45
It was dark but they moved around with the low placed torches that lit the floor, able to be seen from the windows outside. Ianto was sitting in the middle of the vehicle bay with his head down, thinking. They had been lucky to find the bay empty as they must have been at the stock yards, the trucks fitting easily. He sat between them, his head down like he was asleep but Jack knew better.
Ianto was thinking.
Dreaming.
"What's he doing?" Michael asked after a while, thinking the smell of food would bring him.
"Dreaming."
"Huh?"
"Ianto is meditating so he might see the next thing he is needing to know" Jack said softly "the dreams are memories of things these creatures have faced with the Grey Men before. He has a bad feeling, when he has these feelings he takes a moment to re-evaluate where we are. It is believed that these warnings are to strengthen his defences against them."
"So… when will we know what he is seeing?"
"When he decides to tell us... or maybe never. He does not share all the dreams, he does not understand all…." Ianto took a deep shuddering breath.
.
.
"Hush child" the voice was soft, loving and full of fear as the hand stroked his back, pressing him into her breasts like she might smother him to life.
He was afraid, whimpering as he clung to her….to….to… Mama…. Mama. It was his mother. She was so afraid she was shaking, they were wet. Like… sopping wet in this black place. Ianto let his mind expand and he opened his eyes. They were in water, waist deep. A water tank?
He looked around and saw that the top was opened as otheres clambered down the ladder into the cold water, all afraid, all silent and clinging to one another, then one of them asked if they should close the lid.
"No. If it gets hot in here, we need it to escape."
"Yeah" came another voice "The stem can escape while we fucking boil."
"We will NOT boil, stop that. There are babies in here" another voice scolded and then the sound of a slap.
"We placed the holes in the other tank next door, it is raining down on the ground around us… the fires will go around us. I am sure of it" a voice said close to Ianto and he turned his head to find a man in the water, his arms around him and his Mama. Dadda? He smiled at Ianto and reached out to stroke his face "It's ok darling. It's ok. Daddy has you."
"I am not scared" Ianto said confidently as he had faith in his father and the plan.
The fire would not touch them.
.
.
"I am not scared."
Jack slid from his seat as Ianto spoke, the childlike voice so sweet as he crouched in front of him and waited for those eyes to open.
"Jack!"
"Ianto!"
Ianto smiled softly like he was surprised to see him, then the softened around his eyes showed raw affection "Hello handsome."
Jack's grin almost blindsided him.
"I know what the next wave will be and how our people got around it." Ianto said as he stood. From a crossed leg sit, he just rose as if someone had seized the collar of his coat and yanked him up. Graceful and powerful.
Jack got up too "OK… what is it lover?"
"Fire."
"Fire?"
"I saw a wall of fire coming towards our village. Huge and it was turning the sky to flame. We ran to a large water tower and climbed up, into it. My father and some other men pierced the bottom of the other tank next to it, causing it to… well… run… and the wet ground made us safe above it. It got hot… but we survived." Ianto explained in a rush "So… some sort of Napalm or something… they cleanse with fire."
"And sprinklers sorted it?"
"Like those large irrigation ones that run the length of a field spraying it over and over again in the summer?" Michael asked.
They all turned to stare at him "you know… like big robots. They travel along spraying water over the crops." Michael said slowly.
"So… if we got a heap of them, placed them around a spot we all stand in… like… er…." Owen frowned as he tried to work it out.
"We can dig in… the entire village can be surrounded by a moat if we dig the creek's banks away. Flood it sort of" Ianto said as he tried to think "So… we create a moat that looks natural… surrounding the village and use some of those big things to saturate as well… we could save it all… right?"
"You know… you are a clever bastard" Michel grinned "we can strap … two to each truck's siding. Four to a truck, so… eight should be enough to create a good water guard around the village. We might loose some of the back garden but… we keep the buildings and stock."
"It might not happen" Ianto warned "We could go back, scare everyone and this is not the same strain of Greys as the ones I saw in my vision."
"Better safe than sorry" Jack said sternly "I like this idea. Even if it does not happen, it will be a good exercise to bring everyone together."