Author's note: Sorry for the delay in posting this. Too much to do, no time to do it.

River’s Run – Part 17

Mal had been in pain many times in the last few months. A grenade fragment in the shoulder in the moon attack, bullet in the thigh on Greenleaf, that just missed a very vital organ, and two grazes, one in the head from Derek Bowen and one in the left arm from the recent Alliance attack on Serenity. On top of that were the many bumps and bruises in the many battles they had been in, the worst being the knock on the head from a Reaver on Miranda. But none of that prepared him for the Chinese guard’s electro-shock stick, which paralyzed him and brought on unimaginable agony, all his nerve endings on fire, his wet body and the water on the shower room floor no doubt increasing the potency of the charge. Mal could barely move, the huge bulk of the dieing Big Pete on top of him, his blood flowing everywhere. As the guard laughed and moved in for another attack there was a shout.

“What the hell is all this gorramn shit?” the second guard yelled as ran over and then started shouting into a comm device. “Prisoner injured, shower room, send medical help and extra units now!”

“What the hell happened?” the second guard said to the Chinese guard.

“They were fighting. Reynolds stabbed this one.”

Mal couldn’t even speak, the shock knocking the energy right out of him. As the second guard started to push Big Pete off of him, Mal saw the Chinese guard slip toward the door as more people rushed in, and then the guard looked at Mal and grinned and was gone.

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Serenity was in stationary position in the middle of nowhere, hiding from the verse and all those that were looking for her. The old Firefly was full of broken bits and burn marks and busted lights and controls, but her healer was not even thinking of patching up the lady she usually lavished so much love on. Kaylee had other worries, her father lying unconscious in the infirmary, recently shot in the chest. She sat