A single autumn leaf... brown and crisp... clinging to its empty branch... the solitary sign of life on an otherwise barren tree.
A gust of wind... the leaf breaks free... flutters down, landing in the slow current of the Wye. The last leaf of the season, taking its final journey south.
As it floats along the surface, rising and falling with the current, all we can hear is the river's gentle movement...the trickle of water... the splash of timid rapids... until distant invade this world... soft at first, but growing louder... Laughter... a Cockney snark. Owen?
And then our leaf crashes into something... the bow of a canoe. We hear the voices even clearer now... Men's voices, as we rise up the bow... see it's a small flotilla of canoes, Owen clutching onto an oar and ineffectively trying to help row towards the shore, the white water almost rendering him speechless.
Almost.
Ianto is sitting behind Jack, his laughter echoing as Owen again bemoans the fact Gwen got to stay behind to liaise with Tosh back at the Hub.
"Owen, give it up. Gwen can't swim" Jack sighs, glancing back from the bow of the three man canoe, the other canoes flanking them full of unit men.
"Well I think this sucks, is stupid, and pointless" Owen says emphasising his point by slamming the oar into the water and only splashing himself, making him roar again.
"Stop it or you will be put in a time out again" Ianto warns calmly, Owen throwing himself back into the bags behind him, folding his arms petulantly as he now refuses to row.
They moved a lot easier now.
"Twats"
They were soon on the shore making camp along the shoreline... hauling wood, building campfires, pitching squares of canvas for makeshift rooftops. And this camp is full of life because these men are determined, their fearless leader sitting calmly as Ianto pours coffee from the pot over the fire before he begins
"Right. Sully, you have the maps?" Jack asks a Unit solider sitting nearby. Although none of them have anything on them to show rank Jack remembers who is who, the soft whisper in his ear as Ianto leans over to pour a boon, much better than mainframe at prompting when needed ya know.
"Yes Captain, seems we have two trails here, both have sightings and both seem reasonable, also both lead to the same place here on the map." Sergeant Sully answers, everyone leaning over to study the map, "See? This trail leads along the ridgeline but this other one goes through the dense forest."
"Shit" Owen huffs, "Which is quicker?"
"Owen!" Jack warns, "We will go the one most likely to find what we are hunting."
"And I still say it's bullshit. We are more likely to find that whack job Bobo up here talking into a camera about Squatch Scat than finding the runaway Gervillian!" Owen replies, "I vote for the quickest one. Their way it is probably long one, little orange fucker."
"I am forced to agree with Owen" Ianto says softly, "We've seen no fresh sign of the creature, the last track was back at shore and is at least two days old, even you have to agree on that sir."
"But they do like height" Jack replied sullenly, his finger tracing the ridgeline.
"Right, then we split up" Owen suggests, "Me and Jack take the inland route, seems easier for my bad back, you take a team and go along the ridge Tea Boy, after all. You are the damned hiker."
"Agreed" Jack nods and Ianto bites back a complaint.
"Fine" he mutters, looking away and again Jack glances at him and sees his annoyance.
Ianto really didn't want to be here.
Well.
He as not the one who let the damned thing escape.
At least Gwen had apologised immediately, even offering to dry-clean the suit they all knew was ruined.
Ianto stands and the unit pants offered along with a complete change of clothes form the muddy mess Gwen had slammed him into while running for her life and screaming like a fucktard hug his arse nicely as he pulls the warm coat around him and looks over the water as if he is looking for someone to catch up.
He looks like one of those postcards, just needs a faithful dog at his heel.
Jack sighs and wishes they were somewhere warm too.