs to get in here and see this.” They passed by a man strapped to a chair. He had electrodes attached to his temples and was jerking around as if he was getting electrocuted. Alan grinned and looked at his friends. “Must be tenderizing the meat,” he said as they laughed. They walked by him. Suddenly someone jumped in front of Alan and menaced him with a chainsaw. Both women giggled when Alan casually stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets and gave him a mild look. “ROOOOOOOOOAR!” the man yelled. “And a good day to you too, sir,” Alan said as Rose and Awinita laughed hysterically. “Are you in charge of the slaughterhouse? I would like to purchase some meat for a barbecue I’m having for friends and associates. Can you recommend what part of the human I should be buying?” “Just move along, idiot!” the man growled, gesturing off to his left. “Fine, but I’ll register a complaint with management for your unfriendly service,” he said, wagging a finger at him. Rose and Awinita bit their lips when they heard him mutter, “Asshole!” as they walked past him. They were herded into a small area and several men rushed out with chainsaws. They revved their chainsaws and menaced them. “Look! It’s the latest bunch of cows!” one of them said. “All ready for slaughtering.” Rose glanced at Alan. In the semi-darkness she could see the bored expression on his face. This wasn’t lost on the men who began to circle around in an effort to scare him. Alan gave a theatrical yawn as they waved their chainsaws in his face. Up close, Rose could see the chainsaws had no chains on them which allowed the men to wave them almost under Alan’s nose. Alan was unfazed by all of it and to Rose’s surprise, one of the men touched his arm briefly with his chainsaw. “Are you through yet?” Alan finally said. “Or do we have to stand here until I let out a scream?” The men looked at each other, shook their heads and stepped back. They waved them through a door. They stepped into it and found themselves going up a long shaft that led outside. “Well, I guess they decided to be merciful and let us go,” Alan said, shrugging. “No,” Awinita said. “I think they saw how skinny you were and decided there wasn’t enough meat on you to fill a baby’s stomach.” Rose laughed hysterically while Alan chased her for several feet. He let up and grinned as they walked back and joined their friend. “Well, I guess that’s it here,” Rose said, “on to the Aquarium?” They nodded and the three of them took each other’s hands and headed back to the van.
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