Life and Death

I started the landin' cycle for the Shadow.. Home... The Drift. Aiya, it'd been a long time since I was back here..."I said to myself, 'Welcome home'. No one 'round to say howdy, but then again it was for the best. My mood ain't too good 'bout now." I sighed, but the feelin' 'bout what went on wouldn't let go. "Weeks of watchin' Lily, tellin' myself not to grab her hand and drag her home. I made a promise, and gorram, if I was goin' to break it. I followed her, keepin' watch.... tryin' to make sure she was safe..... Waitin' for the cub to show. Oh it was there.... The scent was in the air." I lowered the ship onto one of the small landin' pads the Drift reserves for shuttles.

I could feel the Shadow's belly touch tarmack, started shuttin' the systems and engines down. "I don't know what happened day b'fore yesterday. Lily started to remember... Remember everythin'. Right down to when I told her she was the prey and not the hunter. She started to cry then. I wanted to comfort her, but we were runnin' out of time. I'd already signalled Seana to bring the ship closer so we could get out of here." Puttin' my shades back on, I popped the canapy, feeling the opressive hot air rush in along with the over bright sunlight. "Gorram....." I pulled my jacket off b'fore the heat overwhelmed me. "I signalled the Shadow to land in the small clearin'. Was halfway b'tween the ruined city and the village we'd been stayin' at. The folk there weren't happy 'bout me takin' Lily back home.... Got downright angered."

"That's when we hoofed it out of there. They chased us into the trees. We got lucky there. The weapons they threw missed more then they hit. Lily got ahead then stopped short.... That's when I cought the smell..... Reavers... and not a small group. I think the villagers made the same realization when the first reaver howl echoed through the woods." I slowly climbed out of the cockpit feelin' pretty dirty. "We had one chance to get out of there. Liy knew it too and headed strait for the ship. That's when the reavers set on us. Musta seen the ship comin' down and wanted it. I pulled out my swords and tossed one to Lily. After that it was a blur...."

I grabbed the small duffle from behind the pilot seat and headed for the river. "We had to get home. Lily popped the rear hatch and moved to get in. One reaver got lucky, Cut her bad across her back. She howled. That's all it took for me to ignore the other attacks to cut that reaver down. I pulled my pistol out in the other hand and started firin' into em. Lily crawled into the back, me b'hind her. I hit the controls fast, still firin' on em." Every few steps, I left a peice of bloodied clothin' b'hind. Didn't care if anyone saw at that point.

"I got Lily onto the small bunk and sprayed some wound seal on her Cut back. It was bleedin' bad, but the seal worked.... so long's she didn't move 'round too much. I got to the cockpit and cycled the near silent engines. I know I cooked a few of those reavers... could hear the screams. It was slow liftin' off with the wieght hangin' on. But my shuttle didn't let me down. I angled it up and headed to break atmo. We had to wait a few minutes b'fore Seana's team could scoop us. Only problem was, no dockin' ring... No way to hook up to the other ship. Sure, we were mag sealed to em like a leech, but no access. I commed em and they gave me instructions on helpin' Lily. I wasn't worried 'bout my own wounds... They were minor compaired to Lily's back."

I dropped the Duffle, dove into the lukewarm water, and started scrubbing myself with the sand. I had to get clean...."We had no food.... save a small snack packet. I gave it to Lily. She'd need it to help her regenerate. Had sugar in it.... Somethin' 'bout her usin' it as fuel. We got back to Hale's. Detatched and dropped down to the surface.... Some feller was sittin' 'round, never offered us help. Then Seana came, got us to the clinic and patched us up. Gorram we were both tired. Lily went off somewhere to sleep while I went to the Drift to see if Brooke was there. Needed to let her know I was back" Swimmin' up stream a ways helped the sand filter out of my hair, "But the trip wasn't an easy one.... We talked... Planned the end for Aurora. I didn't like it much but I said I was ready to do what had to be done. Lily said it had to be done in such a way so the cub woudn't be able to stop her endin'."

Grabbing more sand, I scrubbed again, still feelin' like I needed to get clean. "I called Aurora and left her a message. Let her know I was willin' to talk, and maybe trade. It didn't take long b'fore Brooke showed up at Bootleggers. Dylan was already there, hangin' out. he let me know she was on her way. I can say I was pretty surprized how Brooke was dressed..... Or the lack of.. Dylan said pretty much what we were both thinkin.... Anyway... Brooke flew us back to the nest where Dex was. They got me into that tank to speed up healin'. I needed it. Didn't want to be hurtin' if I had to fight with the cub. I could only hope Lily'd be ok when it came time."

My skin was startin' to sting from my scrubbin. So I sat there as the river slowly moved 'round my body. "The cub called me sayin' not to keep her waitin'. Impatient.... I was dropped off at Mac's. From there I flew to Hale's.. and a meeting I won't forget too easy. I met her at her small apartment. She looked all grown. Wearin' pretty revealin' clothes. And I knew I was in trouble..... We played a game that she tired of real quick.... She decided to change. While she was upstairs, I let Lily and Gallagher inside..... Gorram, I was feelin' a lot uncomfortable. Then the cub started dancin' and tellin' me 'bout her and Thoth... Made me real uncomfortable.... Then she started undressin'.... Now that was b'comin' a lot more uncomfortable. I could smell Lily's scent close by...."

Slowly climbin' from the water, I dug into the duffle for the last clean pair of clothes I had, while lettin' the warm sun dry me. "The cub was wantin' me to get closer. I did. I kissed her. I held her down with my own body weight. Then Lily did it. She stabbed then sliced the cub's head right off. Blood flyin' everywhere.
I got up needin' to wash my face and mouth... Gallagher come up then... he doused Aurora's body and head with fuel and lit it. We left then.... Covered.... Gallagher told us the CSI crew'd clean it up. No one'd know she was there. Or us for that matter. Krenshar'd be wonderin' where she was, but I doubt anyone'd be willin' to tell him. The witnesses knew what needed to be done too. They come to verify it was over. Done." I got dressed, then picked up the bloodied clothes and burned em. Needin' to wipe away the last of what was the cub.... What we did.

As the wind blew the last of the ashes away, I walked to the bar. "I needed a drink. Soemthin' I ain't done in a long time.... Needin' a drink bad. Rose come in along with a minin' robot abotu then. We got to talkin' I needed to....I felt all spun about... and not in a good way. I took one drink and was done. Rose said she'd never tell what I told her. The robot was another thing. No concept of keepin' quiet 'bout stuff." I needed sleep. I could feel my mind driftin' as I went to the other shuttle. "I didn't care if I slept on the deck with it all locked up. It was safe and quiet. At least I kept my promise and got us home safe." Pullin' the blankets from the bench, I dropped em on the floor and lay down.... driftin' off to sleep.