Doctor Who_ The Forgotten Army - Brian Minchin [9]
While he was talking, Amy picked up a camera that had been abandoned in the struggle to escape.
'Hey, Time Boy, have a look at this!'
Amy scrolled through the pictures, past grinning shots of a young teacher at a school party, until she reached the unveiling of the mammoth. The first picture showed the hall packed.
Some of the same children that had been at the party were grinning brightly. In the second, the man in the white blazer was making a speech.
The next three pictures were of the floor. The final shot made Amy scream with delight. 'Look at this!'
The picture was a close-up of the mammoth's head, in all its wonder. Its jaws were wide open, and
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Amy could see row after row of sharp teeth, tusks curving a cruel circle in the air.
The Doctor said nothing. Peeved, Amy looked around and saw him clambering up one of the marble columns, pressing his ear up against the stone. She hurried over.
The Doctor offered Amy his hand. 'Better come up here.'
Amy wasn't impressed. 'Why on earth would I do that?
Anyway, I've just found the exact order of events, just like you wanted.'
The Doctor came straight back with: 'I've done better, I've found the mammoth. Now get out of its way.'
Amy turned to follow the Doctor's gaze. But in front of her the hall was empty. 'There's nothing there.’ she protested, 'so will you get down from that post! We've got a mammoth to find.'
'Did I not tell you I have very good hearing? Listen through this.'
He leant down and held his screwdriver to Amy's ear. Out of nowhere, a raucous pounding noise filled her ears. Heavy breaths and grunts like nothing she'd ever heard before. It was the panting and stomping of an enormous creature, smashing and howling as it made its way through the Museum. Amplified by the screwdriver, Amy could hear people screaming in horror.
An overlapping mix of voices: mums telling children to 'Get back!' Men cursing under
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their breaths, car horns beeping and mobile phones chattering with the news: 'Oh no, it's coming!'
Amy was lost for words.
'It is a sonic screwdriver,' the Doctor explained.
Nervous now, Amy asked, 'How far away is it?'
The Doctor bent his head to one side. 'Not far. I'd say two hundred metres. Or, actually twenty metres. Hard to tell with these things.'
Just as he finished speaking, the glass front of the Museum shop shattered. Glass shards sprayed over the floor, and a huge display of plastic Triceratops exploded, flying through the air. Charging out of the store, souvenir posters and T-Rex T-shirts festooning its massive form, was the wild and frothing mammoth.
The Doctor twiddled his screwdriver, puzzled. 'Glass must have distorted it,' he muttered.
'Never mind that!' Amy yelled. 'It's heading right for me.
Pull me up!'
She grabbed the Doctor's hand, and he hauled her up the column, sitting her on top of a window ledge, high above the floor.
She smiled at him. 'Not bad. You're surprisingly strong for a skinny bloke.'
The Doctor looked hurt. 'I am not skinny! I'm just you know, not too show-offy about my strength.'
Below them, the mammoth was getting ever nearer, veering from side to side, almost like it was unbalanced.
Amy watched it slowing slightly as it
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reached the centre of the room. She'd never seen anything quite like it.
Next to her, the Doctor was transfixed by the sight.
'Wowzers, that is beautiful!'
Amy shot the Doctor a critical look, mouthing 'wowzers'
at him with disdain.
'Yeah, sorry, I'm so not saying that again,' he said. 'Mind you - wowzers. Might catch on...? No?'
Amy shook her head disapprovingly. 'Not likely.'
The Doctor wasn't put off though. 'You have to admit it is beautiful. What a wondrous thing. And it might not even be alien. Could be from your own planet. We could send it back to its own time. Or maybe it'll be happy here. Find it a nice elephant to share its life with—'
'What's it doing?' Amy interrupted. 'It doesn't look very scared.'
From where they were, it almost looked like it was trying to read the