37
They had been in the place for a matter of minutes.
The man had informed them that he was the owner of the pub and was called Liam Kent. He was a tall, muscular fellow, and looked like a 'retired' football hooligan.
Ianto noticed that the man's forearms were covered in tattoos, but couldn't make them out.
Asking about their significance was not important and was something that could wait.
Liam came across that he was a no-nonsense individual and swore a lot, making Rhiannon uncomfortable, but it didn't bother Owen as he could be just as bad.
Liam had a son who he called Junior, and seemed like a chip off the old block. Junior was fourteen years old, obviously looked up to his old man, and also released the odd profanity and had a stance as if he was as tough as old boots.
But Ianto was certain that it was just an act. After all, he was just fourteen. He was a kid.
If Ianto was fourteen and this thing had kicked off he would have shat himself.
But maybe Junior was confident. He had a tough-looking dad who he must have thought that he was the hardest man on the planet.
They were all sitting, the BBC news was on the TV, on mute, and the three guests were waiting for Junior to come in from the kitchen with the three cups of teas that was promised to them.
Once he arrived, he plonked the cups down and disappeared.
They watched the television for ten minutes in quiet.
"So what's your story, man?" Liam Kent eventually asked them. He was sitting in the armchair whilst Jack and Ianto were huddled on the sofa. "If I'm gonna let you lot stay the night, I better get to know you all."
Ianto was the first to speak. "I live in Cardiff and evacuated with my workmates when it started to hit the fan. Me sister and her kids were scooped up along the way. We all met at a guesthouse, just down the road."
"I kind of know the couple that run it," Liam said.
"You mean you knew the couple that used to run it." Owen said thoughtlessly.
"Oh, I see." Liam gaped at Sue and noticed something hiding behind her brown shoulder length hair. "And what about you, sugar pants?"
Sue smirked at his comment and said, "What do you wanna know. My age? I'm…
Liam pointed. "What's that on your neck, girl?"
Ianto could see that Sue's face had drained of all colour. "What's what? Where did your son go to?"
Liam smirked at her trying to change the subject, but answered her query anyway. "He's in his room, playing the Xbox."
Liam leaned over and took a closer look at her neck. "How did you get that scar?"
Sue stammered, and could feel everybody's eyes on her.
"And who's Jimmy?" He nodded towards the gold necklace that was around her neck, with 'Jimmy' engraved on the heart pendant.
Sue never answered and Ianto could see she was getting tetchy. Ianto could understand why Liam wanted to get to know them, but thought he was too pushy and intrusive.
"Can I get myself a glass of water?" Ianto asked Liam, who quickly nodded. "Anyone else need another drink?"
Nobody answered, so Ianto went to the kitchen by himself.
Liam looked at Tosh. "What about you, angel cake? You look traumatised. You must have seen some shit."
Jack gave Liam a five-minute summary of what had happened and why they had to flee the guesthouse. By the time Ianto had returned with his glass of water Jack was nearly finished.
"Did you have to kill any?" Ianto asked Liam and sat back down on the couch, in between Jack and Owen.
"There was a couple in the car park, just standing about." Liam began to cackle as he remembered the day before. "I knew what they were, after watching the TV reports, so I just went out there and cracked a few skulls, then dumped them by the pond."
"Pond?" Jack asked.
"There's a pond at the back of this place, behind the trees. It's not that big."
"What's on the other side of the pond?"
"Nothing really, man. There's a small island in the middle of it. There's a mad old bastard that lives there called Rob Round," Liam began to explain. "He's got a little rowing boat that he never uses that's tied up by his hut. He's a strange old cunt. Hardly ever see him, to be honest. He must like the isolation."
Rhiannon slid out of the room with the children and took them to the bathroom to wash them, also the ever decreasing nappy supply was about to get a pounding.
Liam leaned back in the chair as the rest were gazing at the TV. Liam had seen it all before.
Liam turned up the volume of the television as they glared at the TV and saw the newsreader struggling to get through the broadcast. The footage that they were seeing was of three areas. The first was London. Oxford street was barren, and they were showing what they had all seen before, but this was on a bigger scale.
Busy shoppers were being attacked, and because of the amount of people running it was difficult to see who were the infected and who the potential victims were. It wasn't until an individual was attacked that they could tell who was the infected and who was not.
The next footage was of another city. People could be seen running along Broad Street, Birmingham, and the scenes were similar to the one in Oxford Street. The third and final footage wasn't of a city. It was mobile phone footage from a place in Yorkshire called Flamingo Land.
The fifteen second film that was shown over and over again was being filmed by a female saying "Oh my God" repeatedly and was filming the Hitchers tearing through the theme park and taking men, women and children down by a roller coaster ride called Mumbo Jumbo.
The phone shook even more as they headed for the phone owner and after she released a scream, the phone fell to the floor.
Jack and Ianto glared at one another in horror at what they had just seen.
Liam Kent looked at their faces and snickered, "Anyone up for another cup of tea? Or would you prefer something stronger?"