59
It was time. They had no other choice but to shut down the fence line and lay it on the ground in the hopes it would be able to be erected again once it was all over. No point leaving it up, they would tear through it and destroy it otherwise.
The stock was safe, the only things not caught in time were a few errant horses that would have to fend for themselves. There was no more room, not since townsfolk had started arriving, terrified as the north end of the line had started reporting back skirmishes and then the lines had gone dead.
Those sent to investigate not coming back.
No.
This would be no normal Pack War. Jack on the coms with a settlement West that was less than twenty clicks form their town, the last battlement before they swarmed this way. The south already mounting their own defences as military dug in to defend the capital. Those smaller packs between the two large battlements were free to roam… this way.
"We have four other camps still calling back in, so far we have lost two of the search teams that were setting up the last of the bacons and now all we can do is…."
It cu out like someone had flipped a switch. Jack swung from his pacing to look at the Tech as Toshiko spring from her chair to thump the side of the large cabinet without much fanfare, cussing in annoyance as she fiddled with things then turned to him with a look of concern "It's not us. Our end is fine."
Jack tapped his hands on the back of the vacated chair, staring at the large coms device, and then said softly "try the South. An outpost."
She nodded, tapping in the coordinates to ring the other neighbours and they listened to it connecting. Nothing but the sound of waiting pings then something happened, a bang and scrabble, sound of struggle and a faint scream in the distance as something chuffed… the line went dead.
"It's still daylight" she whimpered with horror.
"Not there, dusk rolls aroid my love. Hits there first, the first wave has begun. Sound the alarm" Jack said as he swung from the room followed by John and two of their new men, all heavily armed as they strode through the throngs of people Ianto was greeting with growing alarm of his own.
"Cariad… I fear we may have to open the level below that I prefer to myself for storage." Ianto hissed "They are still coming."
"We can't have the one above?" Jack asked then knew why even as he said it "Of course. The buffering. Right. There are levels below that tough, right? We will not be placing them in the damp lowest level?"
"No. There is another two levels below that which are… unusable. Locked down heavily" Ianto hesitated, his hand clenching at his side. "but… we need to move now."
"The South has fallen, the North under heavy fire… we are here without any way to defend. We have to close in now. I have sent word to stat closing things up. Who is the last?" Jack asked swinging out to look at those still coming.
"Old Man Grimes is still closing down the store" someone yelled "He is always last to leave the old fool."
"Right. TOSHIKO… sorry, didn't' see you there. Tosh, call to the Grimes Store, see if the old bugger has left yet, if not tell him he has half an hour to rattle his balls and get here before we close the doors." Jack said and she nodded, running to do as she was bid, knowing that last half hour may be too long anyway but he would wait. A good man, Jack would wait as long as he could before giving this world to the Others.
"Ianto, the sheriff is on the coms. Old Man Grimes has left on the last Hover with the sheriff's family, they are just grabbing Morty's family on the way. Apparently now they have a child they do not feel safe in their cellar. Do I want the teens?" Toshiko called out.
"Yes, they are leery around the sheriff and his brother, especially with one of them having the same name. For some reason they take it as an insult. Weird really, he is older than them so he had it first…" Ianto stopped talking, aware that h was rambling and he grunted, then said "Going top of the world … to the roost. The Childe need to be coaxed down if I can. They can go in the level above the one we will all be in. Little to no body heat and they can shield. They will prefer that to lots of humans about."
"And you? Can you handle all the humans about?" Jack whispered gently, taking a moment to stroke an errant lock of hair from Ianto's forehead.
"Yes. I may kill someone but we shall see. At least I will have food" Ianto deadpanned, his fangs glinting as Jack smiled.
"OK lover, go on. The kids are all in, the stock… just those with horse driven carts need help to stable them. The Hovers can be left in the yard by the doors, help create more obstacles" Jack said, patting Ianto's arse affectionately and instead of being insulted by being treated like the little woman Ianto winked and gave a girly giggle, skipping off with a camp flick of his wrist.
Jack laughed as he looked around and felt a calm descending as people began to accept the inevitable terror ahead.
Yeah.
They can do this.
