River's Part

And, Lord, I pray for River. She, of all of us, is most desperately in need of your hand, and yet, I have the feeling that she is the closest to you.  I pray Lord, for healing, for comfort, for a silencing of the demons that haunt her eyes.  God, she is trapped inside herself, only through your Grace could she be free.  Please, God, grant her freedom, and if not freedom, than at least peace.  Lord, I beg you, don't let the child suffer any more than she already has.  Take her in your arms, as you have so many children before her, and wrap her in your healing love.

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            "Come on, Come on," Mal urged as he, with River's help, hauled the doctor to his feet.  Simon looked bad, really bad, bad enough for Mal to feel guilty.  There was a nasty black bruise on the boys head, accented by a dark red, almost black mess that looked like a cut that wasn't going to heal up any time soon.  His skin was grayish as he gasped for breath and he leaned heavily on River as they stumbled down the hall and off the ship.  And they didn't have time to coddle the doctor back into good heath.  Kurt and Vio may have been dealt with in somewhat of a final manner, but Mal knew that there was still Li'll Cash to deal with, and that would be no easy task. The longer they dallied in the belly of the Betty-Lou, the more Mal came to dread it.

"River, you take the lead," Mal ordered. "See if you can get us outta here quick as you got us in."

"Captain," Simon gasped, as River slipped herself out from under her brother, leaving Mal to drag the weak doctor along. "River really . . ."

"Be quiet Doctor," Mal said sharply but kindly. "You ain't got enough breath in you to walk, don't be slowin' us down by tryin' to speak. Yer sister was clever enough to find her way to you; she'll be clever enough to find our way out."

Simon didn't answer, which was exactly what Mal hoped would happen.

They wound their way through the clean maze of hallways for about five minuets. Mal would have sworn it only took a few seconds to run to the room where Simon had been held. But he'd been running as fast as he could to keep up with the crazed River then, and now he was dragging her half dead brother, it seemed reasonable that it'd take more time. But not this much more time.

"Hey, River, y'lost?" Mal asked, hopping against hope the answer was no.

River turned around for just a second, placing her finger to her lips. "He sees and hears," she said very softly, before continuing to creep forward. They walked about another twenty paces, making too seemingly random turns before River froze.

"Psss," Mal Hissed. "We gotta keep moving."

"Checkmate," River muttered.

That's when Mal heard the click of a gun. "Wan ba dan," he muttered, shaking his head bitterly as the barrel of a gun appeared from right around the next corner.

"You steelin' my doctor?" Li'll Cash asked, emerging from the shadows.

Mal took a second to think very carefully about how he wanted to handle this. The answer was clear: he didn't want to handle this, not at all. This was a losing prospect. Still, better to go down fighting. He leaned Simon against the wall, freeing up his gun hand in case he'd need it, but of course, he was the only one with a gun, Li'll Cash would down him first, then get to executing the helpless Tams.

"He's my doctor," Mal asserted.

"You been leadin' me on a merry chase," Li'll Cash said with the mock admiration. Mal always wondered why some people felt like they had to justify themselves before they murdered you (or, perhaps attempted to murder you would be more accurate). Did these men have such low self-esteem that they had to talk themselves into doing everything, or were they really so self deluded that they could convince themselves that they were killing for a reason? It was just stupid, Mal thought. If you were going to kill a man, kill him quick and kill him clean. Pretension never did anybody any good.

"This girl knows my ship 'bout well as I do. I'm not even going to ask how she learned it."

"Good," Mal said casually, reaching out carefully for River, who was staring at Li'll Cash with wide-eyed terror. If they lived thru this, which was by no means a guarantee, Mal would have to figure out a way to acclimate River to fire arms. A girl who is paralyzed with fear at the vary sight of a gun was the description of Liability.

He managed to grab the girls shoulder and tug her toward himself and Simon.

"Tha's right," Li'll Cash muttered. "Pretty thing like that, I'd keep'er close too. Don't spose'll do me much good ta ask ya her name."

"Don't spose it would," Mal said, passing the girl to the Doctor, who was now standing, more or less, under his own power. He wrapped his arms around his sister protectively as he stared defiantly at the man who'd tried to murder him.

"So," Li'll Cash said, smiling wickedly. "'S this the Sister Kurt told me 'bout, th' one he killed for?"

"Don't see why you need know who she is," Mal said, edging his way between Li'll Cash and the siblings. "Your just gonna kill us all in a minuet or so."

"Oh, Reynolds, you got less time'n that," Li'll Cash said with a chuckle. "But that girl's no dummy, she don't talk much, and she's real pretty n' young. She might just be the perfect woman. The kinda woman a man might kill for."

That's when River screamed.

            Simon had claimed that River was naturally brilliant at every task she put her mind to. Screaming, apparently, was no exception. Her shriek was so loud, so sudden, and at such a high pitch that, for a second, Mal mistook it for a banshee wail that had stopped his heart. But that was only until his heart continued to beat, and then he saw his opportunity. Li'll Cash was also stunned by the girls blood curdling scream, but he wouldn't be forever. Barely taking the time to aim, Mal pulled the gun out of his holster and shot. He missed, by about two feet. Li'll Cash, reacting to the shot instinctively fired. But River's screech had thrown him off his game. The bullet ricocheted harmlessly to Mal's right. Mal fired again, this time his aim was dead on. Li'll Cash fell lifeless on the ground.

"RIVER!" Mal yelled as loud as he could, in a fruitless attempt to overpower River's screech, as he walked to the dead body, kicking it for good measure.  "I'S OVER, YOU CAN . . ." the girl suddenly stopped yelling, the captain didn't. "STOP!"

His last word echoed off the smooth corridors of the Betty-Lou and gave Mal the shivers. This felt for the world like a ghost ship, and with the body of the recently diseased captain's son lying in front of him, Mal couldn't imagine the ghosts would be friendly. "Come on kid's we gotta move," he said, turning towards the pair, hoping to find them ready to move. Instead he saw Simon lying on the ground, unconscious, and River looking down on him all weepy.

"Ow lun dan jhew hai," Mal muttered. "What now?"

River looked up, her large eyes letting out a wash of tears. "I was too loud," she said, her voice trembling. "I hurt his head."

Mal sighed. It was very hard to be properly angry at a girl who so obviously was scared half to death. "'s all right," Mal muttered, walking over to Simon's body and slinging it over his shoulder. "You're brother's got a thick a head as anybody. You lead us out'a here and I promise you he'll be fine.

"Simon," River muttered, tears still streaming down her face. She was hugging herself tightly, staring at the Captain, looking helpless, like she didn't know what to do or how to act without being secured in the knowledge that Simon was there to take care of her.

"River," Mal said very firmly.  "You gotta get us outta here now.  We can't do nothin' for Simon less we get off this gorramn boat."

The girl stared at him, blinked, then turned and started walking very rapidly down one of the halls.  Mal took a deep breath, a relatively hard task with the unconscious Simon slung over his shoulder, and followed.

To be continued . . .

(Still more commin' . . . keep with the reviews)