Reavers weren’t exactly known for their genius, which was probably why Jubal accessed their airlock so easily. As he closed the outer hatch and opened the inner after a few seconds of preparation, he had a few seconds to hide before being discovered. The ship was and Old Stingray class frigate. Smaller then a Firefly, and less functionality, higher speed. The sort of ship Reavers used to grab prey and then head out into the black like demons into Hades. Jubal shivered as he heard the gnawing of one Reaver’s upon what sounded like a raw bone. As the creature looked up, Jubal shoved the gun in his mouth, and fired a muted shot. The man or beast fell like a sack of salvage and Early shook his head. He had been delivered from purgatory into hell…

‘No radiation warning...’ he thought as he checked the suits internals on his wrist. His luck was holding, if luck had gotten him here.

He could hear screaming going on in different compartments, and a hell of a lot of growling. He kept his mind to himself, there was no telling how far gone the minds of Reavers were, and he had learned to not listen to insane thoughts, they tended to drive potentials mad themselves.

Slowly but surely he made his way to what looked to be a fairly safe spot, near the forward compartments, as he breathed the foul air, Jubal shook his head, how the hell was he supposed to get out of this.

“He-help me.” The muted voice was pained and weak.

Early looked up startled. His gun pointed skywards. There, a girl of maybe 20 was strung up like a pig to be slaughtered. She had blood running down her face, dripping off her nose. She was actually pretty, if such a thing could apply to a woman with dried blood on her cheeks. Early thought about shooting her not for mercy sake, but before she attracted attention. For some reason he didn’t, “Not a whole hell of a lot I can do for you Miss, I need these bullets case one of those things decides to do to me what its planning of doing to you.”

“I…have money…I can pay…please.” The girl pleaded. Money sounded good, but living sounded better. Yet, his chances of living increased if she could helped him. ‘Damn…getting sentimental now Early?’ he thought to himself. Closing the door slowly, he climbed up on what looked like the remnants of a bed and let the poor bloody creature down. “Money huh, if we live you’d best make me rich.” He said as he looked down into pinched eyes of the lightly tan skinned female.

“Shu Li Tan” she said her name without asking.

“What,” Early replied, as he continued to listen for Reavers.

“Shu Li-” she began to say again.

“I heard you I just don’t now why you’re telling me. It’s a long name, so where you come from Li?”

“Alliance Cruiser, Valiant…Gunship 24-A, Serial number 124…168-”

“You alright girlie, sound like your rambling.”

“Lost a lot of blood. You are?” She choked a bit as she talked.

“Early…that’s all. Tell me you were armed…” He said in a pleading tone.

“Gun’s on the belt…belt got torn off.” She pointed to what remained of her clothing in the corner. The belt was intact, and apparently the Reavers lacked the forsight to leave loaded weapons lying around, or they had little use for conventionally clean kill weapons. The gun was of to the side, an Alliance issue pistol, 32 shots, heavy rounds. He picked up the gun and the tattered clothing.

He handed the clothing to the woman, whose eyes were glassed over. Listening carefully he heard three words over and over from the traumatized girl. ‘Please…no…stop…’

Early could hear her thoughts, the powerlessness of being raped, the overwhelming disgust she had for her self now, and the anger at everything in the verse except him. He shut it off. “You’re naked,” He said starkly, he might have been referring to her mind, but it didn’t matter.

She quickly pulled the torn pants back on, as Jubal checked her gun. The shirt was buttonless, but it did enough to keep her modest. The grey color of the Alliance Uniform was streaked by red stains. “Listen Li, I mean to live, and I ain’t gonna let you or anything else in this verse keep me from doing so…understand? You make a sound, or start acting like a madwoman, I’ll kill you faster then those Reavers will. Stay down, or so help me I will shoot through you.” Early said with all the compassion of a computer.

“I understand.” The girl replied as she wiped the blood from her eyes. She had two piercings on her legs from where she was hung. The blood had clotted somewhat indicating she had been ther a while. Apparently the Reaver had only just begun his sick methodology. Early had to notice. “Some work these Reavers, even know how to hang a man, without hurting him so’s that he can stand. Kinda’ like a monster to do that huh? Keep you healthy until he’s done? Almost admirable if you think on it a spell.”

“I think I’ll concentrate on killing every damn one of those things…if you don’t mind.”

“Well now, I’d appreciate you telling me just how many of ‘these things’ there are?”

“I don’t know, once they pulled me in here, I could only see the one…maybe 15…20?”

“I thought the alliance, didn’t believe these things existed.”

“They don’t…officially.” Li said bowing her head slightly, blinking through the pain.

“So beings that don’t exist, could burst in here at any moment, rape us, and then eat us alive? Funny, does that seem right to you?”

“You sure have a strange manner of speech Early.”

“You have no idea.”

Suddenly the door to the cabin began to slide open. In a flash Early was next to the door as the creature looked to see Li on the ground in a panic. Angry and furious as to how she got down, the Reaver raised a bloody rusty knife to begin to skin his still moving quarry.