Serenity "Vicious Natures" Chapter Four- Ghost Town
Title:Serenity "Vicious Natures" Chapter Four- Ghost Town
Author: The Tortured Jack
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Mal&River. Entire Crew and some Secondary Characters
Word Count: 10,216
Author's Note: Well... here is some more. Entire Crew and this is more to expand the story beyond simple sexual liasons between Mal and River.
It was a haunting feeling watching the view out of the window. Mal’s thoughts traveled slowly to his memories of what Persephone once was, before this happened. He couldn’t really wrap his mind around this, if it was in fact true then that meant that the Alliance was on the attack against those that no longer found their rule appropriate. His eyes turned toward Simon who was working on one of the men that seemed to be involved in the fighting. Another that was badly burned finally screamed.
“THE BROWN COATS WERE RIGHT!”
Mal lowered his head down and sighed. He knew Unification Day wouldn’t be the same again, he didn’t know it would spark another war, at best he thought it would spark the Alliance to question their authority over people and how far it extended. He knew people would riot maybe, protest… that sort of thing but he didn’t know there would be a line drawn in the sand like this. His attention drifted through the room, he eyes kept lingering to the corners to glance at River.
River was making herself calm some of the wounded and mostly the children. Mal figured that River would have been an excellent educator for children in another life. This one though the Alliance dealt her the cards she would have to cope with the rest of her life.
“Mal.”
The Comms crackled in his ear.
“Go ahead, Jayne.”
Simon and River’s attention immediately fell on Mal for a second, they didn’t know what to expect.
“We’ve got some good news but like always it’s accompanied by the bad.”
Mal sighed and then noticed Simon and River’s attention was on him squarely at the moment so he walked out of the Medical Wing and stood in the darkened hallway.
“Well give me any kind of news at the moment.”
“Badger left himself a nice little hidden cash cow, don’t worry we got it squared away on the pod already.”
“So what’s the catch?”
“There isn’t a catch, Zoey says on the Pod’s Comms she is hearing Alliance Chatter, seems they have stragglers wandering around getting the wounded and dealing with any trouble.”
Mal punched the wall hard and he shook his head a little biting his lip from the pain his fist felt at the moment.
“Get back to Serenity, immediately, fly low and off the scope. Start her up and we’re off this rock.”
“Kaylee ain’t at the ship yet.”
“Get to the ship now. I’ll get her there pronto.”
Mal turned back and looked into the Medical Wing.
“Simon and River… healing time is done we need to move now and get out of here. The rest of you folk stay here bunker down. Any of you that fought the Alliance I’d make sure there was no way they could identify you as one of the combatants.”
Mal turned and was already walking down the hallway.
“Why do we have to go now, these people need my help.”
“Alliance, Simon.”
Simon stood riveted in the doorway to the Medical Wing. Nothing like the truth to make someone question their profession, Simon grabbed River and told her to get back to Serenity. Simon began to pack up his things and told everyone just to lay low.
Mal was already outside and eyes twisted around to the sky and roads around him. Waiting for some sign of Alliance or if Kaylee and the Operative were about.
“Kaylee!”
“Yes, Captain?”
“You done with helping your tag along?”
“It’s flight worthy; the rest that needs to be done is arming it.”
“He said he was looking for Transport.”
“Well due to the events here, Captain, I think he wants some reassurances he’ll stay flying.”
Mal shook his head. He looked around and to Serenity. He could hear the Pod coming back quickly through the streets.
“Well leave the Soldier to do the Soldier’s work. I need you back here to Serenity, she needs to be ready to go in under five minutes. Alliance is on the move.”
“Are you serious, Captain?”
“Dead Serious.”
There was silence for second.
“I’ll be there in less than a minute.”
“If you want to share that knowledge with him, you can. I don’t care either way.”
Mal turned just as the Pod rushed past him and back into its docking bay on the back of Serenity. Mal turned around to yell for Simon and River but was greeted by the face of River. She just stared at him and then leaned forward a little.
“You hear war drums… pounding in your head now, General.”
“I’m no General; get your brother we need to be gone already.”
Simon was already at the door and he was moving along quickly he was already at the cargo bay door as it was opening. Mal waited a minute looking around at Persephone and then he heard Sheppard’s voice “Just Believe!” which cleared his mind for the moment to allow him to hear a ship coming in hot and fast. He hoped that it was the Operative making his exit. He pushed River towards Serenity.
“Get on board!”
River just looked at him quietly and then Mal turned and swore, the Alliance was already backing in town and they were moving quickly looking for surviving fallen comrades.
Mal turned and started running for the cargo door. He looked behind him and saw the Alliance moving closer to discover them. He wanted them just to see them disembarking. Just then a hail of gunfire flew down on the Alliance transport and soldiers. He looked up and saw a heavily armed gunship cut through the air. He had a sinking feeling it was the Operative yet again buying Mal minutes he needed.
River jumped out and looked at Mal. Mal shoved her lightly and just then he heard the familiar sound of automatic rifle. It tore past him closely and then he shoved River inside Serenity. He slammed the Cargo Bay door closed.
“Get us out of this cemetery now!”
Serenity groaned and was taking off. Mal looked around him, Jayne was standing ready with his rifle but it was lowered, his eyes were down.
Mal looked down and was greeted by the face of Serenity looking up at him from the ground. She lifted her hand up and her fingers were covered in blood.
“Red isn’t my color…”
Her eyes closed and her arm being held up dropped down limp. He looked down and there were two bullets wounds near her stomach and side.
“NO!”
Mal dropped down and scooped her up. He looked at Jayne and somehow Jayne knew what to do.
“DOC!!!”
Mal carried her to the Medical Bay in his arms and before he laid her down on the table for the frantic Simon, he whispered lightly in her ear.
“You’re too pretty to die.”
Simon shoved him out the room and Jayne’s arm held him up from falling before the door was slammed shut and Simon began working on her.
“She’ll be good, Mal.”
Mal looked at Jayne and then past him appeared the rest of his crew. They were starring at him. Kaylee’s eyes were looking through the window she was crying already. Mal shoved past them and was down in the cargo bay, he couldn’t stand it was like his legs weren’t there. He dropped down slowly and sat there; his hand reached out and touched a small drop of blood. It was River’s blood he slipped it between his fingers slowly, finally letting his tongue have a small taste of her.
He laid his head back then and closed his eyes. The familiar face of Sheppard appeared in front of him.
“No Sermons…”
“I don’t want to Sermon you, Malcolm. I told you already. A Special Kind Of Hell.”
Mal shook his head sharply and grinded his teeth together.
“How do you or God know if I love her or not?”
“Do you Malcolm?”
Mal lowered his head again and then Sheppard knelt down beside him and patted his shoulder.
“You’re a good man… and a bad one. I’ve seen many facets of your nature Malcolm Reynolds. If you love her then maybe it isn’t what I think that matters, but what River Tam thinks.”
“Damn right she has a say in this… I don’t know what she wants from me.”
Sheppard just patted his shoulder and rubbed it.
“I think I might…”
Sheppard looked at him.
“That’s all I needed to hear.”
Sheppard stood up and looked down on Mal.
“Aren’t you dead?”
Sheppard laughed a little and then nodded his head slowly answering his question.
“I just am… but you might be soon too if you don’t get that checked out.”
Just then Mal coughed very hard and blood dropped from his mouth and down onto his shirt. He looked up and Sheppard was gone and he was sitting on the Cargo Bay floor bleeding. The pain rushed in from the bullet that ripped through his back and through his lung and out again. He banged his head back against the wall hard.
He cursed in the strange language they all spoke and then he looked around.
“HELP ME!”
Just then Zoe entered the room on a rush and she tripped over his legs a little.
“Mal?”
She looked at his face and saw the blood trickling down the corner of his lips.
“No.”
She knelt down quickly and ripped open his shirt and found the bullet wounds. She put pressure on them hard and then yelled.
“Jayne! Mals been shot!”
Jayne ran in and picked him up hard while Zoe kept pressure on his wound. They carried him through the ship and to the Medical Bay and slammed him down on the next Medical Table available. Simon looked astonished, he was almost down fixing River’s wounds and now the face of Malcolm greeted him as a much more critical patient.
“He’s been shot in the chest. It went through; I think it might have collapsed his lung.”
Simon moved quickly and started working on him. Mal’s eyes drifted back into his skull but then he was snapped back to reality when Simon pushed a breathing tube through the wound to try and fix his lung. He cursed loudly before his head slammed back onto the table. He rolled it to the side and his eyes fixed on the serene peaceful face of River. A tear was slowly sliding down her cheek.
Simon was working and Mal’s eyes closed with that last sight of River and he was swallowed into a sleep.
Simon continued to work and he turned to Zoe.
“River tried to save him… The wound in her side was clean… she tried to stop the shot from hitting Mal.”
“She did?”
“Yes.”
Zoe just looked to the both of them and swallowed hard, she couldn’t handle loosing anyone else.
“Keep them alive, Simon.”
Simon turned and looked at Zoey. Her face said it all though she was stoic in starring at them. He nodded his head.
“I’ll make sure of it, Zoe.”
Zoe turned and left the Medical Bay. Simon looked down on his patients, one his beloved sister, the other the man who took on their burden and carried them through it. He couldn’t lose either of them.
Author: The Tortured Jack
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Mal&River. Entire Crew and some Secondary Characters
Word Count: 10,216
Author's Note: Well... here is some more. Entire Crew and this is more to expand the story beyond simple sexual liasons between Mal and River.
It was a haunting feeling watching the view out of the window. Mal’s thoughts traveled slowly to his memories of what Persephone once was, before this happened. He couldn’t really wrap his mind around this, if it was in fact true then that meant that the Alliance was on the attack against those that no longer found their rule appropriate. His eyes turned toward Simon who was working on one of the men that seemed to be involved in the fighting. Another that was badly burned finally screamed.
“THE BROWN COATS WERE RIGHT!”
Mal lowered his head down and sighed. He knew Unification Day wouldn’t be the same again, he didn’t know it would spark another war, at best he thought it would spark the Alliance to question their authority over people and how far it extended. He knew people would riot maybe, protest… that sort of thing but he didn’t know there would be a line drawn in the sand like this. His attention drifted through the room, he eyes kept lingering to the corners to glance at River.
River was making herself calm some of the wounded and mostly the children. Mal figured that River would have been an excellent educator for children in another life. This one though the Alliance dealt her the cards she would have to cope with the rest of her life.
“Mal.”
The Comms crackled in his ear.
“Go ahead, Jayne.”
Simon and River’s attention immediately fell on Mal for a second, they didn’t know what to expect.
“We’ve got some good news but like always it’s accompanied by the bad.”
Mal sighed and then noticed Simon and River’s attention was on him squarely at the moment so he walked out of the Medical Wing and stood in the darkened hallway.
“Well give me any kind of news at the moment.”
“Badger left himself a nice little hidden cash cow, don’t worry we got it squared away on the pod already.”
“So what’s the catch?”
“There isn’t a catch, Zoey says on the Pod’s Comms she is hearing Alliance Chatter, seems they have stragglers wandering around getting the wounded and dealing with any trouble.”
Mal punched the wall hard and he shook his head a little biting his lip from the pain his fist felt at the moment.
“Get back to Serenity, immediately, fly low and off the scope. Start her up and we’re off this rock.”
“Kaylee ain’t at the ship yet.”
“Get to the ship now. I’ll get her there pronto.”
Mal turned back and looked into the Medical Wing.
“Simon and River… healing time is done we need to move now and get out of here. The rest of you folk stay here bunker down. Any of you that fought the Alliance I’d make sure there was no way they could identify you as one of the combatants.”
Mal turned and was already walking down the hallway.
“Why do we have to go now, these people need my help.”
“Alliance, Simon.”
Simon stood riveted in the doorway to the Medical Wing. Nothing like the truth to make someone question their profession, Simon grabbed River and told her to get back to Serenity. Simon began to pack up his things and told everyone just to lay low.
Mal was already outside and eyes twisted around to the sky and roads around him. Waiting for some sign of Alliance or if Kaylee and the Operative were about.
“Kaylee!”
“Yes, Captain?”
“You done with helping your tag along?”
“It’s flight worthy; the rest that needs to be done is arming it.”
“He said he was looking for Transport.”
“Well due to the events here, Captain, I think he wants some reassurances he’ll stay flying.”
Mal shook his head. He looked around and to Serenity. He could hear the Pod coming back quickly through the streets.
“Well leave the Soldier to do the Soldier’s work. I need you back here to Serenity, she needs to be ready to go in under five minutes. Alliance is on the move.”
“Are you serious, Captain?”
“Dead Serious.”
There was silence for second.
“I’ll be there in less than a minute.”
“If you want to share that knowledge with him, you can. I don’t care either way.”
Mal turned just as the Pod rushed past him and back into its docking bay on the back of Serenity. Mal turned around to yell for Simon and River but was greeted by the face of River. She just stared at him and then leaned forward a little.
“You hear war drums… pounding in your head now, General.”
“I’m no General; get your brother we need to be gone already.”
Simon was already at the door and he was moving along quickly he was already at the cargo bay door as it was opening. Mal waited a minute looking around at Persephone and then he heard Sheppard’s voice “Just Believe!” which cleared his mind for the moment to allow him to hear a ship coming in hot and fast. He hoped that it was the Operative making his exit. He pushed River towards Serenity.
“Get on board!”
River just looked at him quietly and then Mal turned and swore, the Alliance was already backing in town and they were moving quickly looking for surviving fallen comrades.
Mal turned and started running for the cargo door. He looked behind him and saw the Alliance moving closer to discover them. He wanted them just to see them disembarking. Just then a hail of gunfire flew down on the Alliance transport and soldiers. He looked up and saw a heavily armed gunship cut through the air. He had a sinking feeling it was the Operative yet again buying Mal minutes he needed.
River jumped out and looked at Mal. Mal shoved her lightly and just then he heard the familiar sound of automatic rifle. It tore past him closely and then he shoved River inside Serenity. He slammed the Cargo Bay door closed.
“Get us out of this cemetery now!”
Serenity groaned and was taking off. Mal looked around him, Jayne was standing ready with his rifle but it was lowered, his eyes were down.
Mal looked down and was greeted by the face of Serenity looking up at him from the ground. She lifted her hand up and her fingers were covered in blood.
“Red isn’t my color…”
Her eyes closed and her arm being held up dropped down limp. He looked down and there were two bullets wounds near her stomach and side.
“NO!”
Mal dropped down and scooped her up. He looked at Jayne and somehow Jayne knew what to do.
“DOC!!!”
Mal carried her to the Medical Bay in his arms and before he laid her down on the table for the frantic Simon, he whispered lightly in her ear.
“You’re too pretty to die.”
Simon shoved him out the room and Jayne’s arm held him up from falling before the door was slammed shut and Simon began working on her.
“She’ll be good, Mal.”
Mal looked at Jayne and then past him appeared the rest of his crew. They were starring at him. Kaylee’s eyes were looking through the window she was crying already. Mal shoved past them and was down in the cargo bay, he couldn’t stand it was like his legs weren’t there. He dropped down slowly and sat there; his hand reached out and touched a small drop of blood. It was River’s blood he slipped it between his fingers slowly, finally letting his tongue have a small taste of her.
He laid his head back then and closed his eyes. The familiar face of Sheppard appeared in front of him.
“No Sermons…”
“I don’t want to Sermon you, Malcolm. I told you already. A Special Kind Of Hell.”
Mal shook his head sharply and grinded his teeth together.
“How do you or God know if I love her or not?”
“Do you Malcolm?”
Mal lowered his head again and then Sheppard knelt down beside him and patted his shoulder.
“You’re a good man… and a bad one. I’ve seen many facets of your nature Malcolm Reynolds. If you love her then maybe it isn’t what I think that matters, but what River Tam thinks.”
“Damn right she has a say in this… I don’t know what she wants from me.”
Sheppard just patted his shoulder and rubbed it.
“I think I might…”
Sheppard looked at him.
“That’s all I needed to hear.”
Sheppard stood up and looked down on Mal.
“Aren’t you dead?”
Sheppard laughed a little and then nodded his head slowly answering his question.
“I just am… but you might be soon too if you don’t get that checked out.”
Just then Mal coughed very hard and blood dropped from his mouth and down onto his shirt. He looked up and Sheppard was gone and he was sitting on the Cargo Bay floor bleeding. The pain rushed in from the bullet that ripped through his back and through his lung and out again. He banged his head back against the wall hard.
He cursed in the strange language they all spoke and then he looked around.
“HELP ME!”
Just then Zoe entered the room on a rush and she tripped over his legs a little.
“Mal?”
She looked at his face and saw the blood trickling down the corner of his lips.
“No.”
She knelt down quickly and ripped open his shirt and found the bullet wounds. She put pressure on them hard and then yelled.
“Jayne! Mals been shot!”
Jayne ran in and picked him up hard while Zoe kept pressure on his wound. They carried him through the ship and to the Medical Bay and slammed him down on the next Medical Table available. Simon looked astonished, he was almost down fixing River’s wounds and now the face of Malcolm greeted him as a much more critical patient.
“He’s been shot in the chest. It went through; I think it might have collapsed his lung.”
Simon moved quickly and started working on him. Mal’s eyes drifted back into his skull but then he was snapped back to reality when Simon pushed a breathing tube through the wound to try and fix his lung. He cursed loudly before his head slammed back onto the table. He rolled it to the side and his eyes fixed on the serene peaceful face of River. A tear was slowly sliding down her cheek.
Simon was working and Mal’s eyes closed with that last sight of River and he was swallowed into a sleep.
Simon continued to work and he turned to Zoe.
“River tried to save him… The wound in her side was clean… she tried to stop the shot from hitting Mal.”
“She did?”
“Yes.”
Zoe just looked to the both of them and swallowed hard, she couldn’t handle loosing anyone else.
“Keep them alive, Simon.”
Simon turned and looked at Zoey. Her face said it all though she was stoic in starring at them. He nodded his head.
“I’ll make sure of it, Zoe.”
Zoe turned and left the Medical Bay. Simon looked down on his patients, one his beloved sister, the other the man who took on their burden and carried them through it. He couldn’t lose either of them.