Copper and Lead

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based on the World of Firefly by Joss Whedon

Coyote had been a real trooper, the stallion kicking up dirt like the fat tires on a four wheeler. She could see the ship from here and things didn't look good. First, there was smoke, high black clouds of it pouring from an unknown source inside the ship and second, there was little movement.

Her body tensed as her eyes drifted across the open scene before her. Two lay dead near an outcropping, neither part of Mal's crew. Near the ship lay two more, but at this length, she couldn't tell who they were. All she knew was she saw brown.

Her legs bore harder into the stallion's side causing him to shake his head, but answered with a slight increase of speed. Ears, alert to even the slightest sound caught a scream emerging out of the belly of Serenity. Kaylee, the little girl from the other day ran out of the ship, her feet bloody, but hard to tell just whose it was.

Following close behind came the ugliest creature Cat had ever seen. He had been human once, or at least could still be and in his hand was Kaylee's parasol. His eyes held a fire even she knew, ready to take a virtue Cat was not willing to watch him take and as he turned to the sound of Coyote's hooves, she pounced, throwing her body at him like the animal she was aptly named.

The impact flattened him breaking bones and driving home one of his broken ribs into his right lung. It only bruised it, but the sensation was that of pure fire. The knife at her hip was to his throat before he knew what hit him and she held him down using the pain he could feel in his chest. "Stay down."

He spat in her face and knew it was a mistake. The knife flashed as it went from his neck to under the kneecap, which she proceeded to free from his knee. Screaming in pain, he moved to get her off him, but to no avail. "I said stay down."

"You'll get nothing from me, Bitch. I don't betray my family."

"You don't even know what family means, C