‘Hey!’ Jack snapped at Brigstocke. ‘You wanted to be a part of this… Go!’
The toy department was deserted now. Most of the shoppers had been parents, accompanying their bright- eyed children to plan Christmas. Thinking about birthday presents. The occasional weekend dad making up for his workday absence with the bribe of a gift. Mothers and fathers whose parental instinct was to protect their children first of all.
So when a whirlwind of savage animals had sprung from the MonstaQuest display, it had rapidly become obvious that this wasn’t a store event. That much was clear from the genuine terror in the staff, who had abandoned their desks and tills and fled the scene screaming like everyone else. Two huge gorillas had lumbered off, dragging their feet and knuckles, whooping and chattering at the new sights. A whirlwind group of huge, savage insects hovered and chittered in the deserted toy department, plucking at the soft toys as though considering how edible they were.
Parents, children, staff had fled. Now there was only one mother left. And it was her instinct to stay with her child.
Jennifer Portland faced Gareth at the heart of the storm, trying to ignore the wafts from the dreadful creatures that fluttered over her head, the slashing sounds of their razor-sharp mandibles.
‘What have you done, Gareth?’ She pleaded with him to look at her, to acknowledge her. But he simply stared out with a cold and dispassionate look at the devastation he had wrought.
As her son had grown up, Jennifer had been able to tell when Gareth was distressed. Even when he wouldn’t tell her, she could recognise the set of his mouth, or the particular way he slouched when he tried to explain something, or the sparkle of unshed tears in his frustrated eyes. Now as she looked at him, she didn’t recognise anything at all. It was like the shell of her beloved son. All that was of him had been emptied out and replaced with something else.
‘What have you done?’ she asked again. That was when all the store lights went out.
The noise from the monstrous insects all around them dipped momentarily, before resuming with a new, angry intensity.
There was still a sharp source of light across the sales floor. It spilled out from within the MonstaQuest display behind Gareth, throwing his outline into sharp silhouette. He was staring at the Visualiser device. He turned it to the light so he could read the display, but what Jennifer could read was the fury in her son’s face.
‘Not enough people!’ snarled Gareth. ‘Insufficient power!’
‘Gareth, come back to me!’ pleaded Jennifer. She shuffled closer. Desperate to hold him. To forgive him.
‘There is no Gareth,’ said the thing that had been her son. Its black eyes bored into her. ‘And besides, you were already dead to him.’
Gareth strode past his mother, shrugging off her attempt to grab him, to hug him. She turned to follow him as he left. But the insect creatures had gathered in front of her. Gareth was already out of the room when the insects fell upon Jennifer.
Gwen intercepted Ianto and the Portland brothers as they struggled up the final set of fire stairs. The Achenbrite pair were laden with capture equipment, and unable to use the escalators because Brigstocke had reversed the direction so that they only travelled down and out of the store.
The store’s back-up generator had kicked in, offering low-level emergency lighting. When they reached the toy department, they found that Jack and Owen had already picked their way across the debris. David Brigstocke hovered behind them nervously.
There was no sign of Gareth Portland. A fading glow around the MonstaQuest stand illuminated a group of four huge insect creatures that huddled over something.
With a thrill of horror, Gwen recognised that the something was Jennifer Portland.
Matt Portland had noticed this too. He let out a howl of anguish and rage, and started to charge at the creatures. Between them, Owen and Gwen managed to hold him back.
‘I’m sorry,’ Gwen told him. ‘So sorry, but it’s too late for her. You have to help your brother set up the capture equipment.’
The insects were losing interest in Jennifer’s body, but the noise from these newcomers had attracted their attention. One of them opened its wings and flitted up to the ceiling. The other three twisted to look at their new prey, and their mandibles champed in anticipation.
‘Stand back!’ shouted Chris. He and his brother had angled the capture equipment at the larger group of insects, and the devices hummed into life. A static crackle filled the air, and the bulbous ends of the Achenbrite rifles spat out a cloudy spray that enveloped their targets. The three insects twisted, shrieked, and dwindled in size.
‘Get them in the box!’ Chris called out to his brother.
But Matt threw the capture box aside, and ran over to the three shrunken insect creatures. His face was contorted with utter fury and he slammed down the end of his rifle against them. The insects splattered under the assault, a yellow-green stain smeared on the carpet tiles. Matt continued to pound at the gooey remains until he slumped down exhausted, his rifle a useless, mangled mess beside him.
The remaining insect shrieked its anger, and swooped down at Chris Portland. The Achenbrite man stumbled back, tumbling over a display case of Disney characters. The monstrous insect snatched at the plush characters, slicing them with the ends of its sharp legs. Shreds of material and stuffing scattered over the floor. Chris stumbled free, and brought up his rifle to fire.
The end of it was crushed and bent out of shape. He fired anyway, but the rifle smoked and sparked in his hands, and he had to throw it aside.
A fusillade of shots rang out. The Torchwood team had all taken aim at the insect. Their bullets pinged off its carapace, barely scratching the creature but ricocheting in all directions.
The creature rose into the air and menaced them from above.
Jack was already activating his earcomm. ‘Tosh? Plan B. Did Ianto patch things through to you?’
‘Yes.’
‘OK, bring the cellular network back online.’ Jack waggled his hand urgently at David Brigstocke. ‘Gimme your camera phone.’
Brigstocke fumbled in his tweed jacket and finally produced the item.
Jack’s fingers fiddled with the phone interface. He angled its camera lens up at the looming insect. ‘Get back, all of you.’
When they all moved, the insect motioned to follow them.
‘No you don’t!’ snapped Jack, and began to hurl Disney characters at the creature. It swooped down at him, slashing at his arm with a razor-edged leg.
‘That’s more like it!’ he grinned, nursing the wound with one hand while keeping the camera aimed at the insect. ‘C’mon, c’mon! You’ve got nowhere to escape to.’
The creature reared back, ready to strike. Before vanishing in a swirling cloud of brilliant illumination.
Gwen stepped forward hesitantly. ‘Where did it go, Jack?’
Jack snapped the phone shut, and tossed it back to Brigstocke. ‘Before we left, Tosh set up a video phone in the Hub dungeon. That insect will materialise in secure storage down there, and we can deal with it later.’ His smile faded. ‘Assuming I dialled it right.’ He rapidly muttered a mobile phone number as though checking his memory.
Gwen blanched. ‘That’s Rhys’s number!’
Jack was grinning again. ‘Just kidding.’
She slapped his arm. ‘I hope he’s safely on his way to the international, by now.’
No such joy for the Portlands, she reflected. Just across from her, Matt was weeping over his mother’s remains. Chris stoically tried to ignore this, as though that would deny the truth of it. He carefully sprayed the area around the MonstaQuest stand with weed killer. Gwen went to him and saw the shrivelled stalks of the same alien plants that they’d seen in the shopping mall. The bizarre foliage surrounded a huge gash in the surface, so wide and deep that she could see right through to the third floor below.
‘Gareth was using the Visualiser to recreate an alien world for those creatures,’ said Jack from beside her.
