based on world of Firefly by Joss Whedon

Cat 1313 is mine...all else see top...

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Pit Pat Pit Pat....It echoes in my head like a sick, but welcome drum beat. One drop, then another...like a clock setting its own rhythm. Serenity smells of blood and I can't help, but lick my lips, avoiding the protruding fangs as my alert eyes and ears scan for any signs of life.

A gun snaps shut on my left and my body reacts, poised and ready to slaughter whatever happens to threaten my territory. Entrails slide off my hand as I do, and with a flick, I finish the job, flesh and some blood falling to the only clean spot on the bay ground. Jayne raises a hand, the shotgun pushed close to his chest as he points to something moving in the corner.

A growl beside me catches my eyes as well, the dark shiny coat of my favorite companion catching just a bit of the lights from above. Her fur is covered in blood, wet, and sticky, her mouth holding tight to an arm she had ripped off. A prize, I suspected, until she found something more meaty or tender. Unlike crows, Batha couldn't get to the eyeballs with her long claws, but there were other regions on humans as well as Reavers that were prime choice. At least her lust for human blood was merited...mine, not so much.

Zoe is the next to rise from the litter of bodies, her dark skin patched with scratches, and blood that isn't all hers. After all, if anyone would know, it's me. She looks at me for a moment, letting her almond shaded eyes slide down my body, clothes covered in rips and tears, red where blue and white should have been.

I still hadn't seen Mal, and that worried me. I could smell him, could feel the heat from his body, and could hear his unique way of breathing when he was both worried and angered. His scent came from the dining area, a place I had hoped would be spared from the shadow mob, but there had been too many. Way too many...

I could feel my wounds closing, slowly pressed from the damage done i