14
... Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have also confirmed.
Ianto opens his eyes from sleep.
He squints up at the light on the basement.
Jack steps into his vision. "I found a pack of light bulbs."
Jack walks back to the radio on the metal shelf.
... Parts of China and Northern Korea are among the few remaining to verify withdrawals.
"They're broadcasting..." Ianto says with surprise.
"It came on about two hours ago. Woke me up." Jack grins "We won Ianto."
Jack waits for him to say something. Beat.
"It went on all night. Everywhere. It was completely a ground battle. Mostly hand to hand. You can't see them unless you're up close. A lot of people died. Some from combat. But most from poison gas inhalation. They secrete it." Jack filing the silence.
"How many died?" Ianto asks softly as he reaches for Jack's hand.
"They think over a hundred thousand. They're just estimates." Jack sighs, then brightens again ,"But we held strong."
"How do they know it's over?"
"A mass evacuation by them started about eight o'clock this morning. It's eleven now. They're leaving." Jack's smile fades and he slid to sit, pulling Ianto against him. "You didn't think we'd make it."
"No."
"Listen, there's things I can take and a couple things I can't and one of them I can't take, is when someone who means a great deal to me…a great deal …who is everything I need, starts losing faith in things. I saw your eyes last night." Jacks voice breaks as he looks Ianto in the eye, truthful "I don't want to ever see your eyes like that again, okay? I'm serious."
Jack's face is hard. He looks shaken. Ianto stares at the conviction in his expression then he leans in and their lips touch, brush then hold. Ianto sits back as Jack blinks "Okay."
THERE'S A WHEEZING SOUND FROM THE CORNER OF THE ROOM.
Ianto and Jack turn to look at Owen - laying down on Jack's folded sweater. Owen's breathing is strained. He still looks grey.
"He's been like that for awhile. We need to get him some medicine." Jack moves closer to Ianto.
"Have they said anything about our area?" Ianto asks.
"Philadelphia and its outlying counties are cleared, but who knows for sure?" Jack shrugs, aware that Ianto is still hazy with some of the local place names, his move from Wales a real shock to the system. Despite his many visits, actually living here is another thing.
Ianto looks at Owen lying limp on the ground. Ianto turns to Jack and whispers "He's not strong enough to fight off another attack."
Jack whispers back "I know. We need to be sure, before we open that door Ianto."
The two men stand under the single dangling light bulb.
Ianto quietly turns and looks at Owen. He moves across the room towards him.
Jack watches as Ianto kneels down and reaches to Owen's side. Ianto unclips the baby monitor from his son's belt.
Ianto walks back to Jack. He holds it out between them.
He turns it ON.
A SLIGHT STATIC IS HEARD. IANTO TURNS THE VOLUME ALL THE WAY UP. THE STATIC GETS A LITTLE LOUDER, BUT DOESN'T CHANGE. THERE ARE NO NOISES, NO SPIKES, NO VOICES... JUST EMPTY ELECTRICAL STATIC.
Ianto makes eye contact with Jack.
"That's good enough for me." Jack whispers.
Ianto nods, "Me too."
The basement door cracks open a few inches.
Jack opens it all the way.
DUST FLOATS UP IN THE DAYLIGHT THAT SPILLS DOWN THE STAIRS.
Jack moves up the stairs by himself. He reaches the top and looks around. Turns back down to the faces at the bottom. Gives them the thumbs up.
Ianto leads Toshiko up the stairs. He carries a limp Owen in his arms.
The dust seems to hang in the air, the light filtering through and the back door is swinging wide open.
Ianto and Toshiko and Owen watch as Jack walks over the toppled chairs to get to the cabinets. "Get the syringe as well. We might need to give him an epinephrine shot."
Jack nods as he begins to search the piles of things that have fallen from the cabinets.
Ianto gently lays Owen on the sofa.
The TV is still on, cheering can be heard. Toshiko steps out of the closet and looks into the family room. "People are dancing."
She points at the closet.
Owen strains to look in her direction. Ianto looks at him. "You want to see it?"
Owen nods, "yes" as he struggles to breathe.
"I'll bring the TV in here." Ianto promises, moving quickly to please the poor child.
Today there are no countries, and no races, and no differences – we are all a part of the same -
Ianto unplugs the television. The screen goes black.
Toshiko moves the coats aside as Ianto wheels the television and the television cart out into the hall.
Ianto pulls the television into the family room. Careful not to trip it on the carpet.
The TV screen is like a mirror.
Ianto moves the television into position.
The TV stops moving.
The room is reflected and the figure standing stock still can be seen.
Ianto stays frozen with his hands on either side of the television cart. He's slightly bent over. His back is to the family room.
Ianto straightens and turns around slowly.
Owen is held by his waist three feet in the air. Owen's face turns to the colour of ash as his throat closes up.
For a moment it appears he's suspended in the air. Then we see the outlines... and we see the eyes. The black eyes.
There is a creature close to seven feet tall standing in the middle of the family room. Its powdery skin has taken on the shades, lines and colours of the family room so perfectly, it almost disappears.
It blinks.
Ianto and Toshiko have turned to stone. Toshiko stands frozen in the front hall.
Jack comes out of the doorway from the kitchen to the family room. He takes two steps into the room and comes to a stop next to the fireplace. The inhaler and syringe in his hand fall to the ground. The creature is between Ianto and Jack in the middle of the family room.
Owen is dying.
THE LAST SOUNDS OF AIR STOP IN HIS THROAT.
The lines of the chairs and windowsill mimicked on the creature's skin move as the creature moves its free hand.
Ianto's eyes shift to the hand.
THREE OF THE CREATURES FINGERS ARE MISSING - SLICED OFF BY A BUTCHER KNIFE.
The creature's hand moves to Owen's face. It tilts its fingers and palm back.
THE COLORS ON THE HAND ARE ALREADY CHANGING TO MATCH IT'S NEW POSITION IN THE ROOM.
A small pore opens up on its wrist.
A YELLOWISH GAS STARTS TO LEAK OUT OF THE OPENING.
Ianto looks up from the leaking poison gas to the face of the creature. It's large empty black eyes lock on Ianto's.
IANTO STARTS TO HEAR A HIGH PITCH RINGING SOUND - IT BEGINS TO ENGULF ALL SOUND IN THE ROOM.
IANTO STARES HELPLESSLY INTO THE LARGE BLACK EYES.
WE MOVE INTO IANTO'S EYES... THEY WIDEN. WE SEE THE EMOTION IN THEM. HIS MOUTH BARELY GETS THE WORDS OUT.
"He's reading my…"
THE HIGH PITCHED RINGING SOUND OVERWHELMS EVERYTHING. THE ROOM GOES BRIGHT WHITE.
REALIZE IT IS THE HEADLIGHTS OF A CAR THAT PULLS TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.
The car door opens. Ianto Jones steps out. His coat is open. He is wearing a black shirt and black pants. A priest's white collar sits under the lapel of the black shirt. Ianto looks around in a daze.
We are on a country road. Four police cars are scattered amongst the tow trucks and the ambulances.
A large group of officers and workers hover around a green truck that has swerved off the road into a grouping of trees.
Officer Andy Davidson walks up to Ianto. He whispers something into a walkie clipped to his shirt as he approaches. Andy looks badly shaken. Beat. The two men look at each other.
"What do you know?" Andy asks softly, almost apologetically.
Ianto stands motionless with his hands at his sides. Beat. "There was an accident. Drunk driving. They weren't sure."
"He wasn't drinking. John fell asleep at the wheel." Andy gestures in the direction of one of the ambulances. John Hart sits to the side on the grass. His arms rest on his bent knees.
"Is he okay?"
"Yes... That's the first thing Rhiannon asked too."
Ianto smiles a little smile. "She's talking... Which ambulance is she in?"
"She's not in an ambulance Father."
"Why not?" Ianto is confused, "Good lord, she is not with Gray's body is she?"
"See Father, John's truck swerved off the road and ah... Hit Rhiannon and then a tree. She was pinned between the two."
"Pinned? What does that mean?"
"The truck... the truck has severed most of her lower half." Andy chokes out, his eyes shifting to the body bag containing Gray Harkness-Jones being lifted gently to the side of the road.
"What did you say?" Ianto blinks.
Beat.
"She won't be saved. At this point she's alive, because the truck is holding her together. She doesn't feel much, and she's talking almost like normal. We didn't pull the truck out, cause we wanted you to come down here to be with her, as long as she's awake. That won't be very long." Andy is speaking slowly, trying to get it all out and Ianto knows he has probably been practicing it in his head "Father, you understand what I've told you?"
"Andy." Ianto starts to weep softly, "Is this the last time I'm going to talk to my Sister?
"Yes it is."
The other officers turn and look as Ianto walks by them. He walks on, unaware of the stares.
He slows as he reaches the back bumper of the truck. It sticks out onto the road a few feet. He comes around the side of the vehicle.
Rhiannon Harkness is beautiful in a Mother Earth way. Her straight brown hair falls down over her oval face. She leans over the front bumper of the truck onto the hood. Her head rests on her arms like a child resting on a school desk. Her back is against a tree. The lower half of her is obscured by the truck.
She's able to raise her head and shoulders as Ianto walks up to her. She is shivering slightly.
"Hi sweetie." She smiles.