Six Senses By Belasera

PG-13

Thanks to Talrius, whose description of Vera I used. I know zero about guns, so any mistakes are mine. Things that aren’t mine: Jayne and Vera belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and of course the people (I use the term loosely) of Fox. .........................................

Six men once came to kill me. The biggest of ‘em carried….her.

The ramshackle…shack, I guess, had one window. Covered with a tatty yellow curtain. Had little bitty flowers on it, sight of it reminded me of…oh, hell. Don’t matter none what it reminded me of. So, I was in the damn shack, lookin’ out the damn window through the damn yellow curtain. Straight at six men lookin’ damn angry. “Come on out, you dirty hwoon dahn. Wanna have a chat with you.” Yeah, I bet he did. Man talking big was Clyde Hammon. Before that particular mornin’ I had been in his employ. Damn good mornin’, it was, too. I’d woken up in a big soft bed next to a purdy little thing name of Emily Hammon. Lookin’ back, not my best choice ever. Still, not the worst. *That* might a been the words I chose when dealin’ with Pa Hammon and his posse. “Nothin’ to chat about, Hammon. Ain’t my fault you got a fong luh daughter who likes to tumble with hired help. And ooh-boy did she like it!” I couldn’t help but to grin as shots fired from six guns, though I found it a might bothersome that a few managed to rip through the hard wood of the wall. Ok, so probably I was gonna die, just me in a shack with one pistol. But maybe not. I was a good shot. Damn good. My pa liked to say I had a sixth sense about guns. Don’t rightly know what he meant by that, though. I shot things, things went down, simple as that. Pistol felt cold and certain in my hand so I peered through the curtain and took out one of Hammon’s men, real easy-like. “You’re gonna die, Cobb.” Well, I knew that already. “I been thinkin’ Hammon, that the fault probably lies with the mother. ‘Cause, that woman…” I had to stop a second, laughin’ at that tah mah de. I could hear him breathin’ outside real hard, like he might just drop over from a heart attack. “Now she really knows how to deal with a man. Near insatiable, too. Oh, man she wore me out.” Shots again and longer this time. I picked off two more men, that left three. I was likin’ my odds better by the minute. “Woman knew just what she wanted. Surely not as pretty as your daughter, but the young ones can be so…squeamish.” Hammon cursed with rage, and I could smell his hatred of me through the gun smoke. Somehow it seemed so easy to kill an angry man, like that was the natural way, like anger that big couldn’t go nowhere but the grave. He got angrier and angrier and I found it funnier and funnier ‘til I was sure that I was gonna live and he was gonna die. “Your wife, now. Well, sir, she is not a squeamish woman. I gotta wonder ‘bout her. She told me, several times matter o’ fact, that she likes her men real big. I’ll tell you that I was happy to oblige the lady’s fancy. Does she fancy you Hammon? D’ya think you measure up?” One more quick shot, one more man down. But I almost lost my head that time, when I stuck it in the window. Stayed put just a second longer’n I should’ve. Couldn’t help but to stare, when I saw her. Oh, she was beautiful. And that ain’t a word I throw around lightly. Callahan full-bore. Auto lock. Customized trigger with a double cartridge thorough gauge. So shiny that I couldn’t wait to taste her. And she looked heavy enough to bash skulls. Beautiful. Vera. I knew it right away. Knew she was mine. Sittin’ in Hammon’s hands I could see she wasn’t happy. Man like that couldn’t handle such a woman. ‘Bao bei’, I whispered to her, and nearly got my head blown off for my trouble. Two to go. A big dumb lookin’ ranch hand and Hammon himself. Good odds, very good. And now there was a fire runnin’ in my blood that I knew those men didn’t have. My baby was out there, waitin’ for me. Like I’d had his wife, and his daughter, I was gonna get that man’s gun.