42
Ianto was ravenous.
Not hungry or starving … ravenous. He had sat at the table to look over the food being placed down and had an entire chicken in front of him, tearing at it before he could even comprehend what he was doing. He heard himself growl as Jack tried to reason with him and at one point he knew he had crouched over his food baring teeth. This chicken was cooked butterfly style over a BBQ with lashes of seasoning and doused in a marinade. The flavour seemed to pop in Ianto's mouth and he was humming with enjoyment with each bite.
As there was enough food for everyone, they settled to watch as Ianto picked that chicken carcass clean, then reached for a loaf of bread sitting to be cut with several others, the smell of fresh bread nothing new here as they usually baked about ten each sitting.
Ianto sat back with a sigh of contentment as he started to eat the entire loaf.
"Want a drink with that?" Jack asked and the table erupted with gales of laughter as Ianto finally focused on him and then looked at the plate with horror.
"Oh my god… I am so sorry... that was… god… sorry…"
"Now... nice to know my BBQ grilled chicken is well liked" Rhys chortled.
"I … I did not know I could be so hungry. It was like I was possessed" Ianto blushed as he wiped his hands on some paper towels that Jack offered "Wow. I really needed that. Now I need to burp something fierce."
"Well… don't burp and breathe fire over us or something, god knows what you are capable of" Rhys choked out though his gales of laughter and Ianto smiled weakly as he felt relief in his display not causing upset.
Later as he and Jack walked the perimeter he found himself talking about a time of hunger. He barely remembers but it is there. A time when he was so hungry, his people were starving and he stole to feed the children… a memory that he knows might not be his… another warning maybe?
"We can check the supplies again but last time we checked there was enough to last us a good year or just over. If you are nervous though, we can discuss maybe another snatch and grab of some livestock or something, right?" Jack tried to comfort and reason with him "We can…"
"We need to check what we already have. We need to make sure what we have is ok and lasts" Ianto turned to face him "rot from within."
.
.
"Well the chickens are fine and so are the ducks" came the first report.
"The sheep seem fine and we have not only good milking cows but some good meat" came the next report.
Ianto still seemed to be waiting then came a harried call "the root foot. The carrots, potatoes… Jesus.. turnips… they are all… like… dying in the soil."
Ianto sighed as he sat back "We can't stop rain."
Everyone turned to look at him with horror.
"We can filter our water, we can protect ourselves but we can't stop the rain from falling on the ground. Contamination that way with remnants of whatever shit they are spewing out to try and kill those left." Ianto drummed his fingers "All crops are no good right now… they will die. They are trying to kill the plants… the oxygen?"
"But ut s not affecting everything. The grass is fine, the trees… they seem to be focusing on root growth." One of the women said, then rose and went over to a tulip, tearing it out to show the bulb withering. "See? Shit… anything root based is ok, but if it is bulb or the bulk of it is in the soil…"
"So we have no fear of the plants all dying and losing oxygen… they are specifically targeting what we would use as food" Owen huffed.
"Glass houses, tunnel houses… cover and protect the food, use filtered water to feed the crops… we have to act now while we have time" Ianto rose from the table and looked around "So... we need a farming depot or something that would have bags of fertilizer and potting mix. We cannot use anything still out there in the world, we have to consider it all contaminated. We have to go get fresh, clean soil."
"Good thing we can still fit trucks through the gateway… we will need covered trucks too" Rhys rose like it was no big deal to go out into the danger zone.
"A farming centre… there was one in the town where the sales were… I can take you there" Mathew offered "A huge closed barn with supplies there on display… stuff for farming that they wanted to sell… could still all be there."
"Then it is worth one more go!" Jack agreed as he looked around the table, hands rising to join the madness.
Ianto nodded, glancing at Myfanwy who was already wiping the back of her mouth with her hand before raising it.
Yes.
Once more.