Section One: A year later
Mercs
Jack knew how he hated them. She knew how angry he'd be if he ever found out but this was the only way to find him, right? The real challenge was actually finding a group of Mercs who would take a kid along. As she traveled through the streets of a city she had never seen before, she contemplated this question over and over. She walked pass two men speaking in low voices but she heard every word they said.
"I heard Tryc's looking for some kids." One muttered.
"What use could they be on a job?" The other shook his head in disbelief.
"Well this job is one that needs kids."
"Is that so? What is it?"
"Not too sure, but Tryc is willing to train any kid who's willing to go along." The first one shifted his eyes. "They say he's staying at the pub." Upon hearing that, Jack ran to find the pub. Since it was evening, it wasn't too hard to find. She slipped in unnoticed searching around for this Tryc person. Her eyes fell on a large, bearded man with two large front teeth and a tangled heap of hair. She approached him cautiously and cleared her throat.
"Are you Tryc?" She inquired trying to lock eyes with the man.
"I'm Triit. I'm his brother." The man answered in a booming voice. "And his name is pronounced like 'trick' not 'trike'. So we're Tryc and Triit. Get it? Tryc or Triit?" Jack rolled her eyes.
"The name's Jack. I heard he was looking for some recruits." Jack tried to look as casual as possible.
"Ah...I see." Triit smiled showing off his buckteeth. "I'll take ya too him." He stood his full length of six feet and led her to a back room. A thin man with a hooked nose and a long scar running through his eye glowered at her.
"Who the hell are you?" He bellowed obviously drunk.
"J-jack." She stuttered. "I heard you were looking for kids...for a job."
"A job?" Tryc's face went blank for a moment before everything processed in his head he smiled. "Oh yeah! Job! That's right, Jack. Well then, you got any skills?"
"Uh...not really." Jack lowered her eyes to the ground. The way Tryc was looking at her made her feel nervous.
"I dunno about this one Tryc." Triit casted Jack a glance. "This one's scrawny."
"They're easier to train that way." Tryc laughed. "Alright listen up, kid! We'll take you with us to Thorium. You know where that is?"
"No." Jack felt oddly ignorant for the first time.
"It's a place where it's always thundering and lightning. Come back here tomorrow and we'll bring ya to the ship. Now get the fuck out of my sight." With that said, he took a swig out of a bottle and Triit led Jack out of the room. He gave her a pat on the shoulder, which made her stumble forward.
"Welcome to the crew, Jack." Triit smiled. Scary as he looked...those buck teeth took away everything that made him intimidating.
"Thanks." Jack smiled for the first time. She was closer to finding him.
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Jack ran to the pub the next morning and found Triit carrying a sleeping Tryc on his shoulder.
"He's still sleeping it off." Triit explained. "I'll take you to the ship." Jack followed the large man for a good hour. The came upon a ship no bigger than the one Riddick left with. As she stepped into it she took in the smell of sour milk and wrinkled her nose.
"Yeah it's a nice ship." Triit grinned. Jack had a strong feeling that he was a little on the slow side. He dropped Tryc to the floor and sat at the front of the ship. The ship rumbled as he pushed a few buttons. "You might want to buckle up." Jack sat down and barely attached her seatbelt before the ship was moving. She was a bit frightened to see how someone like Triit would pilot. To her surprise, he handled the ship well and got them off and running pretty quick.
"How long are we flying?" Jack asked gazing at the abundance of stars.
"Two weeks." was the reply.
"What are we supposed to do in two weeks?" Jack demanded.
"Tryc will train you for Thorium. You have to be able to protect yourself." Triit put the ship on autopilot and walked toward Tryc. "Alright, big brother. It's time to wake up." He took out a flask and poured it on Tryc's face so that he jerked up from his sleep.
"What!?!" Tryc's good eye flashed with rage. "What do ya want!?!" He growled.
"We're off now. We got the kid." Triit murmured. "Shouldn't we be prepping her or something?"
"You fucking retard!" Tryc glared at his brother before he caught the sight of Jack. "Alright kid." He heaved himself up and squinted at her. "We'll teach ya the basics. Triit always wants the kids to be prepared to fight off any threat."
"Oh..." Jack just stared at him as he took out a knife.
"This is yours. For the next two weeks you're gonna learn how to fight like real mercenaries do." Tryc tossed her the blade.
"Th-thanks..." Jack nearly dropped the knife, which resulted in two cuts on her hand.
"You'll have to work on that." Tryc laughed as Triit went back to his seat.
The two weeks flew by quickly as Jack learned knifing techniques. Although they were good, they were noting compared to Riddick's skills. All Jack could do was hope that she would someday be as skilled as her hero. As the ship headed toward the surface of Thorium, the ship shook violently as lightning struck it. Jack jerked forward only to be pushed back by her seatbelt.
"What the hell..." She muttered glancing about.
"Looks like we ran into a storm." Tryc cackled maniacally. Jack shifted in her seat feeling discomfort from Tryc's reaction. Triit grit his teeth and dodged a bolt of lightning.
"Hold on to your hats fellas!" He cried as the ship shot down weaving in different directions to avoid each bolt.
"Shit!" Jack cried as another one hit them. The sound of thunder roaring in her ears. "Riddick.." No one could hear her whisper his name as they hit the ground with a metallic screech. As it came to a halt, silence held the darkened ship until Jack remembered to exhale.
"We're here.." Triit coughed as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
"Nice job, Shit-for-brains!" Tryc shouted as he stood from his seat. "Let's get out of here."
They left the ship in rubber suits running as fast as they could. The lightning struck every ten seconds giving them a chance to rest every once in a while. Jack stumbled over a rock and rolled into a pit. The brothers followed her with solemn expressions as Triit hit her in the back of the head with a gun. The last thing she heard was Triit apologizing as she lost consciousness.
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The sound of thunder pounded in her ears as she awoke from her slumber. Although she was blindfolded, she could tell that she was being carried over Triit's shoulder. It was not only the stench that told her but the fact that she was hung over the shoulder and bouncing her head off of his chest was a definite indication. What surprised her was her allowing herself to groan out loud. Her head hurt like hell. She could feel Triit stop shortly thus causing her to slam her head against his ribcage.
"Shit, Triit! What the hell are you doing!" She cried irritably.
"Sorry, Jack." She could her the sincerity of his voice. Sometimes it was hard to hate him.
"Just be gentle, okay?" Her voice dropped down to a gentle whisper. She suspected Tryc to be around and she sure as hell wasn't going to show any weakness in his presence.
"Sure thing." Triit whispered back. "Uh...hey...why do you call yourself Jack?"
"What?" Could he possibly know she was a girl? Was she that bad at hiding it?
"Triit stop whispering, you shit head!" Tryc's voice broke through their conversation.
"Sorry..." Triit muttered.
"What the hell are you talking to anyway? That kid?" Tryc laughed. "Trying to make a friend with the cargo! By the end of this, Triit, he's going to hate you."
"Tryc...I don't really want to do this." Triit mumbled.
"You shut the fuck up! I'm the brain of this mission." Tryc shouted. Triit made no response. They just walked on in silence. Jack felt bad for him.
"Don't listen to him." Jack would have patted him on the shoulder but with her hands bonded together, it was clear that wasn't going to happen. "You're batter then this." Triit said nothing but she could feel him walking a bit taller than usual. A smile crept on her lips. She knew it wasn't very Riddick like but just this once it didn't matter, right? There wasn't much else to do so she let her tired body fall into a state of somnolence.
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Jack opened her eyes to the blinding light of the sun. She squinted at a mountain in front of her. What caught her attention was the figure on the top. Although it was hard to see clearly she knew it was him. The same bald head, that black outfit, those goggles. She started to climb the mountain under the heat of the sun. She could feel the stone beneath her fingers cut into her hand but she didn't care. Each time she slipped she continued on. She had to reach him. There was so much to say. It seemed like hours passed by when she finally reached the top and her heart dropped. No one was there. Nothing was there. Just a thirteen year old girl with a broken pride stood there. A pair of yellow goggles with a broken lens rest on top of her bald head.
"Face it, Jack. He left and he's never coming back." The girl said. Her large eyes staring as if peeking into her soul. Jack took a step back and in doing so, she lost her balance. As she fell from the mountain tears seemed to form in her eyes.
"RIDDICK!" She cried out before she hit the ground. That was when she awoke from her sleep.
"Are you okay?" Triit's whisper came through the darkness.
"What happened?" Jack panted.
"I think you had a bad dream. Tryc's sleeping right now so it's okay to talk." Jack could sense that this guy wanted to talk so she decided to humor him but what that girl said...that girl was her...yet her staring eyes scared her. She wondered if it was possible to be afraid of your own self. "I know you're not a boy but Tryc doesn't."
"How do you know?" Jack was curious. Maybe he knew like Riddick.
"You may look and act like one but I can read your thoughts." Triit lowered his voice as if a secret was being made. "I even saw your dream."
"Don't tell Tryc I'm a girl." That was all she could manage to say. It was hard to believe someone like him could read minds...he was kind of slow but…Oh no! What if he could? He knew that she thought him dumb.
"It's okay." Triit had read her fear. "I have to act dumb. I know it's odd to obey Tryc's orders but he's all I have left. I'm tired, Jack."
"How is this possible?" she inquired still a bit doubtful.
"I'm what people call a freak of nature. No one knows how. Little do they know...it's hereditary" Triit smiled. "Tryc wasn't blessed with this."
"Was it your mother or your father?" Jack wasn't afraid to show her interest. He'd know anyway so there was no use hiding.
"Like hell it was my father!" Triit chuckled. "You see, in order to master it, you have to have a calm nature about yourself. Tryc could never do that."
"Triit...what's going to happen to me?" Jack had remembered Tryc saying something about cargo.
"We're trading you to slavers..." Triit spoke almost inaudibly but Jack understood it. She half anticipated it. She just needed to hear it.
"Damn…"What else could she say?
"It's nothing personal. We...needed the money. I'm sick of this shit." Triit sighed.
"Then why bother doing it?" Jack's voice became thick with emotion. She didn't want to be a slave.
"I love my brother but I know he would not hesitate to kill me if I opposed him." There was a kind of sadness in his voice. "I can not bear the pain of my own flesh and blood killing me. The Physical pain would never match up to that of my heart. I cannot betray someone I care for."
"So why do you bother befriending me?" Jack was angry. Her body shook with her rage.
"Because I know you'll make it." Jack could not see Triit smile. She just sensed it in his voice. "And I know that if I see you again...I want it to be on good terms."
"Is that so?" Jack wanted to believe it. "Isn't it kind of like betrayal though? You befriending me only to ship me off to some slavers."
"It is indeed. Jack...I'm only a child." Triit breathed.
"You consider thirty a child?" Jack mused.
"I'm fifteen."
"You're shitting me."
"My race ages quickly in childhood and the aging process slows when we reach a certain age. I have stopped aging."
"That's a tad bit creepy." Jack tried to smile but nothing came.
"Look...I want to see you again. Promise me you'll survive." Jack could sense the child-like plea now. It all started to make sense.
"What makes you think I won't kill you when I see you?" Jack Inquired in a monotone voice.
"If you kill me. Then I'll accept it. I just want to see you again." Triit mumbled.
"Triit...why are you doing this?" Jack wanted to cry.
"You want to become stronger. These situations make it that way, right?" Triit tried to chuckle.
"Now you're making excuses." Jack sighed. "You're trying to cover you ass."
"F-forgive me..." Triit stammered.
"Triit, you're scary looking. It's heard for me to think you any younger than you look. Which means it's difficult to believe you. Bearded men with uncombed hair don't cut it for chicks." With that said, Jack rolled over and tried to get to sleep. She heard Triit move from his seat and walk off.
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"I still don't know why you insist on taking the blindfold off." Tryc growled as they wandered through the underground of the cavern. The rumble of thunder rolled above them.
"Well-uh...I figured that if she escaped...this would make it easier for her." Triit stuttered.
"You saying you want her to escape?" Tryc swiveled to face his taller brother.
"You get paid either way. What does it matter? Triit muttered.
"Hmph...what's the shaved look anyway?" Tryc turned to continue the walk. Triit had indeed removed his beard and his hair. Jack noted that he did look a great deal younger though nothing close to fifteen. She wanted to believe that he was younger...it made it easier when someone around your age was there to talk to but Riddick was the one she wanted to talk to the most.
"I don't want to look like an old man like you." Triit smirked.
"I'm twenty-eight!" Tryc roared. "A kid like you would be grateful to be as wise as I am at this age." Jack could see Triit struggle not to laugh. She was glad Tryc had his back turned to him.
"So how long is it until you trade this cargo over?" Jack inquired. Tryc snapped his head to glare at Triit with his good eye.
"You told her?" A vein twitched on his neck. Jack didn't want to give Triit away.
"I found out all by myself!" She cried out quickly. "You made it obvious when you said 'Trying to make friends with the cargo' Maybe you should consider how dumb you are before you point the finger!" Jack received a smack from Tryc.
"You better learn when to shut up." Tryc hissed. "I may consider selling you to a woman slaver. They hate punk ass boys like you. They'll make your life a living hell."
"Go ahead. No chick scares me!" Jack snarled catching Triit's knowing smirk out of the corner of her eyes.
"You just gave yourself the death sentence." Tryc laughed as he continued further down the cavern. "We'll reach the market in three hours. Look sharp, boy."