Snapdragon

Chapter 6

The Cowardly Lion of Oz

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Kaylee wiped her sweaty brow on her sleeve and grinned. The CO2 scrubber was now sitting on the engine room deck. All she had to do now was get the cart and haul it out. Kaylee unhooked the clamps holding the power hoist to the I beam in the overhead slung it over her shoulder and picked up her flashlight. First thing though would be to take a break. The ribs should be done by now and Polychrome had mentioned serving them with lemonade made with real lemons! Lemons didn't grow on Kaylee's home world and she'd never had real lemonade. She'd always considered herself lucky to get the powdered stuff and the prospect of having some of the real stuff was making her giddy with excitement.

On the way back she stopped and clamped the hoist to a pre selected I beam and lowered the hook down to the cargo hold deck. She then trotted down the stairs and skipped to the open personnel door.

………………………………...

"Mother, I only see three people down there." Lancelot remarked.

"I saw four leave this morning." Mabel scowled down at the derelict spaceship. " Two boys and two girls. There must be a girl still inside the ship. We'll go ahead and finish these off and get her later."

"That girl down there is awful pretty." Gawain said lowering his binoculars.

"We don't have time for you to indulge in your foul lusts!" Mable snapped. "We have a job to do! Try thinking with your brains instead of your balls for a change!" The foul things her sons did to women they captured disgusted her. But boys will be boys. At least they always killed them and burned the bodies when they were finished so there weren't any bastards running around the place. And otherwise they might end up pleasuring themselves which was an abomination. She looked at the ship and smiled a thin smile. A few more jobs like this one and they will become well established in high society and will never have to sin again.

Percival was taking careful aim at one of the three figures when Aglovale jostled him. The shot went wide.

"Watch it Aglovale!"

"Guinevere pushed me!"

"He pulled my hair!"

"Did not!"

"Children hush! See what horseplay gets you?! Now they're scurrying around like roaches! Everybody! Open fire!"

………………………………...

Kaylee heard the first shot just as she got to the doorway and stopped immediately. She saw Gary react first, unslinging his rifle, scanning the hills around the ship, moving constantly. Dave was dashing for the hovertruck and Polychrome was running for the doorway. Gary spotted something and ducked behind an evergreen taking careful aim and firing at the hillside. Dave got to the hovertruck and started it.

"Dave! Move the truck between Poly and the hill! Cover her!" Gary shouted as bullets rained down on them.

Dave took off full speed in the opposite direction toward a gap in the cliff where a stream flowed out.

"Come back you gorram coward!" Gary shouted as he kept firing into the hillside.

Kaylee watched Gary. He wasn't spraying bullets randomly but carefully aiming each shot. Standing his ground. Covering Polychrome's retreat. In spite of her strong dislike for the man she felt a tinge of admiration for his coolness and courage under fire. Then he gave a loud grunt and dropped his rifle. Clutching his chest, he fell over and lay still.

Polychrome was racing to the door. "Hurry!" Kaylee screamed. She was almost there when a fine red mist erupted from her head. Polychrome tumbled to the ground three yards short. Something had blown the top of her head off and her brains spilled out into the dirt.

Kaylee screamed. She flung herself inside and pressed her back against the warm cargo bay doors sobbing and weeping. She'd never been this scared in her life. This was worse than Niska's station. There she had friends. Here she was utterly alone. Close the door! Weld it shut! But she couldn't move. She was paralyzed with fear as the tears flowed down her cheeks. Gotta do this! Summoning all her will power, her shaking hands fumbled at the hand welder clipped to her belt as she glanced out the door. And stopped. She saw movement. Gary was clawing at the ground trying to find cover. He was still alive! Kaylee was torn with terror and indecision. She didn't like Gary. She was pretty sure she hated him. But still, she couldn't just leave him to die out there, alone in the dirt.

Kaylee glanced up the hillside. She could see the bandits riding their horses down the rugged slope. Now was her chance. She knew that accurate shooting from the back of a moving horse was very difficult. "Always have something steady under your feet whenever you're shooting someone." Zoe once told Malcolm shaking her finger at him. She and Jayne were laughing about a time when Mal almost killed himself during the war doing something incredibly heroic and stupid. Kaylee knew she was anything but heroic. Her heart was pounding so hard hit felt like it was about to burst. She was gasping for breath and shaking like a leaf. She tried to swallow but couldn't. It was as if she'd forgotten how. Gary was about fifty feet away but it looked like a mile. Don't think about it! Do it!

Kaylee hurled herself out the door and sprinted over to Gary. She could hear shouts of surprise from the hillside but didn't look. She skidded to a stop next to him, grabbed his left wrist, and heaved. He was gorram heavy! She could hear shots being fired and bullets whistling past her. Kaylee whimpered in terror as she kept dragging Gary toward the door. Her every instinct screamed for her to drop the hwoon dahn and get back inside. But she couldn't just leave him to die. The doorway didn't seem to be getting any closer. Half crazed with fear she kept pulling and pulling. Then a white hot lance of pain went though her left thigh.

Kaylee screamed and fell. Her mouth was full of dirt she was trying to cough out and her right hand was in something warm and wet. She looked over at it.

Her hand was mashed into Poly's brains. Her friend's cold dead eyes were staring into hers.

Something snapped. "UH! UH! UH! UH!" For a brief moment Kaylee was teetering on the ragged edge of madness.

"Come back Kaylee, please come back. Trust me, insanity isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Kaylee blinked and shook her head. She was lying in the dirt in front of the doorway. People were shooting at her! She grabbed Gary's wrist and heaved. Pain shot through her leg with every pull. She dragged him through the doorway then slammed the door shut. Her hands fumbled at the small hand welder on her belt. She tried to feed the wire from her belt reel into it but her hands were shaking too bad. Kaylee pressed her hands against the door to steady them. When she finally got the wire in she pulled her goggles up from around her neck and began welding the door shut sealing them both inside. As the metal melted and flowed together she felt a little safer. Kaylee considered herself a bit of an artist which extended to her mechanical abilities. She usually took great pride in how nice her welds were. Not this time. This weld was fast, sloppy and ugly. When she got to the bottom of the door Kaylee fell to her knees and vomited. She kept heaving until her stomach was empty. A couple of more dry heaves and she was finished. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and took a swig of warm water from her bottle.

All she wanted to do now was lay there and be miserable but there wasn't any time. Gary was hurt! She crawled over to him. He had a bullet hole in his chest under his right nipple. Foaming blood was leaking out. She checked his back and found an exit wound, more foaming blood. His lung was punctured. "I'm sorry! I don't know what to do!"

He stared up at her with pain glazed eyes. "I . . . do." His voice was barely a whisper. "Air. . .tight bandage. . . . Has to let. . . air out . . . .but not . . .in. Lay me. . . on bad side."

Monodirectional air valves. Something she can understand. Kaylee pulled a pack of cigarettes from Gary's shirt pocket. She peeled the cellophane off and tossed the pack off into the darkness. "Don't look at me like that! You got holes in your lung! You ain't gonna be smokin' anytime soon!"

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"Ma! That gawdam sombitch shot me!" Lancelot wailed clutching his bleeding right forearm.

Mabel strode up to him and slapped him across the face hard. "How many times have I told you not to take the Lord's name in vain!?" She snarled. "And don't call me 'Ma' like you were some ignorant hick! You refer to me as 'Mother'!"

"Guess you need a hospital after all!" Guinevere laughed.

Mabel scowled down at the ship and the two bodies laying in front of it. "What a wicked thing to do! Shooting at a gentleman for no reason at all! God will punish him for this! Don't worry son. After we get the money we'll have that nice doctor back at the ranch fix you up before we dispose of him. Now mount up! I'll take the grav sled around and meet you down there!"

"What about that guy who got away?" Perceval asked.

Mabel consulted a topographic map in her reader. "That's a blind canyon! Lot's of branches and twists but that's the only exit. He didn't go in there to escape, he went in there to hide! It'll take over an hour to search the place. We'll get him after we get the money!"

As they rode down the slope Gawain was the first to notice a woman run out of the ship. "She's trying to get away!" It was awkward getting their rifles out of saddle holsters and back slings. After they opened fire the horses kept shying at every loud noise.

"I got her!" Aglovale shouted with glee as she fell.

"Not nearly enough!" Gawain yelled as she got back up a moment later and pulled the guy though the door.

By the time they got to the ship the door was shut. Perceval tried to push it open. "Oww!" He yelled yanking his hand back. Blisters were already forming on his palm and fingers. "That door's gorram hot!"

"Bitch must have welded it shut." Guinevere was grinning at her brother's pain.

"Hey look!" Gawain shouted "They fixed us ribs and lemonade!"

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Malcolm hefted the cloth bag. It had a most satisfying weight and jingle to it. "Looks like we got a deal Mrs. James. Serenity's on dock eight."

The elderly woman sitting across the table from him pressed her fingertips together and smiled. "We'll need to begin loading the cargo immediately, Captain Reynolds. It's very perishable."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Mal noticed Zoe had moved to the corner and was speaking softly into her comm unit with a concerned look on her face. Must be another crisis. His life seemed to be one crisis after another. Jayne was just grinning greedily at the bag in his hand.

Zoe put her comm unit away. "Something wrong? Malcolm asked.

She glanced at Mrs. James. "It's Inara, she says Jeanette's acting up again, saying weird things."

"Like what?"

"Something about how the Cowardly Lion is hurt and terrified. It doesn't know how brave it really is. The Wicked Witch of the West has it trapped. The Tin Man wants to help it but he can't move. He's all rusty."

Malcolm's brow furrowed, then he stood up and tossed the bag of coins back across the table to Mrs. James. "I'm sorry Ma'am. Something personal's come up and I need the ship immediately."

"So do I. If we don't start loading immediately I'll have to find another ship."

"You do that." Malcolm was already walking out the door. Jayne was just standing there with a stunned look on his face. "Maybe we can do business some other time."

Outside, Malcolm and Zoe were taking long, fast strides. Jayne had to double step to catch up with him. "Cap'n! That was a great job! Six containers of peaches for St. Albans! You know how much peaches go for there?! A lot! You know how much my share woulda been?! Ten percent of a lot!"

"I'm sorry but somethin's come up."

"They were gonna toss in a couple of crates for the crew!" Jayne was finding it hard to talk. The thought of all those peaches made his mouth choke with saliva. "It would have filled our whole cargo hold! When's the last time it was completely full? You're throwing it away just because River's acting crazy! Babbling nonsense!"

"It's not nonsense! It makes perfect sense." Malcolm thought for a few seconds. "Well not perfect sense but I got the gist of it."

"But River's crazy! She's as crazy as. . .as . . .a girl who's really crazy! That's her job! Being crazy!"

"Why are we still discussing something that's already been decided?! When we get back to the ship get your guns ready. There might be a bit of trouble."

Zoe smiled. "You might get to shoot somebody. You like shooting people don't you?"

Jayne shook his head in frustration. "I don't like shooting people! I like shooting people and then getting paid!"

Back at the ship they found River up on the bridge with Inara and Wash. River was sitting in the corner staring blankly at the wall. "Why's she on the bridge?" Mal asked.

"She insisted on coming up here but now she's just sitting here. Sometimes her lips move a little as if she's saying something but we can't seem to communicate with her." Inara sounded concerned.

"Here, let me." Shepherd Book stepped onto the bridge. "I can read lips. Maybe I can tell what she's trying to say."

"They teach lip reading at the monastery?" Malcolm sounded suspicious.

"Yes they did. Some brothers took a vow of silence. Now hush! She's starting again." Book's brow furrowed at he watched the slight movement of her lips. "It looks like she said 'Smell the gun'."

"Smell the gun!?" Jayne shouted. "That don't make a lick of sense! What'd I tell ya?! Crazy!"

"We're now cleared for takeoff!" Wash announced. The engines roared as Serenity took off into the sky. As the ground dropped away Wash asked. "So where're going?"

"The Flying S Ranch! Fast as we're able."

"OK Boss! So where exactly is the Flying S Ranch?"

Mal got a puzzled look on his face. He looked over at Zoe who shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

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"We'll have to use the cutting torch." Mabel said, scowling angrily at the door. "Percival!? What's keeping you?"

"Doesn't this thing have an instruction manual?" Percival was back at the hover sled. Mabel rolled her eyes.

"Mother, I think I could squeeze through one of these holes." Young Aglovale spoke up.

Mabel put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm proud of you son. Just be careful and don't screw around. Just shoot the bitch."

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Kaylee checked her work. Cellophane over the bullet wounds, duct taped on three sides. Every time Gary inhaled it sucked the cellophane against the wounds shutting them off. Air still escaped when he exhaled. She then checked her own thigh. It was bleeding but the bullet seemed to have missed the bone and the big leg artery. It hurt like Hell. This was the second time Kaylee's been shot and she decided that she didn't like being shot at all. She took off her work shirt and cut it into strips. She poured some alcohol from Gary's hip flask on the wound, folded one strip into a pad and used another strip to tie it firmly into place. Then wiped her hands on her T-shirt and looked at the door. The paint was starting to scorch and blister. They have a cutting torch. Isn't that just wonderful?

Kaylee took Gary's six gun from his holster, transferred it to her tool belt and heaved him onto the cart. It had two shelves on separate levels. Gary fitted rather poorly on the lower level with his legs dragging on the deck. Kaylee immediately discarded the idea of taking him to sickbay. Mr. Strober probably stripped out everything but the paint on the walls. She decided on the engine room. It had an airtight door and was a far from this place as possible. Besides it was the closest thing she had to home.

She wheeled him to the aft end of the cargo bay and attached the slings to the hook of the hoist. She pressed the up button and watched him rise up into the air. Then the loud crack of a gunshot and a bullet whipped inches past her head. Kaylee gave a loud yelp of fear and limped franticaly into the passenger lounge firing four shots blindly into the dark. She heard bullets hitting the door as she pushed it shut. Her throat made a choking sound and her hands were shaking. She didn't know what to do. Kaylee shut her eyes tightly.

Kaylee was standing outside surrounded by cornfields with wooden fences. The sun was shining brightly and fluffy clouds drifted in the clear blue skies. She was standing on a narrow, one lane road paved with yellow bricks of all things. How did she get here? Where was here? Where was Snapdragon?

"Kaylee." A voice called her name from somewhere behind her. She brought the pistol up holding it with both hands and spun around. There was a scarecrow out in the cornfield, hanging on a pole, dressed all in blue with a big blue floppy hat. She approached it cautiously clumsily holding the pistol in trembling hands. The scarecrow raised its head revealing its face. It was a feminine scarecrow with familiar grinning elfin features.

"River? Is that you? Are you inside my head?"

"Don't be silly, Kaylee!" The scarecrow replied. "People can't go into other people's heads. It's bad! It's wrong! THEY DON'T BELONG THERE!" The scarecrow squeezed its eyes shut and took a couple of deep breaths shuddering. "I'm just a figment of your imagination. I'm here to help you."

"I don't know what to do River. I'm scared. I'm really scared. I've got. . ." She cracked open the cylinder. "Two shots left. I don't know anything about guns. Gary's hanging out there like a piñata. He's helpless and I can't do anything."

"It's ok to be scared Kaylee, I know you have the heart of a lion."

"Then I must be a pretty cowardly lion." For some reason the scarecrow smiled at that. "I'm no good with guns. Somebody's trying to kill me."

"Look at the gun." The scarecrow told her. " Move your hand over it. It's steel and plastic. Hold it up to your nose. Smell the gun. Breath deeply. That smell is oil. It's a friendly smell, a good smell, It's just steel, plastic, oil and chemicals. You've seen them clean their guns. You know how they work Moving metal parts sliding together, chemical reactions. It's a tool. You're very good with tools. I can help you a little."

Kaylee opened her eyes. The gun felt heavy in her trembling hand. She had to do something.