Captain Jack Harkness barrelled through the door with his gun trained on the figure ahead of him. Dr Owen Harper fumbled for the light switch and flicked it on. What they saw was no lumbering alien, as expected, but a girl crouched on the floor with her hands wrapped around her knees. She looked up, utterly terrified at the prospect of two men pointing guns at her. Before she could make any sound, Jack was knelt at her side with his thumb pressed over her windpipe.
"Don't scream," he whispered. "Whatever is in this house, it is imperative that it doesn't find us, and the slightest noise you make will ensure that it does. So if I let you go, will you promise to stay silent? 'Cause otherwise I'll have to sedate you." The girl nodded. "Good girl," Jack continued. "Stay here and try not to move, OK?" He quietly made his way over to Owen, who broke the miniature silence by crying out in pain and clutching his leg.
"Shit," he hissed and fell to the floor.
"Pull it out, Owen!" Jack yelled, completely disregarding the instructions he had just given. He then spoke into his headset; "Gwen, we need you and Toshiko to get in here immediately. We're a man down."
"I'm alright!" Owen proclaimed, holding up the object which had been lodged in his leg. It appeared to be some sort of claw, short, sharp and yellowed. He held it up to the light to examine it, just as another one whistled past, burying itself in the girl's neck. She gasped and slid to the floor, unconscious. Jack turned up the collar of his heavy military coat to protect his own throat. Where were these missiles coming from? He looked around, and before he had time to raise his weapon, a creature leapt from nowhere, mustard yellow and slimy. It crouched over the girl and flicked a long, forked tongue over its lips. It licked the blood oozing from the wound on the girl's neck, apparently savouring the taste. It was going to kill her.
And it would have done, had it not been for the bullet from Gwen's gun which became embedded in the alien's back, causing it to slump over the still unconscious girl. Gwen Cooper and Toshiko Sato moved forward to heft the thing up and make sure it was out. They were shocked at Jack's behaviour, as was Owen. Jack never missed a shot. What had distracted him so much that he had failed to even take this one?
"OK," Jack said, finally snapping out of his reverie. "We need to bring Colonel Mustard here in." He bent down to check the girl's vital signs. She was alive. "Her too".