Title: Bloody Sunsets

Summary: Zoe pre series at end of the war.

Prompt: Deviant Muses July picture prompts.

 

 

Can’t always judge a day by how a morning starts. Prettiest sunrise I ever saw came the day they pulled us out of Serenity valley. Sunset was blood red, much more indicative of the day we ended up having.

 

We were holed up in the ruins of this Buddhist temple. Had been for neigh two weeks. We were eatin’ rats and some of the men were lookin’ at the dead an’ wounded like an’ all you can eat buffet. Capt’n called me out, pointed his finger at the sunrise and said “Gonna be a good day…can feel it in my bones, Zoe. Can feel it in my bones.”

 

Then he’d tucked his thumbs in the pockets of his pants and leaned back on his heels.  Had that ridiculous grin on his face.

 

Knew the day was gonna turn out bad then. Usually does when the Captain’s wearin’ a grin like that.

 

Didn’t have a clue how bad.

 

Alliance boys didn’t show up for us ‘til ‘round ‘bout noon. Herded us up like cattle into a transport and shuttled us off to Ariel. They got a big ole alliance prison up there and that’s where they stuck us.  Had lots of empty cells, whole row of them but they stuck what was left of us in one cell. Let us marinate for a few hours. Weren’t that many of us left but none of us had bathed in longer than we cared to remember, not to mention fear has a stench that almost overwhelms that of death…almost.

 

Right ‘round dinner time an officer and some of his men show up with plates of food. I’m not talking about protein or rations. I’m talking about real, grain fed turkey, dressing and fresh vegetables, food most of us would have sold the entire platoon out for just a taste of.

 

They asked for the man in charge. I stepped forward but Captain elbowed me out of the way. “M’ Sergeant Reynolds,” he told them, his voice thick with defiance. I knew right then Captain was gonna come back as bloody as the sun setting outside our cell window.

 

Turns out, I was right, but by the time I saw the Captain I was just as bloody. Alliance gathered up me too. Guess they figured if we wouldn’t talk over tea and cookies, which we wouldn’t, we might talk over tea and torture. They got the tea and you can guess which one we got.

 

“Didn’t tell ‘em nothin’” Captain says when they throw me down next to him. His words were all slurred by pain and the teeth they knocked loose.

 

“Me either, Sir.”

 

And that was the truth. Alliance didn’t get a single thing out of me or the Captain. Didn’t matter much in the end. There were enough boys left in our platoon willing to squeal. They got a good meal and a pardon. Captain and me spent months in an Alliance jail. Months of bloody sunsets.

 

Can’t ever judge a day by its sunrise. Could be that it’s all just downhill from there.