Anythingdrabble Challenge 205 - More than skin deep

[m_findlow]

Title: More than skin deep
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack, Ianto, Owen
Author: m_findlow
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 205 - Worm at anythingdrabble
Summary: Jack has caught something no one wants.


Jack squirmed and writhed on the hard metal stool.

'Sit still,' Ianto ordered him, grabbing his arm with rubber gloved hands and forcing it down onto the cold, metal gurney, pinning it in place at wrist and elbow. There was no tenderness in the action, only firm resolve.

'It's under the skin,' Jack complained, writhing as much as he could in his restrained state, gritting his teeth and bucking up and down. 'Get it out.'

'We don't even know what "it" is yet,' he replied. Ianto turned to Owen who was organising a series of nast looking medical implements. 'Can't you give him something?'

Owen huffed. 'I gave him a local. What more do you want?'

Ianto grimaced as Jack continued to struggle underneath his hands. 'A club to the head?'

'I need him conscious. It's in his arm for now but if it moves, he's the only one going to be able to tell us where it's got to if it decides to hightail it. That tourniquet might not be enough.'
'Just hurry it up already!' Jack yelled. 'God! He cried out as the thing made itself known. Ianto nearly let go as Jack's arm bulged, and the shape of something moved just under the skin.

Owen moved over with a scalpel and gave Jack a very stern look. 'Do not move. Unless you want to lose your arm.' Ianto gripped Jack's arm harder, forcing it flat onto the gurney as Owen poised over it, breaking the skin with the implement.

There was a bubble of red as the blood vessels were broken and then Owen pressed the knife a little deeper, dragging it slowly and carefully down, forming a two inch long incision. The bulge moved just inches away from it and then before Owen could put the scalpel down and grab for something more exploratory, something broke through the hole. Jack cried out as the other two men gasped more in horror at the thing writhing out through Jack's skin.

'Oh, that's disgusting,' Ianto said.

'You should take better care of your pets, Ianto,' Owen replied, reaching for a pair of large tweezers and moving to grip the head of the creature that had been burrowing in Jack's arm. He got a hold of it and gently began pulling, revealing a sizeable length of alien worm, approximately twelve inches long. It wriggled the whole way until finally the end came loose with a wet sound and was left dangling from Owen's hand. 'Now that's a worm.'

Ianto winced. 'That's gross. How on earth did you get something like that inside you in the first place? Wait, no I probably don't want to know.'

'I didn't do it on purpose!' Jack replied. 'I would have noticed if something that big wanted a piece of me.'

'So, you're saying it's been growing inside you for weeks or months? That's even worse.'

'Stay alert, Ianto,' Owen warned. 'Worms are highly transmissible.'

Ianto gave Owen a witheringly look. 'I hate you.'