27
They were circling alright, not one for each side. Ianto wondered if this was why they were in fours, then dismissed it as thinking too hard. As the men stood in the little attic room looking down, one of the Bugs looked up, all of them crouching quickly.
"They are trying the windows" Owen hissed.
"Thanks Captain Obvious" Jack said softly, then grinned to show it was not a serious comment.
"We can either sit and see how long before they leave…. or how long before one decides to break a window and get in" Ianto said, then glanced out again "Three. Fuck… one has peeled off somewhere."
Now they rose and started to look around with renewed concern, it seemed to have disappeared without a trace.
"Weird" Owen muttered "It must be on the veranda or something?"
Ianto was standing in the middle of the room with his fingers drumming against his thigh in the way Jack recognized as thinking. Deep thinking. Processing. Then he took off down the stairs, Jack following as he hissed at Owen to watch the Buggers.
Ianto moved through the hallways past the others still on the floor, into the kitchen and he then stood for amount, turning his head slowly, then he opened the pantry door and made a squeaking noise as the Bug flew out, the door left wide open to show daylight below some stairs. It was not a pantry, but a bloody basement.
Fucker had found the old coal Shute and Ianto had just found the fucking basement.
It had hold of Ianto by his vest, spinning him into the wall. Jack did not think twice, shooting the damned thing and it shrieked as it spin from the blast, the two limps falling along with a chunk of body as the Bug flew back down the stairs.
"NO!" Ianto roared, going to run after it but it was gone, the chute door slammed shut.
"Are you OK?" Jack demanded, patting at him and Ianto shoved him back. "What. Why are you angry, I just saved you."
"It's heart is not on that side, you wounded it, pissed it off and now they knew we are in here. I was gonna kill it quietly" Ianto raised the butcher knife Jack had not noticed.
"Oh."
Ianto rubbed at his face "Never mind. They knew we were in here anyway. Now they know we bite, I guess."
"I wish Myfanwy was here, she's on the Transporter right?"
"Yeah, and they are showing zero interest in her. They want us. Know the difference now. In the beginning they attacked everything, all animals. Now they are after us, the sheep they passed in the front field proof of that." Ianto lifted another knife from the knife block and hefted it in his hand to feel the weight.
"For a nerdy geek you are one hell of a safe cracker and… knife wielding maniac?" Jack asked.
"Me Da. I was not kidding about him being a prick. Ran with a gang called the Hoodlums. He was not exactly a lynchpin of the organization… never gonna be a king pin for sure. But those friends I made… they showed me a world of greed and desire. And how to get things." Ianto smiled softy.
"So you went through the bad boy phase and embraced it. Wow. And I just got a tattoo" Owen said from the doorway "Ewwwww. Cool."
They watched him scooping up the two limps and placing the, in the sink before starting to open cupboards seeking something to put them in.
"You want these?" Jack asked.
"The feet… claws and the little venom sacks,.. yeah. ARGHHHH. Tupperware. Yehaw!" Owen did a little dance, then pulled some kitchen sheers from the drawer he had just opened "Right. Time to operate Doctor."
Ianto was moving back through the house to the roof and he looked down to find the injured Bug being surrounded by the other three. What happened next was a surprise.
The other three tore it apart like hyenas and ate it.
Like… David Attenborough needed to be there to narrate. Limbs ripped off, the guts hitting the ground and grossness. Ianto stood with his mouth agape as the flesh was consumed quick smart.
Well.
Fuck.
They ARE hungry. Cannibalism is new.
"Ew… did they… eat it?" Jack gasped from beside him.
"Yeah. They are hungry. definitely not leaving" Ianto started finger drumming "We need to scare them off or kill them."
Then… as if they heard the threat… all three started to move off.
"Huh." Jack grunted.
Ianto checked his watch and frowned "It's way past their down time. Something is calling them back. Like dogs hearing a whistle only we can't hear it."
"I don't like it" Jack replied.
"Me neither… it means they are going back to get reinforcements right? I mean… it must mean that. They are looking for back up and coming back." Ianto swung to Jack with wide eyes.
"So we better not be here" Jack took off down the stairs "Everyone, the Buggers are leaving, we will too. Let's take what we have and go home, fortify and hunker down. See if they come our way or converge on here."
And with that, ten minutes later once the roads were declared clear, they took off for home.
It had been a success and a weird failure too.
Ianto was not sure if it had been a good idea at all.
But it was done now.
And they knew they could do it again.
Just… not that place now it was marked by Bugs.