A/N: Wow, thanks for all the reviews! Makes me smile every time my phone dings with an email notification from FanFiction. Shout outs: Mhunter, Guest, Miss Lele, Mikiichann, Hikaru69, jordan91, and ShortNinja13! Big thanks, as always, to everyone who added me/my story to their favorites/follows list. There's a poll in my profile about which story to do next, so please go vote! I kind of have an idea already, but I want y'alls opinion too. And, I don't own Riddick, but oh gosh I wish I did.
Chapter 8
Riddick and I stepped outside, joining the others. Johns was following Carolyn up the ramp into the skiff, a serious expression on his face. Shazza and Imam were busy working on the sand-cat while Paris hovered over their shoulders. I rolled my eyes in amusement when I realized that he didn't know what to do and judging by the annoyed glances Shazza kept sending him, he was starting to get on her nerves.
"Come on," Riddick said, brushing past me and making his way towards the skiff.
As I trailed behind him, I saw Jack and Imam's two remaining students busy filling up two large jugs of water at the pump, looks of hard concentration on their faces. At least they were occupied and staying out of trouble. For now. I was pulled from my thoughts by a scraping sound and realized that Riddick had stopped and was sitting on an overturned metal bucket, shiv in hand by the skiff.
"Nice shiv," I commented, sitting on the ground beside him.
With a noncommittal grunt he dipped his hand into a small can beside him, and then pulled it back out, a glob of gross looking brown stuff in his palm.
"Ew, what is that?" I asked, eyeing it.
"You don't care about blood," Riddick said thoughtfully, spreading it all over his head. "But you have trouble with grease?"
I thought for a second before answering, "I guess?"
Riddick shook his head before expertly running the razor sharp shiv over his scalp in a pseudo trim. I heard voices in the skiff and leaned closer, trying to hear what they were saying. My eyes widened as I heard the whole conversation between Johns and Carolyn about our resident convict. Riddick certainly was a man of many talents. I caught the smirk on his face and knew he had overheard as well.
"Well, Big Bad, you certainly have some skills," I teased, standing up. I was starting to get restless and watching him sit there and shave his head wasn't helping me any. I slowly paced in front of him, trying to formulate some sort of backup plan. Oh fuck, who was I kidding? It was a given that things were about to horribly wrong and here I was being all optimistic and shit. I was starting to sound like Carolyn for God's sakes. I almost laughed out loud at that one.
"I WILL leave you here."
I stopped pacing when Riddick spoke and turned to him, my throat suddenly dry; I didn't doubt his sincerity for a second. How ironic-that's what you wanted to ask him about earlier. May as well add 'mind reader' to his impressive resume, I thought. No matter how much chemistry we had (or whatever the hell it was), out here it was every man for himself. Especially in the end.
"I know," I finally replied, tucking a stray hair behind my ear. Damn. I forgot to find something to tie my hair back.
"If you keep up, I won't have to leave you," Riddick continued. It was his own way of extending an invitation and I immediately pounced on it, feeling a bit pleased that he was willing to give me a chance.
"There's no way in hell I'm getting left behind," I said firmly, hands on my hips.
Riddick gave me one of his rare smiles. "Good."
I leaned up against the skiff, one knee bent behind me, braced against the metal for support. I fiddled with the hem of my shirt, lost in thought. Again. I'm well on my way to becoming a fucking philosopher. I quickly reviewed the plan: Stay alive and do whatever it takes to keep up with Riddick. Check. I moved on to what I was going to do when we finally made it out of here. Last I'd heard, Simon had supposedly been spotted on New Mecca and I had been on my way there when we crashed. I figured I'd just stick to that course unless some other information came my way that might cause me to change my mind.
I didn't look up when I heard Johns' footsteps on the ramp. I didn't need him ragging on me right now, or anytime in the near future for that matter. Plus, I didn't know if Paris has mentioned the situation he had found Riddick and me in earlier and honestly, I wasn't ready to explore that topic in detail just yet.
Riddick turned his head slightly and I followed his line of sight just in time to see a flu-like shiver run throughout the merc's body as he leaned against the skiff.
"Bad sign," Riddick rumbled, running the shiv along his head in another neat row. "Shaking like that in this heat."
Johns immediately straightened.
"I thought I said no shivs," he said pointedly, ignoring Riddick's comment.
"Shivs? This?" Riddick held up the weapon, the sharp blade flashing in the light. "This is just a personal grooming appliance."
Johns opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it when he shivered again. He gave our close positions an unreadable look before stalking off, slightly unsteady on his feet.
"He looks like he's having withdrawals," I murmured, staring at his retreating form. "But from what?"
"Morphine," Riddick stated, giving his head a once over with the blade. "Been on it for years. He needs his next hit. That's where he's goin' right now."
I thought back to the first time Johns had swayed, back in the cargo hold and covered it up with the bogus story of swamp-flu from the Congo. Even then I had my suspicions, suspicions that were now confirmed. His addiction had shed some light on why he had been acting weird the past few hours, but I figured he was still an asshole in general.
Riddick finished and stood, cracking his neck and stretching his back. I was once again in awe of the large man in front of me who had so much strength; he could snap me like a twig. The man who was a killer and a bad-ass. A man who did whatever he needed to do for survival, no matter what the cost. Life had not dealt him a kind hand, and yet there were glimpses of the man who on rare occasion, showed small kindness and on even rarer occasion, tiny slivers of gentleness.
"Are you finished staring?" Riddick questioned, amused. I started, and then smiled.
"I wasn't staring, I was thinking," I fibbed. "But, since you mentioned it, hold still for a few minutes while I 'stare'."
He acquiesced as I eyed him up and down. The black tank that stretched across his large frame, skin bronzed by the sun. The rippling muscles that, honest to God, almost made me drool and I hadn't even seen him without his shirt off. The strong, square jaw, extremely kissable lips and the shaved head. Damn, not to mention his eyes. This man practically exuded sexuality.
"Yep. Lookin' good," I quipped, nodding my head.
Riddick gazed at me, returning the favor. I tried not to shiver as he took in my dark brown tresses, the tanned skin. 5"4 height, slim, toned body. Wide hazel eyes, high cheekbones. I was happy with my appearance and he obviously agreed.
"Eris!" I swiveled around to see Shazza waving at me, Imam nowhere in sight. "Lend a hand?"
"Sure!" I shouted, before turning back to Riddick. "Mind putting my backpack aboard when you talk to Carolyn? Don't want to forget it."
A slightly surprised expression crossed his face and disappeared in the same second before he nodded. I wasn't stupid. It was Riddick's nature to scare, intimidate, and threaten people. Fantastic shock factor, I knew from experience. Johns had just shared some rather disturbing information with our pilot and I knew Riddick would take advantage of that fact. That settled I headed towards Shazza, giving Riddick a parting wink as I left.
Squinting at the rising blue sun, it certainly didn't seem that we were on the edge of an eclipse.
"What have we got?" I asked when I reached Shazza.
"I'm tryin' to shove the lid back on but the damn thing won't snap," she explained, gesturing to the metal cap that covered the plethora of wires on the sand-cat's hood.
"Where'd Imam and Paris go?" I grunted as we both put our weight on it. She was right; this thing was being stubborn as hell.
"Paris disappeared once he knew manual labor was involved," she said, pushing down. "And Imam went to collect his boys. After we get this on, we're ready to go."
"Shit," I muttered as we rested for a moment. "Let's try it on three. One...two...three!"
We put everything into our last shove, throwing all of our muscle and weight into it.
"Excellent!" Shazza said as the lid snapped shut. "Thanks."
"Mmhm," I mumbled, staring off into the distance. I thought I had seen something moving, but figured it was nothing. Wait, there it was again. A black line stretched across the horizon. "Oh, fuck."
"What?" Shazza demanded. I pointed and she froze. We heard the exclamations of the others as they noticed the dark line as well.
The eclipse. It was here.
"Captain! Captain!" one of Imam's boys shouted.
Carolyn appeared a few seconds later, a pissed off look on her face.
"I'm not your fucking captain," she snapped. Johns followed behind a few seconds later, steadier now that he had his fix.
We stood there, staring up into the sky as the black arch grew from the horizon where the other suns were rising. Seemingly hypnotized by the sight, we watched as the arch rose, inching towards the two suns.
"What do my eyes see?" Paris breathed.
"If we need anything from the crash ship, I suggest we kick on," Shazza said to Carolyn. "That sand-cat's solar."
Those words seemed to spur us all into action. Shazza started cranking the sand-cat while the rest of us grabbed water, ropes, and as many lights as we could find. Imam and his boys piled into the bed, Shazza slipping into the driver's seat as the engine spluttered to life. Carolyn joined her up front while Johns, Paris, and Jack jumped into the back.
"Where's Riddick?" I voiced, clambering up beside Paris. The rest were sitting near the sides, while Paris and I stood holding on to the metal beam in front of us.
"Leave him!" Paris shouted. "He wouldn't wait for us!"
"We can't just leave!" I protested, even though I knew what Paris had said was true.
The sand-cat jarred as Riddick jumped into the back out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of Paris.
"I thought we'd lost you," he said nervously as Riddick stared at him.
"Where are you going?" Carolyn asked as Johns suddenly jumped off.
"I'm gonna get some things," he quickly explained, already moving towards a building. "I'll be a few minutes. You wouldn't leave without me, would you?"
"Hurry up, Johns!"
"Just give me a minute!"
He took off towards the building he had went into early and disappeared. He came out seconds later, a bundle in his arms. Shazza got the sand-cat moving as Johns jumped on the back, Riddick reeling him aboard.
"Shit," he gasped, sitting down.
"Don't wanna miss this," Riddick said.
"Look!" Jack shouted, pointing up at the sky.
We turned to see the rim of a giant planet cresting over the horizon. The luminous arch we had seen earlier was the planet's rings. Oh my God, I thought as we picked up more speed, heading into the canyon.
Riddick sat on the side, leaving Paris and I the only ones standing.
"Duck," Riddick advised as we passed through a giant rib-cage. We ducked as a few low hanging bones hit the beam where our heads had been just moments before.
Shazza hit the brake when we reached the crash ship, everyone leaping off the back.
"How many cells do we need?" I shouted as I helped Imam lash a scrap-metal sled to the back of the sand-cat.
"Five!" was the reply and I swore. Those things were heavy as fuck.
Riddick walked out with two cells on his shoulders as if they weighed nothing, dropping them onto the sled. Johns followed, staggering under the weight of just one. He dropped his load and hurried after Riddick. The light dimmed and I immediately looked up to see the rings of the planet had already eclipsed the yellow sun. I paused and cocked my head, not sure. There, I heard it again; the change in light brought a growing high-pitched sound.
"Don't stop," Carolyn panted. "Don't stop."
I followed her into the ship and helped grab some more lights. We had passed Riddick and Johns on the way in, both men carrying the remaining power cells. I found a blowtorch and turned it on, satisfied when a flame blew out.
"Come on," I said, blowtorch in hand, along with a lamp I had found. Almost everything in the ship had been crushed during the landing. Carolyn nodded and followed me back outside, one lamp in her hand.
As we stepped up beside the others, the rings eclipsed the second sun, a second darkness sweeping over us. Noises came from the spires and in the deepening dusk, I saw something pouring from the tops. At first I thought it was just some smoke or ash, but when the 'cloud' started shrieking I realized in horror it was the hatchlings from earlier, and not smoke.
"How many are there?" Johns gasped.
"Allah!"
I was standing beside Riddick and had to strain to hear when he spoke.
"Beautiful," he whispered, staring at the spires. I moved closer until our arms were almost touching, drawing strength from his presence.
The hatchlings kept coming, pouring out of the spires in thick, black waves. Mercifully, they seemed to be moving away-until one wave cleaved from the other and headed our direction.
"People, just a suggestion," Paris called out fearfully, "Perhaps you should flee!"
"Cargo hold everyone!" Carolyn shouted as we all took off, leaving the sled where it sat. Johns, Carolyn and Imam paused to grab a few items off of it before hauling ass again.
"Let's go!"
"Hurry up!"
The others reached the cargo hold first, Shazza, Riddick and I still running.
"Shit!" I screamed as I heard the squealing wave right behind us.
Shazza hit the dirt directly in front of us while Riddick grabbed my arm and dragged me to the ground. We lay on our backs as the hatchlings flew above us, inches away from our bodies. I closed my eyes and breathed heavily, trying not to panic and once again wishing this was all a bad dream.
"Shazza! STAY DOWN!" Jack screamed.
I opened my eyes and tilted my head. Looking upside down, I saw Shazza's terrified face as she shot a glance at the cargo hold.
"No, don't," I whispered.
The hatchlings vanished and she paused before standing up. Too late.
"NO!" Carolyn shouted as the wave came back, almost out of nowhere, enveloping the woman.
I closed my eyes to the horrifying sight of Shazza being torn apart and carried off, wishing I could plug my ears as I heard her pained screams ripping through the air. Fuck. I re-opened my eyes when I felt Riddick move and saw him turn his head left and right. Nothing. He stood and brushed his hands off before hauling me to my feet, steadying me when I swayed.
"Remember," he warned, a hand on the small of my back as we moved at a leisurely pace towards the cargo hold where the others were waiting.
"I'm fine," I said, then attempted to joke, "But I'm going need some serious therapy when all this shit is over with."
"Good girl."
We joined the others at the entrance, a strange clicking sound in the distance. Once they saw that we were unharmed, the others disappeared further into the hold, leaving Carolyn, Riddick and I to stare out at the deepening dusk. By now, it was almost completely dark. I took a deep breath when we saw the spires crumbling. It was too dark for Carolyn and me to see anything coming out of them, but Riddick took his goggles off, staring at the world with his jaguar eyes. When a look of awe appeared on his face, I knew we were in some deep shit.
"What is it?" Carolyn asked softly, shaken. "What is it now?"
Riddick took one last look before turning to us. "Like I said-it ain't me you gotta worry about."
With that he grabbed the door and pulled it shut, leaving us in total darkness. God help us all.
