Lost and Found

Chapter One – Reavers in Newhall

They came in packs. Small, individual ships; all swarming on our defenceless homes. What was I to do? We had close to no weapons, we lived on a border planet so far from those that were central, and had no connections to anywhere else. The creatures that killed my home were poor excuses for humans, and that is insulting every human being that's ever lived.

With fury beyond measures, even to their own mutilated faces, the creatures tore down our villages, did unspeakably horrid things to my people, and pulled me down by the collar and my ankles to make me watch. I couldn't help them; I'm far too young and could barely kill more than one at a time. My mother cried for mercy, my sisters screamed in fear. They called after me, the man of the house, hoping I would scare away the monsters. When the monsters had finished what they came for, they left me there on a stack of bodies. Well, if you classify those bodies.

So what was I to do when another pack was coming my way? Hide, and hope for mercy? That was doubtful. In a small village like mine, where was I to hide from them? The only thing I could do to stay alive, was to be one of them. It's the only choice I've got if I don't want the fate of my friends and family. Like the last pack I'd seen, I mutilated my face, tore off many of my clothing, spilt blood all over me, and then waited for the next monsters to come and save me from the hell that waited for me with such open doors.

'You killed him!' shrieked Inara.

'It was just a li'l bullet in the head... he deserved it anyway.'

'A bullet in the head which killed him!'

'That was just a side-effct.' Then, underneath his breath, he muttered, 'More of an added bonus, actually.'

'You are so heartless.'

'You'll know when I get heartless, 'Nara. When you see Reavers next, I'll show you heartless. That man was Alliance and you knew it,' roared Mal in reply. Inara had one hand on her hip and the other pointing an accusing finger at Mal's chest. Wearing a deep crimson pool of silk material that flowed down her slender body, she looked as beautiful as always.

'You had no evidence against him. You can't just go around shooting innocent people who get on your chwen nerves, Mal,' retorted Inara, still shrieking with rage. 'Now we're on the run from the law, petty thieves as usual, and all because you decided some guy was Alliance because he lived in the central planets. What is wrong with you?'

'I thought we agreed against the "petty thieves" when we pulled that little stunt with Saffron, your kissing buddy if you don't remember.'

'That ri shao gou shi bing gun doesn't even work, and that joo bah jeh is not my kissing buddy, Mal!' Inara, still full of anger, stormed off to the back of her shuttle where she lit some incense to calm herself down.

'Maybe you're right, but that don't mean the rest of the whole gorram 'verse ain't your kissing buddies,' Mal retorted, also walking off in a huff to the bridge where he found Wash playing with a few dinosaurs. 'Found any contact yet?' Mal asked roughly, trying to steam off a bit. Wash looked up, slightly startled, and then clicked a few buttons here and there.

'Nope, they're obviously too poor to afford communications,' Wash replied, stuffing his dinosaurs to the side.

'That can't be good for business, sir,' Zoe replied, walking up behind Mal and sitting on her husband's lap. 'This place don't look right, sir. Too empty and quiet,' Zoe continued. Mal raised his eyebrows at Zoe, and looked through the front screen of Serenity.

'Well a bit of peace and quiet never did us any harm, now did it?' Shepherd Book claimed as he strolled through the entrance looking purposeful. 'Mal, River is crying about demons from her past, Simon asked if you could come down.'

'Thanks, preacher,' Mal said. He left Book with Wash and Zoe, and went down to the infirmary where he expected to find River and Simon. River was in her favourite position: nears drawn up to her chin, arms wrapped around herself, rocking and murmuring. 'You called?' Mal said to Simon, giving River a pitiful look.

'I just wanted to know where it is exactly that we're landing,' Simon asked vaguely, still giving his sister injections to calm her down.

'The demons, scary demons... he is strong but lost... a lost little soul...' River looked up at them and, in all her distress, smiles. 'The hero has come...' But then it fades and she looks distressed again. 'They trouble the past... no mercy...' She clutches her head and screeches before beginning to whimper.

'Mal, I think she's trying to tell us something,' Simon told his captain.

'River,' Mal said soothingly and urgently, 'Where are the... demons? Are they Reavers, River? Are the demons in Newhall?' By showing her recognition of the word, River stopped screeching and rocking. Then a savage smile appeared across her face.

'We will be the hero's hero,' she said, as if this should please them, then she seemed upset again. 'A lost little soul... pretending to be what he's not...' Mal and Simon relaxed slightly, but Mal was frustrated that River could not give a straight answer.

'Go neong yung duh! What is it you were saying about demons, River?' Mal demanded.

'It's no use, Mal,' Simon said. River began crying.

'I steal... can't stop stealing... they're not mine to take!' she cried. Simon rubbed her back and shooed Mal out. Mal went back up to the bridge and saw Wash getting ready to park Serenity in Newhall, where they would hopefully find some business.

'Wash, River was sayin' something about gorram Reavers. How's this rock lookin', seeing anythin'... suspicious?' Mal asked Wash.

'There's movement, not much though,' Wash replied, 'No Reaver ship, and it's too high up to tell much else...'

'Reavers, sir?' Zoe said doubtfully. 'Perhaps they've already gone and left.'

'But there's movement down there, and Reavers don't ever leave survivors,' Mal said. 'Unless the survivors are poor people who were forced to watch as their families died, in which case, they've probably turned Reaver themselves. How good is your vision on the houses?'

'Too high up, sir,' Wash replied.

'Got a problem, Cap'n?' Kaylee asked as she entered the bridge.

'Apparently not – yet. How's the... mechanical stuff?'

'Shiny, Cap'n, ready to go,' she said, wiping her hands together proudly.

'Let's park this thing then, Wash,' Mal ordered. Wash nodded and they went zooming towards the ground. Once they broke atmo, they could properly see the houses. 'Ai yah tien ah... jen dao mei! They're running about the place like...' River strolled in and finished his sentence.

'They're ants in a nest, you shmoosh them and pop!' River declared dreamily, laughing vaguely at her own joke. She frowned next, 'But ants don't join other ants, they leave them stranded.' Simon came rushing up behind her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

'Don't go running away like that,' he said sternly. Her frown wiped away and she ran back down the stairs. Simon rolled his eyes and chased after her, Kaylee following him curiously.

'This place don't seem right, sir, everyone seems to be running about the place,' Zoe informed Mal with the obvious. 'And I'm not includin' River.'

'Can you turn this boat 'round, Wash?' Mal asked him.

'Too late, we've already broken atmo. We'll have to go lower down and then turn around.' Mal sighed and swore in Chinese. 'Do you want me to park it and see what everyone down there is running about the place for, or turn around the first moment possible?' Mall glanced down as far as he could see.

'Those people ain't right,' he mumbled to himself. 'No one runs about the place like that unless they're running from somethin'.'

'How can we be sure they're not Reavers, sir?' Zoe asked.

'We can't,' Mal replied. 'But if they are, where's their ship and why are there so little of them?'

'Can't say, sir. But I assume they were perhaps stranded, as River so... vaguely suggested,' Zoe replied.

'I'm almost ready to turn 'round,' Wash declared impatiently.

'No, if they're people then we should see what all the fuss is about and if they're Reavers,' Mal paused, 'we should do the world some good and take 'em out.'

'No objections sir, but they are Reavers,' Mal's second said, her usual obedient self although she may disagree with one of her captain's choices.

'Well, if they are then that means they're stranded like you, and I suppose River, said. Not too many of them, we can probably manage,' he said, although still doubting the words he spoke.

'Nah uh. I ain't goin' down there and killing myself just 'cause those poor Reavers are all alone!' Wash objected. Mal ignored him and went to the intercom.

'All crew report to the cargo bay,' Mal ordered. 'Immediately.' Then he turned to his pilot. 'Stay here and report everything that you can see. Get yourself some weapons, too. Those are definitely Reavers.' Wash nodded and Mal and Zoe headed down to the cargo bay. Inara, Jayne, Kaylee, Simon, River and Book were all waiting in the cargo bay, looking uncertain about how they should be feeling. Mal's order seemed so urgent, they were all concerned that the news Mal would share with them wasn't good. 'Seems we got ourselves in a mite little trouble with Reavers,' Mal began, clutching his belt like he always did. The crew let out audible gasps. 'Not many, though. We're not running away, we're going to stay and fight.' It seemed everyone protested against this but River and Zoe.

'I don't me any disrespect, Mal, but have you gone mad?' said Simon.

'We'll die, there's no way we could possibly beat them!' screeched Kaylee.

'I ain't goin' out there an' killin' maself so that you can feel good 'bout yaself!' Of course, from Jayne. Mal rolled his eyes as more protests rolled along.

'Mal, I agree, you can't just go out there and kill yourself, thus destroying any chances the rest of the crew have,' Inara said. Everyone agreed and continued with their own objections.

'Bizui!' the captain yelled. Silence instantly fell upon them. 'There can't be any more than a dozen to thirty out there,' Mal continued. 'And for some reason they don't have a ship. Jayne, Zoe, Simon and I will be enough to take 'em all out.' Before Simon could disapprove aloud of his selection to help kill Reavers; River cut in, typically.

'They flew in from nowhere, a message from hell punishing us for our sins. Screaming... so much screaming...' River sat down cross-legged as she spoke. 'Screaming and blood, ignored. They just went on... more and more, they swarmed the souls like bees... buz, buz, buz.'

'Lock her up somewhere with preacher and Inara,' Mal ordered to Simon. Simon nodded. Inara was going to argue that she could be of use, but then decided it was no use with her stubborn captain. 'Jayne,' Jayne scowled at Mal fiercely when he spoke his name, 'bring the grenades.' Jayne nodded and slightly grinned, forgetting that he was prepared to kill his captain less than a moment ago.

There was a bang and a shutter as Serenity parked. Instantly, the Reavers crowded and began attempting to climb on Serenity. Climbing out from the top air vent on the roof of the ship, Jayne and Simon shot down the Reavers with rifles. Jayne was talking a nervous Simon through it as they went. They could see down below them Zoe and Mal were going crazy with adrenaline, as if Mal enjoyed this sort of action (as if they were in the war again). Jayne hollered down to them, 'GRENADE INCOMING!' Zoe and Mal stood aside and almost exactly at that moment the grenade landed and the Reavers were blown back.

'Is that the lot of 'em?' Mal called to Jayne, who could see everything from up above.

'Jus' about,' he said. 'Look 'round a bit more, jus' in case.' As if the side of the ship were a bumpy slide, Jayne slid down it and next to Zoe and Mal who were doing the gruesome job of making sure the Reavers were dead. ''S lucky there weren't that many, 'ey?' he grunted, pushin his gun into his holster.

'How'd Simon go?' Mal asked. Jayne looked up but Simon had climbed back into the ship.

'Tian di wu yohn,' he grumbled. 'Kid knows 'ow to shoot a gun at least.'

'Get the others Zoe; we'll have to search every village on this rock, jus' t' make sure they're all wiped out,' the captain ordered his second. 'We're not leaving until every single one of these pieces of da shiong la se la ch'wohn tian is dead. If you can, get River out here to check it out.'

'Sir, you know how she reacts to Reavers,' Zoe warned.

'Get her tian di wu yohn brother to not be so damn useless anymore, then,' Mal replied. Zoe nodded and walked into the preacher's quarters where she found River, Inara and Shepherd Book. Somehow she managed to convince them to come and help them with the Reaver and the civilians' bodies – even River came, babbling on about something about finding a new soul, lost but not broken.

They searched for survivors for hours, Book giving the final blessings to the deceased. He entered a small shack, it was dark and quiet. The only light came from the windows and the open door, and inside it Book found a violated and ruined body of a girl no older than seven. The sight made tears well in his eyes, but he crouched in front of her nonetheless and spoke his holy words. Suddenly, he heard shallow breathing behind him.

'Don't touch her!' a boy hissed, his voice hoarse and cracked. The preacher could not see the young child that spoke to him, hidden in the corner beneath the shadows of a low table. When Book did not shift his position, the boy snapped again, 'Ta me de, don't touch her!' This time, hearing the desperation in the kid's voice, Book took a step closer to the front door. He was sure it couldn't be a Reaver, but there was no way the kid could have escaped Reavers by merely hiding beneath a table. Perhaps, he thought, he is like the poor man on the colony ship that was forced to watch as his family were raped, tortured and killed. But how could he still be so sane as to order him not to touch the young girl that was beyond repair?

'Tell me, child, what is your name?' Book asked, a tone of pity in his voice. He heard the shuffle of movement but no rely came.

'Help me,' he whispered hoarsely. 'Ai yah tien ah...' Then he heard more movement, and from the sound of it the kid beneath the table had collapsed. Without bothering to call upon the others, Book rushed forward and dragged out the kid's body. Examining his features, the preacher could not suppress a gasp of horror. It was a boy, no older than sixteen, with mutilations in his face like he'd only ever seen on those of Reavers. He wore the traditional clothing of a Reaver... yet, the way he'd spoken, he seemed a perfectly normal, distressed child. How could it be? The child that begged for help, a Reaver?

No, it couldn't be. Something was extremely wrong with this image, Book decided. The kid was unconscious and injured, not only from his self-injuries, but it seemed he was bruised and beaten by, Book guessed, other Reavers. He, being a man of mercy and forgiveness, could not just leave a kid dying in a village full of the dead – no matter what he appeared to be. The words that the preacher had just heard escaping from the kid's lips were no deceiving lies or trickery, he knew what he'd heard was nothing but pure innocence. He assumed the girl he'd been asked not to disturb was his younger sister, which showed that the kid could still feel hope and love for his family. But would Mal, his stubborn and confusing captain, agree with the holy man? How could Book possibly persuade Mal to take in a Reaver? Especially when the kid was unconscious, so no one was to know how he'd wake up.

Then it was decided; he was not to tell Mal until further, personal analysis. He would nurture and care for the kid like a preacher would treat any other child, and would patiently wait, hoping that his captain did not find out and decide the fate of the poor, lost boy before he could.

By the way, I have a strange way of updating my chapters. three days after the day that I get the first review for one of my chapters, I will update a new one. For example, if you are the first person to review one of my chapters, and you did it on, say, a Tursday, three days after, on Saturday, I will get the next chapter up. If you review on a Sunday, then you'll get your chapter up on Tuesday. Sorry for any inconvenience, it's just the most simple and convenient way, for me, to update and also a way to encourage me to write.

I know it sounds lame and pathetic, but I DO get ENCOURAGED and INSPIRED to write more when I have more reviews. It's true.