47

Ianto struck first, swinging for the first one that moved towards them, the thing that was once a business woman in a tailored suit on the red-eye falling without a single sound, the dull thud making another one turn as if surprised. Jack took that one down and they began the Dance of Viciousness as their blades swung, chinked and then Ianto's got stuck and he grunted, alerting Jack to the danger as one of the Decayed reached Ianto, it's hand sliding around his neck to throttle him from behind.

The Webley barked.

Rex called out from the front of the plane and the two men shared an eye roll as some of the Decayed moved swiftly for what had been their means of escape. Ianto shock his head and mimed throttling Rex and Jack tried not to laugh then they killed a few more.

Rex yelped for help and they pretended not to hear as they knew the door was closed and the man was in the cockpit quite safe, just spinning out at the sound of fingernails on the door's metal. The snarling, slathering sounds must have been a little unnerving too I guess, as well as the fact that after a gunshot there was no noise from the other two men who were now giggling softly.

Finally they stood in a sea of muck, covered in… well… I don't really need to tell you since we all know it is far too gross yet graphically gloopy to even attempt to put into words.

Jack reached out and brushed some innards off his shoulder and Ianto reached out to flick some brain matter from Jack's air as me muttered "Missed a bit."

More giggling then they both placed their ears to the back wall at the same time, listening for anything.

A distant bark.

Yep. Live animals in there. Shit.

They hunted around until they found the hidden door, opening it to hear the soft hiss of air. The entered the cargo hold to find three cages with animals in them, two were cats who didn't really care as their self feeders had food in them still but the dog was another matter, whining as it clawed at the cage's door.

"Hungry boy?" Jack crooned as he opened it and Ianto gaped at him as the dog shot out into the space. Ianto then folded his arms and glared some more as Jack tried to chase the dog, crouching to make weird kissy noises as he tried to grab for its collar and the dog found this immense fun.

Finally they had the dog and Jack started out with it in his arms then Ianto grabbed the crook of his arm as something occurred to him "Jack, I didn't see the girlfriend. The Attendants… where are they?"

Jack looked down at the one on the floor with the other Decayed and knew Ianto was right. Wrong hair colour. "Fuck."

They made their way back up and along the left side to the front where the seats for crew were and stood looking the two women and man that were still strapped in for landing, clearly overcome with the lack of oxygen and otherwise pristine as if asleep.

"That's her" Ianto sighed "Not Decayed."

"No… she did not partake of her boyfriend's pastime" Jack agreed as he stroked the dog absently "What does it mean?"

"It means she is a mule" Ianto said as he looked around the space "It means she was the one who transported it as we thought. It means this plane might be hot."

"Fuck. UNIT can't get their hands on it" Jack said with alarm "That drug in the wrong hands is a biological weapon. Why we make sure they only get the areas we know are hotspots. John gets anything with the live agent in the area still."

"Right" Ianto made for the cockpit and found Rex there waiting, his eyes widening as Jack appeared with the little Jack Russell Terrier in his arms.

They made it out onto the tarmac and solid ground once more before Ianto started to take deep breaths to cleanse his mind, soul and lungs of that stench.

"So, what's the go?" Rex asked.

"We need to commandeer the plane, a hanger for it. One of these hangers. Tow the plane in there, lock it up tight, no UNIT allowed in …we then remove the bodies and work out who is who. Any not Decayed can be released to next of kin."

"And those that are Decayed?" Rex asked with alarm, "the idea of holding back bodies will cause some real panic and ager out there."

"Get on to Lucy, tell her to fire up the replicator. We will make them. Release the globs" Jack said as he continued to look up at the plane and Ianto canted his head.

"Globs?"

"A replicator came through the Rift a long time ago, found it in the old Hub while gutting the remains of it and I fiddled with it enough to get it to work. Not well, not right. Found out when I placed my palm on a plate absently while pushing buttons and then it started to make a shocking grinding noise. The put popped a person. Same size as me, same sex… sort of. But it was a glob of flesh. No brain, no soul… on life in it. Like… a massive sausage machine and the sausages are human shaped. At first I was horrified but after we examined it and dissected it we found it was never alive. Not a being, just this weird glob of fleshy …well … bits."

"We make some, fire them up so they are all charred and gone then simply pass them off, then we can incinerate the real thing and everyone is happy." Rex said, then noted Ianto's frown "Well .. you know. Comforted …ah… sorted."

Ianto was not sure how he felt about that but as someone who used to be a Scene Artist, he appreciated the value of such a machine.

They had too many bodies here to pinch John and Jane Does from the morgues.