Chapter 7

Kaylee didn’t believe in miracles. Not today. As soon as she’d given Inara the okay, the ship took off. The engine kicked and the blast back from a loose cover hit Kaylee hard in the stomach, and she knew she’d bruised her innards. Thankfully, that was the worst of it … until she went to the Infirmary for help.

Two fallen flashlights cast the room in eerie shadow and that’s where she found them– Simon lying on the floor, next to a corpsified intruder and a pool of blood. Michael lay on the couch, groaning in pain, and Cole stared vacantly at the burnt out shell of the Infirmary, his finger trembling over the trigger of a gun.

“Simon,” Kaylee breathed, sliding on the blood and falling to her knees next to him. His skin was slick with sweat and he trembled violently. Grabbing the nearest flashlight, Kaylee checked him over for a gunshot wound, but the blood was not his. She nearly wept with relief, but for the charred and blistering skin on his leg. She could smell it. It filled the whole room.

“What do I do?” she asked him, cradling his chin.

“Water,” he said weakly. “Cool the skin.”

“The chem-ice –”

“Too cold,” he choked.

“Cole, go wet a towel for me,” Kaylee said urgently.

Cole didn’t move. She was on her own. Swallowing her panic, Kaylee went over to Cole and knelt so they were face to face. She placed her hand over his to take the gun, but his hand tightened around the weapon.

“Cole, I’m going to take the gun, okay?”

She waited. Cole’s hand trembled under hers.

“Okay,” he mouthed, nodding slightly, though his eyes never found focus. He released the gun and Kaylee tucked it into her tool belt.

“You’re not on duty any more,” she told him gently. “I’m taking over, okay?”

Cole blinked and cocked his head; he’d gone completely catatonic.

-----

By the time they landed, Mal and Sky had tied up the five captives in the cargo bay, and dragged the other one from the hall upstairs as well. Thinking that was it, he’d gone completely ashen when he found the scene ou