Writer - Matt Jones
Director – Andy Goddard
Producer – Richard Stokes
In the
Autopsy room at the Hub, Dr Martha Jones pulls back the green cloth covering
Owen Harper’s dead body. He lies naked
upon the metal tray a large gaping bullet wound in his chest. His eyes closed lips blue. Attending are Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and
Toshiko Sato. Martha in her green gown and head gear and mask around her neck
leans against the autopsy table, and adjusts the mic. The team watch from the steps, the curtain
closed behind them. They are
silent. Saddened.
“The time is twenty one thirty. This is Dr. Martha Jones. Autopsy on Owen Harper, Caucasian, age twenty
seven. Torchwood Officer 565. Time of death witnessed at approximately
twenty thirty. Autopsy begins.”
Ianto looks
on as Martha lifts her mask to her nose and mouth and collects up the large
chest saw. As Martha positions the saw
Captain Jack Harkness barges into the room and yells at her to STOP! Startled, she halts and looks up, as do the
rest of the team.
“Nobody touches him till I get back, is that
clear?” Jack insists to a stunned
audience. As quickly as he enters, he
leaves.
In the
quiet night time streets the SUV pulls up outside a bar. Jack leaps from the vehicle and bounds down
the steps towards the downstairs drinking house and thumps on the door. He enters the establishment and pushes his
way through, knocking a drinker. He’s
stopped before he can go much further by a burly bouncer. He grunts his disapproval. A young girl at a table calls over to the
heavy.
“It’s alright. I’ve been looking forward to seeing the
Captain again.” She tells him holding a
tarot card showing Jack wearing a suit of armour.
A short while
later Jack is sat opposite her at the table as she turns over the cards.
“Can you see where it is?”
“You’ll owe me a favour.” She reminds him.
“Well?”
The tarot
girl turns over a card showing an old religious building.
“They hid it in a church?”
“No.
When the people found out what it could do, they built the church on top
of it.” Jack scrambled to his feet, he
knew of the church in question. “If I
told you not to use it, would you listen?”
“Shouldn’t you know the answer to that?” As Jack leaves the girl holds up the card
showing the grim reaper.
“I do, that’s the problem.”
Standing
outside St Mary’s Church, a long since disused building, Jack stares at the
task ahead. He kicks down the Church
sign before making his way inside. It’s
gloomy inside the building, only a dim light from the front of the church
caused by flashing amber lights. Jack
treads lightly, his flashlight picking its way along the walls. As Jack shines the torch past a fallen bell,
he hears the snuffling grunts of something very familiar. He freezes and closes his hand over the
beam. All around him, are sleeping
Weevils. He glances cautiously about
him, removing his hand from the torchlight beam to look across the church. Where can it be? The Weevils are heavy sleepers and snore away
oblivious to the leather booted Torchwood agent stepping in between them. As he steps through the throng of sleeping
alien creatures his foot hooks a limb.
Gently so as not to waken the creature he carefully lifts his foot away
and takes stock before moving off again.
At a shrine
at the front of the church, an array of flashing amber lights hang above a
stack of boxes and square objects. Jack
pulls open a wooden trunk full of toy dolls of both genders and inadvertently
kicks over empty food tins stacked up beside it. He holds his breath, cowering, but aside from
gasps from snoring Weevils, all is safe to proceed. Jack returns his gaze to the trunk and winces
as each doll rattles as he moves it gently away. Finding nothing remotely interesting he
shines his torch up towards the sizeable pile of even more dolls, an electric
guitar and a dragon gargoyle till his eyes and torchlight settle on the light
beaming brightly from a large square hole in the wall, where hidden tightly in
the centre is another box with a handle.
The object Jack has been looking for.
His hand reaches slowly towards it, the handle rattles disturbing some
creatures who turn in their sleep. Jack
winces again. Jack reaches in again and
hits the organ keys. It awakens the
sleeping Weevils. It’s now or
never. Jack snatches up the box as the
Weevils growl their response.
Back in the
Hub, Ianto leans back on the sofa, awaiting Jack’s return. Martha out of her operating clothing and back
in civvies takes a seat beside him. Gwen
and Toshiko wait at their workstations when the door alarm rings out around the
Hub and Jack hurriedly arrives and runs past them towards his office. His white t-shirt bloodied by the battle for
the contents of the box.
“Jack?”
Gwen calls after him before following after him, the others follow
too.
In his
office, Jack puts the box on his cluttered desk and opens the lid.
“Jack, what have you got?” Gwen asks as she stares at his dirty jacket,
his back to her.
Hesitantly,
Jack reaches into the metal box and lifts out…another metal gauntlet.
“Oh my God.”
Exclaims Tosh.
“You can’t use it, not after Suzie.” Gwen says, aware of how that turned out.
“I’m using the glove. I’m bringing Owen back.” Jack tells them.
“Are you really going to use that after what
happened last time?” Gwen says as Jack
hurries down the steps of the Autopsy room to Owen’s waiting body. “Jack, the gloves are dangerous. At best, it’ll give us two minutes, at worst
it…Who knows what will happen?” Gwen
hopes he will change his mind.
“It’s not up for discussion.”
“I thought the glove didn’t work for you.”
“Different glove, different
circumstances. This time it has to work
for me, I’m not going to give it any choice.”
Jack looks across at his team gathered around the Room. “Ok, if you’ve got anything you need to say
to Owen, now’s your chance.”
He dons the
metal gauntlet and in the same fashion as before, places his hand on Owen’s
head to make the connection.
“Owen, it’s Jack, can you hear me? Owen, hear my voice. Get a hold of it, let it draw you out, pull
you out.” Jack calls to Owen.
The heart
monitor continues to flat line.
“I’m not getting any vital signs.” Ianto tells the others as he monitors the
display.
“Owen, it’s me, Jack.” There’s a sudden connection and Jack smiles
relieved.
“He’s coming. He’s coming.”
And he does. Screaming
Horrified
at the dead man coming back to life, Martha cries out.
“Oh my God.”
“What happened? Where am I?
Oh God, I’m shot. He shot me!”
“Owen, you need to listen to me. We don’t
have long.” Jack tells Owen, his voice
strained from the continued connection.
He strokes his hand against Owen’s cheek.
“Where am I?
This isn’t a hospital, this is the Autopsy Room. What am I doing here. Jack.
Oh no, what’s that? What’s that?”
“The Resurrection Glove. We lost you, but I brought you back.”
“How long have I got?”
“We’re at thirty seconds and counting.” Ianto calls over.
“Oh no, Jesus. Really?”
“Ok team, say your goodbyes. Gwen?”
Still in
shock at seeing Owen back, Gwen’s mind is a blank. She shrugs.
“Gwen, no offence, but I’ve only got two
minutes to live. Tosh?”
Toshiko
hurries over.
“I’m gonna miss you.” She whispers in his ear. “I love you.
I always have.”
“Owen, I need the code for the alien
morgue. You’re the only one who knows
it.”
“You brought me back for that? FOR THAT?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Jack, it’s 231165, OK?”
“Sorry, I had to, to help you prepare. I know what death is. I want you to be ready.” Owen grips his hand.
“There’s nothing, just darkness.”
“Two minutes.”
“Jack.
Jack.”
“Be brave.
Owen! Owen!”
The heart
monitor slowly stops beating till it finally flat lines. The connection between Jack and Owen is
severed. Owen is dead. Jack continues to hold Owen’s hand,
heartbroken at losing him once again. The team watching feel their emotions
break once more.
“I’m really going to need that hand
back.”
Jack can’t
believe his ears and turns to face Owen, the man is no longer dead.
“Owen?”
“Two minutes twenty.” Ianto calls out stopwatch in his hand.
“Look, I’m not using the glove.” He shows the others.
“But I’m still here.”
“Ah, here we go again.” Ianto shrugs.
Jack shrugs
off the gauntlet and throws it onto the floor by Gwen’s feet. She gingerly steps back from it, her eyes
never leaving it. Owen sits up. Gasping
for breath he glances over at Toshiko, their eyes meet for mere moments before
both look away. He grips Jack’s hand
again as he tries to understand why he’s not dead.
“Maybe I cheated it somehow. Maybe I wasn't
meant to die so I'm being kept alive. Ah,
somebody pass me my pants please.” Owen
glances down, his eyes taking in the enormous wound in his chest. “Woah!”
“It’s ok.
I hate to say it but you’ll get used to it.” Jack assures him.
From the
upper floor, the fingers of the gauntlet begin to move slightly.
Up and
dressed, Owen bounds up the stairs of the Autopsy room into the main area,
stethoscope around his ears, listening to his own chest.
“No heartbeat. There’s no pulse.” He says removing the stethoscope.
“Owen, you can’t lead the
investigation.” Martha insists.
“Why not?”
“Because you’re the subject of it…and
because you’re dead.” She adds.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes I’m sure
“Well, I’m ok. Look, there’s electrical activity in my
brain.
“That shouldn’t be possible.”
“Well I’m still here, and actually, I feel
amazing.”
“So
where’s the power coming from?”
“Suzie survived because she was draining
energy from me. Owen could be doing the
same to Jack."
“I feel fine.”
As Owen
wipes the last of the blood from his mouth, Toshiko runs the scanner across
Jack’s arms and body while he stands in his own office. Toshiko explains the procedure to Martha as
she watches.
“The Philemon filter detects biochemical
energy. It’s how we knew Suzie was draining
Gwen.”
“And?”
“Nothing.
There’s no connection between them.
It’s not Jack.”
“I told you, I feel fine.”
“So what’s keeping me ticking? I mean, the energy in my brain must be coming
from somewhere.”
Gwen
flinches as Ianto walks past her carrying the glove in his hands.
“This glove is different to the other
one. Maybe different gloves do different
things?”
“How many are there?” Martha asks.
“Two.
Well, they tend to come in pairs.
We fished the first one out of the harbour last year.”
“But where does it come from originally?”
“Good question. No idea.”
Gwen leaves her desk, the glove spooking her. “Tosh, do an analysis of the glove, see if
you can find out. Owen, I don’t need to
tell you that you’re under quarantine.”
Jack instructs from his desk.
“You don’t, and yet you still do.”
Sitting up
on the gantry besides the painting of the red dragon on the wall, Gwen sits and
waits for Rhys to pick up the phone.
Snapping awake, he reaches over to answer phone on the bedside table.
“Hey.”
He replies sleepily.
“Oh, I woke you up, I’m sorry.”
“No, no, you didn’t. So, what’s up? You coming home soon? You know, tonight, next week? In time for our wedding? I was only teasing.”
“No, it’s not that, it’s not that.”
“What’s happened, what’s wrong?” Rhys asks hearing sobs from the other end of
the phone. “Are you alright? Gwen?”
“A tough day.” Gwen’s voice breaks. “A tough day.” She says overcome with emotion.
Fully
dressed Owen sits on the Autopsy table and examines his hand, and touches his
chest, just as Martha enters the room.
“You’re kind of cute when you frown.” He tells her as he jumps off the table.
“The energy from the glove is spreading out
through your body, changing its composition.
If you keep this on, we should be able to monitor changes as they
happen.” She says strapping a larger
than life wristwatch to his arm.
“You’ve stopped flirting with me. I mean, it’s alright. I wouldn’t flirt with me in my condition
either, but, er…is it still necrophilia if I'm conscious?”
Martha sets
up the monitor using the scanning device from earlier with the blue flashing
light.
“What was it like to die?”
“I don't think I should say.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not sure the living should know. The living!
It might change the way you live your life.” Owen tells her.
“You tell me right now Owen.” Martha insists
as Owen holds up an X-ray image towards the light.
“It’s hard to describe. There aren’t the words for it. It’s like, er…”
“What?”
“There was a light, a tiny speck of
light. And I was rushing towards it
like, down a corridor. Then it glowed
brighter and brighter. Then suddenly
there were these gates, these big pearly gates and there was this old geezer
and he said, ‘you’ve been a very naughty boy’.”
“Idiot.”
“There was nothing. Well, not that I can remember. Suzie said it was different.”
“What did she see?”
“She said there was something beyond
life. Something in the darkness,
something moving.”
Suddenly
Owen collapses.
In the
darkness, Owen flails. He hears voices
whispering all around him but as he looks all around him, all he sees is total
darkness. He calls out to Dr. Jones.
“MARTHA!”
The voices become louder in the darkness, it terrifies him. He shouts out louder. MARTHAAAA!”
He begins to flail, swiping his arms out at invisible things, and
screams fearfully.
Back in the
Autopsy room, Martha struggles with Owen.
She calls Jack for support.
“JACK, HELP.
I NEED HELP NOW!”
“I DON’T WANT TO DIE.”
Jack races
into the room quickly taking Owen from Martha and supports the terrified young
man.
“What’s happening?”
Owen is
still fighting the invisible forces in the void.
“He just collapsed. Owen, Owen can you hear me? Calm down.”
Owen
suddenly returns to the present and grips hold of Jack, scared to let go.
“What happened? What happened?”
“I was in the darkness. There was something…something there.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. It was waiting for me.” Terrified he breaks down against Jack, who
comforts him.
“Come on, it’s alright.”
In the
Conference room Martha takes the floor.
“Owen’s body’s undergoing some kind of
transformation. His cells aren’t
decaying, they’re changing.”
“Into what?”
“An energy I can’t identify. But it’s growing, all the time. He’s about forty percent something else.”
“I don’t feel any different.”
“We need to find out where this energy’s
coming from.”
“Presumably it’s the same place as the glove, which, judging from its
atomic make up isn’t anywhere local.” Toshiko adds.
“Owen said he went somewhere when he
collapsed. Could the energy and the glove come from the same dark place?” Gwen
asks.
“What are we talking about? Another
dimension? Parallel universe?”
“Yes, guys, I’m still here.”
“Sorry.
Ok, you said there was something in the darkness waiting for you.”
“I felt it.
I didn’t see it.”
“Where do you think you went?”
“I don’t know.”
“So what now?”
“Ianto, check our internal system readings
for any dimensional anomalies in the last twelve hours.” Jack calls as he and Martha head off in one
direction while Owen heads off in another.
Toshiko catches him up.
“Owen.
What I said before, when I thought you were dying…”
“I’m not dying. I’m dead.
I’m a headless chicken. I just
haven’t stopped running about yet.”
“Well when I told you I…”
“Yeah.
You didn’t mean it, I know.”
“You do?”
“Yes, I mean, you didn’t say anything before
and then suddenly I’m dying and it’s like, I love you. That’s not love, Tosh, that’s grief. You’re losing something, so suddenly you
desperately desire it. Textbook
response.”
“Yeah, but Owen I…Don’t go.” She calls after him as he heads for the
stairs.
“I’m just going to the toilet, alright, for
crying out loud!” At the top of the
stairs, in the hothouse he pauses and leans forwards as a whispering voice
calls out.
“Melkurian.”
Startled
Owen glances about him and immediately slips into the void world, where the
voices swamp his mind.
“Abatha duroc minus mill khabaal.” A dark
sinister voice growls.
Owen whirls
back in the room gasping with fear. He
takes a few teetering steps forward before turning back to face the entire
room, his eyes as black as coals. Owen’s
voice changes.
“Melkurian abatha duroc minus mill khabaal.”
Within
moments, Owen reverts back to his old self as he stares at his reflection in
the glass.
Downstairs
in the Autopsy room, things aren’t as clear cut. Martha sees for herself that the Philemon
detector is picking up some startling readings.
She hurries to find Jack, busy at his desk.
“Have you seen Owen?”
“He was with Toshiko.”
“The energy in him just went off the scale.”
Jack
scrambles from his chair and calls after Owen, but there’s no sign of him.
“Owen?
Owen?” He calls.
“He said he needed the loo.” Toshiko replies.
“Owen’s digestive system’s shut down. He can’t eat or drink, so he certainly
doesn’t need to pee.”
Jack tries his mobile. “He’s not answering.” Ianto helps him on with his coat.
“Well he’s not in the Hub.”
“You mean he’s out there?”
“It’s Owen.
It’s not like he’s dangerous.”
“You sure about that?”
“Meaning?”
“You had the power to bring people back to
life and you never told UNIT. Why?”
“They would've wanted to use it.”
“I'm on your side, Jack, but Owen's just had
a surge of energy that we can't begin to understand. The cells in his body are
being transformed into something else. He's about fifty percent human, and that
fifty percent is dead. We need to stop thinking about him as Owen.
“I'll find him.”
Owen Harper
hits the Cardiff
“Smile, it won’t kill you. You’re gorgeous, you are.” She says softly. Turning from the bar to look at him she says:
“You're gorgeous, you are.” In a sudden
movement she grabs Owen and pushes him back against the bar and kisses him,
slipping her hand down the front of his trousers.
“Don’t you like me?” She asks hurt by his lack of response.
“Oh, get off me. No blood.
Brilliant.” He pushes his way
through the crowd of drinkers till he walks straight into Jack.
“How did you find me?”
Jack raises
Owen’s arm where the wrist strap from earlier flickers a rapid blue light. Owen pushes Jack away.
“Get off me, Jack. Do you know what you’ve done?” He says shoving Jack hard in the chest. “You don’t care about me. You brought me back for an alarm code.” He says bitterly. Jack grabs him by the coat collar and snarls.
“That is not why I brought you back.”
“Have you any idea what it means to know
that your life is over? That that was it? That is Owen Harper’s contribution to
the world. You idiot.” Owen lunges for Jack and misses him
altogether, crashing into the bar scattering drinks. Jack grabs him and restrains him, but it
draws a crowd and some unwanted attention from the bouncers who separate the
pair and drag them out of the bar, as Owen continues to yell and shout at Jack
and the injustice of his life.
“BE CAREFUL WITH HIM.” Jack yells of the bouncers as they’re led
outside.
Outside the
nightclub, the Police have arrived. Owen
is still enraged.
“GET OFF ME YOU MEAT HEAD. GET OFF!” Owen
still wrestles with the bouncers then the Police.
“That’s enough.” Jack insists trying to calm
an angered Owen.
“Let go of me.”
“Let’s calm down, shall we?”
“Look, mate.
I’m Torchwood.”
“Yeah, of course you are, and I’m MI5.” Owen pushes the police officer who grabs him
and slams him against the wall.
“I’m Owen Harper. I work for Torchwood on Special Ops.”
“Special Ops.” Jack laughs adopting a Cockney accent. “What’s he on about? Special needs more like
it.” Jack laughs walking past Owen to
another police car. Owen is forced
towards the back of a waiting police car, his hands cuffed behind his
back.
As the
police cars drive away, a group of Weevils snarl angrily in the dark street.
In the dull
grey Police cell, Jack sits calmly as Owen vents his anger on the door,
screaming to be released, insisting that the officers call Police Constable
Gwen Cooper.
“I WANT TO MAKE A COMPLAINT!” Owen kicks at the door in disgust.
“Enough.
You’re dead. You break your
ankle, what are the chances it’ll knit back together? You want to add a wheelchair to your
prob…problems?”
Owen’s
stomach gurgles loud enough for Jack to hear.
Owen glances down at his belly and gives it a shuggle. He looks back at Jack equally concerned.
Sitting on
his head on the seat opposite Jack, Owen realises that the gurgling is part of
the alcohol in his system.
“I forgot. My digestive system's shut down.
That alcohol I drank is just going to sit in my stomach, it won't go anywhere.”
“Can you just stick your fingers down your
throat?“
“I'm dead. It's just another one of those
things, the gag reflex, lost in the process. Hang on, hang on, if I can just
line up my oesophagus.”
Owen brings
up his drink straight across the cell.
In horror at the projection of vomit Jack lifts his feet up from the
floor.
“That is the single most disgusting thing I
have ever seen, and I know disgusting.”
Jack pulls a face.
Owen stands
back up and farts. Startled, Owen
apologises.
“Sorry Jack, I forgot, that goes on for a
while after death.”
“For God’s sake, let me out.”
“But eventually that will stop too. I will fart my last fart. God, I’m going to miss farting and sex.”
“Sex more than farting, I hope.”
“Oh, you take these things for granted. It’s only when they’re slipping away that you
realise how amazing they are. This could
be the last time I see these flecks or you know, feel these bricks underneath
my hands.”
“Only in suffering do we recognise
beauty.” Jack laments.
“Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Who said that?”
“Proust.”
“You’ve read Proust?”
“Yeah, well no. We dated for a while. He was really immature.”
“You know, none of us know whether to take
you seriously when you say those things.”
“When you’ve lived as long as I have, you
don’t make any more up.”
“You’ve got forever, I could have
seconds. Hardly seems fair.”
“It isn’t.
But then, forever’s overrated.”
“Not from where I’m sitting.”
“If you’ve got forever,” Jack says getting
up to sit alongside Owen on the opposite bench, “you don’t notice the flecks on
the concrete or bother to touch the bricks.
And you send your friends into danger, knowing the stakes aren’t the
same for you. That you might get them
killed while you walk away unscathed.”
“Then why did you bring me back? Guilt?”
“No that’s not why.”
“Then why did you, really.”
“Because I wasn’t ready to give up on you.” Jack replies, his hand
gently stroking Owen’s shoulder. “I
guess I was hoping for a miracle.” He
strokes his fingers through Owen’s hair.
“And I still am.” Owen takes in
Jack’s words of hope, blinking back tears as Jack gives him a friendly
shove. They grin, Jack laughs. “Let’s go home.”
Jack gets
to his feet and hammers his fist on the door of the cell.
“Torchwood.
Authorisation Harkness, Jack. 474317.” He bellows.
Toshiko
taps away at the computer, but is horrified at what she discovers. Gwen returns to her work station and settles
back into her seat.
“Jack called in. He’s found Owen. They’re OK. They’re coming back.”
“Is he himself?”
“What do you mean, himself?” Gwen asks curiously.
“I wanted to know why Owen left. Well, actually, more if he talked to anyone
about what I said, so I checked the CCTV."
“That’s a bit like stalking, Tosh.”
“I know, only now I wish I hadn’t. Look.”
Toshiko turns her screen to face Gwen.
Owen is in the Hot House staring at the wall, when suddenly he twirls
around his expression changed, his eyes as black as coals, and he’s chanting.
“Melkurian abatha. Duroc minus mill khabaal.”
Gwen walks
over for a closer look followed by Martha equally intrigued.
“Oh, my God.”
“What is that?”
Striding
back down the street towards the parked SUV, Jack and Owen are surprised by a
group of Weevils waiting for them.
“There’s too many of them. They’re after me, I stole the glove from
them. Go. Go!” He instructs Owen to run. Giving him a headstart, he keeps the Weevils
at bay for a few seconds and joins Owen in a race across town. More Weevils step out of the darkness and
surprise them.
“Whoa!
They must be really pissed off with you.”
They head
on up to the multi storey car park, tearing halfway up a brightly lit level which
is almost abandoned of vehicles. Jack
gets his breath and scours around for any sign of the Weevils. He claps Owen on the shoulder.
“Owen.
Stay here.” Jack instructs as he
walks along the level looking out for danger.
Seeing nothing he walks back along, and sights first one Weevil that
growls menacingly at him. They walk at
the same speed, maintaining eye contact.
As Jack walks past another column he sees the group
“Owen!”
They race
up to the roof as Weevils on three levels of the multi storey car park race up
after them. There’s no escape.
“Owen, get behind me.” Jack insists removing the Webley from it’s
holster.
“Yeah, right. Come on.”
Owen says ignoring Jack, egging the Weevils closer. Jack is unsure of Owen’s intentions.
The Weevils
are many and snarl and growl their aggression towards the two men before
lowering their demeanour and becoming subservient. Jack shot glances towards Owen as he kept his
gun aloft. Owen was smiling.
“Owen, what the hell is going on?”
“Melkurian abatha. Duroc minus mill khabaal.” Owen replies turning to face a startled Jack.
In Jack’s
office, the team watch as Ianto opens the safe and lifts out the Universal
Translator.
“I need to know what Owen was saying.” Toshiko tells them.
“We all do.”
Martha adds.
“This has never let us down before.” Toshiko tells her, taking the device from
Ianto. Pressing it against her computer
screen she waited.
“We
should be able to play the translation through the computer’s speakers.” She tells the others, as the computer
displays symbols instead.
“It’s never done that before.
“I shall walk the Earth and my hunger will
know no bounds.” The computer said for
all to hear.
“I’ve got a really bad feeling about
this.” Said Gwen with a sense of
foreboding.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Calls Jack from the doorway with Owen.
Owen stares
at Janet in the holding cell. She comes
towards him, interested, but as he presses his finger through the air holes in
the cell window, one sniff sends her cowering into a corner, moaning as if in
fear of the man. Jack and Martha share a
look before returning to gaze at the terrified alien creature.
“So I'm King of the Weevils, maybe even
Weevil Messiah. But whichever way you look at it, it ain't good.”
“No, it isn’t, and I think it’s happened
before.” Gwen enters the room and hands
over some old paintings
“Where’d you get this?” Jack asks.
“I found it in an article about Black Death,
and what you’re looking at there are the first images of the Grim Reaper. I shall walk the Earth and my hunger will
know no bounds. In legend, the person
who said those words was Death himself.”
“But there’s no such thing.” Martha adds as
the Weevil continues to howl.
“Yeah, I’m dead. I’m not Death. There is a difference.”
“Does he know that?”
Gwen places
more pictures on the boardroom table for all the team to view as she relays the
information she’s gathered so far.
“Right, that wood carving dates back to the
fifteenth century, to a small parish called Saint James. When they heard about
the plague, they built a wall around the town. Unfortunately, that didn't
prevent a little girl from dying. So the legend goes, the priest performs a
miracle, brings her back to life, but she doesn't come back alone. She brought
Death with her, and he walked amongst them.”
Owen sees an all too familiar pattern.
“Are we seriously gonna act on something
she's Googled?” Toshiko laughs.
Jack ignores her.
“What was the name of the priest’s church?”
“Yep.”
Gwen confirms the name. “St. Mary’s.”
“That’s where I found the glove, which makes
the parish of St. James…”
“…The town that five hundred years later
would turn into a city called Cardiff
“What happened to the town when Death walked
amongst them?” Owen asks.
“People died. Twelve people. Death needed thirteen souls before it had a
permanent hold on the Earth."
“How did they stop it at twelve?”
“It just says faith.”
“Owen is changing. Who knows what that energy is? What if it’s making him a host, a gateway?”
“I’ve been thinking there’s something in the
darkness, waiting for me to finally pass over, but I’ve got it wrong, ok? It’s the other way around. It’s trying to get here through me.”
The monitor
on his wrist begins to bleep.
“What’s this reading now?”
“Er, eighty percent.”
“What happens when it completes? You know, we fight monsters. What happens when we turn out to be the
monsters, when I do?”
“Even if we have to fight you, you’re
already dead.”
“What do we do with the dead? Come on, what do we do? You embalm them. If we inject a formaldehyde solution into my
veins, it’ll petrify my neural pathways and freeze dry my brain. It’s the only way to be sure.”
Martha and
Jack prepare the embalming solution in the Autopsy room, watched from above by
Toshiko.
Owen
prepares for the procedure in the Board room as Gwen puts away his clothing
once more.
“Are you sure about this?”
“The formaldehyde might irritate, but the
ethanol should prevent me feeling its effect.
It’s a raging carcinogen, but I don't think I need to worry about that.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yeah. I can't sleep, I can't drink and I
can't shag, and they are three of my favourite things.”
“Owen.”
Gwen throws herself at Owen and holds him tight.
“I’m not the same, Gwen. I came back different. Hollow.
Like I’m missing something. And I
do not want to be like this, OK?” He
says holding Gwen as tightly, as tears roll down her cheeks. “I’m ready.”
Followed by
Gwen who wipes her tears on her sleeve, Owen walks along the familiar corridors
out into the main Hub as the doors shut behind them. He stops to take in his surroundings for the
last time before crossing the threshold towards the Autopsy room. Ianto greets him near the railing, no words
are spoken.
Jack sets
up the leg straps on the bed as the monitor alerts Martha to Owen’s status.
“Owen’s at ninety five percent.”
Jack stares
at the computer screen stating the same
“Then let’s not waste any more time. No goodbyes.”
Owen says sombrely.
Owen is
strapped down onto the seat.
“Are you ready for the first injection?”
Owen nods
but as Martha reaches to get it, the gauntlet is sitting over them, and moves over
them, gathering them underneath like a spider protecting it’s food supply.
“Someone really doesn’t like needles.”
The
gauntlet leaps at Martha who screams and falls back. Jack immediately leaps into action.
“LOCKDOWN!”
Jack bellows as he tries to pull the gauntlet away from Martha. “Martha…just…” With all of his strength Jack throws it
across the room, while Owen struggles in the straps to free himself. Flailing like a tortoise on it’s back it soon
rights itself and comes after Martha once more.
She backs away towards the cold store drawers as the hand scuttles
towards her.
“Martha give me your hand.” Gwen calls as Martha gets to her feet and
scrambles up towards Gwen and Tosh.
Ianto enters brandishing a hockey stick.
Jack looks around for the glove as Owen still struggles to take off the
straps.
“Owen, Owen don’t move. Everyone spread out. Shush.”
Jack calls for calm. The team
take cautious steps along the upper level, listening and looking out for the
glove. Jack spots Ianto with the hockey
stick and the pair exchange glances.
“Where did it go?”
“I think it went under the cabinet.”
“Are you alright?” Jack asks Martha.
“Yeah I think so.” Martha replies gripping onto the railing to
peer over.
“Good.”
Somewhere,
beneath them, the glove is heard scuttling about, keeping them on their toes! Gwen and Jack glancing through the railings
to see if they can locate it.
Gwen spots
it. “It’s there.” She points.
Martha
leans over the railing and the gauntlet strikes, clamping onto the railing
beside her hand, she screams and leaps back against the wall, but the gauntlet
is upon her in seconds and clamps itself to her face. She screams as she tries
to pull the strong gauntlet from her face.
Gwen and Toshiko help but it’s too strong. Toshiko calls for Jack who is beside Martha
in an instant.
“HOLD HER.”
He yells as he physically pulls the possessed glove from Martha’s
face. Martha is no longer screaming, and
as Jack pulls with all of his strength, Martha raises a wrinkled hand. Jack pulls it from Martha’s face and has his
own power struggle till he’s physically able to toss it across the room where
it lands on a tray of instruments. Again
it’s on it’s ‘back’ and struggles to right itself. Owen frees himself from the straps and as the
glove scrambles onto the ground, leaps onto it and pins the glove to the
ground. He calls to Jack for his gun.
“If you destroy it, the connection could be
lost.”
“Now!”
Jack throws
his revolver to Owen who releases the gauntlet and shoots it. It explodes.
The glove
is no more. The team sigh with relief,
but it’s only momentary.
“Oh my God, Martha?” Gwen stares in horror at the old woman
replacing the vibrant young medical officer.
“Martha? What’s happened to
her?”
Jack
examines her hand, her face and his equally as horrified.
“It’s the glove. It did this to her. Owen, help me with her.” He asks attempting to lift Martha as the
monitor begins to bleep on the wall.
“OWEN!” He yells.
Ianto
stares in horror as the gun drops from Owen’s hand and the darkness returns to
Owen’s eyes. Owen has reached 100%
conversion.
“I will walk the Earth and my hunger will
know no bounds.” Suddenly, Owen falls to
his knees yelling as the darkness leaves him in a choking cloud of blackness,
that begins to grow in shape, and as it centres on the team it darkens over
Jack and kills him.
Jack gasps
back to life in the passenger seat of the SUV parked outside St Helen’s
hospital. He quickly unbuckles his
seatbelt and rushes inside. Martha is
being wheeled in on a gurney, she’s close to death. Owen is limping.
“Police officer! I need a medic now.” Gwen instructs helping to push the gurney
along the corridor with Toshiko and Ianto assisting. Jack catches up with Owen.
“Where did it go? Owen!” Owen is barely able
to string a sentence together. Jack
heads on after the others.
“So, what happened to that thing?”
“It’s gone.”
“So, it’s out there?”
While Jack
sits with Martha, the doctor attending asks the others about her patient.
“How do you know her? I take it you’re not family.” She asks.
“She’s a neighbour. We look in, do her shopping, collect her
pension, that sort of thing, you know.”
“Her red blood cell count is through the
floor and she’s massively dehydrated.
All of which has placed a considerable strain on her heart.”
“You’ve got to help her.”
“We are, but you have to accept she’s, what,
eighty?”
“Just do what you can, please.”
“It must be Death, because it’s stolen my
life.” Martha tells Jack as she stares
at her reflection in the mirror.
“We’ll find
a way to reverse this.” Jack assures her, taking back the mirror. Jack has no idea how he’s going to fix
this. As the team enter and gather
around the bed, he walks away.
“Last time,
back when Cardiff
“So?”
“Why didn’t it get to thirteen? And where does this faith bit come into it?”
Jack turns
to his team at the bedside.
“Ianto, we need answers.”
“I’m on it.”
He replies leaving the room.
“Owen, I want you back at the Hub, you’re
not safe.”
“Jack, I’m free of it, I promise you. And I’m useful, I’m useful here. When it came through me, I felt it. I know what it is, I know what it wants. It’s Duroc.”
“And what is that?”
“Hunger.”
“Where do we look for it, where do we even
start to look for it?”
Jack draws
back the curtain and spies a group of Weevils outside in the ambulance bay.
“We won’t have to go far. It’s here.”
Gwen follows Jack line of vision.
“Why would it follow us here?”
“I’m not sure it did. Maybe it senses the near dead. If you were Death, wouldn’t you target a
hospital?” Jack pulls open the double
doors from the side room and storms along the corridor with Gwen in tow.
In
Intensive Care Unit, the female patients begin to flat line. One old woman at the far bed awakens at the
sound and reaches for her alarm to summon for help as the black cloud begins to
grow at the end of her bed, developing a skeletal form. Her monitor flatlines.
Jack makes
a call on his Bluetooth as he strides past the nurses station.
“This is Captain Jack Harkness,
Torchwood. You need to evacuate St.
Helen’s Hospital, Cardiff
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is
Torchwood. If you can move as quickly
and as safely as possible to your nearest exit, thank you.”
A fire
alarm signifies evacuation procedures.
In the
Children’s Ward, Nurse Carysfort pushes open the double doors and switches on
the light. She calls for some assistance
from other staff. She claps her hands to
awaken the sleeping children.
“Alright, wake up! Dressing gowns on! It’s not a drill. Can you listen to me carefully, please?”
Only one
boy isn’t listening. He’s sat on the toilet playing a computer game with his
headphones plugged in.
On a busy
staircase Jack restates his first instruction.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a
drill. Please make your way to the assembly
point in car park one. Ianto, I need you to crack into the hospital
communication system.”
“Already done it. They’ve got multiple code fours in Intensive
Care.” Ianto relays to Jack from
Martha’s bedside.
“Which floor is that?”
“Sixth.”
“What’s a Code Four?”
“Heart attack.” Gwen replies climbing the stairs after him as
others vacate the building.
“We need to do a body count. Let me know if we get to twelve.”
In the
Children’s Ward Nurse Carysfort looks for a missing patient.
“Have you seen Jamie?”
“No.”
Replies the nurse assisting a young girl along the corridor.
“I’ll catch you up.” She glances back towards the Ward before
turning away till she hears a strange whispering. She turns back towards the empty ward.
“Duroc is come.”
“Jamie.
Jamie is that you under there?”
She smiles crouching to see if the boy is hiding under the bed, just as
Duroc materialises behind her.
In the
Intensive Care ward, Jack and Gwen are greeted by corpses in night gowns. Jack does a body count before contacting the
rest of the team.
“Owen, Tosh, we’re on the Sixth floor. There’s fatalities. Seven of them.”
“I’m hearing of a fatality during a routine
operation.”
“Let’s count that as eight. That leaves five to go. Oh.”
“What?”
“There’s five of us.”
Owen exits
the elevator.
“Jack, if it was last seen on the Sixth, did
it go up or down from there?”
“Most of the top floors are evacuated, so if
it’s still hungry, I’d guess it’s going to…
“We’re on the Eighth. We’ll make our way down.”
“Jack, we still have no idea what to do if
we find it.”
“Ianto?”
“I have searched for the phrase ‘I shall
walk the Earth and my hunger will know no bounds’ but I keep getting redirected
to Weight Watchers.” Ianto replies as he
looks up from his laptop, beside Martha.
“It was a Medical journal, ‘History of
Medicine’, try under Tavistock or Wellcome.”
Gwen replies heading away from the Intensive Care unit.
“We’re on the Seventh floor.” Toshiko announces. The lights suddenly dim halting them in their
tracks.
“It’s here, I can feel it.”
“Owen, you’re scaring me.”
“I’m not exactly reassuring myself. Come on.”
Jamie
returns to a dark and empty ward where the curtains have been pulled up around
each and every bed. His game console
bleeps as the game waits in pause mode.
Frightened by the darkness of the room, despite the orange glow from the
far side of the room, he continues to walk towards his bed. Gripping tightly a closed curtain he pulls it
back, expecting to see something horrific and breathes a sigh of relief when
nothing is there. His game falls out of
his hand onto the floor. Glancing up the
corridor seeing nothing, he quickly collects up the curtain to retrieve the
game and spies the desiccated nurse under the bed. He gasps in fear and backs away from the bed
and puts a distance between him and the room.
He runs for an exit but the doors are all security locked. He tries all
the doors and hammers hard on them but they’re all closed to him. He hears the voice of Duroc and turns to see
a figure grow from a cloud of dark mass.
The Grim Reaper is still hungry.
It begins to approach Jamie.
He freaks
and runs, but the doors are locked. He
hears a voice behind him followed by the appearance of the Grim Reaper, walking
towards him. Jamie slaps his hands
against the double fire doors and slides down the door, fear gripping him.
Duroc has a
skeletal body surrounded by a shroud of black mass. It walks like an old man towards the young boy,
hunger knowing no bounds.
Owen bursts
through a side door just as the Grim Reaper is within touching distance of
him. He glances at the boy on the floor
and shouts to him to take his hand.
Jamie scrambles to his feet, taking hold of Owen’s hand, and they run
out, Toshiko with them.
“I’m getting reports of twelve people dead.”
“So?”
“The legend says, when Death took thirteen
souls its power would be unstoppable. It would roam the earth forever, Jack. It
only needs to kill once more.”
“If it's twelve, we're running out of time.”
Owen and
Toshiko hurtle down the stairs with Jamie as the doors lock ahead of them.
“I think we lost it. Maybe not.”
“If I can access the correct frequency.” Toshiko says using a device from her handbag.
“What’s your name?” Owen asks the young boy as he looks for
another option.
“Jamie Burton.”
“Alright Jamie Burton. I’m Owen, this is Toshiko. We’re going to get you out of here. What are you in here for?”
“Leukaemia.”
“Jamie, you’re going to be fine. I’ll have this door open in just a second.”
“Jamie, they got you in for a round of
chemo, have they?”
“Had that, it didn’t work."
“So why are you here?”
“They’re trying to make me have it
again. It didn’t work though. The cancer
just comes back, just makes my hair fall out.
I’m gonna die. I might as well do
it with eyebrows.”
“Ianto, what have we got?”
“Back in 1479, the priest discovered that
Death needed thirteen souls to walk the Earth for eternity.”
“He stopped Death at twelve.”
“It was Faith.”
“I know.”
“No, the little girl that died and was
brought back to life. Her name was
Faith. She stopped it.”
“Well, how?”
“It doesn’t say.”
“Faith didn’t have anything to lose. She was already dead. Jamie.”
Owen leads Jamie towards a table and chairs at the side of the
reception, his eyes fixed on the stairs.
He looks back at the boy.
“Jamie, you’re scared, of course you
are. The last lot of chemo didn’t work
and you can’t bear the thought of going through all that pain again, and I
understand that, mate, I really do. But
let me tell you that not everyone dies of this disease and the ones with the
best chance of making it are the ones who believe that they can beat
Death. And sometimes, just sometimes,
you can. So watch and learn, Jamie
Burton.”
“Watch what?”
“Watch me beat Death.”
Toshiko
succeeds in opening the door.
“Come on.”
“Ok, go!
Come on Jamie. Take him,
ok?” Owen turns his back on Toshiko,
summoning up the courage to do what needs doing.
“Owen?
I am not leaving you to face that thing on your own.”
“I know what to do.”
“You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
“Tosh.”
Owen replies, pulling her in for a passionate kiss, long enough to steal
the gizmo in her hand. He triggers the
doors to close behind him. “You’re so
gonna hate me for this.” He holds up the
device and waggles it in front of Toshiko.
She tries the door without avail.
“Owen!
Owen, no! Open the door! What the hell are you doing? OWEN. OWEN.”
Death walks
down the stairs, stronger and with greater ease. Owen watches it.
“HOW LONG?”
Owen growls his contempt at the shadowy figure, as he casts down the
scanner device. “How long can you last
here with only twelve victims? THERE’S NOTHING
HERE FOR YOU! OWEN HARPER’S SOUL HAS
LEFT THE BUILDING. There’s nobody here but us dead men.”
Duroc is
within reach of Owen.
“NO!
OWEN.” Screams Toshiko as she bangs her fists against the glass
doors.
“Owen.”
Cries Jamie.
A bony hand
reaches for Owen who grabs it. It tries
to pull away but fails.
“What else have you got? What else can you do to the dead?” Owen growls.
They struggle together, Owen’s hands never letting go of Death, Death
pulling to free itself from Owen’s grip – Death against the Living Dead.
“Help! Jack! Jack! Jack!” Tosh yells for assistance as she tries to
prise open the doors with her bare hands.
Jack and
Gwen can only watch from a higher level.
“OWEN!
OWEN!” He yells hitting his fists
against the glass panelling. Gwen does the same. All they can do is watch, helplessly.
“Is that all you’ve got? Finish!”
Owen yells at the shrouded figure who begins to pull away from
Owen. A white glow emanates from around
them. Death is leaving the building,
returning to the Darkness where it belongs.
Jack and
Gwen reach the reception where only Owen remains kneeling on the floor, staring
at the space left by Death. Jack reaches
a hand and gently grips Owen’s shoulder.
The doors
open again. Toshiko enters.
Ianto calls
Jack from A&E but nobody picks up.
“Jack? Gwen? Anyone?”
A hand
reaches out and clamps on his shoulder forcing him to yell out loud, quickly
turning it into a laugh, as he sees Martha returned to her normal self. Her heart rate back to normal.
Back at the
Hub, Owen is once again in the Autopsy room sitting on the table beside Martha
looking equally forlorn.
“So tell me doctor, is it worth starting War
and Peace?” Martha laughs lightly. “I’m sorry that you got hurt, that I got you
hurt.”
“It’s not me that I’m worried about. You soaked up a colossal amount of energy but
it’s dissipating now.”
“It doesn’t sound good.”
“I don’t know anything about its properties,
none of us do. It could take thirty
years for it to die out completely.”
“Or thirty minutes.” Owen glances up as Jack walks into view. “Jack?
People died because you brought me back.
We owe them, you and me. I’m
still a doctor. Let’s put me to
work. See if we can’t even that score.”
“We’ll see.”
Jack tells him.
Toshiko
collars Jack on his way to his office.
“Did he really beat Death?” She asks him, glancing towards the Autopsy
room.
“You can never really beat Death, never
escape it. It’s always in the shadows, waiting.”
“So what do we do now?”
About to
answer, Jack is halted by the appearance of Owen at the entrance to the Cold
Storage room.
Next month
A Day in
the Death
By Joseph
Lidster
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