"River!" Simon pushed his way through the crowded street frantically calling out for his sister. She was there! He had just seen her. Where was she? There were too many people. Too many people keeping him from getting to her. From rescuing her.
Didn't they know she needed him?
"Get out of my way!" He yelled at the people blocking his path. He craned his neck, vainly trying to see over the crowd. He caught a glimpse of River's dark hair through the sea of people, but as quickly as he saw her, he lost her again.
"River!" he yelled again as he was carried away by the crowd.
"River!" he called her name again, hoping to catch her attention.
River turned and looked at him, her eyes empty and devoid of any feeling. She stared at him. Her gaze penetrated his soul and scratched at the surface of his mind, like an itch that he couldn't reach.
"River!" he screamed. But then she was gone.
Simon sat up in bed panting heavily, his body drenched with sweat. He ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed his eyes.
A dream. It was just a dream.
The steady hum of the ship's engine connected him to reality as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat on the edge. He felt the cool metal of the floor beneath his feet, a reminder of where he was.
"Bao bei?" Kaylee sat up sleepily and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Simon, what's wrong?" Simon shuddered and took a deep breath.
"It's nothing, Kaylee," he replied after he had caught his breath. "Go back to sleep."
"It's not nothing," Kaylee responded. "Did you have a nightmare?"
Simon shrugged off Kaylee's embrace and stood up. In a swift movement, he pulled on his shirt and walked over to the hatch.
"I said it's nothing," he said as he climbed up the ladder, leaving Kaylee alone and confused. Fighting back her tears, she drew the blankets up closer and lied back down on the bed. Taking a trembling breath, she wiped away a few tears that managed to escape and buried her head in her pillow.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
With a sigh she finally let go and sobbed into her pillow.
Jayne sat alone in the mess hall, polishing his guns. The smooth back and forth movement calmed him and right now he needed all the calm he could get.
Two weeks.
Two weeks they had been floating out in this god-forsaken stretch of Black with nary another living soul to be seen, cept what was on this boat and two of those were near ghosts anyhow, far as he could tell.
It was all downright unsettlin'.
Jayne glanced up as Zoe walked silently into the mess hall and pulled a mug out of the cupboard above the sink. He watched as she poured herself a drink and leaned up against the counter, losing herself to her thoughts as she sipped at the beverage.
"Something interestin' Jayne?" she asked, an eyebrow raised and her expression tight.
"Nope." Jayne quickly looked back down at his guns and picked one up. His grip on the weapon faltered for a moment as he glanced back up at the woman still standing by the sink.
"How much longer we gonna be out here, Zoe?" he questioned. His usual strong voice tinged with apprehension and something else Zoe couldn't quite identify. Placing her cup on the countertop, she crossed her arms and took her natural strong stance before she answered his question.
"Until we find what we came out here for," she replied but that wasn't a good enough answer for Jayne. He'd been through a lot in his lifetime before finally finding a crew he could call family. But as far as he could tell, continuing on in the direction they was going was suicide.
"And how long is it gonna be until we find it? Folks are getting a mite tetchy round here," he asked, his guns forgotten on the table in front of him. Zoe sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I don't know," she replied, her strength faltering. The past two weeks had been hard on everyone and the cracks were starting to show. "I just can't give up on them. Mal wouldn't give up on any of us."
"I ain't giving up." Jayne leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "Hell, I ain't ever been with a crew long as this one. That's gotta mean something in the 'verse, right?"
"S'pose it does." Zoe walked over and sat in the chair across from the mercenary, propping her feet up on the table.
"Mal's done a lot for me, ya know. I know I oughtta repay the favor." Jayne began fidgeting with the edge of his oil rag. "Tell ya the truth, l'il Crazy's grown on me too."
"Well now, that's mighty touching, Jayne." Zoe leaned back in her chair and gazed at the mercenary. She never knew him to be forthcoming with his feelings and this moment of confession was a tad disturbing for her to hear.
"Way I figure it, folks don't have to be blood to be family." Zoe nodded in agreement. "But that don't mean they're any less close to ya."
"Why you telling me all this, Jayne?" Zoe interrupted. "If this is s'posed to be some sort of confession, I ain't no Shepherd."
"Ain't meaning it to be a confession, Zoe," came the reply. "But ya gotta remember we're the ones that're still alive. Ain't nothing wrong if we keep on livin'."
Jayne stood and gathered his tools together, wrapping them carefully into his leather carrying case. As he collected his guns and headed for the door, he turned and spoke once more.
"Mal would be proud of the way you've handled his ship, Zoe."
As he left, Zoe pondered his statement. Mal would be proud.
Would he? Zoe didn't know for certain. Sure, she'd kept them all from killing each other these past two weeks, but what was the point if they were all gonna die anyhow?
With a sigh, Zoe rose from her chair and stalked off in the direction of the infirmary. It wouldn't do her any good to dwell on their present situation. She was doing the right thing. She had to be. Otherwise she was sentencing them all to a cold, heartless death.
Where was the honor in that?
Simon was bent over his instrument panel, lost in his own world as he checked in the status of his two comatose patients.
Two weeks had passed and they showed no sign of improvement. A man could only survive without his mind for so long and Simon wasn't sure how much longer that was.
Aggravated, he sat up straight and rubbed his eyes. He was tired. He hadn't slept, hadn't eaten in days. He had gone over the same readouts and the same body scans for days and had found nothing new. With a heavy sigh he stood up from his stool and watched as it was knocked onto the ground. With a frustrated yell he kicked it across the room and winced as it barely missed Zoe.
"Sorry," Simon said, his cheeks tinged red and his face grim. "I didn't see you there." Zoe cocked an eyebrow and glanced down at the stool by her feet.
"Obviously," she replied. "How is he?"
"Mal?" Zoe nodded. Simon sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know." He paused for a moment and leaned against the counter.
"He's deteriorating, Zoe," he said after a minute of silence. "If we don't find this planet soon and set things right, he'll die and there's nothing I can do to stop it."
Zoe opened her mouth to respond when Jayne's voice came booming through the overhead comm system.
"Zoe, Simon, get down to the engine room now!" Simon jumped up and ran out of the room when Jayne's voice was followed by a loud, piercing shriek that could only belong to one person: Kaylee.
With Zoe hot on his heels, Simon quickly reached the engine room and stopped short in the doorway at the sight that greeted him. Jayne was bent over the huddled and quivering form of the usually cheerful mechanic. Tears streamed down her face as she shook and backed away from the hulking mercenary.
"What the hell's going on here?" Zoe authoritative voice rang through the ruckus. Jayne jumped back and looked at her, wide eyed and fearful.
"I dunno what happened!" he exclaimed as Simon pushed him out of the way and knelt down by Kaylee. "I came in here and she was like this. All whimpering and scared-like." Simon glared up at him.
"What did you do to her?" he demanded. Jayne held up his hands and backed away from the angry doctor.
"I ain't done nothing to her," he replied, his face hardening. "She was like this when I got here. I told ya that."
"You must have done something," Simon retorted. Zoe stepped in between the two men, intervening before things got out of hand.
"Hey now!" she commanded. "Let's not be making accusations. Simon, she gonna be okay?" Simon turned his attention back to the simpering mechanic and gently brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"Kaylee," he said tenderly as he lifted her chin so she was looking at him. "Bao bei, are you alright?" Kaylee whimpered softly as she gazed into his eyes.
"Simon?" she questioned quietly before she clambered into his arms, holding onto him tightly. "We're all gonna die, Simon!" Simon shushed her and gently stroked her grease-soaked hair.
"No, bao bei, we aren't going to die," he responded. Kaylee pulled back, her face panic stricken and her eyes wide.
"Yes, we are," she answered, wiping away the tears. "We're gonna die because we don't have enough fuel to get back and we don't even know where we're headed. It's been two weeks! Two weeks! How'd that man even reach Earth-that-was so fast, anyhow? He's a demon! I just know it! And he means to kill us if the Black don't get us first." Kaylee collapsed on the floor and sobbed hysterically.
"Get her out of here, Simon." Simon glanced up at the harshness in Zoe's tone. "Get her some place else, someplace calming." Simon could only nod at the woman's command as he gathered Kaylee up into his arms and carried her out of the engine room. Zoe put out one hand to stop Jayne from following them. A silent look passed between the two warriors as they both recognized what was beginning to overtake the crew.
"Space psychosis," Jayne muttered silently. "Think what she's said is true?" Zoe shrugged and looked away, unwilling to meet his piercing gaze.
"Might be, Kaylee knows this ship better than anyone," she replied after a moment. "She'd know if we had enough to get us back."
"Then we're gonna die out here?" Zoe finally met the mercenary's eyes, her face grim and foreboding.
"Perhaps not," she answered. "I'm counting on something else she mentioned."
"What's that?" he questioned, a look of askance plastered across his face.
"That man ain't a demon, Jayne," Zoe said. "He had to get out here faster than us. I'm just hoping that whatever way got him out here will get us back."
Before Jayne could reply, the harsh noise of the proximity alarms sounded throughout the corridors and the ship suddenly dropped out of hyperspace. The ship lurched violently, throwing both Jayne and Zoe off balance.
"What the gorram sphincter of hell was that?" Jayne exclaimed.
"Dunno. You stay down here and man the engines, Jayne," Zoe replied as she pulled herself upright and held onto the bulkhead for support. "I'll be on the bridge."
Another violent lurch nearly threw Zoe off balance again, slamming her against the wall as she made her way from the engines to the bridge. Silently, she prayed to whatever gods were in the sky that they made it out of this situation alive.
The sight that greeted her when she reached the bridge left her speechless. Approaching them fast, was Earth-that-was.