The posse fans out over this grassy land where the cattle graze, finding places to hide. The sun sets behind them.
Darkness has crept over the ranch, and the beautiful, pastoral scene has become distinctly more sinister. The wind blows hard, WHISTLING through the long weeds. A rusty rooster windmill atop the old barn twists and CLINKS on its half-bent perch. A piece of tarp hangs down from the barn roof, flapping incessantly against the wooden wall.
Andy; the Redneck and the Good Ol' Boy; and Gwen and the Older Cop are hidden around the ranch, waiting, watching or dozing.
Inside the barn, the wind is only slightly quieter, and It's darker. Jack, Rhiannon, Ianto and Archie are here. Jack peers out through the doorway at cattle drinking from the trough. He looks at Rhiannon; her head tilts to the side as she nods off. When her head falls all the way, she snaps back up, and catches Jack gazing at her.
Jack nods and smiles. She doesn't smile back; she's embarrassed and miserable and this is the last place she wants to be. They sit there for a moment in the dark.
"Hey, Ianto, remember that time when you were a kid and you came knocking on my window in the middle of the night?" Jack whispers.
Archie looks at them.
"Ianto here's twelve. Guess I was fourteen. I said, 'Ianto, what the hell you doing out there?' he tells me he's running away to Hollywood to become a big movie producer. he said he knew I was in ROTC, and he was gonna need a bodyguard. Invited me along."
Archie laughs. Jack smiles. Ianto is embarrassed, but grudgingly enjoys the story.
"I said, 'Ianto honey, if there's anybody can take care of himself, I think it's you. I'm gonna have to decline.' Then went back to bed."
Rhiannon looks at Ianto with shock as she has never heard this before "How far'd you get?"
"About the bus stop. Ranger Rick here called dad."
Archie starts to laugh "Ha! A cop from the get-go! You son-of-a-bitch!"
"You fucked up our fame and fortune, Jack Harkness-Jones."
"Yeah, maybe I did."
.
.
Redneck smokes a cigarette as he keeps an eye out for the cow killer. The burning ember of the cigarette is blown off by the wind. He searches for it in the dry grass, trying to catch it before it starts a fire. He crawls forward, slapping the ground, when he glances up and sees... A large, shadowy shape hulking through the trees on the edge of the forest.
In the barn Jack, Rhiannon, Ianto and Archie see Johnny emerging from the
forest. He has transformed into something much more monstrous: a giant, gangrenous, slug-like beast, a clump of cells and tumor-like protuberances. He has various tentacle-like-arms growing out of him, like overgrown eyes on a potato. As opposed to just having the disease, he now seems to BE the disease itself.
"Johnny?" Rhiannon gasps.
Jack and Andy watch in amazement as Johnny slithers across the field, his large, dark, watery eyes searching out prey.
Jack turns to Andy, pissed, and whispers "You said 'squid'!"
"It got worse." Andy shrugs.
The Redneck and the Good Ol' Boy watch too, mouths dropped.
The diseased Johnny slithers through the grass just a few feet beside Gwen and the Older Cop. They duck below the grass, looking as if they're going to have heart attacks.
Johnny approaches a cow. The cow makes a little MOO of protest when he gets too close, and steps back. The Johnny-creature stabs one of his tentacle growths into the cow's neck, piercing it. The cow stumbles, choking. Blood spurts from her neck. And she topples over. Jack and Archie stare out the window, motionless.
"What we gonna do now, Jack?" Archie asks dreamily "Cuffs won't even fit on 'im."
Rhiannon musters courage. She stands and moves out of the barn. Ianto tries to grab for her "Rhiannon, where you…?"
Johnny wraps a feeler around the cow's horns, and starts dragging it back in the direction of the forest.
Jack motions through the barn window to Gwen.
Gwen motions to Andy.
Andy motions to the recruits.
And Rhiannon moves slowly in toward Johnny. "Johnny?"
Johnny turns and looks at her with his half-human eyes.
His breathing is loud, raspy, and sick. He sees, in a wide circle around him, the nervous posse standing up, their guns at the ready. Rhiannon moves even closer. Jack and Archie are coming in close behind her.
"Johnny? It's okay." As Rhiannon and the posse get closer, Johnny looks almost scared. His eyes dart around from cop to cop. "You're just sick is all. But we'll take you to get help right now. I'll stay by your side, Johnny, just like I swore I would. For better or worse. Remember?"
Johnny's huge milky eyes betray that he does.
"Okay?" she begs.
The posse inch in closer, tightening the circle. Johnny lets out a PIERCING SCREECH of protest. All the posse stop, terrified. Everything is quiet and still except for Johnny's gross breathing. Deep: In, out.
"Okay, Johnny? It's gonna be all right." Rhiannon says.
Johnny SCREECHES again: a warning. He looks from Rhiannon to Jack, with hurt, jealous eyes, and GROWLS. Then Johnny's eyes close to half-mast, and he turns away. His tentacle tightens around the cow's horns, and he again drags it toward the forest. While Jack tries to decide what to do, the Good Ol' Boy nervously blocks Johnny's path. He aims his pistol at him.
"You stop right there, you son of a bitch." Gool Ol' Boy snarls "I don't care what kinda leprosy you got. We need to find that girl. Now you can make this peaceful, or you can make it hard."
Pause.
Johnny and the Good Ol' Boy stare at each other.
And then Johnny SNAPS out a tentacle-arm, whipping it up the front of the man's body, and back. The front of the Good Ol' Boy's whole body is split neatly in half. For a split second, he remains alive: the two different sides of his split head look down in disbelief as his organs spill out from inside him. And then he topples over.
"Fire! Fire!"
The posse shoot at Johnny.
Rhiannon covers her head as Ianto steps over to protect her.
Johnny is struck; he SCREECHES in pain. He lets go of the cow. He slithers with incredible speed off toward the forest.
Jack and the other posse members take off after him like hounds on the heel of their prey. They SHOOT madly.
Rhiannon watches as the posse follows Johnny into the woods. She stands alone with Ianto and worried a moment, and then she darts off after them.
With a soft curse he follows his sister.