So our ship crashed-landed on a rather-desolate planet, though from the remains of cities, this planet was once thriving with human activity. Unfortunately, we've been separated into groups; myself and Riddick had crashed near the western hemisphere. Kiley, Ramza and Astor were somewhere way up north. I couldn't even begin to guess the distance, but it was far-more than a thousand miles.
And we have no way to communicate with one another.
Our best bet is to stay away from the creatures that brought us down, and stay alive. Because if we're even spotted by those things, they would try their hardest to run us down. From what we've heard from stranglers and survivors, they take humans alike...
For food and fuel supply.
Disclaimer
I don't own anything of Riddick, nor in any way did I influence the author or something. I claim credit for characters of my design, and the same goes for the planets that won't ever be making an appearance in the Riddick series. Thankies!
"What's going on?!" Ramza yelled as he found himself laying on his side. The ship's alarms were blaring, making Rosalia and Ramza wince from the noise. The rocking seemed to have stopped, but it was instantly rammed again by something.
"Penetration made in the hull," Riddick said, all business as he glanced at the controls. By this point, Astor ran into the front of the ship, wobbling to keep his balance. Rosalia checked him over once, concluded that he was fine, then dashed to the back of the ship where she slept. She managed to grab her bag, belt of weapons and clothes before another attack shook the ship with such force that she got knocked down. Struggling to her feet, she just managed to leave the room and back to the others. "Launching all supplies to the planet below us."
"What'd be the point if we can't find it??" Ramza said despite that he was terrified.
"Better to have a chance of finding it than none at all," was his answer. "It'd be a good time to pile into the escape capsules."
"But what's attacking us?" Rosalia asked, slipping her belt around her waist to lock it, then tied the sash. She glanced at Kiley, hoping for an answer.
The Elemental was amazingly surprised, shock written all over her face. It was like she was sucker-punched. "How didn't I see this?" she uttered to herself.
Oh great, just what they needed; a shocked Elemental, who's usually the level-headed one in dire situations.
"Escapage time," Rosalia said as she pulled her friend to her feet and practically had to guide her to her pod. The ship shook again as the Elemental just climbed in. Looking to the screen in time, she saw what would haunt her dreams for quite some time; a disgusting version of a human-like chicken was peering into the ship to see just what they had brought down. 'Dear Goddess, that's horrifying.' The creature had black eyes that peered beneath its hood-like clothes, a wicked beak clacking together as though it was whistling its own tune. Its feather-like skin was sickly pale, reminding Rosalia of someone dying from pneumonia or something similar. Hands with six quadruple-digit fingers skimmed to the screen like it was counting the passengers.
Whatever else was on this creature was obscured by its bellowed-cloak, as well as the shaking of the screen. It went blank just as it cracked from the strain of the ship. Good thing Astor hadn't seen it, seeing as he got into his pod from Ramza's directions.
"Shai'fores," Ramza muttered darkly. That was an unfamiliar word, so it must mean the name of the species. Before Rose could bother to ask, he climbed into his own pod.
"Time to go," she heard Riddick say in a calm manner, brushing past her to climb into the first pod. There needed no encouragement for her to climb into hers. When the pods launched from the side of the ship, they're designed to stick together from a mechanism that acted similar to that of a powerful magnet. In doing this, ships' occupants would land closely together to save the effort of finding one another.
"Launching," the computer voice cooly said as the lids closed. They felt the pods themselves unlock from their position, then came the sickening whoosh that sent them out to space and toward the planet, the first one with hospitable air the ship detected.
There wasn't much window to look out, but they all watched as the ship, after a full minute of continuous attack, suddenly explode. It probably would have been more impressive if it happened on a planet, for the explosion expanded for half a second before dissipated with little flames. No oxygen in space for fire to continue.
By this point, it seemed the attackers realized that their quarries were making their escape. Before Rosalia closed her eyes, three scout ships shaped like mutated and deformed wingless-hawks turned their fire on them. 'Goddess of all Planets, help!' she silently prayed. For once, she was afraid to die, for she didn't get a fighting chance.
Her pod shook like a rattler, causing her to get knocked about. But amazingly enough, all five pods remained intact. It seemed that something got grazed, but they were too small to be hit. By this, the ships swerved off and headed away from them. That was because gravity took over, and the five pods were now five hurtling objects heading for the surface. Rosalia braced for impact...
Whenever she regained conscious, she wasn't sure where she was. At first, she thought she was back on the ship, about to take over panel watch. But as she tried to open her eyes, at first all she saw was darkness. Reaching with a hand, she made to rub at them when the roof of the capsule grazed her hand. Frozen, she wondered at first someone had decided to play a bad joke on her and put her in a coffin. But as the aches of her head being knocked against the walls finally registered, she remembered what she was in, for what reason.
Now the question remained as to where she was.
With a small groan of pain, she fumbled around for the release mechanism somewhere near her head. Grasping it as soon as she touched it, she pulled, the pod's lid hissing as it unsealed itself and popped up.
'At least I landed right...' she thought to herself as she made to sit up. Dizziness overcame her senses, and she had to put her head between her knees for the sensation to pass by without her throwing up. 'That sucked...' Shaking her head to make sure that she was fine, she finally climbed out of the pod at a slow pace.
If it wasn't for the aches caused by the impact, she probably would have had a bigger headache as she looked around. Where they've landed would have been a jungle, brimming with life of both plants and animals. But instead in its place was blasted trees, shriveled-up plants, and dead carcasses. There wasn't a green tree for miles; she didn't even spot one with her sharp vision.
"Holy shit..." It wasn't from their crash, she knew that for certain. So the creatures that shot them down had their 'fun' here, as well... Before she could start cursing the fiends to every torture imaginable, she heard somewhere behind her the rattling of something. Turning her head, she spotted only one other pod, and it had rolled upside down during the landing right after impact. Crossing her pod and the jagged ledges of the crater the two pods made, she somehow managed to flip the pod over. The lid of the pod finally popped up, revealing Riddick within the compartment. With a grunt, he climbed out like he did that kind of stuff before breakfast. He obviously wasn't bothered by nausea or aches. Rosalia actually had a pang of jealousy before she turned back to the scene before them.
"Fuck." That was the first word out of the man's mouth as he glared up at the dark sky. She may have heard him say that many times, but not with the tone he used. He was downright pissed, and he wasn't afraid to show it. After a few seconds, he looked back to Rosalia, seemingly calm once again. "Where's the others?"
"Their pods are not here..." Rosalia indicated to the grounds around them, looking for signs but somehow knew that she wouldn't find them. She couldn't even feel that connection with Ramza. "I have no idea where they went."
"That shot must have destroyed the connection between your and Astor's pods." Very inconvenient for half the crew to be somewhere else on the planet. Riddick supposed at least the kid was with two capable fighters. At least he hoped so. "Hmn." He watched as the girl looked back at him when he made that noise. He smirked lightly. "At least you'll be useful in finding them again." She blinked, then realized that he meant about the connection feeling between herself and Ramza.
While she felt comforted by that, she rolled her eyes at him. "So I suppose that means I am a tracker dog." A small tone of insult crept in her voice, but she otherwise didn't betray that emotion to him. "But I would like to know how that would work, considering that we would not know the first clue of finding them. Let alone figure out how to get out of this mess." So with that, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in question.
"First off, we're going to find ourselves a guy that knows the condition of this world. 'Cuz I doubt that those things found us by chance." He looked to the landscape around them, Rose doing the same. "This has their work written all over the place."
"The Shai'fores?" When she noticed Riddick looking at her, she shrugged. "I heard Ramza mention the name of the species before we went hurtling out into space."
"Whatever their name, they're a nasty bunch." Pulling a blade out of his belt, Riddick surveyed the area. "We'll head this way, along the river's dried-up bank. There's bound to be a town, wrecked or not." Nodding to the trail that was once a deep river, he started off without much else to say. Frowning to herself, Rosalia followed him closely.
Picking their way through, around and over uprooted trees and boulders, Rosalia at one point just pulled her boots off to bound without restriction. Leaping up onto boulders with ease, she scouted ahead while Riddick effortlessly made his way through. The sky was a sick-green color from all the smoke that emitted from the ruined lands below.
"Ruined town ahead, but we have to climb over a small hill," Rosalia called down from the top of a rock, glancing down at Riddick. When he nodded in affirmation, she leapt off the rock and landed with no effort to walk with him. "For a ruined planet, there is little corpses other than wild beasts..." To her, it was ominous.
"This is just the part of a jungle; I doubt people usually travel here in droves unless they were given a choice." It didn't quite comfort Rosalia, but she nodded in agreement.
Arriving at the town she spotted after twenty minutes of walking, Rosalia was hit with dread that there weren't even corpses. Though she hoped against hope that it meant the people had fled before the attack happened. A small chance, but it was better than nothing.
"The town hall will be our best bet for a survivor," Riddick said as he kept going. He didn't seem affected by the silence. "If not, then we'll check through the houses and perhaps gather supplies."
'So we will be stealing...' But he was right, if they wanted to find the rest of their friends any time soon. With a sigh, Rosalia merely followed him to the largest (and most ruined) building.
All the houses were built of some sort of plastic-structure as far as Rosalia and Riddick could see. While they would require less repair than wooden houses, the attack of the creatures seemed to have brought many of them to shambles. At least any occupant wouldn't have to worry about being burned to death, though Rose couldn't decide if she'd rather be crushed or burned to death in that situation...
"Looks like we're in luck," Riddick said as they neared the building. Her ears just picked up the sound of shuffling feet and heavy thuds of people blocking the door with objects. Rosalia shook her head as Riddick smirked lightly to himself. The desperate attempt to block the door was a futile one if they both wanted in. "Ladies first." Must mean that he'd prefer for her to ask nicely before they barged in.
Sighing to herself, she stepped to the doors and knocked a tune out, a familiar human one. There was a pause of objects being piled against the doors, then someone returned the knock with their own, completing the tune back to her. With another knock, she waited for someone to yell.
"Who goes there?!" yelled a voice from the inside. From the sound of the woman's accent, she was heavily irish. And she was deadly with force from the sound of heavy chains. This made Rosalia smirk very softly to herself; she could take on chains and heavy scythes with no trouble in her opinion.
"Crash-landed travelers in dire need of information," she responded as she crossed her arms. There were muttering behind the doors from her answer. Then the woman responded back with a boast tone.
"How'd we know you ain't those creatures?"
"We can speak English for one, milady. For another, we do not look like those horrid creatures." As she said the last word her voice shook slightly, despite that she was calm. The image of that creature popped into her mind again.
There seemed to be an agreement behind those doors, and after a minute, the sound of scrapping objects were pulled from the doors at long last. Rosalia glanced over to Riddick, who nodded in approval and stepped up next to her. She almost would have feared that the inhabitants would have slammed the doors back in their faces once they had seen her companion. But that might have been under normal circumstances; these days, the only thing they'd slam those doors on would be the creatures.
They'd accept any help that involved defending themselves.
The woman sized them up as soon as the doors opened enough for her to step out. From her voice alone, Rosalia had guessed right about her appearance; she had frenzy red hair that reached her shoulders, though if it was straightened out, it'd reach below her shoulder blades. Her face was not slender, but it certainly wasn't pudgy either, that Irish trait Rosalia recalled from Old Earth. Her bright green eyes surveyed them in return, a critical look that eyed Rosalia's feet in question; she had forgotten to slide her boots back on, something she instantly regretted. But it slid by as she returned her eyes to the two faces. A hollow smile appeared on her lips.
"A crash, you say," was all she said as Rosalia quickly replaced her shoes before anyone else could see her paw-like feet.
"Would those things have anything to do with the devastation laid here?" Riddick tactfully asked. The shadow of fear that crossed the woman's eyes was enough to tell them both that it was. But they waited for her reply.
"They attacked with no warning," she said as anger replaced that fear. Motioning forward into the building, she turned to walk in. They followed as she continued. "A swarm of those small ships openly-attacked on any and all towns and cities they found. Though the forests and jungles offered no better protection, for they turned their attacks on the trees next." All around them were people tending to those injured and possibly near-death. Rosalia's heart pounded as she resisted the urge to go to those people and take away their pain. Besides, her headache just increased as she got close to all the hurt people, serving as a reminder that she was in a dire situation. She didn't need to be conked out by healing every single individual in that building, not when three of her companions were missing.
"Did they do anything after laying siege on your home?" Riddick questioned further.
"...they came down and grabbed any person they found." There was hesitation in her voice. When she finally turned, she seemed paler than usual. "Loaded them up in the ships to be taken to the larger ships. But... I've seen what they've done in order to fuel up their horrible ships." From the sounds of it, it was horrible. What had the creatures done?
"It was worse than when they attacked your home lands and burned everything to the ground?" Rosalia had to ask. The woman visibly shuddered as though recalling nightmares. It may as well, for Rosalia hoped to never see them herself when she finally explained.
"They took a single man from the group. I was fortunately hidden under a ruined tree trunk, far from the land site, but it didn't stop me from watching what they did." She rubbed her arms through the tattered remains of her shirt. "The things landed, and as though they were willed into do it, the people were staggering toward them. I don't know what the creatures did, but it seemed that one of their powers was to persuade their prey into willing victims. But as they loaded the townspeople onto the ship, one of the larger creatures pointed out one man from the group. The man instantly stumbled from the rest and walked into some cylinder container. I think by that point, the things released the control over the man, for his face fell from blankness to fear, and then the split-second of pain." She shuddered again as she closed her eyes as though to stop herself from seeing it happen all over again. "He literally exploded into nothing but a bloody mush... and the ship whirred loudly as it sucked up the remains..."
If Rosalia hadn't had been forcing herself from doing so, she probably would have ran out to throw up. Riddick grimaced, but that was all the reaction he showed. "So much for reasonable confrontation, if all they see of you is fuel and food," he merely said, his tone light. Rosalia couldn't yet tell of his thoughts, but she learnt at one point that if his tone was light, it was either comical to him, or he was close to being dangerous but kept it under strict control.
Something told her that the Necromongers would have been meek kittens compared with these things.
The woman eventually introduced herself as Loor, who recently had to take up the position as the leader of this small town. Rosalia figured that if it wasn't for her, all the town's remaining inhabitants would have scattered and come back later as scavengers of other ruined towns. She invited them to stay for the night, which they accepted under a condition laid out by another person; that they take their share of guarding the building. It was trivial work, and Rosalia would have told everyone that she'd take the whole night for herself. But she suspected that saying so would make her stand out more, and she'd rather be less noticeable. It was probably the same for Riddick.
"Lost friends, huh?" Loor said at one point when Rosalia explained further about their crashing. "And a kid to boot. Well, from what we've seen with the cloud-screamers - " ('cloud-screamers' was the term used to indicate the falling of objects, especially with ships and pods when they leave a trail of smoke or cloud) ", your friends should be somewhere way up north, into the Crystalize Territory." Loor spread her arms out as though indicating to the whole planet. "This world is a manufacture of crystals used in the hyper-drive industry." Loor fell silent, making Rosalia curious.
"There is something special in this Crystalize Territory?"
"Well... nothing special, but it's the aristocrats you have to worry about."
"The... aristocrats?" Why should they be of major worry? It didn't make much sense to Rosalia. After all, the word itself meant gentlemen and gentlewomen for the Old Earth.
"They avoided destruction by sheer force of money." Loor shook her head. "And they guard their lands fiercely. They don't give a shit 'bout us workin' folks; they rightly told those things, somehow, to have their pick of victims, as long as they leave them alone!"
No wonder going into Crystalize Territory would be dangerous, not to mention it was remarked with anger.
"And so we'd have to enter the lion's den," Riddick said when Rosalia shared this little insight with him.
"Hmph. More like walking into a fire dragon's den," she retorted as she rolled her eyes. "It would take a few weeks just to get to the border..." With a growl, she kneaded her forehead with a hand, trying to push the headache away. "What a world to land on..."
"Yeah, it doesn't help that people's hurtin' is painful to you." Riddick smirked as Rosalia looked up at him with surprise. "You seriously don't give me enough credit at times," he chuckled.
"Meh." Really, that was all she could think to say. It wasn't that she didn't give him the credit, it was just one of those things she doesn't think about mentioning. Nor does she actually give thought on. "Though I would think Ramza had a say on this particular part," she then remarked as she glanced back at him. He shrugged, but he didn't deny it. She smiled lightly as she uncrossed her legs to stretch them out in front of her.
"Any thoughts on how we're traveling?" he then asked, interested. After all, if she was by herself, she'd probably make the trip in just a few days, with her supposed speed and all. But she wouldn't leave him, for whatever her reasoning.
"Hoof it? I doubt there would be a vehicle that could be spared for our little adventure." Rosalia shrugged like it didn't matter. Maybe it didn't to her, which Riddick was good with; he'd hate a complaining companion that he would be with for maybe weeks. "I hope you do not mind walking," she added with a mischievous smirk.
"I'm more concerned of you keeping up," he retorted. "Your space ordeal might slow us down." Riddick chortled when she huffed.
"I will do just as well as before then, if not better." She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Though the way you implied, you would have to take pity on me and reluctantly take breaks."
"Maybe." That was all he said. She scowled at first, then shook her head lightly as she gave a soft 'ha.'
"We shall see by the following morning, then." It was like a challenge was issued. And hell, maybe it had. It was one way to look forward on the following day. Rosalia worried about Astor the most, but as long as he stayed with her friends, he and the others should be just fine.
She hoped, anyway.
By the time the sun finally risen over the horizon, Rosalia had only got a few hours of sleep. The same for Riddick, though they both obviously weren't going to sleep at the same time. They slept one at a time when their shifts were over, keeping an careful eye on the other people.
They gathered traveling supplies for the next few days, Rosalia having to pay for them by performing 'a miracle heal' on the people mortally injured. Luckily, her request to do it alone without witnesses was accepted, however grudgingly. By the time an hour passed, she was wishing that she had more sleep. She was shaking physically once she staggered out of the building and informed Loor that her companions were fully healed.
"Took you long enough," Riddick said with a smirk, his tone as one that he was kidding as Rosalia finally found him at the edge of town. She stuck her tongue out at him as a retort before turning to look at the town again. Loor was the only one that was there to see them off, and they preferred it that way.
"Let's just get going," Rosalia said as she waved once to Loor, then turned to start their journey.
"As you say, Lady of the Horn." Riddick chuckled as she rolled her eyes at him. It was time to find their crew. How they were getting off the planet was for when they found Astor and the others. Just one step at a time.
Sorry for the delay of this chapter. I was very sick, probably with the mild case of bronchitis. Again, for the third time in a year. Still recovering, but you know, that doesn't stop me from writing. XD See ya at the next chapter!