Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Torchwood or it's characters
Note : So here we are on chapter 9. It's all been building up to this moment. Hope it turned out good, but this isn't the final chapter just yet. ^^
Chapter 9 – We Meet at Last
In her time at Torchwood, Gwen could not deny that she hadn't seen her fair share of weird and wonderful creatures. She had also seen the mess which those creatures were able to leave behind. But the sight which she found herself a part of was a shock to her system.
Years in the police force and dozens of murder scenes could not prepare her for the sight she had woken up to. While it had appeared in the beginning that Mark and the small woman behind the front desk had been running the show, that was no longer the case. A hand was laying, twitching at the side of Gwen and she knew for sure it wasn't her own. The carefully filled nails were broken now and the white skin was stained deep red. The owner of the hand, the small woman from before, lay resting up against the wall across from Gwen, but there was no life in her body to be seen.
The slow sound of liquid falling caused Gwen to look to her right. When nothing appeared to be there, she turned her head up towards the ceiling and it was at this point that a scream left her lips.
Things hanging from the ceiling was one thing, but when those things were the flesh stripped bodies of people, it caused the stomach of Gwen to flip. The need to be sick was strong, but Gwen found that she was unable to take her eyes away from the swinging body above her. Blood continuously dripped down from open wounds and all hopes of saving the poor person had been lost long before Gwen had awoken. She prayed within her own mind that it wasn't a member of the Torchwood team but nothing was sure in the darkened room.
A deep rumbling sound broke Gwen away from the sight of the hanging person and back to around the room. She found that she couldn't see past her feet and so this caused the sudden fear which she had felt to flare up even more. The rumble came again, before a growl followed. Gwen realised she was no longer alone in the room.
With no way of telling where she was in relation to everything else, Gwen felt glued to the spot on the ground as she listened to the growling sounds. The creature creating them didn't seem to be moving from it's spot and after allowing her eyes to hunt the darkness, Gwen believed she was able to make out the shape of the creature to the left hand side of her. Judging from the shadow, Gwen guessed the being to be much bigger then a dog and so scrapped the idea that she was cornered in a room with an angry doggie.
The smell of blood was starting to make her stomach turn again, and biting down into her lower lip was the only way Gwen found to stop herself throwing up. She could only watch as the shadow shifted from side to side before slowly turning.
Red eyes glowed from within the dark shape and the feeling of sickness was replaced with the feeling of the end. Gwen didn't know if it was her fear or something else which was keeping her rooted to the spot on the ground, but she understood that she was completely defenceless in the face of a creature which was most likely the cause of the scene around her.
If this is the end, then let it be quick. The thought raced it's way across the mind of Gwen as she found herself staring into the red eyes of the creature. They were growing larger and so it could only mean that whatever the source of the glowing, floating eyes was, it was making it's way towards Gwen. For a second she considered screaming out, but it seemed pointless when she wasn't even sure if anyway else was still alive.
The beat of her heart within her chest grew stronger with each passing moment, as Gwen watched the creature come towards her. The smell of blood was soon over-powered by a rotting smell which drifted from the shadow in front of her. The smell chocked the air and made it difficult for Gwen to breath as the being growled again and stepped into the circle of light which was falling on the Torchwood employee. Gwen's breath caught in her throat and she found herself locking eyes with a being which was clearly from another world.
She had believed from the beginning that Ianto's idea of a three-headed dog was silly, but as Gwen found herself face to face with a creature which could only be described as a three-headed dog, she was starting to have second thoughts.
It's main head looked directly at Gwen, while the one to the left stared out into space above itself and the one on the right hung down. Only the middle head appeared to have glowing eyes and as she was able to study the creature more, Gwen noticed that the eyes of the other two heads were heavily bleeding. It's back legs were shorter then it's front and so the creature appeared in a crouched position as it opened it's mouth.
The roar which escaped the mouth of the creature filled the room and echoed back. It was starting to move forwards Gwen and she felt her back stiffen up slightly. As it drew closer, she could feel it's warm breath on her face and it's rotten smell filled her nose completely. She felt chocked of all air and stared in horror at the being as once more it opened it's mouth.
Gwen thought for sure that it was over and pressed her eyes firmly shut in an attempt to stop herself from seeing what she believed was going to happen next.
A loud banging sound filled the room and caused the creature to look up, closing it's mouth which was hanging open. A second bang echoed around before a third, louder one followed and light poured into the room. A door flew across the floor and came to a rest a few inches from Gwen.
Turning her head, she found herself blinking into the bright light which surrounded shapes in the doorway.
"GWEN!" A voice cried out into the room as the shapes started to move closer to Gwen. It took a few seconds for her to realise that she had in fact heard the booming voice of Jack filling the room and suddenly her courage returned to her.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god. Jack! Help!" Her voice wasn't overly strong, but knowing that the captain was in the room gave hope to the old police officer that she would be safe. She had taken her attention away from the creature and so didn't notice that, while it may have been distracted for a second, it was now moving in on Gwen once more.
Jack quickly moved across the room with his gun held firmly in his hands. He squeezed the trigger and let out a warning shot at the creature, aiming so that it just brushed over the top of it. He watched as it stopped in it's tracks and turned it's good head to eye Jack. The captain didn't want the creature dead, as Torchwood was all about finding out what came through the rift as well as stopping it.
"Who are you?" The voice which rose from the being was rough and had a growling edge to it. It seemed to understand that Jack was willing to attack it and so proved it had some level of intelligence with stopping it's own attack on Gwen.
"Captain Jack Harkness is the name." Jack kept his voice cool as he eyed the creature. "I've not seen one of you in a long time. Now which race is it again that sends it's hunting dogs before itself?" Knowing what the creature was gave the man his confident edge back as he lowered his gun and started to casually walk the room. He seemed to be ignoring Gwen on the floor or the pair which was Ianto and Claudia in the doorway.
The creature didn't seem to like the fact that something about itself was known and it's attention was completely locked onto the moving form of Jack. It started to move in a circle as it followed the movements of the captain.
Jack couldn't help making over the top thinking sounds as he looked between the creature and the scene around him. When he stopped next to the hanging person, his eyes studied it up and down before looking over at the being. He noted that two of it's heads were blind and so focused on the good pair of red eyes which was staring out.
"Your masters are not meant to be here for many years yet. So how has one of their hounds ended up in Cardiff?" Jack's comment caused the creature to make a loud growling sound as it took a step towards the captain. However he was quick to bring his gun up. "I don't think so. You have a nasty habit of attacking people and I don't want to be next on your list of what you've eaten today. Tell me why you are here?"
The creature weighed up it's options for a moment, before sitting down on the ground and staring up at Jack.
"I'm not the first and I won't be the last. You could say I'm testing the waters. Your race is so weak. So stupid. The humans in this place thought they were controlling me by taking out my eyes, but they never knew it was truly the other way around." A human laugh came from the being and sent a shudder down the spine of those in the room. Jack even found himself unnerved by the words and laugh of the creature.
By now Gwen had pulled herself up onto her feet and was standing in the door with Ianto. She had taken the weight of the male off of Claudia and was watching the scene unfolding in front of her. It was because of this that she didn't notice the girl bending down to the floor and picking something up. Claudia felt fear at the sight of the creature, but it was nothing compared to the anger within her. She knew that the being was the reason why her parents were no longer with her, and to her it didn't matter what the creature wanted or where it had come from.
As Jack opened his mouth to speak, Claudia let the anger she felt control her actions and brought the object in her hands up. She felt like she was seeing red as the creature turned it's head toward the girl and with a cry leaving her lips, she shut her eyes tightly and listened to the sound of the gun shot filling the room.
OOC: Continued
