25
They got into the basement and Ianto bolted the door; he headed for the bottom of the steps with the shotgun in his hand, and the loose shells in his right pocket rattled as he made his steps.
That Jack had handed it to him was not unusual, he was the one to stow gear. It had been an automatic action that was comforting. In the midst of all this, Jack was still in control.
He stood the gun up against the wall, and took a sit down next to a clearly-embarrassed Stripy John who had returned from the bathroom.
Tosh was a few yards away and comforted a distraught Sue.
Ianto lowered his head, now exhausted as the adrenaline waned, and never uttered a word to the panic-stricken Stripy John who was sitting silently next to him.
Rhiannon was crooning softly to her children as she watched her brother quietly rocking. Whatever had happened out there, she knew it had been bad.
Ianto listened as Tosh did her best to comfort Sue, and heard the two women conversing with one another.
Her name was Sue Hart. Her deceased son, Tyler, was only seven years old, and she was a divorced lady, thirty-three years old. She told them that she was from a place called Stafford, and that she was on her way back to her hometown after a weekend break in Glasgow.
She needed to get back because Tyler had school the next day and had no idea what was happening. Her radio was never on, and she had to witness for herself that people were turning on one another, but she had no idea why.
Sue said that she worked in a shop, and like every other guest, she stayed at the guesthouse to get a break from normal life. Then the conversation bizarrely went onto chocolate, which perplexed Ianto.
Sue had just lost her son, and the world—or at least the UK—was going to shit, and the women were talking about chocolate. Gwen told her how she was addicted to Cadbury's chocolate and would do anything for a Cadbury's Twirl.
Ianto looked at Stripy John; he was physically shaking but Ianto had no intention of going down the 'Gwen and Tosh route' and remained tight-lipped. Stripy John was beginning to look agitated in the face as the girls continued to chatter. He lifted his head up and blew out his cheeks and glared at Ianto and shook his head.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Ianto.
"Seriously?" John asked.
"Yeah. What is it?" Ianto raised his eyebrows and looked around the basement. "Apart from the obvious situation that we're in."
At this point the girls had ceased talking, and could sense the tension coming from the forty-six-year-old man known as Stripy John.
John stood to his feet and began his rant, "What's wrong with you lot? Aren't any of you scared?"
Jack intervened, "Of course we are—"
"This is it!" snapped John. "We're all fucked!
"Shut your mouth," Ianto hissed.
"We're never gonna get out of this alive." John then turned to an unflustered-looking Ianto. "I'm grateful that you sorted out that mess in the living room."
"Jack helped as well," Ianto corrected him.
John added, "I'm not going to lie to you; I'm the biggest coward on the planet. I suppose you already know that by now."
He lowered his head, shamefully.
"Look, John." Jack slowly stood to his feet. "We're all scared, just as much as you. That incident in the living room...well, we didn't have a choice in the matter. It was spontaneous. If we didn't react, we'd be like those things now."
"And coming straight for me," cried John. "Me, who was hiding in the bathroom like a scared little child. That's why I owe you, the both of you. And I want to apologise for my behaviour."
"Don't be silly, John." Owen added. "What do you think survivors are doing right now? Do you think they're out there, armed to the teeth, massacring these things? Or, hiding in their barricaded homes, their attics, their basements like...a scared little child?"
John's tears fell and Ianto looked over to Gwen. She nodded over to Ianto to comfort the man, but Ianto's body language suggested that that was never going to happen.
Gwen sighed at Ianto, "You fucking men. You're about as much use as a tub of lube in a nun's handbag."
She stood up and gave John a hug.
He cried onto her shoulder and sniffled, "I just want to know if my daughters are okay."
"I'm sure they're fine." Gwen crooned.
"You don't know that!" He angrily pulled himself away from her, and at first Ianto thought he was going to hit her.
Ianto stood still as John continued with his frightened rant. "This is the end. I'm not a religious person, but this has been predicted for centuries."
"What are you going on about?" Sue had at last spoken, wiping tears from her eyes.
John added, "This is...this...is the apo...apoc..."
"The apocalypse?" Jack helped him out.
John tearfully nodded.
Jack added, "But any fool can predict the end of the world. Asteroids, nuclear weapons, scientists fucking with Mother Nature, Alien invasion—it's always been possible."
Stripy John sighed impatiently. "I'm talking about biblical predictions, before we had nukes, before we had scientists, and before any of us knew what an asteroid was."
"And what if you're wrong?" Jack asked softly, "What if this is something we can fix but are too bloody scared to save those people? What if we are killing people that can be cured?
Ianto opened his mouth to give an immediate answer, but no words fell out. He tried again and said truthfully, "I don't even want to think about that."