The rest of the journey home passed without any significant incident. When they stopped to eat, Jack was allowed to sit up and join in. When they rested for the night, they split the watch between S'haar, Lon'thul, and the other hunter. Neither Jack nor Em'brel were allowed to join in the watch against their protests.

Lon'thul put it simply. "Em'brel, none of us doubt your determination or your self-discipline, but you've just been through a horrible ordeal, and you're just not used to life in the wilds. Quite frankly, you probably couldn't tell the difference between a twig broken by a wandering churlish or an approaching raider. There will be plenty of work for you once we get back to camp, so get some sleep for now. We'll need your help later."

Turning to Jack, he wasn't quite so eloquent. "Jack, stop being an idiot and get the rest you need before S'haar ties you to your bed!"

One glance at S'haar convinced Jack it wasn't an idle threat. Of course, sleep was easier said than done for him. Angela had made him back off the pain meds considerably, and he hurt all over, but eventually, sheer exhaustion won, and he slept.

-

Jack opened his eyes to a sea of faces. They looked at him with expressions ranging from fear to anger to sadness.

Jack walked, then ran through the crowd, desperately searching for something but not knowing what. The faces turned into blurs as he ran faster and faster. He started recognizing them. He'd seen many of these same faces through his scope the night before.

More and more faces passed. Had he actually killed this many? Did this much blood really stain his hands? Eventually, the faces turned into a kaleidoscope of condemnation until one face stood out and everything else faded.

Jack stood before the young raider he'd tried and failed to save. They stood staring at each other for a long time, or maybe it was only an instant. The young man spoke. "You killed me."

It wasn't an accusation or spoken with anger. It was a simple statement of fact.

Jack wanted to deny it anyway. He wanted to shout that he'd tried to save the kid, say it wasn't his hand that dealt the blow. Instead, he clenched his jaw and nodded, eventually whispering a harsh, guttural, "Yes."

They looked at each other a little longer, then the young man spoke again. "I saw what you did...after...after I got here, I mean... I saw you tried..." He fell silent again.

After they looked at each other for a few more moments, Jack spoke this time. "Does it matter?"

The young man thought some more before shrugging. "I don't know..."

Jack felt the tears force their way past his clenched jaw and felt the gasp of air he had to struggle to choke down before he was able to speak again. "I'm sorry."

The young man nodded. "I know."

Looking around, the young man took a deep breath. "So... What now?"

A familiar voice, yet unlike any Jack had ever heard before, spoke up from behind him. "Now, you come and sit with me, rest, and tell me your story."

A kind young mother walked out from behind Jack and met the young man. She took his hand, and his face eased of pain and fear. The two of them walked off into the distance, fading as they went.

Not-S'haar remained beside Jack. He turned to her and spoke. "Will he be ok?"

She looked at him with those star-filled eyes for several moments before speaking. "His story, as you understand it, has come to an end, but so has his pain. You're the one who has to live with his passing."

She looked at Jack for a few moments before tilting her head and asking her final question. "Can you?"

Jack stood there for several more long moments, staring into the spot he'd last seen the kid as he'd faded away. After a long pause, he answered, not looking away. "I'll have to."

When he awoke, Jack's face was covered in tears, and his jaw was clenched tight. S'haar was sitting on a log not far away, her eyes scanning the forest.

Without taking her eyes off her task, she spoke softly. "You saw their faces." It wasn't a question.

Jack nodded before grimacing in chagrin, realizing she was looking in a totally different direction. He answered, his voice oddly ragged. "Yeah."

S'haar nodded, still looking into the trees. "That's good. Remember them. Some may have been monsters, others good men, but they are all worthy of being remembered."

Jack covered his eyes and started to slip back to sleep. Before he could, he spoke one last time, his voice barely a whisper. "Yeah..."

-

The next day passed without incident, and soon enough, the group all but stumbled into the ship they call home. Jack was now being carried by S'haar since the litter wasn't viable in the house's confines. They were met by an unusually somber but still delighted Angela. "About time, guys. The ship has been too quiet for too long! As good a conversationalist as Ger'ron is, this place just hasn't felt the same without you!"

The old guard hobbled over to greet them, obviously more comfortable with his crutches now than before. "I was going to welcome you all back safe and sound, but looking at Jack, I'm worried I might be speaking prematurely."

Jack grinned before flinching in pain while Em'brel tiredly walked over and hugged the older man. S'haar smiled tiredly. "Don't let his appearance fool you. Angela assures me Jack's no longer in any immediate danger."

Angela looked like she had a dozen lectured stored up and was bursting at the seams. She held up an accusatory finger in front of Jack. "So long as we can keep him from running out to go do something heroically suicidal for more than five minutes."

Jack held up his hands in surrender. "Listen, after the last couple of days, I'll be delighted to spend the next year indoors. Longer even!"

Ger'ron looked down at the young woman hugging him. A look of shame crossed his face. "I'm not sure I deserve this greeting. I didn't do much to keep you safe."

Em'brel hugged him all the tighter. "You still fought for me, and I'm not going to forget that."

Lon'thul just kinda stood off to the side, a bit torn between feeling proud at having had a hand in this reunion and being just a little envious that he wasn't more involved with it.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

After he was released from Em'brels entrapment, Ger'ron hobbled over to Jack, giving him a once over, as though wondering how he was still alive. "So, you did it? You marched right up to the camp and saved the girl?"

Jack shook his head. "Nah, I just slowed them down a bit, and S'haar arrived to save me just before I got myself killed. Lon'thul here was the hero of the hour! He literally walked up and through the camp, right under the noses of dozens of raiders!" Jack slapped the hunter on the back as he spoke.

Lon'thul looked somewhat embarrassed. "It was only possible because you pulled most of the camp away, and even then, it was mostly my father that got us in and out so cleanly..."

Em'brel wasn't going to let himself talk his way out of his credit. "All I know is that when I was alone in the camp, fearing that everyone I know was getting themselves killed trying to rescue me, it was your voice that cut through my fear and made me feel like just maybe everything might be alright again!"

With that, she hugged Lon'thul as well and even gave him a kiss on the cheek before she pulled away. This left the hunter with a look of astonishment and confusion, not knowing how to respond.

Angela was thrilled to see her family back in one place and was practically bursting at the seams with unbridled joy, but she knew she still had a job to do and visibly calmed herself...after a little happy dance. "As much as I wish this moment could last forever, you've all undergone immense stresses, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I want you all to report to the med-bay for a full battery of scans. Jack first, for obvious reasons. I suspect he'll be in there a while, so I'll let you know when I'm ready for you each in turn. For now, get some food, get cleaned up, and get some rest."

-

After depositing Jack where Angela could begin her scans, S'haar took a seat in the med-bay as though afraid to let him out of her sight, lest he go and get himself into more trouble somehow.

Em'brel went and got some food put together with Ger'ron's help and delivered it to S'haar and Jack. Angela even let Jack get a couple of mouthfuls between scans.

Once Jack's scans were finally done, Angela floated in front of him with a rolled parchment in her hands, from which she started reading. "Well, you jacked up your leg good this time, pun intended. I can heal the bone and most of the muscle, but the nerves are fried. If we had access to a more complete medical facility, we might be able to repair it, or at least get you a really snazzy prosthetic, but for now, the safest thing to do is probably to leave it in place. You'll have a bit of a limp, and I'd recommend using a cane if only to prevent falling over if and when your nerves occasionally flair up."

Unrolling the scroll a little further, Angela continued. "You've also got a few cracked ribs, a fractured wrist, a damaged tendon, and a concussion, all of which can be healed in a few days, though they may leave you with a few more aches and pains than you had before."

Angela lowered the scroll a little and looked apologetically over it. "I'm afraid to say, I can't save your eye. I can heal the orb, so it won't look as horrific, but you won't be able to see out of it unless we install an implant that is, again, beyond my capacity to safely install in my med-bay."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I kind of figured. Still, it could be worse. Anything else?"

Angela held on to the top of the unrolled scroll, then let the rest of it drop to the ground, where it continued to unroll along the floor until it bumped into the wall on the other side of the med-bay. "Yes, you have more contusions, abrasions, and lacerations than I've ever heard of. I'm reasonably sure you broke a record or three! Also, you seem to have one puncture wound that looks suspiciously like it came from a modern knife. Care to elaborate?"

Jack tilted his head to the side. "We can talk about that one later, but why do I feel as though you're still holding something back?" At this, S'haar and Em'brel both sat a little straiter, paying even closer attention than before.

Angela dropped her scroll, letting it vanish as it fell to the floor. She took a "breath" and sighed it out. "Well, there is one more issue. Your heart. With all the exhaustion, chemicals, and stresses you put it through, your heart has been permanently damaged. I can go over the specifics later, but what matters now is the fact that with enough strain, stress, or bad luck, it could give out on you again, at any time."

S'haar and Em'brel both shot to their feet, but Angela held up a hand to keep them at bay. "Jack is far from the first person to have this happen to him, and he won't be the last. We've developed various technologies and techniques to help someone in this condition live a mostly normal life. Since a replacement or prosthetic is again beyond the scope of this med-bay, we'll be using something called a pacemaker."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "And you can install one in this med-bay?"

Angela nodded. "As important as it is, the heart is much simpler than your nervous system. While there is some risk with the installation, it's still far better than letting you run around with a bad heart. It's even minimally invasive. This will barely count as heart surgery!"

Looking over a clipboard that had materialized, Angela continued. "Out of everything you need done, that's actually where I would like to start. Once the pacemaker is in place, all the other procedures you'll need will be of minimal risk to your safety."

Jack sighed, then nodded. "Alright, let's get to it."

-

Both Em'brel and S'haar refused to undergo their own scans or get any sleep until they were sure Jack's surgery went well, so Angela forced them to get cleaned and suited up and separated them from the procedure with a transparent plastic sheet to prevent any possibility of contamination.

Both women watched, unable to look away, as Angela lowered her spider-like set of appendages she often used in the med bay that they'd become more and more used to in the previous months. Em'brel sat forward in her chair, fascinated by what she was watching. Meanwhile, S'haar sat with her back pressed up against the backrest and her claws digging into the seat cushions at her side, seeming as though she wanted to crawl away but was unwilling to do so.

Against their expectations, rather than cut open the skin near Jack's heart like they'd expected, Angela cut a slit near his shoulder, opening up a vein into which she inserted a small wire. He'd been thoroughly numbed and couldn't feel much other than some slight tugging and pulling sensations but was otherwise very much awake as she worked.

What followed seemed to the watching women to be a series of wires being pushed in and pulled out of Jack's vein. Em'brel watched with rapt attention as Angela pulled up a live x-ray so the girl could see what was going on inside of Jack. The vein was used to guide two electrodes attached to leads, which were then essentially screwed into the heart, securing them into place. The other end of the leads were secured into Jack's chest muscle. She then inserted what she described as a small computer into a pocket she created under his shoulder's muscle.

Em'brel was giddy with excitement at how cool she felt the whole thing was, while S'haar looked as though she regretted her earlier meal. The younger girl spoke up as Angela started to suture the site of the surgery closed. "That's so cool! Is that what it was like when you gave me my implant?"

At the thought that a similar procedure had been performed on her, S'haar looked a little weaker than she had moments before.

Having reappeared in her avatar state, Angela nodded. "Yes, actually. Both procedures were done with minimal invasiveness to the patient, in this case, Jack, to reduce the risk of complications. Unfortunately, something like an ocular implant that could restore Jack's vision would require far more exposure, dramatically increasing the chance of infections or other issues, which is why I recommend merely accepting the loss of vision in one eye, at least for now."

Jack was putting on a loose-fitting robe to cover up the surgical site, which was now covered with a bandage. "That's all well and good, but I'm famished and could use a proper meal. I'd like to take a bit and grab a bite before we jump into the next part of me that needs healing if that's alright with you.

S'haar looked grateful for the reprieve as she nodded in agreement. Angela crossed her arms and sighed. "I guess we got the life-threatening one out of the way, so maybe letting you get a bit of your strength back before moving on is a good idea. How's your leg feeling anyway?"

Jack chuckled before flinching again. "Oh, it hurts plenty, just like everything else. I suspect this will be a long few days, so I figured it would be better to pace myself."

Angela nodded sagely before opening one eye to stare in Jack's direction. "You're not wrong. The healing process can be rough on your body, and you've got a lot of healing to do, but try not to overeat. The last thing we need is more complications caused by something so easily avoidable."

S'haar seemed all too happy to help Jack out and into the living area. For her part, Em'brel hopped up and onto the examination table. "Guess it's my turn next!"