Chapter Five- The Unquestionable Doubt
Welsh country people
Katya strode up to the front of the building with its unwelcoming front door entwined with cobwebs. She saw a spider wriggle its way across the wooden slats but even it looked dead. The wooden planks that made the floorboards of the porch were cracked and covered in a thick layer of dust, some planks had rotted away completely there was nothing left of them. A woody rose bush had made its way across the porch, although I must have grown to get there it looked lifeless now, no flowers were in bloom and only dead crisp brown petals covered the floor unlike soft red velvet petals Katya imagined they once were. Looking around her she saw the twisted shape of the leafless trees caught in a moment of agony as their branches twisted around themselves in an awkward position. The trees were obviously dead as it was the height of spring and they had no leaves and bore no flowers. Instead of trying to force the door open Katya walked around the side of the farm. She skirted the old wall bricks had fallen out and cracks were visible but the words Smutts Farm painted red on the wall still readable. But a scuffling in the trees nearby distracted her; she twisted on her heel and looked into the wood but could see nothing.
Meanwhile on the other side of the building Clara waded through the outer buildings there were stables which from a distance looked empty but as Clara neared the door of one she noticed cowering in the shadows was a timid horse. It had a large powerful body but it was in quite a state, its strong legs trembled beneath it and its ribs were protruding through its skin, there were deep scares on its hind legs and red gashes across its neck. The hay around it was distributed all over the floor with buckets tipped and water spilled everywhere on top of that the stable smelt like it had not been cleaned in days and that was when Clara started to wonder what had happened here. As she edged closer to have a better look the horses eyes widened in terror and rose on its hind legs and pounded the ground with its front hooves. Clara stepped away swiftly, moving backwards she tripped over a brick and fell backwards, the horse continued to whinny and Clara scrambled up off the floor rubbing the dust off her grazed hands on her shorts. She stumbled forward without looking her feet moving clumsily in front of her they managed to find the edge of a swamp where she tumbled in.
A booming splash was heard, the creature in the leaves scuttled away and Katya's attention averted to where the splash came from, something was struggling in the water and Katya began to run heavily, feet plodding on the ground, her legs heavy underneath her. Soon Katya found a swamp, it was fairly small and lined by reeds and straw looking grass. The water was covered in a thick layer of gunge and pollen which made it wrinkle like the skin of custard. In the centre of the swamp arms were flailing and water splashing. Katya saw a recognisable Cath Kidson sneaker bobbing in the water in front of her. She knelt down and reached it out of the water. Soon Clara's face emerged from under water and she gulped for air. Katya immediately got down on her stomach both arms stretched out in front of her she reached hopefully for Clara's waving arms in a matter of minutes Katya had her hands clasped with those of Clara's. With a wave of effort Katya heaved Clara out of the water, her clothes were sodden and pulled her down but they managed slowly. They were left rolling on the ground panting but within a few minutes of exhaustion the wind began to pick up again and Clara shivered with shock and a deathly shill set into her bones.
Meanwhile Alice was passing the time searching the far corner of the farm. She discovered among obstructing clutter of an old machinery rusting and a heap of chicken wire entangled in a big pile next a large tractor which had obviously had been abandoned as two of the large wheels only one was remaining . At the back of this dump pile there was a gap in a corrugated iron wall, Alice had managed to shuffle her way through to the gap nig enough to fit through. But as she got closer to the gap she felt a guilty sense rising in her chest, this was breaking and entering so she made up her mind to turn around and return to the daylight.
Katya and Clara scrambled up off the floor with effort and raced towards the far corner of the farm where they could hear Alice shuffling about, wet footprints followed behind Clara but there were also smaller footprints going in the opposite direction but these were unnoticeable in the gravel as the girls trudged strong willed towards the scuffling noise. As they neared the noise they saw something shifting in a huge entanglement of chicken wire, instinctively they hid behind the large three wheeled tractor. The sisters ducked conspicuously behind the large remaining tractor wheel and as the monster emerged from the chicken wire they huddled close together. A beam of sunlight struck their eyes and what had once been a monster now formed a silhouette of a young girl. Alice stepped out of the light, hands on waist with a questioning face turned down to Clara and Katya crouched as low as possible to the ground. "What are you doing down there?" she asked surprised... Katya replied stammering as adrenaline ran from her veins "We ... thought you were a monster, or an alien of some type!" "Oh don't be so silly, you know aliens don't exist!" Alice stated confidently.
An unsettling breeze rustled the debris around them and Alice helped Katya and Clara up off the floor. Curiosity battled Alice and so she decided to show the others what she had found. She led them hand in hand to the gap in the wall and with uneasiness about them they entered one by one, Alice first followed by Katya and Clara last, who was the most unsure about this. Entering the house through a mess of cobwebs and musty smells they found themselves spellbound standing cramped on a small landing from what looked liked a drawing room. But what caught their attention was the old wooden staircase leading down into the darkness before them and they started to descend.
Torchwood 4
Jack stepped over a dusty skeleton gingerly, gun still aimed and poised to his left shoulder, he ran sharply into the kitchen and kicked the door open with his booted foot he swung his arms around and pointed his arms with his Webley held on the end at every corner in the room. Once he saw there was nobody in the room he walked briskly over to the large oak table placed directly in the middle of the room. The table was covered in a thick film of dust. The table was laid for two, dirty plates in the sink covered in breadcrumbs and rotten egg yolk. The oven was open but off, a tray was sitting in the middle of the oven it was half full of fat which had become solid over time. Jack circled the table examining the remnants of breakfast, stale bread sat in the centre, maggots crawling all around it, two jars of jam and marmalade sat frozen with lids open exposed to flies. Jack winced at the state of things and moved away heavy boots striking the linoleum floor.
Gwen had followed Jack into the kitchen remaining on guard while he investigated by the door but now she took a look for herself. She headed straight for the window, which was left ajar, and a soft breeze blew through brushing Gwen's jet black hair lightly as she peered out of the window. Adjacent to the window was a wooden box fairly small full to the top with apples. They were large green and red apples, cooking apples Gwen presumed which sprung up a memory apple crumble with a hint of cinnamon, a memory of home with Rhys. But as Gwen looked more closely at the apples she realised they were rotten, many had large dull brown patches and dark holes. Looking even closer Gwen noticed that there were large maggots looking creatures weaving in and out of apple flesh. However these maggots looked larger than normal maggots, they were fatter, more round and fleshy, pale white and an inch long in average. They struck Gwen's attention and she turned to Jack for clarification.
Jack peered over the box of apples to have a look for himself and then summoned Sato over to take a specimen to test. As Sato carefully struck a maggot and filed into into the test tube with a rubber stopper she was star struck, these unusual maggots were the correct match to the larvae that she had discovered in the monster files. The lawyer debated in her busy mind weather to now reveal what she had discovered to Jack, but before she could get the sentence to form in her mouth the Captain had dismissed her and his virulent voice called out "Dr Harper needed her!" and a scurry of feet from under baggy jeans appeared in her place. Sato moved away silently to diligently test the larvae; she found a dusty, old pink carpeted step to sit on, part of the main staircase leading upstairs. The staircase led off from directly in front of the entrance door, this was where surgeon Jones was busily examining the two skeletons that lay paralysed stretched out on the floor. The post mortem was difficult to accurately put a finger on as the two bodies, presumed to be husband and wife, were stripped down clearly to the bone; the only evidence of blood trail were a few streaks on the final few steps of the staircase and vigorous marks on the floorboards under which they lay, it was not enough evidence for a massacre of this size.
The surgeon and lawyer continued to work in silence, Jones lapsing often as concentration of what had happened failed to grasp her attention. However Sato maintained her diligence. Neither spoke to each other as they knew that this case was alien related and on personal terms they don't really get along as they both admired their Captain very closely and therefore there was a little jealously between them that set them apart. However at this moment Jones saw in Sato's eyes that something troubling her and went and sat beside her on the stairs avoiding the blood stained streak step. Jones put a comforting around her and squeezed her far arm lightly, Sato put down her work and gave in to the comfort of a fellow team member as she realised without doubt they were all in this together.