Chapter 10
The gunshot had ended but they hadn't stopped running yet. Laramie stumbled on behind them, light headed. Before this moment she'd hadn't realized how thin the air on this planet was. She was used to it though. The others, however, were totally unfamiliar with it. It made her wonder what they'd been suffering through in their own bodies since they'd arrived. Finally, Carolyn stopped running. She turned and looked in all directions, a frightened and lost look on her face. 'Dear God' Laramie thought 'The woman didn't even know where she was leading us.'
Laramie turned to look back where they'd come from and frowned. No more gunshots. She couldn't help but wonder what that meant for them. She knew Riddick wouldn't leave Jack, there was a certain caring there between them, unspoken, but it was there. However, if by some unfortunate circumstance Riddick had lost that fight, they were done for. Johns may have kept him alive for the money, but they had the sled, the cells, and the light needed to get back to the settlement and leave them here to die. No sooner than she'd completed the thought, Carolyn let out a shrill, wordless scream.
They all spun to see what the problem was and there stood Riddick. Not only was he alive but also he didn't even have any visible scratches. "Back to the ship, huh," he began, "Just huddle together until the lights burn out. Until you can't see what's eating you. That the big plan?"
"Where's Johns," Imam asked, suspicion in his voice.
"Which half," Riddick retorted. The last sounded like a joke to him. That sly grin of his would have fit perfectly with that question. But his face stayed blank, even when her turned it to her. "Disappointed, pixy. Very disappointed."
Laramie frowned, surprised that that had bothered her. It made her stomach sink lower and her face go soft. "We're gonna loose everybody out here," Jack said, "We shoulda stayed at the ship."
"He died fast," Riddick said, "And if we have any choice about it, that's the way we should all go out." He stalked closer to Jack, face still turned toward Laramie, shadows dancing across his features. "Don't you cry for Johns," he murmured to Jack, face finally leaving Laramie to be cast at the back of Jack's head, "Don't you dare." He moved around her and led off back towards the abandoned sled.
When they came upon it again, Laramie found it hard to believe that it hadn't been moved. The walk back was so short and nothing seemed familiar. He unloaded the cells from the sled and carried them over the ridge just ahead of them. There was nothing for the others to do but watch him and feel stupid for having run away, arms flailing, and tails tucked between their legs. He didn't speak. He didn't even look at them. Just carried the cells by two over the next ridge.
When he disappeared over the crest with the last two cells, Imam turned to them and broke the shameful silence. "Ladies," he addressed them, "I would like to say a prayer if that is alright with you." Shazza shifted on her feet beside Laramie. They all turned to look at her and she let her eyes travel between them before nodding. Imam smiled and reached for their hands, simultaneously kneeling in the dirt. He said his prayer with his head bowed and eyes closed softly. It was in an unfamiliar language but the tone of his voice was so sincere and so reverent that it was hard not to believe with him in that moment.
His eyes opened and he stood, smiling. The others stood slowly as well. Shazza hesitated letting go of Laramie's hand and turned the girl's stare to her. "I heard what you said," she whispered, voice broken, "To Carolyn. I wanted you to know…it meant a lot. Zeke and I have…had…been together almost every moment since the day we met. And to have him gone so suddenly." Tears gathered in her eyes and gleamed in the firelight. "Thank you. Because it got so hard not to run from the light and into the face of death. But I can think now. I can think so much more clearly."
"Let's go," the voice boomed from over the ridge. Imam stepped out from behind a rock formation and nodded at them. The look on his face was less than joyful but they marched on. Just over the peak they found Riddick pacing ahead and picked up their own pace to follow. The sounds were returning. Constant now, the shrieks were nearly enough to drive them screaming, mad, into the darkness ahead. He stopped and crouched at the mouth of a great opening between two walls of rock.
Laramie hadn't realized where they were until now. It was the valley. It looked so much more different at night. "Only see one way," Riddick said, standing as he did so, "That way." He pointed a hand out in front of them. "It's the only way off this rock." They all exchanged concerned looks and Laramie cast a steady stare out into the valley. Somewhere in that darkness was everything she feared for the last 22 years. On the other side of it all was everything she'd wished to have for the past 22 years: Freedom. For a moment she wondered if it was worth it. The moment passed quickly. "Just keep the girl between you."
"What about the cells," Imam inquired.
Riddick stopped from where he'd hiked past them and turned to look over his shoulders. Something unsure shone in his eyes. Something close to worry sat in the lines of his face. "I'll take those," he answered. She wondered if his face would ever match his words.
He grabbed the ends of the cables that had pulled the sled and brace himself. She hadn't noticed that he'd tied the other ends to the cells until he gave a small tug and the cell slid on the ground in response. He reached up and slid his goggled down over his eyes from where he'd pushed them up to see better. "Move," he growled.
"Are you sure you can keep up," Carolyn asked, still gazing out at the unseen creatures.
"Move," he shouted persistently. They moved. He wouldn't have to tell them twice. They ran on, eyes up above them instead of ahead of them. All except for Laramie, whom watched where she was going, turning away only once to glance back at Riddick and frown at the sight of him struggling with the cells. She turned back to the sound of a squealing chorus. Birds were there, swooping down at them with monstrous bodies. They bent lower and kept moving. A couple o f the small creatures flew through the flames of their torches and soared screaming past them.
The swarm came and went quickly, cowering from their lights. Immediately after they'd passed, a rain of thick, blue liquid began to fall. Laramie's eyes turned upwards but were stopped by a loud voice commanding, "Do not look up!" She didn't look up. Whatever was there must not have been meant for her to see. But what goes up must always come down and so it did. The largest creatures, the ones she'd watched share her father, began to drop down around them in crumbled heaps. They were killing each other up there. It was a bittersweet thought.
They pressed on and somehow Laramie had pushed her way to the front of the pack. As they rounded a corner, another familiar sight halted her. Low arches made of rock and bone. It would take some maneuvering to get past; it always had, even in the sunlight. "Keep moving," Riddick insisted as he shoved past them all. The first one had fallen in and required some digging to open a passageway for them to get through. Imam and Riddick pulled out the fallen rocks and tossed them to the side and they crawled through one by one, Riddick leading.
The way after that was relatively clear but it just couldn't be that easy and stay that easy now could it. Screaming turned Laramie around. One of the creatures had lied in wait next to their path and had a hold on Imam's only remaining son. They were having a tug of war with his foot but the boy had dropped his torch and it flared to life on the ground, sending the bioraptor screeching back. Imam pulled the frightened boy through and they found his ankle bleeding. Great, more blood. They leaned the boy against the wall and Laramie watched Jack ease past, calling for Riddick to wait for them.
She sat down in the middle of the path and watched them bandage the boy's ankle. The world zoned out, sound fading, and everything happening before her seemed like a dream. Just another dream. Maybe it was, maybe she'd fallen asleep again instead of going to search the new crash. Maybe she'd dreamt the crash altogether. On a more comforting note, maybe it had always been a dream and she was still little, huddled between her mom and dad in the coring room pit, asleep and safe. A muffled scream brought it all floating back to her and she turned to see Jack pinned beneath a fallen arch, with a raptor trying to smash its way to her.
There were only a few moments to act and Laramie took them. She stood and darted towards the scene, eyes narrowed at the raptor and she leaped, throwing her small but effective body into it. The creature went hurling off of the rock and freeing jack but it dug claws into Laramie's arm. She screamed, loud and shrill as it caught itself and began flapping its wings in an attempt to fly. It was pinned, Laramie had landed on the other wing and it was stuck sprawled on its side next to her. Each time it brought its free wing back she saw Jack's face behind it and the last time she saw it the girls eyes no longer rested on the beast but on something just past them. A blade struck out and slit the creature up the center, spilling its intestines onto the ground and splashing its blue blood onto Laramie's face.
Two hands grabbed it by each of its outstretched tusks and twisted, unleashing a sickening pop. Laramie lay still, watching the last movements of the creature die away. "Pixy," the voice came to her, softer and steadier than she'd ever heard it, "Are you with me?" She moved, bringing the arm that lay pinned beneath her up and prying at the claw that was still cutting into her flesh. He reached in a large hand and yanked it away. She rolled over and he had her by the shirt. Jack was there now, eyes wide and worried.
Laramie's upper arm was shredded where the beast had had a hold on her. The blood was dripping slower than it should have been. This drew Riddick's eyes up from the wound to meet her gaze. "Interesting."
"Thanks," Jack whispered. She was almost cut short by another yell. It was short and helpless and growing distant. Laramie looked up too slowly and found Imam crying up to the heavens and reaching up into the darkness. His son was gone and Laramie's face was riddled with an emotion that hadn't been there for years: grief. Guilt even. Save one, lose one.