3
"So, these are grown here?" Jack asked around a mouthful of tomato.
"She has a green thumb" Kip pointed to the little girl who rolled her eyes.
"Actually" Scout said calmly, "Wei has a green body."
"That's rude" Ianto snorted with amusement, "It's a pretty colour, look at her. So lush."
She grinned happily at his words and Jack leaned in, "So. You understand what happened."
"Yes. There are more of you?" she asked, "Tell me there are more. It cannot be only us…altered."
"There are humans" Ianto said softly, "Back where we came from."
"And Mica?"
"Yes. Rhiannon kept her end of the deal, she died to save her" Ianto looked away.
"I am sorry, you were fond of her. She was a podmate, was she not?" Kip grimaced as he reached out to comfort Ianto and he seemed unsurprised when Ianto pulled away. When Ianto leaned against Jack there was obvious surprise shown though.
"So. Rhiannon really was your sister" Jack surmised.
"Yes."
"I am sorry Tiger, what a horrible thing. But, little Mimi, she's still here and we will do everything we can to protect her." Jack looked around as he spoke, "I see now. This place is protected?"
"CCTV, motion detectors…a lot of stuff knocked out without power" Kip agreed, "We are not visible from the road, when we had power we have a bubble of invisibility that protected us. All gone now."
Ianto looked at Jack who knew the unspoken 'for now' that hung in the air and he nodded to show he heard him, "So. This is a good place to dig in? An old school?'
"A school for mutants" Wei said happily "Like the X-Men."
"Stop it, we are not mutants" Ianto scolded. Then after a beat he said calmly, "the correct term is aliens."
They all started to snigger, then laugh at the stupidity of it all and Jack looked at Ianto as he hoped he might say something more but then he realised it was not his place to ask, it was up to Ianto to be ready, hopefully one day he would be and until then he could only be a positive support so Jack changed the subject "So. We can be here before dawn, if there are no complications"
"Dawn?" Wei gasped with wide eyes, "Really?"
"We will go back to where we came from, spend the afternoon getting ready and then tonight when it's dark we will move" Jack nodded. "One last snatch and grab for supplies and fencing we want, would benefit us here to keep the stock out of the gardens. Will take us most of the night."
"But…the Zomboids come out at night" Scout said with a frown, looking at Ianto.
"But the humans know that and that's when they lock themselves in. They are more dangerous right now, they are desperate" Ianto explained softly, "We will not be seen by them and can gather our things as we go that we need for security and longevity here."
"So…by dawn?" Wei asked again.
"Yes, so let's go pick some tomatoes for me to take back for Mica, yeah?" Ianto rose and they headed out of the room, Scout watching Jack intently. He turned to face him with a raised eyebrow.
"So, a Boeshanninan"
"Yes" Jack smiled.
"And you know about him?"
"He's not said, I've not asked. Don't need to know to know I like him. Knowing his origins will not make a difference to my feelings so I am letting him have his space to adjust to the idea of trusting me" Jack shrugged.
"So you've worked out how he knows about this place?" Scout was eerily calm and Jack smiled, nodding.
"Well, as long as we agree he's worth waiting around for when he does that chewing" Scout finally nodded, sliding from his chair to toddle off and Kip snorted with amusement.
Jack turned to Kip, "Mica. She is so clever, so tuned in. We have others in the team, good people and a pregnant woman."
"Really?" Kip was interested now.
"How safe is it here?" Jack asked as he considered the size of the place.
"The place itself it good but the food… I mean resources are lean with it being holidays as we didn't have much in. The snatch and grab you speak of … will need to have food and clothing maybe" Kip grimaced and Jack grinned as he assured him they had food and could get more. They would be OK. Jack looked around and saw their defences were good, but needed tightening up, also noted the things they had already put in place. He saw improvements they could make right away and rose to follow Ianto out.
Time to go get the others, time to move.
Finally, they might have found a home.
