15 November 2008

In A Valley Outside of Cardiff, Wales

A very distant scream echoed in Jack's ears. He looked up quickly. "Gwen!" he called. "Did you hear that?"

Gwen, searching through a grove of trees not too far from Jack, poked her head out from behind an elm. "No, what was it, love?"

Jack frowned. "It's gone now. But I could have sworn I heard a scream. It sounded like Ianto."

Gwen hurried over to him. "Where did it come from?" she inquired.

"Um…." Jack closed his eyes. "That way," he said, pointing in the direction he had thought the scream came from.

"Well, let's go see, then," Gwen encouraged.

Jack nodded, and together they headed quickly along the scrub-land and valleys dotted with small stands of trees. "Ianto?" they started to call. "Ianto, are you there? Where are you? Ianto!"

"I'm going to check over there," Gwen said, pointing to another little grove of trees. "Looks like there's a little building, or something."

"What would he be doing in there?" Jack said, incredulously. "Oh, all right. Go check." She walked away and disappeared into the trees. Then, Jack heard a scream. He started running. "Gwen! What happened?" he shouted. Then he saw her, looking down at something on the ground. Before he got a good look, his heart dropped, thinking it was Ianto. But as he got closer, he realized that it was the body of a young woman he had never seen before.

Gwen was gazing at it, horrified. The woman's face, arms, and clothing were burned in places, and her chest had a deep gash through it. Her eyes would have been open, but they had been burnt out, leaving ashy pits in their place. "Jack, it's awful!" she cried. Jack reached for her arm gently, unable to tear his eyes away from the terrible sight.

"It's okay, don't look at it," he said automatically. "C'mon, you've seen worse."

Gwen nodded. "Yeah…" But she continued to stare at the body in horror.

There came a rustling sound from behind them. Instinctively, they both whirled around, reaching for their guns, drawing them, and aiming them. They were facing four people; a dark-skinned young woman, a red-headed young man, a dark haired man who was taller than the others, and...Ianto.

Ianto had a gun to his head, held there by the woman.


Cliffie again, sorry. There might continue to be several of those. One genre is "Suspense", after all, so...Also there will be more of the second genre in a couple more chapters. Thanks for sticking around! Love you all! DFTBA!

~Clare