35
Hours had passed; the boredom was suffocating and the noises from the first floor below them had faded, but there was some still inside.
They could hear them.
Rhiannon finally broke the silence between them, and said quietly, "Do you think they'll be gone soon? I think some have left."
Neither Ianto or Jack answered the woman. They had no idea.
"Do you think they'll be waiting outside for us? Can they smell us?" Sue asked more impossible questions that couldn't be answered.
Ianto exhaled hard. "I don't know, Rhia. All I know is what we've seen on TV and in the streets as we fled. And it wasn't much. We still don't know how it all happened. I'm guessing some kind of laboratory faux pas, but that's just me guessing."
Jack nodded his approval for the Torchwood name being kept out if this and the mention of the Hitchhikers going unsaid.
"They reckon it takes thirty to sixty seconds to turn," Jack said softly, knowing that Sue wasn't present when they all watched the TV footage in the Horton's living room. "Which is why they don't really eat you. As soon as you're infested, you're left alone and then you turn. We're not sure of their behaviour though."
"What do you mean?" quizzed Sue.
"Well...they're still human, but I'm not sure they can drive and speak. They can obviously run and jump, but I think they've lost some skills due to the infection. Maybe they've just forgot how to do certain things."
"Can they swim?"
Jack smiled. "I don't know. I don't think so."
"Can they be clever?"
Owentried to stifle a snigger and stopped when Jack flashed him an evil glare.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked.
Sue thought for a moment. "Can they be sneaky? I mean...if we sneak off outside and they jump out on us..."
"You mean...ambush?"
Sue nodded.
"I don't know if they're sneaky, but what we do know is that if you're getting chased they will not stop until they catch you."
Gwen stroked her chin in thought and said, "But if they are human, they should get out of breath like any other person could."
Ianto nodded. "That's actually a good point. They can die like any of us. I shot one in the chest with Christopher's gun and it never got back up. So why not get out of breath, or even suffer stitch?"
Tosh leaned forward, "So they can die if they are on fire?"
"Well, Sue you hit one with your jeep when you first arrived, and that seemed to have damaged it. So they can pretty much die like the rest of us. If you hit a dog with your car, it'll die. If you hit a dog with your car and it has rabies, it'll die."
"So these people have rabies or something?"
"No, Sue," Ianto laughed. "I'm just saying that these things are not superhuman, they're infested from those spider things and can die just the same way as you and I could."
A quilt of silence smothered them for a couple of minutes until Owen spoke up. "I need a shit."
"Oh charming." Jack didn't know whether to laugh of not.
"I'm sorry, but I really do."
"I could go for a wee." It was Sue's turn to speak. "And I'm so thirsty."
Gwen said, "Me too."
"And this nappy isn't rose infused" Rhiannon finally snorted.
Ianto sighed and shook his head. "We're gonna have to leave. You know that, don't you?"
If they stayed in the attic for days, dehydration and starvation was going to kill them if the beasts didn't.
Jack queried, "And when do you think we should leave?"
Ianto looked up and said, "Right now."
Ianto grabbed a chair from the corner of the attic and placed it gently underneath the skylight.
"Are you sure about this, Ianto?" Jack whispered as he watched Gwen, now biting her nails.
"Not really." He gave off a thin smile, but his face quivered in fright. "But I certainly don't want to die slowly from dehydration."
"So you'd rather die being killed by those things out there?"
Ianto laughed, and said, "I wouldn't die. I'd just be infested."
"Wait a minute." Jack held his hand up and cocked his head to listen.
Sue whispered, "What is it?"
"I can't hear anything anymore," he said, referring to the bedroom underneath them.
Ianto walked over slowly, making sure his steps were as soft as possible, bent, down and placed his left ear near the hatch. For minutes he listened whilst they sat in silence patiently.
"I think it's clear," he announced nervously.
"Let's just stay here for a while." Sue looked reluctant to move. "They might not come back."
Ignoring Sue, Owen said, "If we can get to the side of the place, the Hortons' car there."
He pulled out car keys from his back pocket and gave them a shake.
Ianto had his hand on the latch to lower the ladders and said, "I can check the house out on my own. No point putting ourselves in danger by going over the roof if the house is clear."
"No, Ianto." Jack shook his head. "I'm not gonna let you do that."
"Hush and listen to me. Pull the ladders back up after me and Jack are down, and if we are attacked there'd be no way of me getting to you once I...turn."
Owen nodded "I suppose that makes sense."
"Okay?"
He grabbed the shotgun, made sure both barrels were full, and slowly made his way downstairs into the unknown.
Before he could whisper an instruction up to Owen, he had already raised the ladders. He looked out of the bedroom window to see, apart from Sue's crashed car, that the area was clear.
No Hitchers. Where did they go?
Ianto remembered a conversation they had in the attic about them learning.
Maybe they were hiding in the house, fooling them, and giving the survivors the impression that they had gone. Ridiculous, Ianto thought. But then again so was infected humans running amok across the country, feeding and infecting other humans. It was like something out of a Matheson novel.
"Are you OK?" he whispered to Jack who nodded.
"When I was a child I …I mean … we were attacked by things that … we called them raiders," Jack was clutching at Ianto, "I'm sorry, I' not much good to you but this … this is one of my worst nightmares."
Despite his concerns and his constant shaking, they checked the other rooms, avoided the bathroom where Stripy Steve lay in a bloody mess, and stood on the landing and peered downstairs.
Raising the shotgun Ianto crept downstairs and could feel his temporal pulse smacking away from inside of his head. He had never been so nervous in all his life.
There were only four incidents in his life that came close to the way he was feeling right now.
The first one was when he was sixteen.
A crowd of older boys surrounded him and asked for money.
He told them to go and fuck themselves and was thrown to the ground and kicked repeatedly, receiving a fractured cheekbone, four broken ribs, a broken wrist and heavy bruising.
Maybe he was lucky to get away with that.
The second time was when he was in his early twenties. He was drunk and had left a nightclub early whilst his friends remained inside. He waited outside for them and an altercation occurred between him and another drunken reveller. Punches were thrown and one knife wound to Ianto's stomach had given him the fright of his life. The attacker had fled the scene, whilst the bouncers from the club called the emergency services.
We don't really need to mention Canary Warf, right?
Of course the last time was here in the Barrens, when something else wanted to devour him altogether.
Ianto was now at the bottom of the stairs and was facing the front door that looked like it had been forced open. It was wide open, revealing the outside, and was almost hanging off its hinges. He tried to close it, but the door wasn't budging.
He went into the living room and tried to ignore the bloody carnage lying on the floor, and checked where the window used to be.
The wood had been smashed through and it appeared that it had been a pathetic attempt to stop them from coming in. He went into the kitchen and ran the tap, sticking his head under the water. He then grabbed a plastic bottle and filled it, thinking of the girls. He tucked it into his pocket and went back upstairs, feeling the shooting pain up his back passage.
He desperately needed the toilet.
If he didn't go now, he was going to shit his pants without a doubt. Bloody Owen putting his own bowels into motion.
So he did the unthinkable.
He quickly went into the bathroom, trying to ignore Stripy Steve's bloody body in the bath, dropped his trousers, sat on the toilet seat and went for it. Jack stood at the door with the shotgun, urging him to hurry.
Once again, he heard the name Gray whispered.
He was finished in two minutes and hurried back to the attic.
"It's me." He stood underneath the attic and waited for a reaction.
He could hear movement and watched as the ladders were lowered down.
Gwen popped her head through and gave Ianto a smile. "All clear?"
Ianto smiled. "It's all clear. I hope there's plenty of fuel in the car."
"Almost a full tank he told me." Owen said as he climbed down and turned to help the girls. "My turn to shit?"
"Yeah." Ianto felt Jack against his back. "We better hurry."
"And go where?" Gwen queried as others took turns in the bathroom, Stripy Steve now covered with the shower curtain.
"Somewhere safe."
"And where's that?"
"I don't know. But it's not here."
They made their way down to the ground floor.
"Okay. Let's fucking do this." Jack straightened his back and released a big puff out. Ianto could see he was nervous—they were all fucking nervous, but he admired his bravery. "The car's parked at the side of the guesthouse, the people mover. I'll lead the way."
They quickly went downstairs and were still apprehensive despite Ianto giving it the all clear, and all gulped when they reached outside.
Tosh had David in her arms as she followed and Ianto was pleased to see his sister trusting someone.
"This way." Jack began to jog as he spotted the car. Other vehicles were there that more than likely belonged to James and Stripy Steve.
Owen pressed the key fob and unlocked the vehicle.
He jumped in the front, Ianto went into the passenger seat and the others sat behind them.
Owen started the engine, locked the doors from the inside and left the premises. He turned right and went along the country road, with no idea where he was going.
"So where to now?" Gwen was almost in tears and clung onto Ianto's headrest, her nails digging into the rubber.
"Anywhere." Jack sounded unsure. "If it's a farm, a pub or another guesthouse, it'll do."
"And what if these things have already reached these places?" Sue whimpered.
"I don't fucking know, Sue."
"We'll stop at the first place that looks safe," said Ianto.
"I'm sorry, Sue," Jack spoke up.
"Don't be." Sue smiled thinly. "Let's face it, we're all shitting a brick."