20
After quickly putting on his dark attire consisting of a T-shirt and a pair of loose black jogging bottoms, Ianto trotted down the stairs and went into the living room of the establishment.
He saw Christopher and Angela sitting on the sofa, holding hands. Another three guests that Ianto hadn't met were standing aghast, their eyes glued to the TV.
Ianto turned to the female guest and asked, "What's happening?"
He was shushed rudely by the two male guests that were standing up in the room, and they replied, "Just watch."
He did what he was told.
SKY News was showing footage that looked like re-runs, not live footage, of an area in Cumbria that had been cordoned off by the army, and whoever was advancing towards them were getting shot.
People fell as they ran towards the army, but because there were so many people running, the outcome turned out bleak for the army personnel. He continued to watch the TV and saw people throwing themselves at the barricade, using themselves as weapons, and it eventually succumbed.
Some army personnel were attacked, some ran.
Despite watching the news, it appeared that the people in the newsroom had no idea what was happening.
Although being shushed earlier, Ianto looked at the female to the side of him and asked, "What are they saying is happening? Have these people gone mad?"
The woman nodded. "Yes, I believe they have."
"Shit," Ianto mumbled to himself, and now realised what he was seeing on TV could be related to the scene he had experienced himself.
The news then went to footage of a press conference in Salford, where police and army personnel were addressing the public about what was happening and what the public should be doing to protect themselves.
Then screams were heard in the background, the camera fell to the floor on its side, and all that could be seen were long spindally legs scampering around the floor whilst one particular female fell, inches from the camera, her blue eyes were wide open as if she was dead.
Her body then jolted, her eyes quickly filled with red, and then she got back up almost a minute later.
Ianto didn't see for certain, but he was sure that the woman was attacking other people. There was chaos for a few minutes, blood fell to the floor and screams filled the room.
Spiders were seen surging across the floor as they chased people.
Everyone that initially fell, got back up, and soon the room was empty as they all fled.
Another clip was mobile phone footage that had been sent into the studio. The person taking the footage appeared to be high up in a flat, and his/her camera was showing a stationary double-decker bus being attacked by six infested people.
Once they smashed their way in, nothing could be seen, but the screams were horrendous.
A minute later, most of the people in the bus seemed to be infested and were piling out and running down the street as if they had seen something of use to them.
They didn't know whether people were being attacked because of a virus laced in vehemence from spider bites, for the taste of their blood, or their flesh.
It was then confirmed by the pasty-faced anchorman that they believed that these things were hijacking people, but the attack was very short because it only took thirty to sixty seconds for the people to change.
So as soon as the spiders infects the victim has overtaken the body, they immediately stop attacking and go on to the next victim.
It appeared that people aren't fully killed because of the quickness of the infection, but a horde surrounding one individual could result in total annihilation and no chance of reanimation.
At the bottom of the TV screen, going very quickly across, were the headlines relating to what was happening. Four headlines at the bottom of the screen were as follows: Prime Minister calls for calm—No attacks reported outside UK—EU President wants UK quarantined—Hospital in Newcastle overrun with the infected.
"We need to board this place up," one of the men said. He then shook his head and held out a quivering hand and introduced himself to Ianto.
He was Steve, he called himself Stripy Steve, obviously a nickname. Steve then introduced his friend,
James.
The female then quickly told Ianto that she was called Joan. Joan was five-four, had dark features and was plain-looking, but she seemed pleasant enough.
"So what are these things then?" the nervous-looking Steve asked. "Some kind of zombie-type—"
"They're not zombies," Ianto spoke up.
Christopher Horton remained sat on his sofa, his eyes looking at the floor, in complete shock. "You don't know for sure what they are. Nobody does."
Ianto said, "Look, this isn't something out of a comic book. They're humans that have been infected with some kind of alien infestation. They're not the dead rising, and you don't have to destroy the brain either. They're not repulsed by garlic or holy water..."
Ianto then stopped talking, as he wasn't sure about some of the stuff that he was coming out with.
"Garlic and holy water? That's vampires," Stripy Steve giggled with sarcasm.
Ignoring Steve, Ianto continued, "They can run really fast and their eyes are red."
Ianto wasn't entirely sure of his last statement.
His mind then began to wander about the gowned man. He was certain he had finally killed him when he ran him over.
"How do you know all that? You've only been watching the telly for the last ten minutes," Joan scoffed.
The silence suffocated the group and although the TV was still blaring, now showing footage of Glasgow's Central Station being overrun with what the media were calling now, The Hitchers, most of the people gazed at the floor in disbelief.
"These things..." Ianto cleared his throat loudly, enough to get everyone's attention. "I think they're already here, in the Barrens."