Chapter 12

Jack and Rose got off at Southgate Station in London. "I have an old pal here," Jack said. "I hope he's still alive, I can't remember the date he died. I knew him a few decades after the WW2 from the army. He got a huge deal on weapons illegally. He wouldn't have disposed of them. He'd of had them hidden."

Rose smiled as they headed out the exit. "Won't it be a shock seeing you in your 33 year old form when he knew you 50 years ago? And do you still know where the flame throwers are?"

"Yep and yep." He looked left and right as they crossed the road towards the shops. "It may give him a heart attack." He grinned. "But he's a tough old boot. I wanted to ask his permission. If said yes, I'd take them obviously, if he said no, I'd take them anyway. And if he's dead…"

"Take 'em?"

"Yeah."

It turned out the guy was still alive. In a dodgy area of the town, they found his house, which looked quite run-down and through a window a dog barked furiously. "You wanna wait outside?" Jack asked. "It might be safer."

Rose looked behind her. They were on the front path but on the other side of the street was a tough looking gang of big teenage boys, aged around 16, which were eyeing her up. Two of them whistled as she looked back at Jack. "How bad can it be in there? You're stuck with me."

"If you're sure." She followed him to the chipped front door and he knocked loudly.

After about half a minute it opened and a man opened the door. He was half in shadow but Rose saw he had short grey hair, and looked around the age of 80. He had the vibes of someone with a quick and easy temper. "Sergeant Leo Owen?"

"Who's asking?" the man named Leo Owen asked.

"Captain Hack Harkness, sir and Rose Tyler."

Leo Owen looked from Jack to Rose. "No ones called me Sergeant in decades. Is this a joke or somethin'? Captain Jack's probably dead by now."

"So you are Leo Owen?"

"That I am, now who are you?" he asked again sternly.

"I said. Jack Harkness and Rose Tyler."

"No, no, no. That's impossible."

"I'm telling you, Leo it's your old buddy from 1956. Remember when you made me clean the whole of the dive bomber B-23 Dragon by myself for mucking around on the job and calling you an idiot?" he smiled at Rose briefly before turning back to Leo.

"Jack?" he said, horror struck. "But you're exactly as I remember you! Same attitude, crappy hair cut -"

"Could we come in?" Rose asked quickly, worrying about the boys, still eyeing her up.

"Certainly." He opened the door wider and allowed them through to the messy living room, which apart from the mess of papers and stuff, was quite clean and smelt strangely of flowers.

Jack waited for his old Sergeant to sit down in an armchair before sitting next to Rose, who looked slightly uncomfortable.

"How did you get here?" Leo asked, directing the question at Jack.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Jack grinned.

"I'm sure I would Captain, you turning up, 33 on my doorstep."

Jack didn't reply, unsure to answer truthfully. Rose nudged him. "Go on." He still didn't reply so she took over. "A time machine. Jack's a Time Agent, I'm a sort of… traveller." Leo laughed. "Laugh all you want, but you try and come up with another explanation." she told him. "If you're still not convinced -"

"Where are the flame throwers, Sergeant?" Jack asked rather rudely.

"I got rid of them years ago -"

"Don't lie to me Leo, you wouldn't throw them away!"

"Jack, what's gotten into you?" Rose asked worriedly.

"I'm fine; Leo, where are they?"

"Look, Jack, calm down -"

"Stop playing games!"

"What games?"

Jack rose up from his seat and made for Leo. Rose stood up and lunged at him with amazing speed before he reached the old man. He struggled furiously but Rose held him with all her strength. "Oh – no – you – don't!"

"Stop it! Get off me!" he shouted.

There was a clicking noise and both of them looked up from the ground. Leo was on his feet, a shotgun pointed straight at them.

"Ok, Mr Owen, put the gun down -" Rose tried to say calmly.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you want with the flame throwers?"

"If you put the gun down, we'll tell you." Slowly, he lowered the gun and grunted. "Have you seen on the news, that camera crew murder?" Rose asked.

"Yes." He replied impatiently.

"The thing that attacked them is a sort of mutant, named a Wendigo. It's deadly and near immortal. Fire is the only thing that can kill it and they're going to invade Earth soon if we don't stop them."

"And what make you think I'll believe you?"

Jack nodded at the door. "A Wendigo."

"You think I'll believe the whole, it's behind you, whilst you tackle me to the ground?" he stopped when a growling came from behind him. He spun around, surprisingly fast for an old man. He saw a hairy green monster, standing on its hind legs. It had long, razor sharp teeth and claws, with beady black eyes.

Before he knew what had hit him, the green monster that was the Wendigo, slashed him deeply in the abdomen, splattering blood over the walls and over Jack and Rose still on the floor.

Seeing Leo was dead, Jack took Rose's arm and pulled her to her feet. He seemed to have pulled himself together, snapped out of how he'd acted before. The Wendigo advanced on them. "Run!" Jack roared. He led her out back, into the garden, the Wendigo in pursuit, it was going slowly, probably knowing they had no escape. Before closing the back door behind them, Jack whipped the key out the lock and slammed the door shut. Rose ran to the fence as he locked the door from the outside and tried to climb over but it had barbed wire at the top. She looked around desperately for something to get through the fence with as Jack hurried over. "We don't have much time." His eyes landed on the shed in the corner of the small garden. He kicked the door down and Rose followed, looking back as the Wendigo continued to scratch at the back door. She grabbed an axe which was the first thing she saw and Jack strangely was examining the floorboards. He kicked one in and found nothing. He looked around at the equipment on the walls and saw a flame weed killer. It was smoothly painted red and silver. "Perfect." He murmured.

He emerged and saw Rose hacking at the fence, making a gap nearly big enough for them both to get through. He ran towards the door, adjusting the nozzle of the weed killer as he went. He braced himself for getting slashed, and opened the door.

The Wendigo lashed out, and Jack cried out, feeling his left arm go limp. He roared and shot the Wendigo with a huge burst of fire.

This time it cried out as it burst into flames. Jack ran towards the fence, which Rose had already gotten through and was on the other side.

Still holding the weed killer, they sprinted down the street.