Dear Johns: Good-Bye

Disclaimer: not even in my dreams

*by all you hold dear, read on*

"Are we getting close?" Jack asked.

"I don't know, it didn't seem this long before", I looked to Fry, "yo Fry, are we almost there?"

In response the captain yelled up to the front, "can we pick up the pace?"

Johns had enough of the whining and just stopped pulling while at the same time Imams last boy pointed at the ground speaking in Arabic.

"Damn it, we're just chasing our tails here" I said voicing what was already known.

Johns was the first to reach Riddick, "wanna tell me what the hell's going on?"

"Why have we circled? Are we lost?" Imam questioned, slight worry marring his voice.

To answer both questions Riddick just said "listen", so we did. It sounded like hundreds of those creatures gathered in one area… ahead of us.

"Canyon ahead, I circled once to buy some time to think."

"I think we should go now"

"Oh I don't know, its death row up there. Especially with the girl bleeding"

'Shit! Please mean me, please mean me', I prayed in my head while simultaneously releasing a loud sigh.

"What you yappin' about now? Fry aint cut and Thompson's has stopped", complained Johns.

"Not Fry, not Alana… her", everyone followed his line of sight straight to Jack.

I walked behind her knowing very well where this was heading. With all eyes trained on the youngster she backed up into me for comfort as I whispered into her ear, "it's alright Jack, I'm here for you".

"You've gotta be kidding me! And you knew, you knew everything and not only did ya tell no one you let her come" hollered Johns as he was right in my face.

"Of course I fucking knew! How could I not with all the time I spent with her? In a short amount of time she has become my family, and as such I have a responsibility to keep her safe. Whether it is from those beasts out there or the ones within this group! And as the circumstances have shown I had good reason not to tell", I was yelling back at the man.

Everyone was shocked into temporary silence, it seemed my outburst and use of foul language quieted them rather quickly and I wasn't done yet.

"Now I would appreciate it if you got your god awful mug out of my face before Riddick becomes the least of your worries you sorry excuse for a man", my tone was low and deadly, filled will a silent malice that matched the burning hate I held for the mercenary.

From between my arms Jack spoke up breaking the tension in the group, "I… I just thought it'd be better if people took me for a guy. I thought they'd leave me alone instead of always messing with me." Jack was crying by the end and Fry yelling at her was making it worse so I put a stop to that big mouth of hers.

"That's enough Fry! What's done is done, we can't change it now so shut up and try being a little more useful than a tea towel", I shouted at the woman. When she saw Jack weeping in my arms her attitude drop and she walked over, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry sweetheart. Are you really bleeding?"

"I did what I could, but it wasn't much", I told her

"You could've left me at the ship, Fry. That's why I didn't say anything, and why I asked Lana not to tell"

"Look, this is not going to work. We're gonna have to go back", Fry said once she had stood up.

'Damn this is not gonna end well, not smart on her part'

"What'd you say? You're the one who got us out here in the first place and turned us into sled dogs" Johns was ranting and raving already now he was a raving lunatic.

"Don't do anything stupid", I said to the merc.

"I was wrong, I admit it ok, now can we just get back to the ship?"

"I don't know, Carolyn. Nice breeze, wide-open space. I'm starting to enjoy my fucking self out here."

"What, are you high again? Just listen to yourself Johns"

"No, no, you're right Carolyn. What's to be afraid of? My life is a steaming pile of meaningless shit anyhow, so I say mush on. The canyons only a couple hundred meters, after that it's skiff city. So why don't you butch up, shove a cork up this kid, and let's go!"

"She is the captain, we should listen to her" joined Imam

"Listen to her? When she was so willing to sacrifice us all!"

"What? Fry what's he talking about?" I was thoroughly confused and lost.

"During the crash she tried to blow the whole passenger cabin, tried to kill us all in our sleep."

Once again the stress became too much; I fell back into the sand stuck in my own thoughts. "An… Lana… Alana!"

"What?"

"Are you ok?" jack was standing in front of me.

"Yeah, just never knew what it was like on the other side of death", upon the look on her face I told her I would tell her later.

"Oh, Carolyn how much do you weigh now? The verdicts in, the light moves forward", cockiness was dripping of the man in waves and I did not like it one bit.

Johns lit a flare incasing us all in an eerie green glow and with Riddick started leading us on to our possible deaths.

"This truly has become a suicide mission", I whispered to myself.

Through the noise of the sleigh being dragged, the flairs static sound, the others talking, and the creatures whines for food I could make out little of what the two men ahead of us were saying… but it was enough. Johns wanted to live so bad he would sacrifice anyone, but I couldn't hear if he decided who. No more could be heard as Jack called my attention once more

"Hey Alana, can you tell me your secret now?"

I looked away unable to look her in the face, shame ran through me like a wild fire. "I've been a bad girl Jack", sadness lacing my voice, "I may not hold a candle to Riddick's record, but it's more than enough. I've sent a grand total of 28 people to either a hospital or their grave, and half of those in the hospital are now missing limbs and/or are mentally scarred. That's the truth behind my traveling to New Mecca. I needed to get away from the memories, away from the nightmares." I looked at her… the spark I once had had left my eyes. "No matter what Jack, never take a life needlessly. It's a haunting experience… one I wish I could forget"

With it quiet once more the others started hearing some of the men's conversation, thus taking me back to my previous thinking, all thoughts of the past gone for the moment. When Riddick glanced back I knew with absolute certainty that someone was going to die soon, but who was still a question I could not answer.

Fry seemed to see that something was not right and had Imam slow down, "just a little more space between us and them".

But I had already heard what I needed, Johns wanted to use Jack but Riddick suggested something bigger. This got the fight started between the two and while I wanted to stay, Fry had the others run away… and they had the lights so I had no choice but to follow.

We stopped running and while the others turned to see if Riddick or Johns had followed I stayed facing the direction we had been running. No sooner had we stopped when I saw Riddick walk out from the darkness to stand behind Fry. When she turned back around she screamed scaring the others

"Back to the ship, huh? Just huddle together until the lights burn out, till you can't see what's eating you. That the big plan?"

"Where is Johns?" Imam asked Riddick

"Which half?"

"I choose… the bottom. I want to literally kick his dead ass", I said in response. "What? He asked" I replied to the look I had received from Fry.

"We're gonna lose everybody out here" whimpered Jack, "we should of stayed at the ship"

"If we had stayed at the ship there's still no guarantee we would have lived. This at least gave us a fighting chance. Never regret, only learn" I said to the frightened child.

"He died fast. If we have any choice about it, that's the way we should all go out" he walked towards Jack who was trying to hold back tears

"Don't you cry for Johns. Don't you dare" and he walked off

*end part 9*

Emzy2k11: I really liked Riddick's eyes. The way I saw it was Riddick has shiny purple eyes but no pupil which allowed him to see in the dark, the others had normal colored eyes with pupils and they could only see in the dark, so I made Alan have purple eyes with pupils thus allowing her to see slightly better in the dark than the average person but still be able to see during the day. That's why in chapter 6 I put:

'"Nice eyes, can you see in the dark too?" asked Jack

"Only a little better than most", it was the truth. Though I couldn't actually see better than 20/20 during the day, at night I had a slight advantage over normal people. I could see in lowest of light but it was blurs unless close enough to my face, thing is I really don't want these things that close to me for any reason'

A/N: also please check out the poll on my profile page.