Chapter Three:

No Rest…


"That," Gwen shone her flashlight into the mud, "Is not a weevil track. Any ideas – ?" she looked first to Jack and then Ianto.

"Nope – " Ianto answered first. The tracks were apparently made by a quadruped – something big. Assuming the thffing had been walking rather than running (which seemed apparent, but one could never make too many assumptions when dealing with alien species), it had to be at least two or three metres long. Judging by the dept of it's footprints in the mud, it weighed at least three kilos – or at least that was Ianto's best estimation without a calculator. "Jack – ?" he asked, noticing that the Captain was unusually quiet.

"Maybe. Come on – we'd better find this thing and get it contained. But be careful – and don't do anything stupid."

Stupid as compared to what, Ianto wondered, we hunt bloody aliens for a living… but he kept his thoughts to himself as they fanned out, weapons drawn.

"Jack – I think there's more than one set of tracks here – " Gwen called from over the next rise.

"Yeah – I'm seeing that too – Ianto – ?"

"Still here," he replied, attempting to keep one eye on the slick, uneven ground and the other on the dark underbrush. Although theoretically whatever it was, it would be big enough that he'd see it coming… still, no telling what kind of night-vision it had – or what kind of sense of smell. At least the moon was full, that would make tracking the thing easier – he just hoped that bullets would be enough to stop it once they found it because whatever it was, it was really, really big… so much for a quiet night in… he thought, as he skittered in the mud – Ianto picked himself back up, tried not to think about his dry cleaning bill, and continued on, barely aware that he could no longer hear Jack and Gwen's voices.

He wandered further off the track, into the brush, slid down another slick ridge and found himself in a thicket of tall pine trees. And finally realized he was completely alone.

Almost.

A twig snapped up ahead.

Something in the shadows moved ever so slightly – could just be the wind – Ianto ducked behind a tree, holding his breath; he counted silently to ten, listening. Yup. Something was moving out there and he was pretty sure it wasn't human. "Jack – " Ianto hissed into his com-link. "Jack – Gwen – !"

"Where are you?" Jack's voice came over first.

Ianto looked around and realized he had no idea how to answer that. Over a hill? Through a dale?

"Ianto – ?" Jack's voice hissed more urgently in ear.

"I have no idea – "

"Ianto," Gwen's voice, "Oh god – Jack – Ianto – I've got it – Jack – !" her link went dead.

"Gwen – " Ianto and Jack asked almost at the same time.

Then, "Ianto?" Jack queried.

"Go find her. I'm fine," he cast a quick glance around the other side of the tree – maybe he'd been imagining things? No – no I definitely saw something

Jack answered with a quiet 'all right' – Ianto held his ground a moment more before continuing on. Whatever had been was – it wasn't there now –

In the distance a shot rang out – a distinctly not-human howl pierced the night – Ianto closed his eyes – he'd never heard anything so terrible (and he'd heard a lot of terrible sounds in his short twenty five years of life) –

There was another shot – and another – and when Ianto opened his eyes, he realized he wasn't alone. Either he had found it or it had found him but regardless, Ianto recognized the beast from oldest of the old case files in the Torchwood archives… he'd studied them in depth after he first joined Torchwood London, but – honestly – nothing could really have prepared him for the thing he was face to face with now.f

……………………………

Jack fired six rounds into the creature but it still kept running – he might have been satisfied that it was running away from them if he didn't recognize it and the need to contain the situation.

"Oh God – Jack – what was that thing – !"

"Did it get near you?" he asked, trying (but failing) to keep his tone neutral.

"No – I'm fine – "

"You're bleeding."

"Caught m'self on that branch there – that's when link went down – I'm fine, really – " she fumbled to get her earpiece back in, "Where's Ianto?"

"He's fine; he can take care of himself," Jack responded, maybe a little more forcefully than he meant to. Toshiko – Owen – they'd known how to take care of themselves too… "Let me see your arm."

"It's just a scratch – come on – if there's really more than one of those things out there – "

Jack understood her concern – wondered if maybe it wasn't a little heightened, the same way his was – yesterday – the day before – now we move on… his own words. Just because they'd suffered losses, that didn't stop the rift from opening up, dumping new threats into Cardiff's streets. "Let me see you arm – Gwen, don't make me make that an order," please…

"It's a bloody scratch – it's nothing – "

"Fine – so let me see it," he insisted – if she'd been bitten – there was no cure and the thought of losing one more person that he cared about – loved… He knew he'd lose them all eventually, but not today – please, just not today. Gwen looked pissed, but she gave in and let him examine the wound; it was just what Gwen said it was. The wound was rounded – gouged – bloody – it would probably be bruised by morning. Right now it need cleaning – gauze – but it was just a scratch – he let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Not today…

"Jack – ?"

"You're right – it's just a scratch – " he favoured her with a tight smile. Not today…

"So are you going to tell me what the hell is going on now?"

"Those things – they're like a disease – it's passed on in the saliva – "

"What is it, then?"

"In simplest terms – a werewolf." And he waited – and watched as disbelief overtook her features. Even Jack had to admit, and even with everything they saw on a daily basis, werewolves were a little out there… but before she could ask, he answered, guiding their way back up the trail towards the direction he thought Ianto had wandered off in, "Torchwood was founded after one of those creatures attacked Queen Victoria – it's an alien, Gwen. And it's contagious."

"You mean – like – in the old movies? You get bitten and you turn into one?"

"That's exactly what I mean."

"So what do we do now – load up on silver bullets?" she seemed to barely believe what she was hearing out of him.

"That's exactly what we do – "

"You're can't be serious – "

"Do I look like I'm joking – now come on, we've got to find that thing before we have an epidemic on our hands."

More shots rang through the night –

……………………………………

I'm dead… that's it, I'm dead – Ianto thought as he looked into the gleaming yellow eyes of the approaching werewolf… off in the distance he could hear Jack and Gwen calling his name – but they sounded too far off to be any help to him now – Ianto Jones – dog food… Ianto emptied his last clip into the creature – it kept coming at him, slowly – stalking him almost – like it was making up its mind just exactly how it wanted to kill him. There was nowhere to run - no use running - his back was up against a tree and he was finding it extremely difficult to move - but even if he could have moved, he'd read the file, he knew how fast these things could run and bullets were clearly not having much of an affect on it.

Over his shoulder Ianto heard another snarl – the other one, it must be, the one that had had Gwen – but if he could hear her voice, she must be ok. There was some consolation in that, he supposed. The funny thing was that he wasn't as scared as he thought he should be with the appearance of the second werewolf – then again, what was the difference, one or two – dead was still dead, right? He glanced over at the second wolf – it was smaller – darker coloured – no less horrific with its glistening brown eyes and long sharp teeth –

The second werewolf seemed to be paying more attention to the first than to him – territorial, maybe? Very little was known about them – Ianto searched his memory for any scrap of information that might be useful to him now but there had only been the one instance –

The two beasts faced each other – the one over Ianto's shoulder snarled again – the growl started low in its throat – it was definitely directed at the one in front of him. (He also noticed, almost a side note, that it was wounded – Jack and / or Gwen must've shot it – he seemed to remember that a wounded animal was a dangerous animal… great, two of them and they're both pissed.) He continued to press his back up against the tree – maybe they'd be so occupied with each other he could slip away –

The one in front lunged forward – the one to his side met it head on – while they tumbled around in the mud, he did the only sensible thing one could do in a situation such as this. He ran.

……………………………………………

Jack caught him head on, just up the ridge – not today… he held Ianto for the briefest of moments but still a moment longer than he would have normally… the he held the other man at arm's length –

Ianto just shook his head – he hadn't been bitten – and it would figure that Ianto was just the sort of person who would have read through all the old Torchwood files in his spare time. Jack nodded – Ianto looked shaken, but none the worse for wear.

"There's two of them," he said, in what sounded like an attempt at calm, "They – seemed more interested in each other than in me."

Jack led the way over the ridge. By the time they got there, the creatures were both gone. Ianto was right – they'd fought – there was more blood in the mud – broken underbrush – one tree freshly fallen – it had been a pretty savage fight.

"Territorial aggression?" Ianto suggested.

"Don't know – I'm assuming you've read the same files I have."

"Yeah - probably."

"So what now?" Gwen wanted to know.

"Sun'll be up soon," Ianto looked around, "There'll be no tracking them after that."

"What – why?"

"Think about those old movies, Gwen," Jack told her.

"You can't be serious – those things – they're people?"

"Not people," said Jack, "Infectees. It's a virus – a disease. It overtakes the host and – and changes them. They ceased to be human the moment they were bitten."

"So what do we do now?"

"I'll track down all reported cases of animal bites," Ianto began. "See if – if anything pops up as unusual. Maybe some of those reports of 'wild animals' roaming the streets the other night weren't just weevils."

Jack nodded – Gwen just looked around her in disbelief. Then she shook herself. "All right. I'll come back to the hub with you – "

"You don't have to," Jack offered. "We can't do anything until nightfall anyway – why don't you get some sleep."

"You expect me to sleep after this?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I expect you to do. And get that arm cleaned up – even if it's just a scratch – "

"All right, fine. But I am not going to tell Rhys that I was out here hunting Lon Bloody Chaney Jr. – as far as he's concerned, this was just another weevil incident – got it?"

Jack smiled a little – even after everything that had happened the last week, she could still make a joke… that had to be a good sign. "Mum's the word," he winked at her, looking over at Ianto.

"Works for me," the younger man agreed.

……………………………………………………………

"You mind driving?" Ianto asked as they got back to the SUV.

"Too much excitement for one night?" Jack teased him, just a little.

"I just want to close my eyes for ten minutes is all."

"No problem," Jack took the keys from him – and he would have sworn that Ianto brushed his fingers just a little, a little longer than was really necessary just to pass over the keys – then Ianto looked away, maybe a little too quickly. Jack smiled, but kept his observations to himself.

They climbed into the SUV – Ianto was asleep by the time he pulled onto the main road… Jack rested one hand on the younger man's leg anyway.