2
Ianto woke with that dull thud behind his eyes that only good malt can deliver.
He rolled to his side and fell off his sofa, hitting the floor with a grunt.
"Hello?"
The voice was faint and he groaned as he wondered who was wandering out in the hallway of the apartment building.
"Hello?"
"For fucksake" he muttered as he struggled to his hands and knees, heading for the door and he opened it to peer out into the dark hallway. Dark? Ianto frowned as he wondered why nobody had lights on.
Come to think of it.
Why the fuck was it…oh.
Ianto looked at his watch and saw it was barely 5am, still dark because is always is before the dawn.
"Hello?"
Ianto recognised the voice now and he answered, "Claude?"
"Ianto? Is that you mate?" the voice came closer and Ianto saw his neighbour stumbling, "Where are you."
"Claude, what the hell are you doing out without you bloody clothes in? You'll catch you death in your jimjams" Ianto scolded and the man paused, his face changing.
"You can see?"
Ianto hesitated at the tone, the way the man's eyes were searching and he felt a strange foreboding, stepping away from the man he had been about to help.
"No, you sound cold. The lights seem to be off, it's pitch black." Ianto tried and Claude laughed without humour.
"Oh it's not the lights mate, it's our eyes" he said with a shake of his head, "I woke to my radio. It's happened all over."
"What has?"
"We've all gone blind" Claude whimpered, "The lights in the sky. We're all blind."
Ianto felt is stomach clench.
Oh gods.
Rhia and the kids.
.
.
.
.
.
Jack shuffled about unable to settle in the bed and he sat up with a sigh, then went to slide his feet over the side of the bed.
Huh. The lights were off, he always slept with a night light, something he didn't like the others to know and Ianto had never commented in it when…don't think about him. Don't think about the smell of him … the taste… that skin in the soft light….
He felt for the bedside table and clicked on the light.
Clicked off the light.
Clicked on…
Power cut? He felt for his VM and flicked it open, looking down and saw…nothing.
He opened the drawer in the beside cabinet and opened the flick lighter, expecting some light. It burned his fingers as he felt to see why it wasn't going.
OK.
"Not good Jax" he whispered to himself as he realised he was blind.
Jack panicked for a moment or two, then calmed himself and felt for his Webley that was in the drawer.
Tosh jumped awake from her Workstation and looked around blearily, yawning as she scolded herself for falling asleep again.
What had woken her?
She rubbed her eyes and slid from her chair to search the hub.
.
.
.
.
.
"Ah god" Rhys moaned, "Bloody hell woman. I have to be up on half a bloody hour to do the dawn run with Daf off sick. Why do you think I went to bed early?"
Gwen was slapping at him making a noise of alarm and he sat up to ask her what the hell she was doing but he stopped dead as he stared at her.
Her eyes were staring wildly about the room as if she was in the dark but the light was still on from her shower from the smell of her hair.
"Gwen?" he said softly, "What the fuck is going on?"
"Oh god Rhys" she sobbed, "I can't see."
.
.
.
.
.
Ianto moved swiftly, dressing in dark clothing and pulling the beanie down low as he slid along the building's shadows. He had wanted a vehicle but knew that would draw attention so he settled for running like a mad thing in between hiding and freaking out as more and more blind people appeared in the streets like extra from some zombie movie.
All blind.
Anyone who had watched the meteor storm was blind. Oh god.
Jack.
Ianto stopped moving and clutched at the brickwork as he wondered if Jack was OK, then his thoughts returned to his sister and her children. The estate was just around the…
The fire raged.
People were screaming as they stumbled about and several houses burned uncontrollably without any sigh of the fire service.
Right.
Blind.
Ianto stood and watched the remains of his sister's house fold in on itself and he gave a fleeting thought that they might have got out but he knew they hadn't, Johnny's car in the driveway. Friday night. Fat fuck always gets home from the pub late and puts the chippie on for a late night fry up. No. Ianto knew as he stood there that his sister and the babans were gone. Perished without even being woken by the drunken arsehole's banging about. Ianto wondered if he had even gone blind or just fallen asleep again, the fire last year the last time, or so he had promised.
What do I do now?