Once they were gone, Selena sat on the ground, to investigate her wound.
"Are you alright?" Jack asked her as she crouched down beside her.
"Yeah, I'll live." Selena muttered. The wound was still bleeding, but only a little, the bullet was probably stuck in the hipbone. Still hurt like a bitch though. Imam was praying, and she let him do it.
"What are we gonna do now?" Jack asked. "Do you think Riddick has a plan?"
"Don't count on him too much Jack, he ain't here right now."
"What are you saying?"
Selena sighed. "Never mind."
"Don't you trust him?"
Selena laughed a little. "I think trust is a big word, Jack. Do I like him? Yeah, I guess. Would I die to save his life? Yes, that much has been obvious. But no, I don't trust him. He's unpredictable. I'm not sayin' he won't help us, just don't get your hopes up too much."
Jack turned sad, staring at the ground. "But he's our friend. He came back for us before. He likes us, even you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Selena asked.
"Well" Jack started. "When you were sleeping, back on the ship, he said you're the one responsible for him being there. That you tried to catch him, but failed and you both ended up getting caught. He also said you kissed him."
"Is that so?" Selena raised her eyebrows.
"No, not really." Jack muttered. "I saw that, back in the canyon." she looked a bit guilty.
It made Selena laugh. "That was just a tactical move, and it didn't work."
Jack looked a bit surprised.
"Why the face?" Selena asked, still chuckling.
"Dunno" she answered. "Just thought you guys were, you know, hitting it."
Selena laughed out loud this time, hardly believing her ears. Now she knew why Jack had asked whether she had to leave them alone back on the skiff.
"No, we are not 'hitting it' But sometimes, a woman needs to take advantage of what she has, to get where she wants to be."
"Is that one of your life lessons?" Jack asked. They both laughed, even Imam joined in. And then they laughed some more, at the sillyness of the situation.
For the next hour or so, they just talked. About everything, their lives, their futures. Selena learned a lot about her two new friends. She even promised Imam she would settle down in New Mekkah and live a normal life, as far as possible. She was so done with shit like this.
Exactly like the shit that happened next. Mercs came back into their holding chamber and escorted them to another chamber. Selena was still shackled, but Imam and Jack were also shackled this time. There were three huge balls with rope above them and above their heads, there was a balcony. The lights all around them were red, and it hurt her eyes. A cart with a ladder came driving up to them, stopping next to one of the balls.
"After you." Selena's guard said to her, nudging her in the back.
"What?" What was going on?
"Get on the ladder, hurry up." Reluctantly, she climbed the steps.
"Now, step off."
"What?! Are you kidding me?"
He pulled his gun and pointed it at her. "Does it look like I'm joking? On you go."
She stepped on the ball, which was wobly beneath her. To make matters even worse, an iron collar was placed around her neck, and tied to the rope above her. "God damn this shit." Selena cursed. De merc pushed her, and she momentarily lost her balance, staggering on top of the ball. Jack and Imam met a simular fate. As they stood, the mercs left the room, and the three of them behind.
"Uhm" Jack started. "This isn't going to end well is it?"
Selena chose not to answer. As awfull as this was, she was an escape artist, This was just another day at work. Then she heard voices above on the balcony. The curtains were drawn, but she could hear the distinct voice of Riddick, and the cold woman. Then the lights changed, the red even darker, and the curtains above were pulled back.
"Oh, shit." she heard Riddick say, as he walked over to the edge of the balcony, looking down on them.
"I said I'd find you didn't I?" Jack said to him.
"What do you want?" Riddick asked the woman.
"To watch you work. I've spent the latter half of my life observing fantastic things, the work of terrible men, men such as yourself. But it's, always after the fact, when the moment of bloody creation is called and past. That, changes now."
"What are all these people on?" Selena asked Jack, who shrugged. At that moment, two doors slid open, revealing blackness. Jack gasped, looking up at Riddick, who still stood at the edge of the balcony.
"I need to see it Riddick. I need to see it with my own eyes. As it happens." The woman said.
"I get outta there alive, you'll see it again, this close."
"No, Riddick, I want…your masterpiece. An artist is nothing without his instrument."
"When we meet again, I'm gonna bury this, in your eye." Riddick said.
Selena could hear some fighting, and then Riddick came falling down, landing on a merc, his knife in his shackled hands.
"Go ultra violet." the woman said, and the lights went off.
Again with the darkness. Then, to her left, two huge glowing lights could be seen, coming closer.
"I was on a pelgrimage. Just a pelgrimage." Imam said.
"This is bad huh?" Jack asked.
"Give it a minute." Riddick responded. The lights moved in.
"Imam…pray." Riddick said.
The lights split and tentacles flew out from the sides, giving off an eerie light. Selena tried to see what wat going on, but the lights were confusing. Then there were gunshots, probably from the cushion merc, then a scream and more shots. Selena saw the man hanging in the air between the lights, screaming and dissolving into liquid.
"What the fuck is that?!" Selena gasped.
The things lunged at Riddick, who was moving around, dodging, grabbing. Then he was thrown across the room, knocking away Jack's ball from under her feet. She screamed as the support was gone, and she hung by her neck. Imam rolled his ball over to her, giving her support. Selena was pulled out of her trance by Jack's screams. She pulled herself together, along with her guts and jumped up, cutting the rope above her with her gloveblade. She held on to the rope, and kicked the ball at the nearest light. It hit target, and it rolled away with it. Riddick was in a dance with the other one, as Selena let herself drop to the floor, the pain in her hip as she hit it making her yelp.
"Get on your feet." Riddick said. She growled and got up.
The other creature was already moving in again, this time, on Jack and Imam. Having seen her action, Imam copied it, and kicked his ball away, achieving the same. Only now he was hanging by his neck, holding on to the rope, and Jack holding on to him. Riddick turned, jumping on the creature, cutting through their ropes.
"I cannot see!" Imam gasped, as they got up from the floor.
"You, don't, want to." Riddick replied.
"Get in a corner!" Selena yelled at them, pushing them back.
Riddick advanced on a creature. "You wanna go? Let's go." He just stood there, observing them.
"They're gonna kill them!" Jack said.
Selena moved next to Riddick. "Weak spot?"
"Heart" he replied.
"I'm left." she said.
"You sure about that?"
"Why, you want left?" she glanced at him. He was fixated on the lights.
"You want both? You ain't gettin' both." Selena smirked.
The creatures moved to the side suddenly, but she was locked on it. Running, she did a flip over one of the balls and kicked it towards the light. It hit target again. These things were dumb. She ran, jumped, and sliced off a few tentacles. Riddick came flying out of nowhere, and cut the thing clean in half. Then he advanced on the other light moving left and right to avoid the dangerous tentacles, but then he got himself caught and was hanging in the air by his arms. He hit through the tentacle, but he had dropped his knife. Jack was holding the creature away by a tentacle around its neck. The creature moved in for a deathstrike, but Riddick tore off a tentacle, turning around.
"Riddick?" Jack called, as she picked up the knife from the floor.
"Here!" Riddick growled. Jack threw the knife, Riddick caught it, cut himself free, and launched himself at the creature, sticking the knife right in the heart. He landed on his feet, and the creature screamed behind him. As it went down, darkness fell.
"Thanks for the help." Riddick said. Selena knew it was meant for her by the sarcastic tone.
"I just thought I'd enjoy the show." she stabbed back.
Then the lights came on and the woman was clapping. "Bravo!" she said. "The grace, the expression, the sheer…violence of it! Exquisite." She was enjoying herself a bit too much for Selena's taste. This woman was crazy. Riddick got up from the ground, his goggles on his eyes once more.
"Knife" Riddick whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
"What?" Imam whispered back.
"Give me the knife."
Imam carefully reached for the knife, as the woman continued speaking. She was too fond of her own voice to notice anything.
"Such a complete and thorough performance. It leaves only one question."
"I gotta feeling you're not gonna like it." Jack said, as Imam threw up the knife to Riddick, who caught it in his hand, while standing absolutely still. The woman continued.
"How will I ever have you mount it, to do it justice? And your friend is quite the specimen too, ofcourse, though, she doesn't compare to you. I'm considering giving her a place in my trophyroom. She's quite...pure. Tell me, where are you from, child?" The woman asked Selena.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Selena replied.
"Graeae"
Riddick gave her a curious glance.
"Are you really?" the woman laughed. "The Grey planet! Well, that explains things to me. I can tell you that excites me. You see, you'll be the first Grae in my collection!"
"You can stuff me when I'm dead, and I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, so, sorry to burst your bubble."
The woman smiled at her, and it sent shivers down her spine. "You should truly be honored, the last legacy of your lost people, forever preserved on a pedestal."
"What?" Selena asked surprised. The woman laughed again, only this time, she was laughing at her.
"You didn't know? How painful." Her gaze turned cold. "Everyone on Graeae was killed over twenty years ago, in a merc raid. They tore through every village. You must be the last survivor. You are very special to me."
Selena looked at Imam, who dropped his gaze to the ground. "You knew?" She asked. "You knew and you didn't tell me?!"
"I am sorry. I did not want to worry you anymore. Your story didn't need anymore bloodshed."
"How touching." the woman said coldly.
Selena gave her a look full of venom and clenched her fists. "Let me at her." she whispered to Riddick from between her gritted teeth.
"Not yet." Riddick whispered back to her. He grimaced and moved his knife towards his neck. What was he doing?
The woman's eyes went wide. "What are you-?"
Riddick held the knife in place for a few more seconds
"No!" she gasped.
Riddick cut into his neck, sticking his finger in. Blood splattered, and then, he pulled out a small device.
"What the hell is that?" Selena whispered.
"Are you gonna keep that?" Jack asked Riddick as he held it between his fingers.
"Someone like you will have to be an abstract piece!" The woman screamed, while holding some sort of remote device in her hands.
"Down, now!" Riddick growled, as he threw away the device.
And then it exploded. They were blasted away by the force, even though the device was already a good distance away. Selena landed painfully against the wall, where she landed on her wounded hip. It started bleeding again. These people were really starting to piss her off. Jack helped Riddick to his feet. The bomb had blown a hole in the wall, and when they were all on their feet, they ran for it. Selena could hear the woman's angry screams all the way through the corridor. The pain was back, but she wouldn't let it slow her down. But it did anyway. She bit her tongue and ran on. After some time it stopped bleeding again. She was going to have to dig out the bullet, or it would take a long time to heal. It became difficult at times for Jack to keep up with the grown ups, and Selena had to push her along several times, because they really couldn't afford to slow down. Surely, the entire supply of mercs would be after them soon, and they'd better be out of this dump before they ran into more trouble. Imam had tried to apologize to Selena again, but she'd told him she didn't need to hear it right now. As they moved through another T-junction and took a left, they could hear a loud growl behind them. It sounded like a lion. They stopped in their tracks.
"What the hell was that?" Jack asked, looking back.
"Don't, move." Riddick warned. Another growl was heard, followed by loud stomping and screams.
"Get on." Riddick moved towards a ledge and motioned for Imam to climb up.
Then he pulled himself onto it. He extended his arms down for Jack to take. Selena lifted her off the ground, looking over her shoulder towards the sounds. Suddenly, a light shone in their eyes.
"What the-?" Jack gasped.
But before she could finish her sentence, bullets came flying their way. Riddick dropped Jack as Selena had to let go, but he caught her in mid air and pulled her up. Selena had to run for her life, again.
"I never had any of this shit when I was by myself." She growled to herself.
She hoped the others had managed to get away. She dodged a few more bullets and took a left turn, then a right and then some. When she felt it was safe, she stopped to look around and listen for any sounds. She heard nothing. She had no idea where she, or the others were, but she had to keep going. So she pushed on, making turns, now and then listening. When she rounded another corner, three mercs were waiting for her. There was nowhere else to go but back. But back meant trouble as well, so she went for it. She ran, as the mercs took aim. As they pulled the trigger, she slid down onto the ground and towards them, dodging the bullets. She shoved one down onto the ground, while grabbing another's arm, using it to pull herself up. She broke it on her knee and slammed his body into the last standing merc. She let her blade come out and in a split of a second, she'd turned and slit his throat. The merc with the broken arm was screaming and holding his arm, so she grabbed his gun and shot the merc on the ground, before he could manage to take her down with his. She hit the last one alive in the face with the gun, while he was still screaming over his arm. She threw her leg over his neck, and snapped it in one flowing motion. She grabbed another gun and moved on. As she ran past several rooms, she came past a vent grill.
She skidded a few steps as she tried to halt. Looking around and seeing no one, she took the chance to get it off using her blade. It took some time, but it came off. After climbing in, she secured the grill back in place as well as she could and started crawling through the vents. She passed grills on the side and below her many times, sometimes showing mercs running past, other times showing empty rooms. And then something caught her eye. Below her, in a room, there was a table with weapons on them. That in itself wasn't special. What made her do a double-take, was the fact that her weapons also lay on the table. "Ow yeah." she whispered.