Daughter of Torchwood

Countryside

*Warning - this is a dark chapter*

Finally managed to update! The internet connection on my laptop has been playing up. At the moment, I'm unsure if it is just problems with the WIFI in the area or if my laptop is on its last legs. I hope it's not the latter but I'll post on my conversation feed if it does turn out to be my laptop.

So I'm aware that Owen and Gwen had an on-the-side relationship during the first series but for this book, I'm not going to play into that.

Camping is not something Starla ever imagined doing with Torchwood but the world decided this is how she would spend her October half-term, so the entire team is currently travelling down a countryside road in the middle of nowhere.

Jack is driving with Owen in the passenger seat looking very unhappy, Tosh, Gwen and Ianto are in the back and Starla has the pleasure of using the spare boot seat that rarely gets used.

Of course, in true Owen fashion, he ruins the drive by complaining, "I hate the countryside. It's dirty, it's unhygienic, and what is that smell?"

"That would be grass," Gwen answers, her voice monotone and portraying the bored feeling the rest of them are feeling.

He turns to look at her, "It's disgusting."

They pull up on the grass by a mobile burger van. They get their map out laying it on the bonnet of the SUV while Ianto and Starla get them food from the van, "Seventeen disappearances within the last five months. The police are clueless," Jack explains, "The last known whereabouts of each one is somewhere around here," Jack points to a spot on the map, and Gwen and Tosh inspect the map with him.

"All within a twenty-mile radius," Tosh observes, "Anything else linking them?"

Jack shakes his head, "None of the bodies have ever been found. These people just fell off the radar. No patterns in age, sex or race. One minute they're here, the next, gone."

"The rift doesn't spread out this far. Does it?" Gwen queries.

"We don't know that much about it to be certain. And it's increasing in activity all the time."

"Oh, come on," Owen continues complaining, "Aliens aren't gonna bother hanging around out here. Probably some sort of weird suicide club with people choosing the same spot to end it all. God knows, if I had to spend too long up here, I'd want to top myself."

Ianto and Starla bring the food from the van, handing them out, "Here you go. Careful, they're hot."

"Sure you don't want anything, Tosh?" Starla double-checks and then bites into her burger.

"Really sure. A friend of mine caught hepatitis off a burger from one of these places." All of them stop mid-bite, Jack puts his down with a sigh, Starla and Owen shrug and just continue eating, while Ianto and Gwen do the same though more tentatively.

"We'll start with the most recent victim," Jack gets back to the job at hand, "Ellie Johnson. We last have a record of her making a phone call. She dropped out of signal mid-call. The coverage map has her placed... somewhere about here," He indicates to another spot on the map, "Looks as good a place as any to set up camp."

Owen stops with his burger halfway to his mouth, "Sorry, did you say camp?" Jack smirks at his hatred for the plan.

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Parked on a grass area nearby, they start setting up camp, "What's the matter with a hotel?" Owen complains.

Jack helps him remove the last tent from the boot, walking past two already erect tents, "People are going missing around here. Do you really wanna stay in a place run by strangers?"