When they came, nobody noticed somehow. Alice's house had been at the edge of the town and but she had somehow heard the first scream. When she looked out her window and saw the ships hovering in the sky, the monsters sliding down the long ropes and dropping into the town, she screamed. “Oh, tyen shiao duh!” She had lived with the knowledge that the Reavers often attacked planets on the rim, and Keats was at the very edge of space but the realization of her worst nightmare was too much of a shock. Her mind was panicking because her body would not move. She knew she needed to grab the shotgun on top of the dresser—it was already loaded in case of scenarios such as this—but she did nothing but stare at the window.

The screams from the town were audible and she could even see small figures fleeing from the Reavers. It wasn't hard to tell who was who—within minutes, the ones screaming on the ground were Alice's friends and acquaintances, the ones on top of them, slicing at those same friend's flesh were the Reavers.

It seemed as if hours had passed, and perhaps they did, but one by one the screams became fewer and quieter. Alice's entire body shuddered as she saw figures rising from what was left of the corpses on the ground and skitter across the ground, spreading out beyond the town, searching for more victims. It was common sense that made her finally reach for her only weapon. She kept her eyes on the door as she made sure the shells were loaded properly. With the barrel to her throat she could just barely reach the trigger.

When the door crashed in, sending wooden shrapnel across the room, there was nothing to see but a once beautiful woman lying on the ground, her life ended by her own hand.

* * *

I was in church when the bell began ringin' and ma got an awful look of fear in her eyes. Seemed everyone else did too, 'cept for the Shepherd, but his mouth was movin in what seemed like a prayer. Everyone began movin instantly and ma jumped up, pulling me after her. “Kaliandra, come on!” Ma'd never seemed so scared in her life, or so I thought, but I went with her because she had said to. I was only eleven and didn't have a notion a being my own woman or nothing of the such. As ma dragged me along the dusty street towards the bank I saw why everyone was screaming. Three ships were flying down towards the town, and even I knew what kinda ships they were.

“Chiu” I cursed and quickened my step.

It was too late though. One of them dropped on my ma first and I couldn't think but scream as I saw it bite straight into her throat. I saw her bleed, her scream gargled by the blood in her own mouth. I couldn't run but I didn't know what else to do.

One of them grabbed me from behind, sharp fingernails ripping into my shoulder. I screamed louder than I'd ever screamed before and tried to claw at the Reavers hand but it seemed not to feel it at all. I had heard the stories, much as ma had tried to keep me from them. They were all true.

It was an hour before my broken body finally gave up its spirit.

* * *

The orders had been vague but they followed them. Whatever reason the Alliance had for sending them it would be good, and the Operative that was relaying them aboard one of the larger ships in the fleet was adamant.

The I.A.V. Mad Hatter was insignificant compared to even the smaller cruisers that had been deployed just inside the ion cloud that covered the planet which everyone knew to be reputed as home to a mysterious figure who titled himself Mr. Universe. The Mad Hatter was a Lunar Hopper, a ship designed, as the name suggested, to patrol between moons. For its size, it had a sizable weapons array but would only pose a danger to smaller smuggling ships.

The entire command crew suddenly burst out laughing as a small Firefly class ship burst through the ion cloud, racing towards the fleet. Almost instantly, the Operatives voice came over the comm, “Vessel in range. Lock on.”

The Mad Hatter's weapons chief had just locked on to the Firefly when he cried, “Holy wo de ma! Tyen shiao duh, Reavers!” It was surreal how such a massive fleet could simply just appear. A seemingly endless numbers of Reaver ships materialized through the ion cloud. Near a hundred mutilated ships raced towards them. The weapons chief didn't bother to wait for the order to fire and let its guns loose on the largest ship in the Reaver's fleet.

Within moments the entire Alliance fleet had engaged the Reavers, the Firefly long forgotten. The Mad Hatter's small size was a blessing as the Reavers let their own weapons go, targeting the larger ships first. The mangled corpses strapped to the Reaver ships' hauls were enough to demoralize any man and even the most disciplined of the soldier couldn't hide their revulsion.

Suddenly, something huge crashed into the Mad Hatter, haul breach warnings suddenly flaring and screaming in the air. The captain gave the abandon ship order almost immediately, the damage appearing severe from the monitors. It was, however, too late.

It was a Reaver ship that hit them, and within moments they had plugged the hole, pressurized the damaged area of the Mad Hatter and were boarding. More alerts began popping up on the deck but it was only when he heard the screams did he know what was going on.

He ordered the self-destruct but grabbed the helm himself and steered straight towards the biggest Reaver ship. He'd be damned if he went down without taking some of them with him.

* * *

It was near noon on the prison colony when they came. Reports had just come in to the guard tower about Reaver sighting within a couple hours and they had been on alert since. In all truth, there were some of guards there who were glad to see them—or as glad as one can see to see a crossover between man and the devil. They spent a good part of their lives watching over murderers and rapists and thieves and if, accidentally, a couple hundred of them were killed...well, who would notice?

For one, the prisoners would. They were more unprepared than the weakest settlement on the rim and even more unprotected. Every now and again there was a spear or bow that some prisoner had made and even two guns that had been snitched from the guards but there was not enough to do more than splinter a few Reavers.

When the moment came, however, the prisoners gave a fight to be worthy of song. The men of the colony were hard and had survived the harsh planet and each other and fought violently with the weapons they had and when there were no weapons they fought with their hands and when they were too weak to fight any more, they died.

In the end, there was no chance.

* * *

There was a draft, but that was to be expected in the vent. It was cold as it ran towards the engine of the ship to keep it cool but it was different than usual—there was a feel to it, and a stench. Aaron Parino had often made use of the vents to hide in from his mum and big brothers and he knew them intimately. Blindfolded, he could crawl from one side of the ship to the other and slip passed anyone who was looking for him.

But today...something was in the air. A scent. A putrid scent of blood sweat and tears. A silent echo, screaming out in memory of a nightmare that forgot to wake up. “Won't look,” he whispered, a tear sliding down his dirty face. “Promised I wouldn't look.”

He didn't look. But he still heard. He had heard the screams, the cries of torture, endless torture as the Reavers....no, he couldn't think about it! “See no evil, hear no evil, do no evil.” Aaron's entire body shook from the cold and his fear. His mother and brothers couldn't fit in the vent, even he was growing to big for it, and they didn't have anywhere to hide. The screams had long since gone silent but they pounded in his ears nonetheless, crying out for vengeance, crying out for peace.

He would wait. His mother told him to wait, and little boys should obey their mothers. It was cold but not cold enough to cry. The Reavers were being quiet, he wasn't sure if they were still on the ship or not, but they wouldn't be able to find him. All he had to do was wait, his mother had said, and somebody would come and rescue him. Of course, that had been a game at the time, and this wasn't a game—this was life and death. But they would still come.

Wouldn't they come?

* * * * *

A/N: “tyen shiao duh” translates, roughly, “In the name of all that's sacred”

“Wo de ma” is “mother of God”

“Chiu” is “Damn” or similar expletive.

Comments are appreciated. Flames pretty much just amuse me but constructive criticism is nice. I know I could go through, edit it and make it much, much better but I don't feel like it.