See Part One for Disclaimers
***8***
It was a few hours later before the nurse arrived. A young man with copper coloured hair not all that much older than Harper. He held a roll of fabric nervously in his hand. Jennifer spat at him to leave but Podraig took her arm.
"I won't watch them suffer any more!"
"They're not! They're getting better, I know they are," she said desperately, "I saw Declan smile at me today. His mouth moved, you saw too didn't you, Shay?"
Harper felt his mouth go dry and he licked his lips, torn between loyalty, the truth and his own selfish desires to save the twins.
"If you did, it was just a twitch," Podraig murmured.
"It wasn't."
Podraig took her shoulders in his hands and made her face him. "They're infested with Magog eggs, Jen!"
"The doctors can remove them!"
"They can't. It's not possible and even if it was. . . their insides. . .. They're being eaten. They won't survive, no matter what."
"They might!"
"They won't! They're paralysed. They're in pain!" He grabbed her arms; "you must see that. We can't let them suffer, I won't let them suffer,"
"I WON'T KILL MY OWN CHILDREN!" She shrugged off his hands and began pummelling him with blows. Podraig's face creased with pain as she targeted her fists on his torn arms. "I WON'T! I CAN'T!"
"And if we leave them?" Podraig asked, grabbing her arms and forcing them against her sides. "What then? What happens when those eggs have done feeding?"
"No!"
"I'll tell you, shall I? They'll eat their way out of them-"
"Shut up!"
". . .And then the little Magog's will kill us. . .kill Seamus, kill Jessie."
"SHUT UP!""Is that what you want?"
"YOU BASTARD!"
Harper couldn't move; he could only stare at them.
And then at the twins. Dec and Siobhan's eyes seemed to plead to him. Telling him to do what they couldn't. He felt his legs moving, leading the nurse to the twin's bedsides. The nurse knelt down and unrolled the fabric, revealing two full hypodermic syringes.
Jennifer saw what was happening and screamed incoherently for them to stop. Podraig grabbed her waist from behind before she had a chance to move towards them and held her in place. She struggled hard, kicking and twisting in his grip, but he refused to let go.
Harper watched over the nurse's shoulder as he pushed one of the needles into Siobhan's arm and then the other into Declan's. He met his cousin's eyes but neither held any anger or betrayal.
Instead there was only gratitude. Their pain and humiliation was soon to end and they welcomed it.
Podraig let go of Jennifer and she ran to her children's side, sobbing. She pulled their heads into her lap and rocked them, hushing them gently.
"You'll be alright. Mummy's here, shh. . ."
Death came rapidly and within a minute both twins shuddered once, gasped and died.
Jennifer screamed a howl of pain from the very depth of her soul.
Harper began crying, his sobs racking his chest. He couldn't breathe.
Whack!
Jennifer slapped his across the face. "MURDERER!"
"No. . ." he choked, "I'm sorry."
She began raining blows down upon him. "MURDERER! MURDERER! MURDERER!" She sobbed over and over. Podraig tried to pull her off of the boy but she pushed him away. Podraig landed heavily on the ground.
"Jen, stop! You're hurting him!"
One of Jennifer's blows hit the side of his head and Harper fell. He collapsed at her feet sobbing.
She stared down at him. "Murderer." She said one last time and fled from the tent.
"Jennifer!" Podraig called, racing after her. Harper struggled to his feet and stumbled behind them, his head still muzzy from the blows.
Jennifer stopped at the mass grave, her eyes wild. Podraig slowed down and put out a hand to stop Harper from getting to close to her. They watched in horror as she picked up a farming scythe. A long razor sharp tool the gravediggers had been using to shovel the soil as quickly as possible.
"Jennifer, no!"
She was calm as she swung the tool around, gathering its momentum. The woman stared at them almost as if she were staring right into their souls. . .Then she jerked the scythe upwards and it buried itself deep into her heart.
Thick red blood jetted out, a bright fountain of red.
Harper heard someone screaming hysterically.
And some time later realised it was him. . .
***9***
Trance gently gave Harper another dose of Immno-boasts. These were much stronger than the first doses she'd given him. Those didn't appear to be working; he needed something stronger.
As she finished, Harper's body went rigid, his arms jerking, fingers stiffened into claws.
Trance stepped back in shock. "Dylan, Beka!" She cried into the Comm, "you'd better get down here!"
She grabbed the young man and tried to hold him steady to prevent him from hurting himself. He was making a strange gagging noise and she realised he was about to swallow his own tongue. Trance forced her fingers into his mouth and pressed them down, holding his tongue in place. His teeth bit down on her fingers and she moaned in pain but didn't pull away.
Then as suddenly as it started, Harper's body went floppy and limp.
"Harper?" She said, hopefully, "Harper?"
******
"Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound.
I once was lost
but now I'm found. . .."
The sound of Ashling's beautiful voice drifted through the darkness, curling around the smoke that rose from the pyre. A small group of mourners stood huddled in the darkness, listening to the song and remembering.
The fire crackled and spat.
A mother and her children united in the flames.
Harper shivered in the cold night air as he watched the bodies of his cousin's and their mother burning. There were no burials for the infested. The people were too afraid in case the hatchlings continued to live and grow even in a dead host. Cremation was the only sure way to kill them.
Podraig had quietly said Jennifer should be with them and no one had questioned that. It had just seemed right.
Jessie clutched at his hand, watching the flames with fascination. She'd become very clingy; fretting to the point of hysteria if he or Podraig wasn't in sight at all times. It was draining on them both but neither complained.
He saw his father staring him. Callum had become even more bitter these last couple of days. Harper wondered if it was because the Magog hadn't killed him too. He knew his father felt he had nothing to live for. He never seemed to find comfort in his son.
He avoided Callum's eyes and stared into the flames. The smell of burning flesh was unique, acrid and yet strangely sweet. The whole camp stunk of it; he'd got used to the smell of other people pyres. It clung to his clothes, scented his hair; he would never be rid of it.
But his own family's stuck in back of his nose and made him taste it.
Hot bitter tears ran down his cheeks. It wasn't fair. Why did the twin's have to die? Who had made the choice between him and them?
He felt the back of his father's hand across his face before he noticed Callum had come up to him.
"How can you cry for them?" He demanded.
Podraig laid an arm around Harper's shoulders. "Leave the boy be, Callum."
"Just answer the question!"
"They're my. . .were my cousins. . .my aunt. . ."
"What makes them better than your own mother?" Callum grabbed his shirt and forced his son to look at him. "Why didn't you cry for your mother?"Podraig pulled Harper away from his father. "I won't let you hurt him."
"Where were your tears for her then?" He lunged at his son, the force of the blow sending Harper to the ground with a loud thump. "TELL ME!"
Harper struggled to his feet. "I couldn't," he whispered backing away from them, "I wanted too. . .. I just couldn't. . ."
Then he turned on his heals and ran.
******
"Seamus?"
Harper looked up at the sound of Ashling's voice. He sat at the banks of the river with a small pile of flat stones at his feet. The air was a little fresher here, but still held a faint odour of burning corpses, human and Magog.
"C'mon, Shay, I know you're here!"
The nickname grated on his nerves. Siobhan and Dec had given him that name.
"Don't call me that!"
Ashling smiled in triumph. "Guessed you'd come here." She walked in the direction of his voice and sat down beside him. There was a long silence. Ashling picked up a stone and studied it. "Still trying to skim? I'd give up if I were you."
"Yeah."
She stood up and tossed the stone across the water. It skipped twice before splashing into the filth. Harper watched it then looked up at her. There was none of the superiority that his friends had on her face.
His friends. . ..
They were all dead. Only Ashling survived, and they weren't really friends. She was Siobhan's friend.
And at that thought he remembered that she was grieving for them too.
"I thought, um what you sung was. . .um," he blushed, "nice."
She sat down again. "Thank you."
Another long silence fell.
"When I was little," she said eventually, "I. . .I sorta wanted to be a singer."
He grinned, feeling a trickle of happiness through him.
"I know, stupid, huh?"
"No!" He said quickly, "no not at all. I think you're good."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. You could make it on a station somewhere."
"Nobody gets out of here, Shay, I mean, Seamus."
"I am." He said with absolute certainly. "I'm getting out. Dec says-" He stopped and looked away. For a moment it had felt like the world made sense again. And at the mention of Dec it had vanished. "What are you doing here anyway?" He asked, his tone hard.
"I was worried about you. I heard what your Da said."
Harper snatched up the rest of the stones and stood. He threw them one by one at the water. "Well he's right. I didn't cry. And I'm glad I didn't. I don't wanna give him the satisfaction of seeing me do anything. I hate him. I wish he'd died instead of mum, or Uncle Liam, or the twins or just about anyone!" He sobbed.
Ashling got up and nervously put her arms around him. "Shh. . ." She said, "it's. . .it'll be OK. . ." Her mouth brushed his, soft and moist. Harper pulled back in surprise. Her eyes stared into his, full of the same pain and sorrow he felt inside. He laid a hand on her cheek and she tilted her head up, inviting him to kiss her. He nervously put his lips on hers. She tasted sweet.
Their kisses deepened, full of need. The need to push the pain away, to heal the anger.
A need to feel alive amidst all this death.
***10***
Dylan, Beka and Rev stood by Harper's bedside. The young man was deathly pale and beads of sweat stood out on his brow. But for the first time, he looked peaceful. He was no longer mumbling half-formed words or tossing restlessly in the bed. He appeared to be sleeping deeply.
A good sign? Dylan wondered.
Trance finished injecting Harper and turned to them. "His temperature got so high he was convulsing."
"Convulsing? You mean he had a fit?" Asked Beka, her voice full of alarm.
Trance nodded. "I've given him some Retrovint to lower his fever. And he's stable but. . ."
"But?" Prompted Dylan.
"I just checked the medical database. It says in the most severe cases the patient experiences vivid delusions," Trance fidgeted nervously, "usually in the form of memories."
"I do not think that for someone like Harper that would be a particularly enjoyable experience." Rev said.
Beka looked down at Harper, remembering some of the stories he'd told her of his youth. She hoped to God some of it was exaggerated. "Is there anything we can do?"
Trance shook her head. "No, but. . ." She gazed down at her friend, that odd little girl tilt to her head, her eyes wide and innocent. "But he must be so lonely. . .just in his dreams."
"I'm sure he knows we're here, Trance." Dylan said comfortingly. Beka thought he sounded ever so slightly patronising.
The purple skinned alien frowned. "No he doesn't."
"Either way I don't think it matters if he knows we're here or not."
"I do," Trance said quietly.
"I believe I have a suggestion, Dylan." Rommie blinked into existence beside him. The others seemed a little surprised at her sudden appearance, but Dylan was used to it. In truth, Hunt preferred her in this form. Her human body was just too. . .. human. As she stood now, in hologramic presence, she was his last link to the past. "It is possible I could interface with him through his neck port."
"Would that break his fever?"
"Unlikely." Rommie replied.
"But he wouldn't be alone anymore, would he?" Trance cried.
"However, there is also the possibility that if Harper dies while a part of my program was uploaded into his hyperthalmus, it could be lost forever."
"In that case I have to say no."
"But he'd know Rommie was there!" Trance objected, "he wouldn't be alone in his memories!"
"I can't risk Rommie's program being lost or corrupted, especially as there's nothing she can do to help Harper."
"Trance thinks it will help him." Beka said firmly. "And I trust Trance."
"Beka. . ."
"And you said you trust my judgement when it comes to m. . .our crew."
They stared each other down for a long moment then Hunt broke into a grin. "My last first officer used to win arguments all the time too."
******
Snow fell sometime after, freezing up the river and coating the many graves with a covering of white. Podraig's torn arm healed as best it could but he gradually lost the use of his hand. Despite this, he and Harper set about rebuilding their homes. Callum rarely helped them, not with labour or with food. He became a shadow, wasting away, drifting in and out of their lives without warning, going for days at a time.
Jessie found her childhood again the morning she awoke to find the deep snow all around. Jack Frost had done it, Podraig told her. Just for you. . .
Ashling became a regular visitor and although Harper never looked to deeply into their need-filled relationship, he knew she made him happy. Despite the terrible things that had happened in his life, he had her now and she was everything.
That winter was one of the hardest he remembered, the crops had burned in the Magog attack and Fishing became impossible with the river iced over thick enough to walk on.
And to skate on. . .
******
Beka hooked up a lead for the mainframe, hoping she wouldn't have to be the one to jack Harper into Andromeda. It always made her feel slightly ill to see the long metal connector disappearing into his skull. And she'd seen him wince enough times over the feedback to know the sensation wasn't very pleasant.
Tyr looked up from the terminal. "It's ready."
Beka picked up the jack reluctantly. The Nietzschean continued his work on the computer and Trance was still tending to Harper. And both Dylan and Rev were on the bridge.
And she couldn't ask Rommie.
It would have to be her.
Beka went to Harper's side and leant over him, glancing at Rommie's human form beside her.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Rommie nodded and Beka took a deep breath. Her fingers pushed Harper's head to one side so she could see the small metal port near his ear. She shuddered as she slid the jack in. "Okay, it's in."
Tyr tapped a command into the terminal. "Uploading."
Rommie closed her eyes and her body went stiff.
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