29

"Shit," Ianto muttered into the black room. Lucy whimpered somewhere to his left, then he heard the click of the dog's claws on the hardwood floor as she came near.

In a moment, he felt her cold, wet nose nuzzling his cheek and neck.

He pushed her away and sat up, swinging his legs off the sofa. He couldn't see anything, and silently berated himself for not keeping a flashlight close. He knew the lights were likely to go out, but unusually he had failed to think ahead. It was worrying about Jack. He had totally zoned out about himself.

Lucy whimpered again, and licked his hand. Her warm tongue only accentuated how cold it was in the house. How long ago had the power gone out?

"I'm going," Ianto said as he stood up and wrapped the afghan around his shoulders.

He tried to orient himself, disturbed by how disorienting the absolute darkness was. It didn't help matters much that when he made his decision, Lucy was in his way.

Cursing, he nudged the dog away with his legs and slowly made his way around the sofa, holding on to it with his free hand. From there it would be a straight shot to the kitchen, where he remembered leaving a flashlight on the counter, next to the coffee maker.

Slowly, with one hand outstretched and searching for obstacles while the other hand clutched the afghan close to his throat, he made his way forward.

The sound of his socks shuffling whispered across the floor and he could hear the click of the setter's claws as she kept pace with him.

He envied her keen nose sure she could smell where he was going far more easily than he could see.

After a few moments he supposed he must have made it to the kitchen and he started shuffling left.

He sighed with relief when his hip finally bumped into the counter. Then it was another minute of fumbling across the counter top until his hand found the flashlight. It fell over with a clatter and Ianto grasped it with both hands, turning the cylinder until he found the switch.

A beam of white light shot into his eyes, and squeezing them shut, he tilted the light away from himself.

He opened his eyes again, blinking at the red spots that clouded his vision. After a few more moments, his eyes adjusted and he flashed the beam around the kitchen. He relaxed. Now that he could see he was much less anxious.

"Let's go have a look outside."

Lucy, apparently reacting to the word "outside", stood up and bolted to the back door.

Shining the light through the window only showed him another beam of light and his own face peering back at him, darkened and more sinister. He lowered the flashlight and pressed his face close to the glass. He could barely make out the snow coming down. He reached down and twisted the door knob, and pulled the door open.

Immediately, a gust of wind burst through the doorway, blowing a sheet of white into the room.

Ianto pushed the door closed, leaning against it to combat the wind.

Once he had the door closed he retrieved the flashlight, which he had dropped, and shone the light on a small drift of snow on the floor.

Lucy came into the circle of light, sniffed at the white stuff, and gave it a lick.

Ianto shook his head at the pile of snow.

There was no way he was going to go out there to start the generator.

He was thinking of the snow, the way the wind was blowing, and how cold it was getting, when the air began to buzz.

For a moment he thought that a bee or wasp had somehow survived the freezing temperatures. Never mind that it was the middle of January and bees would have been hibernating, or whatever it is they did in the winter.

The buzzing grew louder, the air seemed to be vibrating with the sound, and within seconds, it was zipping across his exposed skin.

He could feel the hairs on his arms standing up underneath the fabric of his sweater. The buzzing intensified, Lucy began to howl, and run in circles.

The buzzing was in his skull now, he could feel his teeth vibrating in their sockets, and he clapped his hands over his ears, dropping the flashlight again in the process.

There was electricity in the air now, and he could smell burning ozone.

Just when he thought he couldn't take anymore, the skull-racking buzz ended abruptly.

Ianto didn't have time to appreciate the sudden silence, when there was a flash of bright blue light, like cold lightning striking close to the house. It lit up the air, and for a second he could clearly see the back deck, and the snow still coming down thickly in stark detail.

Then it all went dark just as a massive BOOM exploded in the silence.

The walls shook.

The windows rattled, but held.

Then it was quiet again.