44

Ianto was standing in the store as the people evacuated looking around with mild amusement and confusion. He called back over his shoulder "Gwen? Can you come here a sec?"

"Yes pet?"

"Gwen" he turned to face her, looking into her wide expressive eyes as he asked "I know it's probably a silly question but … what the hell is going on here?"

He motioned to the piles of produce in the middle of the aisle and the trolleys filled to the brim with supplies like they were about to circle the wagons.

"Panic buying. I tried to stop them, explain that it was isolated but for some reason they thought it was an apocalypse or something. Wanted to …well… gear up I guess" she shrugged "It came to blows with a few of them."

Eggsy was listening as he walked along the main walkway, looking down each aisle and he called back with open amusement "Hey, only aisle not touched is the one I would have gone for!"

"Alcohol?"

"Yeah, all still here. Has no one heard of ethanol?" Eggsy laughed "Hand wash, disinfectant, Molotov cocktails … sooo much you can do with really good vodka."

"Toilet paper" Ianto sighed "They went mad on toilet paper. They thought it was the end of the world and they mass snatched TP? I mean … does doodah really help if you are bleeding from a bite to the throat?"

"Well … there are some with sanitary pads" Gwen looked into one "And… oh. Really? No toothpaste or mouthwash. Looks like at the end of the world we will all stink. No soap, but there is hand wash… plenty of the antibacterial … but no shampoo either. God, talk about going back to the dark ages. Clean hands if nothing else."

"I really like this one full of microwave meals" Eggsy pointed "I mean .. if it was the end of the world how long before we lose power? What were they gonna do? Sit on them and hatch them like a fucking chicken?"

"Look, I don't know why they do half the shit they do, one guy was determined to take all of the pain killers like maybe he could use them as ammo? I don't know" she shrugged, looking around with equal annoyance.

"Well … I am not going to clean this up, that is for sure!" Ianto sniffed, then he turned to Jack who had entered the aisle to stand next to him, his face an open display of confusion as he stared at the trolleys.

It was not until they were back out in the car park, those milling about bagging up bodies, that Ianto started to laugh softly.

"Doodah. Doodah all the day" Ianto said as he shook his head, "So full of shit they are scared it will all come out when scared. Jesus. You know… if this is the reaction to a sudden apocalypse ya know we are all stuffed, right?"

"Apparently not as stuffed as the TP people" Owen said in a silly voice as they got into the SUV "Think their secret handshake is a butt bump?"

"Eeeeeewwww" Gwen giggled "Ianto, I am sorry about…"

They were lowly passing the fire engine, the pretty car lodged in the side of it as her voice petered out. Ianto didn't speak, merely turned his head to take in the full destruction as she grimaced then added "To tell the truth, they sort of drove into me. And really … they did act sort of weird when they got out."

"Weird how?" Ianto was interested now, "what did they do Gwen?"

"They didn't even look at me. I mean … bang, right? First thing you do is check one another but … they didn't even glance at me. Headed straight for the store. I was a little pissed and I yelled at them, made them pause, all except for one who kept going straight for the group of people talking by the trolleys."

"Right. So that's the start. Where he set off the virus? What did you do?"

"Ran for the store, told everyone to get inside and bolted the doors so they couldn't get in" she said calmly "I remembered what you aid about having connections. I didn't feel right. Nothing ws right, they had shoes on, not boots and the one who kept walking didn't even have a helmet on."

"Good spotting, well done" Ianto assured her "You did everything right. We are all good."

"So … this was to lure you out?" she asked.

"No, this was to start something. They were testing us out, to see if we wrre on to them or not. To them, you are an acceptable loss. If you failed to act, they at least pissed me off. Of course, they didn't count on you being Torchwood and almost as good as us" Ianto assured her "I am proud of you, your reactions were all on point."

"So what now?"

"Now we plan for war" Jack's voice was solemn and clear as he finally joined the conversation and Ianto nodded silently.

Nothing further to be said.

Bring it on bitches.