Doctor Who’s End Game - Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! 4/8
Title: Doctor Who’s End Game - Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! 4/8
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, The Doctor (10), OFC, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Benton
Parings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Neither Torchwood or Doctor Who are mine
Summary: The Rani wants revenge
Spoilers: None
Rating: PG-13
A/N: This is a sequel to Doctor Who’s Nightmares
Prologue here
Ianto Jones, late of Torchwood One and Three rolled to his left as a giant eagle’s claw slammed into the pavement next to his head. As quickly as his shocked body would let him, he scrambled to his feet and, grabbing what was left of his jacket, ran into the darkness.
Tripping on the grass protruding from the pavement, a set of razor sharp claws cut through the air where he had only seconds before been. Scrambling to his feet he ran as fast as he could at an angle to the flight path of the beast that had attacked him.
Slamming into a concrete wall, Ianto found the entrance and ducked inside. The moonlight found it difficult to penetrate the darkness and Ianto’s night vision wasn’t good enough to see. Despite this, he walked into the abandoned building not sure where he was. Hiding in relative safety, Ianto felt inside the pocket of his torn shirt and jacket and felt a little better when his hand locked around a stun gun.
Taking a deep breath the pain in his head was beginning to dissipate but his memory still hadn’t returned. However, mentally trapped in the past as he was, he didn’t know he had a memory problem..
Heading through to what looked like a hotel reception area; he walked cautiously, the stun gun extended in his right hand. There was something unfamiliar about the gun, he realised. It wasn’t the one he usually carried. A memory flash saw him giving it to a woman, but who?
A noise to his left banished all memories causing him to turn towards an unfamiliar sound. His eyes tried to penetrate the darkness but to no avail. Somewhere in front of him was a creature that had a dragging, scraping sound as it moved and it was advancing on his position.
Slowly and carefully he backed up against the reception desk, feeling the hard wood in the base of his spine. The sound changed direction and headed directly towards him. The scrapping sound of gravel on tile grew louder as the creature approached him. Try as he might the blackness was total. Whatever was in the room with him hid well in the darkness.
‘Don’t move… I’ve got a gun,’ was all he managed to say, his voice dry and crackling in his throat. The speed of the creature increased and the sound was joined by what sounded like muffled laughter.
Turning to his left something brushed across one cheek as he extended the stun gun. A blow struck Ianto hard in the right shoulder causing him to drop the stun gun sending it spinning off into the darkness. A clawed hand grabbed his left leg and squeezed hard as he tried to pull against it. A more violent pull took his legs out from under him and he hit the floor, his bare back slamming into the tiles. His breath was knocked from his lungs as he tried to breathe but found that he couldn’t. A weight slammed into his chest stopping his lungs from inflating, causing him to gasp in pain and shock. Panic filled him as blackness threatened to take away his consciousness as he fought frantically for breath.
***
Sergeant Benton followed Jack as he hugged the wall and ran. With his wrist gun at the ready, Benton fought the urge to fire blindly into the darkness as sounds reached out to him begging them to come and play. Death ran freely as the night closed in around them.
In their concealed position they looked on as patrol after patrol of Ogrons wandered through the night. Energy weapons exploded behind them forcing them to move further forward to avoid being spotted. Jack slapped Benton’s backside as he followed him around another building, a group of Ogrons were almost on top of them.
‘Faster Pussycat,’ Jack said, as he admired Benton’s retreating behind. They were hemmed in on two sides by flying beasts that resembled Rottweilers with wings and the way they had come was blocked off by advancing Ogrons brandishing energy weapons. Huddled in the corner of a windowless hotel, Jack and Benton looked out at the dark and the evil that walked the streets.
‘It’s not just your eyes that get used to the dark but your heart and soul follow.’ Jack said as he noticed a trailer piled high with the dead drive passed. ‘The dark deeds you commit in the name of good are still dark deeds. We make jokes about them and try to take the emphasis from the evil that we commit but they catch up with us eventually. Whether it’s in your dreams or in your waking hours they get you.’
Benton smiled remembering something the Brigadier had once told him when he was a new recruit to UNIT. ‘Our fears, Private Benton, are our own business and as long as it doesn’t affect your combat no one cares.’ Jack nodded his understanding. His CO had told him something on similar lines. It seemed no one cared as long as you got on with your job.
‘Seeing death first hand… for the first time, so to speak… changed me,’ Benton added. ‘It was as if death was something on its own and had no connection with life. People’s faces were like nothing I’d ever seen before. No actor, in any film, no matter how good he was, could ever fake the real thing. It was as if the person’s face had frozen in mid expression, you know, like a badly taken photograph.’ Jack nodded his agreement and added,
‘Then there’s the eyes; never fully closed never wide open, just dead and accusing.’ Benton removed a bar of chocolate from his tunic pocket and threw it to Jack. Jack was about to protest when Benton produced a second bar and ripped open the paper.
‘The first time I saw a dead body’, Jack said as he chewed the dark chocolate with relish. ‘I was a child called Jack Montgomery, back then, living on the Boeshane Peninsula in the 51st century. There’d been an attack and my father was checking the bodies to see if anyone was left alive. I was left to look after Gray, my brother, while the others began the clean up operation.
‘As we played we came across a body, left on a grass bank, probably dropped by one of the aliens. She was huddled over in the foetal position as if protecting herself. The girl’s skirt was up around her waist and her white knickers were exposed. For some strange reason I wanted to pull the skirt back to save her embarrassment. I don’t know why. I mean… a corpse never felt anything, let alone the intrusion of prying eyes. Then there was the smell. I can’t remember how long the girl had been laying there but it had been for some time.’
Benton finished his chocolate bar and discarded the paper. He had lost many friends and family in his sixty years, but now time might just have caught up with him and it would be his turn.
Jack continued talking as he ate the rest of his bar. ‘The people around me were referring to her as the deceased or the corpse or even the body. I had to stop myself from screaming out, it’s a girl she was human just like us. But then I realised, it was how they handled death, by desensitising themselves from the obvious fact, it could have been them, or someone they knew. By referring to her in those terms distanced themselves from reality.’
Looking out of the glassless window Benton felt as if he was being watched. An energy weapon exploded against the wall they were hiding behind causing them both to duck. Realising that they had been found, they both jumped out of the window and ran for the next building. Moving in the dark they followed the street line trying to keep out of sight of the many Ogrons that patrolled the area. Benton was still nervous, looking over his shoulder at every opportunity. He felt that they were being herded to a destination he didn’t want to go to. The hairs on his back stood up as a shiver ran through him.
‘What’s up?’ Jack asked noticing his friend’s apprehension. Benton tried to shrug it off.
‘Nothing… someone just walked over my grave.’ Benton came to a decision that would mean life or death for him. Skulking in the shadows was never the man he was or had been.
‘There’s someone out there watching us. They’re using the Ogrons and those winged beasties to coral us.’ Jack nodded, he’d felt it to. The sixth sense he’d built up over the years had never let him down. ‘The Brigadier once told me that if an enemy is trying to force you to go one way, leading you into a trap, then attack the enemy. It’s the last thing they’ll expect.’ Jack smiled. He was beginning to like Benton more and more.
‘Regimental Sergeant John Benton… you old dog; are you suggesting we advance to contact?’ Jack could just make out Benton’s smile in the darkness as he lifted his wrist in anticipation. Jack drew out the Webley Mark VI revolver, checking that it was fully loaded.
‘Who wants to live forever?’ Benton said, and then standing ran off into the darkness towards the advancing Ogrons, with Jack following closely behind.
***
Louise Ruth sat for a moment watching the group of Ogrons pass by following the Turkish army jeep. When they were out of sight she stood and was about to move from her place of concealment when a single Ogron came waddling up the street, his energy weapon held out in front of him. It was obvious, even in the light of the moon that he had been injured. Blood still dripped from his right leg to mingle with the grass and sand that covered the road. Limping he stumbled after the other Ogrons, his left arm fastened to his six and a half foot body. His bald head and watchful eyes reminded Louise Ruth of something from the film Planet of the Apes.
Slowly the Ogron walked, dragging his injured leg behind him. From out of the dark Louise Ruth Watched as a winged creature swooped down, its clawed feet extended towards the injured Ogron. With surprising speed for something his size, the Ogron turned and fired at the beast point blank into its chest. The blast exploded in the animal’s centre body mass killing it instantly, but the momentum of the dive slammed the animal into the hapless Ogron throwing them both to the ground. After a few seconds thrashing, both the Ogron and the Beast lay still.
Louise Ruth looked around into the night, straining her eyes to see if any other Ogrons or flying beasts were about. Nothing moved except the cool breeze that ruffled the fur on the beasts back and sent an empty carton skidding across the ground. Slowly and carefully she stood and, checking the road as best as she could, walked towards the two downed creatures.
Blood from the Ogron and flying beast covered the ground in all directions, mingling together as it flowed. Stepping over the bigger pools, Louise Ruth walked cautiously towards the carnage that lay before her. The Ogron’s energy weapon lay just outside his grasp, as it fell from its lifeless fingers.
Keeping her eye on the approach road she reached out for the oversized, futuristic hand gun. Her fingers curled around the plastic stock and lifted it slowly away from the creature.
A noise in the darkness drew her attention away from the fallen beasts freezing her to the spot. After a few seconds quiet resumed as she turned her attention back to the gun in her hands. As she examined the switches and buttons on the side a hand shot out of the darkness grabbing at her extended wrist.
‘Shit!’ she screamed and jumped backward away from the dying Ogron that was pulling himself up, trying to stand. Even in his state, his strength impressed Louise Ruth as he stood on shaky legs, the left one bent at an unnatural angle.
She aimed the energy weapon at his head. The threat of death didn’t seem to faze him and he kept on shuffling in her direction. Standing her ground, Louise Ruth pulled the trigger just as the Ogron went to grab her throat.
The first thing that shocked her was the undeniable fact that the weapon didn’t fire. The second thing was the Ogrons clawed hand as it circled her neck. Without conscious thought, she inverted the weapon and slammed it against the side of the Ogron’s head.
‘Bastard… bastard… bastard,’ she screamed as she continued to hit the Ogron as it fell sideways on top of the beast it had earlier killed. As it dropped below her reach she began kicking it and shouting as she did so. ‘Dirty bastarding…bastard!’ A cracking sound told Louise Ruth that his neck had broken under her panicked onslaught. Rolling off the beast he fell face down and lay still. Rolling him over with her foot she looked down into his lifeless face. One eye was partially open but the other was caked with fresh blood and completely closed.
Reaching down she undid his belt and pulled it from him. The holster for the gun was still intact and a series of metal clips hung on the belt, along with something that looked like a pair of wrap around sun glasses.
Quickly she ran back to her hiding place and re-examined the gun. One switch on the weapon flashed red and when she pushed it in a metal clip, about the size of her arm fell from the base of the gun. Throwing it to one side she took another clip from the belt and slotted it into place. The red light immediately went out and ten power bars appeared on the side, glowing brightly in the dark.
Louise Ruth nodded to herself, ‘The clips must be some kind of battery that powers the gun.’ Aiming the gun at the dead Ogron she gripped it tightly in both hands and gently pulled the trigger mechanism a second time. She had braced herself, expecting some kind of recoil but to her surprise there was none. A stream of energy exploded from the end of the gun thumping into the dead Ogron. In a shower of sparks the explosion dissipated quickly.
‘Now that’s kick-ass,’ she said with a smile as she holstered the weapon.
Standing she fastened the over sized gun onto her waist and walked out into the street, filled with confidence. A noise to her right then drained all confidence she had accumulated in the past few minutes, causing her to scurry towards the building opposite.
A sound from the windowless building behind her warned her that this had been a bad idea. Reaching down to her belt she fumbled for the gun but came across the glasses instead. Removing them from the belt she examined them in the dark. These too had a button on one side but this one did not glow red.
Holding the glasses away from her in case they too were a weapon, she cautiously pushed the button. A small buzzing noise emanated from the glasses as the lenses turned a dark green in colour. Instantly she realised what they were and, adjusting the elastic, she fastened them onto her face.
‘Wow,’ was all she could say as night turned into a green hazed day. Everything was now visible and, adjusting a small black wheel on the opposite side to the on switch, zoomed in her vision. Slowly she scanned the dead city zooming into the darkness as she went. The limitations were obvious and the glasses faded out as the range of the night sight was reached. Rotating it backward she realised that the wide angle meant that she could see her peripheral vision with greater accuracy and without trying. Moving forward she realised that the building she had been hiding behind had once been a grand hotel called the Asterias.
Walking round the side of the building the golden sand was soft underfoot. The sea in front of her was shallow and turquoise under the green haze of the glasses. Beach umbrellas still sat next to sun beds planted just above the high tide line. Looking back the buildings looked down on her as if they were looking on at the spectacle laid out before them, windowless and rotting from lack of human care.
Walking along the sand, she traced the buildings progress touching the walls with her hand as she did so. Looking out towards the sea she noticed movement in the sand. Stopping she hugged the wall and zoomed in her night vision goggles. A family of sea turtles were nesting on the deserted beach, making their home where man had once bathed.
Looking back towards the town she retracted the zoom and gazed at the street that ran parallel to the beach. To her surprise she realised that this had once been a charming neighbourhood filled with wealthy holiday makers and Greek Cypriots bustling about, getting on with their daily lives. Their parked cars still lined the streets beyond, sand covered, with tires that looked sad and deflated. The arm of a crane protruded from the side of an unfinished building where work had ceased forty years previous.
Leaving the beach she walked back towards the main road hugging the side of the Golden Plage hotel. Moving closer to the parked cars she realised that they were all models from the early seventies and late sixties, the insides still in pristine condition, waiting for their owners that had left them for a day or two and had hoped to return within the week. With the Asterias on one side and the Golden Plage, she headed back towards the centre hotel that looked as if it had once been grander than the other two put together.
Heading towards the front entrance she realised why this had once been the number one destination for the rich and famous. Looking up at the street sign she realised that she was walking down JFK Boulevard, play ground to the wealthy. Film stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Raquel Welch and Brigitte Bardot had once holidayed here and now it was abandoned to the weather, decay and whatever the rift spat out. Now nature was reclaiming the area, as metal corrodes, windows broke, and plants worked their roots into the walls and pavements.
To her surprise and wonderment she read the sign outside the building. It had once been proud to call its self the best hotel on the beach. This was the Argo hotel. She smiled, if only Jack could have seen this, she thought.
Walking through the oversized entrance to the Argo hotel she expected a doorman to pop out at any second. Quietly she sang as she walked. ‘We spent a jolly shore leave there for just three days or four, but Argo doesn’t want us anymore...’ The main reception was to her right and five giant pillars held the stairwell in place. Something was odd about the pillars but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what was niggling her.
Her nervousness got the better of her as her voice trailed off. Slowly she drew out the giant energy weapon. Holding it low in both hands she walked through the hotel reception, heading towards a noise that was coming from inside. ‘It could be one of the team,’ she thought as she headed for the manager’s office.
Walking through she saw, what looked like, a giant insect, its tentacles whipping about in the darkness. She could see it but it couldn’t see her… but it could feel her presence, she was sure.
As the insect moved to one side she almost screamed out in horror. On the floor at its feet lay Ianto Jones, looking more than a little worse for wear. His usual smart suit, shirt and tie combination was missing and his bare body was covered in bruises and welts. The insect had one appendage poised over his unconscious body ready to plunge down into him and drain him of blood.
‘Help me,’ was all he said, but he had managed to convey a world of hurt in those few words. Even in the dark she could see the torment written across his face.
Without a second thought Louise Ruth fired the energy weapon sending the insect splattering against the far wall. Its torn body fell to the floor leaving a pattern of green slime that looking like a giant Rorschach inkblot diagram.
Gazing at the recently decorated wall Louise Ruth smiled… she couldn’t help herself. ‘Looks like a butterfly… or maybe a pint of Stella spilled on a bar top...’ A groan at her feet drew her attention away from the green slime. She remembered Ianto’s unconscious body and quickly holstered her weapon.
Looking down at his almost naked body she realised that he was still breathing. Lifting him up into a sitting position she reached inside her shoulder bag and removed a small bottle of water. Unscrewing the cap she held it to his lips. Greedily he drank the cool liquid, gulping down each mouthful.
Opening his eyes Louise Ruth smiled at him and was just about to say his name when he gave out a loud scream. Getting to his feet he ran towards the door he had entered by and was out of the front entrance before Louise Ruth had time to follow.
Walking back through the reception area she examined the pillars in more detail. Two pillars stood on the right hand side covered in dirt and time worn. Walking towards them she ran her hand down one of them. The dirt came away leaving a line of white where her hand had been.
Turning to the second one she repeated the process, again leaving a mark where her fingers had traced a Patten. The third and fourth pillars were the same, her initials standing out on the once white painted surface. The middle section, which was slightly off centre, proved more than unusual. It looked identical to the others but felt different. Scraping her hand down one side, the surface felt as smooth as glass. Removing her hand left no marks showing where it had been.
‘I knew there was something wrong about that pillar,’ she said to herself. ‘Someone’s painted it to look like the others.’ Mystery partially solved, she walked out onto the main road and realised that she still had the night vision goggles on.
‘What must Ianto have thought when he’d opened his eyes?’ she said, shaking her head. The glasses also picked out thermal reading and she was able to follow his warm footprints which he left on the concrete. Taking a mouthful of water she replaced the bottle in her bag and walked down a street named Leonidas, following Ianto’s foot prints and singing ‘Banned from Argo,’ as she went.
Our proper cool first officer was drugged with something green, and hauled into an alley where he suffered things obscene …
***
Two Ogrons fell as Jack fired point blank into the backs of their heads. The alien guards toppled forward as Jack relieved one of them of his energy weapon. Ducking behind a building Jack gave Benton covering fire as he ran to join him. Benton’s wrist weapon picked off Ogrons as he ran. Too bulky to give chase they stood their ground firing as Jack picked them off with his newly acquired weapon.
Hitting the wall next to Jack, Benton rolled sideways and trained his wrist gun the way he had come. Nothing moved except an injured Ogron who tried to crawl back into cover. From the dark, a scream howled in the night and what looked like a winged dog swooped down on the injured Ogron.
A second beast dropped out of the sky fighting the first for the right to feed on the Ogron. Still trying to crawl away from the two carnivores the Ogron was pulled up short as a set of jaws clamped down on his left leg. Struggling violently a second set of jaws bit into his right leg as both beasts fought and pulled against each other.
Filling his Webley, Jack stood as the Ogron gave out a muffled scream and the two beasts tore him in half. One of the winged beasts flew off carrying the Ogron’s right leg and half his chest in its mouth. The remaining beast bit down on the leftover carcass, tearing at the exposed flesh. Carefully he aimed the revolver at the remaining beast and fired. As he did so he knew instinctively that the bullet had missed.
Moonlight Serenade 5/8
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, The Doctor (10), OFC, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Benton
Parings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Neither Torchwood or Doctor Who are mine
Summary: The Rani wants revenge
Spoilers: None
Rating: PG-13
A/N: This is a sequel to Doctor Who’s Nightmares
Prologue here
Ianto Jones, late of Torchwood One and Three rolled to his left as a giant eagle’s claw slammed into the pavement next to his head. As quickly as his shocked body would let him, he scrambled to his feet and, grabbing what was left of his jacket, ran into the darkness.
Tripping on the grass protruding from the pavement, a set of razor sharp claws cut through the air where he had only seconds before been. Scrambling to his feet he ran as fast as he could at an angle to the flight path of the beast that had attacked him.
Slamming into a concrete wall, Ianto found the entrance and ducked inside. The moonlight found it difficult to penetrate the darkness and Ianto’s night vision wasn’t good enough to see. Despite this, he walked into the abandoned building not sure where he was. Hiding in relative safety, Ianto felt inside the pocket of his torn shirt and jacket and felt a little better when his hand locked around a stun gun.
Taking a deep breath the pain in his head was beginning to dissipate but his memory still hadn’t returned. However, mentally trapped in the past as he was, he didn’t know he had a memory problem..
Heading through to what looked like a hotel reception area; he walked cautiously, the stun gun extended in his right hand. There was something unfamiliar about the gun, he realised. It wasn’t the one he usually carried. A memory flash saw him giving it to a woman, but who?
A noise to his left banished all memories causing him to turn towards an unfamiliar sound. His eyes tried to penetrate the darkness but to no avail. Somewhere in front of him was a creature that had a dragging, scraping sound as it moved and it was advancing on his position.
Slowly and carefully he backed up against the reception desk, feeling the hard wood in the base of his spine. The sound changed direction and headed directly towards him. The scrapping sound of gravel on tile grew louder as the creature approached him. Try as he might the blackness was total. Whatever was in the room with him hid well in the darkness.
‘Don’t move… I’ve got a gun,’ was all he managed to say, his voice dry and crackling in his throat. The speed of the creature increased and the sound was joined by what sounded like muffled laughter.
Turning to his left something brushed across one cheek as he extended the stun gun. A blow struck Ianto hard in the right shoulder causing him to drop the stun gun sending it spinning off into the darkness. A clawed hand grabbed his left leg and squeezed hard as he tried to pull against it. A more violent pull took his legs out from under him and he hit the floor, his bare back slamming into the tiles. His breath was knocked from his lungs as he tried to breathe but found that he couldn’t. A weight slammed into his chest stopping his lungs from inflating, causing him to gasp in pain and shock. Panic filled him as blackness threatened to take away his consciousness as he fought frantically for breath.
***
Sergeant Benton followed Jack as he hugged the wall and ran. With his wrist gun at the ready, Benton fought the urge to fire blindly into the darkness as sounds reached out to him begging them to come and play. Death ran freely as the night closed in around them.
In their concealed position they looked on as patrol after patrol of Ogrons wandered through the night. Energy weapons exploded behind them forcing them to move further forward to avoid being spotted. Jack slapped Benton’s backside as he followed him around another building, a group of Ogrons were almost on top of them.
‘Faster Pussycat,’ Jack said, as he admired Benton’s retreating behind. They were hemmed in on two sides by flying beasts that resembled Rottweilers with wings and the way they had come was blocked off by advancing Ogrons brandishing energy weapons. Huddled in the corner of a windowless hotel, Jack and Benton looked out at the dark and the evil that walked the streets.
‘It’s not just your eyes that get used to the dark but your heart and soul follow.’ Jack said as he noticed a trailer piled high with the dead drive passed. ‘The dark deeds you commit in the name of good are still dark deeds. We make jokes about them and try to take the emphasis from the evil that we commit but they catch up with us eventually. Whether it’s in your dreams or in your waking hours they get you.’
Benton smiled remembering something the Brigadier had once told him when he was a new recruit to UNIT. ‘Our fears, Private Benton, are our own business and as long as it doesn’t affect your combat no one cares.’ Jack nodded his understanding. His CO had told him something on similar lines. It seemed no one cared as long as you got on with your job.
‘Seeing death first hand… for the first time, so to speak… changed me,’ Benton added. ‘It was as if death was something on its own and had no connection with life. People’s faces were like nothing I’d ever seen before. No actor, in any film, no matter how good he was, could ever fake the real thing. It was as if the person’s face had frozen in mid expression, you know, like a badly taken photograph.’ Jack nodded his agreement and added,
‘Then there’s the eyes; never fully closed never wide open, just dead and accusing.’ Benton removed a bar of chocolate from his tunic pocket and threw it to Jack. Jack was about to protest when Benton produced a second bar and ripped open the paper.
‘The first time I saw a dead body’, Jack said as he chewed the dark chocolate with relish. ‘I was a child called Jack Montgomery, back then, living on the Boeshane Peninsula in the 51st century. There’d been an attack and my father was checking the bodies to see if anyone was left alive. I was left to look after Gray, my brother, while the others began the clean up operation.
‘As we played we came across a body, left on a grass bank, probably dropped by one of the aliens. She was huddled over in the foetal position as if protecting herself. The girl’s skirt was up around her waist and her white knickers were exposed. For some strange reason I wanted to pull the skirt back to save her embarrassment. I don’t know why. I mean… a corpse never felt anything, let alone the intrusion of prying eyes. Then there was the smell. I can’t remember how long the girl had been laying there but it had been for some time.’
Benton finished his chocolate bar and discarded the paper. He had lost many friends and family in his sixty years, but now time might just have caught up with him and it would be his turn.
Jack continued talking as he ate the rest of his bar. ‘The people around me were referring to her as the deceased or the corpse or even the body. I had to stop myself from screaming out, it’s a girl she was human just like us. But then I realised, it was how they handled death, by desensitising themselves from the obvious fact, it could have been them, or someone they knew. By referring to her in those terms distanced themselves from reality.’
Looking out of the glassless window Benton felt as if he was being watched. An energy weapon exploded against the wall they were hiding behind causing them both to duck. Realising that they had been found, they both jumped out of the window and ran for the next building. Moving in the dark they followed the street line trying to keep out of sight of the many Ogrons that patrolled the area. Benton was still nervous, looking over his shoulder at every opportunity. He felt that they were being herded to a destination he didn’t want to go to. The hairs on his back stood up as a shiver ran through him.
‘What’s up?’ Jack asked noticing his friend’s apprehension. Benton tried to shrug it off.
‘Nothing… someone just walked over my grave.’ Benton came to a decision that would mean life or death for him. Skulking in the shadows was never the man he was or had been.
‘There’s someone out there watching us. They’re using the Ogrons and those winged beasties to coral us.’ Jack nodded, he’d felt it to. The sixth sense he’d built up over the years had never let him down. ‘The Brigadier once told me that if an enemy is trying to force you to go one way, leading you into a trap, then attack the enemy. It’s the last thing they’ll expect.’ Jack smiled. He was beginning to like Benton more and more.
‘Regimental Sergeant John Benton… you old dog; are you suggesting we advance to contact?’ Jack could just make out Benton’s smile in the darkness as he lifted his wrist in anticipation. Jack drew out the Webley Mark VI revolver, checking that it was fully loaded.
‘Who wants to live forever?’ Benton said, and then standing ran off into the darkness towards the advancing Ogrons, with Jack following closely behind.
***
Louise Ruth sat for a moment watching the group of Ogrons pass by following the Turkish army jeep. When they were out of sight she stood and was about to move from her place of concealment when a single Ogron came waddling up the street, his energy weapon held out in front of him. It was obvious, even in the light of the moon that he had been injured. Blood still dripped from his right leg to mingle with the grass and sand that covered the road. Limping he stumbled after the other Ogrons, his left arm fastened to his six and a half foot body. His bald head and watchful eyes reminded Louise Ruth of something from the film Planet of the Apes.
Slowly the Ogron walked, dragging his injured leg behind him. From out of the dark Louise Ruth Watched as a winged creature swooped down, its clawed feet extended towards the injured Ogron. With surprising speed for something his size, the Ogron turned and fired at the beast point blank into its chest. The blast exploded in the animal’s centre body mass killing it instantly, but the momentum of the dive slammed the animal into the hapless Ogron throwing them both to the ground. After a few seconds thrashing, both the Ogron and the Beast lay still.
Louise Ruth looked around into the night, straining her eyes to see if any other Ogrons or flying beasts were about. Nothing moved except the cool breeze that ruffled the fur on the beasts back and sent an empty carton skidding across the ground. Slowly and carefully she stood and, checking the road as best as she could, walked towards the two downed creatures.
Blood from the Ogron and flying beast covered the ground in all directions, mingling together as it flowed. Stepping over the bigger pools, Louise Ruth walked cautiously towards the carnage that lay before her. The Ogron’s energy weapon lay just outside his grasp, as it fell from its lifeless fingers.
Keeping her eye on the approach road she reached out for the oversized, futuristic hand gun. Her fingers curled around the plastic stock and lifted it slowly away from the creature.
A noise in the darkness drew her attention away from the fallen beasts freezing her to the spot. After a few seconds quiet resumed as she turned her attention back to the gun in her hands. As she examined the switches and buttons on the side a hand shot out of the darkness grabbing at her extended wrist.
‘Shit!’ she screamed and jumped backward away from the dying Ogron that was pulling himself up, trying to stand. Even in his state, his strength impressed Louise Ruth as he stood on shaky legs, the left one bent at an unnatural angle.
She aimed the energy weapon at his head. The threat of death didn’t seem to faze him and he kept on shuffling in her direction. Standing her ground, Louise Ruth pulled the trigger just as the Ogron went to grab her throat.
The first thing that shocked her was the undeniable fact that the weapon didn’t fire. The second thing was the Ogrons clawed hand as it circled her neck. Without conscious thought, she inverted the weapon and slammed it against the side of the Ogron’s head.
‘Bastard… bastard… bastard,’ she screamed as she continued to hit the Ogron as it fell sideways on top of the beast it had earlier killed. As it dropped below her reach she began kicking it and shouting as she did so. ‘Dirty bastarding…bastard!’ A cracking sound told Louise Ruth that his neck had broken under her panicked onslaught. Rolling off the beast he fell face down and lay still. Rolling him over with her foot she looked down into his lifeless face. One eye was partially open but the other was caked with fresh blood and completely closed.
Reaching down she undid his belt and pulled it from him. The holster for the gun was still intact and a series of metal clips hung on the belt, along with something that looked like a pair of wrap around sun glasses.
Quickly she ran back to her hiding place and re-examined the gun. One switch on the weapon flashed red and when she pushed it in a metal clip, about the size of her arm fell from the base of the gun. Throwing it to one side she took another clip from the belt and slotted it into place. The red light immediately went out and ten power bars appeared on the side, glowing brightly in the dark.
Louise Ruth nodded to herself, ‘The clips must be some kind of battery that powers the gun.’ Aiming the gun at the dead Ogron she gripped it tightly in both hands and gently pulled the trigger mechanism a second time. She had braced herself, expecting some kind of recoil but to her surprise there was none. A stream of energy exploded from the end of the gun thumping into the dead Ogron. In a shower of sparks the explosion dissipated quickly.
‘Now that’s kick-ass,’ she said with a smile as she holstered the weapon.
Standing she fastened the over sized gun onto her waist and walked out into the street, filled with confidence. A noise to her right then drained all confidence she had accumulated in the past few minutes, causing her to scurry towards the building opposite.
A sound from the windowless building behind her warned her that this had been a bad idea. Reaching down to her belt she fumbled for the gun but came across the glasses instead. Removing them from the belt she examined them in the dark. These too had a button on one side but this one did not glow red.
Holding the glasses away from her in case they too were a weapon, she cautiously pushed the button. A small buzzing noise emanated from the glasses as the lenses turned a dark green in colour. Instantly she realised what they were and, adjusting the elastic, she fastened them onto her face.
‘Wow,’ was all she could say as night turned into a green hazed day. Everything was now visible and, adjusting a small black wheel on the opposite side to the on switch, zoomed in her vision. Slowly she scanned the dead city zooming into the darkness as she went. The limitations were obvious and the glasses faded out as the range of the night sight was reached. Rotating it backward she realised that the wide angle meant that she could see her peripheral vision with greater accuracy and without trying. Moving forward she realised that the building she had been hiding behind had once been a grand hotel called the Asterias.
Walking round the side of the building the golden sand was soft underfoot. The sea in front of her was shallow and turquoise under the green haze of the glasses. Beach umbrellas still sat next to sun beds planted just above the high tide line. Looking back the buildings looked down on her as if they were looking on at the spectacle laid out before them, windowless and rotting from lack of human care.
Walking along the sand, she traced the buildings progress touching the walls with her hand as she did so. Looking out towards the sea she noticed movement in the sand. Stopping she hugged the wall and zoomed in her night vision goggles. A family of sea turtles were nesting on the deserted beach, making their home where man had once bathed.
Looking back towards the town she retracted the zoom and gazed at the street that ran parallel to the beach. To her surprise she realised that this had once been a charming neighbourhood filled with wealthy holiday makers and Greek Cypriots bustling about, getting on with their daily lives. Their parked cars still lined the streets beyond, sand covered, with tires that looked sad and deflated. The arm of a crane protruded from the side of an unfinished building where work had ceased forty years previous.
Leaving the beach she walked back towards the main road hugging the side of the Golden Plage hotel. Moving closer to the parked cars she realised that they were all models from the early seventies and late sixties, the insides still in pristine condition, waiting for their owners that had left them for a day or two and had hoped to return within the week. With the Asterias on one side and the Golden Plage, she headed back towards the centre hotel that looked as if it had once been grander than the other two put together.
Heading towards the front entrance she realised why this had once been the number one destination for the rich and famous. Looking up at the street sign she realised that she was walking down JFK Boulevard, play ground to the wealthy. Film stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Raquel Welch and Brigitte Bardot had once holidayed here and now it was abandoned to the weather, decay and whatever the rift spat out. Now nature was reclaiming the area, as metal corrodes, windows broke, and plants worked their roots into the walls and pavements.
To her surprise and wonderment she read the sign outside the building. It had once been proud to call its self the best hotel on the beach. This was the Argo hotel. She smiled, if only Jack could have seen this, she thought.
Walking through the oversized entrance to the Argo hotel she expected a doorman to pop out at any second. Quietly she sang as she walked. ‘We spent a jolly shore leave there for just three days or four, but Argo doesn’t want us anymore...’ The main reception was to her right and five giant pillars held the stairwell in place. Something was odd about the pillars but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what was niggling her.
Her nervousness got the better of her as her voice trailed off. Slowly she drew out the giant energy weapon. Holding it low in both hands she walked through the hotel reception, heading towards a noise that was coming from inside. ‘It could be one of the team,’ she thought as she headed for the manager’s office.
Walking through she saw, what looked like, a giant insect, its tentacles whipping about in the darkness. She could see it but it couldn’t see her… but it could feel her presence, she was sure.
As the insect moved to one side she almost screamed out in horror. On the floor at its feet lay Ianto Jones, looking more than a little worse for wear. His usual smart suit, shirt and tie combination was missing and his bare body was covered in bruises and welts. The insect had one appendage poised over his unconscious body ready to plunge down into him and drain him of blood.
‘Help me,’ was all he said, but he had managed to convey a world of hurt in those few words. Even in the dark she could see the torment written across his face.
Without a second thought Louise Ruth fired the energy weapon sending the insect splattering against the far wall. Its torn body fell to the floor leaving a pattern of green slime that looking like a giant Rorschach inkblot diagram.
Gazing at the recently decorated wall Louise Ruth smiled… she couldn’t help herself. ‘Looks like a butterfly… or maybe a pint of Stella spilled on a bar top...’ A groan at her feet drew her attention away from the green slime. She remembered Ianto’s unconscious body and quickly holstered her weapon.
Looking down at his almost naked body she realised that he was still breathing. Lifting him up into a sitting position she reached inside her shoulder bag and removed a small bottle of water. Unscrewing the cap she held it to his lips. Greedily he drank the cool liquid, gulping down each mouthful.
Opening his eyes Louise Ruth smiled at him and was just about to say his name when he gave out a loud scream. Getting to his feet he ran towards the door he had entered by and was out of the front entrance before Louise Ruth had time to follow.
Walking back through the reception area she examined the pillars in more detail. Two pillars stood on the right hand side covered in dirt and time worn. Walking towards them she ran her hand down one of them. The dirt came away leaving a line of white where her hand had been.
Turning to the second one she repeated the process, again leaving a mark where her fingers had traced a Patten. The third and fourth pillars were the same, her initials standing out on the once white painted surface. The middle section, which was slightly off centre, proved more than unusual. It looked identical to the others but felt different. Scraping her hand down one side, the surface felt as smooth as glass. Removing her hand left no marks showing where it had been.
‘I knew there was something wrong about that pillar,’ she said to herself. ‘Someone’s painted it to look like the others.’ Mystery partially solved, she walked out onto the main road and realised that she still had the night vision goggles on.
‘What must Ianto have thought when he’d opened his eyes?’ she said, shaking her head. The glasses also picked out thermal reading and she was able to follow his warm footprints which he left on the concrete. Taking a mouthful of water she replaced the bottle in her bag and walked down a street named Leonidas, following Ianto’s foot prints and singing ‘Banned from Argo,’ as she went.
Our proper cool first officer was drugged with something green, and hauled into an alley where he suffered things obscene …
***
Two Ogrons fell as Jack fired point blank into the backs of their heads. The alien guards toppled forward as Jack relieved one of them of his energy weapon. Ducking behind a building Jack gave Benton covering fire as he ran to join him. Benton’s wrist weapon picked off Ogrons as he ran. Too bulky to give chase they stood their ground firing as Jack picked them off with his newly acquired weapon.
Hitting the wall next to Jack, Benton rolled sideways and trained his wrist gun the way he had come. Nothing moved except an injured Ogron who tried to crawl back into cover. From the dark, a scream howled in the night and what looked like a winged dog swooped down on the injured Ogron.
A second beast dropped out of the sky fighting the first for the right to feed on the Ogron. Still trying to crawl away from the two carnivores the Ogron was pulled up short as a set of jaws clamped down on his left leg. Struggling violently a second set of jaws bit into his right leg as both beasts fought and pulled against each other.
Filling his Webley, Jack stood as the Ogron gave out a muffled scream and the two beasts tore him in half. One of the winged beasts flew off carrying the Ogron’s right leg and half his chest in its mouth. The remaining beast bit down on the leftover carcass, tearing at the exposed flesh. Carefully he aimed the revolver at the remaining beast and fired. As he did so he knew instinctively that the bullet had missed.
Moonlight Serenade 5/8