The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Eleven

Sophie looks at the pistol Jack handed her, and sets it down on the picnic table. She sits down at the picnic table, watching the woods where the team entered. As she watches, two beings exit, both wearing dark hoodies. She grabs her sonic out of her bag, slipping quietly off the bench. She slinks over toward the new beings, doing her best to do a quiet scan, although, in the quietness of the Welsh countryside, it sounds much louder than she hoped it would. The hoodied creatures approach the Torchwood van, and Sophie crouches behind one of the tents. The van starts up, and a few seconds later the entire Torchwood team comes barreling out of the woods. The van drives right at the tents, and Sophie leaps to the side, rolling just out of the way. Jack swears, loudly, as the van drives right past the rest of the crew.

Glancing over, he spots Sophie climbing to her feet. He shoves his gun into its holster, dashing over to the woman. "Soph, you okay?"

She brushes some hair out of her face, and wipes dirt off her face, "Oh, yeah. Never better."

He looks her up and down for any sign of an injury. Then surveys the campsite, spotting his pistol on the table. "What happened?" he asks.

She looks up at him, letting her sonic fall at her side, "There were these beings in hoodies that ran out of the woods. They made a beeline for the van, and I scanned them from behind the tents. I would've done more, but there were two of them, and one of me, and well..."

"You're safe, and okay, and that is what matters."

"My only question," Gwen starts, "Is how they were able to steal it to begin with. That van is pretty high tech, they couldn't have hotwired it that quickly."

"F*ck!" Owen curses, and the team turns to look at him. "So, I might have left the keys on the seat. Sorry."

All at once, the team starts shouting at the doctor. Sophie walks away from the chaos, gathering the equipment that had been thrown by the van driving through the camp. A few minutes later the rest of the team joins her, the team shooting glares at Owen.

"All right. I've said I'm sorry," Owen grumbles, picking up boards from some of the crates.

"Basic security protocols, Owen," Toshiko adminishes.

"Oh, get off your high horse, Tosh. I was carrying that stupid gear."

"What, the whole time?" she mocks.

Sophie rolls her eyes. "Look, Owen made a mistake. He didn't mean it, he's apologized. Let's just finish cleaning this up, and then we can find the van." Owen turns to her, looking surprised.

"Looks like that body wasn't a warning," Jack says, changing the subject. "More of a decoy."

"That would mean we've been watched since we've arrived," Gwen points out, adding the pile of supplies that she collected to the box that Sophie set up.

Jack wipes his hands together, nodding at Gwen. "Tosh, can you get a tracking signal?"

"Already done," Ianto says, popping up from the ground, waving a small device. "I took the liberty. It's currently three point four miles west from here."

At the mention of a signal, Sophie remembers her scan. She pulls her sonic out of the back pocket of her jeans, studying the reading. She stands there, ruminating over the information, confused beyond all reason. Jack places a hand on her shoulder, and she jumps, "Woah," the immortal says, holding his hands up in a placating gesture, "You good?"

"Sorry, Jack. I just- I did a scan of the hoodie guys when they left the woods, y'know, hoping to work out a species. These readings don't make any sense."

"Well, we're heading after the van. You can tell me about it on the walk over."

She nods, pulling her jacket a little tighter over her shoulders, "Allons-y then, Captain."

The crew begin the long walk to the village in front of them. Sophie stays by Jack's side as they walk. "So the readings don't make any sense. The two hoodied guys that I scanned, that's all they were, guys, at least according to the scan. They definitely were not alien."

"Could they be under some sort of mind control? I mean, would you screwdriver tell you that?"

She shrugs, "I mean, it depends. If it's an outside mind control, feeding into their minds from somewhere nearby, then yes, my scan should've picked up any psychic waves within one hundred miles, and there aren't a lot of species that can use psychosis from that far away. If they are hooked to their cerebral cortexes, feeding directly into the brain, then, no. I wouldn't have been able to tell. But, there are only a handful of species that have the technology, and the psychic ability to do that. It could be two species working together to control these humans, but they would have to agree on every single detail of the plan, because the one who provides the technology can easily overpower the psychic, and vice versa."

The Torchwood team are clearly listening to them, and seem somewhat shocked that Sophie knows all of this information about aliens. Jack ignores their shocked faces. "So, if not mind control, could they have been hired? I mean, this wouldn't be the first time aliens have hired humans to do their dirty work."

"That's what I'm thinking too. The other options seem too unlikely, and yet, I'm not fully willing to rule out mind control. Still, most likely option, hired humans."

For the rest of the walk, Jack and Sophie continue to bounce ideas back and forth, much to the confusion of the rest of the team. As the village comes into view, the conversation tapers off. The 'village' if it can really be called that is only about eight houses, all seemingly abandoned.

"Why would anyone want to live out here?" Owen asks, looking over the building in front of them.

"From the looks of things, no one does," Sophie responds.

Jack smirks, turning to Ianto, "Has the SUV moved?

"Not for an hour now."

They enter the village, which seems even more desolate up close. The only place that seems even fit for someone to be inside is the pub right on the edge of town. Jack stares at the building, considering his option. "Tosh, Ianto. Follow the signal, find the SUV. Sophie, Owen, Gwen, let's see if there's any room at the inn."

The four swiftly enter the pub, Jack, Owen and Gwen each pulling out a torch. Sophie extracts a lantern from the depths of her backpack, flipping the switch, and flooding the room in light. The woman looks around, seeing how well loved the bar looks. The alcohol behind the counter is still full, and Gwen opens the cash register to reveal quite a bit of money.

"That's making me lean more toward mind control," she says to Jack, nodding at the cash. She's right at his side, as he instructed, looking around the pub for any signs of life.

"Thought we'd ruled that out."

"I said unlikely, not impossible. With the rift in play, anything is possible."

"Fair enough," the immortal concedes. In the next room, Gwen starts retching. Jack looks at the room with concern. "Stay here," he barks at Sophie.

She rules her eyes, "Here," she hands him the lantern, "It's a bit brighter than your torch anyway."

He slides the torch into her hand, and enters the kitchen. Sophie stands in the front of the pub all alone, as Owen joins the others as well. A door at the back of the kitchen slams, and she hears Jack shouting. Sophie quickly debates whether to follow them or stay in the pub. After one last look around the creepy room, she turns to the kitchen. Just as she steps through the door, Owen is on his feet, blocking her from going any farther, "You don't want to go in there."

"I can't stay out here, either. It's creepy," she gestures to the dark room, the shadows across the floor adding to the spooky factor.

"I'm not letting you see what's in there. It almost made me sick."

"Can I at least go out the door? Jack told me to stay at his side."

The doctor sighs, "Alright." He blocks her from seeing any further into the kitchen, and she practically runs out the back door. She steps out into the green, and hears Jack and Gwen talking in one of the houses. Sophie doesn't approach, instead letting the sun soak into her skin, trying to ignore the hint of what she saw in that kitchen. The musty smell of the pub is completely erased, but there is still the smell of death all around.