After Midnight We're All the Same (open)

The things kept snarling and growling, though it wasn't advancing as yet. Maybe it wasn't so completely sure it had the upper hand then. SHow no fear!, he thought, repeating the mantra over and over in his mind and once again wishing he had a gun or some other weapon.

He tightened his grip on the large stick he held behind his back, careful not to let it show in case he provoked the creature.

"Right, not gonna hurt you," Rachel muttered, vaguely in the direction of the thing. "Just let us go."

"Just keep backing up. Nice and slow now," Jared spoke calmly and quietly, so close to Rachel's ear, she could probably feel the vibration of his deep voice. His training was kicking in now, the adrenaline flooding his system adn making him feel like he could run a mile or fight the thing if he had to.

"No one needs to get hurt," he said a little louder.

Owen's breathing was becoming shallow, and he stared wildly past Lynne. He was in pain, and he knew what was happening to him right now. He tried to squeeze her hand in return, but he didn't know how successful he was.

"Just keep backing up. Nice and slow now."

"Right.. planning on it," she muttered, realizing belatedly that she was shaking a little. She didn't feel afraid, but she was shaking, and wasn't that weird? But she followed Jared's lead, stepping back as carefully as she could. She knew how fast these things were from weeks of pursuit, and she really didn't want to know what it could do if it caught up to them.

"I don't know if it understands language," she said, softly. Words made a nice distraction, talking. So she wouldn't be afraid, or feel the impulse to run.

"I don't know if it understands language.

Jared nodded, knowing he was close enough that Rachel would feel the movement. "It may still understand the tone of voice. Hopefully get that we mean no harm." He continued to keep his voice neutral and calm, pulling Rachel a little closer to him as they backed up.

He'd feel better if he could get himself between Rachel and the thing, but he figured the move might look aggressive and he was trying to avoid that at all costs.

"You're doing great," he murmured instead, feeling Rachel's shaking where they're bodies touched.

Lynne watched Owen's eyes slide away from her. "Don't you dare, Owen...don't you dare!" she breathed as his hand moved weakly in hers. The sirens were sounding in the distance, growing steadily nearer. Lynne stopped trying to surpress her tears and just let them fall as she leaned down closer to Owen. "You can't..." she choked. "Not when..." she stopped. She didn't want to say it. Saying it meant that she was losing hope and just wanted him to hear it before he went. She wasn't going to let him. "Owen, dammit, don't you give up on me," she hissed, sniffling.

Owen thought he heard sirens and tried looking for them. He saw Lynne lean in and heard her start to cry. "L...Lynne..." He tried to lift his hand up to her cheek.

"Shh, don't," Lynne chastised, offering him a small, forced smile. "I'm fine; it's you I'm worried about," she practically whispered before leaning down further and kissing his forehead, her lips lingering there as she closed her eyes and listened for the sirens.

They were drawing nearer still, probably only a block or two away, by now. "They're almost here, Owen, just hang in there, okay? I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere, but you have to stay with me," she said gently, her lips still brushing against his forehead as she spoke. She wanted to kiss him properly, but she didn't know if she should.

"It may still understand the tone of voice. Hopefully get that we mean no harm."

"Yeah, guess so - let's hope so, anyway." Rachel stayed close to Jared - he seemed at least better prepared to deal with this, her hunting notwithstanding. He had the stick, which could potentially be a weapon if something happened. All she had was-- well, a pair of heels. Which didn't make very good weapons, except against ex-boyfriends (of which she had none) and maybe former employers (of which she had several).

"You're doing great."

She managed a small smile at that. "Thanks." And then her smile fell as she heard the sirens, and realized immediately that the thing would be hearing the sirens as well.

Owen tried very hard to keep his eyes on Lynne. He nodded shortly when she said he need to stay. He couldn't help but feel absolutely terrified. He didn't want to die, especially now that he had Lynne. And where the fuck was Ianto? He swallowed hard and tried to breath deeper, but it hurt too much.

As the sirens grew louder and closer, Jared saw the change in the creature. It tensed, as if to move and Jared figured they really had to get the hell out of there right now.

"Shit, shit, shit!" He pushed Rachel behind him. "Run!" he yelled, just as the creature made its move, moving ape-like, but fast toward them.

He held up his stick like a club and yelled something like a war cry, hoping the sheer noise and intent would scare the thing away, give them both a change to flee.

When Lynne pulled back a little to look at Owen's face, she could see that he was looking at her again, but she could also see the terror in his eyes and that scared her even more. "I'm not ready to say my goodbyes," she admitted tearfully, reaching up to brush the tears away from her face roughly and then taking Owen's hand in her own again. Her fingers were sticky and hot with his blood as she maintained the pressure on his wound. "And I don't think you're ready to hear them," she went on. "We're only just getting started..." she whispered.

The ambulance roared around the corner and came into sight about a block up from them.

"You know, we'll never know where this goes if you give up, so I know it's hard and I know you're in a lot of pain, but just hang in there," she encouraged as calmly as she could.

Owen heard the sirens again, and again he tried to find them. He looked back at Lynne, she'd tell him when they arrived. His vision was beginning to blur, and he tried desperately to keep his eyes open. He couldn't give up, he was just... so... tired...

The paramedics were disembarking and hurrying toward them, now. "Owen, hang on okay? They're here. They're gonna take care of you," she reassured although the way Owen's eyes seemed to be sliding away and back again as if he was losing focus made her wonder if it was already too late and her heart clenched at the very thought of it.

Lynne only let go of Owen's hand when she was gingerly pushed out of the way by a paramedic and she got to her feet, shaking and trying not to look at her bloodied hand as they loaded Owen onto a stretcher.

Owen didn't want to let go of Lynne's hand as the paramedics came. He wanted her to come with him, but they separated the two of them and put Owen on a stretcher, giving him an oxygen mask and putting a temporary patch on his wound.

"Run!"

However worried Rachel might have been about Jared's wellbeing if she ran off on him, the word did make her come round. She hoped he'd get away, or the thing would scare to a stop, or... something. But Rachel turned and ran, towards town streets, towards the lights that seemed to scare the thing, cursing in her head.

She didn't stop for a couple of yards, turning to see if Jared was following.

Lynne followed the paramedics as they loaded Owen into the back of the ambulance. "I'm coming with," she insisted.

One of them shook his head. "Sorry, but only family," he replied. "Otherwise you'll have to meet us at the hospital because it'll be too crowded."

While she didn't want to hinder their progress, she wasn't leaving Owen; she'd have no way to get to the hospital in any decent amount of time, anyhow. "I'm...his wife," she lied a little more easily than she was entirely comfortable with. "I'm his wife," she asserted more confidently in the hopes that that title, however false, would be enough for them to let her in.

"Right, come on, then," he said, reaching out for her hand to help her into the ambulance as the others all started to work on Owen.

She followed them in, only fleetingly wondering whether Jared and Rachel were okay - and hoping they were - as she sat down and the paramedics shut the ambulance doors before taking off.

Jared was relieved when he heard Rachel's footsteps heading away from him. That left just himself to take care of, but the creature was snarling more now- growling like he'd only angered it more.

"Fuck!" he swung out with his stick, feeling it impact with something, but not turning to look any closer as he ran for his life.

Ten minutes. He had spent ten minutes running over and generally hurting a weevil, in the other side of the block, spraying the crap out of it, trying to tranquilize it, to no avail.

He'd heard Owen call in, of course he had, but since now he was facing three weevils between him and the SUV, Owen would have to wait until he could run as fast as he could by them, and get into the SUV again.

"Owen, there's more than one here. It might be some sort of nest!" He said, fearfully, trying several times to take a step further, but not being able to.

Ianto finally gave up on fear and ran, just barely dodging the weevils. He thanked god for having played rugby as a kid, briefly, and hopped into the SUV, driving away while hitting one of them with the back of the vehicle.

Angelina kept running as Lynne stopped, she was caring for a man who was down, and Angelina yelled something about looking for the others, one stone in each hand.

She ran towards where she'd seen the man go, stopping just short of banging against the camera girl, who was running back towards the lights. Angelina looked behind the girl, where the man seemed to be preparing himself to fight the creature. It was definitely alien, definitely hostile.

"He's not hitting him with a stick, is he? That thing looks like it's going to eat him!" She told the camera girl, horrified. Good time as any to throw one of the rocks, aiming at the creature. However, it fell just beside it. "Crap!" Angelina shouted.

Jared ran hard, glad he was still as fit as he'd ever been in his career, but he knew the creature was fast and wouldn't take long to catch up.

Seeing Angelina and Rachel up ahead, he called out to them. "Time to run!" As he caught up to their position he noted the rock in Angelina's hand. Twisting around, he could see the creature had stood up, snarling, but apparently wary - whether of the rocks or the whack he'd managed to get in, he didn't really care.

"Really we've gotta get out of here, now," he added.

Ianto was certain there was one last weevil that had escaped north, and that's where he headed. He hadn't heard from Owen, and he was beginning to worry, but he was fairly certain the doctor new how to take care of himself, and with all these people around today, he'd be alright.

The weevil was standing in front of a group of three - two women, staying back, and a man, a little closer. Ianto didn't want to scare the weevil away with the horn, so he drove past them, hitting the brakes right next to the man. He shot a few tranquilizer darts at the weevil, and one of them, at least, got stuck.

"Yesssss." Ianto said under his breath, stepping out of the car. It was still conscious, but barely. Ianto hit it with the spray a bit more. "I suggest you run!" He said, tying up the weevil for picking up later, or even if he wouldn't pick it up later, at least the tying up would buy these people some time.

The black SUV screeched to a halt almost next to him as a guy in a suit shot at the weevil and commenced to hog-tying it.

"I suggest you run!"

The guy seemed to have it all under control and Jared hadn't missed the Torchwood symbol on the car this time. He knew, whoever this gentlemen was, he must be trained to deal with such things.

"Okay," Jared said quietly, nodding as he did. "Thanks," he added, as he gestured to the two women with him.

"Don't know about you, but after all this, I could sure use a drink."

Turning back to the man, busy with the creature, he added. "I think your coworker has been taken to hospital. Might want to check on him. Thanks again." And with that he turned to walk away. Years of experience taught him it was better to keep what he knew to himself and hope nobody came to try to shut him up.