DISCLAIMERS!!! YOU MUST READ THESE FIRST
Title: Jack B. Badd Part Four: A Lasting Darkness?
Author: Daryn
Fandom: Pitch Black
Pairing: Jack/Riddick (eventually)
Rating: PG-13 for a few curse words
Email: dmunster@hotmail.com
Series/Sequel: This is part four in the saga of Jack
Web Page: http://ddraven.tripod.com/pitchblack/
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, but damn I wish I did.
Warnings: Jack is a boy. Read 'Disclaimers' page for more info
Notes: Jack's POV. This is the story of Jack's life with emphasis on his experiences on the planet in Pitch Black. There is no sex, yet. Eventually Jack and Riddick will get groovy though.
Summary: Years later Jack narrates his memories of the survivor's daring escape from the Planet.
Beta Credit: Colin and Cait. *hugs*
We set out to get whatever lights we could from the crash ship. I skittered out and held onto the sleeve of Imam's last remaining boy. I huddled next to him. Being near Imam made me feel safer too.
Riddick was behind me. I wondered if he would reach out to me. I half hoped that he would, but I didn't need any erotic distractions just then.
Fry called Riddick forward to look at the crash ship and scope it out. "Looks clear," he declared. Johns stepped forward and suddenly one of those big things flew out at us. We dropped.
"You said clear," Johns accused. "I said it looks clear," Riddick shot back. "What's it look like now?" Riddick peeked up and casually turned back to Johns. "Looks clear."
We hustled around the ship, grabbing any source of light we could. I collected some of those glow tube things while the others packed the cells onto the sandcat sled and got the generator set up. I think Paris was converting his booze bottle to light bottles.
Riddick and Fry walked past me. "And check your cuts," I heard him saying "These bad boys know our blood now." Shit. My period. The tampon. I had almost forgotten.
FUCK.
I ran a light under my hand and watched it glow red through my skin. I told myself that it was probably other blood that attracted the monsters and that my period wouldn't matter. I couldn't tell them. I didn't want to run even the slightest chance of being left behind. Besides, it was a little late and totally bad timing to mention my little dilemma.
It joined all those other worries in the back of my brain where they were silently congregating.
Try not to think. Just do. I looked at my hands. My living hands. I was alive. I wanted to stay that way.
We were all set to go. "Just stay together, in the light, and we'll be fine," Fry said as she ran back in to collect Johns. I clung to the other boy's sleeve for a while and patted his arm. We sort of half-grinned half-grimaced at each other in a mutual acknowledgment of the horrific reality of our situation.
I looked around for Riddick. Maybe he was inside too, with Fry and Johns. The adults were planning our actions and I was content to let them do so. For a fleeting moment it occurred to me to wonder what would happen to Riddick if we got off the planet. Would Johns still take him back to prison? I found myself briefly hoping that Johns wouldn't make it. But I pushed the thought away.
No more thoughts of death. Just concentrate on living.
We were finally all set to go. The physical exertion of keeping up with the sled, pointing the light outward and concentrating on Riddick's back as he ran ahead was enough to keep my mind off of my worries.
We slowed down. I pointed my light stick out at the dark. I couldn't see anything. Then the cutting torch died. We kept on going but Paris dropped one of the flares or bottles or something. Without thinking I said "Wait, I'll get it," assuming that I'd just grab it and be done.
Looking back on this I can't believe my own naive stupidity. Is it any wonder that for so long I blamed myself for just about everyone's death on that horrid planet?
As I bent to pick up the dropped light source Johns started firing into the air and Imam grabbed me. Paris chose that moment to crawl off. In doing that he killed the generator and all the tubing died. Johns lit a flare and we lit the bottles.
I think that was about the time that they (the monsters) started in on Paris. Riddick was staring off in that direction. I stared too. I wanted to know what he was seeing but at the same time I didn't want to know. If I hadn't stopped... if I hadn't stepped away from the light...
I felt Riddick's eyes on me. Oh shit. Just oh shit. I wanted to wake up, have it all be just a nightmare. "Are we getting close?" I asked Fry. And we all stopped. We'd crossed our own tracks.
"Listen," said Riddick, "Canyon's ahead. I circled once to buy some time to think."
Imam said, "I think we should go now."
"I don't know about that," said Riddick, "That's death row up there, especially with the girl bleeding."
The words didn't sink in. My thoughts went first to Fry then to the unthinkable. This was happening to someone else. I looked around quickly. They were looking at me.
How do you explain your life and who and what you are in a situation like that?
I stepped back. "I just thought it'd be better if people took me for a guy," I started. "I thought they might leave me alone instead of always messing with me..."
I couldn't take this. This was not what any of us needed. Fuck.
I sat down heavily and hugged my knees. I wasn't playing the pathetic kid. I WAS the pathetic, sad, scared kid. Fry knelt down and put her arm around me.
"I'm sorry," she said. I don't think anyone had ever said that to me before. "I'm sorry sweetheart, are you really bleeding?"
I was gunna cry. Fuck again. "You could've left me at the ship, Fry. That's how come I didn't say anything..." I don't think I could have ever sunk lower than I was right there at that moment. Imagine feeling like total and complete shit and take that to the nth power. Add a guilt trip and you've almost got something resembling a shadow of what was tearing my heart apart.
Fry wanted to go back. Jesus, I thought, how much of a total fuck up am I? I stood up and watched them. Christ, the way Johns talked to Fry made me want to kill him... or myself.
Imam yelled at Johns, "She is the captain, listen to her!"
"When she was so willing to sacrifice us?" Johns sneered.
"What's he talking about?"
"She was going to blow the whole passenger cabin, kill us all in our sleep," Johns raved. Fry rushed him and he knocked her down. I was frozen. I hoped Johns died. I was a hotbed of emotions and fear.
Johns and Riddick moved ahead. Imam helped Fry to her feet and we followed after them. I tried to stay in the middle of the others.
"What're they doing up there?" I asked, watching Johns and Riddick whisper to each other. "Talking about how to get through the canyon I suppose" I was glad that Imam was still nice to me and to Fry. I really liked him.
I watched Riddick and Johns. Riddick half-turned one time. Fry told us to let them get further ahead.
My gut was talking to me again -- it was screaming danger but not giving me any details. The two men stopped up ahead. Riddick turned to face Johns.
Out of nowhere he knocked the flare out of Johns hands and attacked him. We dropped the sled and ran back. We paused for a minute. I caught my breath as we looked around.
Fry screamed and we all screamed and jumped. There was Riddick. "Back to the ship, huh?" he gazed at us with those killer eyes. "Til the lights burn out and you can't see what's eating you." "Where's Johns?" Imam asked. "Which half?" Damn Riddick was cold.
"We're gunna lose everybody out here," I said out loud, "We should have stayed at the ship." I just wanted to curl up right there. "He died fast, the way we all should if we have a choice," Riddick said loudly.
I just looked out into the darkness. I felt him coming up behind me, his hand lightly brushing the small of my back and my waist.
"Don't you cry for Johns," he whispered, "Don't you dare."
Oh right. I couldn't cry for Johns if I wanted to. Riddick probably knew that. I felt it then. He was telling me that he killed Johns or let Johns get taken for my sake. Something he and Johns must have been talking about.
Instead of registering this as possibly an attempt on Riddick's part to stop me from blaming myself for Johns' death, it just added his name to the growing list in my mind under the heading of 'People Whose Death I Was Responsible For'.
I wanted to cry again. I wanted to throw my arms around Riddick. To hug him or choke him -- I don't know.
We followed Riddick back to where we had left the cells. He went to tie them together while Imam sat us down in a circle to pray. I didn't pray. I just wished right there that if there was a god besides fate that this god would let things work out. I wanted us all to get out of there. Imam walked over to where Riddick must have been.
I looked at the last of Imam's boys. Damn, I thought. He must be so scared. He doesn't speak Common and has no idea... I scooted over to him and took his hand. He couldn't know for sure what that exchange had been all about. Who knows if he saw me as a guy, girl, or what. It didn't matter. The three of us sat close together until Imam came back to fetch us.
We stood in the mouth of the canyon. I could hear the things but I flashed my light around and I didn't see them.
"We got that way," said Riddick, "Just keep the girl between you." Oh sure, now I'm just 'the girl'. Not Jack or anything. Oh well, I was still alive and not about to complain. Riddick grabbed the cells.
"Move!" he bellowed. And we were off. I felt like we would run and run forever, but we weren't quite that lucky. Suddenly a huge cloud of those things came at us. They passed but the things were killing each other above us, bodies and blood fell from the sky. Then we hit a huge pile of bones and carcasses.
Imam's boy was the last one through and one of those things must have still been alive cuz it cut his foot up something awful.
After I saw that he wasn't dead I realized that Riddick was still going. I turned and stepped toward him. I called after him, but he didn't stop. I called again. I turned to look back. They weren't coming yet.
Oh shit -- I heard it coming, my gut made me dive under a skeleton just in time. But it had me pinned and was breaking through.
I screamed. I struggled. My life flashed in front of my eyes. I saw Mother's face in front of me as clear as a picture. Mother smiling and laughing.
I frantically looked toward Riddick. He had stopped I think - but I couldn't see his eyes. I heard Fry yelling. I tried to think of what I wanted my dying words to be when suddenly it was off of me.
I rolled away and Fry caught me and helped me up. We watched as Riddick grappled with the thing. I didn't think. I just watched as he gutted it and triumphantly growled "Did not know who he was fucking with." Then he looked at me and he grinned. I laughed a little. A hysterical laugh I think.
Then we were off again, Riddick running ahead with the cells. The Arab boy fell down and we paused while Imam and Fry helped him up.
I felt something hit my face. More alien blood? No. Rain.
Rain?
I felt like screaming but I couldn't do it. I tried to shield my bottle flame. Then I heard Riddick.
He was laughing. Damn that was a beautiful noise. "Where's your god now?" he challenged Imam as the rain pelted down.
We ducked under a sort of overhang and Fry and I tried to keep our bottles lit. Imam tried to dress the boy's cut and Riddick hopped up on some rock on the other side of the canyon.
"Just tell me we're almost there," Fry yelled to him. "We can't make it," he said. Don't say that, I thought.
Without warning the boy was lifted right out of Imam's hands. I tried frantically to see what happened. He was gone. Imam jumped at the cliff face and fell to his knees, crying out, before he fell to the muddy ground. Once again I wanted to die or to kill something.
Riddick grabbed me just then, by the shoulders. "Come on," he called to the others. He ran to a rock and pushed it, revealing a cave. "Hide in here," he ordered. I went in first and found the back.
I looked back to see Riddick push the rock back in place. I looked at Imam. He walked to where the opening had been.
"Why is he still out there?" I asked. Fry shook her head.
I sat down. She did too. I poured the last of the alcohol in my bottle into hers and wiped the wick in there too. We could hear the monsters outside.
"He's not coming back, is he?" I said. I don't know if I believed it or not. I couldn't just give up hope. But people had never made it a habit of coming through for me.
As I watched the flame, I thought about Mother and Peter. We could hear the things screeching outside somewhere. My life had already flashed by once and I wasn't looking forward to a second helping.
The flame sputtered valiantly and died. Like the sandcat had died. Like the glow tubes had died. Like Zeke had died. Like Shazza, Ali, Johns, Paris... like they all had died. Like we might die any minute now.
I took Fry's hand. I hoped she was Ok. Then I noticed that she was looking at my hand. And I looked. I could see. I could see my hand. I could see her. We looked up.
Along the walls of the cave were dozens of little glowing blue bug things. We quickly emptied the other bottle and started collecting the bugs in the bottles. At that point I wasn't questioning anything. No thoughts or questions. I didn't care where the bugs came from or what they were. It only mattered that they were there and they gave off light. And light would keep us alive.
When one bottle was full Fry looked me in the eye and said, "Ok. We'll come back with more light. I promise."
"Ok," I said, weakly, just accepting this as the way things had to be.
"May God watch over you," Imam clasped her hand and helped her crawl out. I started collecting more bugs and shoving them in the other bottle. "That's the last I could find," I said sooner than I had hoped to.
Nothing left now but to huddle around that little bottle and hope that nothing too terrible decided to snack on us before they got back.
If they got back. Or if they decided to come back. If they didn't leave us there.
It can't have been more than ten minutes but if I thought that any time before that had even come close to being an eternity, I was sorely mistaken.
I could let myself think about anything. I said to myself that Fry would come back -- she had promised. And Riddick would come too. He had saved my life. People didn't just save other people's lives and then let them die.
Or did they? What did I know about people. I was just a kid.
I let myself get lost in my memories. I replayed vids in my head. I conjured up Peter and imagined a conversation with him. I was just describing Riddick to him when the rock started moving and it acquired my undivided attention.
When Fry appeared in the opening, relief washed over me. When she moved aside and I saw Riddick there, grinning at me, I could have burst out in song.
"Never had a DOUBT!" I told him, deliriously. "Anyone not ready for this?" he said conversationally. "There is my God, Mr. Riddick," Imam said triumphantly.
I wanted to yell 'group hug' but it seemed like a bad idea, according to the old gut. So I just ran along at Riddick's heels, holding up the bottle.
Riddick had us stop at one point and form a daisy chain to go through a crowd of those horrible things. They rushed around us and we were knocked down by the force from their wings.
Riddick pulled me up by my shirt and threw me forward. "Go on, keep moving." We ran on, toward the light.
I stopped and looked into the ship, catching my breath for what I hoped was the last time that night. Or day. Lifetime. Eternity.
Fry pushed me into the ship. But where was Riddick? We stood there. Waiting.
Suddenly Riddick's screams came across the compound. Imam held me back, Fry ran off.
Oh shit. Again.
I paced back and forth. "Can you... can you fly one of these?" I asked Imam, my voice was shaking like a leaf.
"No."
I shook my head. I turned in circles for a minute. It felt good to be dizzy. I wanted to yell profanities to let off steam but I didn't want to do that to Imam.
Imam called "Jack!" and I ran out to help him get Riddick inside. I looked around. No Fry. Riddick's leg was all torn up. Imam was wrapping it up. Riddick looked like he was in a lot of pain. He looked really shaken up.
I took one of the cleaner rags up and used it to wipe off his face as gently as I could. I couldn't think of a thing to say. I held Riddick's hand.
Riddick's hand closed around me and with a quick jerking motion he twirled me into the crook of his arm. He just held me there against his chest, burying his face between my shoulder blades. I patted his arm. I think Imam must have tapped him on the should after a while cuz he slowly let go of me and I got up.
We helped him to his feet. He walked over and sat down at the pilot's seat. the back hatch closed. Imam and I sat down.
He said, "So much prayer to make up -- I don't know where to begin." "I know where I'd start," I said. I hoped he would pray for the ship to start off and us to get off that rock immediately if not sooner.
The engines flared up. I watched Riddick. All of a sudden he started turning everything off. I assured myself that he must have known what he was doing, but... "Riddick, what are you doing?" I asked. It's the kind of question you ask when you know absolutely what the person is doing, but you need to know why.
I could hear them outside. I practically hissed, "Can we just get the hell out of here?"
"We can't leave" Riddick said over his shoulder. I gasped as the creatures started throwing themselves on the front of the skiff.
"Without saying goodnight," Riddick finished and he threw the engines on full.
I smiled again, but... all the real enjoyment or happiness I might have gotten from the sight of those things burning up was robbed from me by the memory of all those people who had died. Shazza... Zeke... Paris... the boys... even Johns... and Fry. Fry should have made it. It wasn't fair.
None of it was fair.
But I had a future to worry about now.
As we cleared the planet I strapped myself into the copilot seat. I slowly looked over at Riddick. I hoped I'd given him enough time to himself.
"Whoever we run into... Lot of questions," I said, "Could even be a merc ship. So, what the hell do we tell them about you?" Translation: what now?
Riddick looked thoughtful. "Tell them Riddick's dead," he turned to me. "He died somewhere on that planet."
It didn't matter if he was covering his ass or telling me that he had changed - those words made me a happy boy. Well, happy isn't quite the word. Contented, optimistic, happier than I had been.
Than Riddick reached over and took my hand. We sat there, holding hands and watching the universe sail by.