12
Lunchtime and Jack was concerned. He and Art had long since arrived back from the edge of the properties, Owen there to see what footage had been captured and still no Ianto. As Jack stood on the front veranda looking to the direction Ianto had ridden that morning he felt a strangeness in his chest that he could not quite name.
"Oi, we gonna do this?" Owen asked.
"Yeah. Yeah sure" Jack sighed, deciding Ianto was sulking out there somewhere. Damn, he fucked it up right?
They settled to watch as Toshiko deftly opened the screens and they watched hours of nothing in a single zoom, then came the first Blue. Owen breathed "Wow. Look at her, she's huge."
"There in the background… the male?" Art pointed and they were trying to make it out when a streak across the screen had them jumping and cursing with alarm.
Cub.
A little cub, clearly less than a month old, toddling along as it finds its feet in the outside world.
"Early" Art said with concern "they don't really have one until the winter is in and they hibernate… fuck… an early cub."
"Means an aggressive mother" Henry agreed, leaning over Jack to look "So… he looks… shit look at that male. Dominating right? Given the marks on the tree we left… he's the size of a fucking horse!"
"And twice as mean as usual due to the protective DNA kicking in with a newborn. That other male in the area is a threat. They kill the offspring of another couple right?" Jack rose from the chair "That rogue male is not here to copulate, it's here to kill the baby."
"So Mama and Daddy are on alert to kill anything that comes near that cub and the Rogue will kill anything out of rage" Art rose as well "I have to get more men out here. If they are as aggressive as this with that storm brewing… the stock is in danger. Even a horse or a steer crossing their path could be tackled as they are too enraged to see if it is a danger or not. They will perceive ANYTHING as a danger."
Jack spinning to stare at the door "Including Ianto."
.
.
.
.
Ianto didn't know how it happened. One minute he was sitting high in the saddle looking around, the next he was flat on his back gasping for air as the sounds of some sort of commotion filled his head with bees. God, he had fallen off his horse. How fucking humiliating.
Ianto rolled to his hands and knees, shaking his head as he tried to get his wits about him, the soft wetness hitting him telling him the snow was starting, the storm was about to hit and he was in the middle of nowhere without a horse. Great. Good one Ianto. Fucking up royally again are we?
Then his head started to clear and he heard the snarl, looking to his left to see why his horse had bolted. I mean.. .not far. The Blue Rogue had taken it down with ease and was currently trying to chew the saddle off the carcass of his lovely horse that had hopefully died quickly.
Ianto didn't think twice, immediately hitting the dirt to lay prone once more, his heart now thrashing around seeking release. Even if he was not running, clearly it was going to if it could.
Fuck.
Ianto told himself to calm the fuck down, stop panicking. Gun. Where is the gun. He raised his head slightly to look around. He must have dropped it, the arc would… there by the fence line. Great. Ianto slowly turned his head to see what Blue was doing and it was like it remembered him with the same thought.
Hello.
Into exploded from the dirt, racing for the gun as the Blue let out a bellow and started to race after him. Playing dead was clearly not a good option anymore so Ianto opted for scared rabbit instead, sliding across the dirt, snatching up the gun and sliding under the bottom wire of the fence, the razor wire cutting though clothing and flesh as it bit into his side and he yelped but kept going, his arm now raked savagely as well but razor wire is better than claws.
The Blue hit the fence, snarling with rage as he thrashed and Ianto raised the gun, took a breath and let it out as he fired. Fired. Fired. Let his arm drop.
The blue was struggling in the wire but was now caught in it like a snare trap, the wire cutting into fur and flesh as Ianto recognized death throes.
One of the bullets had somehow hit the thing's mouth in mid roar.
Seriously?
Ianto laughed weakly as he flopped back into the long grass.
"Behold. The mighty hunter" he croaked to the falling snow "Huzzah!"
Ianto closed his eyes as he let the snow fall around him, turning red with his blood.
Just a minute.
A little breather right?