18

"The first to turn was a parent helper. Had been sick for the better part of the first day but trying to soldier on. Said it as allergies. He was over by the trees and he started to appear drunk, staggering towards the kids and as some of us went to intercept him he suddenly erupted like he had been attacked by bees. He swung at the nearest child, catching her by her hair and lifting her right off her feet, swinging her by her scalp" Ianto said softly as he sat at the table, those listening in paling as they listened to his calm rendition of madness "I was the one who kicked him in the balls as hard as I could, nothing else seemed to be working and it did drop him to his knees. That's when he started to choke her."

"Oh my god" Toshiko said softly "What did you do?"

"No gun, no tazer, I didn't really have much choice. I rose and grabbed for one of the logs sitting by the fire to be fed in, swung it at his head and damn near knocked it clean off his shoulders." Ianto said with a shrug.

"And it worked?"

We thought it had. He seemed docile once tied to a tree. We called for camp security. There were a couple of kids sick that same day, sniffing and basic flulike symptoms but that poor little girl went down hard. I now wonder… he had her face in his chest, did she inhale dust particles off is clothing? It was not until another day later that the kids went to pick berries with some of the adults and that group that came back were sick, then it seemed like everyone else by that late afternoon. The wind changed and the entire camp went down."

"But not you" Owen said.

"No. I was the only one, I listened to Rhiannon's descriptions on the phone of how people were acting and it seemed to be the same sort of thing. I told her to get out, but I know she didn't. Mica was not immune, even if I am so it stands to reason my sister was likely not immune either, nor her son. I have watched the Uglies and there seems no real connection between them either. Those that died and those that turned… again it seems random." Ianto drummed his fingers on the table.

"But Team Torchwood is untouched" Owen pointed out.

"Gwenzilla?" Jack said with a grimace "Is that a coincidence or a mild version? Is she gonna snap back or simply continue to snap?"

"Well I volunteer to shoot her in the head" Owen said blandly then grimaced "What if Ianto is right. The man made alternative food sources supposed to help save the planet caused this. If it's pollen or whatever on the breeze then there is no way to stop it, it's airborne. It's free."

"And a child born of two immunes might not share that gift" Toshiko sat heavily, her face one of woe.

"We have options if this is true though" Ianto hastened to comfort her "One of them is that we make a choice not to visit the mainland unless necessary, we act like it's contaminated. Basically it is. Immunes only to go ashore, those who have been tested in the field and proven immune. Everything is decontaminated, washed down and such before it is handled. Anyone who procreates can either choose a boat that does not have ship to shore capabilities, meaning only visits from other boats with the decontamination protocols, or they choose an island and live there. Heritage seeds used to start the gardens and anything that springs up that does not look right... pull it before it flowers."

"There will always be the risk" Owen sat back and drummed his own fingers in time to Ianto's.

"Well, that is true of anything. Life is a risk. All we can do is move forward with as much informed purpose as we can." Ianto said firmly now, looking over at Jack who was nodding.

"We need that other boat" Andy joined the conversation after sitting for so long mulling things over "We have it further out, anything on the wind cannot reach out that far. Anyone that might not be immune is out there on that one."

"This one" Jack amended "We push this one farther out. It has the better long term facilities for families. Bigger too. The Honeymoon one is more for couples and singles, it's not set out for a large family to share a room."

Ianto looked at him and tried not to let his confusion show. What was Jack talking about? He wanted this one out at sea, he has never seen the honeymoon one so why…. Oh. Right. Gwen. He is making sure she is not on the same boat as them, as Emma.

He's right. A rampaging Ugly is not a good thing to have on a boat, after all, where would you go to escape it?

Overboard?