No where to run
Timeline: Set during the time in Children of the Earth when Jack goes travelling before he finds a way off planet.
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or any of its characters.
The smell of cigarettes, the constant hiss of the faulty toilet cistern filling and the coloured lights shining through the faded curtain made sleeping difficult. The pebbly pillow and lack of heating made it damn near impossible. Jack had stayed in cheep hotels before and he would undoubtedly do so again. He still wished he was anywhere but here. He was just so tired. The thought of getting up and leaving was more painful than just lying there and thinking about why someone would choose to floor a bedroom in linoleum. Probably the same person who though a bar fridge would make a good bedside table.
Jack tried to remember where he was. He had been running for so long, not away from anything or to anything, just running. One town was like another, one country like another. The earth was just too small.
He pulled himself out of bed and flicked the light switch. A florescent glow filled the room making everything look a slightly unearthly green. It took one step to cross the room from the single bed, that didn't come close to holding Jack's frame, to the bathroom. Another switch. Now the room took on a red tinge, like a Christmas tree, or perhaps a brothel. He looked at himself in the mirror. Older. Definitely older.
The traffic noise was louder here, funnelling through the levered windows that couldn't be closed, accompanying an icy breeze. It was at least sweeter than the cigarette smell that permeated the walls and furnishings of the tiny room. Not by much. His finely tuned senses picked up the smell of coal dust and eucalyptus. Where was he?
Another step back into the bedroom, dodging the TV stand and lifting the curtain aside to look out onto the street. He scanned the shop signs for a name. There was one. "Traralgon Pizza Buffet. All you can eat for $10.99." Traralgon, he thought, where was that? He switched on the television. The tiny aerial attached to the set did little for the reception. Wavy lines dissected the faces on the screen. Through the static he could hear the accents. Australian. So he had gone as far as he could go from Cardiff and it still wasn't far enough.
....................
Thanks for reading. For your information Traralgon is a town in south eastern Victoria (southern part of Australia) that's main industry is the open cut coal mines and coal fired power plants that provide most of the electricity for Victoria. Despite that it is actually quite a pretty part of the country. I would like to formally apologise to the people of Traralgon for my scathing review, but not to the Junction Hotel which should be burnt to the ground. I stayed in this hotel room last night and it was a little worse than described. I could hear the bistro below announcing the tickets for people's meals like they were in the room and to get to the room you had to go down this tiny alley, up these metal stairs and then across a metal gantry across the roof top. Classy joint!! There is actually a Pizza Buffet in Traralgon so go figure.