Chapter 7
((YES! I finally got internet access so that I can update! This is a pretty long chapter, since I was writing for quite a few days straight without getting a chance to update. I did manage to separate what I had into chapters. Well…one and a half chapters. Anyway, enough rambling. Oh, by the way, I apologise in advance if I mix up some quotes, I don't have the movie on hand to review…anyway, yeah, finishing up now…))
There was no talk of sleep or rest as they walked, even though it had been going on two days for some of them that they hadn't slept. Nobody would ever be able to sleep, however, not with the knowledge of what lay beyond the shadows. The knowledge that while they slept, the lights could go out, or some brave creature might dart into a dimly lit area and snatch one of them away before anybody would awaken to save them. 'The creatures'; when written on paper, it seemed so bland and ordinary, not the kind of words that would immediately instil fear or panic. Alicia knew, however, that the words would never have the same meaning to her ever again. Just the word 'creature' would have the power to give her nightmares that would haunt her for a long time.
They had been walking for going on two or three hours, and something in the back of Alicia's mind was nagging at her, something that wasn't quite right…. She didn't bother trying to put her finger on it, she had much more pressing things to put her mind on, which was mostly just to continue moving each leg forward at the same pace as everybody else. Her head was absolutely throbbing, from God knows what; blood loss or stress or some unknown force exerting pressure on her forehead. Once the adrenaline that had gripped her and made her blood rush like hot fire through her veins had passed, the pain had flung at her full-force. The cuts on her arms and legs burned like flames licking at her skin, torching it every time she moved, and it had taken every ounce of willpower in her body to not cry out, or ask for a quick stop. The makeshift bandages had become swiftly soaked with blood, but they had served their purpose, keeping the wounds from the dust and dirt. The tightly wrapped pieces of disturbingly grey-red cloths hadn't loosened or unravelled, allowing them to continue on without need of stopping. Though even now, her leg was burning in fiery pain every time she put her weight on it, she forced herself to stand straight and not falter. Weakness was not an option. Not around the creature with the big gauge who still dragged the sled with Imam.
Although nobody had said anything, Alicia could see them sneaking glances at her out of the corner of her eye. When she'd look over at them, she'd usually catch them hurriedly moving their eyes back towards the front. Twice now, she had encountered the creatures, and survived. Third time's the charm…Alicia thought bitterly, wondering if anybody begrudged her for living where others had died. She certainly was feeling guilty enough that it might as well be true. Not her fault…she was just lucky…and had an invincible protection. At least she liked to think he was invincible. The thought of him dying sent shock waves of distress through her and caused her gut to tighten, as if icy cold hands had squeezed them. The only exception was Johns, who had not moved his eyes from the front the entire time they had been walking. She could tell, however, judging by the way his jaw was set tightly, that he was not at all pleased that she had survived his attempt at indirect murder.
Why had she not told them about what he had done? Why had she kept her silence, allowing them to keep the illusion that she had, once again, eluded death by the skin of her teeth? For some, bizarre, unfathomable reason, she had a feeling that they wouldn't believe her. That they would wonder, perhaps like they had the first time, if it had been Riddick who had sliced her, and think that maybe now she was afraid to tell, in case he should suddenly turn and slit her throat before anybody could react. After all, it had been Riddick who had so easily suggested that a creature had cut her, even though those slices looked oddly straight and deliberate to be the jagged claws of the creatures. So, she had held her tongue, despite her desire to get her revenge on Johns, knowing that Riddick would never be trusted if he had attempted murder hanging over his head.
Behind her, she heard Jack whisper to Carolyn, and for a half-second, she actually had the paranoid thought that they were talking about her. Then she realised he had merely asked how much farther they had to go. The nagging feeling at the back of Alicia's mind returned, but once again, she couldn't quite put her finger on what was causing it. Then suddenly the sled stopped, causing Alicia to have to do an odd sort of pirouette sort of move to avoid running into Imam, which put her full weight on her right leg. With an inward hiss, she bit into her lip tightly to avoid crying out instinctively as a jab of pain went flying up her leg. Luckily, everyone was distracted by the reason that they had stopped, which became apparent. Right in front of them there were two grooves in the sand, going from left to right, which she immediately realised were their own. We've crossed our own tracks…Suddenly she realised what had been nagging at the back of her mind. It had seemed like they had walked a long way, yet hadn't reached the huge bones that she'd remember she had nearly knocked herself out on when the sand-cat had sent a large pile of them flying.
Looking up instinctively to see how Riddick was reacting to this new development, she found that he was crouching not far in front of them, serene and emotionless as always. Imam and Johns had dropped the chains of the sled, and Johns had, of course, unhooked his gauge from its holster, glaring at the back of Riddick's head with such ferocity that she was surprised he didn't burn holes into it. Still clutching her torch, she followed the others forward, where Imam was the first to speak.
"Are we going in circles?" At first Alicia didn't think that Riddick had answered, but she'd thought she'd seen his lips move, almost unnoticeably. Perhaps he had been muttering to himself, for Imam continued as if he hadn't said anything. "Do you even know where we are -?"
"Listen!" Riddick said this so forcefully as he stood straight up that nobody seemed to have any thoughts of disobeying, and everybody fell silent. Then it became apparent, from not that far ahead, echoing everywhere, and she unconsciously shifted closer to Riddick, and she thought he glanced down at her with something like a protective look, but then his gaze was back forward. Outside of their circle of light, though she couldn't see them, she could hear the creatures. Thousands, maybe millions of them, all calling out to one another. Had she not already known what lay ahead, she might have thought there were a thousand undead souls waiting to suck their life away. In all honesty, she probably would have preferred that to these demons, that she was now sure had spawned straight from Satan's loins. Bringing her thoughts back to the present, she wondered what significance this had on their travels.
"Canyon ahead." Riddick explained, and she looked forward with a sort of sinking feeling in her stomach. Canyon meant no where to run but straight into Hell to face Satan's children one on one. "I circled once to buy some time to think." Alicia looked over at Riddick again, feeling a bit better, knowing that at least he wasn't afraid. He was being practical, not rushing in headfirst. He had, at least, warned them. Sort of. Johns, on the other hand, was staring out into the blackness as if willing it to reveal it's secret to him. He obviously did not like that Riddick could see what lay ahead and he couldn't…it gave Riddick a serious advantage.
"Well, let's get going then." Alicia said tentatively, causing everybody to look over at her as if they'd just remembered she was present. They'd gone from sneaking furtive looks to completely forgetting her presence. She wasn't positive which she enjoyed better, considering how guilty she felt about all of the ones who had died instead of her.
"Oh I don't know about that." Riddick said, after a short pause, looking directly at her with an almost amused smile on his face, as if he enjoyed telling them about the dangers ahead of them. "That's Death Row up there. Especially with the little girl bleeding." Everybody looked at him like he had lost his mind, Alicia included (because for once she had no idea what he was talking about) but it was Johns who made the obvious statement.
"What are you talking about, what little girl?" For a moment, Alicia actually thought that Riddick had referred to her, for it looked like the clumsy ballerina move she'd made to avoid bumping into Imam had re-opened her leg wound again. Then Riddick turned his head, looking directly behind him, silver eyes gleaming in the night, and it wasn't her or Carolyn that he was looking at, and suddenly the answer seemed to come to everybody. All eyes turned to the frightened looking newly bald young…man? Girl? Jack was standing there, with a look that suggested that if he – she wasn't surrounded by darkness with creatures far worse then their anger, she would be bolting at the moment.
"What?" Alicia blurted before she could think about the consequences, but it seemed like everybody had similar reactions, though not all of them were able, it seemed, to speak. Jack was looking absolutely terrified, and Carolyn opened her mouth and began to rant about how Jack should have told them that she was a girl and (apparently) that she was having her period. It would have been just a tad imperative to know, but then…Alicia could understand. The girl had probably been terrified that she'd be left behind because she was a liability. Before Carolyn could even finish the first sentence, Jack had dropped to the ground in a sort of crouching fetal position, and Carolyn didn't have the heart to continue chewing her out. She crouched next to Jack and put her arm around hi- HER. This was going to take some getting used to.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Alicia turned her eyes to Johns, because she could hear the tone in his voice. The angry tone, the one that could end up hurting people. Alicia decided that, being a man, he couldn't understand it, and interjected angrily.
"It's not her fault. She was scared, and rightly so!" Though she didn't say it out loud, everybody seemed to pick up the 'with you around' that drifted at the end of that sentence, directed right at Johns. Everybody was watching them now, and the tension was practically prickling in the air, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Johns seemed to expand, and she could tell that if anything was going down, it was going down now. He turned to her, his gun loose in its holster.
"If you've got something you want to say, Sara, then just say it." Johns was standing squarely, trying to be as threatening as possible, and, surprisingly, not succeeding. Once upon a time, she would have been terrified. Once upon a time before she met Riddick, before she'd become involved in the intricate world of crime inadvertently. She'd faced off with who she had once believed was the most dangerous man in the universe. She'd brushed death not once, not twice, but three or four times. Now she was not the same girl who had run out into the street on a fateful night to help a stranger…no, she was somehow…different.
"Maybe I do, Johns. Maybe I do have something to say." Alicia, for some unknown reason, glanced over at Riddick, who was watching her with something like anticipation, apprehension, and approval, all mixed up into one. "Didn't anybody think to ask how Johns got his bloody nose, when we left the settlement? Why don't you tell 'em, Johns, I know you love telling stories." This drew the attention of everybody, including Jack, who was now quite a bit calmer and riveted on the conversation. Carolyn had stood up now, and was watching the pair of them like one watches two dogs who are growling at each other, tensing to pull them away from one another. Johns, however, was looking quite like he regretted having started this conversation, and mumbled something incomprehensible. Although he hadn't finished what he was saying, Alicia cut across him smoothly.
"Oh, you don't want to tell? Then I'll oblige." Her voice got more confident and mocking as his voice got less bossy. "You see, Johns was having a little bit of a walk in the clouds when I woke up just before we left. Seems he got a little over-confident, or maybe he was just thinking with his dick instead of his brain. But you see – " In the middle of her sentence, Johns suddenly moved violently towards her, gun drawn and at her neck, shutting her up out of pure instinct. He was almost quivering with rage, and had the gun barrel nearly pressing against her throat.
"Shut up. Just shut UP!" Alicia didn't need to say anymore, however, for the damage had been done. Carolyn and Jack were looking at Johns with expressions of pure disgust, and Imam was looking somewhere between disappointed and angry. The little pilgrim boy was the only one who didn't know what was going on, because he couldn't speak English. All Alicia could see, however, was the gun, which, despite the lack of light, gleamed like it was mocking her. For a moment, nobody moved. They were afraid of the gun, knowing that a crazy man would turn on them in a flash if they interfered.
"What are you gonna do, Johns?" Alicia whispered, trying to keep her voice level, so as not to betray her fear. "G-gonna k-kill me? In front of all these witnesses?" Johns hesitated for a moment, and seemed to be deciding whether it was worse to kill then to have a dirty little secret like the fact that he was perverted hanging over his head. After a few moments, the gun dropped, but he was still glaring at her like she was something smelly on the bottom of his shoe. Alicia's muscles slowly released their tension, and she let out the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding.
"Look, we're wasting light." Carolyn spoke up, and both Alicia and Johns looked over at her, and Alicia had to admit that she'd forgotten there were other people there. "We're going to have to go back…this is too risky…" Alicia stared at her like she'd grown another head, and Johns turned his wrath towards her without difficulty, and Alicia backed out of the limelight, almost literally, and found herself, once again, pressed against Riddick's chest.
"What? You're the one who dragged us out here, Carolyn." Johns seemed eager to find a good reason to expel his anger, and Carolyn's plan was a great one. Carolyn murmured something that sounded like 'I was wrong, okay?', and Johns didn't seem to take much comfort in that. "Come on, Carolyn, nice open area, cool wind on my face, I'm starting to enjoy my fucking self." Now Johns was obviously making no sense, and she knew that he was just making trouble. Johns just wanted to argue, and keep things tense, he didn't want to co-operate, hell, she would have been surprised if he even cared about getting anybody but his own, ugly, egotistical self back to safety.
"Are you high again? Just listen to yourself, Johns." Although Alicia had to agree, slightly, with Johns' point of view, knowing that it would be pointless to return to the ship, she kept her mouth tightly shut. Johns could fight his battles on his own, because nothing short of cash or threat of death would get her to help him. Alicia's attention was distracted by a warm breath suddenly pressing against the hairs on the back of her neck, sending goosebumps up and down her arms.
The drama unfolded in front of her, as all eyes were riveted on the argument that was taking place between Carolyn and Johns, but she couldn't hear it. A hand slid through her hair, gentle and caressing, and she didn't know how he dared do it, when Johns sat so close. The only explanation she had was that he didn't care, or, more likely, wasn't afraid of Johns. In her chest, her heart had skipped a beat, and somewhere in her mind there was a little voice telling her to pull away, to not let him tease her…but she found it quite easy to ignore that voice. Then, just as suddenly as he had begun, he had suddenly released her, and she turned her head to look at him, startled. All that she could see in his eyes was a restrained and masked feeling, and what looked like regret, and she somehow knew that he had been telling himself for a while that he wouldn't do what he'd just started to do. For one, irrational, totally impulsive moment, she considered just running at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pressing her lips against his; somehow, this would make everything right. Then, however, both their eyes were drawn to the argument, which seemed to have raised to a new height.
"Listen to her?" Johns said this in a patronising, disbelieving voice, and Alicia wondered what the argument was about now. "She doesn't give a shit about us. Back when we were crashing, you know what she was going to do? She was going to dump us. Dump the passenger bay. Kill us in our sleep." Carolyn was shaking her head, but she could see the fear in her eyes. Johns was, for once, telling the truth. "We are just ghosts to her!"
"Shut your fucking mouth!" Carolyn lunged at Johns, who deftly deflected her to the ground, where she lay defeated. He might have continued, but Imam intervened, his voice shocked and angry. Carolyn lay where she'd landed, and for a minute, Alicia thought she was dead, and was about to round on Johns, who was looking down at Carolyn and laughing. The man was fucking insane. Alicia crouched by Carolyn, and as Johns snapped a flare into light and began to move forward, helped her to her feet. Carolyn pulled away, obviously ashamed to speak with anyone, not after what she'd done. Alicia was angry, certainly, that Carolyn had been so willing to just kill them all to save her own life, and, more importantly, that she had kept it a secret. Then, however, she remembered the secrets that she herself was keeping. For one thing, they all thought her name was Sara, and they certainly didn't know that she was on the run from the law.
Imam and the pilgrim took over dragging the sled, and they all continued forward, as Johns and Riddick walked ahead, almost as if they were pals. A clever illusion, but nothing would put Johns and Riddick together into the same section of a page. They didn't even belong in the same book. So, the procession moved into the entranceway of Hell.
Alicia, once Riddick and Johns got sort of far ahead of them, walked in front of Imam and the little pilgrim boy, holding up her torch so that they could see directly in front of them, and not trip over unseen obstacles. Johns and Riddick seemed to be chatting nicely, as if they were buddy-buddy, though she couldn't hear what they were saying; they were too far away and the sounds of creatures wailing were constantly drifting from across the sands.
Curiousity got the better of her, and she moved forward, although still slightly turned, holding the torch high so that the flickering light still reached the group behind her. Concentrating hard, trying to ignore the wailing in order to hear their conversation, Alicia moved even farther forward, so that half of her was encased in a ghoulish green light, while the other half was still lit up from her high-held torch. Finally, she managed to pick up what they were saying, hearing the tail end of a sentence from Riddick.
"Sacrifice play," He was saying, while picking his way across the sands with Johns at his heels. "Hack up a body, leave it at the start of the canyon." Her blood froze in her veins, and she considered, for a moment, turning and running to Carolyn, telling her what she'd heard. Then she thought about it, watching them with narrowed eyes. Riddick had led them through thus far, and had shown no sign of wanting to hurt any of them (except perhaps Johns). Why would he suddenly decide to kill someone off as bait?
"Trawl it." Johns was continuing, and it sounded as if he were discussing something as casual as the weather, or where he was planning on going for his vacation. "We've got extra cable in the sled. Drag it forty or fifty feet behind us." Riddick smirked and said something she couldn't quite hear, but that sounded impressed. "Well, I don't want to feed 'em, just want to keep 'em off our scent." Alicia sped up a bit, closing the gap a bit more, though still remaining out of direct sight. Behind her, she thought she could hear Carolyn calling her to slow down, but she ignored it.
"So which one caught your eye…?" Riddick turned his head, looking back at them, and he caught her eye. For a moment, the amused and carefree smile he had on his face faltered, as he looked at the expression on her face. It was a mixture of terror and anger, and she could tell that he knew she had heard what they were saying. Before he could give any sign of whether what she was hearing was true or not, Johns was pulling him back around, muttering at him if he was crazy. If he looked it would be obvious about what they were going to be doing.
The conversation continued on as such, and Alicia slowly slid back, until their voices were barely audible again, though she caught a sentence here and there. Still pretty far ahead of the group, she started to turn to head back, when one sentence caught her attention, and she swiftly turned back, her eyes widening.
"Alright, enough chatter. You take care of either Sara or the little girl, and I'll keep the rest off your back. Better yet, get rid of both, but if you have to choose one or the other…take Sara. She's bleeding, and she's going to be slowing us down soon. She's a bitch anyway, her and her lies…" That nearly sent Alicia flying at him, ready to claw his eyes out. Me and my lies? What about you, you perverted piece of shit? However, she held herself back as Riddick turned to Johns, with an unidentifiable emotion in his eyes. "What? It's not too big of a job for you, is it?" Johns said mockingly, looking at him irritably, obviously wanting to get the job done quickly.
"No, it's just that…" Riddick turned his full body towards Johns, his shining eyes meeting Johns' blue ones. "I was thinking we might need a bigger piece of bait." Alicia actually let out a long breath of relief, which seemed very loud in the silence that surrounded her. Johns didn't seem to have picked up the subtle threat, since he asked (in a very patronising and sarcastic manner) who Riddick thought would be better. Then there was a long moment in which Riddick and Johns stared into each others eyes, Riddick's never changing from cold and threatening, and Johns' widening as he realised what was about to go down.
Suddenly Riddick lashed out, knocking the gun from Johns' hands, and from behind her she heard Carolyn yelling to leave the sled and run. She nearly obeyed, turning and running a few feet, before stopping and looking back, chewing her lip, not sure what her indecision was about. Behind her, they were scuffling, and Johns had yet to retrieve his gun from where it had fell, with a couple unspent bullets scattered around it. By the time she had turned around to look for the retreating backs of her fellow crewmembers, they were gone. They hadn't realised that she had stopped, and they hadn't looked back, just ran, leaving her behind in the dark. The flare had also gone flying from Johns hand, and lay, giving a ghostly sort of feeling to the scene, illuminating everything with a greenish glow.
Trapped between running into the deadly dark, or running into the middle of an equally deadly fight, Alicia ended up running to a wall and crouching behind it, so that the light from her torch would be hidden from view. From this position, she could see nothing, but she could hear scuffling in the dirt, scrabbling feet, and suddenly Riddick was speaking, obviously to Johns, mocking him.
"One rule." He whispered, and she lifted her head slightly to look over the small canyon wall she was crouched behind, and was met with the sight of Riddick, silhouetted in the greenish light of the flare so that only his eyes were perfectly visible, with a shiv in his right hand. "Stay in the light." Suddenly Johns had moved forward, and slammed his whip into Riddick's legs, knocking him backwards, sending the shiv to the ground. Johns had a hold of it, sending dust up, and made a jab at Riddick's face as he straddled him on the ground. Alicia, without knowing what she was doing, crawled forward, and her hands fumbled with Johns gauge, which had landed not far from her hiding position. Picking up the bullets, she tried to remember all the T.V shows and movies she had seen, envisioning how they always reloaded their guns. Pushing them into the compartment, she cocked it once, and stood, turning back towards the fray.
Riddick had grabbed on to Johns wrist, even as Johns twisted and sliced at Riddick's face, missing by inches at times, and Riddick was at a bad angle to flip him off of him. Gulping, Alicia hoisted the gun, which was a lot heavier than it looked, and slowly aimed it towards the dust clouds that the two were sending up. At first she aimed towards his head, but then her finger faltered just as she was about to pull the trigger, her human instinct overcoming her wish to both repay a debt, and to get revenge. Alicia hesitated, not sure what to do now, then finally closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then snapped them open, aimed at Johns' leg, and pulled the trigger.
There was a loud bang and the gun recoiled so hard that it knocked her backwards three feet on to her back, with a large bruise already forming on her right shoulder to couple with the pain that was returning in her forearm. Damn cuts. Somewhere not far in front of her, she heard somebody cry out and swear loudly, and she tried to stumble to her feet, so as to not get caught in a vulnerable position. The cloth that had wrapped her leg tightly had now undone itself, hovering for a moment before sliding off and floating to the ground. As soon as the protective cloth was gone, the dust that was rising mingled with the blood, making a part of her leg turn a disturbingly rusty colour. Not only that, but the dust burned as if it were hot coals, and she cried out in pain the moment she tried to put her leg down, which refused to support her weight.
Hobbling towards where she had left her torch, the surroundings were nothing but blurs of motion, which resolved into either Riddick or Johns, as the flare began to burn out in the corner. From somewhere a foot appeared, connecting with her fingers, which instinctively released the gauge she still clutched. It disappeared, becoming just another blur in a swirling world. With only a vague memory of how she'd managed it, she found herself back against the wall, with the torch still burning brightly where she had left it. Behind her, almost all sounds of fighting had ceased, there was just Riddick speaking, and the sounds of a gun reloading.
"You were really bad-ass!" Riddick was obviously making fun of the merc, who, she saw as she raised her head up past the wall, was down for the count, trying to stumble through loading his gauge. Riddick was facing towards her, but didn't seem to see her, and was backing up away from her as the light from the flare slowly began to fade, leaving only the light from her own torch, as well as a very thin beam of light from the top of Johns' gauge. Riddick was continuing, backing up until even she couldn't see him, despite the torchlight. "The badge. The chains. The gauge. I told you to ghost me." Then, for all she knew, Riddick had abandoned her, the surroundings were so dark. With her back against the wall and a fairly certain knowledge that she wasn't going to be able to walk on her own, she waited.
He'll come get me. He has to. He won't leave me behind…will he? Deadly uncertainty filled her as the seconds ticked by in her head. Behind her, there were a few gunshots, then the light on Johns' gauge disappeared. Still she held out her torch, sitting it in front of her feet to keep herself and the immediate area lit up. When the seconds stretched to minutes, and still there was no sound other than her own breathing and the light crackling of the torch, a part of her crumbled. She'd been so sure…so sure that he wouldn't leave her behind, that he cared for her…that she had remained blind to the fact that he was, as always, a murderer. His agenda was inclusive of nobody but himself. Even so, something in the back of her mind had been absolutely certain that he wouldn't leave her behind…and yet he had. For what else could he have done in the long minutes that went by as she stared at the small flames that swivelled and swayed to unheard music.
Alicia couldn't explain it, why he would go to so much trouble to save her life so many times, and then just leave her to die in the dark, alone. She couldn't explain why she'd been so certain that he would this time….or why she felt so disappointed that he hadn't. Pulling her knees to her chest, she hid her face in them, and everything seemed to press down upon her at once, images and faces…
Zeke and Shazza embracing after the crash, having found each other safe and sound…Zeke's blood splattered all over the tomb…Shazza's body flying through the air, still screaming as the hatchlings ate her alive…Imam and his three students, praying to their god, smiling…Imam and his one student left, sitting together over prayer beads, grieving…Paris, drinking his wines and smoking his cigars, fanning himself on his lawn-chair, totally at ease…Paris, disappearing into the night in a panic...Riddick, his arm resting above her head, staring down at her through those goggles…Riddick, disappearing into the dark, never to return…As all these memories and guilt crashed down upon her like a tidal wave, a cold sob escaped her, and a tear went sliding away down her cheek, swiftly followed by another, and then another, until her cheeks were glistening with them.
"Don't you cry." A voice whispered suddenly, and she gasped, raising her head, looking wildly about, but as far as she could see, she was still alone. "Don't you fucking cry, Alicia…promise me you won't cry ever again…" Then he appeared, just a silhouette at the very edge of the torchlight, looking down at her with eyes full of pain. Not physical pain, but…emotional pain. Like you would feel if a loved one were in danger or hurt, and you could do nothing to sooth the pain. Her mouth was half-open in shock, another tear sliding down her cheek unnoticed, but she nodded her head, agreeing to a promise she was fairly sure was almost impossible to keep. Surely she was hallucinating, this couldn't be true…he couldn't be standing here in front of her, with his hand outstretched, waiting for her to take it. He was, however, and she took his hand, letting him pull her gently to her feet, or foot, rather, since the other leg refused to take any more torture like she'd been giving it ever since it had been cut.
"You came back." She said hoarsely, looking up at him, shaking her head. "You came back for me, when you could have left me behind…" Riddick still held her hand, silhouetted by the lights that now lit up his back once more. He looked down at her silently, and there seemed to be something like an inner battle going on behind his eyes, and then suddenly he blinked and turned his head away, past her into the darkness. Alicia had already stooped to pick up the torch, holding it so that the light didn't shine in his eyes, staring up at him.
"We should hurry and get back to the others." Riddick said quickly, turning towards where Carolyn and the others had disappeared. In his eyes, she was sure she could detect something like longing, but then he turned away and it was gone. "Can you walk?" His eyes were down at her leg now, which she had above the ground. Looking down at it, she bit her lip sharply, thinking.
"I think so…" Alicia took a tentative step forward, only to nearly collapse on to the ground. The word 'only' is used because Riddick caught her under the arms before she could come near the ground. "Or not…" Smiling sheepishly, it faltered as she caught Riddick's worried expression. It was the first time she'd ever seen him obviously display any emotion other than anger or amusement. He sat her down on the ground, and only needed to give her a 'look' when she started to stand.
"Could be infected…" Riddick muttered to himself, and she watched him with wide eyes as he ever so gently examined her leg, rubbing away some of the chalky dust that had accumulated. Looking around, his eyes fell on the torch, and she handed it over, assuming he needed more light. What she didn't expect was for him to blow out the light, yank out the top, then pour what was remaining of the high-grade alcohol on to her leg. As hard as she tried to hold it in, a full-out shriek of pain and surprise let loose from her lips, as it felt like her skin was bubbling and boiling under the alcohol. Her hands scrambled towards the wound, trying to wipe away the substance that was burning her skin away, but he had pinned her down before she could. With his hands pressed against her shoulders and his ankles hooked over hers to keep her from squirming and getting more dust in the cut, it was an awkward position to say the least.
"Stop…squirming…" He said through gritted teeth as he held her struggling form still. "It'll only hurt for a second, but it'll help to keep you from getting more infected…" Seeing as it was the only part of her that could freely move, her hips bucked against him like a wild bronco, obviously with no thought about what sort of instinctive feelings that might, ahem, 'rise up'. After a few more seconds of squirming, she finally gave up, flopping back on the ground, breathing heavily. "Better." He said, breathing just as heavily it seemed, but for entirely different reasons. It was then, it seemed, that it struck both of them how the position would look, should anybody see them. For a few seconds, there was just silence, as he continued to pretty much sit on her, though there was no need…the pain had long since vanished from her mind.
"We've got to find the others." Riddick said suddenly, in a slightly strained voice, getting off her so fast that it looked like he'd been burned. He held out his hand to her and pulled her to her feet. "Think you could…" He pointed at her leg as he looked pointedly at her shirt, and she realised he wanted her to wrap the wound again. She looked down at her shirt with a frown. There wasn't going to be a hell of a lot left by the time she was finished wrapping her own wounds. With a frustrated sigh, she ripped yet another jagged chunk out of it, so that it was only held up by one sleeve and only just covered her right breast decently.
"I'm not going to have any shirt left at this rate…" She muttered to herself, as she leaned down, awkwardly wrapping the cloth around her lightly stinging leg, before tentatively putting her weight on it.
"I could live with that." This comment came without the slightest trace of hesitation, and as she blushed a fiery red, he let out a burst of amused laughter. "Can you walk now?" When she nodded, he turned and headed out at a fast jogging speed, and she struggled after him, still limping slightly. Their only light now was the small flashlights on Riddick's back, which barely illuminated more than a two foot radius in all directions. Slowing down a bit when her leg began to ache again, she came near to the edge of the light, only to have Riddick suddenly swivel and yank her none too gently forward.
"Stay in the light." He hissed, still holding on to her arm. He didn't look at her, but past her, into the dark, watching unseen creatures moving. "I didn't come back for you just to have your ass become dessert for these bastards." With that, he kept moving, although he seemed to go more slowly, as if giving her more chance to keep up.
The trip wasn't long, what with the pace that Riddick was setting, and soon the four fleeing survivors came into sight, with Carolyn in front. One glance at Riddick told her what she should do, and she sped up her pace, catching up with them easily, making it seem as if she had been with them the entire time. Then they stopped, and she gratefully stopped with them, bending down to quickly check if her makeshift bandage had come off. Carolyn was turning in circles like a broken top, obviously trying to figure out the way back to the ship. Suddenly she screamed as her turnings ended up in her nearly banging into Riddick, who had silently appeared out of the dark.
"Back to the ship, huh?" Riddick spoke in a patronizing tone, obviously ignorant of Carolyn's frightened tone as she commanded him to get away from them. "Sitting huddled until the lights go out and you can't see what's eating you, is that the big plan?" Alicia was still breathing rather heavily, trying to catch her breath after keeping up with Riddick over nearly half a mile of hot sand.
"Where's Johns?" Alicia moved her eyes over to Imam, who had posed the question. Riddick was silent for a moment, then shrugged absently and indicated over his shoulder, back the way they'd come. He's dead, the dirty bastard. Alicia silently answered Imam, but decided acting like she knew he was dead would make it just slightly obvious she hadn't been running with them the entire time.
"We're gonna lose everyone out here!" Jack said with a tremor in her voice, as she looked around at the others, as if expecting them to suddenly disappear into the night. Trying to memorize their faces, so that she wouldn't forget them. As Riddick moved past them into the night, with the intent of leading them back to the sled they had carelessly abandoned, Jack stared out into the night, her eyes tearing up.
"Don't you cry for Johns. Don't you dare." Riddick's voice was dark, but not as if he were trying to threaten the child. More as if he were comforting her, in a strange way, and his eyes travelled over to Alicia, although the words weren't directed at her. Shining silver eyes stared into confused green ones for a moment, before realisation dawned and she nodded her head. Reinstating the promise she'd made. 'Promise me you won't ever cry again…' I won't Riddick. I promise.
((And that's Chapter 7. I hope you guys like it. OH, and IF there are a few quotes mysteriously missing that you can't believe I'd forget…I didn't. They aren't there for a reason. Don't worry, it will all become clear…eventually. ANYWAY. See you guys soon…ish…))
