They moved towards the exit as a group, Carolyn in the front, holding the torch.
"One more fuckin' remark like that, and I'll drop you like a bug, Vega." Johns told her, just loud enough so she could hear him.
"That would be making a statement of your own personality Johns, you wouldn't need my remark to show the others what an asshole you are. In fact, I think you might have already acomplished that. I think they've noticed you have no natural leadership, and if you kill me, they'll respect you even less."
"I don't need their fuckin' respect, I got a gauge."
"Which is just more proof you're not a leader."
Imam turned around to face Selena. "Are you armed, child?"
"Hardly" she replied as she oogled her bag on Johns' back as he pushed past them to the front. "But stay in the middle, I'll watch the rear."
Imam nodded and gave her a short smile.
"Jack" Selena said. "You too, stay in the middle of the group."
He hardly looked reassured. She placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's alright kid, just do as I say and you'll be fine. They'll be coming from the back, if anyone goes, it'll be me, alright?"
He looked even more disturbed now. It actually made her laugh.
"Don't worry, I'm not going down without a struggle. Ask Riddick, he'll vouch for me."
She winked at him, and he finally seemed to relax a little. When they reached the doors, Carolyn opened them a little, sticking the torch out into the night. When she felt it was safe, she pushed the door open all the way and stepped outside. The group huddled together as they moved away from the doors, as Johns and then Riddick came out. Carolyn waited by the entrance to the ship, calling Riddick softly. He moved forward, holding the others back. Selena stood in the back, looking around, trying hard to see anything, but it was nearly impossible. At the edge of her vision, she could make out some faint movement, but it wasn't distinct.
"Looks clear." She heard Riddick say from the front.
Johns moved in, his gun out in front of him. Selena was silently hoping he would walk right into a maw. Funny, as at that moment a creature came flying out of the ship, screaming. Everyone dropped to the ground, but it just flew over, paying them no heed.
"You said clear!" Johns spat at Riddick.
"I said it looks clear."
"Well, what's it look like now?"
"Looks clear."
They cautiously moved into the ship and started working. Inside, the found some lighttubes which came in handy. The more light the better. They made a sled out of a metal piece and placed everything they needed on it. Paris had set himself to make wicks and putting them into the booze bottles. Once they were almost ready to go, Riddick gave them a short debriefing.
"I'll be running about ten paces ahead, I want light on my back, but not in my eyes. And check your cuts. These badboys know our blood now." He opened the door. They gathered by the opening.
"Jack, come on, we're ready." Selena said when she saw him sitting on the ground by himself. "Come on." she smiled. "Remember what I told you."
"Are we actually going to do this?" Paris asked.
"There's only so many spots in the middle of a group, Paris." Selena said to him after she and Jack had joined them.
Carolyn turned around. "We stay together, we keep the light burning. That's all we gotta do to live through this thing."
She then walked back into the ship. It took Selena a moment to notice Johns wasn't with them. She saw Carolyn walk up the stairs, probably to get him.
"You sure you wanna be seperated from the group, Riddick?" Selena asked him.
"Worried you can't turn me in after this?"
Selena sighed. "I thought we were kinda passed this? I think you've made your point."
"I'm not. I don't forget so easily. You gotta do better than cut me loose if you wanna get even, I told you that."
"How about you already got back at me? With that shit you pulled off with Johns."
He smiled. "That was just for my entertainment."
Carolyn came down the stairs, followed by Johns.
"I'm not going to turn you in, Riddick, and-"
"Just hold the back." He looked into the night for another moment, and stepped outside.
She sighed again and waited for the others to run by with the sled. Johns and Imam were in the front, Carolyn and Paris on one side, the boys to on the other. So much for staying in the middle. Selena held up the rear as well as she could, although she couldn't push the sled. Riddick started jogging, and it became very hard for the group to keep up. Jack looked at Selena in a worried way.
"Keep going Jack, it's okay, I got your back, just keep going." She was more worried for them than for herself, except of course for Johns. No surprise there. Once in a while, Selena thought she could just make out the silhouettes of the creatures around them, but as she focussed her eyes on it, she couldn't see anything. After a while, they started walking, they needed some rest. Jack was struggling to keep going, the sled being very heavy on his small frame. "Let it go, Jack, I'll take it from here."
"But, you have to stay in the back."
"I am in the back, Jack, just stay in front of me. Here, take this tube. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." she added as she saw his concerned face.
He let go reluctantly and Selena took over the reigns. She could understand the boy was struggling with it, it was no easy task for a kid his size. He walked around, pointing the light tube this way and that, but always staying in the light and in front of her as she had instructed. A few minutes later, the blowtorch Paris was carrying appeared to be out of gas. The flame grew smaller and smaller, and eventually it poofed and went out. Immediately, excited screams could be heard around them.
"Stay close." Imam said to Paris, who was now nearly in the dark.
Paris ran up to the group, and took a torch from the sled. As he tried to however, he threw one on the ground, and it rolled away from the group.
"Wait" Jack said, and he crawled left onto the ground to retrieve it.
"Jack, no!" Selena shouted.
"Jack!" Carolyn chimed in.
Selena dropped the sled and dived after him. A sound from above could be heard, Johns started shooting and people started panicking. Selena grabbed Jack as fast as she could and dragged him back into the light. The creature dived for them, Johns was still shooting, nearly shooting Carolyn in the face, who was running towards Jack aswell. Then, the creature dived again, knocking over Paris, who fell and started crawling into the blackness, the lighttubes still twirled around his torso.
"Paris, get back here!" Carolyn shouted.
As fast as she could, Selena acted again, this time to keep Paris from leaving the group.
"God dammit!" she yelled as she scrambled to her feet, following the lights that radiated off of him.
He was rambling on and Johns was still shooting.. But before Selena could reach him, he had crawled too far and yanked off the device giving power to the tubes. Sparks emitted and the light faded slowly, leaving them in darkness. Selena had tried to grab his legs, but he had been too far away already. Now she sat on her hands and knees staring onto the darkness, tryin to catch a glimpse of him. Carolyn grabbed her arm and pulled her up.
"What an idiot." Selena said right before they saw a giant ball of fire, in the centre, Paris, surrounded by dozens of creatures.
Johns lit a flare, and the rest all took bottles to light. Riddick came walking towards them, casually.
"Well, it's good to see you're okay." Johns said sarcastically.
Riddick didn't respond and looked into the dark, where the fireball had been moments before.
"Do I even wanna know?" Carolyn asked.
In response, he only cocked his head to the side.
"Let's hurry on." Johns said.
They walked in silence for a few more minutes.
"Are we getting close?" Jack asked Carolyn.
"Can we pick up the pace?" she shouted.
Johns threw the reigns to the floor, annoyed. They had stumbled upon their own tracks. "What is he playing at?" He said to no one in particular. They moved forwards, to find Riddick sitting on the ground.
"Wanna tell me what the hell is going on?" Johns demanded from him.
"Why have we circled? Are we lost?" Imam asked.
"Listen" Riddick replied.
"Do you even know where we are?" Imam said, somewhat frustrated.
"Listen!" Riddick growled, standing up. "Canyon ahead, I circled once to buy us some time." he said.
"I think we should go now." Imam replied.
"Oh, I don't know about that. That's death row up there. Especially with the girl bleeding."
"What?" Johns said, looking at Carolyn and Selena. "What the fuck are you talking about, they're not cut."
"Not them." he turned around to face Jack. "Her"
They all turned to look at Jack, who looked as if she was already on death row.
"You gotta be kidding me." Johns said.
"I…I just thought It'd be better if people took me for a guy, they might leave me alone."
"Jesus, Jack!" Carolyn exclaimed.
Jack sank to her feet on the ground, about to break down, still Carolyn went over to comfort her. Selena didn't know what to say.
"I'm sorry sweetheart. Are you really bleeding?" Carolyn asked Jack as she hugged her.
Selena and Imam stood next to each other and shared a quick look.
"You could've left me on the ship, that's why I didn't say anything before." Jack cried.
Riddick softly spoke to Imam, and perhaps to her aswell, she wasn't sure, he wasn't looking at them. "They've their nose open for her ever since we left. In case you haven't noticed, they go after our blood."
"We need to get them off her sent then." Selena said.
"How?" Imam asked her.
"Look, this isn't going to work." Carolyn suddenly said behind them. "We're gonna have to go back."
Johns turned around to face her. "What'd you say? You're the one who got us out here in the first place and turned us into sled-dogs."
"I'm sorry, I admit it, okay, can we just, get back to the ship."
"I don't know, Carolyn, nice breeze, wide open space, I'm startin' to enjoy my fuckin' self out here."
"What are you high again?" Carolyn provoked. "Just listen to yourself Johns."
"No, no, you're right Carolyn, what's to be afraid of?! My life's just a steaming pile of meaningless shit anyhow. So I say mosh on! The canyon's only a couple of hundred meters and after that it's skiff city." He looked around like he owned the place. "So why don't you butch up, stuff a cork in this fuckin' kid and let's go."
"She is the Captain!" Imam said. "We should listen to her."
Selena could feel it hanging in the air. Johns no longer seemed able to keep up the nice-boy act.
"Listen to her?" he started. "And she was so willing to sacrifice us all."
"What's he talking about?" Jack asked, panicked.
"This does not help us." Carolyn argued, suddenly afraid of what Johns might say. But he said it anyway.
"During the crash she tried to blow the whole passenger cabin, tried to kill us in our sleep."
"Shut your mouth!" Carolyn shouted.
"We are fuckin' disposable. We're just walking ghosts to you, aren't we?" He had said too much.
"Shut your fucking mouth!" she went at him, but he just side stepped and threw her to the ground.
"Fine, fine!" Imam shouted, walking up to them. "You made your point. We all be scared."
"Oh, Carolyn." He said. "How much do you weigh now?" Johns taunted her. "The verdict's in, the light moves forward." He said to Imam as he lit up a flare. But he stopped as Selena stood in front of him. "You want a piece of that sweetheart?"
Selena glared at him, her eyes narrowed. "I'm really starting to get sick of your shit and your smug fat face."
"Oh yeah? Well, here are your options." He took out his gun and placed it under her jaw.
Selena tried hard to control her hatred for him, her stubborness yelling at her to rip off his face. She continued to stare him in the eye for another few seconds and finally took a step aside for him to pass.
"That's what I thought." He moved forward.
Selena still glared after him as Jack helped Carolyn to her feet. Selena vowed his life would end when this was over, but she was leaning hard towards helping him achieve it before that.
"I can see why you don't like him." Imam told her.
Selena chuckled. "You ain't seen nothin' yet."
They moved forward. Selena, Carolyn, Imam and the kids pulled the sled, with Selena in the front, as Riddick and Johns walked a few yards in front of them. Johns had waited for Riddick as they moved on, and Selena wanted to know what they were talking about. She picked up the pace, forcing the others to do the same. Jack wanted to know what they were talking about, and Imam guessed it was about the canyon. He had too much faith in humanity. Riddick turned around to look at them.
"Don't look!" She could faintly hear Johns say to him.
"They're talking about us." Jack said.
"Sshh!" Selena snapped, straining her ears to hear what they were saying. She could faintly make out words like "Thinking", "Vega" and "Girlfriend", followed by Riddick's response, "nothing" and "ass".
Johns then continued, but again, she could only make out a few words, "right" and "usefull"
To her, it came to something like this; Johns might want to use bait, which was typically something he would do, and he was considering using her, and probably asked Riddick something about losing his "girlfriend". Riddick then proceeded to tell him she means nothing and was just a piece of ass, or something the like, and Johns must have agreed, thinking this might still be usefull for him in the future. Fucking prick, keeping his hopes up, it was pathetic. But then she heard a few more words coming from Johns, louder this time. "Shit" "Do the girl" and "Your back" Riddick stopped walking.
Selena held out an arm for her group to do the same as he turned around. He was too far off to make out his expression, but Selena felt something was going to happen. Then, before she could think on it any longer, Riddick attacked Johns and the flare was knocked away. A shot was heard and Carolyn took action.
"Leave this site, let's move!" She turned and started running, the others following her.
Selena stood torn between the two scenes. What if Johns killed Riddick? They would never find the canyon, even worse, she probably wouldn't live for much longer. Should she help him out? Or should she follow the rest back, the risk of being left alone out here very forthcoming. She felt like a little child, wanting to stomp her feet on the floor out of frustration. She growled and ran after the group, they were completely unarmed, running around like a headless chicken. Riddick would be fine. She followed the lights, running at full speed, calling them to a halt.
"Stop! Carolyn! Stop running!"
They halted, looking back at her.
"Where's Riddick?" Jack called as she reached them.
"I wouldn't know, I was too busy haulin' after your asses. What the hell were you thinking? Did you even have a plan?" she asked Carolyn.
"We have to get back to the ship." Carolyn replied, turning around to keep moving.
Suddenly, Riddick was standing there. Carolyn screamed. "Back to the ship, huh?" he asked. "Just huddle together untill the lights burn out."
"Get away from us." Carolyn whispered, stepping back.
"Till you can't see what's eating you." he continued. "That the big plan?"
"Where's Johns?" Imam asked.
"Who cares?" Selena replied.
Riddick looked at Imam. "Which half?"
"We're gonna lose everyone out here." Jack said, looking as scared as ever. "We should've stayed at the ship."
Riddick stepped forward. "He died fast. And if we had any choice about it, that's the way we should all go out." As he passed Jack, he put an arm to her back and whispered to her. "Don't you cry for Johns, don't you dare." He moved away towards Selena. "I got you somethin'" He dropped a black bag at her feet.
"Oh my god." she whispered as she crouched down and zipped it open, taking out her precious sais. She looked at him. "I could just kiss you right now."
"Not a bad prospect." he said.
She looked down at her weapons and gave a breathy laugh.
"Jack, we're gonna be fine." She stood up, twirled her sais around her hands and stuck them in her back-harness. Diving back into the bag, she retrieved her guns and checked them for amunition. She put them in their straps and added a few extra clips to her belt. Finally, she took out her knife and placed it in her boot. She also found her infra-red glasses, something she never thought she need as much as she did now. As she put it on, her vision instantly became clear, being able to see into the dark, beyond the light. What she saw, was not prosperous, especially not in the eerie green light the glasses produced. She rummaged through her bag a little more, looking for anything else usefull.
"Anyone interested in a sniper rifle?" she looked up to see them staring at her like she was crazy. "What? I'm not gonna haul it around, thought you might want it."
"I see what you meant when you told me old habits were hard to get over." Imam said. "I do not handle weapons, the only weapon I need is prayer."
"I'll take it." Jack said hopefully.
"No" Carolyn and Riddick said in unison.
"Fine, I'll just leave it. Let's go, I've got everything I need." Selena got up, for the first time in days feeling hopefull, now she had been made whole again by the return of her life support.
"Perhaps we could take a moment's rest." Imam said. "We've been walking for hours."
Carolyn looked at Riddick for instructions. "Ten minutes." He said, and walked off.
Imam looked at Selena. "Come" he said, and walked after Riddick.
"What is it?" she asked.
Not receiving a reply, she followed after him. They found him eyeballing a creature's skull.
"Shall we pray together?" Imam asked, startling Riddick, who dropped a bone. He walked around the skull and sat down beside the sled, and started tying ropes to the cells. Selena took a seat opposite him, on the ground, leaning her arms on her knees. Imam sat his candle down.
"It is painless." he too, sat down on the ground, on his knees.
"It's pointless." Riddick responded.
"Because you do not believe in God, does not mean God does not believe in you."
"You think someone can spend half their life in a slam, with a horsebit in their mouth and not believe? You think he could start out in some liquorstore trashbin with an umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, and not believe? You got it all wrong Holy man. I absolutely believe in God." He looked Imam in the eye. "And I absolutely hate the fucker."
Imam shook his head. "He is with us none the less."
"Two of your boys are already dead, how much faith do you have left father?" Imam looked at him, thinking it over.
"Selena" he started, and she looked at him.
"Yes?"
"Do you remember when you asked me, if bad blood will out?"
She nodded. "Yes, I do."
"Did you find your answer?"
Selena looked at Riddick, and thought about how she had tried to protect the group, and how Riddick had killed Johns to save Jack. She might have bad blood, but she'd done good, and so did he.
"I think I did, Imam."
Riddick lifted his gaze to meet hers. Imam stood up and patted her on the shoulder before he walked away. Riddick continued knotting the cells together. Selena stared at him a moment before she softly spoke.
"I'm sorry." she whispered to him, and she meant it.
"Don't be, I don't need your sympathy."
"That's not what I meant."
He glanced at her for a moment.
"I'm sorry for getting you into this. You were right, I should've dealt with my own problems, not make them yours."
"It's just another day for me."
"Still doesn't make it right. Can't you just accept my appology? I'm trying here."
"Doesn't change anything."
Selena got to her feet, sighing with frustration.
"But that kiss you mentioned could help even it up." he added.
She turned to him and she could see a twitch of his mouth and she knew he was smiling, at least, in his own way. It even crossed her mind to just do it, but you should never wake a sleeping dog. Or something like that.
"Pull yourself together, schoolboy." At that, she took off.