10

Ianto sat heavily, staring at them as they told him of the visiting madman and the great fun he was, how they had left the day before. One day. Ianto had missed them by one fucking day. Ianto swallowed sickly as he tried not to show his dismay. Andy looked at him with something akin to sympathy which had just made it all worse.

"Anyway, happy birthday for yesterday mate" Andy slapped his shoulder "Jack said it was your birthday, why he went to the church before they left. To light a candle for you or something."

Ianto nodded mutely.

He had missed him by one fucking day.

He had no words.

.

.

Ianto stood in the church staring at the candles for the longest time. Finally he reached out to pluck a coffee bean from the squat fat candle, rolling it in his fingers as he felt the tears prickling behind his eyes.

One day too late.

And he had remembered.

Ianto stood there for the longest time until his legs complained and then with a shuddering sigh he carefully placed the bean back with its two companions on the candle around the remains of the wick.

Ianto left the church with a heavy heart.

How long before they would return.

Would they return at all?

.

.

"Are you OK?" Steph asked as she entered the room Ianto had been shown as his.

"Tired. So damned tired."

"Me too. I will sleep in my childhood bedroom tonight" she smiled as he waved her fingers at Emma, the little bean sitting on the floor with toys that seemed to confuse her. Not used to so many choices. The shirt that was once Ianto's now clearly a comfort blanket now.

Her father entered and sat next to her "Sweetie, go help your cousin with the dishes, there's a love."

"Typical, not even back a day and already put to work" she fake scowled, then kissed her father's cheek and took off out the door. Once she had gone Cory's smile faded.

"Look, that little one over there is not yours is she." He asked.

Ianto stared at him long and hard, and then snarled "I will die before I give her up and I will kill as many of you as I can along the way!"

Cory blinked, then burst out into peels of laugher "Holy shit, Andy said you had a bent sense of humour. No, that's not what I mean. I mean, you have taken in the baby, and then saved Stehpy… I was hoping you were a good man and would be amiable with a swap."

"Swap?" Ianto bulked with confusion, swap the baby?

"The truck… we took a peek inside and saw the building supplies and gardening stuff. The plants are dead but the soil is still good and the quick set concrete would be a really big boon. We have plenty of fuel, so… swap?"

Ianto was silent, confused now. He had never looked in the back, it had not occurred to him to inventory the stuff in the back expecting it to be crap with the truck being behind the mall. God, must have been dropping off plants to the florist or something.

"I am agreeable to that" he finally said.

"And since that lot that breezed through are the ones you are looking for, you are welcome to stay until their return." Cory offered "We are all a little embarrassed with the heavy handed crap that went on out there. We are a little flighty. A pack of Uglies attacked yesterday, just after your lot had left like they were watching for them to leave or something. It's hard to know how to react when the fuckers seem to have some intelligence still. Zombies would have been so much easier. Not everyone wants to shoot them as they are still alive, some of them were friends. Family. Ya know?"

Ianto nodded as he rubbed at his face, the whiskers scratchy under his fingertips. He had not shaved since all this began, priorities were not appearance, rather survival and he was surprised, now he could take a beat, to see how thick it all was.

"You are a farming community right?" Ianto asked after considering.

"Yeah?"

"So, you have electric fences for stock right?"

"Yeah?" Cory canted his head "But they don't care."

"If you take the batteries from your tractors that are the huge industrial units and rewire two to each section of the fencing for double power they soon will" Ianto pointed out and Cory blinked slowly as he considered it.

"Jesus, that might work" he finally said "We never thought of changing the voltage."

"You don't want to kill them, this is the only way until one of them gets hold of one of your children or something to change your mindset from neighbor to threat" Ianto shrugged "Because they will. The longer they are watching and thinking, the better each attack will get. They are still intelligent, just in a complete rage. They want to kill the world. They will get in eventually and they will kill you."

Cary sat back and rubbed at his own face, then admitted "This is my thought too but they will not hear it."

"Not yet. Like I say, it might take a sacrifice" Ianto shrugged as he rose to pick up his child. Cory nodded sadly, knowing it was true and hoping against hope it wasn't. Cowards need to be hurt before they will fight back. The loss of one of the villagers might do it. Cory hoped not to be the one to witness it but Ianto was right. It will take a breach of some kind to convince them all that these things are NOT human anymore.

Hopefully with no losses.

Hopefully then, then they will declare war.