Lungs burning with the effort to keep running, despite the oxygen-rich environment she was unused to, Kaylee ran as fast as she could. She had no way of what she was running to, or from. Or really why she was running at all. All she knew is that dark woods surrounded her, making it hard to find much light at all, and she had no idea where she was.
When she had woken all alone, she had been in between two tall and curved trees. Trees which bent towards each other like lovers in the dawn, fearing to separate. Kaylee had fallen asleep listening to the comforting hum of the engine, not in her bunk but in the engine room, in her rainbow striped hammock. Waking in a cold, damp forest all by herself could not have been more of a shock if it tried. Badger could have danced by wearing only his bowler hat and she would not have been more scared by her sudden change in scenery.
The forest itself would not have been so bad, but she was all alone. Where were Mal, Zoe and Wash? Inara, Book and Jayne? What about River and Simon?
At first she had simply been walking hesitantly through the trees. Then she had began to speed up, walking quicker and quicker until she was jogging. A noise behind her spooked her into running, and she had been running for a few minutes now. As fast as she could.
She barely registered a figure ahead before she smacked into their back, crashing to the earth in the process.