She really needed her bag back. There was no doubt Johns had held on to it after she was caught. And she needed water. The desert like planet was hot and as she finally stopped running, she took some time to look around at her surroundings. That´s when she had noticed there were three suns in the sky. No wonder she was starting to get dehydrated. Selena once again forced herself to calm down and think.

This entire situation worked on her nerves, something she wasn´t very accustomed to. She took a deep breath and sat down, legs crossed, arms on her knees. Focussing on her breathing, it started slowing down. Her heart rate slowed and she could feel her temperature go down a few degrees. Running in this enviroment was a bad idea, she had to pull herself together. After a few minutes, she stood up. She was calm and clearheaded once again, and she was starting to feel more like herself. Scanning the horizon, she saw in the distance something that resembled trees. Trees usually meant water, which was what she needed most, so she started off in that direction.

Her hopes were soon crushed. As she came over a hill, she saw the trees were not trees, in fact, they were the skeletons of something huge, and long since dead. Selena looked them over in awe, wondering what could have killed such magestic animals. Was it the draught?

What if there was no water on this planet? She would be dead tomorrow. Selena walked down the hill towards them. Swallowing, she ran a hand over the gigantic bones, as big as whales. As she examined them, her eyes focussed on something past the bone in front of her. A group of people stood on the hill looking out over the graveyard. They had ended up some thirty yards to the right of where she was standing.

Quickly, she rounded on the skeleton and pushed her back to it, trying to stay out of sight. Carefully, Selena looked around and noticed some people were making their way down the hill.

"Shit" she whispered, as she looked around for a way out of this.

If Johns found her, she would be back in chains, or worse, dead. She looked to her left, where more skeletons spread out, some even larger than the one she was standing at now. Crouching, she stalked her way towards them, farther away from the group, eventually reaching a skeleton so large, it held cavities for her to hide in. There was shadow inside. Sweet shadow. It was cool and a slight breeze played with her hair. She could just take a nap here. But she couldn't. Johns was close and Riddick was somewhere out there too. Both of them were after her neck, and she could just get angry again over the injustice of it all. But this was not the time for past worries. If she could somehow make it to the left side of the graveyard, she might be able to climb uphill on the other side, and continue her search for water safely.

Selena looked around her cavity. There were more cavities all around and she decided to make her way out through the inside if possible. She looked around on the ground for anything she might be able to use in the near future. Bones where scattered in the sand. She picked up a small needle like one and hid it in the inside of her glove. Selena pulled herself up on a ledge and crawled a few feet towards a new ledge. She was making slow progress, but she was silent and moved gracefully like a cat. After some time, she risked a look outside, seeing that the group of people had made a lot more progress than her. But she was glad she chose to go this way, or else she would surely have been seen by now. Selena continued her climb through the bones, over spines, through hip bones and skulls and over ribbs.

As she started to taste victory, Selena was suddenly yanked out from below, landing hard on her stomach with a grunt, causing her to breathe in a mouth full of sand. She got on hands and knees as she coughed, but she was pushed back down onto the ground by a foot. When she looked up, as best as she could from her position, she saw the menacing form of Riddick standing over her. As she tried to struggle against his boot, he pushed her down even harder. She felt her ribs burn, making her yelp, but she struggled even harder. Selena felt the pressure on her back rise even more, when suddenly, she felt the tip of something sharp press into the back of her neck. Selena stopped struggling, her face and mouth covered in sand, panting hard. Damn if she was about to beg. Selena Vega did no such thing.

"Would you like me to lie here like this all day? If not, just get it over with."

A few moments of silence followed.

"I gotta say, I expected more of a fight from you. That's disappointing." Riddick crouched down beside her, keeping the shiv in place in her neck. "I noticed Johns has a special place in his heart for you."

"Johns doesn't have a heart, Riddick."

A low, short laugh rumbled from above her head. "You got to know him pretty well in such a short time. It seemed he'd like to get to know you even better though."

"Oh, fuck off Riddick!" Selena screamed as she struggled again, to no avail.

He laughed again. "Oh I don't know about that, sister. I'm not done with you yet. You've been causing me some serious shit, and I ain't happy about it."

Selena tried to think, did he enjoy playing with his prey like this? "In case you didn't notice, I'm in some serious shit too, brother."

"True. But you did this to yourself. If you had had your way, you would've turned me in, the price on your head removed, lying somewhere in the sun, while you let me rot away in some shithole. And that's how karma bites you in the pretty ass."

Selena was done with this conversation, was he actually trying to have a discussion with her about it? What was this, court?

"And if I hadn't, I would be rotting away now, and you would be lying somewhere in the…shadows. What would you have done?"

"I woulda killed 'em." Came the simple answer.

She shouldn't even have bothered to ask. He was a predator, ofcourse he would have killed them.

"Right. So, still not willing to fight a fair fight? Even though I'm just one woman?"

To her surprise, Selena felt the shiv being removed. As soon as she felt it go, she rolled away from Riddick and got to her feet, facing him. She whiped her face, trying to remove the sand from her chin, her eyes determined not to show any weakness this time. Because this time, they weren't in the dark, and Riddick didn't have the advantage. They went at each other, Riddick's shiv slashing at her stomach, Selena jumping back in a summer sault. She grabbed his arms, and kicked him clean under the jaw. Riddick twisted her arm behind her back, bringing the shiv towards her throat with the other, which she caught in mid air. He was so strong. Selena grunted with the effort, then throwing her leg up kicking him in the face.

She ducked under his arm, trying to turn his arm behind his back, but, this was Riddick. Not much happened there. He grabbed her hair, and threw an elbow in her face. The pain was tremendous, but she kept going. She rolled around in his grip and placed a well aimed kick against his diaphragm. The shiv came towards her neck again and she blocked his arm, grabbing his wrist in her hand. He walked her backwards out of their cavity, until she fell to the ground, where she lost her grip on his arm and he placed the shiv at her throat. As soon as he did though, her glove blade shot out and she placed it at his.

There they were, on the ground, Riddick sitting on top of her, still tightly grabbing her hair, as they looked at each other. Determination could be seen on both their faces, as neither of them showed any intention of moving. He was heavy, and huge on her tiny form, but she hadn't lost this round. If she was honest with herself, she hadn't thought she would last very long, given his reputation. Selena knew she had skills, but this was Riddick. She got lucky. Karma?

"Did you underestimate me again, Riddick? It seems to be your weakness." She felt the blade push slightly into her throat.

"You'd be dead before you could move your hand, make no mistake about that, Vega."

"Then we both die."

A sound of footsteps could be heard from around a skeloton. As they both looked in that direction, they saw feet coming their way through the ribbs. Someone must have heard them. Riddick looked back at her, a shadow of frustration coming over his face. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "We'll finish this later." And just like that he was gone, leaving her panting on the ground. She dropped her hand and closed her eyes, feeling truly exhausted from the fight, and so very much relieved she had survived a second attack.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Her eyes shot open. Johns was standing a few feet away from her.

"I'm…sun bathing." she replied.

"Get up, Vega." He pulled her up by her elbow.

As soon as she stood, he hit her in the face with all he had, throwing her down onto the ground again. Selena moaned and put her face in her arms. Almost right away, she felt blood run out of her nose, dripping in the sand below her. She heard the click of a shotgun, and then, the voice of a woman.

"Johns? What's going on?"

Selena looked up, seeing a young woman with short hair standing next to Johns.

"I found myself some tail." he replied.

"What happened to her?" The woman asked.

Johns smirked at Selena. "Selena has gotten herself into a little fight. I'm surprised she's still alive."

He bent down and pulled her off the ground again, his grip painfull on her arm. "Where is he?" he whispered forcefully to her.

Selena gave him a blank stare. He raised his gun again, setting it firmly under her chin, lifting her head back.

"I said, where is he, Vega?"

"I don't know."

Johns shaked her by the arm forcefully, trying to make her talk.

"I don't know! Do I look like I want to know?"

She knew what was going to happen. If she talked, she would be dead, either by his hands or by Riddick's. As long as she kept her mouth shut, she could only hope Johns would use her as bait. This was fine by her, because it meant she would live at least for another couple more hours.

"Spread your legs." Johns said, before he once again cuffed her hands behind her back.

He turned her around and started patting her down, trying to find any newly found weapons hidden on her body. He took too much time doing so and Selena gritted her teeth, knowing he was enjoying himself just a little too much. The woman was standing by the skeleton, handling some sort of breathing aparatus, which seemed to be malfunctioning.

"What's that?" Selena asked, as the woman sat down against the bones.

"It's oxygen." She said. "Oxygen levels on this planet are lower than usual, haven't you noticed breathing is hard out here?"

"No" Selena answered. "I'm used to it. Where I come from, oxygen levels are pretty low, I actually had to adjust to breathing in more of it."

"Well, good for you. Coz you weren't getting any from us." Johns cut in.

"Whatever." Johns had pulled out a bottle of booze from somewhere, offering it to the woman.

"Probably shouldn't do this." she said, taking the bottle from him. "Dehydrates you even more."

Still, she took a sip. Selena looked longingly at the bottle, knowing she wasn't going to be offered any. Instead she leaned against the bones, to try and stay in the shadow.

"You're probably right." Johns continued as he crouched down beside the woman. "You could have stayed back at the ship, you probably should have, if we don't find water you know what happens."

Selena couldn't believer her ears, he was being all nice and friendly. She rolled her eyes behind his back, looking the other way in disbelief.

"I wanted to get away." The woman answered.

"I've never seen a Captain so ready to leave her ship."

The woman got up. "We should keep moving."

But Johns didn't settle for that. "What did Owens mean? By not touching the handle?" He was quickly falling back into his old demeanor. She seemed uncomfortable, and Johns rose to his feet. "This is between you and me Carolyn, I promise."

"Yes, coz I'm not here." Selena commented.

Johns shot her a venomous look. "You keep your mouth shut, or I'll shut it for you."

He turned back to Carolyn. At that moment, Selena felt something run down her spine. She fought the urge to turn around and see what had caused it. She really didn't have to, knowing it was a shiv.

"I'm not your Captain." Carolyn said. "During the landing, when things were at their worst, Owens was at his best."

In the shadows behind Carolyn, Selena could see a shiv come out of the shadows towards Carolyn, very slowly.

"He's the one that stopped the docking pilot from dumping the main cabin." The shiv was removed.

"And the docking pilot being?" Johns asked.

Carolyn looked at him.

"I guess I'm a little more glad to be here than I thought." He said, putting his cap on Carolyn's head. "Move your pretty ass. You're going right back up against the wall." He said to Selena as he pushed her to walk.

"What is it with assholes and my ass?" She asked as she stumbled along.