CHAPTER 37

When Riddick heard the bedroom door slam shut, he turned and descended the stairs in record time. From the sound of it, Cole was doing his best to keep Matt outside.

Riddick rounded the corner and watched as the dog jumped through the broken window, knocking Camp off balance.

"You picked the wrong family to fuck with," Riddick growled again; the only thing he was thinking about was the strong smell of fear that had been rolling off his son. His vision became hazy as he stalked barefooted through the broken glass.

When he reached the same window Cole had just gone through, he glared at the man stumbling backwards down the steps as the dog lunged to attack him once again.

"Time to do things my way," Riddick stated, stepping through the broken window and out onto the porch.

His grip on his shivs tightened. It was time to end the nonsense.

Riddick's inner beast hit its cage with enough power to loosen the hinges of the door.

Riddick himself moved forward and watched the gun from Camp's hand be tossed to the side as the man fell to the ground.

The butt of the gun connected with the wooden porch first, causing the gun to go off.

Growling loudly, Riddick used the wrist of his right hand to touch the blood seeping from a hole on his left shoulder.

"Cole," Riddick yelled.

The dog immediately stopped circling the intruder as the person laid on the ground.

"Go find Kayden," he ordered the dog while pointing toward the broken windows.

Backing away from the drunk man, Cole walked up the steps and jumped back into the house.

"Oh, thank God," Matt slurred. "You saved me."

The beast bellowed a demented laugh and began to shake the cage door.

"The danger is just starting, Camp," Riddick's deep voice rumbled over the sound of Camp's heavy breathing. "You could have just walked away, but instead you had to fuck with my wife and kids."

Mr. Camp was trying and failing to get off the ground.

Riddick, on the other hand, was keeping himself calm and steady. "Let's take a walk," he growled, grabbing Camp by the arm.

At the physical contact with the man Riddick wanted to kill, his beast shook the cage door once more. "Kill, kill, kill,"it chanted loudly as the metal door dropped forward and crashed to the cement floor.

Gripping Camp's arm tightly, Riddick somewhat dragged him towards the woods. He needed to get the bastard away from the kids and Jack.

"Where we going?" Camp asked, trying to wrench his arm free from Riddick's hold.

"Shut the fuck up," Riddick yelled into his ear, causing the beast's eyes to sparkle as it grinned.

When they reached far enough into the woods, he let go of Matt long enough to place his shiv back into his hand. Raising the shiv, Riddick stabbed it into Camp's upper left shoulder before twisting it and pulling it back out.

"How the fuck does that feel?" Riddick growled, wanting Camp to feel the fear and pain he had caused him and his family.

Camp screamed in pain, grabbed his shoulder and staggered a few feet backwards.

"Should have stayed away," Riddick stated; he and the beast stalked forward, needing to get their hands on the son of a bitch that did everything bad to Riddick's family.

"What, what are you doing?" Camp stuttered as he kept walking backwards in the dark woods.

Riddick's voice was much deeper and darker than normal, "Let me introduce myself to you." His fingers flexed around the shiv handles. "Like you, I've got a criminal history."

He could see Camp's eyes get bigger as he continued to clutch his shoulder. "I was right," Camp said. "You are a criminal."

Taking two large strides, Riddick's head connected roughly with Camp's jaw. "That's my secret and not yours to speak of," he growled.

The beast cracked its knuckles. "Kill, kill, kill,"it chanted louder to Riddick.

A small cut on Riddick's head, caused by Matt's tooth, began to run blood down his forehead.

When Riddick refocused on Camp and not on what his beast was doing, he watched as Camp turned and began to stumble away from his attacker.

"No one fucks with Richard B. Riddick's family and gets away with it," the beast roared out loud as he charged after Camp.

The three gunshots were heard over at Brent and Marcy's house. As Brent went down to call the Sheriff, Marcy gathered all five of their kids into the master bedroom.

Brent told Sheriff Chester what he had heard; he mentioned that Robbie didn't own a gun so hearing gunshots was a huge concern for him.

The Sheriff told him that he and his Deputy would be there as quick as possible.

Knowing the damage Robbie could cause if someone was there hurting his family, Brent ended the call with, "Bring a med team or two."

It wasn't even ten minutes later when Brent heard the sounds of sirens: two Sheriff cars and the med teams in the emergency hospital vans.

"You can't go over there," Marcy pleaded with Brent.

He cupped her face, "I need to help them if I can. I'll be safe, I promise."

It took a bit more convincing before Marcy let him leave. Pulling into the driveway, Brent parked his truck off to the side so it wouldn't be in the way.

When he got out, he saw every light on in the house. The front door was open and the windows on either side of that door were broken out.

The medics were with Jack and the kids at the back of one med van. Brent's heart dropped into his stomach when he didn't see Robbie anywhere.

He went to Jack who was wrapped in a blanket as she held a cranky looking Rori. "Are you three okay?" he asked.

Jack looked up, her eyes were puffy and red from crying. "Physically we are fine, mentally and emotionally not so much," she told him.

"What happened?" Brent questioned while looking Kayden over.

"That jerk tried to kill us and he made Cole hurt his paw from the glass. Now, because of the jerk, we don't know where my dad is," Kayden said loudly; clearly upset.

At the mention of their dad, Rori began to cry again.

Jack rocked her back and forth slowly, "Sh, it's okay. Sheriff Chester and Deputy Thomas are finding daddy right now.

Brent's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "They can't find him? What about Camp?" He just assumed that was the jerk Kayden had been referring to.

As she tried to hold back her own tears, Jack answered him, "After Kayden came upstairs to me, there was a third gunshot." She paused and took in a deep breath. "Then Cole came upstairs with us and now he's with the Sheriff looking for," she stopped as she heard the medic's walkie talkie go off.

Even with his hurt paw, Cole had led the Sheriff and Deputy right to his owner.

Deep in the Northern woods, the scene through the beams of the flash lights was a dreary one. There was blood on tree trunks, leaves and shrubs.

Standing with his back propped against a tall oak tree, Riddick still had his shivs in his hands.

Camp didn't seem to be so lucky. Laying face down on the ground, with his arm twisted awkwardly, his shirt was covered in cuts and blood.

Both the Sheriff and the Deputy watched, with guns drawn, as Cole limped up to his owner and sat down next to him; it was as if the dog was waiting for his owner to acknowledge him.

"Mr. Richards, I'm going to have to ask you to put the knives down," Sheriff Chester said.

"Shivs," Riddick responded; his voice sounded very weak. "They are shivs and I'm not putting shit down as long as he's still on my property." He motioned to Camp with one of the shivs. "Might want to get some medics here for him if you want him to live much longer."

From what Sheriff Chester could see when Riddick turned towards him, Riddick was covered in blood. Although, he couldn't tell how much of the blood belonged to which man.

The Deputy kept his gun trained on Riddick as he walked sideways to check Camp's pulse. "It's real faint, but he's still hanging in there," he told Chester.

"Radio it in," Chester said to Thomas; his eyes not leaving Riddick's face. Chester holstered his gun and gestured at the shivs. "If you are going to see your family, you might want to put those things away. Don't want to scare the little one," he spoke calmly to Riddick.

The beast had been out for a long time, much longer than it had been since he got his Jack back from Imam. It was now pacing its cage that Riddick had fixed the door on. "My family?" Riddick questioned, he felt a little dazed. "My family has seen me with these."

Chester smiled in the dark, "I'm sure they have. Why don't you, me, and Cole walk back to your family and get you looked at by the medic team?"

"Medic team, we found both men. They are somewhat deep in the Northern woods," the Deputy's voice came through the quietness.

"Roger that, Deputy Thomas. Go on," the female medic responded.

The walkie cracked again. "We've got a very bad gunshot wound on one male and the other male has major life threatening injuries. We are going to need a back board for both," he said.

"I can walk," Riddick growled at the Deputy and then pressed his hand against his wound. "Maybe I should have this looked at."

"Make that only one back board," he corrected himself.

"On our way to the North woods. We will need further directions to get to your position from there," the medic said.

The Sheriff nodded at Riddick. "Mr. Richards, you agreed to come back to your family with me. They are worried sick about you," Chester said, even though he hadn't agreed to go with him. He knew that the man needed some medical attention and soon.

Riddick looked down at Cole and began to slowly walk in the direction that would take them to the house. "My Jack's pregnant again. Can't let her be stressed out," he mumbled quietly as he passed the Sheriff.

Cole was doing his best to keep up with his owner.

By the time they got to house and around front where everyone was gathered, Riddick was walking very slowly, his speech was slightly slurred, and his response time was getting slower.

"Riddick!" Jack screamed as she stood up from the lowered tailgate of Brent's truck.

Brent stayed by the back of the truck and grabbed Rori as the little girl tried to run off the end of the truck to get to her daddy.

When Jack reached Riddick, he gave her a small smile.

Jack's eyes got big seeing the wound on his shoulder. "Why wasn't he carried out of the woods?" she demanded to know as she yelled at one of the medics and the Sheriff.

Slowly shaking his head, Riddick looked at Jack. "I'm fine," he said softly. "I just need a few stitches."

Reaching up, she touched his which was cool and clammy to the touch. "You're so cold, baby," she told him as her eyes became blurry with tears.

He gave her another small smile. "Just a chilly night is all," Riddick told her. "Everything is going to be alright now. Camp can't hurt you and the kids. So don't worry, okay?"

"Riddick," she whispered when he removed her hand from his face and gave her the shivs he had. There was something different about his eyes, the look was one she had never seen with him before.

"Just don't stress, please," he said before he turned towards the medic. "Didn't you hear my wife?" he said a bit louder to the female medic. "I need medical attention."

The medic pointed at the stretcher that was waiting for him behind the medic van.

As Riddick stepped forward, he reached for the stretcher and as his hand grasped the railing his legs gave out. Before he even hit the ground, he was unconscious.

"How long does it take to get a bullet out and stitch someone up?" Kayden asked his mom as they sat in the waiting room of the hospital.

Jack had a sleeping Rori on her lap as she peeled the label off a water bottle. "I don't know, Kayden," she told him honestly. She tried to keep her emotions in check for her children, but the closer they got to morning, the more her nerves were wearing thin.

"It depends on what kind of damage the bullet does," Brent answered the young boy. "I'm sure your dad is in there giving them hell about something though, so that's probably why it's taking so long."

Kayden put the last cookie from the vending machine into his mouth and shrugged. "With Dad having the bloodline that he does, shouldn't he be better than Mr. Camp?" he questioned.

"Mr. Camp wasn't shot in the left shoulder though, son," Jack said, her patience with the topic getting scarce.

He looked at his mom, "But the Sheriff said Dad stabbed him in the same shoulder as Dad was shot."

"Kayden," Jack warned before pausing. She swallowed and licked her lips. "I know you are worried about your Dad. We all are, but can we please talk about something other than what your Dad did to that man?"

Nodding, Kayden opened his pop that Deputy Thomas had bought for him.

The waiting room was quiet until an automated voice over the loud speaker spoke. "Code Red: OR 2. Code Red: OR 2."

Brent and Jack looked at each other while Kayden watched a couple staff members run down the hallway in the direction he knew his dad and Mr. Camp was.

Jack couldn't hold it back anymore. She put her free shaky hand over her eyes and broke down crying.

Standing from his own chair, Brent went over to Jack and carefully pulled her upper body towards his stomach. "It's not him, Jack. Don't you think like that," he whispered to her.

Kayden went to his mom too and got in on the hug. He leaned his head against hers and whispered that everything was going to be alright.

About twenty minutes later the main surgeon came into the waiting room.

Jack had moved Rori to a blanket on the floor, so she was free to stand up as soon as she saw the doctor. "How is he?" she asked quickly. "When can I see him?"

The doctor, who looked just as tired as the rest of them shook his head, "I'm sorry..."

The End...Epilogue To Follow

AN: As I said with the last update, if there are any spacing issues I blame this darn website. It's still driving me nuts. I should have the Epilogue up in a week, hopefully less!