Perseus’ Arm looked like just about every other Rim world settlement that Simon had seen so far in his travels with Serenity. It was a mining/farming settlement with about two thousand people living either in town or on one of the many outlying farms. Perseus’ Arm wasn’t the largest settlement on the planet of Calabus, that honor belonged to Cassiopeia, the capital city that lay over four hundred miles from Perseus’ Arm. Thankfully, Calabus was a Rim world, and the Alliance presence was minimal. According to Captain Reynolds’s the closest Alliance patrol was at least five days away. Because of that, Captain was allowing Simon and River to accompany Jayne into town for supplies while he and Zoë met some potential clients for a nice smuggling job.

Simon would have liked to be with Kaylee, Serenity’s genius mechanic, but said mechanic had work to do on the ship, and Serenity’s infirmary needed supplies. He couldn’t trust Jayne to get the supplies correctly since the big merc couldn’t even pronounce or spell penicillin, much less any of the other drugs Simon needed to keep the infirmary stocked.

Simon was speaking to the general store owner getting an idea of what medical supplies the store had and comparing it mentally to the list he had. Behind him Jayne was gathering the other supplies they needed for the ship, foodstuffs mostly. They had just come off a good smuggling job that had paid rather well, and Captain had given Jayne enough money to buy some fresh vegetables and food staples like sugar and coffee that the crew had been doing without for quite awhile. Jayne also had clear instructions to get a receipt that the Captain could compare to the change that Jayne would return with.

River was walking behind Jayne, playing some type of game that Simon was finding amusing. She kept stepping in Jayne’s shadow moving quickly whenever Jayne did trying to always step in the big man’s shadow. What was amusing to Simon was the fact that River’s game was annoying Jayne.

The owner of the general store went back into his storeroom to get the medicines Simon was planning to purchase, and Simon waited leaning against the counter watching River playing her shadow stepping game while Jayne tried to ignore her, but not really succeeding. But suddenly, River stopped, allowing Jayne’s shadow to move away from her. Simon saw the strange look on her face, and stood up straight at the same time that Jayne realized his shadow-chasing pest wasn’t following him anymore. They both looked at her the same time she screamed.

River’s scream was echoed by several other screams coming from outside the store. Simon ran to River’s side just as Jayne ran outside the store dropping the items he had been planning to buy.

Simon tried to calm River holding her to him tightly while rubbing her back in slow comforting circles. Then Jayne came back inside the general store, his face betraying his fear.

“Reavers,” he said. His pistol was in his hand, ready to kill either the Reavers or them depending on how the outcome looked. Simon was grateful that Jayne had come back for them.

Behind them the general store owner was loading his own rifle. “There are some caves about half a mile outside of town. They are kept stocked for this situation. We are going to be getting the women and children there, you are welcome to take your sister there.” The man said.

Simon thanked the man and followed him and Jayne out of the store. Jayne handed Simon a smaller pistol that he kept tucked in his boot. “Only six shots make him count if you can doc. Leave at least two for yourself and your sister, just in case.”

Simon nodded.

Outside the general store, Simon could see the large Reaver ship hovering over the city with ropes coming out of its opened hatch. Reavers were sliding down those ropes to the ground below, while others were already attacking the knots of villagers who were desperately trying to leave the town. Each group of women and children were being herded by men armed with rifles who were holding off the Reavers as best as they could.

“These people ain’t going to go down easy.” Jayne said with a note of admiration in his voice.

“No, we ain’t.” the general store owner said as he aimed his rifle at a woman being raped by two Reavers. He killed her quickly, getting the Reavers attention. The two horribly disfigured creatures charged at them but died when Jayne’s bullets entered their brains and blew out the back of their skulls.

“This way.” The storeowner said, and with Jayne taking up the rear they followed the man threw the streets toward the edge of town.

Suddenly a familiar noise had them looking up in time to see Serenity take off. The Reaver ship acted like a cat that had just seen a running mouse. It took off after the Firefly, actually dragging a few Reavers still clinging to the ropes until they fell off in flight. Serenity had a head start and was breaking atmo while the larger Reaver ship was still several miles behind it. Simon couldn’t tell if Serenity would make it or not, but by getting the Reaver ship to chase her, she was giving those on the ground a better chance of survival.

Just as they were reaching the edge of the town, they came across two women with six children running together in a group, while a dozen Reavers were charging them, trampling over the bodies of three dead men.

Jayne and the storeowner shot at the Reavers, which got their attention. Jayne shouted at Simon, “Get them and your sister to them caves!” He shot again at another Reaver, and then another.

Simon looked at Jayne in surprise, and then nodded his head understanding passing between them. He grabbed River’s hand and hauled her away toward where the women and children were running. Behind him he could hear the blasts of Jayne’s gun as well as the rifle belonging to the storeowner.

“No, Jayne!” River cried and tried to go back, but Simon held on to his sister’s wrist so tightly he was afraid he would break the delicate bones. He would not let them monsters have her, nor would he let Jayne’s sacrifice be in vain.

They reached the caves, which were blocked off by metal doors that could be bolted from the inside. Once inside the caves, Simon looked around saw several men reloading weapons and picking up other more powerful weapons to load.

“Here son,” a man said handing Simon a larger pistol.

Simon took the gun when he realized these men intended to go back into town to rescue those they could and kill as many Reavers as they could. Simon turned to one of the women that had led them to the cave, “Could you watch my sister for me please?” Simon asked.

“Of course, she’ll be fine. The doors can be locked and there is plenty of food and water.”

“Mei mei, I need you stay here. I am going back with these men.” Simon said.

“Jayne.” Was all River said, it wasn’t a question. Simon nodded at her. If Jayne was still alive, then Simon intended to find him.

Simon followed the men out of the caves. Fortunately several of the ranchers and farmers had brought horses and Simon was handed the reins of the one of the saddled mounts. Once the armed men were saddled up, they rode back toward town preparing to take it back from the monsters.

********************************************

Jayne was in hell. Of that he was sure. He and the storeowner were holding of the two dozen or so Reavers who had joined the group that had been chasing the women and children. Taking cover behind some crates, they had held them off as long as their ammo held. Eventually, the last bullet was spent, and all Jayne could do was unsheathe Binky, and defend himself as the dozen or so Reavers that were left attacked them.

He had lost Binky some time ago, he couldn’t recall how. Binky wasn’t the only thing that was lost. The storeowner turned out to be one of the not so lucky ones. Three Reavers were skinning him alive while eating chunks of the man’s flesh. The storeowners scream had finally died sometime ago. Jayne tried not to think to hard about that.

Jayne still fought. He refused to just lay there and let them do what they were already doing. He bit and clawed, and snapped a few bones with his hands, trying to ignore the pain from his dislocated hip, the burning pain coming from where two very impatient Reavers were sharing him. Two cocks pierced along the shafts with metal bits and hooks were tearing through his rectum at the same time. So far the rape was the worst of it, unlike the storeowner they had not yet decided to eat on him or skin him.

The Reavers who had been eating on the now dead storeowner joined the group trying to rape Jayne to death. They used their weight and strength to stop Jayne’s feeble struggles, breaking a couple of bones in the process. They just added to the pain. Then one of the Reavers used a knife and started the skinning process just above the back of Jayne’s left shoulder, while yet another decided to get a little taste of Jayne meat.

Others replaced the two Reavers’ cocks while those who had finished took the place of those beating on him or trying to skin him. Jayne’s left leg had been dislocated from its hip socket in their attempt to rape him. Other impatient Reavers decided that his mouth was just as good as his ass, and the metal bits tore at his throat making him swallow blood, puss and cum. Jayne would have thrown up had anything left in his stomach.

Then the sound of pounding hooves reached Jayne’s ears. The tired, hurting and broken mercenary barely registered the sound, nor did he even cheer when the sound of gunshots reverberated through the air. He lost consciousness when the three Reavers raping his body were suddenly torn loose.

********************************************8

Simon had seen all kinds of bodies. He was a doctor after all, a trauma surgeon. He had seen the many and varied types of traumas that can occur to the human body. He’d even seen the results of Reaver attacks. But none of those bodies had ever been someone he knew personally. Someone who had actively dislikes him and his sister, someone who had sacrificed himself to save them.

Training kicked in, however, and Simon checked for a pulse. He was shocked to find one, thready and weak that it was. He had his doctor’s bag with him and immediately opened it preparing a shot of a drug that could help with the shock and maybe increase Jayne’s heart rate, but he knew that without medical facilities he was only delaying the inevitable.

“You are doctor, son?” One of the men asked. Simon only nodded as he injected the mercenary.

“We gotta clinic in town. Fully stocked. Our doctor though got himself shot. He’s alive but he ain’t going to be doing no doctoring anytime soon.”

“I will help as I can. Can we get him to the clinic please? We’ll need a stretcher.” Simon looked up at the man who had spoken. The man nodded and called for a stretcher.

The Reavers who were left had all been killed. Neither the Reaver ship nor Serenity had returned. Simon tried not to think about what that could mean. He concentrated on keeping Jayne alive, following beside the stretcher that took them into the clinic.

The man who had ordered the stretchers seemed to be in charge. He sent the nurses that worked for the town’s doctor along with others who had similar training to Simon. Simon was quick to organize them into triaging the patients that were being brought in and well as an area for those who could to give blood.

Several hundred stitches later, plus two pints of blood, Simon managed to stop the bleeding on the big merc. Once he was sure Jayne was out of danger for the moment, Simon turned to his other patients, instructing nurses as needed.

The town’s saloon and hotel had been cleared out and prepared to take the wounded, which weren’t as many as Simon had feared. The town had been prepared for any attack, whether by Reavers or pirates.

Simon only lost two patients that night: a woman who had lost more blood than Jayne had, and a child who had been half eaten. It was a miracle that either one of them had been alive when they had been brought in.

When all the patients had been seen to, Simon went back into one of the clinic’s room were Jayne lay still unconscious and hooked to IV’s. Simon was surprised to see River sitting in a chair beside the bed.

“Monsters were gone, lambs no longer hidden.” River told Simon before he could say anything.

Simon only nodded. He was too tired at the moment to try and understand her. Instead he checked Jayne’s vitals glad to see that they were strong. Once that was done he allowed River to guide him into a chair. One of the nurses brought him some bread and cheese. Simon vaguely remembered telling her his thanks.

River coaxed him into eating before allowing him to curl up on a pallet made in the floor. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

A few hours later he was awakened by one of the nurses.

“Sheriff Tanner would like to talk to ya.” The nurse said.

A fear froze in his heart. He was a wanted fugitive, he could only think of one reason for a sheriff to want to talk to him.

Sheriff Tanner turned out to be the man who had taken charge. If he knew about Simon’s and River’s fugitive status he gave no sign. Instead he offered Simon a job replacing the now healing town doctor. Offered him a place for him, his sister and Jayne to stay.

Serenity had not returned. Knowing the captain, Simon knew that meant Serenity couldn’t return for whatever reason. He tried not to think about what that reason could be as he accepted the offer from the Sheriff. The town needed a doctor, and Jayne would need a safe place to recover from his ordeal. And Simon needed to be needed.