Chapter Text
They had been walking for what felt like hours now, Patrick’s leg had slowed them down more than she thought. One of the crutches had broken about 3 miles in, and now he was leaning against Lucy, who was helping him walk on one crutch. Lena’s shoulder burned from where the pack dug into it, her useless arm strung tight against her side. She had neglected to pay any proper attention to it, it was the least of her worries for now. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon, the moon cast a dim glow over the trees, barely lighting their path anymore. Every faint noise from deeper in the forest had their heads on a swivel, looking for the source. They had no weapons to defend themselves, the colony didn’t see it to be pertinent to give them weapons. For good reason, there was no reason to think anything like this would ever happen. So they made do by walking as fast as they could through the trees towards the Jupiter 4.
It was another half hour before they reached the Jupiter. Its floodlights were on, and they could see it through the trees when they got close, like a beacon showing them the way to safety. There was a small clump of supply boxes in the center of a make-shift perimeter fence with people gathered around them. The make-shift perimeter fence consisted of a sparse number of the protective fence posts, set to stop anything from getting in.
The three of them approached the barrier, when they came within a meter of the fence they could feel electricity crackle in the air and hear the faint hum of it passing between the fence posts. They announced and introduced themselves to the group sat within the fence. A woman sat close to the barrier stood and moved to one of the fence posts and pressed a button. She hurried them inside and quickly turned it back on. Remembering the sounds they heard earlier in the woods, Lena was glad to be inside a barrier that provided safety, no matter how flimsy that safety might be. The presence of more people was perhaps the greatest reassurance, safety in numbers and all that. There were about 20 survivors around the crates, possibly more inside. A few were sleeping on rolled-out sleeping bags, their friends watching over them. They were all so tired; they had been walking for hours, and the adrenaline from the crash had long since worn off.
Lena’s head was swimming, pain lancing through her shoulder from carrying the bag, the bag had shifted constantly while they were walking, putting strain on her shoulders. The bag slid down her shoulder and landed with a soft thump on the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust. The sounds of the other two talking to the survivors registered faintly over the buzzing in her ears. She crumpled to the ground as her knees gave out, landing beside the bag. Pushing up with her good arm she tried to regain her footing, just for another wave of nausea to wash over her, and she fell backwards onto her ass again. She sat with her head between her knees, trying to keep her breathing steady as her mouth watered, a cold sweat working its way over her skin. What little remained of her dinner from the night before the crash splashed onto the ground. The pain in her shoulder lessened slightly as she threw up, it taking her mind off it for a split second. She was so tired, she just wanted to sleep. She wanted to go home, she just wanted to go back home. Her eyes wouldn’t stay open anymore. No one was paying her any mind, talking amongst themselves, relieved to be alive. Just a short nap, I’ll wake up soon and help. I just need an hour. She fell onto her side, ruined arm led across her body, head resting on the bag. As soon as she led down, she was gone. Images from the crash flashed behind her eyes while she slept, the crew’s lifeless eyes watching her as she slept.
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She didn’t wake up an hour later. Or the next. No one questioned her sleeping on the ground because everyone was. No one noticed when her breathing got shallower and she broke out in a cold sweat. No one noticed how pale she was, or how she was shaking in her sleep.
She was delirious from pain when someone shook her awake, however many hours later. The woman who shook her awake saw the makeshift sling and seemed to think for a moment. She started shouting out instructions to the two people behind her, who rushed into action. She must have been some kind of doctor, Lena thought, because she took the medical supplies from the people behind her and tended to her shoulder.
She must have passed out again because the next time she opened her eyes, she was inside one of the Jupiters medical bays. There was an IV in her arm, she squinted at the IV bag and tried to read the name of the medication, it was antibiotics of some kind.
“Where was she bought in from?”
“The Jupiter 4, someone drove her in on a chariot I think.”
“It’s good someone bought her in, it could have been a lot worse.”
Are they talking about me? Where am I? She tried to move to sit up but couldn’t do it. Her right arm was immobilized, tied in a sling against her side. The voices had stopped talking outside and footsteps were approaching the med bay. A young woman rounded the corner holding a tablet, checking something on the screen. She looked up as she approached Lena and put the tablet down on the side.
“Where am I?” Lena’s voice was rough, how long was I asleep?
“You’re in the med bay on the Jupiter 11, Someone drove you here after you passed out at the Jupiter 4.”
The young woman continued talking when Lena didn’t respond, “Your shoulder was broken and you contracted an infection in the bone called osteomyelitis.”
“The bone didn’t break the skin?”
“No, it’s rarer, but you can contract the infection without breaking the skin.” The woman looked slightly confused when Lena appeared to know what she was talking about, “Are you a doctor as well?”
“I’m a nurse, I worked in an ortho ward for a few months back on earth.”
“I’m Judy Robinson, I’m a doctor, but it’s more like being a field medic right now.” Judy reached out to shake Lena’s hand.
Lena took her hand and shook it, “Lena Francis, colonist nurse.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“You too, it’s a shame it’s under these circumstances.”
The facade cracked for a second, Judy’s brave face falling for a second, “Yeah.”
Lena saw her face fall and tried to change the subject, “Any word on what happened on the Resolute?”
“Some kind of mechanical failure, the Jupiters had to evacuate.”
Mechanical failure? Is that why the maintenance deck was abandoned the other day?
“Any word from the Resolute?”
“None so far but we are trying again in a bit when they come in range again.”
Lena nodded at this information, not all hope lost then.
“Can I take my IV out?” The dressing holding it in place was starting to itch and she could take antibiotics as pills.
“Yeah, I’ll get you some antibiotics and painkillers for you to take for your shoulder.” Judy removed the bandage and took the IV out. A small amount of blood beaded at the pinprick wound in her forearm, and took the piece of gauze offered to press against it.
“Thanks Judy.”
“No problem, I have to go treat another patient but I’ll see you around Lena.”
“See you later Judy.” With that Judy backed out the room to go treat other people.
Still holding the piece of gauze on her arm with the arm pinned to her side, Lena swung her legs off of the bed and sitting up. Blood redistributed around her body from being led down, and she felt woozy and lightheaded when she stood up. She set her feet wide to steady herself and stood for a second to settle her head. The overhead lights in the med bay were bright and it stung behind her eyes when she scanned the room. There were faint voices coming from further into the ship, Lena zeroed in on the voices and made her way towards them.
Her legs were heavy from being passed out so long as she walked along the corridor. She stayed close to the wall as she walked further into the ship in case she needed to grab it for support. The corridors were empty, not surprising for a ship so small.
A sound other than a voice rang out through the hall, followed by rapid footsteps, like they were chasing the noise.
Clucking?
“Debbie, stop running, we’ve got things to be doing!”
Of all things, a chicken ran round the corner. Closely followed by a man in orange, bent half at the waist, trying to catch the chicken. They were both heading towards her, the man hadn’t seen her yet, and she moved from her place against the wall to intercept the path of the fleeing chicken. She bent to scoop up the chicken with her good arm and held it against her chest.
The man skidded to a stop in front of Lena, who was now holding the chicken. She recognised him as soon as he stood up to face her.
“West?”
“Miss Francis!” He looked down the chicken in her arm and noticed the sling around her right shoulder, “Are you alright?” What shook Lena was how genuinely concerned he sounded as he asked.
“I’m fine, had a rough landing.” Rough landing, yeah, understatement much. She could still see the crew’s faces from her nightmares.
“Looks a bit worse than just rough.” He gestured vaguely to her arm, “Is it broken?”
“My shoulder, yeah, the arm, surprisingly not. Are you ok?”
“I’m alright, yeah.” He paused and took a breath, “Me and Tam left together but, she didn’t make it.”
It was blunt, struck Lena right in the chest. She didn’t really know Tam at all. They met once but she was nice. And she could tell her and Don were friends.
“I’m sorry Don.”
“We’ve all lost people in these past few days.” He looked down at the ground, away from the look of sorrow on Lena’s face, “There’s no use in me dwelling on it.”
He spoke with finality, no room to continue talking about it.
The chicken, fed up of being held, clucked quietly in Lena’s arms, startling her slightly, as if she had forgotten it was there.
“Oh, is this your chicken?” She extended her arm, holding the chicken out for Don.
“Yeah, thank you for catching her.” Don took the chicken from Lena, any hint of sadness in his face had gone. “Her name’s Debbie.”
She reached out one finger and pet her lightly on the head, “Well nice to meet you Debbie.”
“I'm glad you're ok.” The sincerity in his voice made her stomach flip, and she drew her hand back into her body.
“Me too.” Her words didn’t register until they left her mouth, “I mean I’m glad you're alive not I’m glad I’m alive, I mean obviously I am but-”
Don cut her off, stopping her rambling, “Thanks, Lena.”
God please say my name again. She almost made a face of surprise when the thought crossed her mind, jesus get a hold of yourself Lena.
“No problem.”
“They’re in range.” Someone said from the cockpit and they all rushed to stand around the radio. Lena tried to move fast with the others, who all rushed, but her legs were weak and her knees almost gave out underneath her. She settled for standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall for support until she felt steady enough.
She stood isolated from the group at the back while they tried to contact the Resolute, her free hand picking at a loose thread on her sling staring at the back of Dons head absent mindedly. He was staring down at the floor, shifting Debbie from one arm to the other as he listened to the radio.
Tensions were high as they listened to the Resolutes’ broadcast, attempting to reply. No luck.
“If only we had some way to amplify the signal.” The woman whose name she now knew to be Marueen said.
“Frequency synthesizers?” Another woman added.
The rest of their conversation flew past Lena’s ears as she lent there against the wall. They seemed to reach a conclusion about what to do as Marueen and who Lena presumed to be her husband, started to make their way out of the ship. Lena pushed off the wall and was going to head back to the med bay to lie down again when someone called out her name behind her.
“Miss Francis!” Don called out from where he was standing near the entrance. Once she stopped, he walked over, Debbie still in his arms.
“I’m gonna go with Maureen and John to help them find what they need, could you watch Debbie while I’m gone?”
“Yeah, of course.” I don’t want to sit on my own for hours.
“Thank you, we shouldn’t be more than a few hours.” Debbie stayed stock still when Don passed her over, but didn’t cluck when placed in Lena’s arms. “See you later, Lena.”
With that, he was gone, jogging down the corridor after throwing a wave over his shoulder to her.
Guess I’m a babysitter now. She wasn’t that bothered. Debbie was cute, and she was doing a favor for Don, and now she wouldn’t be as lonely while sitting around.
“Back to the med bay we go then.” Debbie’s head swung round to look up at her when she spoke and Lena smiled, as if she understood body language, hell, maybe she did.