Chapter 2:Pt2: Dangerous Waters

Chapter 3: Dangerous Waters

The memories were so painful, but constantly he would remember. His mind would refuse to let him forget; it would remain an image permanently imprinted in his subconscious that embedded itself there for all an eternity.

He turned in the stall and let the scalding water run down his tense back and it slowly eased the pain and grief off of his shoulders; shoulders that seamed to carry lifetimes of sadness to weigh them down.

***
"Jack make sure everything's secure for landing 'cause we'll be on Veda in less than 20 minutes."

"It's all secure Riddick, I did it over an HOUR ago."

"ALLRIGHT then. Come up here, I wanna show you something.

'Mother Fucker I can't believe I'm doing this…I got to be crazy.'

Before Jack could make her way to the front of the ship, Riddick stood up and sat himself in the co-pilot's chair.

"Riddick, what the heck are you doing?" Jack asked bewildered.

"What the fuck does it look like? Prepare us to land, kid."

She looked at him for a moment in disbelief and before he had a chance to change his mind she ran to the pilot's chair and sat down. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves as she looked over the control panels.

"What do I do now?"

"You've watched me over a thousand times, figure it out."

And with that Riddick closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head.

'She better not fuck up.'

Jack then proceeded to switch on the comm unit to signal tower.

"This is Hell's Kitchen requesting permission to land."

"This is Tower Control…"

Crackle, hiss, click, click

"Name verification, ID #, and any other passengers on board"

She glanced at Riddick from the corner of he eye, and seeing that he had not acknowledged the question in any way, proceeded to look for their current cards.

"This is Ja…Err…Uh…Beth McAllister, ID # B015673M, and my brother's name is Dre McAllister, ID # D638259M."

"ID verified please proceed to Section B, Docking Bay 12, and have a pleasant stay on Veda."

As the landing port came clearer into view, Jack began to get nervous; she was actually gunna land this piece of shit.

'If it doesn't break up in the atmosphere first.' She thought wryly.

She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants, made a silent prayer to God, and gripped the controls. She eased the craft into the atmosphere, checking the altitude and degree of entry; everything was going smoothly.

The ship began to shake under the intense pressure of re-entry, but she hardly noticed. Section B came into view and she steadily reduced her velocity to the acceptable speed. Jack lowered the landing gear as they approached gate 12, and as the reversed thruster kicked in, signaling the final landing sequence, Jack released the breath she hadn't known she had been holding.

Riddick pushed himself out of the chair and ruffled Jack's short hair.

"Good work kid, you did a good job for your first time."

With that said he walked to the back and released the hatch to exit. Before he finally left he said,

"I'll meet you at the exit in 10 minutes. Oh, and Jack, you can stop gripping the controls like that, you're gunna break 'em."

Jack blushed and looked away from him.

"Fuck you."

But he hadn't heard her; he was already out of sight.

Jack stood up and walked to her room. She grabbed her bag and the shiv Riddick showed her how to make, and proceeded to make her way to the exit of the compound.

It took Jack longer than she had expected, she got lost a few times, but when she finally made her way there Riddick was nowhere in sight. She began to panic.

'Where the fuck is he?'

'O.K calm down Jackie-girl, he's a grown man, probably just stopped to kill someone along the way.'

Five minutes

'Maybe he stopped to kill a few people?'

Ten minutes

'He could have stopped to get a few things.'

Twenty minutes

'That's fucking it, something's wrong. I gotta find him.'

Riddick stood in an alley way not to far from where Jack was standing. He could see the worried expression on her face as she waited for him, and as the time wore on, he noticed her resolve to stay calm slipping further, and further away.

When he noticed her begin to leave to look for him a wave of relief washed over him; she began to look in the opposite direction.

'Good. Just don't turn around.'

As if on cue, she turned and headed back to him.

'Fuck, were in shit'

He backed away and hid in the shadows when she appeared in the entrance to the alleyway.

"Riddick?"

No response. The hairs on her neck began to rise but before her brain could register what was happening, it was too late. A gun was pointed to the back of her head, and before she had the chance to react, she was shoved to the floor; her face making contact with the concrete.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are"

Still, no response.

"Awe c'mon Riddick you're not going to let me kill her are you?" taunted a gruff female voice.

Jack looked up at the woman but couldn't see her face; she was covered from head to foot in black material and the blood trickling in her eye made her vision blurry.

"RIDDICK I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE SO GET THE FUCK OUT YOU PUSSY BEFORE I SPLATTER THIS BITCHES BRAINS ALL OVER THIS FUCKING ALLEY!!!"

The woman was becoming very impatient; she hit Jack in the back of the head with the blunt end of the pistol to get her point across. Jack only cried out in pain.

"ENOUGH!"

There, from the shadows, a very menacing and a very pissed Richard B. Riddick emerged, fists clenched waiting for all hell to reign down.

He had seen the woman as soon as he stepped off the ship; he got that feeling, but continued walking, not breaking a stride as he weaved in and out of coming and going traffic.

He saw an alley way before the exit and advanced his way towards the entranced glancing to see if he had lost her or not.

'Good now all I have to do is wait.'

He saw the woman look around for her lost quarry and was calmed when she receded in the other direction.

'Just gotta lay low a couple 'a more minutes and I'll be good to go'

Then Jack came.

'Fucking girl's gunna mess everything up. I should just grab her and go. Then the woman reappeared, looking at Jack.

'Fuck'

When Jack appeared in the shadows Riddick silently cursed to the Lord that resented him so much. He knew he was screwed when she called his name; the woman had been listening. He knew he was deeply fucked when she appeared behind Jack and pointed a gun to her head. And he had seen enough when the woman hit her.

When Riddick emerged from the shadows, he saw the horrific look Jack had on her face and felt his chest become tight when he noticed the blood trickling down her temple to run its course and pool beneath her.

"Well, Well, Well if it isn't the INFAMOUS Richard B. Riddick. How nice to finally meat you."

"And your name is?"

"My names not important. What IS important is the choice you have."

"I actually get to make a choice?" He laughed

" Don't hear that one too often but if your willing then, aiight. You wanna know my choice? I'll fucking tell you." He growled.

"You let the girl go and won't gut you like the PIG you are."

"Now Riddick that's not the choice I had in mind. Now the scenario I DO see happening is you come with me and I let the girl go." She said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah fucking right, where have I heard that one before?" Riddick said mockingly.

"Listen Riddick I'm in no mood to play games and I seem to be rather trigger happy tonight so make it fast. Your life or hers. The choice is yours."