Mal felt the hands on his back. As he was rolled over he drew and aimed through the pain at his would be assailant. He saw Allison crouching over him.

“What happened?” he asked as he holstered his gun.

“Well when you went down, we put up a fight.” Allison shook his head “Then Simmons caught one in the brainpan. I went to reposition, but by the time I did the shooting had stopped.”

“What of the others, Ollie and…”

Allison drug Mal into the woods “His cousin Thurmond? I saw horses heading over the hill, might be they ran for it, hard to tell, couldn’t make out riders.” Allison tried to hide the sadness “Ollie was a good man, fine deputy. I hope he made it out.”

Mal looked back towards the cabin. Two men had captured their horses and were on the way back to the cabin. “How many are left?”

“I’ve seen five still moving, one of them is injured. Their packing up.” Allison stood and checked the load in his rifle “Guess I better get down there and see what I can do about it”

Mal looked at the man with the same look he gave River when she spouted nonsense. “You go out there they’ll kill you”

Allison held up his hands, Mal could see his fingers were turning blue. “We don’t get to that hover we’re going to freeze to death, assuming you don’t bleed out first. I know when you think of a sheriff, I’m not exactly what comes to mind. I’m pretty much henpecked by my wife. The town council thinks I’m a joke.” He stood a little straighter “But I am wearing this badge so I going to do my job…unless you want to call your ship to pick us up, maybe give me back those good you took from the mill?”

Mal pulled his gun.

“You gonna shoot me?” Allison asked.

“Thinking on it” Mal said grimacing. He reached into his coat and pulled out his com. The bullet that tore through his belly was lodged in the com. He tossed it to the snow. “How long you known?”

Allison grinned “Walter’s gang would have killed them guards outright. You let slip that bit about your ship. But mainly we don’t have a stage service.”

Mal smiled. He spun the pistol in his hand and offered it to Allison. “Give me the rifle. I’ll do what I can to cover you from here.

“Try not to die till I get back” Allison said as he broke cover.

Two members of the Walters gang were loading the hover. The other three were coming out the door. The adrenaline pushed Allison on. He charged through the snow pistol in each hand, he fired. Bullets struck both men at the hover, before they could hit the ground the remaining gang members returned fire. Mal opened up from the woods, striking a third. The last two hesitated just for a second. Not knowing which position to fire upon. It was all the opening Allison and Mal needed, each dropped one. Allison jumped into the hover and raced to Mal.

“I need to get you to town” Allison said, helping Mal into the hover.

“No, my ship” Mal gave him Serenity’s location and passed out.

Zoe and Kaylee were carrying the last of the gear back into Serenity when the hover came through the pass.

“Go get Jayne” Zoe said easing her hand towards her mare’s leg.

Allison lifted Mal out of the transport and both men fell to the ground. Zoe could see the blood stained snow beneath them.

“Kaylee!” she shouted “Get Simon.”

------------------------------------------- Allison drifted in and out of consciences. He was on a table in an infirmary. Mal was next to him on another exam table. A young man worked feverishly over Mal. “Zoe, check his vitals” he said pointing in Allison.

“Captain first” the woman Allison had seen when he pulled up, replied. Then the room went black.

Later when he awoke, he heard voices. “I treated the gunshot wounds. You saw Mal’s. The sheriff had a shoulder wound and a graze shot to the leg. Both showed signs of hypothermia and the sheriff had frostbite. I treated both with hydopol…”

“Is the Captain going to be ok?” I gentle voice asked.

“I’ve done all I can, we’ll have to wait.”

“I say we dump the lawman in the snow load up the goods and get out of here.” A gruff voice added.

“Jayne, this man brought back the Captain. When he comes to Mal will tell us how to handle it.”

“You mean if he comes to. Badger’s expecting a delivery. We sit and he ain’t…”

“Jayne, leave this room.” Allison passed out.

The next time he woke, the room was empty save he and Mal. He looked over at the man the crew called Captain. He was pale but breathing steady. Allison sat up and waited for the room to stop spinning. He looked around the room for his gun. It was nowhere to be found. He tried to stand, but stumbled.

“Might not want to do that” Mal said from the other table. “Doc’s big on doping folks so they don’t go hurting themselves.”

“I heard talk of dumping me in the snow” Allison said easing back onto the exam table.

“Not gonna happen. Get some rest.” Mal assured.

The next time he woke up, his head was clear. He was sore but could tell the worst was behind him. Next to him on a small table clothes, not his, the tin star pinned to the shirt. Also next to him was his gun belt and weapon.

“Yours were pretty shot up.” Zoe said from across the room.

Allison looked up and saw Mal was still out. He stood and dressed. As he put on his gun belt he eyed Zoe, closely.

“Captain told us everything.” Zoe stated “He said you weren’t to be harmed.”

“Even if I tried to arrest you for robbing the mill?” Allison said plainly.

“Can’t say all of us will go easy, but Captain seemed to think you wouldn’t do that, seeing as how the goods are outside, yours to return.” Zoe came around the table and extended her hand “Thank you.”

Allison shook her hand. “No need for thanks. He did just as much to save me as I did him.”

“That’s often the way of things in battle” Zoe said.

Allison moved slowly through the cargo hold. The Doctor was making a fuss over him. Handing him meds for the pain and instructing him on how to change his dressings. “I’d of faired much worse if the Doc in town had patched me up. The man’s much better with horses than folks” Allison assured shaking the young doctors hand. He could feel the eyes of a big intimidating man follow him. That must have been the one that wanted to leave him to die in the snow. Any uneasiness left him when Kaylee approached.

“Thanks for bringing back the Captain.” She said in a sweet voice. Then she gave him a quick hug and skipped aside the Doctor and wrapped her arm in his.

Allison nodded a goodbye to the rest of the crew and Zoe followed him outside. The snow had stopped. Allison crawled into the hover. Behind the seat was the cash from the bank job. Allison grabbed one of the three satchels and tossed it to Zoe.

“Tell Mal there is his reward.”

He pulled the hover clear of Serenity and watched as she lifted into the sky, melting all the snow around her. As she flew out of sight, Allison saw the goods from the mill. His eyes moved from the bags of money, to the boxes.

-------------------------------------------------

“I was wondering when I would be hearing from you” Badger said to Mal thought the video screen.

“Yeah, I’ve been busy” Mal winced as he adjusted in his chair. “About the job...”

“Yeah about that. When I hire someone, I expect them to finish the job. Not parse it out.” Mal tried to mask the confusion on his face as Badger continued. “I’ll pay you this time, minus the fee your confederate charged, because everything arrived on time. But don’t go expecting me to do so again unless we have discussed it in advance.’” Badger reached up to the corner of his screen “the money will be in your account” He flipped off the feed.

Mal sat back utterly confused by the whole conversation.

-------------------------------------------- Will Allison stood on the deck of his ship, the Escape. It was small, dirty and everything he dreamed of. He watched as his pilot and mechanic brought aboard their gear. Completing the deal with Badger on Mal’s behalf and the money from the bank job, had purchased the ship. He opened his wallet and looked at the last of the cash. Enough for a fuel stop, they would need to find work fast, he thought. He stepped to the cargo door and took one last look at the town in the distance. Cora would have written him off for dead by now. “Probably have to be nice to folks for a while till she lands another husband” He said to no one. He thought of flying over their home, maybe blasting the roof off as he took to the air, but decided against it. Better to put that behind him. There’s a whole verse out there just waiting to be explored.

As the Escape lifted off, a flash of metal caught the sun. On the ground sat Allison’s badge.

The End.