Notes: Be patient, be patient, I'm writing a bit more close together and
trying to put Alex into important parts, but I still need to keep a lot of
the original dialogue.I'm trying to be really true to the characters as
they were portrayed in the movie, but integrate Alex and how she would
react to each of them.
Chapter 9
Riddick turned around and saw her with the glasses. "Nightvision?" he asked. She nodded slowly, still watching the creatures come out of the chimneys.
"What? What is it? Is it more of them?!" Carolyn asked the two of them.
Alex turned and hurriedly went into the ship. "Yeah, more of them. And they're a hell of a lot bigger this time. I highly recommend we close this door" She was not going to let herself get torn apart by them. Though the fear still pounded away, she felt that together, they were safer. Inside this ship, at least for awhile. Safer than being outside.
Riddick and Carolyn followed her inside, where the others were waiting. Imam and Johns closed the hull door, shutting out the last fading light from the sun. In the darkness, Johns fumbled around in his pack, and produced a flashlight, which he switched on and gave to Carolyn. Paris brought out a small lighter, and Carolyn used the flashlight to find another one on the floor, which she gave to Johns, then the larger flashlight to Imam.
Jack was muttering to herself. "She should've stayed down. If she'd only have stayed down she'd be okay," she said. "She wouldn't have died." Alex went over and put a hand on Jack's shoulder, pity welling up in her chest for the girl. Jack looked up at her with hollow, scared eyes.
"You remember the boneyard?" Johns asked no one in particular. "These just might be the fuckers that killed every living thing on this planet." Alex agreed, except she was pretty sure that they were, not just might be, what killed everything else. With all of the flashlights being flashed around the night vision glasses picked up too much light to be effective, so she put them away for the moment. They'd be useful later.
"So what are we going to do now?" Jack asked.
Paris, glancing around at the pitiful lights that they held, voiced what everyone else was thinking. "Are these the only lights we have, i-i-is this everything,?!"
"No, there's a cutting torch on the floor here somewhere, I just can't find it" said Carolyn, fumbling around in the dark.
The sounds of the creatures suddenly intensified. "Quiet, please, everyone!" Imam called, putting his head to the hull of the ship to hear better. All of them silently listened to the noises, which almost sounded like the noises dolphins and whales made, the sonar that they used. But these creatures wanted nothing more than to find them and kill them.
"Why do they do that?" Jack whispered, "Make that sound?"
"Perhaps it's the way they see!" Imam guessed, "The sound that-"
He suddenly broke off as a grating metal noise sounded somewhere ahead of them. All of the flashlights swung over that way as they listened to something crawling around on the metal. The metal somewhere inside the ship.
"They're inside," Alex whispered, her hands shaking at her sides. She placed a hand on the sword and drew it slightly out of its sheath in readiness.
"C'mon, Johns," Riddick said casually, "you got the big gauge."
"I'd rather piss glass," Johns retorted, "Why don't you go fuckin check?" But Johns had his gun sight up to his eye, ready to fire.
Paris, who was visibly trembling with fear, burst out, "I'm not staying here another second," and proceeded to walk away from the group with one of the flashlights towards the hull door.
"Paris!" shouted Carolyn, walking towards him. Alex grabbed onto his arm and pushed him against the wall so he couldn't go any farther. Carolyn grabbed the front of his shirt and looked him in the eyes. "You don't know what's out there," she tried to reason with him.
"I know what's in here," he said.
Imam took the crossbow he had been carrying and used it to try and pry open the door opposite from where Paris was standing. He was successful and they all moved into another room quickly. Imam closed the door and secured it on the top, and as he was relaxing against it, a pointed appendage, assumedly one of the creatures, poked through the door not two inches away from going through his shoulder. He shouted in surprise then jumped away from the door. Johns fired a few rounds into the grate above the door, and Riddick, finding the cutting torch, lit it off of Paris' lighter. He started cutting a hole in the hull so they could move to the next compartment, to have a little more protection than the flimsy door. As they moved through, he handed Carolyn the cutting torch and went on ahead. The rest of them worked together to push a large piece of cargo in through the hole, blocking it.
Alex walked over to where Carolyn was trying to find a spot in the hull to burn. She was alone. Alex thought it would be now or never to tell her about Johns.
"Carolyn," she said softly, "think you should know.Johns, he's a merc." But Carolyn just nodded.
"I know," she said, "Riddick told me that."
"Me too," Alex said, nodding. "You know how mercs are, right?"
She nodded, glancing quickly at Johns. "But Johns also told me that Riddick knows how to pilot. That's how he escaped before, killed the pilot and stole the ship."
Alex drew in a breath quickly. Riddick could just as well do the same thing to the rest of them. Alex let out her breath, slowly, thinking. She needed to pick sides sometime. Riddick and Johns were equally capable of killing the rest of them in order to get what they wanted. She respected Carolyn, she was their natural leader even though she might try to deny it. The others.well they weren't defenseless, but no one deserved to die on this planet, by the creatures or by the hand of either man. Alex sighed, then continued. "Look, I don't.I don't know you but I don't know how things are going to go down. I wanted to say that.I'll do my best to back you. No one deserves to die here."
Carolyn took a moment to stare intensely at Alex, and Alex stared right back. "All right," Carolyn whispered.
Carolyn turned back to the wall, holding the cutting torch. Everyone else except Riddick seemed to be all around. "Riddick?" she called?
"Don't stop burning" he said in a measured voice. She gave the cutting torch to Johns to cut a hole in the wall, and took the flashlight to look for Riddick.
"Hassan, where is Hassan?" Imam yelled.
At that moment they all heard a few footsteps on the grate, and then the sound of flesh ripping. Then, came the thud of a very large object landing on the grate, and the loud noises of the creatures. So loud, that they must be in the compartment. They whirled around as they heard heavier footsteps coming towards him, and bringing the flashlights around highlighted Riddick without goggles, who yelled and threw himself to the side as a large animal which could only be one of the things from outside came into the lights, then launched itself up as Johns fired at it.
For a moment there was silence, then the body of the thing fell in front of them and they screamed. It was enormous, easily twice the size of a human, with flaps of skin that must serve as wings. It was a dull grey color, but as they swung the flashlights over it, its skin bubbled and steamed, as if it was being burned.
"It's like the light is scalding it!" Paris exclaimed.
"It hurts them, light actually hurts them," Carolyn agreed. A slight movement of the creature's forearm startled them, and then it stopped. But they didn't have enough time to gloat over the death of one creature, as multiple cries from others sounded close by. Hassan must have been torn apart. Like Shazza, Alex thought, unable to remove the graphic image of before from her mind. She felt her heart start to quicken again, from the fear.
As they finally found a small room which seemed secure from the creatures, they sat on the cargo boxes there and tried to take a breather, and then take stock of what they had to go on.
"So we got one cutting torch, we got two hand lights, gotta be something we can rip outta the crash ship," Carolyn began.
"Spirits," Paris added, "anything over 45 proof burns rather well." But he would have to check how many bottles he had. We have, Alex said to herself. Strangely enough, somehow there was a bond she had formed between the rest of the group. It must have to do with traumatic situations, she thought. But it was no longer an "I". It was a "we". It had snuck up on her, even though she didn't want to care about the others, she still did.
"Okay, Johns, you got some flares," she stared at him, waiting for a response. He nodded, and she went on, "So, maybe we got enough light."
"Enough for fuckin' what?" Johns muttered.
"We stick to the plan," Carolyn said forcefully. "We get the four cells back to the skiff. We're off this rock." Those four cells were heavy, though, Alex remembered. One, at least, was hardly something she could carry all the way from the ship to the settlement.
"Look, I hate to ruin a beautiful theory with ugly fact," Paris put in exactly what Alex was thinking, pacing, "but that sand cat is solar! Won't run at night"
"So we carry the cells!" Carolyn blurted out. "We drag them, whatever it takes."
Jack, who was sitting next to Alex but had curled up into a little ball, said with a shaking voice, "you mean tonight? With all those things still out there?" She sounded on the brink being overwhelmed with fear.
"Now how long can this last," Johns started, "A few hours, day tops?" Idiot! Alex seethed. Obviously hadn't ever taken an even elementary astronomy course.
She stood up and came into the light of the cutting torch. "Look, if it takes twenty two years for two planets to align with three suns to form an eclipse, it's not going to go away in a few hours, or even a few days," she said, possibly the longest speech she'd made. Johns' eyes burned at her. He really did not like her.
Imam spoke up, supporting her. "I got the impression from the model, two planets were moving as one, and it would be a lasting darkness."
Johns still insisted the sun would rise. He wanted them all to sit tight, here in their little hole. The ship, which Alex had first thought was safety, was obviously not enough to protect them from the creatures. "We let the sun come up," he ended.
"I'm sure somebody else said that, locked inside the coring room," Carolyn broke in, glaring at Johns. Alex felt a fierce surge of glee that he got his comeuppance. Johns then tried to use Jack as an excuse to stay in the ship, that "he" would be too scared out in the dark. What bullshit, Alex thought.
"Don't use him like that," Carolyn said angrily.
"Like what?"
"As a smoke screen. You deal with your own fear."
"Why don't you shut your fucking mouth for two seconds and let me come up with a plan that doesn't involve mass suicide!" Again, Johns was being so arrogant, trying to take leadership away from Carolyn. The creatures ominously whined outside the room, grating on the metal somewhere on the ship.
"I'm waiting," Carolyn said simply. He didn't answer. "How much you weigh, Johns?" Alex couldn't see where she was going with it. But the tension started building thickly. She reached around to her back, to grasp the hilt of the knife in the sheath there, then slowly slid it out. If Johns wanted to start something he'd have something to slow him down. She did say she'd get Carolyn's back, after all.
"About seventy-nine kilos, to be exa-"
Carolyn broke in. "Cause you're seventy-nine kilos of gutless white meat and that's why you can't think up a better plan," she said, scorn in her voice. Alex could have leaped for joy were it not for Johns leaping out of his seat, pulling out his gun, yelling "Is that fuckin' right?!" Alex stood up, bringing the knife out to the front of her. At the same time, Riddick, who had been standing next to Johns, unexpectedly moved in close to him, gazing intensely at him. Alex couldn't see where his knife was, but knew it had to be there. She didn't think Johns knew about it. Johns moved his gun to nestle underneath Riddick's chin, ready to fire.
"Now where you goin?" Johns asked him. Imam muttered about how this solved nothing.
Riddick, with a tense smile on his face, reached up his hand and pushed up his goggles, then looked at Johns with uncovered eyes that glinted in the light from the cutting torch. Alex heard a tapping sound, and when she quickly found its source, it was Riddick tapping his knife against Johns' groin area. Johns, realizing this, cautiously backed off and sat back down. Riddick kept staring at Johns, and then glanced over at Alex, catching her as she reached behind to sheath the knife she had been holding and sitting down in one smooth movement.
Alex, caught in the moment, suddenly realized that Riddick was unprovoked when he stepped in to prevent Johns from pulling on Carolyn. She smiled, her eyes darting back and forth between Carolyn, trying to comfort a shaking Jack, and Riddick, stepping back out of the light from the cutting torch. He was protecting Carolyn. What else had he told her when he spoke with her about Johns before? Perhaps he respected her the same way that Alex did, or was even admired Carolyn. Alex felt amusement and curiosity, that the convict would go for the strong personality of their captain. Riddick then noticed her smiling and she immediately stopped, not wanting to give him any advantage of seeing that emotion. He was definitely still dangerous, but strangely, Alex felt he was on their side. At least for the moment.
"And you are sure you can get us there," Imam asked Carolyn. That would be a long trek to the settlement, in the dark. The light wouldn't carry very far, whatever they were able to glean from the ship.
"No I can't," she admitted. "But he can," she said, indicating Riddick's large form. He turned, and looked at her in acknowledgement. "And her," Carolyn nodded at a very surprised Alex. Apparently Carolyn hadn't forgotten the nightvision function on her glasses. As the entire rest of the group turned to stare at her, she shrugged her shoulders, then brought out the glasses from her pocket.
"Night vision function," she said cautiously. She really didn't like having to give away one of her secrets, but now everyone knew and she had no other choice. "It's not perfect, though." It wasn't, really, especially if there was a lot of light in one area, then she'd get semi- blinded. She allowed her mind to drift for a second and wondered how Riddick's eyes worked. Looked like a cat's, or dog's, the way they shined. She was still afraid, but the adrenaline from the encounter minutes before kept her going, and they had been relatively safe in the small room. No longer.
"Okay then, let's go." Carolyn said, picking up the cutting torch.
They pushed aside the large cargo blocking the hole, and Carolyn went through, cautiously using the torch to shed light on the dim areas. Alex took a deep breath, preparing for what was to come. No nightvision, yet, if she was so close to the light of the torch. The fear rose within her, but, grasping the sword hilt, she envisioned the flame and put all emotions into it. She freed the sword from its sheath, and, in a fighter's stance, followed the light of the cutting torch.
Chapter 9
Riddick turned around and saw her with the glasses. "Nightvision?" he asked. She nodded slowly, still watching the creatures come out of the chimneys.
"What? What is it? Is it more of them?!" Carolyn asked the two of them.
Alex turned and hurriedly went into the ship. "Yeah, more of them. And they're a hell of a lot bigger this time. I highly recommend we close this door" She was not going to let herself get torn apart by them. Though the fear still pounded away, she felt that together, they were safer. Inside this ship, at least for awhile. Safer than being outside.
Riddick and Carolyn followed her inside, where the others were waiting. Imam and Johns closed the hull door, shutting out the last fading light from the sun. In the darkness, Johns fumbled around in his pack, and produced a flashlight, which he switched on and gave to Carolyn. Paris brought out a small lighter, and Carolyn used the flashlight to find another one on the floor, which she gave to Johns, then the larger flashlight to Imam.
Jack was muttering to herself. "She should've stayed down. If she'd only have stayed down she'd be okay," she said. "She wouldn't have died." Alex went over and put a hand on Jack's shoulder, pity welling up in her chest for the girl. Jack looked up at her with hollow, scared eyes.
"You remember the boneyard?" Johns asked no one in particular. "These just might be the fuckers that killed every living thing on this planet." Alex agreed, except she was pretty sure that they were, not just might be, what killed everything else. With all of the flashlights being flashed around the night vision glasses picked up too much light to be effective, so she put them away for the moment. They'd be useful later.
"So what are we going to do now?" Jack asked.
Paris, glancing around at the pitiful lights that they held, voiced what everyone else was thinking. "Are these the only lights we have, i-i-is this everything,?!"
"No, there's a cutting torch on the floor here somewhere, I just can't find it" said Carolyn, fumbling around in the dark.
The sounds of the creatures suddenly intensified. "Quiet, please, everyone!" Imam called, putting his head to the hull of the ship to hear better. All of them silently listened to the noises, which almost sounded like the noises dolphins and whales made, the sonar that they used. But these creatures wanted nothing more than to find them and kill them.
"Why do they do that?" Jack whispered, "Make that sound?"
"Perhaps it's the way they see!" Imam guessed, "The sound that-"
He suddenly broke off as a grating metal noise sounded somewhere ahead of them. All of the flashlights swung over that way as they listened to something crawling around on the metal. The metal somewhere inside the ship.
"They're inside," Alex whispered, her hands shaking at her sides. She placed a hand on the sword and drew it slightly out of its sheath in readiness.
"C'mon, Johns," Riddick said casually, "you got the big gauge."
"I'd rather piss glass," Johns retorted, "Why don't you go fuckin check?" But Johns had his gun sight up to his eye, ready to fire.
Paris, who was visibly trembling with fear, burst out, "I'm not staying here another second," and proceeded to walk away from the group with one of the flashlights towards the hull door.
"Paris!" shouted Carolyn, walking towards him. Alex grabbed onto his arm and pushed him against the wall so he couldn't go any farther. Carolyn grabbed the front of his shirt and looked him in the eyes. "You don't know what's out there," she tried to reason with him.
"I know what's in here," he said.
Imam took the crossbow he had been carrying and used it to try and pry open the door opposite from where Paris was standing. He was successful and they all moved into another room quickly. Imam closed the door and secured it on the top, and as he was relaxing against it, a pointed appendage, assumedly one of the creatures, poked through the door not two inches away from going through his shoulder. He shouted in surprise then jumped away from the door. Johns fired a few rounds into the grate above the door, and Riddick, finding the cutting torch, lit it off of Paris' lighter. He started cutting a hole in the hull so they could move to the next compartment, to have a little more protection than the flimsy door. As they moved through, he handed Carolyn the cutting torch and went on ahead. The rest of them worked together to push a large piece of cargo in through the hole, blocking it.
Alex walked over to where Carolyn was trying to find a spot in the hull to burn. She was alone. Alex thought it would be now or never to tell her about Johns.
"Carolyn," she said softly, "think you should know.Johns, he's a merc." But Carolyn just nodded.
"I know," she said, "Riddick told me that."
"Me too," Alex said, nodding. "You know how mercs are, right?"
She nodded, glancing quickly at Johns. "But Johns also told me that Riddick knows how to pilot. That's how he escaped before, killed the pilot and stole the ship."
Alex drew in a breath quickly. Riddick could just as well do the same thing to the rest of them. Alex let out her breath, slowly, thinking. She needed to pick sides sometime. Riddick and Johns were equally capable of killing the rest of them in order to get what they wanted. She respected Carolyn, she was their natural leader even though she might try to deny it. The others.well they weren't defenseless, but no one deserved to die on this planet, by the creatures or by the hand of either man. Alex sighed, then continued. "Look, I don't.I don't know you but I don't know how things are going to go down. I wanted to say that.I'll do my best to back you. No one deserves to die here."
Carolyn took a moment to stare intensely at Alex, and Alex stared right back. "All right," Carolyn whispered.
Carolyn turned back to the wall, holding the cutting torch. Everyone else except Riddick seemed to be all around. "Riddick?" she called?
"Don't stop burning" he said in a measured voice. She gave the cutting torch to Johns to cut a hole in the wall, and took the flashlight to look for Riddick.
"Hassan, where is Hassan?" Imam yelled.
At that moment they all heard a few footsteps on the grate, and then the sound of flesh ripping. Then, came the thud of a very large object landing on the grate, and the loud noises of the creatures. So loud, that they must be in the compartment. They whirled around as they heard heavier footsteps coming towards him, and bringing the flashlights around highlighted Riddick without goggles, who yelled and threw himself to the side as a large animal which could only be one of the things from outside came into the lights, then launched itself up as Johns fired at it.
For a moment there was silence, then the body of the thing fell in front of them and they screamed. It was enormous, easily twice the size of a human, with flaps of skin that must serve as wings. It was a dull grey color, but as they swung the flashlights over it, its skin bubbled and steamed, as if it was being burned.
"It's like the light is scalding it!" Paris exclaimed.
"It hurts them, light actually hurts them," Carolyn agreed. A slight movement of the creature's forearm startled them, and then it stopped. But they didn't have enough time to gloat over the death of one creature, as multiple cries from others sounded close by. Hassan must have been torn apart. Like Shazza, Alex thought, unable to remove the graphic image of before from her mind. She felt her heart start to quicken again, from the fear.
As they finally found a small room which seemed secure from the creatures, they sat on the cargo boxes there and tried to take a breather, and then take stock of what they had to go on.
"So we got one cutting torch, we got two hand lights, gotta be something we can rip outta the crash ship," Carolyn began.
"Spirits," Paris added, "anything over 45 proof burns rather well." But he would have to check how many bottles he had. We have, Alex said to herself. Strangely enough, somehow there was a bond she had formed between the rest of the group. It must have to do with traumatic situations, she thought. But it was no longer an "I". It was a "we". It had snuck up on her, even though she didn't want to care about the others, she still did.
"Okay, Johns, you got some flares," she stared at him, waiting for a response. He nodded, and she went on, "So, maybe we got enough light."
"Enough for fuckin' what?" Johns muttered.
"We stick to the plan," Carolyn said forcefully. "We get the four cells back to the skiff. We're off this rock." Those four cells were heavy, though, Alex remembered. One, at least, was hardly something she could carry all the way from the ship to the settlement.
"Look, I hate to ruin a beautiful theory with ugly fact," Paris put in exactly what Alex was thinking, pacing, "but that sand cat is solar! Won't run at night"
"So we carry the cells!" Carolyn blurted out. "We drag them, whatever it takes."
Jack, who was sitting next to Alex but had curled up into a little ball, said with a shaking voice, "you mean tonight? With all those things still out there?" She sounded on the brink being overwhelmed with fear.
"Now how long can this last," Johns started, "A few hours, day tops?" Idiot! Alex seethed. Obviously hadn't ever taken an even elementary astronomy course.
She stood up and came into the light of the cutting torch. "Look, if it takes twenty two years for two planets to align with three suns to form an eclipse, it's not going to go away in a few hours, or even a few days," she said, possibly the longest speech she'd made. Johns' eyes burned at her. He really did not like her.
Imam spoke up, supporting her. "I got the impression from the model, two planets were moving as one, and it would be a lasting darkness."
Johns still insisted the sun would rise. He wanted them all to sit tight, here in their little hole. The ship, which Alex had first thought was safety, was obviously not enough to protect them from the creatures. "We let the sun come up," he ended.
"I'm sure somebody else said that, locked inside the coring room," Carolyn broke in, glaring at Johns. Alex felt a fierce surge of glee that he got his comeuppance. Johns then tried to use Jack as an excuse to stay in the ship, that "he" would be too scared out in the dark. What bullshit, Alex thought.
"Don't use him like that," Carolyn said angrily.
"Like what?"
"As a smoke screen. You deal with your own fear."
"Why don't you shut your fucking mouth for two seconds and let me come up with a plan that doesn't involve mass suicide!" Again, Johns was being so arrogant, trying to take leadership away from Carolyn. The creatures ominously whined outside the room, grating on the metal somewhere on the ship.
"I'm waiting," Carolyn said simply. He didn't answer. "How much you weigh, Johns?" Alex couldn't see where she was going with it. But the tension started building thickly. She reached around to her back, to grasp the hilt of the knife in the sheath there, then slowly slid it out. If Johns wanted to start something he'd have something to slow him down. She did say she'd get Carolyn's back, after all.
"About seventy-nine kilos, to be exa-"
Carolyn broke in. "Cause you're seventy-nine kilos of gutless white meat and that's why you can't think up a better plan," she said, scorn in her voice. Alex could have leaped for joy were it not for Johns leaping out of his seat, pulling out his gun, yelling "Is that fuckin' right?!" Alex stood up, bringing the knife out to the front of her. At the same time, Riddick, who had been standing next to Johns, unexpectedly moved in close to him, gazing intensely at him. Alex couldn't see where his knife was, but knew it had to be there. She didn't think Johns knew about it. Johns moved his gun to nestle underneath Riddick's chin, ready to fire.
"Now where you goin?" Johns asked him. Imam muttered about how this solved nothing.
Riddick, with a tense smile on his face, reached up his hand and pushed up his goggles, then looked at Johns with uncovered eyes that glinted in the light from the cutting torch. Alex heard a tapping sound, and when she quickly found its source, it was Riddick tapping his knife against Johns' groin area. Johns, realizing this, cautiously backed off and sat back down. Riddick kept staring at Johns, and then glanced over at Alex, catching her as she reached behind to sheath the knife she had been holding and sitting down in one smooth movement.
Alex, caught in the moment, suddenly realized that Riddick was unprovoked when he stepped in to prevent Johns from pulling on Carolyn. She smiled, her eyes darting back and forth between Carolyn, trying to comfort a shaking Jack, and Riddick, stepping back out of the light from the cutting torch. He was protecting Carolyn. What else had he told her when he spoke with her about Johns before? Perhaps he respected her the same way that Alex did, or was even admired Carolyn. Alex felt amusement and curiosity, that the convict would go for the strong personality of their captain. Riddick then noticed her smiling and she immediately stopped, not wanting to give him any advantage of seeing that emotion. He was definitely still dangerous, but strangely, Alex felt he was on their side. At least for the moment.
"And you are sure you can get us there," Imam asked Carolyn. That would be a long trek to the settlement, in the dark. The light wouldn't carry very far, whatever they were able to glean from the ship.
"No I can't," she admitted. "But he can," she said, indicating Riddick's large form. He turned, and looked at her in acknowledgement. "And her," Carolyn nodded at a very surprised Alex. Apparently Carolyn hadn't forgotten the nightvision function on her glasses. As the entire rest of the group turned to stare at her, she shrugged her shoulders, then brought out the glasses from her pocket.
"Night vision function," she said cautiously. She really didn't like having to give away one of her secrets, but now everyone knew and she had no other choice. "It's not perfect, though." It wasn't, really, especially if there was a lot of light in one area, then she'd get semi- blinded. She allowed her mind to drift for a second and wondered how Riddick's eyes worked. Looked like a cat's, or dog's, the way they shined. She was still afraid, but the adrenaline from the encounter minutes before kept her going, and they had been relatively safe in the small room. No longer.
"Okay then, let's go." Carolyn said, picking up the cutting torch.
They pushed aside the large cargo blocking the hole, and Carolyn went through, cautiously using the torch to shed light on the dim areas. Alex took a deep breath, preparing for what was to come. No nightvision, yet, if she was so close to the light of the torch. The fear rose within her, but, grasping the sword hilt, she envisioned the flame and put all emotions into it. She freed the sword from its sheath, and, in a fighter's stance, followed the light of the cutting torch.