A/N: You may notice I've bumped up Jack's age a bit, *shrugs* hey it's an AU anyway right?
Sabrina1204: Totally agree that CoR felt rushed, and wasn't on par with the lead up of PB, and LOL I love that movie Accepted. Hope you like this update, there's a lot of Riddick, River, n Jack in this one and I hope I got it right.
Carcrafter7: I'm so flattered *blushes*. Hope I live up to it.
Pyrobabe7713: :D, one more update to go and then the lights go out!
Don't own a thing, that's Whedon, Twhoy, and the Wheat brothers thing, they get paid, I get hours of amusement.
Johns kept a steady pace, leading the make shift caravan with Carolyn while Imam and his charges struggled, carrying the power cell between them. River would have told them it would have been easier to carry between just two, but their antics as well as the Arabic they chattered back and forth in amused her nearly as much as their religion did, so she kept silent on the matter, and kept close to Riddick though he would not allow her to help bare his burden.
"Muscle, remember?" He'd teased when she had offered, "My girl doesn't do lifting." She didn't bother to point out it wasn't lifting so much as it was pulling and that she could tell the lack of oxygen was beginning to wear on him, she figured he wouldn't appreciate attention being drawn to his struggle, and so she said nothing on that matter as well.
The girl pretending to be a boy named Jack, Shazza, and Paris each carried a pack loaded with various tools and sundries, the target, half drunk from the amount of alcohol he'd consumed in place of water, stumbled considerably over the sandy terrain. River was sure if all else failed he would at least die of dehydration and contented herself with that. Shazza never took more than five steps without looking back over her shoulder, River knew the devil had given her a weapon, and made a mental note to appear as harmless as possible, the woman was itching to avenge her husband, it was unfortunate she believed her Riddick responsible.
The girl pretending to be a boy named Jack wanted to speak to them, but did not believe the pilot nor the devil would allow it, and so River made it a point to smile reassuringly every time the girl glanced back, at least she hoped it was reassuringly, the man named Jayne had pointed out more than once her smile damaged his calm and so she was unsure if she was performing the action correctly. Her Riddick was not damaged by her smile, but Riddick was of a different nature than the fifteen year old girl. Finally the girl seemed to muster her courage, and slowed her pace until she was walking beside River.
Jack was a little pissed no one had even thought to offer Riddick a breather, he was after all the one hauling all the crap they'd need to get of this rock. Johns called a halt to the march for a break, he seemed to need the rest more than any of them which she found strange considerin' the only thing the fucking dick was carrying was his shotgun.
"Here," Jack handed her breather over to River, "It's for you and Riddick."
"The girl would like to thank you, but she does not require it, her Riddick however may find a need for it. He will not bite," River giggled at a flash of the girl's thoughts, "not you anyways."
Jack looked relieved, something in her gut told her that River was telling her the truth, if she said that Riddick wouldn't hurt her, she believed it. "Riddick," her voice cracked slightly and she cursed herself for it.
"Yeah kid," He growled checking over the knots in the makeshift harness.
"Wanted to give you this, offered it to River but she said she didn't need it, should have a couple of hits left in it.
Riddick paused, looking at the offered breather, before he reached for it, unsure of the girl, "What for?"
"Dunno," Jack said, "Guess my way of sayin', hey thanks for playing pack mule." She shrugged.
Riddick smirked and slung the breather over his shoulder, wondering how he'd ever mistaken the girl for a boy. Girl was smart, binding her chest and keeping her hair short, helped that she was tiny, made her look twelve, but when you actually looked at the kid, the absence of an Adam's apple, the slight curve to her hips, the shape of her jaw, it was obvious. "Not so bad girl."
Jack froze, her face paling, nearly jumping as River's small hand touched her shoulder. "The girl named Jack," she said in a whisper, "has nothing to fear, they will keep her secret."
Jack visibly relaxed, looking down and kicking a stone, "Is it obvious?"
"Only to those who look kid," Riddick told her, "ain't got a thing to worry 'bout, nobody ever looks, how else do you think me and my girl get by?"
"Ain't 'xactly as good as you two." She answered.
"Doin' a'right kid," Riddick said feeling generous after a full breath of air.
"Thanks." Jack smirked. "Oh! I almost forgot, nicked these when Johns wasn't lookin'." She swung around so her back was to the others and dug one of River's boot knives, and one of the several shivs Riddick had had stashed on him. "Thought you might want 'em back, sorry I couldn't get all of them, woulda noticed."
Riddick gave the girl a genuine smile, maybe letting the kid hang around wasn't a bad idea after all, girl was all kinds of resourceful.
"The Riddick and his girl are thankful," River said, "Jack may keep the one that is in her boot in payment."
Jack blushed, "How'dja know?"
Riddick laughed, "My girl knows everythin' kid, ask her, she's the brains, I'm just the pack mule."
"Let's move people!" Johns barked suddenly, "Getting' hotter than hell out here and there's water where we're goin'."
"Itchin' for his next hit I guess," Jack complained shooting Johns a glare. River and Riddick both looked at her in surprise, "What?" She shrugged, "Didn't think I noticed? Spend enough time 'round hypes you get to know when one's itchin' and he's itchin' somethin' fierce."
River smiled at her Riddick's thoughts, he was beginning to see value in her Jack and knew it was only a matter of time before she became their Jack. Her Riddick was a solitary creature by circumstance not nature, and he was beginning to see the worth behind a pack.
As they started moving again Jack stuck close by River who walked between her and Riddick, none of the unlikely trio felt the need to break the comfortable silence until Jack stumbled and lost her footing as they passed through the bone yard.
Riddick was the one to help her back up to her feet, "Give me your pack," he grunted and taking it from her he added it to his load on the sled.
"Thanks." Jack said, her voice warm with gratitude, she hadn't wanted to admit she'd been fading fast.
Riddick grunted again in response.
River giggled, "In Riddick speak that means you are welcome or please do not think on it." Jack laughed in response, "You will learn to translate it." River let the vague suggestion of Jack remaining with them hang in the air, listening to the pair's reactions in their minds. Riddick, fully aware River was listening refused to acknowledge it at all, while Jack who was still unaware of River's abilities was nearly screaming with excitement, while wondering if she had actually meant what she had said or if she was just referring to while they were on this particular rock. Jack prayed it was the former and not the latter. Though she did slightly question her own sanity at being excited over travelling the 'verse with a pair of killers, but who was she to judge. Only difference between her and them was the 'S' at the end of the word.
Paris stumbled ahead of them, a bottle of Shiraz falling from his makeshift sack, he went after it, horrified as it rolled to a stop at Riddick's feet. "Um, yes, well hello, I don't believe we've officially meant," he half stuttered as Riddick bent down to uncork the bottle, "Paris P. Ogilvie, antiquities dealer, entrepreneur." He held out a tentative hand, almost afraid the man would bite it off.
Riddick smirked, and passed the opened bottle to Jack, unsure 'iffin' anyone had let the girl have a drink yet, considerin' it was booze, "Richard B. Riddick, escaped convict, murderer." He shook Paris' hand smirking even wider as the man flinched in his grip.
Jack took a long gulp from the bottle gratefully and passed it off to River.
"My girl," Riddick gestured with a nod of his head.
River took a long swig as well, smiling she passed the bottle to Riddick, "River M. Tam, escaped government experiment, assassin." River and Jack both laughed at Paris' wide eyed expression while Riddick killed off the bottle of Shiraz.
"Good year," he smirked as he tossed it over his shoulder.
"Yes, well…" Paris quickly caught back up with the rest of the group.
River and Riddick exchanged an amused glance, and Jack realizing she was missing something asked, "What?"
Riddick smirked, "Johns wasn't the one we was on the HG to kill, he was just a bonus." River was surprised her Riddick had revealed that information to her Jack, until she realized that he was testing her reaction.
The wheels clicked in Jack's head and she let out a snort of amusement herself.
"What's so funny kid?" Riddick quirked an eyebrow, it wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting.
"Earlier I kinda hoped 'iffin' you two really were gonna kill us all you'd snuff out the pansy assed core bred boy first."
Riddick barked out a laugh, girl was full of surprises.
"I mean, usually I can appreciate antiques, but this thing," Paris made a face as he took another sip out of his seemingly endless supply of bottles.
"Ain't nothin' we can't fix 'iffin' we can adapt the power supply." Fry grunted trying to lug the power cell aboard the small skiff.
"Not a star-jumper," Shazza remarked eyeing the tattered wings.
"Doesn't have to be," Riddick grunted, shrugging off the harness, "use this to get back out into the Sol-Track Shipping Lanes, and stick out a thumb."
Fry glanced nervously at Johns, thinking to herself, fuck, how did he know that? "Um, a little help here," she said pointedly looking at him.
Riddick walked over, but Johns prevented him from picking up the cell by stepping in front of it, "Why don't you take crazy over there and check out those containers, see if there's anything to patch up those wings with."
Riddick growled, but stepped away motioning with his head for River and Jack to follow.
"Imam, why don't you and your boys get to work on that well," Johns wanted them out of earshot for what he had to say, "Shazza, Fry and me will see 'bout getting the power supply switched over." He needed Fry, she was a pilot, and Shazza was just itchin' for an excuse to shoot the killers, he could use that too.
Shazza nodded and followed Carolyn onto the skiff, and the pilgrims needed no further urging as they had been without anything to drink since before the HG had taken off. Johns waited until Riddick and his followers had disappeared into a building before joining the two women inside the skiff.
"That should do for a system's check," Carolyn told Shazza and Johns who hovered over her shoulders, "but no way in hell it's enough to fly."
"How many?" Johns asked.
"Fifteen six gigs here, ninety total, other ship carries twenty gig cells, so…" She ran the numbers in her head, "five total to launch."
"How much they weigh?" Shazza asked skeptically.
"Twenty five kilos each."
Johns let out a whistle.
"Old sand cat outside, might be able to git it movin' 'gain." Shazza told them.
"Good, and if you need an extra hand," Johns said looking out the skiff's windshield, "where'd our problem children go?"
The trio in question had made their way through most of the settlement, the same comfortable silence which they had settled into on the hike to the settlement falling over them once more as they searched.
"Ain't right." Jack finally said, as they walked through what was once a mess hall, plates and trays still littered the table, remnants of long molded food stick stuck in dirty pots and pans.
"Sure as hell ain't kid," Riddick rumbled as he picked up piece of what he was sure was a human bone.
River ran her fingers over the destroyed doorframe, a vision tore through her mind and she recoiled backwards tripping over a chair falling.
Riddick was by her side instantly, "Talk to me girl," he growled low, noting the glazed look in her eyes.
"They are hunger and are never satisfied."
"What does she mean?" Jack asked cursing at the tremble in her voice.
"Means people here didn't just up and leave girl."
"How does she know?"
River turned her gaze on Jack, "The girl knows, she is a reader, everything leaves behind a whisper." Anxiously she touched the girl's mind, afraid the girl would fear her now.
Jack quirked an eyebrow, "You're shittin' me right?" She looked at Riddick for conformation, he nodded. "Huh, well that explain's how you knew. Do me a favor, don't know 'iffin' you can help readin' me or what not, but 'iffin' you could keep certain things you pick up to yourself, I mean don't even tell me you know 'em."
River smiled, "The girl will do her best, sometimes she cannot help it, sometimes the flow of the River cannot be stemmed."
"Is that why you didn't sell me out, somethin' you saw?" Jack asked nervously.
River walked over to where Jack was standing and tilted her forehead, pressing it against Jack's and gently holding their heads together she whispered, "He stole from you, what he took was not his, he hurt you, because he thought you could not fight back, but you did," Jack bit back hard against the tears which threatened her, "do not wear his blood as guilt and shame, don't cry for him, don't you dare cry for him." She snarled in a very Riddick like fashion, "He broke the girl named Audrey, you rebuilt her into the boy named Jack, this girl has rebuilt herself as well, this girl only wishes to show her that she can be the girl named Jack, she can be strong, so no one can hurt her again, so no one may cage her again. Your secrets are your own, the girl will not speak on them until you call their names to your tongue. They stole from us, we will take what we please, they killed a part of us, will not hesitate to kill, we will look out for only ourselves and our own. Dong ma (understand me?)
"Dong wo (I understand.)" Jack said straightening herself, wiping furiously at her eyes, a new sense of strength washing over her.
Riddick watched the scene unravel in front of him, quickly realizing he was fucked he repressed the urge to growl. Ain't no way he was goin' to be able to ditch the kid now, while he didn't actually think his girl could kill him, he was positively sure she would give it a hell of a shot if he did. Kid wasn't all bad, he thought, she was smart, able to pull a con, had quick fingers and observant as hell. Could come in useful, least her head wasn't plastered 'cross the 'verse with a bounty, come in real useful 'iffin' they needed to lay low. Was another bunk on the ship, which, fuck, he thought, was probably scattered to a thousand pieces 'cross this asshole of a planet. His nose twitched, he'd caught the scent of blood, and it wasn't River's, discreetly he looked over Jack, no visible injuries. It took a few moments before it dawned on him. Fuck. Riddick did growl this time, but kept it low and to himself, shit just kept getting' worse and worse.
The Crislam pilgrims cheered as the first few drops of water made their way down the pipette.
Riddick paused in front of the doors, a glint of light catching his eyes and he knelt down pushing away the sand to reveal a broken hand light.
"Locked from the inside," Jack said after trying the doors, while Riddick pulled away a tarp, revealing the words "CORING ROOM."
"An advance team," he said more to himself then either girl, "geologists."
River slowly backed away, unnerved by the echoes of whispers which screamed to her through the heavy doors. Jack followed her example, trusting the fact a Reader knew when to back the fuck away from something, while Riddick leaned in, trying to peer through a filthy window.
"Hey!" Johns snapped, "Missin' the party c'mon folks!"
Riddick growled.
"Patience," River reminded him wrapping her hand in his, and eyeing the coring room with trepidation, something was wrong about that building, very, very wrong.
"…And for this, this gift of water we give thanks in the name of our Prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him, and to our Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and to his Father, Allah, the Compassionate and the Merciful." Imam prayed over a tray of crystal goblets filled with water.
"Never did understand a fuck 'bout that religion," Riddick smirked as he followed his girls in and leaned against the doorframe.
River smirked, "Neither do they."
"Perhaps we should toast to our hosts? Who were they anyway? Miners?" Paris asked making a face at the cloudy water.
"Geologists, an advanced team, move from rock to rock." Shazza answered, confirming what Riddick had thought.
"Crapped out here," Johns mock toasted his glass.
"Why'd they leave their ship?" Paris asked.
"Just a skiff, disposable really." Johns shrugged.
"Like a life raft?" He asked.
"Sure," Shazza told him, "Coulda had a real drop-ship take 'em off planet long time ago."
Jack laughed, unsure whether or not their ignorance was willful or just plain stupidity, "You really don't think they just up and left with their clothes still on the lines? Photos on the wall?"
"Maybe they had weight limits, you don't know, you can't be sure." Shazza said, a slight tremble to her voice.
"I know you don't prep your emergency vessel if it ain't a fucking emergency," Riddick remarked calmly.
"Rag it Riddick, ain't no one gives a damn 'bout your theories."
"My Riddick is only speaking what you are all thinking and afraid to say," River said absently, letting her fingers run across a row of dust covered microscopes.
"Has anyone seen the young one, Ali?" Imam asked a hint of worry in his voice.
River spun around, knocking a few of the scopes to the ground, "The coring room." It was no more than a whisper.
A scream ripped through the silence, low and in the distance, "Fuck." Jack swore.
The survivors ran for the coring room, "Too late," River whispered and took a seat at the table finishing off someone's abandoned glass of water, Riddick and Jack joined her.
The blue sun began to rise as the sounds of Crislam prayers echoed through the empty settlement, unnerving Carolyn just as much as the first time she'd heard them when they had lost Zeke.
"Why was the bloody door chained? Why would they lock themselves in like that?" Shazza asked, looking down into the darkened shaft.
"Not sure, but them Crislams better not be digging another goddamn hole out there," he craned his neck to see outside.
"Other buildings weren't secure," Riddick said from the doorframe, blocking out the little sun coming into the room. "so they ran in here," he took a few steps inside, "heaviest doors, thought they'd be safe inside, but…"
"Someone forgot to lock the back door," River finished appearing from behind him.
"Fucking creepy," Carolyn swore, it was becoming entirely unnerving listening to the Tam girl speak, every time she opened her gorram mouth something ominous and creepy came out.
Johns lit a flare and dropped it down into the shaft, the five of them watched it fall, lighting up a pile of human remains.
"That's what happened to me Zeke," Shazza said, looking up at Riddick and River, "and you seen it."
River nodded.
"But you was there to kill him anyway." She accused wanting to be angry at someone.
"Not necessarily, " Riddick shrugged, "My girl just wanted his whiskey, though I noticed he was trying to ghost my ass when he shot that stranger, but that's just an observation, maybe your old man just had a thing for shootin' people in the back."
Shazza looked away, she couldn't deny it, she'd been ready to shoot him down the moment they'd found him too.
"The woman feels remorse." River said sagely, "She wishes to make amends," she turned to look up at Riddick.
Shazza was a little startled that the girl knew that, "Take it." She said stiffly, holding out her breather.
Riddick smirked at the clearly pissed off look on Johns' face and accepted the breather, nodding his head at Shazza who stiffly nodded back. He really didn't give a shit the woman felt bad, but he did enjoy snatchin' someone off the merc's team.
"Let's board this up and get the hell gone, they seem to stick to the darkness, we stay in the light and we'll be fine."
"Twenty two years ago," Carolyn said out loud, looking at a tray of coring samples lain on a work station on the other side of the shaft.
"What?" Johns asked confused.
"Last of the coring samples are dated twenty two years ago this month."
"Yeah, what's so special 'bout that?"
River joined them at the table, feeling the wheel's in Fry's head turn, the woman was taking an excruciatingly long amount of time to work it out, she took pity on the pilot pretending to be captain, "Even the suns fall down." River watched the pieces fall into place in her head, humming to herself as Fry ran from the room.
"What was that about?" Jack asked popping her head in the doorway.
"The darkness comes." River answered.
"Fuck," Jack and Riddick swore in unison and River giggled.
The remaining survivors watched the year counter flick over to twenty two, plunging the miniature planet into darkness.
"You've gotta be shittin' me." Johns slammed his fist against a wall.
Riddick smirked and turned to walk out of the room, calling over his shoulder, "Hope you ain't scared of the dark."
Carolyn headed back to the skiff at a jog, Johns chasing after her. "Gonna need those last four cells from the ship," she told him, "Shit, still gotta patch up the wings and test the hull's integrity."
"Let's wait on those cells." Johns told her, grabbing her shoulder to get her to slow down.
"Wait for what? 'Til it's so dark we can't find our way back to the ship?" She snapped, stomping up the ramp.
"Don't know 'iffin' the lights will go out in three hours or three days, could even be three weeks." He said following her up, forcing a fake calm into his voice.
"All the more fucking reason to get the cells here and get the hell of this rock, just get the gorram cells here, what's the discussion?"
Johns paused, checking out the windshield and looking behind him, making sure no one was listening, "Riddick's a pilot, don't know about the Tam girl, but he's damn good, ain't gonna take the risk of him leaving us on this planet to rot."
"You told me we could trust 'em, said there was a deal. Fuck Johns, shoulda told me he could fly," she said in a harsh whisper.
"That's what I said."
Fry looked at him, the pieces once more falling into place in her head, Johns had no intention of letting River and Riddick go, never had, "Dangerous game your playin' Johns, hope you know what the fuck you're doing."
"They set the rules Carolyn, maybe you haven't noticed but chains don't really work on the psycho-fuck twins, only way we're all getting' off this rock is if they believe they're goin' free, if they think.."
"You mean if they realize you're plannin' on royally fucking them over." She snorted at him.
"Need a fail-safe, just bring the cells at the last possible moment, after the wings are patched and we know we're ready to fly."
"You know they haven't hurt any of us," Carolyn said, seeing Johns in a new light entirely and unsure if she liked what she was seeing. "They haven't even lied to us."
"How'd the girl know the boy was in the coring room Carolyn?" Johns added quickly watering her small seed of doubt, "They're murderers, shit they broke onto the ship to kill me, law says they gotta do their bid."
Carolyn thought it over for a second, the girl seemed to know all sorts of things she shouldn't, how and why had yet to be seen. "Dancin' on razor blades Johns."
"Won't give him the chance to slit another throat," he told her walking off the ship and the moment he was out of her eye line he threw up, bracing himself against the skiff, his body shaking.
"Bad sign shakin' like that in this heat." Riddick rumbled, sitting on crate, he ran a shiv across his scalp, "Long strokes Jack," He grunted, correcting her shiv making technique.
"Thought I said no shivs."
"This?" Riddick asked raising an eyebrow, "This is just a personal grooming appliance, and ain't no one said shit 'bout the kid."
Jack watched out of the corner of her eye as River slipped onto the skiff, the hatch closing behind her.
Riddick took a final swipe over his head watching Johns storm off toward an empty building, "C'mon girl, fucking Crislams ain't goin' be able to patch those wings, let's go play nice to get off this fucking rock."
"What 'bout River?" She asked.
"Ain't nothin' to think on, just wants a few words with our fearless leader, let her know the truth about the side she's takin."
River waited for the hatch to seal completely and the hull integrity test to begin before making her presence known, "Strange," she remarked.
Carolyn jumped, "Shit, didn't know you were there." She smiled, nervously eyeing the sealed hatch and the countdown until the test was finished.
"Strange not to initiate a run-up on the main power drive," she glanced at the empty cell bay, "inadequate power, a craft this size should require four additional cells. Strange, unless they were afraid. Are you afraid Carolyn? Afraid the girl and her Riddick will fly away and leave you to die?"
"I'm not afraid of some two bit piece of shit hacker little girl." Carolyn snapped, unafraid of doing so only because Riddick was out of ear and eye shot.
River laughed. "Is that what the devil told you?" She asked genuinely amused by how people always seemed to think her harmless. "Tell me Carolyn Joanna Fry," she continued in a whisper, walking closer, "Do you think we should trust him, do you think he is a man of his word?"
"Why?" Fry swallowed nervously.
"Because I know he's not, and I also know he won't kill the girl or her Riddick."
"Whys that?"
"We're worth ten times the amount alive," River giggled at Fry's surprise, "Thought he was a man of the law, shiny badge, blue uniform, secrets, secrets, we all have our secrets and the girl knows every one," she laughed again, "the devil is nothing more than a merc, and the girl and the Riddick, his payday, greed is the creed, he'd shoot you down before he would aim at the girl or her Riddick."
"Fuck you, I'm not gonna let you get in my head like this, he said you'd try, try to turn us against each other."
River shrugged as the hull test completed and the hatch way began to open, she turned to exit, "Owens was a good man, died bad," She said over her shoulder, using Fry's own words, "Ever wonder why the devil shakes like that? The girl knows, but you won't believe her, ask him, ask him why your friend had to die screaming, the girl knows it hurt, she heard his screams long before you did."
Johns twisted opened a red shot gun shell, loading the hidden ampoules into a syringe; he took a deep breath, and injected it into his eye.
"Who the fuck are you really?" Carolyn demanded from the doorway, fucking girl had been right.
Johns looked up and too stoned to care he'd been found out and leaned against the wall, enjoying his hit.
"Ain't even a cop are you?" She snorted, crossing the room to pick up another red bullet from a small ammo box on the floor next to him.
"Never said I was," he said carelessly.
"Never said you were a fucking hype either," she twisted it open revealing a pair of ampoules.
"You have caffeine in the morning, I have my morphine, who gives a shit."
"Lucky you, you have two goddamn mornings a day," she yelled at him.
"Not a problem unless you're fixin' to make it one." He stood and snatched the box away from her.
"It became a fuckin' problem when you let Owens die like that, got enough shit to put down a fucking mule-team!" She snapped throwing the ampoule in her hand across the room.
"Owens was already fucking dead!" Johns snapped back stepping closer, "His brain just hadn't caught up to the fact."
"Anything else I should know Johns, Jesus Christ I'm lettin' you play these fucking games with our lives!"
Johns snatched her hands from her sides and wrapped them around his back, forcing her closer, "Feel that?" He demanded.
Carolyn shuddered as her fingers ran along a jagged scar.
"First run in with Riddick, he went for that sweet spot he's always goin' on about and missed. They had to leave the tip in there, I can feel it sometimes, pressin' against my spine, so maybe the care and feeding of my nerve endings is my goddamn business." He threw her hands back at her shoving her away.
"You coulda done somethin'." She mumbled quietly rubbing her wrist where he had held it, outside she could hear the Crislams yelling in Arabic and calling for her, she turned to leave.
"Yeah well look to thine own ass first, right captain?" He sneered.
Carolyn left, anger and self disgust overwhelming her, fuck she was just like him. "I'm not you fucking captain," she snapped at one of the boys pushing past him to see what all the yelling was about, Johns a step behind her.
All eyes locked onto the luminous arch which had begun to rise over the horizon. River whispered to Jack, "Stay close when the dying starts." Jack nodded without removing her gaze from the quickly rising planet which threatened to kill them all.
"If we need anything from the crash ship I suggest we kick on, sand cat's solar." Shazza said looking at Fry.
That one sentence kicked everyone into action, "Let's get those fucking cells," Fry yelled as they made a break for the sand cat.
"Where's Riddick?" Jack asked River.
"Leave the dog, he'd leave us." Paris bitterly spat out and then jumped as Riddick hopped onto the sand cat right behind him. "Oh hello there, thought we lost you." Paris swallowed hard.
"Wouldn't miss this," He smirked settling himself on the back of the cat next to Jack and motioning for River to take a seat on his lap, one arm twisting around her waist and the other subconsciously moving behind Jack to keep her from falling off. The gesture did not escape River, who smiled to herself and began to hum as she twisted a strand of hair around her finger, nestling her head against his chest.
"Johns!" Shazza yelled, he had been behind them a minute ago.
"Here!" He yelled running out of an empty building, he hopped up onto the cat as Shazza drove past.
"Allah protect us." Imam whispered, as the rim of the blue planet began to rise on the horizon.
"God ain't here Holy Man and 'iffin he is, he's laughing." Riddick smirked.
"You don't have to believe for him to be with you." Imam defended.
"I absolutely believe," Riddick yelled over the sound of the sand cat speeding through the bone yard, "Just hate the fucker." He said reaching over to pull Jack's head down before it could be taken off by a bone jutting out in their path.
"Thanks," Jack yelled at him, when he released her head.
Riddick grunted.
Endnote: Some of you may have caught when Riddick referred to his girls inside his head, and how he made sure Jack followed him and River when they walked off, he doesn't realize it yet but the beast has already made Jack a member of the pack, the man will catch on soon. And so darkness falls…
'Til after now.