Title: Spitting Venom

Author: Instant Karma Girl

Date Started: August 2008

Words: 9,414

Disclaimer: Joss is Boss and I would do nothing to detract from him. He and others own the ‘Verse…I just wish they played in it again.

Author’s Note: It kinda feels rushed, but my intentions were good!

Ever since Miranda, everyone thought Miss River Tam should be doing much better, but in her heart and in her head, she knew different; that there was no ‘better’ for her. She could feel something coursing through her body and mind, spreading rage and destruction like cancer to cells. River tried her hardest to keep it all a secret, to act normal when the other’s were around, especially her over protective older brother, Simon.

In the past, he’d been worried at the slightest sneeze from the girl, but since Miranda, he’d been watching her every move. It wasn’t everyday that a brother witnessed his younger and troubled sister take out a pack of mutilated humans called Reavers. And he had a right to be concerned. Contact with Reavers typically ended in either death or conversion.

Perhaps what River was feeling was due to her dance with the Reavers. Perhaps the PAX the Academy pumped into her was the same as the Alliance pumped into the air of Miranda. Perhaps she was supposed to lie down now, but she kept thinking that she could never lie down. Perhaps their blood mingled with hers, infecting her tissues and her mind. Her thoughts had been more violent as of late.

As she walked through the corridors of the ship she loved, the only home she really even knew anymore, her thoughts turned to how easy it would be to eliminate the crew of Serenity and take it for herself. All she would have to do is flick the switch in her mind and it could be hers.

She would be quick with her brother, a snap of the neck, and with Kaylee she would stick a knife into her heart, ending it before she knew what was happening. Inara would be an easy kill. The one time companion would fight as she’d been taught to, but she wo