44
"When?" Jack was the first to ask.
"Right now. While they're still at the front of the pub."
Ianto could feel his eyes watering. Was this going to be his last night on earth as a normal human being? "They won't give up."
Lloyd asked, "Do you still have your car keys on you, Owen?"
He nodded.
"Good. I have mine. We'll take both vehicles and try and head to the next pub, about a mile away. So we'll need to turn left when we leave the premises."
"This is insane," Sue sobbed.
"So is staying here," Junior spoke up bravely.
Lloyd pointed up to the opened skylight. "Up to the spine of the roof. I'll meet you all up there. Junior, you go first."
They left one-by-one, and the two remaining individuals, Ianto, Jack and Lloyd, were the last to leave. Lloyd climbed out of the skylight, taking his crowbar with him, and Ianto finally released the ladders and quickly followed Lloyd, leaving the shotgun with the one cartridge behind.
Lloyd reached the top of the roof to see that everybody had made it without any slip-ups.
"Right." Lloyd took a look over to see that the car park at the back of the pub wasmdevoid of any Hitchers. He then passed Junior his crowbar.
"I hope nobody suffers from vertigo," he tried to joke, shivering in the blustery conditions. "Follow my lead and we'll soon be out of here. I hope you've all still got your steak knife each that I gave you earlier."
Lloyd carefully went to the side of the roof, turned around so he was facing his companions, then slowly slipped down and took a hold of the drainpipe. He slid down, paranoid that there could be some of those things waiting below. He reached the bottom and told Junior to drop him the crowbar.
It landed in the grass, and Lloyd picked it up as a nervous Tosh was next to slide down the drainpipe with David on her back like a wee monkey.
Once she was down, Rhiannon with the baby in a backpack and Joan was next and Lloyd kept on looking from side-to-side, expecting them to appear from around one of the corners of the building. It didn't happen, and once the rest were on the ground Lloyd told them to follow him to the car park.
Lloyd pointed at Jack and said, "Take Sue and Ianto in your car with his family. Owen, Tosh, Gwen and Junior goes with me."
The jeep was the closest, and as soon as Lloyd and Junior approached the vehicle a noise was heard that stopped everybody in their tracks. All gazed in horror as dozens of Hitchers poured out of the main door and from behind the building, heading for them with ferocious pace.
In the few seconds they had to think, all knew that they didn't have time to escape in the vehicles. By the time they had got in and started the engine, they'd be attacked.
Ianto had witnessed just one of those things head-butt its way through a car in seconds to get to somebody. There was no chance thirty to forty of these things were going to allow two vehicles to leave the premises.
"Fuck it!" snapped Ianto, looking over his shoulder as the Hitchers were advancing. "To the pond."
They all followed, but Junior protested pleasingly, "No, dad. Please. No!"
Jack could see they were about eight seconds from being taken down. "We don't have time for this shit!"
Lloyd grabbed Junior and headed for the pond.
"Dad!" Junior screamed. "No!"
"What's his pissing problem?" Owen exclaimed.
"He can't swim!" Lloyd admitted.
.
.
.
.
They all entered the pond and were all waist-deep when the first one attacked.
Jack and Ianto began to swim to the island, heading for the cabin. Lloyd brought his crowbar back, when the first Hitcher ran into the pond after them, and smacked it.
It fell into the water and another entered and dived for Sue who was lagging behind.
Both went under the water and then they came back up with Sue screaming. Her cheek had been ripped open, then the red-eyed male beast sank its teeth into her neck and ripped out her throat.
She fell back into the water and Lloyd went over and rammed his crowbar like a spear through the forehead of the thing. Blood poured out and the creature fell once Lloyd removed the crowbar. He dropped it into the water, and grabbed a frightened Junior who was five yards behind him with the water up to his waist.
"Swim!" yelled Lloyd. "Everybody swim!"
He looked behind him in the dusky area to see that Jack and Ianto were already halfway across the pond on their backs with a baby each on their chest.
He grabbed a hold of Junior and told him to grab his back once the water reached up to their necks.
With a fourteen-year-old kid on his back and wet clothes, the swim for Lloyd was going to be a struggle. He was exhausted once he was two thirds across the water and stopped swimming and stood to find that he could touch the floor. Junior was panicking but his father told him to shut the fuck up.
Lloyd told Junior to let go of him and stand, in which he did. Lloyd then looked behind him to see if the Hitchers had caught them up. He couldn't see anything. He walked, extremely slowly, through the pond as they progressed nearer to the island where the cabin was, with Junior next to him, and could see Jack and Ianto standing up on the island, soaking wet as they helped Rhiannon and Gwen out, Owen struggling with Tosh.
The water was now up to Lloyd and Junior's knees when Ianto pointed up ahead. "Lloyd. Take a look."
Still in the water, Lloyd turned around and could see dozens of the infested by the water's edge, reluctant to go in and chase the survivors. They were growling with anger, and Lloyd could see seven bodies floating in the centre of the pond.
Although Lloyd was relieved at what he could see, he was baffled and shook his head. "What the fuck happened?"
By the time Lloyd and Junior had walked their soaked bodies out of the pond, Ianto began to explain. "They went in after us, but some of them drowned once it got too deep. Others, who were in shallow water, went back to the edge. They seemed to be learning."
"They must have forgotten how to swim." Lloyd scratched his head.
"I've no pissing idea," said Ianto. "We know they can die like the rest of us because they're still human, but some skills they seemed to have forgot. They can certainly run, but swimming? Climbing?"
Jack pointed at the bodies that could be seen floating in the pond. "Unfortunately, one of them is Sue. I saw her throat getting torn out."
"Me too," said Lloyd,
"Poor Sue," whispered Ianto.
Lloyd and Gwen nodded in agreement, in unison, and looked at one another with sadness in their faces.
Ianto and Jack held hands; they stood in shock on the small island with their soaked frames. Junior and Lloyd stood next to them, looking at the carnage of the bodies floating in the water, and then turning their attention to the dozens of Hitchers on the other side of the pond, not far from Lloyd's pub, aching to rip them apart, but were reluctant after seeing some of their own drowning whilst trying to cross the water.
"Now what, dad?" Junior asked with a shudder in his voice.
"I don't know, son." Lloyd shivered, as the wet clothes were making them all tremble with the cold. "But a blanket would be nice right now."
"This has to be the weirdest fucking couple of days I've ever had," Rhiannon spoke.
Lloyd guffawed, "There's probably a few thousand people have said the same thing."
"Where to now?" Jack asked, and pointed over to the cabin. "There?"
Lloyd looked around the circular tiny island that was no bigger than a football pitch. Apart from the cabin, there was a shed and a few bushes and trees. That was it. It was a strange place to live. Lloyd nodded, finally responding to Jack's query.
"Well, there's nowhere else to go."
"And what if this...guy doesn't take us in?"
"He will."
Ianto queried with suspicion, "But what if he doesn't?"
"Then we'll kill him," Lloyd said bluntly, and looked around for a reaction. He looked at Jack and Ianto and announced, "Although this has been forced upon us, we're a team now. We stick together. Agreed?"
They both nodded and never responded verbally.
Lloyd shook with the cold and placed his arm around his son. "Okay, son?"
Junior slowly tilted his head to the side and rested it on his dad's shoulder. Junior shook his head, shivering, and sniffed, "Not really."
"We will be."
"Are you sure about that?" Gwen asked from behind.
Lloyd nodded, and pulled Junior closer to him as they both stared at the monsters at the other side of the pond.
"Let's get to that shack," said Ianto, pointing to the place behind him. "I'm cold."
They all looked at one another, turned their backs on the pond, and headed for the cabin.