"Stay down, you moron!" Faye didn't like babysitting others when people were trying to kill her. Serj stayed face down on top of the truck as Faye emptied her handgun at the car full of syndicate men that was following them.
"My ship's over that way," she said, pointing to the distance. "Where's yours?"
"Over there," Serj gestured to the racer as the truck passed it, with pursuers in tow. "I guess I'll just have to ride with you." He examined Faye and smiled to himself.
"Oh great," Faye said. "I don't have enough room for two people!" She fired a few more rounds toward the car and ducked a banner hung across the street.
The truck made a hard right as Faye and Serj held on. Faye found herself wondering how the driver of the truck could have kept driving with gunfire all around him. It must have been a common occurrence in these parts.
The two held on to the truck's roof as Faye crawled toward the back. The men in the car were obviously syndicate men, dressed in suits and carrying automatic weapons. She creeped to the edge of the truck, dangerously close to being an easy target, and fired two shots toward the car's right front tire. The satisfying sound of the wheel's rims connecting with the pavement as the tire separated from the rim gave her reassurance that they would have at least some time to escape. The car then jerked violently to the right and then swerved left as the driver tried to overcorrect, right into the path of an oncoming truck carrying a load of live chickens in its flatbed. Faye smiled as she saw a shower of feathers rain upon the gangsters, who were laying either unconscious or dead on the pavement, thrown from the vehicle. Syndicate types never wore safety belts.
Sleep was something Spike would have grown tired of long ago were there anything else he was capable of doing. The wound from cut he had received needed over a thousand stitches and staples to close, and it was deep enough to have been the muscular equivalent of major abdominal surgery. In short, it hurt too much to move.
Spike slept, again dreaming of Julia in a white dress. Why white? Spike wondered as he dreamt. Every time now, he was having the same dream. Julia approaching in white, walking toward Spike like an angel, but fading away before he could reach out and touch her. Spike didn't even know if he was still grieving or just saddened because the idea, the concept of being with his one true love who had, in truth, brought him nothing but bad luck, was no longer a possibility. The idea that it was possible that he could be with Julia and be forever content had always been the thing that made his heart hold out hope.
That was what had motivated him before, except for mere survival, that is. Now, survival was it. Survival was probably the only thing I ever really had to begin with, Spike thought. That and everything on the Bebop. Too bad Faye liked to disappear often and Edward had gone and taken Ein with her. It would feel strange. He grunted to himself. Maybe kids, animals and women with attitudes weren't so bad after all.
Spike slipped into another dream. Julia faded away once again, and this time, she didn't fade back into view. Spike was lying in a large bed, an old-fashioned four-post bed, like they used hundreds of years ago on earth. Satin sheets, pillows all around. Spike could see himself lying there, his arm behind his head as he lay awake, his eyes pointed toward the infinite ceiling.
But there was something different about this dream. Spike wasn't alone. The woman's naked body wrapped around him like a snake, one leg slung over his waist with an arm holding on tightly as if clinging to him for protection and sanctuary, but at the same time resting like nothing could harm her, whoever "she" was. The woman's head rested on his chest, with the straight, black hair obscuring her face. Spike looked down to the footboard of the bed and stared at the red sash draped across the end of the bed. Julia never wore red, Spike thought, as the woman's eyes opened and she looked directly at him. "Spike," the voice whispered. "I love you."
As the woman leaned forward to kiss him, Spike got the feeling he was being licked instead of kissed. Spike opened his eyes to see only a dog's tongue as it bathed him in drool.
"Ah," Spike said, shaking his head and pushing the dog away. "Ein, knock it off," he said, not yet realizing who he was talking to.
"Wait a minute," Spike said, seeing that the small animal resting on his belly and panting affectionately was in fact the dog he'd nearly been killed retrieving. "Ein? How did you get here?" He patted the dog on the head and looked to his right at Jet, who was smiling broadly.
"Kind of a funny coincidence," Jet said. "I ran into them yesterday. There were in this hospital the whole time."
"They? You mean…"
"Well you didn't expect to find Ein by himself did you?" Jet said.
All Spike saw was the flash of red hair fly out from the foot of the bed and land on his chest.
"Hiyeee!" she said, landing squarely on his wound.
"Ed?"
"Surprise!" Edward said, blowing into a party horn and laying it on his head. The shock of seeing her had made Spike forget that she was lying on his injured abdomen, for a moment.
"What are you… Ow, Ed, can you guys give me some room?" Spike said, trying to wiggle free as Ed laughed and blew a raspberry on his belly. She moved only enough to tickle Spike's exposed feet as Ein barked and licked his toes.
"Okay, Ed, give Spike some room," Jet said.
"O-kay!" Ed blurted, hopping off the bed and dancing around the room. She was dressed in a hospital gown and had a bandage around her head, Spike saw.
"They showed up here just a few days before you did," Jet said. "There was an accident back on Earth with her father."
"Is he dead?" Spike asked, grunting in pain as he finally managed to sit up.
"No, his partner, McIntyre," Jet continued. "They were chasing meteors when Ed and Ein found them. They were surveying one site when another big one hit right where they were. McIntyre was killed in the explosion, and Ed was injured by some debris. Since her father had a bounty on him, he couldn't take her to a real hospital, so he brought her here. Then he vanished without a trace. Luckily, Ein found me before they both got taken away for not paying the bill. I convinced ISSP to pick up the tab for her, too."
Ed's head popped up again. "So Ed is back on the Bebop!" she said. Ein barked his approval as Ed wiggled her exposed rear end at everyone in sight.
"Great," Spike said, his sarcasm hiding his true delight. "At least it won't get boring."