The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Fourteen

He signals for Sophie to follow him, but remain quiet. Cowering in the corner of the cellar, they find a man, hugging a shotgun to his chest. His eyes widen, as Jack points a gun in his face. "Help me. Please help."

"Did you attack us?" Jack asks, not moving his gun from the man's face.

"I'm dying. Help me," he pleads. Sophie places her hand on Jack's shoulder, and he glances down at her. He lowers the gun from the man's face, but doesn't immediately move to help him. "I'll tell you everything," the man offers.

Jack holsters his gun, pulling the man to his feet and slides him onto a table in the cellar. Sophie goes upstairs, and grabs Owens med bag, giving it to Jack. He smiles thankful at her, removing a gauze pad. He presses it onto the two gun shot wounds on the mans torso, and ties a cloth around his leg, creating a makeshift tourniquet. "This'll help you for a short amount of time," he tells the man, "Now start talking."

"You've got to get help," the man says, "I know where you can get some."

"We had a deal," Jack tells him, his hand around the man's neck "I help you, you tell me where they've taken the boy, and what the h*ll is going on around here."

Jack's face is close to the man's. He starts laughing like a madman, and the captain pulls back, looking a bit confused. Sophie stands behind them both, her sonic in hand. She does a quick scan of the man. She glances back up to find Jack removing the bandages from his wounds. "What are you doing?" the stranger asks.

Sophie goes to move toward him, but her wound tweaks. She leans against the shelf, and Jack leans further toward the stranger, "You need to know something. A long time ago, I was pretty good at torture. You see, I had quite a reputation as the go-to guy. My job demanded it at the time, you see? So I know where to apply the tiniest amount of pressure to a wound like yours."

He presses his hand against the man's wound, and he shout in pain. "You son of a-Stop, you're gonna kill me," he pleads.

"It's in your power to get me to stop," the immortal snarls. "Just tell me what I need to know. Because in ten seconds, I'm gonna find a sharp object." He pulls his gun out, and gets ready to hit the stranger with the barrel.

"Jack, please," Sophie grimaces.

He whirls to find her leaning against the shelf, "This is the only way, Soph."

"What? No, continue with the torture, but, I thought you'd want to see these readings."

"In a minute." He presses harder on the torso wounds, and the stranger finally agrees to tell Jack everything.

Jack reapplys the bandages, while Sophie shows him the readings on the sonic. "Human, are you sure? There's no mind control."

"I did a more thorough scan, nothing. Completely sound of mind, and one hundred percent human."

The immortal makes a face, "That's disgusting."

The man, who is apparently named Martin, cackles again, "It's fun, that's what it is. We hunt for our food, like the good old days."

"You're hunting humans, your own species. It's different when it's a wild animal, but that is just, it's wrong in so many ways."

Martin goes into detail about how everything in the village works, describing how everyone participates, even the police. He explains in clear and disgusting detail. Sophie has to excuse herself about halfway through the description, and she walks to the other end of the cellar. A couple minutes later she hears a gunshot, and the sound of something big and heavy thudding to the floor. He doesn't let her see as they leave, but she knows that he shot Martin.

"Where are the others?" she asks, as Jack helps her up the stairs.

"In the one house we didn't check. And we need to move, fast."

"Oh, it's we now, is it?" she jokes, trying to ignore her pain.

"I'm not leaving you here. Not with cannibals running amok. Stay beside me."

"Glued to your side, that's where I'll be. You'll be sick of me before the nights over."

"Fat chance." He leads her to the tractor, hotwiring it easily. Jack lifts her up, setting her on the seat beside him. Jack drives the machine right at the house, bursting through the doors. He jumps off the tractor, using the shotgun he stole from Martin to shoot the cannibals. He aims for the knees, taking each one of them down before they manage to get a shot in. He runs out of shots in the gun, swapping it for his pistol. The police officer, who Jack had already shot, tries to reach for his gun, but Jack spots the movement, shooting him in the chest. Finally, the immortal grabs the leader of the group, pressing his pistol to the man's chin. Sophie just focuses on the Torchwood agents, ignoring the blood and gore all around her.

"No, Jack. Don't do it," Gwen pleads with him.

"These people don't deserve warnings," he replies, pressing the firearm more firmly into the man's chin.

"Let me question him. I have to understand. I want to know why. Otherwise this, this is too much."

Sophie slides off the tractor, walking for the group, "You don't have to do this, Jack. I can call the cops. It's all human, so they can handle it.

"They're injured. They need to get to the hospital," Tosh adds, nodding at the people.

Jack sighs, holstering his weapon. He pulls out his handcuffs, and hands them to Gwen. "Owen, control the bleeding. Sophie, call the cops, and then get checked out by Owen as well. Tosh, help out as best you can." He pulls the cannibal to his feet, dragging him over to the pub.

Sophie steps outside of the bloodsoaked building, pulling her phone out. She calls the cops as promised, then settles down on a nearby stone wall. Ianto joins her a few moments later, beaten to a bloody pulp. She reaches into her backpack, pulling out her first aid kit. Ianto smiles thankfully at her, and begins to patch himself up.