Timeless .•:Doctor Who:•.

Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Nightmare

Eloise weakly opened her eyes, the radiant white of the world around her, her mouth like a big cotton ball with a bad taste lingering in the back of her throat like a bad smell.

She squeezed her eyes tightly against thunderstorms swarming in her mind, the bright, disjointed haze receding to the point where she could make sense of the world around her. She felt like there was solid brick wall across her head, she felt so weak, like she couldn't lift her legs, head or arms.

The initial whirlwind of confusion subsided quite quickly, but the grogginess remained, her senses thrown out-of-whack. Not being able to pay attention to her environment, her depth perception, balance, and reaction times weren't as sharp as normal and pangs of pain inhibited her ability to think clearly, focus, and accurately process information.

But even so, she knew that – as she blinked furiously in the glaring light – she was no in Cardiff.

She was lying stomach down in a field, green grass stretched out beneath her and large buildings in the distance. If she didn't know any better, she'd say it was New York.

But that was ridiculous.

How could she possibly be in New York?

Confusion was keeping the panic at bay – despite not remembering how she got there – as she struggled to get up, unsurprisingly falling forwards onto her hands and knees, the battle against the steady beat hammering inside her head taking much – if not all – of her thought power.

Hearing laughing voices somewhere nearby, she managed to stand up again and stagger her way towards the noise.

Just over the hill, she found a man and woman relaxing on what seemed to be a big, brown coat looking at the city. The man seemed to be explaining something, using wide gestures and hand movement, making the woman laugh.

Slightly embarrassed, Eloise made her way over to the couple.

"Um, excuse me?" The duo turned around in surprise. "Hi, sorry, but you wouldn't h-"

"Hello! Sit down, sit down." The man said, grabbing her arm and pulling her down to sit next to him. "I was just about to tell Rose where we are."

"O-okay?" She replied unsurely, too disorientated to protest.

With a happy grin, the man lied down flat on his back. Eloise sat there, confused and slightly irrate, not quite as comfortable with the complete strangers as they seemed to be with her.

"So." He started smartly, sneaking a glance and a sneaky wink at the new arrival next to him. "The year five billion, the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted."

"That was our first date." The women with a smile.

What?

"We had chips." The man remarked and Eloise stared at the two incredulously. "So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, oh yeah, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement, but then find this place. Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit. Lovely. Call goes out, the humans move in."

What the hell.

"What's the city called?" The woman asked, oblivious to the looks Eloise was giving them.

"New, New York."

Eloise furrowed her eyebrows, sure that the two must be pranking her.

"Oh, come on." The woman said in disbelief.