She was avoiding me, not spoken to me since the funeral. She was heavy, her heart dragged her down. Didn’t like me sitting where he had, doing as he’d done. Didn’t understand, didn’t want to. Felt safer inside herself, wouldn’t tell anyone, wouldn’t let herself cry. Didn’t understand I hadn’t been lying.

She stood in the door, preparing to leave before she’d arrived. “River, Captain wants you on the bridge now.”

Mal had just told her to clean out his stuff. She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t forget. His face pierced her thoughts every moment of every day. I saw her pain every day but she did not see what she thought she did. He was not dead.

I told her, but she’d been avoiding me, didn’t understand.

“Stop drowning in sorrow. He doesn’t need that, not now.”

Zoë just stared at me. She didn’t want to understand. At the funeral I had tried to explain. He hadn’t been in the earth, he hadn’t been put in the earth. She didn’t have to hurt. She didn’t want to understand.

Simon had hushed me. He always thought I was being rude, but I was only telling the truth. No one understood, why would no one –"

“Just be upstairs.”

She left me and I stood for a moment feeling the emptiness of my room. She didn’t want me to go upstairs. She didn’t want me where Wash should’ve been. She’s empty and hollow and alone.

~

“So what’s our next move?”

We sat in a corner escaping the rays of a sun rising over the imperial city. I still felt shell-shocked after the past few hours.

Navigating the hospital wasn’t the only problem. I also had to cope with a near heart attack every turn as we came face to face with more doctors and more official looking official looking members of the Alliance. I suppose it's the Alliance icy attitude that stopped them from recognising me as a fraud. I wasn’t forced to speak once, that as until we came to a dead end.

“Do they not have fire escapes in this place?” I asked, my voice involuntarily high pitched.

“Yes, but they’d all be alarmed. We just need to find a back door. Turn around. Don’t panic.” She was so cool.

“I’m finding it a bit difficult not -”

“Hey! What are you doing in here? This is off limits!” A doctor was pacing towards me.

“I seem to be a bit lost. I am escorting this patient from the building,” I said.

“What?” the Doctor cried incredulously. “Who are -”

Before he could finish Eve had jumped to her feet and delivered a jaw dropping kick to the head. The doctor collapsed in a heap.

“Oh, this has got a lot easier,” Eve said. I just stood staring completely gormless while she undressed the man. “Look! Now I can be a Doctor!”

I turned as she began to strip, my cheeks flushing. “You’ll have to keep your face down though. That Tattoo makes you kind of noticeable.”

We found an exit though, eventually. “Gos-se! Eve! It’s not working,” I cried wiggling my card in the slot. Luck run out?

“Come here.” She pushed me aside and tried hers. The red lights kept flashing like a nightmare. How could we get this far and –

“I’d put your hands up if I were you.” My blood froze. “Don't move. Don’t turn.” The command came from right behind us. How had we not noticed? Luck run out? I caught Eve’s eye. Not now, we can’t be stopped now. Zoë.

Eve spun on one foot, bringing the other up in the air, catching the Officer off guard, knocking his weapon to the ground. Fear pierced his eyes as she stepped into a neat front kick, square in the face.

She grabbed his key card and a pistol from his waist and we had escaped.

The night air greeted me like I had just come clawing from my grave and into the fresh air. I grasped. “Come on, chubby. We ain’t free just yet.” [p] Now I looked at her curiously. “‘Our’ next move? Are we a ‘we’?”

She laughed. “Oh come on, Honey. You can’t make it alone, not now you’re on the run, and I’ve got no reason to hang in Ariel. I feel like being charitable. ‘Sides, might be fun. Fancy seeing this warrior woman you owns you.”

“She doesn’t -” I began, but didn’t, couldn’t, go on. I didn’t even know if she was alive. I didn’t understand. If they weren’t why would I matter so much to the Alliance, and if they were, well, how had I got in the hands of the Alliance? Why hadn’t they devised some way of breaking me out? 3 months! “Eve, I don’t even know if she’s alive! I don’t know where in the ‘verse my crew would be if they are alive. They’re wanted by the Alliance. I doubt they’ll be publicising their whereabouts. We have no money, no boat. I’m lost.”

“Aw… didums,” she feigned sympathy. “Glad you got that off your chest. Now. I’m gonna take a wild guess here and say your ‘crew’ are scavengers, or pirates or whatever you wanna call it, who got on the wrong side of the Alliance one too many times. Correct?”

I nodded.

“Then a really good place to start, don’t you think is to get back to a world of the living where honest criminals can be honest criminals and… not so honest ones can be that too, right? Ask around, maybe have a chat with some of your old business associates. If your crew are dead, everyone will know, if not, well! I’m sure we can find something!”

Somehow she made it sound so much easier! I smiled. “If I had any money I’d buy you a drink!”

“Oh, you can use this,” she said, tossing me a purse of coins.

“Wait! Where did you…”

“See the comatose man on the bar? Figured he wouldn’t need another drink for a while…” Eve grinned an evil grin I was beginning to like.

I shook my head in disbelief.

~

The Federal Agent stood up slowly, extending his body to its full height so he could tower over the Officer before him. “Would you repeat that please?” His voice was deep so, though barely louder than a whisper, it thundered around the room.

“He broke from the hospital, Sir, with help from an unknown prisoner. How do you want us to proceed?”

The Agent was wearing dark shades so it was impossible to say where he was staring, but after a moment her replied. “Do not. You do not need to proceed. He does not know he is chipped. He might just lead us exactly where we want to go.”

The Agent did not smile, but the Officer did. “Of course…” he muttered.

“Watch him carefully. If it seems he has apprehended us, move in. Understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

This is going to be interesting, the Agent thought, sitting back down in his stiff black suit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

cue dramatic music!! sorry if its too short... i can only justify to myself so much time away from my history coursework... i'll try and post one every day though until the conclusion =D