The gunshot echoed thunderously in the air, then silence, deadened silence. The air was empty; the white noise and all else leaving the night devoid of any sign of life.
Memory filled the silence with laughter; the ripe smell of New Castle hit his senses along with clap on the back as Alex Hopkins greeted him. "Have a sit, Jack," he spoke with such camaraderie Jack almost felt guilty not taking him up on the offer of a drink.
"I'll just have the usual."
Every week, this ritual was theirs; the two old men, drinking in the same den, laughing and just letting go. There was a quiet respect for Jack's age and knowledge that his CO had left unspoken for so long. Likewise, Jack appreciated all that Alex had seen, done, and survived. Alex chuckled and he took a good drink from his tumbler. "One day, Jack, I'll get you to let loose."
The promise was part of a weekly schedule that had brought them together both as teammates and friends. Danger was one thing, but walking away from it and having a life was another. Alex could walk away from all that, somehow. There was some bit of hope in him that let that warm, fuzzy feeling, which could only come from hops and grain, wash away the fear and destruction. That must have been how he made it through so many imposable days; days when Jack thought he would be the only one to walk away. He deserved all the accolades that followed when the job was done.
In Jack's tired eyes, this man was a hero, a survivor and a true leader. But in the cold air of a new millennium, there would be no more cheers for Alex Hopkins.
As the ashes of time swept by, only the reminiscence was left playing like an old film over the fallout of the latest imposable day. The silence was all that was left after the memory itself faded, and it lay thick in the Hub. It was a silence so few knew as well as Jack Harkness.