Shattered glass was the next thing they could hear.
They're in.
Lloyd went into Junior's room and dragged him out.
The screams of Dylan could be heard downstairs and they were guessing that he was being attacked by the Hitchers.
Lloyd closed the attic and they all sat in a circle, listening to the place, both ground floor and first floor, being smashed up by the frantic Hitchers that were desperately looking for something to munch. Lloyd explained to his son what was happening, and Junior began to shake with fear.
Two minutes later, silence engulfed the house.
Lloyd announced with little confidence, "I think they're gone."
Sue wiped her eyes and said to Ianto, out of the blue, "What if they find a cure?"
Ianto was baffled by Sue's statement. "What?"
Sue explained, "You watched as Jack gunned down my son, but there could be a cure for all this. He could have been saved."
"Sue, you're not thinking straight," Jack said. "He would have eventually got out of that car and attacked us for sure. If it wasn't for the seatbelt, he would have already left the car."
"I'm sorry, Sue." Ianto lowered his head. "There was nothing else we could do."
"I can't believe what we've had to go through over the last couple of days." Sue was still sobbing, and was beginning to get on Lloyd's nerves.
"I know." Ianto nodded. "I can't help thinking about Stripy Steve."
"Our story isn't that unique," Lloyd butted in. "I don't really want to shit in your porridge, but there's gonna be thousands of people out there with more horrific stories than yours."
He then glared at Joan and Ianto. "You two don't have kids. Imagine your whole family being affected by this."
"Alright, Lloyd." Ianto was annoyed with Lloyd's negative attitude. "Rhiannon is my sister, those two kids there are mine now! It's not a competition."
"It's not. All I'm saying is...stop feeling sorry for yourselves, man. It's happening. We need to fucking deal with it."
"So what do we do?" Gwen looked around at the adults for answers. "Do we stay up here for the night? Or check the place out when it's quiet?"
"How many cartridges have you got left for that shotgun?" Gwen looked over at Ianto.
Ianto ruffled his hands in his pockets and pulled out just the one cartridge. He gaped over to Jack who shrugged his shoulders, telling him that he had none.
"Maybe some fell out of my pocket," said Ianto.
"Good." Lloyd surprised everyone with his short statement. "It's that thing that's brought these things here, as well as that Dylan's screaming. It can still come in handy as a bat. At least it'll be quieter."
Despite Lloyd's rant, Ianto placed the last cartridge into the gun and snapped it shut and put it on the floor next to his legs. All they had for weapons was the shotgun and Lloyd's crowbar that was leaning in the corner. They had been given knives earlier, but all were left in the living room when they went downstairs to the bar.
"I'm gonna check it out," announced Lloyd
"Fuck it," Ianto stood to his feet. "I'll come with you."
"No you won't. If anything happens to me, I'll need you here." Jack spluttered. "You'd be better off with another person, at least. Just in case you run into trouble. I'm coming too."
Lloyd opened the hatch and saw that the bedroom was bare. "I'm not gonna discuss it anymore. As soon as my feet touch the floor, get these ladders back up."
He looked over to Sue and gave her a wink. Then his eyes clocked Joan, and pointed at her. "That necklace is still bugging me."
Joan smiled, and thought that she may as well tell him, considering he was putting his life on the line and may not be back. "Jimmy was my partner's name. We were both in a car crash. He died, but I managed to scrape through. That's how I got the scar on my neck."
"Mystery solved," Lloyd began to snicker, and then his face adopted a more serious expression. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Joan smiled. "It was five years ago."
"I thought you said you were divorced," Ianto mumbled.
Joan smiled thinly. "I lied."
With the crowbar being held tightly in both hands, Lloyd checked the first room to his left, then the next one. They were both bare, but his nose twitched and knew that they had been in these rooms.
Lloyd quickly peered into the kitchen and could see blood smears on the right hand side of the wall, and two chairs had been knocked over where the dinner tablewas. He went over to the knife board and put a few steak knives into his pocket. He left the kitchen, and had only the living room to check before the nerve-wracking prospect of going downstairs to check out the bar and possibly facing the infested.
.
He crept downstairs, feeling the tips of the blades in his pocket pricking his thigh, and as he gained nearer to the ground floor he could hear growling noises.
He could see blood all over the bar's floor and could see an infested Dylan crawling along it.
Apart from this, the place seemed empty.
Lloyd took a step inside and took a slow walk over to the infected Dylan, whilst scanning the area around him. Two of the windows had been crashed through and there was a hell of a draught.
Jack quickly moved to the side of the Hitcher he could see at the base of the skull, who ironically couldn't even stand, and placed his foot on the back so the infested Dylan couldn't move.
Ianto leaned over and rammed the knife into his neck, piercing the spider, and Lloyd then pulled out the knife and wiped the blood on the clothes before putting it back into his pocket. They had two cars in the car park and he was certain that taking them would be pointless. Where would they go? And what happens once they had left the Barrens? They would be back in a populated town where the danger would be higher.
It appeared the attic was no longer their only option.
With one last scan around, Lloyd trudged up the stairs to the first floor and went into the bedroom where the attic was. He released a sharp whistle and said, "It's me."
"Is it clear?" he heard Sue cry from behind the hatch.
"It is, but I think we're better off in the attic for now. Drop the ladders."
"We're gonna have to leave," he announced.