32

Hope was watching Owen as he puttered about in the clinic "What was it? Come on you can tell me. Is Tadda having trouble with the pup?"

"No… no. I had an idea of something I wanted to do but your Tad does not like it" Owen huffed, then he turned to face her "OK… Freddie. I was thinking, what is that healing thing that Jack and Ianto have… you now have … that it might heal his eyes. It's a long shot but something I have been thinking about for a long time."

"So why is Tadda being defensive?"

"Because he is scared it might give Freddie your other gifts, l might make him immortal or something. I tried to reason with him, a drop of blood is not like a complete blood change. Just a little transfusion, only about a pint or two but he is so stubborn" Owen shrugged "always was. Well you know, once he's made his mind up."

"Yeah" she replied as she sat back to ponder the possibility of giving Freddie sight.

Uncle Owie was never wrong about things like this.

.

.

"As you can see, the water tanks are all fed from the rain water. These barrels are closed, there is no way to get contamination in the water. Besides, we all drink from the same jugs at meal times, if something got her from the water source more of us would be infected too" Andrew was arguing, his hands still shaking from his father's death but he was calmer now.

Hell of a way to lose a leader.

"Meat?" Frank grunted. "bitten prey?"

"Yeah, what about food" Dena nodded to the weevil for the good point then he turned to those talking with them "Do you all eat from a large pot or have singular meals? Maybe a deer or something that had a bite you didn't notice?"

"We all ate from the same large pot over there. So little food that we always made what stews and such that we could" the woman… Heather… pointed to their fireplace and the cauldron style pot over the flames "We all eat from the same source. None of us are infected, right?"

They all looked over to Ifan who was still diligently checking them for any signs of the virus. Once again Jack wished Owen was here, even as he was glad he was not. Ianto… Ianto might smell it better. He might… oh Forfucksake. "Shadow, can you let Taddy see with your eyes for a sec?"

"He is already watching" the young boy replied "He thinks she has a secret stash somewhere."

They were soon pulling apart the corner she had erupted from and to their dismay they found it. A tin of boiled sweets that was god knows how old. She had been secreting it away and maybe having one a week or so.

One of the women burst into tears as she tearfully admitted to finding it on a recon mission and giving it to her a month or so ago. She loved them, had lamented the loss of them and been so grateful to get them slipped to her.

"Right. So… what do you think?" Jack asked the child that he knew was now channeling his Taddy. The voice that answered was entirely Welsh.

"The lid was not secure, a rat got in and had a taste. A little pee in the tin or something, even the saliva from licking them enough maybe?"

"Oh god, I feel sick." One of the women fled the room.

"That is a sound idea. Why she was not turned yet, still on the edge. A small rodent that fed on a corpse or two that had been also not fully turned or was killed in a cleansing but left to rot." Ifan nodded "Why we push the burry or burn theory. Birds, rodents and other creature eat the dead flesh and then either become infected like that zombie fox we saw that time, or they carry it to a water source where they pee, or die."

"On the point of death, they turn like they were bit" Jack nodded as he glanced over at Martha.

"I agree. Maybe the shock of us arriving, the whole bustle and bluster gave her a heart attack… or she had been dying slowly for a few days and we were here when she started her transformation into… one of those things.' Martha shuddered.

"Taddy says this is new though. Her intelligence, still able to speak. Couple this with those we know can now open doors and problem solve, the theory that they are communicating with each other now… and we have a more threatening scourge than before. Clever monsters are a worse idea than dumb rampaging ones" Dean turned to Frank again "I think we need to be sure of things. The new village will have to be quarantined so they can not cause cross contamination."

"Yeah" Frank grunted out.

"New village?" one of the men asked.

"We have a home for you, somewhere safe in our valley that we regularly patrol and keep Z-free." Dena explained patiently "But right now we have to be smart. This is a game changer and we do not see any way around it. Leave all food, what is left. When we get you to your new home you are to isolate there for at least a month, we will provide food and such, you will be safe but we will not allow you access to the other parts of the valley until we are sure this is not something you carry like a virus now. You might all be walking time bombs."

"And if they are?" Thor asked with concern.

"Then they will still stay. We will not leave them out here. But they will never be allowed to mingle with the other villages. They must stay in their own bubble" Jack assured the man who showed open concern now.

"Right. Let's do this before I get cold, I fucking hate the dark" Kris interrupted everyone with his huge booming voice. "Especially if there are more like her lurking about."

"Agreed" Jack clapped his hands and they began to head for the Valiant.

This entire place was to be marked as hot, the fact a damn rat carrying the virus from eating dead flesh could do this… scary as shit.