"I'll go," Lynn offered. She was crouched in a corner, tapping the knife against her boot. Her skin was almost translucent in the blue light. Creepy.
Jack wondered if she looked like a ghost, too.
Something scrapped against the rock.
"Can you use that thing?" Fry asked, gesturing at the blade.
The other woman nodded.
"Then you stay here," the Captain commanded. "If those things get in…"
Lynn took a deep breath, then nodded again.
"Good luck," she offered.
Fry's lips curved with the tiniest hint of a smile.
"I'll bring back light," she promised.
X
Riddick plugged in the cells and powered up. Then he looked out into the rain, and thought about the ones he was leaving.
The Holy Man—smart, level headed. More interesting than he'd thought.
Carolyn Fry. Strong and scared, eaten alive by guilt, even if the creatures hadn't touched her yet.
Little Jack—he didn't even know her real name, but for some reason he hated to hear her cry.
Lynn, the failed savior. He'd never know, now, about her bitterness or her shivs or the taste of her skin.
He should have ghosted them all when he first got out of those damn chains. At least then he wouldn't be wishing things had turned out different.
He flipped the switch, and the ramp started to close.
X
"I don't wanna die," Jack whispered.
The darkness was complete, now that Carolyn had taken the bottle of worms. Imam reached towards the girl's voice, wanting to reassure her. He hit the wall, scraping his knuckles.
"You won't," Lynn said calmly. "Not now."
"You don't know that."
"Yeah, I do."
There came the sound of cloth brushing against rock. Imam guessed that Lynn was moving towards Jack.
"You aren't gonna die now, Jack. This isn't even the worst thing in your life."
"What are you, psychic?" the younger girl snapped.
After a moment of silence, Lynn replied, "Something like that."
Another pause.
"Yeah?" Jack said softly. "What is the worst thing, then?"
More rustling, and then Lynn was whispering. "This is it…"
Her voice dropped lower, and close as they were in the little cave, Imam couldn't make out what was said.
X
Fry ran, not letting herself flinch at the sounds all around her. Keep moving, she chanted in her head. Just keep moving…
She saw the skiff up ahead, lights on, powered up.
Jack was right, she thought, surprised to feel a surge of disappointment. That fucker's leaving.
X
She threw herself at him, took him down. It was the last thing he'd expected from her.
A minute later he'd turned it around on her, pinned her under him with a shiv to her throat.
She didn't cry, didn't beg, just snarled, "Get that thing off my neck."
"Shut up," he yelled.
She did as he said, instinctively trying to twist away from the blade.
"You'd die for them?"
"I'd try for them."
Not good enough.
"You didn't answer me."
She gasped. "Yes, I would, Riddick. I would. I would die for them."
He yanked off his goggles, stared down at her. She meant it. She would sacrifice her own life for the three he had left behind, and never flinch. It hit him, sudden and hard—in one way at least, this little slip of a woman was stronger than him.
"How interesting," he muttered.
X
The first thing Fry saw after Riddick moved the boulder was the flash of a blade. She jerked back, hit Riddick's shoulder.
"Sorry," Lynn said, lowering her arm.
Jack was staring up at them—no, at Riddick, a dazzling grin on her face.
"Never had a doubt!" she declared.
The lie, delivered with such utter sincerity, made Carolyn smile.
X
He held out an arm to stop them. Lynn ran into it. Then she backed up against the rock, gesturing for the others to do the same.
There were four of them facing off in the clearing just ahead. Riddick grabbed Lynn's hand and gripped it tight, felt her answering squeeze.
"Carolyn," she whispered, and he knew they were forming a chain of linked hands, waiting on his signal.
That made him feel… something. He wasn't sure what to call it.
The opening came. He dragged them through.
X
"Don't stop. Don't stop."
Jack gasped for air. Her whole side was one huge cramp. Rock bit at her left palm as she scrambled up the hill on her hands and knees. Her other hand clutched at the slick neck of the bottle.
She thought of what would happen if she dropped it, if she broke it, and whimpered.
Strong hands grabbed her arm and yanked her up. She'd have bruises from his fingers, but she really didn't give a shit. Bruises were okay. Meant she was alive. Bruises were wonderful.
"C'mon," he barked at her. "Move. Move."
Then she was past him. Imam's hand was on her back, pushing her on.
"You know the way," she heard.
X
The others would be back at the skiff already. They wouldn't leave him, not after the speech Fry'd given him.
He was almost there.
One of the fuckers dropped straight out of the sky, landed right in front of him. Blocked the way.
Riddick took a deep breath and stepped up to meet it, moving into its blind spot. He pushed everything out of his mind and focused on the animal he faced. It moved, and he swayed with it. He could feel the adrenaline burning his veins.
It turned away. Riddick almost smiled.
Then another landed behind him.
Fuck, he thought.
X
They hesitated, hovering on the skiff's ramp.
Then they heard him yell.
Jack jerked towards the sound, but was brought up short by arms around her shoulders. Fry disappeared into the darkness as Jack fought them.
"Dammit, hold still," Lynn hissed at her.
"He came back for us," Jack snarled in return. "You wanna just leave him now?"
"What could you do for him anyway?" the older woman demanded. "Stay here, Jack." She softened. "Stay. I'll bring them back."
Jack cursed, then swallowed. "You'd better go."
Lynn cautiously released her. When it was clear the girl would stay put, she raced into the black.
X
"Okay, hold on to me," she murmured in his ear. "Hold on to me."
It took him a moment to process the words. He didn't think he'd ever heard them before. He felt Carolyn slip an arm around his chest. His own moved to her shoulders before he'd decided to put it there.
"We're gonna get out of here," she said. He could barely hear her over his own panting. "I got you, c'mon."
But she didn't have him. He slipped and hit the ground hard.
"C'mon, Riddick!" she yelled. "Get up! Get up!"
She was pulling at his shoulder, trying to take his weight. Then another pair of hands was yanking at his other side.
"We need to go," Lynn said. "We need to go now."
Between the two of them, they dragged him to his feet.
"I said I'd die for them, not you," Carolyn told him.
Lynn hesitated. "You what?"
"Later," snapped the Captain.
He knew he was heavy, but they held onto him, and to each other, and the little group started stumbling in the right direction.
Then one of them gasped.
He was frozen. Lynn's face was pressed against his collar bone, and Carolyn's eyes were inches away from his own.
Then she was torn away. At the last second he grasped at her, but her hand slid through his. The triangle collapsed, and its two remaining points tumbled to the ground.
Lynn let out a high, inhuman shriek. A rage sound. A grief sound.
He just shook his head, still reaching into the night.
"Not for me," he said. "Not. For. Me."
X
She only returned with one of them, not both like she'd promised. But Jack saw the looks on the survivors' faces, and knew better than to comment on it.
The lights were on. She looked down at her hands, scratched, bleeding, and dirty, and she thought they were beautiful, just because she could see them.
"So much prayer to make up for," Imam murmured beside her. "I scarcely know where to begin."
Jack glanced at him, feeling her lips twitch in something that was almost a smile. "I know where I'd start."
The next second her heart stopped. Riddick was switching off the power.
"Riddick, what are you doing?" she demanded.
He didn't answer.
The skiff went dark. It only took a minute for the clanging to start.
"Can we just get the hell out of here now?" she hissed, hunching her shoulders. She caught the glint of his eye as he glanced back at her.
"We can't leave…" he murmured.
One of them slammed into the windshield. Jack jumped.
He didn't. Of course not.
"…without saying goodnight."
Then he powered up.
Jack grinned in spite of herself as she watched the fuckers burn.
Damn, I like how he thinks.
X
Lynn put a precise row of stitches in his leg while Jack peered over her shoulder, fascinated. He was flooded, for just an instant, with tenderness for the two of them—his girls.
Then he shook his head. Put it down to blood loss.
Or maybe this was the humanity Fry had been trying to sell.
Lynn tied off the thread on the last one and snipped it. Then she gave an exhausted sigh and moved towards the copilot's seat.
Jack got there first. The woman groaned, but the girl was too busy studying the controls to notice.
"Less you can pilot, kid, that ain't your spot," he told her.
"What?" she asked, glancing up.
"Don't worry about it," Lynn said. "She can sit there for awhile." She headed for the back.
There was a tired silence. As usual, Jack was the one to break it. "Lotta questions, whoever we run into. Could even be a merc ship." He glanced at her, and she continued. "So what the hell do we tell them about you?"
Every ear on that skiff was waiting for his response. He knew it, so he took a moment to consider his words.
"Tell 'em Riddick's dead," he said finally. "He died somewhere on that planet."
She searched his face, and he rewarded her with a smile. She smiled back.
Damn impressive, he thought, that she can smile so easy after all the shit she's just been through…
She looked away, out at the stars, and fell silent, apparently lost in her own thoughts.
He closed his eyes and leaned back. Skiff was on autopilot, headed in the right direction, and no one here was gonna stab him in his sleep.
He could relax for a bit.
X
"Think I fixed things?" she whispered in his ear. "Think they're any fucking better at all?"
He tried to open his eyes, closed them quick. Way too bright. But he didn't need to see. He knew that voice.
"Did best you could," he replied with a shrug.
"Not what I asked."
"What you want me to say, girl? 'Things'? What things? Shit happens, darling. Sometimes you can't change it."
She laughed. Cynical, as always. "Guess that's true."
He felt the tips of her fingers tracing his face, like she was the one who couldn't see.
"You are damn beautiful," she whispered. "For a nightmare."
He cocked his head. "So how do I compare to the sweet dreams?"
"I wouldn't know," she replied, leaning forward until he could feel his own breath reflected off her skin. She seemed to be holding hers.
His lips started to form her name. She kissed it away.
X
He woke suddenly, sharp and disoriented. He couldn't remember where he was, and that put him on edge fast. His eyes opened, found nothing but empty space.
Then he heard the soft click of beads behind him. Prayer beads. That registered.
He glanced to his right. Jack was watching him, concerned and just a bit wary.
He turned back to the controls, checked the read-outs. Everything looked fine. Real good, in fact, considering their craft had been abandoned, open to the elements, for twenty-two years.
But something was wrong.
He spun around. Holy man jerked his head up at the sudden movement, constant prayer interrupted.
Riddick didn't offer an explanation. He was trying to relax—it wasn't working.
Everything's fine, he told himself. Whole 'family's' accounted for. Where's the problem?
His head felt strange. He shook it, then looked around again.
"Where the fuck is Lynn?"
Jack pressed herself back into her seat. Her eyes were dark, full of jagged edges.
Imam just frowned. "Who?"
X
"That's it?" asked the woman who had been called Lynn. "That's all I can do?"
"For now," answered her companion.
"Fuckin' hell."
"Patience."
She snorted. "Never been big on virtues."
(AN) Return of the trippyness!! Stick with me guys, I swear it WILL make sense eventually. All of it.