Disclaimer: Do not own Firefly. If I did, I wouldn't have signed up with Fox ( hiiiissss!) and the series would still be going! So keep your fingers crossed.

A/N: ok, this WAS writen at 3 in the moroning, but then rewritten, 3 times then betaed twice so it should be ok now. This might stay a one-shot, I'm not sure yet... enjoy!

Wash looked at his scanners with worry. He got a bad feeling about this. Mal told him not to worry, that their power was always going out on that far moon. Still, there was a gnawing feeling at the pit of his stomach. There was no signal, no sign of life... just nothing. He ran his fingers through his fluffy blond hair. Zoë said the same thing. Normally, if he didn't like what the Captain had to say, all it took was Zoë's silky (and scary, he can't forget scary) voice to convince him. But not this time.

A few weeks back, they got a call from an old buddy from their war days. Both Mal and Zoë where thrilled to hear from him. Apparently his daughter was turning fourteen, a big age for his religion, and he wanted Mal and Zoë to be part of the ceremony. They both agreed, and off they went.

Now Wash was entering the moon's atmosphere without any signal to guide him to just where this tiny town was. He didn't like this, not one bit.

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Kaylee smiled happily. She always seemed so cheerful to Mal and Zoë, who were both in unusually good moods. "I can't wait to meet this friend of yours! It's so shiny."

Mal nodded, a smile on his face, "Its been a while since we've seen that crazy bastard."

Zoë laughed as she took a sip of something that came from a bag. After a while she couldn't tell what she was drinking any more, it all tasted the same. "Almost five years to the day. Maryjo was so small back then, she was only nine when we last saw her."

" If you don't mind me asking, was kind of ceremony is it you're invited to?" Derrial asked in the calm polite tone he seemed to always have.

" Ross is part of a small Uhge religion that started up in the back water moons." Zoë explained. "When a girl turns fourteen, she is considered a woman. It's a pretty big deal for them."

" Ah yes, a branch of Christianity where they believe the God is in fact a woman and that it was Adam, not Eve, that took the first bite of the forbidden fruit." Derrial nodded, tapping his Bible thoughtfully.

" Yeah, pretty much. A lot of clergymen don't take to kindly to Uhge Shepherd," Mal said, eyeing Derrial to see if he might be a problem.

" You should know me better than that, Captain. They follow the word of God. They are a branch of my church," he replied calmly.

" Oh, I'm so excited! I love parties!" Kaylee said, almost bouncing in place.

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Wash landed on the first flat surface he could find. He checked his scanners again, still nothing. That's it; he was putting his foot down. Something was very wrong here.

Wash pressed the call button, "Captain, can you come to the brig please? We've got a problem." His voice echoed harshly down the metal hall.

Mal walked into the brig a minute later. Despite his annoyances, he was still in a very good mood. "What is it, Wash?"

"Sir, you should take a look at this." Wash brought up a screen and Mal's face drained of color.

"Are you sure the scanner is working?" His voice took on a slight edge like it always did when threatened with bad news.

"I checked and rechecked. Believe me, Captain, the scanner isn't picking up any activity at all. It's like... it's a ghost town."

Mal's face hardened, and he clicked on the intercom. "Zoë to the bridge."

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Mal, Zoë, and Jayne slowly walked down the ships ramp, guns in hand. They looked around with conscious eyes as they headed to the town.

When they got to the town's limits, Mal let out a few choice words. Half the town burned to the ground while the other half was covered in blood. The air smelled metallic and sour; no smoke was rising anymore. It must have been a few days since the attack, maybe even weeks. All three had seen towns like this before.

Jayne shifted his body weight nervously, his eyes darting around in a panic.

"Looks like goddamn Reaver-"

"Don't say that!" Mal almost hissed at Jayne. " We don't know what happened to them!"

Zoë didn't say anything. Her hard gaze scanned over the ruined town, her face unreadable.

The trio turned the corner and stopped in their tracks. Nailed to the wall on one of the remaining houses were the twisted remains of the colony-flesh sown, burned, and nailed together. They could see both Ross and his wife in the sick flesh sculpture.

Zoë let her arms drop to her sides and hung her head. Mal kicked a broken clay pot in rage and screamed. He couldn't think of any of way to put how angry he felt, how sad he felt. He knew these people. He had eaten with them, laughed with them. Reavers did this, there was no question of it now. They didn't die quickly either. Most of them where probably still breathing when this was done to them.

He screamed again, his cries echoing around the dead town.

Zoë lifted her head up and looked at the faces, distorted in their last moments of agony. Her dark eyes scanned over them, studying them as if she was looking for something. " Sir, Maryjo isn't here..." she whispered in a hoarse voice.

Mal held up his hand, "Shhh. Did you hear that?"

The other two stopped and listened. A tapping sound was coming from the next house over. Jayne lifted up his gun and looked around widely.

"Reavers! They must still be here!"

"Calm down. If they were still around, we would be wishing we where dead already!" Mal snapped as he carefully walked over to the house with Zoë right behind him.

Mal slowly open the door and was hit by the pungent odor of decay. He knew this smell; how could he forget it? The smell of infected, rotting flesh.

Fighting back a gag, he pried into the darkness and despite himself sucked in a lung full of the sour air.

" Sir, what is it?" Zoë said, taking a step forward.

" Stay back, Zoë!" Mal snapped and pulled out his communicator. " Simon, get your ass down here with a stretcher NOW!"

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Her whole body felt numb. No, numb wasn't the right word. Detached? It was a better, but it still wasn't quite right. She could hear voices around her, but she did not understand what they were saying. (Were they even people?) She could see light through her closed eyelids, but she couldn't will them open. (Odd, she wasn't even sure if they were her eyelids.) She wasn't even sure if she had a mouth.

When she finally did manage to open her eyes, she saw a girl (young woman?) standing over her. Her long, dark hair fell around both of them, making a soft curtain to the harsh light. Her brown eyes looked at her with curiosity.

"River, leave her alone," said an older man. She could not see him.

"She's awake, but not quite," the woman (she decided she was more woman than girl) whispered in a quiet, airy voice.

"What?" The man sounded rather surprised as he gently pulled the girl away and looked over her. He had light blue eyes and the same shade of dark hair.

" Maryjo? I'm Dr. Tam. Can you hear me?" He said in a soothing, low voice.

The girl frowned in confusion. Just then remembering that she did in fact have a face.

What was that man talking about? Who was Maryjo?

A/N: Well here it is. Let me know what you think.

PS: Also, I know Maryjo is a weird name but... It was the name of a cousin of mine who passed away. idk why I feel so compelled to use it here...

R.I.P. Maryjo.