I Will Follow You Into the Dark

Chapter Four

In a small, trading outpost to the right of Sector 59G sometime in the 51st century there is a little conglomeration of different species. All peaceful, just merchants selling any and everything they can for credits. And it’s in that tiny outpost that Jack finds what he’s been looking for. Not the vial, but someone that knows where one is located and isn’t just messing with him.

The creature in question is a pretty young Certovan, barely reaching adulthood. He comes up to Jack’s shoulder and is a bit slimy to the touch. He’s nervous and twitchy and looks dead scared when he’s slammed up against the wall and demanded to spill everything he knows about the vial of Zahdanium breath.

“Where is it?” Jack growls, keeping his tight grip on the kid’s collar.

“I-I only know about it from this… this guy I saw.”

“What guy?”

“He was detained. Managed to escape from this prison camp. He said they have a lot of it.”

“Why? Why would they need that at a prison camp?” he grips him a little tighter.

The Certovan groans in pain, looking back up at Jack. “They t-tortured them. Kill them off and use the breath to bring them back.”

Jack pauses, feeling a little sick at the thought of that. He’s been tortured and killed repeatedly before and he knows how horrible that is. Pleading for death when you can never receive it. Just to know that there’s a place out there doing this to people that don’t have to go through that. If it were any other time he’d rally the team, get them to shut the place down but now his main focus is getting Ianto back.

Jack loosens his grip on the young being, still holding onto him, “Do you know where this place is? What’s your name?”

He looks understandably uneasy, barely keeping eye contact with Jack. “C-Curr. And he told me where it is but I’m not sure if that’s right. I… I never went there.”

Jack nods, dropping his hand from the boy’s throat. “Curr? Alright, you’re coming with me.”

“Wait….what?” He followed the taller man who started walking away. “What do you mean I’m coming with you? I told you what you needed. Just… just let me go.”

“Sorry. Can’t. You’re the only person in 5 months that I’ve found that could actually tell me where it is,” he turns around to face him. “There’s a docking station with about 20 ships all getting ready to leave. Where is this place?”

Curr pauses, his eyes glowing a little to show he’s thinking. His species have perfect recall, like a recording machine. His eyes continue to glow for the next few seconds before fading to their normal black. “Ralidan. Any police ships or slave traders would be headed there. It’s not too far away.”

Jack nods, “Good. That’s really good. Do you remember where he said they kept it?” He’s already down the street and heading towards the docking station. The rush of adrenaline at being so close to finding what he needs is a welcomed feeling.

“I don’t think he was ever told. He’d just… had it used on him,” Curr almost has to run to catch up with him. “This isn’t going to be easy. I wouldn’t risk it just to come back from the dead.”

Jack turns around again, almost glaring. “I know what that’s like and it’s horrible. There’s…. there’s someone else. Someone who didn’t deserve to… to die and I need them back, okay? No matter what the cost.”

Curr pauses and watches the man in the greatcoat walk away. It’s surprising that for someone who was so brutal five minutes ago he’s doing this for someone else. Whoever the person is they must be important. He runs after him and towards the docking station.

- - -

Jack feels the rumble of the ships engines finally come to a stop. They snuck onto a small trade ship, not in the best of conditions but it does the job. He motions for Curr to stay quiet, waiting until he hears the ships pilot get off before moving to the same point they made their entrance and slips out, waiting for Curr to follow suit.

They quickly make their way to a shadowed corner, giving Jack his first chance to actually look at where they landed. He gets a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach but he’s not sure why. Something just doesn’t feel right about the place. It’s huge, going at least 8 stories high and taking up most of the space on the small planet. Dark gray with large smoke stacks shooting up from the roof, tingeing the orange sky black. What makes Jack feel even worse is the thick scent that hangs heavily in the air.

Curr coughs, covering his mouth and whispers to Jack, “What is that?”

Jack continues looking up at the smoke stacks, “Burning flesh.”

Curr looks like he might be sick. The scent seems even worse to the young Certovan now that he knows of its origins.

Jack grabs the kids arm, pushing him back against the wall and covers his mouth, blue eyes telling him to be quiet. Curr doesn’t know what for until he sees the pilot of the ship they stowed away on quickly followed by a larger and infinitely more frightening creature. It’s taller than Jack by at least a foot, maybe two. Black leathery skin, similarly textured wings protruding from it’s back. Large talons clutched. Curr can’t remember seeing a creature this dreadful in his short life.

Jack notices the change in Curr’s face when he hears two sets of footsteps walk past them. He slowly turns his head around, naturally curious as to what triggers a reaction like that. When his eyes finally meet the large creature he immediately pales.

We never knew their names. It’s them. Jack shuts his eyes tight once he sees the two vanish inside the facility’s large door. He sees flashes of sand, the beaches of Boeshane Peninsula. The horrifying screeches of their predators and the terrified screams of those caught. We never knew their names. It’s the ones that took his brother, killed his father. He’s finally got his chance at vengeance and he’s scared to death.
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Yep, I went there. :shifty
comments do make me motivated to post more.