BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

BROWNCOATE3

Searching (Chapter Twelve)
Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Here it is, next in the big story. Hope you like, and thanks again to Angellemarcs for the use of her character. Make sure to read her amazing stuff.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2544    RATING: 10    SERIES: FIREFLY

Mal stared across the small table at Bo. The kid had his helmet off and a few days growth on his face, he also had the biggest grin Mal had ever seen plastered across the top of his chin. Mal himself probably had a huge grin too, but Bo’s was classic. The boy had just told the most sexist joke he’d ever heard. Thankfully, Zoë and Cat were ordering drinks. The thought crossed his mind again that he shouldn’t be giving the seventeen-year-old alcohol, but he’d seen Bo drink back on Shadow and knew that the boy could probably drink most seasoned veterans under the table. Zoë and Cat returned with trays full of beer and assorted liquors. The two men grabbed a shot and a beer. Bo grinned as Cat picked up two shots of some whiskey and downed them quickly. Bo slammed back his and chased it with a sip of the cheap beer. Mal smiled and followed suit. Zoë refrained from the drinks but smiled along with the rest. They all sat, conversations flowing like the amber liquids in front of them. They talked about hunting and fighting, where the war was going, where they were going. Mal and Cat talked of a ship, Zoë had no real plans, and she’d probably follow Mal. Bo wanted a ranch, lots of land and plenty of cattle. He missed home, Mal nodded, agreeing with his fantasy. Mal’s dream was of a ship and sailing through the black though. They laughed at their thoughts, laughed at the dreams, no one feeling serious right now. Then everything stopped. For a moment all of them were trapped in silent laughter as Mal looked around the table. Then everything ruptured, flames licked at his fingers and he and Cat were tossed to the other side of the bar. Bo lay a few feet from him, Zoë even further. Mal looked up to see half the tavern gone, incinerated by the bomb. Bo looked up, his face bleeding from a cut that breached his hair-line. Cat stirred on top of him, her green eyes looking into his. Zoë groaned as she moved to stand. “Everybody, weapons, now.” Mal heard his voice command. Bo nodded and looked at Cat. Their eyes met and both raced for their rifles. Mal reached out as he stood, catching the rifle Cat tossed to him. Bo was at Zoë’s side, helping her to her feet and handing her a gun as well. They all took up covered positions as the stomp of boots started at the now gaping hole. “All Independent combatants need to lay down arms and surrender at once. If not we are within our rights to use deadly force.” The lead soldier barked. Bo’s face contorted as he stifled a laugh. Mal grinned, that sadistic grin he got when he dealt with Alliance soldiers. Cat’s eyes flashed, and Zoë slapped a magazine into her gun. They heard glass crunch as an Alliance soldier stepped too close. Bo took the honor of the first shot. It was nearly instantaneous. His rifle came up, erupted with a round, and the soldier dropped. Bo dropped back down as the bullets flew over his head. It was Cat’s turn. She rose and dropped three soldiers. Zoë followed her lead, then Mal. They followed this pattern, until the grenade rolled by them. They jumped away, dodging shrapnel and debris. The Alliance troops were volleying rounds into the tavern when Mal heard it. Bo was laughing, so was Cat. It was infectious. Mal started, and then even Zoë was laughing while the firing went on. They all rolled over and started firing into the patch of purple. Before Mal knew it all the soldiers were laid out and they were running from the tavern to keep from attracting more attention. His foot hit a pot hole and he fell to the earth with a-

Mal woke up as his head seemed to hit the pillow. The dream had been so vivid. He could smell Cat’s hair, taste the liquor, and even see the soot on Bo’s face. He had felt the heat from the explosion, and the recoil from the rifle. Everything had felt like the first dream, the “landslide” as River had so delicately put it. Mal rolled over on his back and smiled. He could live with dreams like this for a while. He sat up and grabbed a shirt from the chair it hung on. He buttoned it as he moved towards the ladder. “Hope the kid’s ok.” He muttered as he pulled his suspenders over his shoulders and placed his boot in the first rung.

X-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------X Bo sat up, drenched in sweat. His brow furrowed as he reached under the pillow for the knife that hibernated there. Once long ago it had been a gun. Now he didn’t need the gun. Guns were for those that needed to kill from far away, he had no need, or want, for such a thing. Part of him wanted whoever was outside the door to make a better choice and leave, but a darker part of him wanted them to make the mistake and enter. His darker part spoke gently in his ear, something rare, usually it growled. Whiskey's ears perked and a growl rolled from deep within him. Bo patted the hyena's head, calming him, telling him he'd deal with this. The animal laid his head back on the metal floor and closed his eyes. The yellow eyes of the beast within him turned on him, reading him as if it knew him, and it did. He need not lie to himself and say that the beast was ignorant. It knew when his anger was at its boiling point, when it could be easily released. It knew when he was calm and serene, in control. The worst part though, is that they shared his mind, his feelings. This dark entity within him knew everything he thought. He couldn’t shut it out like he could with other readers. The door burst open, the man stood in the doorway, gun on the bed. He saw a young man; lean muscled with a few days growth on his face. The boy seemed to still be asleep, even through the banging of the doors. He saw the animal on the floor and his heart stopped. Every breath became short and labored. A shudder shot through the gun-man’s body. The man pulled the hammer back on the gun, and suddenly dropped it. The knife had gone clear through his neck, severing bone and muscle. The blood sprayed into Bo’s face, covering it and flooding his mouth. It pooled on the floor at his feet, where Whiskey began to lap at it. The scavenger dog pulled at the mans legs, tearing into his flesh and feeding on the carcass. Bo shuddered as his darker half begged him to join his pet. Instead he made his way to the bathroom of the inn. He let the cold water wash over his hands, then splash onto his face. He had left Mal's crew, somewhere near the Beta Quadrant, close to Whitefall. Joseph had given him a ship, and unwittingly a companion that his bestial side seemed to put up with. It had not once hungered for Whiskey's flesh or blood, more to join the creature in feasting much as it wanted to do now. Bo actually marveled at the closeness the two presences seemed to have. Whiskey's mind was constantly hungering for meat, whereas Bo's lupine side hungered for a specific meat. Bo wasn't even sure if it was just the hunger for flesh that drove the beast, rather the killing. He was shocked at the pleasure the thing took in killing. Flashes in his dreams of the beast's previous kills in his body haunted him. Bo pulled a shirt on over his bare chest and strapped his holster on and slid the .357 under his arm. He walked out of the bathroom and grabbed his vest. He looked at it and gave a second thought. Walking out in his sleeveless top, his boot laces tied around his arm. He walked down the stairs, past the desk where the girl looked him over with an appreciating eye. Bo stepped out in the dirt before he remembered. He turned back to the inn and whistled loudly. A yip/laugh echoed out of the building, followed by screams as Whiskey came bolting down the stairs, more than likely snapping at peoples heels. "Sorry boy. I kind of forgot about you." He said as he scratched Whiskey behind his ears. The hyena paid very little mind to the fact. His tongue lolled out, dripping saliva all over the dirt. Bo laughed as he walked down the country road with the hyena close at his heels. People stopped and stared at the young man with the exotic pet trailing him. Dirt kicked up around his feet as he made his way to the small bar at the end of the small town. The doors swung open with an audible creak. The man behind the bar smiled out at him without really seeing him. "How’ a doin'? Welcome to the Streets End Tavern." Bo walked to a shadowed corner and sat, Whiskey coming and piling up on the dust covered wood floor and laying his head on Bo's foot. Bo watched the three barmaids dance around the table with a kind of chaotic grace. He smiled as one in particular made her way over to him. He leaned his head down, hiding the majority of his face in shadow as Whiskey’s head came up to his hand. He scratched the animal’s head, soothing him as the new person came close. Her blonde hair was short and she was dressed in denim pants and a red t-shirt that was torn on the right side. Her name tag read Jessica. “Hi, what can I get for-” She stopped short as she picked up Whiskey’s low growl. “Down boy. She don’t mean us no harm.” Bo whispered, low enough for only the hyena to hear. “Sorry ‘bout him miss. He ain’t used to folk just yet. Just got here yesterday, pickin up supplies and such.” He felt her hopes rise as she wanted to ask. He could hear her hand trembling on the paper, her heart pounding as the question almost broke her lips. “Got a crew all picked out too.” Her heart shattered. She had wanted so much for him to ask or to ask and him tell her she was welcome to come. The girl was so much like Mal was before the war it was ridiculous. She wanted to fly more than anything, wanted off this rock to fly like she used to. She thought of the young man sitting right in front of her, not knowing that he was reading every bit of what she was thinking. “Oh, well, what can I get for you?” She asked, the want in her voice evident. “Ready to go.” Bo said as he looked up. Monte’s eyes lit up like fire. She came close to squealing as she jumped on him. Her arms wrapped around him and he felt a warm tear fall on his neck. “Bo! You came back. I thought you were gonna’ leave us here to rot. I hate this spinning piece of go se.” She said, her voice coated with emotion. She stood up and tossed the book to the bar tender as he yelled at her to come back. She hurtled into the kitchen and dragged out a very drunk Tyler. He sobered up quickly at the sight of his old friend and the sight of the hyena between them. He reached over the wild dog and shook his friends hand. “Ready to go Smiley?” Bo asked with a wicked grin on his face. “Not so much. Got plenty of reason to stay. Money’s solid-” Smiley started to say. “You make twice what you make here in a month in a week, running jobs with Bo.” Monte interrupted. “Money’s STEADY. Got booze a plenty-” “You never seemed to run short on Voodoo.” Jessica interrupted again. “God woman, would you let me speak?!” Smith yelled. Her fist connected smartly with his jaw, giving him an impromptu appointment with the floor. Bo looked at the bartender and smiled. “Isn’t family grand? So I figure you’ll be out two workers till you find more.” Bo said as he tossed a roll of bills to the man. “That ought to pay you back for the luh-suh wages you’ve been paying my crew.” Bo crouched down and lifted Smith onto his back. He knew why the young man was hesitant to go; not knowing whether Bo would ditch them again on some random quest. Whiskey followed him, keeping himself between Bo and Monte as they walked out the door. Bo hauled the young man all the way to the edge of town, where they rented horses that would take them to the ship. Bo smiled to the older woman that rented them the horses as her eyes got wide when he hefted Smith’s seemingly lifeless body onto the horse and strapped it down. “A little too much vodka.” He said, trying to keep her from calling local law enforcement. The old woman seemed to accept this excuse and handed him the reigns and terms of service. Bo signed, not intending to bring the horses back. He mounted the mare he had tied Smith to and turned her out towards the mountain side. Monte followed on the gelding she had picked from the stable. They rode for maybe fifteen minutes at an easy pace, so as not to lose Smith. Whiskey followed the two larger animals, Bo’s presence in his mind the only thing keeping him from snapping at the horses’ legs. They came up on the ship and Bo heard the question in Jessica’s mind before she asked it. “Where’s our ship Bo?” “I sold it to Joseph. I thought we could do with something smaller, faster, and with a little more versatility.” ‘He’s got to be joking.’ She thought, to what she assumed was herself. “Nope, no joke. This is our home now. I moved all your stuff from Voodoo into your room on Valor.” ‘He looked through my stuff!’ her mind shouted. He looked back to see her blush. Now she remembered that he was a reader. He grinned and hopped off the horse as he approached the door. “Any particular reason you picked a Firefly?” She asked, dismounting as he’d seen her do flawlessly a hundred times before. “It’s a Mantis. Different, but close. Got the extended legs, and the guns. Not to mention she’s smaller. Moves a little quicker in the short run, a little slower at full burn though. Makes for a good little runner, or transport. It doesn’t have the two shuttles either. Only has one. Has the ladder behind the bridge that leads to it. Nice distance on it too.” Bo could have rambled on for a while, but the hiss of hydraulics drowned his voice out. He pulled Smith off the back of the horse, and hauled him to the bridge. He sat the young man in the co-pilots seat. He heard Whiskey’s claws scrabbling on the metal. He heard Jessica step on, felt her hesitation. He closed the door from the bridge. “Ready to go?” He asked her again. “Where?” She asked back. “We’re gonna find Aries.” “Bo, you always said you’d have to deal with Skoal first.” “Skoal is dealt with.” He replied. Her silence wasn’t shocking. She had never thought of Skoal being gone. He’d always loomed as a dark cloud on the outer reaches of their jobs. Bo was always worried he’d show back up some day. Now Skoal was dead. What would that present for them. “And Chung?” she asked. “Chung’s dealt with as well.” “Then what’s stopping us?” “Not a thing. There’s a shower in your room if you think you need it. I’ll stay here with Smith a while, wait till he wakes up to explain things. You really did a number on him girl.” She smiled as she climbed the stairs to the hallway before the bridge. The hyena was at the door, staring at her with those yellow eyes. She shuddered, then climbed down into her room.

X-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------X

Bo sat quietly on the bridge. Smith had gone, accepting the new payment and his larger quarters. Stars glittered in the black, tantalizing his imagination as to what lay beyond them. Whiskey paced restlessly behind him, anxious to hunt and eat. The beast inside him associated with the hyena. It wanted to kill, wanted blood to rush over its teeth, to cover its tongue in the beautifully delicious nectar. Bo shook his head violently, dashing the thoughts from his mind, but for how long he had no clue. The beast growled, and Whiskey echoed it. Bo turned and glared at the animal. It stopped pacing and sat quietly in its place. “Aries.” The voice echoed in his head, his only thought. He’d kill the man that helped create him, helped distort his life, destroy his mind. He ran his finger lightly over the pistol grip on the .357 under his arm. He watched the black pass as he waited for a destination to appear in his mind. He watched the stars flicker outside the window. “Aries.” His voice seemed to say on his own.

X------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------X

((So, there’s the next installment. Bo’s got his crew back, his new pet seems to like him, and he has a new destination. How will he get there? Guess you better find a way to hold on and find out huh?))

COMMENTS

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:45 PM

ANGELLEMARCS


Love the new pet and the new charcters. Very nice! Can't wait for more.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 5:06 PM

WERZBOWSKI


excellent.


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