On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ten lords a-leaping

The crew sat in the booth, silently watching the replay of the day before. They for sure had not recovered from seeing Kaylee manhandled as she had been, or from Jayne’s display of killing fury.

The violence against Kaylee had affected them all. Zoë and the shepherd had gone all tight-lipped. The captain could hear Wash swearing over the Cortex and feel Simon’s silence. River was standing poised for action looking, for once, like the dangerous weapon she was. He had grasped hold of the girl’s arm to contain her and perhaps himself had felt her relax slightly just before Jayne had cut loose with a machine gun.

When the man had opened fire like that, the captain thought that Jayne had finally snapped.

But no, the machine gun had systematically swept the area cutting down first the guards and then the watchers. It wasn’t till the machine gun was empty that anyone had seen him. Jayne had burst from the bushes on the hillside dropping the machine gun and grabbing another weapon shooting on the run at the men surrounding Kaylee. When he ran out of bullets, Jayne had drawn his knife and slashed his way through anyone who prevented him from getting to the mechanic who was doing her best to help him achieve his goal.

The whole time the little mechanic was in the hands of the hun dans she had fought and fought. Several times she had nearly given them the slip causing them to get more violent with her. But she had never given up. The moment Jayne started shooting Kaylee had dropped to the ground and started crawling away heading toward the open ground. She had dodged and ducked till she arrived at the very edge of the clearing at the same time as Jayne who kept firing the whole way. It was Kaylee who had bent down and collected weapons as they ran.

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They had run and run. Jayne had had to get them away from there, quick as possible. Other hunters could’ve heard the shots, be on them like fleas on a dog. He still felt like go se and had to slow down after a while. Couldn’t stop though, he had to get them out of camera sight and back on their route.

Finally he felt that they were out of immediate danger and called a halt for now, they both needed a rest, a bit of time to get their emotions under control.

The moment they stopped Jayne had started to check Kaylee over for serious injuries. Without thinking his fingers had traced each bruise, each cut on her pretty skin wishin’ he could kill their enemies all over again. ****************************

She’d shot a man, it had been an accident. But she’d shot him. She could still hear the sound of the bullet hitting flesh and bone. The moan of pain the man gave as he fell, it made her feel sick.

If she could hear the shot and the moan, she could still feel the rough hands that had touched her. Felt her. Jubal Early had only talked ‘bout it. Those men had been goin’ to do it. Rape her, would have too ‘cept Jayne had stopped them.

They’d escaped and ran and ran. Only stoppin’ when Jayne was satisfied they were safe.

When they stopped they had held on to each other tightly. Kaylee had been shocked to discover that Jayne was shakin’ as much as she was. He had been concerned for her, was all, and checked her all over for injuries, been so gentle with her and angry at the bad guys.

That’s why when they had finally settled down to rest she’d asked Jayne if she could sit in his lap. She needed the comfort, the safety, thought he might need it too.

He hadn’t answered with words, just picked her up settling her on his lap. Kaylee put her head on his chest feeling his strong arms hold her close, and they had just sat, not talking, not sleepin’ all night.

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Red was panting; keeping up with the big huh choo-shang tza-jiao duh tzang-huo was exhausting him. But the hun dan had to die. So did little Miss Pretty, messing up his and Nate’s life, being the death of them. Nate was dead and he was going to get some revenge.

When the man had opened fire Red had automatically flung himself to the ground. Nate had been still stood, drawing his weapon when a shot caught him in the leg. Red saw him get back up and head toward the girl, and that was when the big man had slashed him, cut his throat. He was going to die, they both were.

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“Jayne still looked sick sir”

“That he did.” Aside from getting’ banged up and shot, Jayne hadn’t had a sick day since he came on board Serenity. “Do you have any ideas Doc, what might be ailing him?”

“I’m afraid not Captain. I thought perhaps it might be an infection from a wound, but given Jayne’s constitution I don’t think so.”

“Why’s that?”

“He always recovers very quickly from any infections.”

“Captain” Sir Warwick interrupted “I might have an answer for you.”

The lord had been circulating through the room all morning, stopping to chat here and there, placing bets and such.

“In order to make the prey more co-operative they are shot with tranquilizers.”

“Well that explains getting the drop on Jayne and him loosing his weapons” remarked Zoë.

“Why do I get the feeling that that ain’t all?” asked Mal

Sir Warwick said “You are correct captain. The tranquilizers typically contain some sort of compound which slows the prey down making them easier to hunt. The compounds are apparently unstable and can cause extreme problems for the poor souls, sometimes even killing them.”

“Doc, Jayne ain’t dead yet, can you figure out some sort of antidote?”

Simon thought carefully, “I may be able too, yes. However the longer the compound is in his system, the more dangerous it could be.”

“Shepherd, have you been tracking our people?” Mal had the beginnings of a plan.

“There’s been no sign of them today. But if Jayne and Kaylee continue at the pace they were going yesterday, they should arrive at the fence by tonight.”

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Kaylee was tired. They had been walkin’ all day. Dodgin’ the cameras, creepin’ through bushes, hiding from hunters, her nerves were all on edge. And she was worried ‘bout Jayne. The man was still sick, had to keep stoppin’ to throw up. He’d made himself eat somethin’ but kept loosin’ it.

‘Cause the man just kept goin’ and goin determined to get them to the fence, get them off this rock.

Jayne had explained that findin’ the fence was fine, but what they needed to do was find the gates, the ones that led to the port. The last couple of hours he’d been followin’ some sort of tracks that he thought might lead ‘em to the right place.

She jumped when he tapped her on the shoulder; he was standin’ with his head tilted to the side “Listen, Kaylee. What’s that sound?”

“That’s the electrics Jayne,” she was so relieved “we’ve found the gates.”

Huh choo-shang tza-jiao duh tzang-huo: Animal-fucking bastard.