I woke up suddenly, sitting up with my gun in my hand with no real memory of what woke me. I looked around my dimly lit room, glanced at the door, then put my gun away. I’ve heard tell that older folks can have imaginary enemies. Well, I’ve got real ones a-plenty without dragging in no imaginary ones. Still, there’s something poking in the darker recesses of my mind. There’s something not quite right somewhere close.
I slipped on my pants and stepped out into the hallway, gun still in my hand. I could hear tense voices towards the bridge, so I sidled up that way. Most of the crew was already up there, a-looking out the window at another ship passing close by. Zoe saw me and alerted the captain by saying “sir” and slanting her head my way. Mal shot a quick glance at me, shrugged his shoulders a little, and went back to watching the ship. I saw Jayne there, with a sidearm, looking pale. Kaylee and the Shepherd were standing by the door, staring out the window as well. The young girl padded up behind me, eyes wide in terror. “Reavers”, she whispered. I’d only seen a couple of Reaver ships, and that was enough to keep me away from them. Reavers looked like humans, but anything that is cannibalistic, vicious, and just plain evil is surely beyond my understandin’.
We all watched them until they faded off into the distance, no one saying much of anything. I put my shooter in my waistband, not wanting to flaunt it, hung around there a bit more, then turned to go back. The young girl glanced up at me with a knowing look and told me that I knew who she was. I gave her a smile, told her I reckoned so, and added the same theme that I’d been a-saying for some time now, that I was retired. She reached up to my face, her touch light as a butterfly’s wing, and told me that I had a nice moustache. She then sorta giggled and ran off. I went back to my bunk with more puzzles to ponder. I ‘spect I was more comfortable when things were more black and white. Huntin’ down folks is easy; bein’ retired seems to be harder than I’d have thought.
Tags: 'verse, bounty hunter, fanfiction, firefly, journal, reavers, serenity
February 28, 2008 at 5:46 am |
“Well, I’ve got real ones a-plenty without dragging in no imaginary ones. ”
Great line!
February 28, 2008 at 7:28 pm |
Thanks, Kym. I’m really appreciating your comments. Please keep them coming.
February 29, 2008 at 2:49 am |
As long as you keep writing good stuff, I’ll keep reading–no problem!