Warning! - This is the second part of 'Orphan Train'. This follows the train of events that lead to the boys becoming orphans, so it's a much darker story. Although I've tried to avoid being graphic, please note that there are warnings for violence, child abuse, implied rape and deaths of secondary characters (including children). Please PM me if you think I've missed any warnings. Also, as I said before, if you read to the end of this one, it isn't a happy ending.

Thanks again to Penski for her hard work beta-reading this and for all her great suggestions!

Chapter 26 - The Strangling Angel

Hannibal had been noticing for a few days that his throat was sore and it was becoming worse. He desperately hoped that he wasn't going to become sick.

He couldn't believe his luck when David had wanted to adopt him, but he knew that Elizabeth had only taken him to please her husband. She'd had doubts about Han from the beginning. He knew people thought he was too scrawny and didn't look strong enough to be able to work hard. Then she'd been told that he was a thief and always getting into fights; he couldn't believe that they still brought him home after that. The last thing he wanted was to get sick and prove to them once and for all that he was more trouble than he was worth.

He swallowed, trying not to notice how painful it was.

He wasn't going to get sick. He just had to push past it.

That night, he couldn't sleep because of the cold. He was freezing. His throat was agonizing and he considered getting up to drink some water, but the thought of getting out of those blankets was unimaginable. He huddled down further and fell into a restless doze.

David was surprised when he got up the next morning and found Hannibal still in bed. Hannibal was usually an early riser and had fallen into the habit of making coffee for them. He smiled at the thought. Han probably made the worst coffee David had ever tasted, but they would sit outside on the step in the early morning air and share a cup while they chatted. They both loved these early morning talks.

He wondered if he should let the boy sleep. Han always worked so hard and did so much. He tried much harder than Tom, for whom everything was easy. Maybe a morning sleeping in would be good for him.

David watched as the boy turned under the blankets. He didn't seem to be sleeping very peacefully.

Moving over to the sofa that was still Hannibal's bed, he pulled the sheets from the boy's face.

Han was covered in a sheen of sweat, damp hair stuck against his forehead. His eyes opened when David moved the sheets, but it seemed to take him a few minutes to work out where he was.

"Hannibal?" David put his hand to the boy's forehead and felt the heat there.

"Pa? 'S it time to get up?" Hannibal's voice was hoarse.

He tried to move, but David pushed him back down. "You're running a fever, stay where you are. I'm going to get Elizabeth."

Hannibal looked worried and tried to get up again. "I'm okay, please!"

"No, don't move." He saw the worry on the boy's face and guessed the reason for it. "It's alright, don't worry. It's not your fault you're sick. Now just wait here."

He tucked the sheets back around Hannibal and quickly went to get his wife.

A few minutes later, she was shaking him awake. "Han?"

"Hm?"

"Han, you need to tell us what's wrong. How are you feeling?"

He knew he couldn't hide it any longer. "Throat hurts. A lot. Head aches. Cold."

"Anything else?"

He shook his head. "'M sorry."

She shook her head, but he didn't notice. She felt his forehead and then put her hands to his throat. "His throat's swollen and you're right, he has a fever. Tom said he had a sore throat last night; it might be something going around. I'm going to check on him."

She was back in a few moments, biting her lip. "He has a sore throat and feels a little warm. I think you should go for the doctor."

A little while later, Doctor Masterson finished examining Hannibal. He didn't look happy. "Can I see the other boy?"

Tom wasn't as sick as Hannibal, but he was clearly coming down with the same thing. Elizabeth hugged him protectively while the doctor stood back and asked him questions. Once he was finished, they went back into the kitchen.

The doctor turned to them. "What about the two of you? Either of you have a sore throat? Chills?"

They both shook their heads, exchanging worried glances. "Doctor, what is it?"

"I'm afraid it's diphtheria."

Elizabeth gasped and put her hands to her mouth. "No!"

"I'm going to have to quarantine the house. The fever shouldn't get much higher - it's generally pretty low with diphtheria - but it may last for a few days. Try to give them plenty to eat and drink. Give 'em broth or warm milk if they can't swallow anything else. Keep your strength up as well. I'm hoping you won't catch this, but if you do, you'll need everything you've got to fight it." He reached into his bag. "Here's a bottle of iodine. Add five or six drops to a little water and try to coat the infected part of the throat at least twice a day. It should help."

Elizabeth frowned. "The infected part?"

Masterson gestured to Han, no longer willing to touch the boy now that he had identified the disease. "If you look in his mouth, you'll see the diphtheritic exudation quite clearly."

David sat beside Han, who was listening worriedly. "Han, could you open your mouth for me, please?"

Han did so and David examined him. Elizabeth bent down to look and nodded as she saw the foreign white film at the back of his throat.

David kissed his son on the top of the head and laid him back down. "Get some rest, I'll be back in a few minutes." He moved back to the kitchen and lowered his voice. "Will they be alright?"

"Mr. Heyes, this is a serious illness. I'm afraid I can make no guarantees."

They went white and Elizabeth reached for a chair. She looked back at the door to the room holding her new, beautiful son. "How did they get this?"

The doctor pursed his lips. He didn't like dealing with infectious diseases and this was one of the worst he could imagine. He saw that his time for the next few weeks was going to be completely taken up with this illness, and parents tending to their children fussed and bothered him far more than he thought was necessary. A lot of the people he treated were going to die - the death rate for diphtheria was high - and people tended not to want to pay once the patient was dead. They felt it was a failure on the doctor's behalf.

In addition, he was a man of firm religious beliefs, and the two cases he had seen so far were low people from parents with dubious moral values. The first case had been Peggy, the eleven-year-old illegitimate daughter of Sarah, one of the saloon girls, and now this boy - almost certainly a child born out of the holy state of wedlock. He couldn't help but think that it was divine retribution for the sins of their parents, but they in turn would be responsible for the deaths of many decent, god-fearing folks in the town.

"It's easily spread, I'm afraid, but I have only one other case so far - Peggy, the daughter of one of the girls at Hattie's. I've had to close the saloon and place them under quarantine as well."

They nodded. In deference to public opinion, Sarah kept Peggy away from the other children, educating her at home, and the two of them avoided public events. Sarah and Peggy could live quietly as long as the town was allowed to forget about them; but it was a small town and they'd all seen Peggy around and heard the gossip. She looked as though she was about Leah's age.

Elizabeth was puzzled. "But how could the boys have caught it from her?"

The doctor pursed his lips in disapproval. "Given his background - and the fact that he's the first one to get sick, besides Peggy herself - I'm guessing young Hannibal must have been fooling around with her and caught it. He probably gave it to Tom."

Elizabeth drew in a breath, shocked. Her eyes flew to David.

He shook his head. "We don't know where he got it. It could have been from anywhere."

The words sounded weak even to him, but he wasn't going to let Han be blamed for this until they knew what had happened.

Masterson was unconvinced. "Have they been going to school and spending time with any other children over the past week?"

"They've been at school. But it's been a busy week for us, so they've been going straight there and back."

Elizabeth interrupted her husband. "Tom walks home with the Curry children, Bill Evans, and the rest of his friends."

"Well then, I guess I'd best start doing my rounds and checking up on everyone they've been in contact with. Who does Han hang around with? Besides Tom?"

"He and Jed Curry play together mostly. But Jed's been away with his mother for the past week, visiting Francis Curry."

"Well, that's a mercy at least. Looks like I've got a busy day ahead of me. I'll come back and check on you tomorrow."

Elizabeth looked after him for a long moment; then she went back to check on her beautiful boy.

After seeing the doctor out, David went back to Hannibal. The boy had dozed off and he shook him gently awake. "Han."

Han turned towards him with worried eyes.

"You're pretty sick, I'm afraid. But you're going to fight hard and get better for me, aren't you?"

David knew the odds weren't good. Diphtheria was a nasty illness, killing about half of the people it infected. And Hannibal was already so thin…

"Han, do you know a girl named Peggy?" He had to ask.

The boy shook his head. "No."

"Are you sure? She's the daughter of one of the ladies at the saloon. She's close to your age, maybe a year or two older."

"I'm sure. I don't know any girls. The only girl that ever speaks to me is Leah. Why?"

David smiled at him and ran his fingers through the boy's hair. "It's not important." He did find he had another question, though. "Why don't the girls talk to you?"

Any other time, he was pretty sure Han wouldn't have answered, but right now the fever seemed to have stripped away some of his defenses.

"Bill's gang don't like me, so the other kids stay away. They don't want to get on his bad side. Well, everyone 'cept Jed, and he's too little for Bill to pick on."

David's heart contracted at his words. Bill Evans was fourteen and built like a barrel. David could imagine that no-one at the school wanted to cross him. What bothered him most was the fact that Bill's close group of friends included Tom, Adam and Joseph. Were they really happy for him to treat Han that way? David's respect for Tom dropped another notch.

But that was a problem for another time. Right now, he just wanted Hannibal to stay alive long enough to be able to go back to school.

And he still needed to find out how Han had caught it.