Ratta Tat Tat 2/5
Jan. 16th, 2012 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonchildficTitle: Ratta Tat Tat 2/5
Author: Magpie
Rating: pg-13
Genre: no Pairing
Verse: Firefly PreBDM
Summary: With a scream of "ratta tat tat" River ripped open an old wound, warning of a danger that has stalked Zoe through the years, a nightmare that formed the friendship that carried her and Mal through Serenity Valley and a hell that is finally catching up.
Notes: In this chapter we’ll see the start of something I’ll be doing throughout the story. A series of flashbacks will continue in the story in a kind of reverse chronological order, starting with more recent events and building back to the actual important event of mystery. Just so you don’t get thrown off every flashback (think of italics as a typeable version of that wonderful lighting in Out of Gas) happens sometime chronologically before the one that comes before it chapters wise.
Chapter one
Mal was the first to reach her, though the others were quick to follow. It was only a week or so after the Early invasion and everyone was still a little jumpy about things that go bump in the night. Mal knelt besides River, checking her vitals to make sure she wasn’t injured and trying to lie her comfortably to wait until her brother got there. It was thirty seconds after the scream that the hatch to Zoe and Wash’s bunk opened and Zoe climbed out, gun in hand to check for intruders. Before Mal could even start answering Jayne was in the hall and Simon was dashing over , Book only a few strides behind.
“What happened?” Simon asked, the others making room for him.
“There someone here?” Jayne asked, looking around with a half spooked air.
Zoe climbed out into the hallway fully to let Wash come up. “I’ll check the ship Cap.” She said, hands still steady on her gun.
“Take Jayne, check on the others.” Mal said with a nod to her as they left before turning to look at Simon. They were in deep space but they’d already seen how little that could mean. “She came wanderin down the hall, didn’t even notice her until she started muttering. I turned to look and she was standing with her hands pressed against the wall screaming.”
Simon checked River’s hands, checking for any injury or other reason she might of done so. “What did she say? It woke me up but I couldn’t tell for sure.”
“Ratta tat tat.” Mal said looking at the wall then back to River, an old memory surfacing in his mind. “Like a machine gun.”
Simon finished checking over River as far as he could in the hallway. “She seems unharmed. I don’t understand why… it’s not normal, even for her.”
Mal stood slowly. He’d have to find a discrete way to check, no need to drag out old ghosts left better lie, but he had an idea why. “Think she’s a reader, mayhap something out here in the black set her off. “
Simon stiffened, it had become more of less accepted that River had some abilities not normal to the rest of them. Still the idea his sister was a psychic wasn’t one he was comfortable with yet. None of them were overly ready to deal with that particular oddity.
“I’m going to get her down to the Medward, check just to be sure.” Simon said after a pause, lifting her up in his arms.
“-all clear-” Zoe said over the intercom from the cargo bay. “-No intruders-” Mal nodded to Wash and book, who began to disperse to their respective bunks.
“When she wakes up see if you can find out what it was.” Mal said. “Machine guns are nasty to tangle with.” Simon nodded, though he seemed a tad bit distracted. Mal let it slide and watched him walk back down the hall.
With a sigh, they never seemed to have a smooth day out in the black anymore with those two around, Mal headed back to the bridge. Taking the com down he gave one last assurance and order. “Alls clear people, seems River got a notion that something needed to go bump in the night. We’ll be downing on Four Rivers in about seven hours so I suggest you all grab some sleep while you can. We made a pretty bit off Early’s ship and such but ain’t no time to relax quite yet.” He put down the com unit and sat down.
He listened as the silence returned, only disturbed by first Jayne then Zoe opening and closing the hatches to return to their bunks. He waited a few minutes, wondering if his knowledge of his first mate’s habits would prove true enough to make his guess she’d be showing up on the bridge before long correct. The sound of her exiting her bunk caused his lips to twitch into a slight grin.
Her approach was silent, probably would of startled him if he hadn’t known she was coming. She stood a few steps behind him, studying the black and not saying anything. The same old comfort of just sharing space giving them both solid ground after the most recent shake.
“It’s thirteen years now Zoe, long time to still be dreamin’” He said once the silence had stretched long enough. “It’s getting mighty dangerous out here in the black, no time for you to hesitate.” “I wasn’t planning on it sir. It’s just dreams, I’ve had plenty. Don’t mean nothin’” Same old fears, but same old Zoe. She sounded as confident as after the ghost ship and as sound as the days before Serenity Valley. “Just checking in Sir, thought River might have raised a question.”
He turned slowly, meeting her eyes for half a moment before turning back to the console. Everything that needed saying said. He didn’t hear her leave, though he heard her return to her bunk. He looked out into the black. All was as it should be. “Atta girl” he muttered, laying that old ghost back to sleep with the words of the memory it trudged up.
Zoe was standing watch on the bridge. Mal didn’t even bother telling her it wasn’t her shift. He knew she didn’t need to sleep right now, didn’t want to at least. After the last day even Jayne probably wasn’t sleeping to easily but he knew she wasn’t doing to well despite what she showed or didn’t.
He was standing in the doorway, had been for awhile, just watching the black and his first mate and everything. He was glad to be here, a hairsbreadth from loosing the ship, the crew, even the crazy little girl and prissy doctor. He wasn’t too happy about the cargo they’d taken from the ghost ship being confiscated but if that was all the alliance wanted from him today he’d happily give it back to be on his merry way.
“You were right sir.” Zoe said without looking back.
“Am ‘bout most things, what tonight?” He said, though he thought he knew what she meant. Hoped he did in any case. If he wasn’t things might be getting a tad more interesting than he wanted to think about right now.
“No survivors sir.” Well, least it wasn’t a guaranteed no. “No survivors.”
“Nightmares back?” He asked coming to stand next to her.
“First one in three years. Least first one like that.” She said, tone not showing a sign of anything. She didn’t even look toward him.
“Lots of reasons for it to be back. Don’t mean a thing.” Mal said, providing the same reassurance he had over the years. No matter the changes in or between them he hadn’t changed on this one thing. He knew something, she needed reminding sometimes. “Don’t go changing or thinkin on it now. Been a long way from where that come from and I don’t have room for ghosts on this ship. Plenty of weird enough with the crazy girl on board.”
“Wasn’t planning on it sir.” She finally turned to look at him. “But don’t risk the others like you did today. If it’s a mercy kill make it fast and make it clean.”
“thirteen years a long time Zoe. Leave the ghosts. I reckon any of that left long ago.”
“Probably right sir but still.”
“Yeah Zoe.” He said with a sigh, softly thudding his fist against the console as he turned to leave. “I’ll shoot, can‘t promise it‘ll be clean though. Case you haven’t noticed not much on this ship is.” He deflected what he could of the needless drama of what he said with a joke, weak as it was.
“Thank you sir.”
He turned back. “Zoe, it’s been thirteen years, it’s just dreams. Don’t mean nothin’”
“I know sir.” She said, that tiny hint of uncertainty gone. “Just layin’ plans in case of bad weather. Gotta keep an eye on the sky for danger.”
He paused, a small smile crossing his lips as the tension drained away. “You have the ship.” He said, passing on his duties to her while he went to try to snatch some rest. Her calm “yes sir” followed him down the stairs. “Atta girl.”
Simon had dozed off on the spare bed in the med ward for a few hours when River stirred. “ratta tat tat” She muttered. “Ariel’s bridge is falling down falling down falling down…” She whispered in a singsong voice. “ratta tat tat and you all fall down.”
“River!” Simon said, turning sharply towards her, crossing to her side quickly. “River?” He said again, stroking her hair gently, wondering if he should try to wake her up. He remembered Mal‘s order. River‘s powers a big question mark in his head. “What is it? What do you see?”
River calmed half a moment. “The trees are ending. Nothing but fields but the place feels the trees. Why aren’t there trees? The grounds red. Nothing lives in red dirt. Nothing.” Her breathing hitched and she gave a little sob. “Dead, all dead. Ratta tat tat they all fall down. Trees and barbed wire. Ratta tat tat all dead.”
Simon put a finger to her lips and tried to sooth her. “Shh, no mei mei. Don’t look anymore.” He kicked himself mentally. This was no situation to be trying that kind of things. He should have waited, gorram what the captain asked. He felt a need to know what she could do, maybe it would help him help her, but asking her to tell him about something that’d made her pass out was idiotic. “Don’t worry.”
“Why are the tree’s ending?” She asked again, calm slowly returning as he soothed her. Her eyes opened and she focused outside the door. “Why is the ground red where the trees stop?”
Simon looked up to see Zoe in the doorway. “Captain asked me to check in, see if she’s come around. We’re reaching Four-Rivers in about two hours.”
“Captain thinks they’ll be trouble?” Simon asked, a hand still on River’s hair as he noticed the sounds of activity in the ship beyond the med bay.
She raised an eyebrow at him, “These past few weeks? I’m pretty sure he’s glad the ship ain’t fallin apart.”
Simon nodded, wincing a little in agreement.
“You know why the trees stopped.” River said, looking at Zoe still.
Simon gave Zoe a bit of an apologetic look. “Ever since she woke up she’s been stuck on this.”
“Might be we’re passing so close to Grove’s End” Zoe said, stepping in and continuing when she saw the confusion on Simon’s face. “That massacre never made it back to the core huh? A little rebellion, ’bout a year or two before the independents got their start, ‘bout fourteen years ago at the start though it was more than a year of fighting. After the alliance sent in enough reinforcements to crush the rebellion they took all the POWs, lined them up and killed them all, 700 or so. A couple officers were court marshaled, a few units discharged but nothing more than that.” She shrugged it off and turned to leave. “Passing the planet as we speak.”
“Didn’t cry. They always cry. Ducks lined up cry and the ratta tat lullaby puts them to sleep.” River said and Zoe almost tripped over the threshold of the door. Simon belatedly stepped forward when the woman had already recovered, face as calm as ever but he could of sworn he’d seen something break that cool at River’s words. “Ratta tat tat didn‘t put you to sleep.”
“Gotta check in with Kaylee, see if she has the Mule back to running yet.” Zoe said, almost making a uncharacteristic beeline away somehow keeping her cool through it.
“Ratta tat tat” River whispered. “One lived, and Mal, the One Who Lived is very unhappy.”
It was a nice day on Four Rivers, a little moon more lush than border planets tended to be with several prospering settlements dotting the landscape. It was summer, but the air was cool and dry when they downed at Ci-Lee-Shang trading post on the banks of the Bei river. A tiny friendly settlement off the beaten path it was a perfect drop off point half because most crooks and alliance alike didn’t even know it existed and saw no obvious reason to go there.
It was a place Serenity rarely touched down at but it was always a nice little respite when they did. With Wash left to mind the ship Mal told the crew to go out but stay out of trouble while he Zoe and Jayne went about finding their contact and picking up the goods.
With River’s inquiry to her brother if she was supposed to clone herself three times while here to become the planets earth something drowned out by the mules somewhat damaged engine coming to life Mal let out a slow sigh of relief as they pulled out into morning sun. Ci-Lee-Shang was a good, safe, place. A nice bit of reassurance after the chaos and ghosts of the past months. He wasn’t going to get comfy, and there would be no dirt kissing on his watch, but it was safe none-the-less. One of the few places he’d been to more than once without getting shot at. A browncoat hometown that had stayed under the raydar and welcomed them safely home to rest no matter the years that went by.
“This is it.” Mal said, hopping off the mule that had taken them the last fifteen miles into town. Two weeks of debriefing until they were released by the alliance, a month of transport hopping to the quadrant, a week of shuttle skipping to get to Four Rivers and then four days of walking and hitch hiking and they were finally, mercifully here. It was the same as he remembered it, sleepy streets with well kept buildings. A better off place than most you’d find on the border planets. Friendly folk who’d shown their platoon hospitality three years ago still seemed as welcoming as ever.
“We’ll stay here a while, rest up. Figure out whats next.” He said to Zoe, still following him all the way to the edge of the galaxy to the only place they could think of they might be safe for more than a minute. Maybe even safe enough to heal a little. They’d left Serenity Valley nearly two months ago but that time had been spent in detainment or a desperate dash to get as far away, to this safe place, as quickly as they could. There’d been little time or energy for talk, much less the thinking and feeling needed to recover.
“For awhile sir.” She said softly. “I think I could do for a rest.” A sigh escaped her lips followed by a quick hasty breath and she looked away like she’d seen a ghost.
She probably had, in a way, Mal knew what she‘d be seeing. He opened his mouth, old reassurances habitually coming up but not out. He wasn’t the same man who’d kept her nightmares and fears at bay with some nice words, fiery promises, and dedicated friendship. That felt alien to him now, and he knew she wasn’t the same woman who’d been helped along by it.
Her dreams were back, and he could feel her slipping away into self imposed isolation and hesitation with every move. She’d been made to stare into that same darkness again at Serenity Valley, and he knew she wasn’t sure she’d made it away in tact this time. He wasn’t quite sure yet either, though he’d never say it aloud. He wasn’t the man he was going in but he still knew there were things you just didn’t say to a person standing that close to the ledge.
It was one reason he’d brought them here, why he’d of brought them here even if there was another place to go. She was going back to the way she was right when they really met, over that volcano as their sergeant had said. They’d stumbled here into town and rested and she’d pulled herself together and away from that place. Maybe she could do it again. He hoped so.
She had made him swear, and much as he was shaken he wasn’t going to back out on that oath now. Not to Zoe.
And if he had to follow through now the next bullet would probably find it’s new home in his own skull. He was keeping Zoe alive and fighting and sane right now, like in the war. It was all he had left. She was keeping it together best she could because she knew that. Staying alive for each other had carried them out here, now it was time to rest.
A cool breeze whistled through the town as a woman saw them walking in. She cried out a greeting before calling to the floors above. In moments a group of townspeople were giving them a hero’s welcome. Didn’t seem to matter that they’d lost the war, the people promised them they’d be treated like they’d won it by themselves.
A hot brew in his hand and their first real meal in front of them for months, with a single warm blanket wrapped around both their shoulders, they leaned against each other and cried without shame.
It was over.
They rode through town in silence, a short trip taking them to the main trading house where they were to meet their contact. Later Mal wouldn’t know for sure when he started to think something may have been off. The door guard missing was the first clue, then the closed sign with the door cracked open, the quiet front hall had set his instincts alert. Six stalls with goods left unmanned, a food stall with it’s food blackened and burnt.
They climbed to the second floor, up the only staircase they could go, guns drawn by silent understanding.
The second floor had the same empty hall and unmanned stalls.
Up another narrow stair to the smaller hall with cramped shops that sold higher end goods and they walked into a scene more from a horror holo-vid than life. All the vendors and staff plus a few shoppers and their contact in piles near the far wall, some lying where they’d fallen in a line. Blood splatters along the wall sent a chill through Mal’s spine as he recognized the look left by a firing squad.
For a long moment not one of them moved. They’d seen plenty between the three of them but walking in on this in a “safe” place, a haven, unnerved the hell out of them.
Mal recovered first, taking over. “Jayne check the stores, make sure there’s no one here to ambush us. Zoe, get in touch with Wash and get everyone back on Serenity. This ain’t more than hours old. Whoever done it is probably hanging around.” Jayne moved quickly but Zoe didn’t make a move, her eyes fixed on something on the floor between her and the bodies. “Zoe!”
Zoe moved, stepping forward to reach what she’d been staring at and lifting up a riffle. She held it up, looking back toward the captain, a look of horror in her eyes and just beginning to touch her face. It took him a minute to realize the riffle she held was familiar, like the one Zoe carried he guessed, though the grips would be… his thought trailed off when he saw the grip, slightly modified to be an imitation to the riffle Zoe’d used in the war. A modification Zoe had made on the riffle she now carried after her old favorite had been destroyed on a job.
The riffle that had been left on the ground was a twin to the one Zoe carried.
Mal walked toward Zoe very slowly, the air of a frightened animal around her making him wary, there was no telling how she’d react. “Zoe.” He said softly, trying to absorb everything and figure out what this all meant. There was no way this was a coincidence. He stepped in a puddle of blood that had splattered this far into the room and stopped. His foot stuck, like he’d stepped into fake blood rather than actual…”
“Check the bodies.” He said, looking Zoe in the eyes, willing her to act. Things were bad but there wasn‘t time for her to check out on them and this was not the situation where him going captain to get her to move would be good in the long run. “Jayne finish your check and contact Wash, get the doctor and the local medical crews. Zoe we’re checking bodies.” He hurried to the nearest pile hoping and dreading in the same breath.
No bullet holes. A series of sleeping darts that had knocked them all out.” He tried to move them to lie comfortably, recognizing every face as they went. He felt sick, this was a safe place, the safest place he knew.
Zoe had finally moved, helping him to lift the bodies off the pile to lie them out. By the time they moved to the second pile Jayne had joined them. “Docs on the way.” He said. “Whats going on Capt? There something just downright wrong here.”
“I don’t know.” Mal answered, though a feeling of dread unidentified so far was on the rise.
They finished the next pile and moved toward the last. Mal’s foot squished in something wet and slippery and he looked down. No fake blood here. He turned, locating the source as their contact. No fatal bullet wound, or at least no wound that should have been fatal, he amended noticing the hole in his pants that looked like someone had taken a particular dislike to him and shot off a part that made Mal mentally wince.
“That’s just disturbin.” Jayne said, noticing the only corpse of the lot as well. He bent down, checking the man’s vitals. “he’s dead. Probably bled dry.”
Mal turned, rubbing his forehead to just adjust to the scenario now when he saw Zoe looking as shell shocked as he’d ever seen her. “Zoe?”
She turned to look at him, that old personal hell they’d both thought was thirteen years buried there in her eyes. “I know who did this.”
Author: Magpie
Rating: pg-13
Genre: no Pairing
Verse: Firefly PreBDM
Summary: With a scream of "ratta tat tat" River ripped open an old wound, warning of a danger that has stalked Zoe through the years, a nightmare that formed the friendship that carried her and Mal through Serenity Valley and a hell that is finally catching up.
Notes: In this chapter we’ll see the start of something I’ll be doing throughout the story. A series of flashbacks will continue in the story in a kind of reverse chronological order, starting with more recent events and building back to the actual important event of mystery. Just so you don’t get thrown off every flashback (think of italics as a typeable version of that wonderful lighting in Out of Gas) happens sometime chronologically before the one that comes before it chapters wise.
Chapter one
Mal was the first to reach her, though the others were quick to follow. It was only a week or so after the Early invasion and everyone was still a little jumpy about things that go bump in the night. Mal knelt besides River, checking her vitals to make sure she wasn’t injured and trying to lie her comfortably to wait until her brother got there. It was thirty seconds after the scream that the hatch to Zoe and Wash’s bunk opened and Zoe climbed out, gun in hand to check for intruders. Before Mal could even start answering Jayne was in the hall and Simon was dashing over , Book only a few strides behind.
“What happened?” Simon asked, the others making room for him.
“There someone here?” Jayne asked, looking around with a half spooked air.
Zoe climbed out into the hallway fully to let Wash come up. “I’ll check the ship Cap.” She said, hands still steady on her gun.
“Take Jayne, check on the others.” Mal said with a nod to her as they left before turning to look at Simon. They were in deep space but they’d already seen how little that could mean. “She came wanderin down the hall, didn’t even notice her until she started muttering. I turned to look and she was standing with her hands pressed against the wall screaming.”
Simon checked River’s hands, checking for any injury or other reason she might of done so. “What did she say? It woke me up but I couldn’t tell for sure.”
“Ratta tat tat.” Mal said looking at the wall then back to River, an old memory surfacing in his mind. “Like a machine gun.”
Simon finished checking over River as far as he could in the hallway. “She seems unharmed. I don’t understand why… it’s not normal, even for her.”
Mal stood slowly. He’d have to find a discrete way to check, no need to drag out old ghosts left better lie, but he had an idea why. “Think she’s a reader, mayhap something out here in the black set her off. “
Simon stiffened, it had become more of less accepted that River had some abilities not normal to the rest of them. Still the idea his sister was a psychic wasn’t one he was comfortable with yet. None of them were overly ready to deal with that particular oddity.
“I’m going to get her down to the Medward, check just to be sure.” Simon said after a pause, lifting her up in his arms.
“-all clear-” Zoe said over the intercom from the cargo bay. “-No intruders-” Mal nodded to Wash and book, who began to disperse to their respective bunks.
“When she wakes up see if you can find out what it was.” Mal said. “Machine guns are nasty to tangle with.” Simon nodded, though he seemed a tad bit distracted. Mal let it slide and watched him walk back down the hall.
With a sigh, they never seemed to have a smooth day out in the black anymore with those two around, Mal headed back to the bridge. Taking the com down he gave one last assurance and order. “Alls clear people, seems River got a notion that something needed to go bump in the night. We’ll be downing on Four Rivers in about seven hours so I suggest you all grab some sleep while you can. We made a pretty bit off Early’s ship and such but ain’t no time to relax quite yet.” He put down the com unit and sat down.
He listened as the silence returned, only disturbed by first Jayne then Zoe opening and closing the hatches to return to their bunks. He waited a few minutes, wondering if his knowledge of his first mate’s habits would prove true enough to make his guess she’d be showing up on the bridge before long correct. The sound of her exiting her bunk caused his lips to twitch into a slight grin.
Her approach was silent, probably would of startled him if he hadn’t known she was coming. She stood a few steps behind him, studying the black and not saying anything. The same old comfort of just sharing space giving them both solid ground after the most recent shake.
“It’s thirteen years now Zoe, long time to still be dreamin’” He said once the silence had stretched long enough. “It’s getting mighty dangerous out here in the black, no time for you to hesitate.” “I wasn’t planning on it sir. It’s just dreams, I’ve had plenty. Don’t mean nothin’” Same old fears, but same old Zoe. She sounded as confident as after the ghost ship and as sound as the days before Serenity Valley. “Just checking in Sir, thought River might have raised a question.”
He turned slowly, meeting her eyes for half a moment before turning back to the console. Everything that needed saying said. He didn’t hear her leave, though he heard her return to her bunk. He looked out into the black. All was as it should be. “Atta girl” he muttered, laying that old ghost back to sleep with the words of the memory it trudged up.
Zoe was standing watch on the bridge. Mal didn’t even bother telling her it wasn’t her shift. He knew she didn’t need to sleep right now, didn’t want to at least. After the last day even Jayne probably wasn’t sleeping to easily but he knew she wasn’t doing to well despite what she showed or didn’t.
He was standing in the doorway, had been for awhile, just watching the black and his first mate and everything. He was glad to be here, a hairsbreadth from loosing the ship, the crew, even the crazy little girl and prissy doctor. He wasn’t too happy about the cargo they’d taken from the ghost ship being confiscated but if that was all the alliance wanted from him today he’d happily give it back to be on his merry way.
“You were right sir.” Zoe said without looking back.
“Am ‘bout most things, what tonight?” He said, though he thought he knew what she meant. Hoped he did in any case. If he wasn’t things might be getting a tad more interesting than he wanted to think about right now.
“No survivors sir.” Well, least it wasn’t a guaranteed no. “No survivors.”
“Nightmares back?” He asked coming to stand next to her.
“First one in three years. Least first one like that.” She said, tone not showing a sign of anything. She didn’t even look toward him.
“Lots of reasons for it to be back. Don’t mean a thing.” Mal said, providing the same reassurance he had over the years. No matter the changes in or between them he hadn’t changed on this one thing. He knew something, she needed reminding sometimes. “Don’t go changing or thinkin on it now. Been a long way from where that come from and I don’t have room for ghosts on this ship. Plenty of weird enough with the crazy girl on board.”
“Wasn’t planning on it sir.” She finally turned to look at him. “But don’t risk the others like you did today. If it’s a mercy kill make it fast and make it clean.”
“thirteen years a long time Zoe. Leave the ghosts. I reckon any of that left long ago.”
“Probably right sir but still.”
“Yeah Zoe.” He said with a sigh, softly thudding his fist against the console as he turned to leave. “I’ll shoot, can‘t promise it‘ll be clean though. Case you haven’t noticed not much on this ship is.” He deflected what he could of the needless drama of what he said with a joke, weak as it was.
“Thank you sir.”
He turned back. “Zoe, it’s been thirteen years, it’s just dreams. Don’t mean nothin’”
“I know sir.” She said, that tiny hint of uncertainty gone. “Just layin’ plans in case of bad weather. Gotta keep an eye on the sky for danger.”
He paused, a small smile crossing his lips as the tension drained away. “You have the ship.” He said, passing on his duties to her while he went to try to snatch some rest. Her calm “yes sir” followed him down the stairs. “Atta girl.”
Simon had dozed off on the spare bed in the med ward for a few hours when River stirred. “ratta tat tat” She muttered. “Ariel’s bridge is falling down falling down falling down…” She whispered in a singsong voice. “ratta tat tat and you all fall down.”
“River!” Simon said, turning sharply towards her, crossing to her side quickly. “River?” He said again, stroking her hair gently, wondering if he should try to wake her up. He remembered Mal‘s order. River‘s powers a big question mark in his head. “What is it? What do you see?”
River calmed half a moment. “The trees are ending. Nothing but fields but the place feels the trees. Why aren’t there trees? The grounds red. Nothing lives in red dirt. Nothing.” Her breathing hitched and she gave a little sob. “Dead, all dead. Ratta tat tat they all fall down. Trees and barbed wire. Ratta tat tat all dead.”
Simon put a finger to her lips and tried to sooth her. “Shh, no mei mei. Don’t look anymore.” He kicked himself mentally. This was no situation to be trying that kind of things. He should have waited, gorram what the captain asked. He felt a need to know what she could do, maybe it would help him help her, but asking her to tell him about something that’d made her pass out was idiotic. “Don’t worry.”
“Why are the tree’s ending?” She asked again, calm slowly returning as he soothed her. Her eyes opened and she focused outside the door. “Why is the ground red where the trees stop?”
Simon looked up to see Zoe in the doorway. “Captain asked me to check in, see if she’s come around. We’re reaching Four-Rivers in about two hours.”
“Captain thinks they’ll be trouble?” Simon asked, a hand still on River’s hair as he noticed the sounds of activity in the ship beyond the med bay.
She raised an eyebrow at him, “These past few weeks? I’m pretty sure he’s glad the ship ain’t fallin apart.”
Simon nodded, wincing a little in agreement.
“You know why the trees stopped.” River said, looking at Zoe still.
Simon gave Zoe a bit of an apologetic look. “Ever since she woke up she’s been stuck on this.”
“Might be we’re passing so close to Grove’s End” Zoe said, stepping in and continuing when she saw the confusion on Simon’s face. “That massacre never made it back to the core huh? A little rebellion, ’bout a year or two before the independents got their start, ‘bout fourteen years ago at the start though it was more than a year of fighting. After the alliance sent in enough reinforcements to crush the rebellion they took all the POWs, lined them up and killed them all, 700 or so. A couple officers were court marshaled, a few units discharged but nothing more than that.” She shrugged it off and turned to leave. “Passing the planet as we speak.”
“Didn’t cry. They always cry. Ducks lined up cry and the ratta tat lullaby puts them to sleep.” River said and Zoe almost tripped over the threshold of the door. Simon belatedly stepped forward when the woman had already recovered, face as calm as ever but he could of sworn he’d seen something break that cool at River’s words. “Ratta tat tat didn‘t put you to sleep.”
“Gotta check in with Kaylee, see if she has the Mule back to running yet.” Zoe said, almost making a uncharacteristic beeline away somehow keeping her cool through it.
“Ratta tat tat” River whispered. “One lived, and Mal, the One Who Lived is very unhappy.”
It was a nice day on Four Rivers, a little moon more lush than border planets tended to be with several prospering settlements dotting the landscape. It was summer, but the air was cool and dry when they downed at Ci-Lee-Shang trading post on the banks of the Bei river. A tiny friendly settlement off the beaten path it was a perfect drop off point half because most crooks and alliance alike didn’t even know it existed and saw no obvious reason to go there.
It was a place Serenity rarely touched down at but it was always a nice little respite when they did. With Wash left to mind the ship Mal told the crew to go out but stay out of trouble while he Zoe and Jayne went about finding their contact and picking up the goods.
With River’s inquiry to her brother if she was supposed to clone herself three times while here to become the planets earth something drowned out by the mules somewhat damaged engine coming to life Mal let out a slow sigh of relief as they pulled out into morning sun. Ci-Lee-Shang was a good, safe, place. A nice bit of reassurance after the chaos and ghosts of the past months. He wasn’t going to get comfy, and there would be no dirt kissing on his watch, but it was safe none-the-less. One of the few places he’d been to more than once without getting shot at. A browncoat hometown that had stayed under the raydar and welcomed them safely home to rest no matter the years that went by.
“This is it.” Mal said, hopping off the mule that had taken them the last fifteen miles into town. Two weeks of debriefing until they were released by the alliance, a month of transport hopping to the quadrant, a week of shuttle skipping to get to Four Rivers and then four days of walking and hitch hiking and they were finally, mercifully here. It was the same as he remembered it, sleepy streets with well kept buildings. A better off place than most you’d find on the border planets. Friendly folk who’d shown their platoon hospitality three years ago still seemed as welcoming as ever.
“We’ll stay here a while, rest up. Figure out whats next.” He said to Zoe, still following him all the way to the edge of the galaxy to the only place they could think of they might be safe for more than a minute. Maybe even safe enough to heal a little. They’d left Serenity Valley nearly two months ago but that time had been spent in detainment or a desperate dash to get as far away, to this safe place, as quickly as they could. There’d been little time or energy for talk, much less the thinking and feeling needed to recover.
“For awhile sir.” She said softly. “I think I could do for a rest.” A sigh escaped her lips followed by a quick hasty breath and she looked away like she’d seen a ghost.
She probably had, in a way, Mal knew what she‘d be seeing. He opened his mouth, old reassurances habitually coming up but not out. He wasn’t the same man who’d kept her nightmares and fears at bay with some nice words, fiery promises, and dedicated friendship. That felt alien to him now, and he knew she wasn’t the same woman who’d been helped along by it.
Her dreams were back, and he could feel her slipping away into self imposed isolation and hesitation with every move. She’d been made to stare into that same darkness again at Serenity Valley, and he knew she wasn’t sure she’d made it away in tact this time. He wasn’t quite sure yet either, though he’d never say it aloud. He wasn’t the man he was going in but he still knew there were things you just didn’t say to a person standing that close to the ledge.
It was one reason he’d brought them here, why he’d of brought them here even if there was another place to go. She was going back to the way she was right when they really met, over that volcano as their sergeant had said. They’d stumbled here into town and rested and she’d pulled herself together and away from that place. Maybe she could do it again. He hoped so.
She had made him swear, and much as he was shaken he wasn’t going to back out on that oath now. Not to Zoe.
And if he had to follow through now the next bullet would probably find it’s new home in his own skull. He was keeping Zoe alive and fighting and sane right now, like in the war. It was all he had left. She was keeping it together best she could because she knew that. Staying alive for each other had carried them out here, now it was time to rest.
A cool breeze whistled through the town as a woman saw them walking in. She cried out a greeting before calling to the floors above. In moments a group of townspeople were giving them a hero’s welcome. Didn’t seem to matter that they’d lost the war, the people promised them they’d be treated like they’d won it by themselves.
A hot brew in his hand and their first real meal in front of them for months, with a single warm blanket wrapped around both their shoulders, they leaned against each other and cried without shame.
It was over.
They rode through town in silence, a short trip taking them to the main trading house where they were to meet their contact. Later Mal wouldn’t know for sure when he started to think something may have been off. The door guard missing was the first clue, then the closed sign with the door cracked open, the quiet front hall had set his instincts alert. Six stalls with goods left unmanned, a food stall with it’s food blackened and burnt.
They climbed to the second floor, up the only staircase they could go, guns drawn by silent understanding.
The second floor had the same empty hall and unmanned stalls.
Up another narrow stair to the smaller hall with cramped shops that sold higher end goods and they walked into a scene more from a horror holo-vid than life. All the vendors and staff plus a few shoppers and their contact in piles near the far wall, some lying where they’d fallen in a line. Blood splatters along the wall sent a chill through Mal’s spine as he recognized the look left by a firing squad.
For a long moment not one of them moved. They’d seen plenty between the three of them but walking in on this in a “safe” place, a haven, unnerved the hell out of them.
Mal recovered first, taking over. “Jayne check the stores, make sure there’s no one here to ambush us. Zoe, get in touch with Wash and get everyone back on Serenity. This ain’t more than hours old. Whoever done it is probably hanging around.” Jayne moved quickly but Zoe didn’t make a move, her eyes fixed on something on the floor between her and the bodies. “Zoe!”
Zoe moved, stepping forward to reach what she’d been staring at and lifting up a riffle. She held it up, looking back toward the captain, a look of horror in her eyes and just beginning to touch her face. It took him a minute to realize the riffle she held was familiar, like the one Zoe carried he guessed, though the grips would be… his thought trailed off when he saw the grip, slightly modified to be an imitation to the riffle Zoe’d used in the war. A modification Zoe had made on the riffle she now carried after her old favorite had been destroyed on a job.
The riffle that had been left on the ground was a twin to the one Zoe carried.
Mal walked toward Zoe very slowly, the air of a frightened animal around her making him wary, there was no telling how she’d react. “Zoe.” He said softly, trying to absorb everything and figure out what this all meant. There was no way this was a coincidence. He stepped in a puddle of blood that had splattered this far into the room and stopped. His foot stuck, like he’d stepped into fake blood rather than actual…”
“Check the bodies.” He said, looking Zoe in the eyes, willing her to act. Things were bad but there wasn‘t time for her to check out on them and this was not the situation where him going captain to get her to move would be good in the long run. “Jayne finish your check and contact Wash, get the doctor and the local medical crews. Zoe we’re checking bodies.” He hurried to the nearest pile hoping and dreading in the same breath.
No bullet holes. A series of sleeping darts that had knocked them all out.” He tried to move them to lie comfortably, recognizing every face as they went. He felt sick, this was a safe place, the safest place he knew.
Zoe had finally moved, helping him to lift the bodies off the pile to lie them out. By the time they moved to the second pile Jayne had joined them. “Docs on the way.” He said. “Whats going on Capt? There something just downright wrong here.”
“I don’t know.” Mal answered, though a feeling of dread unidentified so far was on the rise.
They finished the next pile and moved toward the last. Mal’s foot squished in something wet and slippery and he looked down. No fake blood here. He turned, locating the source as their contact. No fatal bullet wound, or at least no wound that should have been fatal, he amended noticing the hole in his pants that looked like someone had taken a particular dislike to him and shot off a part that made Mal mentally wince.
“That’s just disturbin.” Jayne said, noticing the only corpse of the lot as well. He bent down, checking the man’s vitals. “he’s dead. Probably bled dry.”
Mal turned, rubbing his forehead to just adjust to the scenario now when he saw Zoe looking as shell shocked as he’d ever seen her. “Zoe?”
She turned to look at him, that old personal hell they’d both thought was thirteen years buried there in her eyes. “I know who did this.”
