27
Ianto had decided to block off the exposed living room window and had found a tool box that had belonged to Christopher; he had dismantled cupboards and drawers, and used the wood to board up the windows. He hated hammering the wood, because he felt so exposed making that kind of noise.
Once he was finished, he took a step backward and looked at the shoddy workmanship and sighed, "It won't stop them from coming in, but at least it gets rid of the draught."
Jack picked up the gun that was leaning against the wall, then decided to go back to the basement where the rest of the group were. When they arrived he could see Stripy Steve trying to tune into radio stations with a portable radio that had been taken from the kitchen.
"Probably the batteries," Jack said to Steve, as he could see he was struggling.
"Wait," he said. "I've got something."
The radio station was only on for a matter of seconds, but it was clear to all individuals that the matter being discussed was the fall of the UK due to this aggressive virus sweeping the nation.
They all sat in silence and Sue continued to sob, as Gwen comforted her.
Eventually, Sue got to her feet and brushed herself down. She looked at the group one-by-one and sighed with disappointment. Baffled by her behaviour, Ianto asked her what was wrong, but she ignored him and headed for the basement's steps. As soon as she reached the first one, Ianto could see the panic on Stripy Steve's face.
"Where're you going, Sue?" asked Ianto. He got to his feet slowly, picked up the gun, and wandered over to her.
Her tears were falling and she stammered, "My-my son is still out there, lying dead in my car. I need to bury him. I can't leave my baby boy out there, not on his own."
Jack and Ianto looked at one another, and Jack decided to speak up. "It's too dangerous at the moment, Sue. With the fog, we can't really see if it's clear. We spent long enough out there as it was when..."
Jack allowed the sentence to hang.
"When what?" Sue sniped.
No one answered her.
She continued with her venomous words. "When you killed him? When you shot him like an animal?"
She flashed a devilish look Ianto's way, convinced that he had been the shooter.
"It was me that shot him," confessed Jack. "Ianto couldn't do it."
"You knew he had to go." This time Ianto decided to take a turn, giving Jack the feeling that he had some backing. "There was nothing else we could have done for him."
"Don't have a go at my brother" Rhiannon hissed as she crushed her child's head's to her breasts, "And keep your bloody voices down, you're scaring me babans! They did what they had to!"
"I know that, I'm sorry." Sue snapped, tears ran down her cheeks, and the fury in her face was for all to see. "Doesn't make it any fucking easier though, does it?"
A silence fell amongst the group and Jack and Ianto dropped their heads, whilst Stripy Steve cried—this time not for himself, but for his daughters.
Ianto exhaled noisily and gave Sue an apologetic look. "We can't go out there. If one of us is attacked, we could all get infested."
Sue huffed and shook her head in disgust at the three of them. "Fine, I'll bury him myself."
"No you won't." Ianto pointed the gun in Sue's direction.
Jack placed the palms of his hands on his hips in surprise "Ianto? What the fuck?"
Sue gave him a smile and said, "Shoot me, if you have to. Now Tyler's dead, I don't have much to live for."
Sue slowly walked up the basement's steps, almost as if she was purposely giving Ianto the opportunity to shoot her, if that was what he wanted. She then slid the bolt open and left the basement.
"Fuck!" Ianto cussed, and ran after her. Jack followed suit with the others, leaving Stripy Steve in the basement, cowering in the corner.
Once Ianto caught up with Sue, he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her gently back.
"Look," he warned. "If you want to bury your son, fine, I can understand that, but let us get him wrapped up."
Jack came from behind and added, "I'll get some sheets from upstairs."
"I need to see him!" Sue spat.
Sue barged past Ianto, forcing Ianto to grab her again, but this time he was a lot firmer.
"Your son was shot in the face, Sue." Ianto said bluntly; he felt it was the only way to get the woman to listen. "He was shot from only a few yards away. There ain't much left off him from the neck up. Do you really want to see that? Is that the image you want imprinted on your brain? If you go out there now, the last image of your son will be him almost headless with most of his brains splattered over the interior of your jeep—"
"Ianto! That's enough!" Jack bellowed, forcing Ianto to remain silent, and Sue to admit defeat.
"Go back in the basement," Jack calmly said to Sue. "Me and Ianto will wrap him up, take him out of the car, and we'll bury him together. Yeah?"
It seemed to take an age to do it, but Sue nodded the once, and did what she was told. She went back to the basement whilst Jack ran upstairs to get sheets. Ianto was just about to tell Owen to hold off until Jack checked the upstairs, but he was already at the top off the stairs and they had never heard anything to suggest that more of these things had entered the establishment.
For a brief moment Ianto stood on his own, holding the shotgun with his right hand. What the fuck is going on? How on earth did it come to this?
As soon as Jack returned with sheets under his arm, they both silently walked to the front door and hesitantly stepped out into the spine-chilling, yet beautiful, barrens.
The dense fog had lifted a little, but their overall vision of the area was still impaired. Looking around, showered in nervousness, Jack said, "As soon as you see so much of a silhouette of anything, shoot it."
Ianto never responded, and was the first to walk over to the vehicle. He opened the door and covered half of his face with his black T-shirt. He looked away as soon as Jack stepped inside and began wrapping the young boy up.
Seeing him struggling to get him out, Ianto went to help him as she put him over his shoulder.
"You just concentrate on what's around us," Jack reprimanded.
Ianto accepted his scolding, and walked behind Jack as he struggled to get the boy inside.
"Straight through the back," said Ianto. "Through the kitchen door. I'll check the shed for a shovel."
Ianto ran towards the shed and was livid.
This is madness.
He could understand that Sue had only just lost her boy, but doing all of this was just putting the group in unnecessary jeopardy. It was an insane situation.
What worried Ianto was that if Sue was attacked and infected, would her infested brain remember that there were humans to attack in the basement? Would she remember, or would the rage, or whatever the hell it was, blind her from any of these thoughts and she was only programmed to attack other humans?
He had no fucking idea!