Author's Note: Suuuper unhappy with the ending of Pitch Black. One of the most awesome movies of all time. Anyway, predictably, here's my try at an alternate ending. I hope you like it.
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Pitch Black - Life
By: Lady NeverAfterNon
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Fry hears Riddick's crys of rage, pain, and frustration in the distance. She debates with herself a split second, then grabbed a light and ran off into the blackness in search of him. It's an easy choice, and it surprises her. The man braved hell and high water to see their patchwork group to safety, and Fry has drug him back to humanity kicking and screaming. The least she could do is return the favor. At least, that's what she tells herself firmly anyway. There is no other reason.
In hindsight though she realizes it was probably not the smartest plan for the one of the only two pilots they had to go tearing off into the blackness searching for the other. A blackness filled with death in the form of sharp teeth, deadly claws, and voracious appetites. That way lay dragons.
She stumbled in the maze of corridors shouting his name, hunting for him. She hears the creatures calling all around her, blue blood raining down along with the rain as they tear each other apart. She doesn't want to admit it, the tough girl attitude is surprisingly hard to escape after all, but she is terrified.
She screams as something blunders into her, but she breathes a sigh of relief as it is only Riddick.
On second inspection though, she pales. He is bleeding from a score of wounds, most of them serious and he can barely stand. Covered in both alien and human blood, he falls to the muddy ground. She doesn't recognize it at first, bu then it strikes her in one swift moment. He's afraid. Richard B. Riddick is scared shitless.
Carolyn Fry squared her jaw and pursed her lips. No. This man will live to terrify again, to joke again, to sass again. This man will not die for her. She did not ask for it, she does not want it. Fry stumbles over to him and franticly tries to lift him to his feet. He is so heavy.
Come on Riddick, you have to get up! Get up! GET UP!
She heaves him to his feet and staggers under his weight, and screams at him. He will not understand caresses and soothing words. They clutch each other in desperation, with the rain, the creatures macabre singing, and the blue blood raining from the sky blurring the senses.
Suddenly Fry halts. A surprised expression on her face. Riddick looked back at her, watching her face and knows what has just happened. It wasn't real. He had not expected this. Out of all of them, had not seen it coming for her. He was surprised.
Riddick watched as Fry is pulled away from him. The darkness obscures her. She surprisingly is not taken far. A second passed. His shadow eyes make out an alien leaning towards her, ready to tear her in two. She is looking up at it, broken, unable to move.
Her words came back to him. Yes, I would die for them.
A rush of adrenaline spurred him to slam into the creature like a human tank, tackling it to the ground. He sat on it.
The creature thrashed wildly underneath him and he was barely able to get his hand around and split its belly with his wickedly curved dagger, covering the ground with intestines and blue viscera.
He stumbles backward, into Fry. She puts her arms around him and they both stagger to their feet.
They can see the ship's lights in the distance. Its so close, but so far. The creatures are piping and whistling all around them. Fry wraps her fingers around the glow bottle, waving it deliriously, desperately trying to keep the creatures at bay. She's in so much pain, she's sick with it. Her body is on autopilot, and she barely registers what she is doing. Must keep Riddick alive, must keep going no matter what.
They keep stumbling and slipping in the mud. The smell of sweat and blood is thick in the air. Fry can no longer hold her head up and Riddick clings stubbornly to her, refusing to let her go. Not for me. They bump against each other, thigh to thigh, side to side, shoulder to shoulder. Fry's world has shrunk to a tiny point in the darkness, the heavy scent of blood, the smell of Riddick's sweat, the feel of the steel bands of his arms supporting her and dragging her through the darkness, the sound of the creatures and Riddick's labored breath in her ear, and the agonizing roar of the pain of her wounds.
After what seems like eternity - and a miracle- they make it to the ship. The ramp closes up behind them and Riddick lowers Fry to the floor and sinks into the pilot's seat. He watches the alien monsters clustering outside the ship like roaches. They know where the food has taken refuge, and only a thin barrier of metal and cloth blocks their way.
Riddick grins to himself and fires up the engines, burning the creatures to smoldering ash. Haha, karma is a bitch, you fuckers. The ship rockets from the planet, knocking aliens aside right and left. They spatter on the windshield like paint filled water balloons, strangely vulnerable after all that the humans have come through. In the end their fears are blue streaks on the windshield.
The ship left the range of the creatures and moved up into the upper atmosphere of the planet. It shakes and rattles, and for a moment the occupents each share a fear that it will rattle apart with the force of the gravity pulling back at them, and the force of the power meant for a much bigger ship pushing them forward. They make it though. They make it.
Fry coughs up blood and desperately fights for her life. Jack and Imam stand over her and try desperately to staunch the blood flow. The kid is crying and Imam's face is white underneath his tan. Neither really know what they are doing, but it seems that desperation and will enough will suffice. Imam holds a medi-pak in his hands and he places it over her stomach. The thing clamps locked onto her stomach over her wound, looking very much like a mechanical hulking tic. It injects needles into her skin and sedatives knocked her out instantly. The mechanical whir coming from the machine indicates that it is working. It will seal the holes, keep her asleep, and speed up the body's recovery 100 fold. Imam breathes a sigh of relief. The device was ancient. He had not thought that it would work.
Fry goes limp, and for a moment Imam and Jack are afraid that she is lost. But the rise and fall of her chest is rythmic, and it assures them that she is finally getting the rest that she needs. She is at peace. They breath a sigh of relief.
Imam looked at the unconscious woman and then at the convict who has saved them all. Riddick never once looked back but Imam could see his strange eyes glinting in the reflection of the glass view ports.
Imam wonders what he is thinking, what his plans are, then decided that he is better off not knowing.
Free of the planet's atmosphere, the ship flies off into the vastness of space.
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FIN