39
Sue gasped, and sat upright.
It was the early hours of Tuesday morning, and she took a few seconds to realise where she was.
Once her brain reminded her that she was in someone else's home and Tyler was dead, she broke down in tears, stirring others. Gwen was lying next to her in the double bed with Rhiannon and the babies and Gwen placed her arm around her.
Micha made little noises as Rhiannon tried to shush her back to sleep and David's silent glare was peeking over the blanket.
Ianto had opted to take the hard floor with Jack and Owen, as Liam and Junior took the couch and were practically sleeping on top of one another. Tosh and Owen were cuddling in a large chair and Ianto withheld the urge to poke at his foot.
"Gonna shut up?" Liam cruelly snapped in the darkness.
"She's lost her son, you cruel bugger!" Gwen scolded. "Have a fucking heart!"
"Just remember who put you up tonight."
"And we're very thankful for it," Ianto chipped in. It appeared that everyone was now awake.
Jack snarled, "And just remember who's got the shotgun."
Liam laughed mockingly, but Gwen ignored him and turned her full attention to Sue, holding her and giving her words of comfort.
Jack had empathy for the woman, even more so because it was him that had to kill Tyler.
"Dad?" Junior said.
"Yes, son."
"What happens if they come in?"
Liam responded quickly. "They won't. As long as we remain quiet and keep the lights off..."
"But if they did..."
"Then we'd fight our way out," Ianto joined in on the conversation. "We could leave in the vehicles. Or we could get to the pond and swim across to that tiny island."
"Fuck that. I won't be doing that." There was sudden panic in Junior's voice and his tone suggested that he had lost his cockiness and bravado that he had earlier on. "Dad. I don't want to go near the pond. I—"
"It's okay, Junior." His father appeased. "It won't come to that. We won't be going anywhere near any water. Okay?"
"Okay."
Ianto was baffled by the conversation and the panic that had suddenly engulfed the usually-cocky youngster, but he was too tired to think about it and tiredness prevailed. It prevailed over all of them once more.
The noise was loud enough to drag all of them out of their sleep and Sue was the first to react. "What the fuck was that?"
A small light came on from Liam's phone. He said, "I'll check it out. It's my place. Probably just another stray."
He picked up his crowbar.
He looked at the time on his phone. 5:23am. It would be daylight outside by now.
Ianto grabbed the gun and chose to go with Liam. Liam never protested. It was his premises, but Ianto felt that Liam wasn't as tough as he looked. Once again Jack silently fell in behind him, one hand on the small of his back.
Ianto handed back the shotgun to Jack so he had his hands free, the knife in his pocket a whisper of strength.
Ianto could understand Liam being nervous. This was a unique situation.
Liam had probably been used to throwing out thugs and drunken customers over the years, but this was something completely different. He, like everybody else, was in the middle of a disastrous nightmare that nobody was prepared for. In order to survive, he knew he was going to have to kill now and again. He knew it was something he had to do if he wanted to keep his son protected, but it didn't mean he was comfortable with it.
As soon as Liam reached the back door at the bottom of the stairs he peered out of the spy-hole, but couldn't see a thing.
Ianto, who was behind him and holding the knife in his sweaty palms, tapped him on the shoulder and asked in a whisper, "Anything?"
Liam shook his head and swapped his crowbar from the right hand to the left.
"Can't see any of those cunts anywhere."
They remained where they were for a few minutes and finally Jack spoke up. "Maybe it'll be better if we put someone on a watch from now on."
"Oh, are you thinking of staying a while?" Liam sarcastically responded. "Anyway, what good would it do, man? We're in the attic. That's safe enough. If they want to get in, they'll get in. The front of the pub is fragile. Yes, the bay windows have small panes and are hard to get through, but it won't stop them. I wouldn't tell Junior that though."
"I saw one of them head-butting their way to get at someone in their car."
"There you go."
Another noise, like the sound of a scraping shoe, suddenly alerted the men, and Liam took another peep through the spy-hole.
"Anything?" Ianto whispered impatiently.
"Yeah." Liam could see two men walking around on the almost-barren car park and were checking out the pub. "It's not them. It looks like two normal blokes."
"Ask them what they want."
Liam wasn't so sure. "Maybe I should let them have a look around and wait for them to fuck off."
"Just let them know that people are in here. At least then they won't break into the place."
"Wait, man." Liam carried on looking. "I need to make sure they're definitely not infested."
"How can you tell in the bloody dark?"
"I don't know." Liam shrugged. "You just can. You can tell by the body language."
With Liam looking out and now Ianto with his ear to the door, they could hear voices. They had never heard the infested speak, in fact, the news broadcasts claimed that the contaminated beings can't seem to speak, for reasons that they didn't understand.
The two men began checking out the Renault and the Subaru jeep.
They then approached the door and gave it a shove. Liam suspected that the men had already tried this, and that was the noise that had aroused them in the first place.
"You better say something before they break down the door," warned Ianto.
Liam nodded and said, whilst continuing to peer out, "Is it just you two out there?"
The two men looked shocked and pleased when they heard a human voice. Both men approached the door and were both of average build, dark hair, and seemed like decent individuals to look at.
Liam giggled to himself. I could take them, if I had to.
"Yes, it's just me and my brother," one of them spoke, a man with a lisp. "We were on a camping trip and..."
"Where's your car?" Liam enquired.
"Ran out of petrol. Had to ditch it." The same man spoke, whilst the other one lingered in the background, his head twisting from side-to-side. Both men looked frightened. "There were four of us. When we were pitched up we started getting reports from the news off our phones about what was happening. An hour later we were attacked by some man—a Hitcher, I guess. We drove away when another two turned up. We left everything behind us in the tent where we had pitched up: food, water, clothes, our phones..."
The other brother began to speak. "We just saw the pub and hoped we could stay for one night, before heading back home."
"Where's home?"
"Rochdale."
"Look," the other brother said, the one with the lisp. "We're sorry to be a burden, but could we possible stay for a while? It's not safe out here."
"No shit, Columbo. Wait." Liam turned to Ianto and Jack then asked, "What do you think?"
"They seem okay, and they wouldn't have come here if they weren't desperate. I suppose we're alright for food...for now." Jack shrugged.
"I'm not sure. They look like a pair of manky cunts."
"You have a great way with words, Liam," Ianto laughed. "If we refuse them, and if they're that frightened, they could break into the pub anyway."
"Okay, you can come in," Liam announced through the door. "Hang on a minute."
Liam grabbed the shotgun off of Ianto, ran upstairs to the living area on the first floor, then went into the bathroom and put the gun in the large cupboard under the sink.
Liam quickly returned and Ianto gave him a strange look.
Liam winked. "Trust me."
"Ready to let them in?" Ianto began to grind his teeth.
"Ready."