Drive

Chapter Three - The Case

--

In the middle of the large desert just north of the main city on Relanor, a tiny vehicle made its way across the terrain. It was the only thing that cast a shadow for as far as the eye could see. Inside, the driver cranked up the volume on his music player. He sang to whatever played completely off pitch, but he knew every word. From under the seat, he pulled a tiny flask of off-brand alcohol. At some point in his life, he had heard that hard liquor lowers the blood temperature. Even if it was a myth, it was a nice one to buy into.

POP!

The car began to bounce and wiggle all over the place. “Aww, bloody hell!” He spouted out, spraying the liquor all over the windshield. After coming to a stop, he muttered all kind profanity as he stomped over to the flat tire.

“Damn it all!” He cursed to the sky before walking to the trunk to get a spare tire. After rolling the spare around to the flat, he came to the realization that the spare was also flat. “诅咒这个残暴的工具 and all who invented it!” The driver was about to activate the emergency beacon that the Alliance had provided, when a small vehicle appeared in the distance.

“Ah-ha! What luck!” The driver hurriedly reached over and ripped off the rear view mirror. “Hallo, there!” He yelled while waving the mirror above his head. “Halloooo!!!”

The small hovercraft pulled up along side the car. A man with a brown duster stepped off of the craft and surveyed the damage.

“Looks like you’ve got a bit of a problem there.” The man said.

“A bit of a problem? That little piece of rubber just stranded me out here.” The driver explained. “Haha! I’m glad you folks came along.”

“Just passing through.” The man leaned over and felt the tire. His fingers traced the grooves in the rubber until they reached a hole. “Huh. Surprised a bullet could do that much damage.”

“Yeah...uh…well I’m not so sure if it was a bullet or not.”

“Yes it was.” Mal said as Jayne pulled