He paced.
It was all he could do.
What was left? Inara was taken from him, Wash was gone, Simon was gone, Zoe was a shell…
Jayne was… Jayne. He walked by grumbling about kicking someone in the guizhong zhubao hard enough to make their brain explode. Book was trying to keep Kaylee from falling apart and River was talking to a section of panelling in the cargo bay. Whether this was more or less crazy than usual was still a matter of some consideration.
He walked back and forth in the small kitchen area, not willing to take the path around the table as he'd seen others do. The benefit of this was that he could pause at the coffee machine and scorch his tongue every few rounds. What was he supposed to do? However many times he thought about the situation he just didn't see any reasonable - or even unreasonable - solution. Who did you consult about something like this? Where did you go to escape?
Simon had a small amount of some drug that prevented dreaming but he had no idea which one it was and the doctor was dead. Whatever it was, it was probably also expensive. Impractical… He hated the idea of just laying down and dying but how was he supposed to fight?
The preacher seemed to think it was a demon and that was more in his domain but it didn't seem he had much hope, either. He paused, leaning against the counter and fighting back the need to punch something. Metal walls… metal walls mean broken bones… They'd dealt with this enough with Jayne. He glanced up at the sound of movement.
Book stood in the doorway looking concerned and puzzled. "Have… you seen Kaylee?"
"No, why? Thought she was with you." Mal frowned.
"Well, she was… I was trying to make her feel better and I swear I only closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them again she was gone. I must have drifted off…"
"Grab a coffee and see if River's still in the cargo bay. She'd probably have gone to talk to her." Mal said, pouring a cup and shoving it across the counter toward Book.
He nodded and accepted the cup. He was more than half through when he froze, eyes wide and staring with horror behind Mal.
With a deep breath the Captain turned to follow the gaze and saw a long, wavy curl of auburn hair draped over the edge of the trash can.