Disclaimer: In the words of the scarecrow from the much beloved Wizard of Oz 'If I only had a Jayne…' Heh heh, see what I did there? Yes, this means I don't currently have a Jayne. Or anyone else for that matter. Gorram it!

Anyway, thanks again to my reviewers.

I'm going away later today, so I'm desperately trying to get this written before I go. So anyway, I present to you all…

Chapter Three!

She lay on her front and watched it.

The single flower slowly unfurled. It was beautiful. No… It was beauty itself.

The colours danced in front of her, so pretty. The sun shone down on it and the dew cupped within it's petals shone like the eyes that watched it.

There was nothing else now. Just her and this beautiful flower. Alone in the world.

Slowly, tentatively, her small white hand reached out to stroke the velvety petals that opened wider as the sun above shone brighter.

One finger-tip rested on the base of the stem, and the sun shone brighter still.

The girl retracted her hand and murmured in discomfort.

The sun continued to shine and the back of her neck began to burn.

Eyes cast back to the flower. Sun shining stronger.

The back of her neck peeling, she scuttled closer to the flower, and surrounded it with her hands.

The sun, knowing what she wanted, became hotter and her widened eyes watched the flower's petals droop.

One petal dropped off and hit the quickly drying ground with a thud that shook the entire of the planet.

Blood dripped slowly out of her nostril as the sun became unbearable. But she could not move.

Then, as if struck by lightening, she moved faster than ever. Her hands scrabbled in dirt around the flower, uprooting it.

Clasping it to her, she ran.

Ran from the sun, which let out a furious roar, and came tumbling from the sky, scorching the land as it gained on her.

The tears that spilled dried instantly on her face.

The dress she wore began to fuse to her skin in the heat.

The acrid smell of her own burning flesh hit her, but made her only run faster.

The sun, still chasing in it's blind fury, screamed and cursed as it sped up, determined to claim it's prize.

And suddenly there was nowhere to go, and the flower was withered.

And there was no sun, but just a man, who reached out and plucked the dead life from River's hand as she screamed herself and could not stop.

Mal was the first one to be up and striding to the corner where River lay convulsing and shouting.

The first to see her wide eyes stare at him in horror, but not see him.

And then the first to see the fear replaced almost instantly with the mad emptiness he had come to associate with her.

Her face serious and her tone more so, she looked at him.

'It's rude to stare.'

Mal shook his head, and blinked, trying to dispel some of the residue left from his sleep.

'Where's Simon?'

'Oh darlin', we ain't too sure,' Kaylee knelt down beside Mal and clasped one of River's hands. 'But I promise when we find him, you'll be the first to know.'

'Hell, she'll probably know before we gorram find him,' Mal snapped, standing up. 'But it's more like he'll find us first, what with all the gorram noise she's making. And others too. Others being people we don't want here.'

'But Captain! She can't help it, it's the way she is…'

'Kaylee, I don't wanna hear it.' Mal turned from his mechanic to look at where River still sat on the floor, now drawing patterns in the dust. 'No screaming, ok?'

'Scream, noun, a loud, emphatic, exclamation of extreme emotion, usually horror, fear, excitement et cetera. Can be the exclamation of a word, but is usually a sustained, high-pitched vowel sound, in any case, the loudest and most emphatic sound a human can make tends to be a scream. The term is not generally applied to sounds made by non-humans.'

'Well, now we all know what a scream is, can we all go back to sleep?' Mal didn't wait for an answer. Instead he walked over to the mattress and blanket that had been provided for him, ignoring the glare from Kaylee, and the confused looks Zoë and Wash were shooting at him from where they lay on their own mattress.

'What d'you think that was about?' Wash turned to his wife, who was still staring over at River.

'I ain't sure, but the Captain's right. That girls attracting a lot more attention than I'd like. Specially as her brother ain't here.'

Wash lay back down and stared at the ceiling. 'Where d'you reckon they are?'

'I dunno,' Zoë took one last at where Kaylee was pulling a blanket back over River, then snuggled into her husband's chest. 'I'm more concerned as to where we are…'

Wash nodded in agreement, though Zoë couldn't see, and thought back over the day's events.

After the men had surrounded them, there had been a short flurry of activity where Zoë and Mal had reached for their guns, but had been quickly dissuaded by the sheer amount of swords pointed at them.

They had been led from then on at sword point until they reached the village whereupon, it seemed as if the whole place rushed to watch them go through the narrow streets. Whispers followed them as they were openly gawked at, and fingers pointed.

They had eventually been led to a small shelter, in which they were fed and given water before all but Shepherd had been shown into the room strewn with mattresses and blankets. The Shepherd had been taken to a more refined room as, they explained, he was a religious man.

And now, here they were, told to stay in the room, and do nothing until sunrise.

'Zoë?'

'Yes, husband?'

'D'you reckon Jayne'll kill Simon?'

'Go to sleep, husband.'

xxx

'I am gonna gorram KILL you!'

'It's just a bird…'

'Yeah, an' I'm a hungry man with a big gun.'

'You're a boy with a toy.'

'A toy that can take your head off, no problem.'

Simon sighed. Again. He found he was doing that a lot lately, and he believed it to be the fault of the company he was presently keeping.

For about half an hour they had been chasing the one rather plump, but nifty, chicken that had somehow managed to get itself lost in the woods.

Simon felt vaguely sorry for the poor thing, having Jayne bear down on it every time it stopped, though the constant dull pain in his stomach served as a reminder as to why they were doing it.

Suddenly there was a squawk and a yell of, 'Gotcha! You ruttin…' and then Jayne came striding out of the bushes to where Simon stood, looking highly amused at the whole situation.

'Told ya I'd get 'im!' Jayne grinned proudly as he shoved the now dead chicken in Simon's face.

'You are indeed a strong and mighty hunter,' Simon pushed the chicken away, and sat down on the dusty ground.

'Least I caught it. You ain't done nuttin' as far as I can tell.'

'You realise that's a double negative… never mind. It'd be like explaining equations to a… well to you really.'

Jayne said nothing that time but instead put his hand on his bag that contained all his weaponry, reminding Simon of his previous warning. 'I ain't gonna kill ya, 'cos there's a lot of people who wont like that. But I will cut an arm off if it comes to it. And I think Mal'll realise the pointlessness of having a one armed medic.'

Later that evening, after the chicken had been plucked, cooked, inspected, then cooked again, Simon sat back against a tree and looked over at where Jayne was sharpening one of his knives.

'Jayne?'

There was a grunt in response.

'How lost are we?'

There was another grunt, and Simon decided to not press the matter further. He rolled over onto his side in a futile effort to find a soft patch of ground to lie on. Closing his eyes, he tried to sleep but found that he couldn't. All he could think about was River. How she was, whether she was doing alright without him and the medication he was carrying in his bag.

Forcing it from his mind, he fidgeted, and once again tried to sleep, again finding it impossible.

Except this time his mind was full of thoughts about Kaylee. His brows furrowed. Why was he worried about Kaylee? Her laugh echoed round his head, and he smiled without meaning to. She was so full of life and joy, always smiling. He couldn't imagine life without her…

Simon stopped himself. The thought had just come from nowhere, and he felt guilty that his focus hadn't been on his sister.

Mentally slapping himself, he finally managed to rest his mind and fell asleep.

Jayne, on the other side of the small fire, where the embers were now glowing a deep orange, looked over and glared at the snoring figure of the Doctor.

He hated people who snored, ever since he used to share that room with the smelly little chimp he used to work with.

All day he'd been trying to find a path or track that might have led them to the others, but to no avail, and the comments along the way hadn't helped.

Jayne was angry at the doctor for all his smart remarks, but he was angrier at himself.

It had seemed like a brilliant plan. Lead the Doctor off the path, pretend to be lost, scare the hwoon dahn, get his own back, find the track, be a hero.

But nothing had gone right. And now they really were lost.

Lost with a lot of guns, but lost none the less.

Jayne smacked his head with the palm of his hand, silently cursing himself.

He was fed up of being the big stupid one but…

'I ain't never gonna have brains like the rest of 'em.'

'Did you say something?' Simon sat up and looked blearily at the merc, who immediately went back to his knives.

'I ain't said nuttin' of importance. To you anyways.'

'You never say anything of importance.'

'Well, seein' as you're awake, stand up an' we'll get goin'.' Jayne stood, sheathed his knife and kicked dirt over the fire until it was out completely.

Wearily, Simon obliged and slowly got to his feet.

'You gotta be a bit more awake than that if we're gonna get you back with your sister.' Jayne lowered his voice. 'Even if she is a bit fong luh.'

'I'd rather have a crazy sister than you for a sibling.'

Both Jayne and Simon grinned as they continued walking, both careful not to let the other see. Over the past twenty four hours there had been pretty much no conversation, but more like a continuous tirade of insults. Jayne's had been more rude and course, involving copious amounts of swearing, whilst Simon's had been slightly more refined and witty. And at that moment, neither of them would have it any other way.

AN. Right, I'm done for now. It's 2.41 am, and I'm gonna stop there.

I wanted to write so much more but it's too late now. I'm far too tired.

Thanks again for the reviews, and I'll do a much bigger plot orientated chapter when I get back in 6 weeks. Promise.

Also… My spell check broke halfway through, so apologies for any wrong spelling etc.