Disclaimer:  They aren't mine... if they were... do you really think I'd just be writing fanfiction????

Author's Notes:  I know, I know, I know.  I'm a horrible person for not updating this sooner.  Things have been hectic though.  I'm back in school, and I'm working, and it's hell trying to get on the computer before eleven at night.  So, without any further ado... the fourth chapter!

Survival Comes First

Chapter 4:  A shopping we will go

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It was noon when the four of us finally got down to business on what to do about the impending eclipse and the creatures.  Knowing how quickly they grew, we all figured they probably reproduced just as quickly, which meant we had our work cut out for us in ridding the planet of them.

We took a break, and I walked off to stare out the window.  Shit was happening way too fast.  The crash, the monsters, the escape, Riddick, and now this planet and the eclipse... it was like a bad dream.  Unfortunately, it was all so real.  I leaned forward, letting the glass cool my forehead.  Surviving the crash on the planet was a pretty good feat in itself.  Surviving the crash and all those carnivorous creatures was even better.  It seemed as though surviving them twice would be a miracle... or simply impossible.

"Carolyn."

I jumped at Riddick's voice.  Not out of fear, Riddick didn't frighten me any longer.  In fact, I felt safer around him than anyone I knew in my life.  I didn't answer him or turn around, and I soon felt his strong warm arms go around my waist and pull me back into him.

"I'm scared, Riddick," I said, still staring out the window.

"I know," he answered simply.  "But we're going to get through this.  We did it once, and we had more shit against us then than we do now."

I nodded in response.  "You're right, of course.  I'm still freaked, though."

His head came forward and he planted kisses on my neck and shoulders.  "Carolyn, we're all gonna be fine.  We have to go into town and pick up some stuff, so get ready."

I did turn then, sank into the comfort of his body.  He hugged me close, and I closed my eyes against his chest, relishing in the strength of him, the rich, intoxicating smell of him, the feel of him all around me.  Presently, his hand tilted my chin up and he leaned down, capturing my mouth with his.  He tasted wonderful.  It was strange, knowing that he had killed so many in his past, may still kill in his future, but feeling his gentle, passionate touch made me nearly forget all those things.

Riddick pulled away first, a smile gracing his lips.  "We need to get moving."

I sighed.  "Yeah, I'm coming."

The two of us walked into the living area.  I flopped down on the couch beside Jack, while Riddick remained standing.  He clasped his hands behind his back, and began pacing before us.  Suddenly, I had an image of an Army General addressing his troops before combat.  The thought of any of us wearing camouflage, with Riddick as our commanding officer, sent me rolling into giggles.  Riddick paused in his pacing and regarded me with a look that clearly asked, "Are you out of your damned mind?"

Clearing my throat, I suppressed the giggles and simply stared at him, waiting.

"Okay," he said.  "Carolyn, you and Jack head into town, pick up the things on this list.  There's a lot there, so you'll probably need to get a transport back.  Have them drop you off on the other side of the building, and Imam and I will help drag things here.  We can't let anyone know where we are, it's too risky."  I took the list and a card from him.  "There should be plenty of credits on that to get everything."

"Right."  Jack and I stood up from the couch and headed to the door.

"Carolyn," Riddick called.  I looked over my shoulder at him.  "Be careful."

I nodded and ushered Jack out the door.  It wasn't until we had gone and were half-way down the alley until I thought to ask Riddick what he and Imam were going to do.  I figured they'd be securing the apartment, boarding up holes and windows, or something to that effect.

"Hey, Fry?"

Looking down at Jack, I saw a frightened expression in her eyes.  I paused, knelt beside her.  "What is it?"

"We're going to be okay, aren't we?"  There was hope in her voice, hope that I knew I had to encourage and confirm.

I offered her a bit of a smile.  "Yeah, Jack.  We're going to be okay.  Right now, we're going to buy a hell of a lot light to beat these bastards with.  Not only that, we have a secret weapon now."

"What's that?" she asked.

"Riddick."

Jack grinned then, and I could see that she was no longer afraid.  "Okay, let's go.  I don't want to be out here too long, especially with Johns around."

Shit!  I had forgotten about Johns.  A tremor of fear crept up my spine.  He could be anywhere, I realized, watching us, waiting for us to lead him to Riddick.  I looked around; we were walking into the busy part of town now, where the market was.  People milled about.  Some shopped, picking up fruit and other things.  I didn't see Johns in any place obvious, but that didn't mean he wasn't there.  Johns was smart.  No one could be a merc and not be, but he was also sloppy.  His addiction to morphine and power could easily mean his downfall.  The thing that really scared me though, was that Johns was dangerous.  He had an itchy trigger finger, and wouldn't think for a second to waste any of us to get to Riddick.

Jack and I found a hardware store, and we slipped in quickly.  I looked over Riddick's list, agreeing with his requests for four large floodlights... but where the hell was I going to put them.  I walked up to the one guy who ran the place.  "Hey, do you know where I can a transport?  I have a big list."

The man – an overweight, bad smelling, completely disgusting man – grinned a nearly toothless grin at me.  "Sure, little lady.  Ya just call for one outside, and they'll pull up for ya."  He looked me over, his eyes pausing on my chest, and resister the urge to vomit all over him.  I muttered my thanks and turned around, giving Jack half of the list, and taking the other half for myself.

It took us forty-five minutes to get everything that was on the list together.  I totaled everything up, and swiped the card Riddick had given me, praying that there were enough credits on it.  When it cleared, I heaved a sigh of relief.

"That's a lot of stuff," Jack commented.

I nodded.  "We're going to need a tank to get this stuff back."

The front of the store was filled with all things we picked up, including the four floodlights, half a dozen big flashlights, about twenty handlights, wires, light bulbs, synthetic gas for torches, half a dozen industrial-sized razor-blades, a nail gun (I wasn't about to ask what that was for), three boxes of nails for it, leather straps, and plastic ties.

The overweight guy was staring at the massive pile, eyes bugging out of his head.  "What you gon' do with all that?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

"We're putting on a light show," I said, offering him my most winning smile.  Jack snickered beside me.  The man just shrugged and walked away.

"How are we going to get all this stuff back?" Jack asked.

I sighed.  I honestly had no clue, but I knew that I needed a transport.  "I'm going out to get a transport.  I'm not sure how long it's going to take me, Jack, so I think you should head back now, and let Imam and..." I trailed off.  Saying Riddick's name in public wouldn't be a good idea.  "Let Imam and your father know that I'm on my way."

She raised an eyebrow when I said "father" but thankfully kept quiet.  "Okay Fry, I'm on it," she said, running out of the store.

I went outside, saw that there were more transports out than I expected.  Deciding on the best way to flag one down, I stuck my hand up, mimicking what I used to see in the old Earth movies that they did to get a taxi.  A transport immediately stopped in front of me, and a bald head emerged from a window.  "Need a ride, missus?"

"Yeah, but I have a huge load of supplies.  You got the room?"

The bald head nodded.  "Sure, I got lotsa room in here."

"Good."

It took about ten minutes to get everything packed into the transport.  At this point, all I wanted was to be back in Riddick's apartment, doing anything other than shopping.  I squeezed into the transport, amid all the stuff I bought, and directed the driver to the street in front of the old building.  We arrived there momentarily, and I started unloading things as fast as I could.  I was puzzled that Imam and Riddick weren't there, since I had sent Jack back nearly twenty minutes ago.  Maybe they were waiting for the transport to leave.  I had everything on the sidewalk and handed the card from Riddick to the driver.  He swiped, nodded to me, then sped off.

I stood there for about two minutes before beginning to worry.  Then I heard footsteps and turned to see Riddick and Imam heading toward me.  They each picked up an armload of things.

"Stay here and watch the stuff," Riddick instructed.

They weren't gone long before they returned, and gathered more things.  I picked up the rest this time, and we got everything into the apartment.  Once inside, I noticed that Jack was no where to be seen.  "Where's Jack?" I asked.

"What do you mean, where's Jack?  She was with you," Riddick said.

"I sent her back almost a half and hour ago to let you guys know I was on my way."

The room became deathly silent as Riddick stared at me, his face an expressionless void.  When he spoke, it was cautiously and slowly.  "You sent her off by herself?"

Oh, he was definitely pissed.  I took unconscious step back.  I'd actually forgotten how intimidating Riddick could be.  I was over my fear in a second though, and mad at him for implying that I didn't know what I was doing.  "Riddick, she's lived on the street most of her life.  She knows how to get around without being seen."

"She's never had mercs after her before!" he bellowed.  "Johns is a crazy, hyped up, asshole, Carolyn!  He won't think twice about killing Jack to get to me.  He damned near killed her back on that hell of a planet!"

I jumped at the hate and malice in his voice.  "Jack can take of herself," I insisted, keeping my voice quiet.  There was no point in trying to out-shout him.

Riddick opened his mouth, but the door burst open and Jack came running in, clearly out of breath and scared.  I was to her in a nano-second, kneeling in before.

"Jack, what's happened?"

She leaned forward, resting her hands on her thighs, and tried to breathe.  "Johns... found... me," she gasped out.  "Chased me all over the city."

I could actually feel Riddick's anger begin to boil.  The tension in the room got so thick it's a wonder any of us could breathe.  I rubbed Jack's back, trying to calm her.  "Tell me about it," I urged her.

She dropped to the floor, sitting Indian style.  "I was on my way back, you know, like you told me, weaving through people the way I always did.  He came of fuckin' no where, grabbed me by the shirt, demanded to know where Riddick was hiding."  She looked up at Riddick, a proud smile on her face.  "I kicked him in the balls and ran the opposite direction," she said.  "I had him chasing me all over the city.  I went through random alleys, down abandoned streets.  Had him thinkin' I was going to you."

"How'd you lose him?" I questioned.

"He caught up with me in the market," she explained.  "Just picked me up by my shirt, held me a few inches off the ground.  So I screamed rape.  He dropped me pretty damn fast.  In the mad dash of people running, and the cops showing up, I slipped through the crowd and made it back here."

"A real street urchin," Imam remarked.

Riddick was furious.  He started toward the door, with every intention of just leaving and going after Johns, but I got there first, barred his way.  A pretty stupid thing to do... or maybe brave.

"Get out of my way."  His voice was barely above a whisper.  A sure sign he was angry beyond belief.

"No," I said.  "Riddick, you can't go after Johns."

He growled, pushed me to the side.  I slammed into the wall, felt a sickening pop in my shoulder.  The bastard dislocated it!  Imam went to rush forward, but I waved him back with my good hand.  God, that hurt!  The pain was shooting down my arm, and now, I was pissed.

"Fine Riddick!" I yelled.  His hand was on the doorknob, but he paused.  "Go on!  Go after Johns, you know you want to!  But in case you hadn't noticed, we have less than an hour before this planet is plunged into darkness and becomes a fuckin' graveyard by those man-eating motherfuckers!"  I was crying, I knew.  I could feel the tears sliding down my cheeks, but it was too late to care.  If he left us now, we were all dead, and so was the planet.  "But if you're goddamn pride is more important than us, then fine, go.  You'll have left us when we needed you the most.  When I needed you the most."

That got him.  He turned slowly, moved his goggles up to his forehead, and simply stared at me.  I could see the inner conflict behind those beautiful silver eyes, and for a moment, I was sure he'd just leave.  But he stepped forward, looked to Imam, then to Jack, and back to me.

I was leaning against the wall, holding onto my arm and crying.  It wasn't because he hurt me, I had almost expected that.  No, it was because he nearly left.  Nearly walked out, and taken a part of me with him.   I belonged to him... and he belonged to me.  The revelation hit me almost as painfully as I had hit the wall, and I realized I couldn't stand up anymore.  My knees gave out and I slid down the wall to the floor, feeling completely dazed.

Riddick came into view.  He knelt before me, locking his eyes on mine.  "You all right?" he asked.

"No," I answered truthfully.

"What did I do to you?" he whispered, wiping the tears from my face with the back of his hand.

"You nearly killed me," I told him.  The time for being vague was gone.  Riddick had chosen us, and he was going to get all of it thrown at him.  "If you had gone, my heart would not have been able to handle it, and I'd be dead."

I could see how he tried to hold back the emotion that wanted so desperately to play on his face.  So, to break the tension, I added, "Oh, and you dislocated my shoulder."

He looked relieved, and hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me, careful not to jar my arm.  Grabbing my wrist with one hand, and resting the other on my shoulder, he asked, "Ready?"

"Oh sure," I replied.  He pulled and pushed simultaneously, and I cried out as a sharp, nearly blinding pain shoot through my arm and down my fingers, then another crack was heard, and the pain settled to a dull throb.  "Jesus Christ!" I yelled.

"Come with me a minute," he said, leading me into the bedroom, leaving Jack and Imam out in the living area.

I felt a twinge of nervous anticipation being alone in the bedroom with him.  It was dark, and I could just barely see the outline of his well-defined form in the gloom.  Turning to close the door, I spun back around and was startled to find Riddick less than four inches away from me.  He enfolded me in his arms, bringing his head down to rest on my good shoulder.  "Carolyn, I'm so sorry," he mumbled.

Riddick sorry?  This was something different.  I didn't know what to say, so I kept quiet.  "I'll never hurt you again."  At these words, I nearly started crying again.  He was just saying that he'd never hurt me again, he was saying that he'd never leave again.  Richard B. Riddick, convict, murderer, was committing himself to me, and it scared the hell out of me.

I could only imagine what he must have felt.