Chapter 8
When daylight came, Murphy felt a zap go up through his leg that also woke Alloy and Trey.
"Rise and shine, dickheads. Hope you enjoyed your wake up call! Now to bring you in to check and see if its safe the rest of us."
The ship opened, and Alloy and Trey, already looking worse for wear, stumbled in. Murphy easily made himself look vaguely ill as well, although he knew he would already be immune.
Pike Junior strode into the room, cocky as ever.
"Well, looks like the good news is that its safe for us. The bad news, of course, is that you are still alive."
Murphy's eyes felt like they would explode he was so angry.
"Where is Emori?"
"Sorry, Murphy, but you don't get to demand answers around here. Trust me, Emori is… well, she is being well taken care of."
Unsurprisingly, and certainly within Murphy's character, Murphy lunged forward. This time, however, he had the rag. He grabbed Sykes collar and pulled him in, punching him with the rag in the jaw. It was a soft hit as he was held back being chained to Alloy and Trey, but that's all he needed.
Sykes smiled.
"Well, Murphy, you won't be surprised to learn that you'll have 25 electric lashes waiting for you. But, its good to see you are in such good spirits."
Sykes cronies all chuckled. But they were excited to see Earth to see what was left of their home planet, and breath fresh air, and they weren't following protocols and didn't have any of the proper face gear on. Murphy knew this was his chance.
"The bad news is that I didn't have these chains off to make this a fair fight. Too bad you and your men are too chicken shit to take a fight like a man."
Sykes growled.
Murphy knew he had to do better. "It's too bad all of you losers don't have any families or lives to go back to. Although, I am surprised that any of you had anybody who cared about you in the first place."
Any mention of their families always got a rise out of these guys. Sure enough, they grabbed him and started punching him. Murphy kept the rag and his hands over his face, where they punched him again and again until Sykes made a small cough.
"Don't waste your time. Let's get them checked out by the nurse and we can get moving."
Murphy had never seen a nurse in all his time here. After the guards walked away, he saw them motion somebody to get going. In walked Harper, or what was left of her. Her hair had been shaved off and she was clearly exhausted.
She rushed up to Murphy with some basic medical equipment to measure radiation. "What did you see?" she begged.
Murphy had a million questions. It had been 18 months since he had seen her.
"How is Emori?"
"She is fine, Murphy. The baby…."
"What? What?"
"I am sorry Murphy. The baby didn't make it. I delivered her myself, and she was too small."
Murphy crumpled. He had expected as much, considering all the torture that they had gone through, but the grief was still so fresh for him. He suddenly looked at Harper and wistfully said…. "a girl?".
"Yes, Murphy. I am so sorry." Harper wrapped her arms around him as he made sharp ragged breaths and he tried to wipe away his tears.
Murphy looked up at her, and looked down at her stomach. "What about…?"
Harper, knowing how hard this would be, made a curt nod. "She made it. Her name is Hannah. After Monty's mother. I was almost to full term and they kept the torture to emotional, instead of physical…. She trailed off. "What they did to Monty…. I… and making me watch…. well, he is still hurting."
Murphy's grief and anxiety for Emori was so great. He could barely think, let along congratulate Harper and Monty. Once again, life kept throwing him shitty curveballs.
All of a sudden, despite desperately needed catch up, Alloy puked up blood.
"What the…?" Harper said.
Murphy glanced over, realizing there was work to be done in order for them to survive and to be reunited with Emory.
"Shit. Harper. A grounder girl came up to me, with this rag, just like what they did when the grounder played biological warfare on us at the dropship. She put it over their mouths. We should be immune as we already had it."
Harper's eyes lit up. "Give me the rag. I can spread the virus more quickly. Do you think it's the bunker who is going to help us?"
Murphy shook his head. "No…. Harper, she was 12. It doesn't look anybody is alive out there, it was so quiet. But…" he trailed off.
"What?"
"Well… the little girl. She showed me Clarke's watch. And I thought I saw a shadow of somebody who looked, possibly like Clarke…. In the woods."
"Murphy, that's not possible. I mean…"
"It is possible. She had nightblood. She could have made it back to the bunker. This little girl, its like she knew me, she knew the story, she gave me this look like I would know exactly what she was doing."
"No. We can't hope for that. It's just too far fetched. You can't tell Bellamy that. It would… well it would not end well if she wasn't alive."
"We are wasting time here. Tell them that we have the all clear and that Alloy and Trey are suffering from gravity sickness but it has already started to pass. Then spread this disease everywhere. Finally that virus is going to help us."
Harper nodded, put the equipment away, and glanced back.
"What do we do after we've spread the disease?"
"We've got Bellamy to figure that out. Just tell Emori that I love her and will see her soon."
With one final nod, Harper turned, and rushed from the room.
