Hey Pretty

Prologue

Pain! God, it hurt! Simon gasped in agony as he touched his hands to his face. His hands were coated in blood when he drew them back, and he could feel himself slipping into oblivion. How had this happened? He had tried to do the right thing. Wasn’t he supposed to be the good guy? Vague voices were calling his name, but all he could see were his hands covered in blood.

“Simon!” One voice seemed to soar out above the rest. Gruff, and full of emotion. He knew that voice.

Simon’s head felt funny, like he was disconnected from everything else. He tried to push himself off of the wall, but fell back. Was he dying? He couldn’t tell. He couldn’t tell anything anymore. Dizzy. He was so dizzy! Suddenly, he let go.

Chapter 1: Things Go Wrong

River was sitting at her brother’s bedside for the fourth day in a row. His entire face had been wrapped in gauze, as were most of his chest and arms. She had tried to warn them, but they couldn’t hear her screaming for them to get down. Things went wrong on the job…things always went wrong on the job, but not when she was there. Mal blamed himself. He hadn’t been able to hear River’s shrieks until it was too late. The bomb went off throwing shrapnel into the air. It had only been sheer luck that he had been able to pull Zoe to safety. Simon hadn’t been so lucky.

It had all started about a month ago with a waive from an old friend. Carl Flynt had himself a nice little town on the Border, but things had been a bit turbulent of late. A group of thugs had been moving in on the good folks, and he had offered the crew a pretty penny to get rid of them. After The Heart of Gold, Mal had reasoned that bunch was up to it again. Things had gone fair smooth enough. Jayne had been giving them hell from the rooftops, and Mal and Zoe had been holding there interest, but then River appeared on the porch of one of the stores screaming. Simon rushed out of his own hiding spot to get her, but the explosion happened before he had time to react. The f