Title: Underground Author: Leslie (spacemonkey43) (not Mordsith) Fandom: Firefly Characters: Kaylee Prompt: 6. Claws Word Count: 513 Rating: PG13 Author's Notes: This is Part One in a five part story that I'm co-writing with meimei42 XD The prompts we're using are from the 50_darkfics table. Also, My muse has been being a right pain in my ass, so please take that into account :p Ahh, and I'm not sure how the console/wave thingies work - so work with me there lol Tag mordsith!

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Kaylee clawed at the corner of the low ceiling, the only place where there was light coming in. She'd lost track of time of how long she'd been in this room, or how long she'd been trying to get out, but she seemed to be finally making some progress. Dirt was falling into her hair, her eyes, and her mouth. She wiped it away, spit it out, and kept digging. Finally a large chunk of the dirt ceiling gave way and fell to the floor. She managed to get a grasp on the wall and the ground above and climbed out. Kaylee found herself in the middle of a graveyard, surrounded only by the dead. She staggered and ended up on her knees and vomited. Wiping her mouth on the sleeve of her mechanics jumpsuit she shakily got up and made her way out of the graveyard.

She walked for what she was sure was miles before she got a glimpse of a town. Tired and weak as she was she went on until she made it into the town and went to the first house she saw in hopes of sending a wave to Serenity. When she knocked on the door a young woman answered. "Hi," Kaylee started "I'm really sorry to be bothering you but I was hopin' I could use your console to send a quick wave to my friends..?"

The woman took in Kaylee's dirty form. "Five minutes." was all she said and she moved to the side to let Kaylee through.

"Thank you." The woman pointed Kaylee to the console and she dialed up Serenity. Within seconds Mal's face appeared. "Cap'n!"

"Kaylee? Little girl, where are you?" Mal answered. He tried to sound calm, but you could hear his concern for the mechanic.

"I- I don't know. I jus-"

"Kaylee, never mind, we've got a fix on the console position. Can you stay there until we're able to get to you? Shouldn't take more'n a day."

"I don't think so Cap'n. Not here specifically. But I'll stay around town."

"You do that. See you soon." Mal's image blinked off. Kaylee turned off the console and made her way out of the house. The planets suns were setting and it was starting to get cold. Kaylee needed to find shelter for the night but didn't even know where to start looking. She wanted to stay as close to the coordinates that Mal had gotten from the console as she could. She walked about a half mile before she found anything that could be construed as shelter. It was more like a hollow in the side of a rock, but it would have to do. She managed to prop herself up in a not too uncomfortable way and fell asleep only because her body had been through so much during the day.

Hours later Kaylee woke with a start. She looked around to discover that she was no longer in her hollow. She took in the dirt floor and dirt walls, and the low dirt ceiling. She was back underground.