"Do you think they know what's happening?" Jemma wondered.
She was laying under the blanket next to Leo who was tinkering with a small radio, trying unsuccessfully to find a frequency which wasn't blocked by the infuriating pulse that scrambled all their attempts at signaling for help.
He placed the radio onto his legs which were stretched in front of him, parallel to how Jemma lay and looked down on her pale face. She seemed so weak and tired, but then he'd heard they all did near the end. Before they fell asleep and woke up as far from sleepy as you could get.
"You mean the cruise company?" He asked because earlier she'd wanted to know if the cows knew they weren't supposed to have rainbow colored polka dots.
"The people who turn rabid," she told him quietly because she hadn't been able to do much more than whisper for the past hour or so. "I'm just... trying to figure out what it's going to feel like."
"Jemma..." He said gently.
"Do you think it hurts?" She went on. "My head already really hurts now, maybe that's why they scream."
Even when left alone, most of the passengers who had become rabid would start screaming every once and a while, or rocking back and forth, or trying to claw at things through the ropes. Milo had had a seizure half an hour ago.
"Do you want anything for the headache?" He offered because he didn't really want to think about any of that happening to her.
"Could you use the cloth again?" She requested and he nodded before placing the radio on the floor and rising to retrieve the wash cloth, pouring water onto it from one of the bottles Skye had brought.
Carefully he moved her hair from her face and pressed the cool fabric against her burning forehead. She was at 103 now, most of the people who'd fallen asleep had been at 104.
She smiled at him before closing her eyes, and he guessed the cold must feel nice on her hot skin.
"Thank you," she mumbled.
He tried to cool down her face and her neck, dabbing the cloth all around, but it soaked up the heat like a sponge and soon it was too warm to be doing any good so he wrung it out over a small bowl, splashed more water onto it and tried again.
She kept her eyes closed as he did this but the small smile on her face told him she was awake.
After it warmed a second time he placed it in the bowl and helped her sit up so she could drink some water.
It was hard for her to swallow and she choked a little at first, taking a pause to cough and breath before drinking again. She must have been pretty thirsty to put so much of her dwindling energy into the attempt, he noticed her lips were chapped.
She screwed on the cap and handed the bottle back to him, resting her head on his uninjured shoulder, still coughing, as he placed it on the floor next to the bed.
"That feels better," she wheezed, letting out a small, feeble laugh. "Good thing I have you taking care of me."
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head. "I'll do whatever helps," he told her. "Just stay awake."
"Rule number one, no sleeping for me," she chanted overly cheerful because she'd slowly been losing it. "Or I'll wake up as a zombie, Oh, look, I made a rhyme," she giggled.
"Yeah, you did," he agreed sadly and her face fell as she came back to reality.
"I can't," she despaired sitting up a little so she could see his face clearly. "Leo I can't stay awake but I'm scared, I don't want to go crazy... I don't want to..."
She was shaking and he felt his heart break seeing her so frightened and helpless. All he could do was keep her comfortable while they waited for the inevitable.
"It's OK," he soothed, smoothing her hair. "I'll keep you safe and we'll get you better. I won't give up until you're better. You're always going to be my Jemma. My partner, my best friend, my love. Nothing is ever going to change that and I'm never going to stop fighting for you. So don't be afraid OK."
"Alright," she whispered.
She gazed at him trustingly, lovingly before her eyes clouded again and she leaned back against his shoulder as she began singing about the Calvin-Benson cycle, mashing it up with glycolysis.
"RuBisCo in and pyruvate out, after some chemistry, and that's how we make ATP without using light," she sang. "Well we would if we were plants, but- we're not plants are we?" She checked, taking a break from singing for a second.
"No, we aren't plants," he murmured, feeling his eyes grow hot and puling a few strands of hair from her face, in case she'd forgotten she how to move them, because she kept blowing on them.
"No photosynthesis for us then," she chirped. "Thanks for getting those out of my way, I forgot I had hands. Oh, oh no don't be sad." She fussed trying to wipe away the tears that he hadn't been able to hold back with clumsy fingers. "We can do lot's of fun things still! We don't need to photosynthesize," she made a face like it was some kid on the playground who didn't want to play with them, "we can just eat sugar. Yum! Do you want me to sing about sweets?"
"If you want to," he told her, feeling her slipping away. At least the singing would help her stay awake.
"Chocolate bars are wonderful, but not so healthy," she resumed singing.
He kissed her head again and tried to smile for her as she attempted to make him feel better about not being a plant.
Skye knocked and he rubbed his eyes before calling her in.
"I thought you might need more water," she explained holding up a bottle. "But then I remembered you had a whole box and umm... I thought I'd bring one anyway just in case, I dunno... We're worried about running out so I actually shouldn't have... I really just wanted to see how you were doing Simmons." She finished distraught.
"Hello Skye," Jemma greeted happily. "Skye, just Skye. Do you want a last name? Do you want my last name? I really won't need it anymore once I become a zombie. Haha, zombie they're more like human Old Yellers. Am I going to be a Labrador Retriever?"
"No you're not sweetheart," Leo informed her.
"How long as she been like this?" Skye gasped, her horror mirroring his own.
"She's been coming in and out of it for an hour," he replied, returning his eyes to Jemma. "Hey, hey stay awake," he instructed, shaking her gently as her eyes closed and her head began to drop."
"Goodnight Leo," she said, barely whispering. "Don't stay up too late."
"No!" He exclaimed, shaking her again more roughly. "Jemma don't, don't fall asleep."
Her eyes remained closed and she became limp in his arms.
"No," demanded. "No, no, no, Jemma wake up. You have to wake up,"
He patted the side of her face, panicking. "Wake up," he pleaded loudly, desperately.
"Fitz you don't want to be holding her when she wakes up," Skye reminded him miserably, trying to pull his arms from around her. "We have to tie her up."
"No," he objected, pulling her closer. "No, she isn't really sleeping, she's... No."
"Fitz we don't have a lot of time," she asserted.
He knew she was right. They had to stop her from hurting anyone or herself. But it was happening too fast, he hadn't even been able to say goodbye.
At Skye's insistence, he placed her down carefully and let his friend tie her up to the bed post before leading him out. They scooped up the water and the radio and set them down safely in the hall before they heard the agonizing sound of her screaming.
He'd never heard her sound like that before and he found himself wondering, as she had earlier, if she was in pain.
They watched as she struggled against the ropes before giving up to stare blankly in their direction. She didn't seem to recognize them however their presence enraged her, causing her to begin screaming and snapping all over again.
He felt lightheaded, as if none of this were real, as if he were floating away.
Skye placed a hand on his shoulder and he turned his head to see her face was set in determination.
"We should close the door," she told him and he shook his head because the idea of her being alone like that was terrible.
"She'll calm down if she can't see us," she explained firmly and he realized she'd done this before, with someone else's loved ones. Only this time it was someone she loved as well and her eyes were bright and her voice trembled as she spoke.
So he let her close the door and they held each other, crying, until Jemma stopped screaming.
"She'll be OK," Skye promised and he forced himself to believe her. She sniffed and wiped her eyes as she pulled away. "I'm going to get back to looking for whoever did this." She announced. "Coulson thinks they're still on the boat somewhere."
"They would have to be in order to mess with the power supply like that," he agreed. "What can I do?"
He couldn't sit playing with the useless radio anymore. He had to do something useful or he was sure he would explode. He had to feel like he was taking steps to get her better.
"Come with me," Skye said, touching his arm and beginning to walk away.
Leo looked at the door once more and hesitated, his heart heavy at leaving her alone even if she didn't know who he was anymore.
"There's someone patrolling the halls," she assured him, following his gaze. "They'll check in on her."
He took a breath and placed his hand against the door. "It's going to be OK Jemma," he called in, hoping some part of her still understood his words. "We're going to fix this, I promise."
He received another scream in response, like a knife to the stomach, but he swallowed his pain and followed Skye away.
/-/-/
Most of the passengers were gathered together in the dining hall, most of the healthy ones anyway. In total, 23 people were infected and 19 had turned.
Leo felt as if his world had fallen to pieces, pieces he desperately needed to put back together. He fidgeted impatiently waiting for the meeting to begin, picking at a scab on his thumb anxiously before Skye put her hand over it and told him to stop, he was going to make it bleed.
He was sitting between her and Triplett, Oscar close by looking grim because his son had also turned rabid.
"So what do we know about how this spreads?" Was the first thing Coulson asked, turning to John the doctor.
"Well we know it isn't too contagious," he informed everyone, nodding to Leo who's hand went automatically to the bite on his neck which still bothered him. "Not from person to person anyway but... Now this is going to seem like a strange question but who here has an infected friend or family member who took the audio tour?"
The hands of over half the people present shot up, Leo's included after a quick glance at Skye who nodded.
"And who here has an infected loved one who didn't take the audio tour?" He inquired.
One man raised his hand but looked uncertain. "I dunno," he admitted. "My Mom might have gone while I was at the bar... I didn't ask..." He shrugged unhappily. "I don't remember."
"So that's a maybe?" John guessed and he nodded.
"So you think that they picked it up from the equipment? The MP3 player?" Coulson wondered.
"No, it's not the MP3 player," Skye called out. "I used it too and I'm fine but Simmons..." she frowned. "She didn't have headphones..."
"So she bought those damn expensive ones?" A woman finished. "That's what April did and now she's... sick."
"Who here used the headphones from the tour stand?" May demanded and not a single person rose their hand.
"They could be the source of the infection," John suggested. "We should get rid of them, throw them into the ocean."
Jemma had gotten sick because of a stupid pair of headphones? A pair of headphones! He struggled to remain calm, however the next comment broke him.
"Maybe we should get rid of the infected people," a woman suggested mutinously.
His head whipped around, searching for the heartless coward who had dared shoot out such an unthinkable suggestion.
"There's no way in hell we're doing that!" He shouted but his voice was drowned out by a wave of angry objections.
"I'm only saying we need to think of the safety of the people still healthy," she defended. "I mean look at what only one can do," she pointed at Leo who wanted to hit her. "That could have killed him, what's going to happen with 23? Can we even cure them? What if they're gone anyway? What if their brains are... I'm not being very sensitive here but... all fried up?"
"That doesn't even make sense you idiot!" Leo raged along with another tide of furious protests. All fried up? Gone? No, no they weren't gone. That didn't make any sense. The world could only make sense if they could get her back, if she could smile and tell silly jokes and bubble on about everything and anything again. He refused to exist in any other reality.
He noticed only a few of the other passengers seemed to agree with her, even those without sick loved ones like the older couple from the engine room voiced their objections to her ludicrous statements.
"We don't know that they're gone," John asserted firmly. "We have every reason to believe we can reverse this."
"And no one is getting rid of anyone," Coulson added with finality. Damn right they weren't. Anyone who tried to hurt Jemma, or any of the others, would have to do so over Leo's dead body. "We are going to keep them tied up, continue to try to send a communication and throw those headphones into the ocean. Only the headphones. We do not harm innocent people, ever."
'You tell them Coulson,' Leo cheered in his head.
Most of the passengers seemed in agreement with him, however a small group still appeared uncomfortable and he made a note in his head to watch out for them.
'That still leaves us with finding who did this,' Leo thought, however he suspected that his leader wasn't going to let on they were searching for them in a crowd they might be hiding in.
A man burst into the room suddenly, his arm covered in blood and his eyes wide with terror. "They're out!" He yelled. "Someone is letting them out."
It took a few seconds for the group to understand what he meant but between the expression on his face and the bloody bite on his arm they soon got the message. The infected passengers were loose on the ship.
In the chaos of screaming and panic that followed Leo realized with a horrible pang that also included Jemma.
/-/-/
Thanks for all the likes, reviews, reads and follows! You guys are fangtastic. Haha... Shoulda used that last time.
The song Jemma sings is mixed up. Pyruvate comes out if glycolysis which makes ATP and RuBisCo and carbon dioxide go into the Calvin-Benson cycle which is part of photosynthesis of which the end product is glucose. ATP is actually used up in the Calvin-Benson cycle. Poor Simmons would probably know the whole thing normally (without cheating using Google).
The Fringe reference is the cows with rainbow polka dots. In the story Walter tells Ella in Brown Betty his cow Gene has rainbow colored polka dots.