- CHAPTER 2 -
Gina cursed vilely as she headed for the cantina, her eyes once again filled with angry tears. Goddamn motherfucker! Oh yeah. Johns, the son-a-bitch, was good alright. He was very good! Trying to calm her nerves Gina entered the pub, nodding to Fry and her crewies before seating herself at an empty table.
That idiot! How the fuck did he get caught?! Once again Gina mentally cursed to herself. She should have learned her lesson a long time ago! Never pity anyone, it just gets you into trouble. If Johns had been a bit smarter she would have been dog food by now! Well, Gina thought to herself, that was Riddick's problem now. This was the last time she risked her ass for him. Let him rot in Slam City. What went on between them was over!
Gina snorted and called for a drink. Still fuming she hadn't noticed the bushwhacker, Shazza, until the woman sat down at her booth. Jerking in surprise, Gina looked up and glared at the older woman, not in the mood for chatting with anyone at the moment. Shazza was a bit older then her, around her early thirties, with long black hair and a clear green eyes. "You mind? I'm trying to have a drink here." Gina growled darkly.
Shazza smiled. "Then you wouldn't mind if me and Zeke joined you." Shazza said, nodding to the large, dark, muscular man who was headed for their table with several drinks in his hand.
Gina groaned and studied her drink, her head throbbing. Great. Some mercs (who probably worked for the fucking Company, no doubt) wanted to have one happy chat with her, like they where old buddies or something. Gina closed her eyes. Might as well. It would take her mind off Riddick, the damn motherfucker.
Zeke nodded in greeting, sitting down next to Shazza and handing both of them a cup of some dubious blue liquid. Gina immediately recognized the Torellian brandy and clasped the glass tightly. Torellian brandy! It was her favorite.
Zeke smiled, seeing her response. "Thought you'd like Torellian. Best stuff they have in dis shitter." Zeke said, offering his hand. Gina took it in one hand, using the other to raise the glass to her lips. "Name's Zeke." The Aussie said, introducing himself. "And dis is my partner, Shazza."
"Gina Nieves." Gina said, her throat burning from the harsh alcohol.
"We know who you are." Shazza said with a friendly smile.
Gina raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Yeah, we's heard about yous a couple of times." Zeke said, sipping his drink. "We've even used some of your weapons time afta time. Amazin design."
Gina shrugged nonchalantly. "Well I like to keep myself busy."
Shazza smiled again. "Your ex-military right?"
Gina scowled. "Yeah, used to be a marine before they booted my ass."
"What da hell for?" Zeke asked, draining his glass and grimacing.
Gina sighed and took another sip. "I killed my superior officer." Gina coughed, clearing her throat. "After he raped me."
Shazza nodded, smiling in cold acknowledgement. "Serves the bugger right. How'd ya do it?"
Gina shrugged and smiled, remembering Captain's Costello face just before he died. "I cut off his balls and then slit his throat." Gina answered calmly, seeing Zeke wince. "With a butter knife."
Zeke made a pained face. "Christ." he muttered and finished off his drink.
Shazza, seeing Zeke's face, laughed. "What happened afterward? I take it the officials didn't see this as a sign of self-defense."
Gina scowled. "Humph. I wish. Got two years in Slam City. " Gina said darkly, remembering the dark cell she had lived in for three years. Remembering the animal cutthroats she now called her friends. "After they released me I used what I learned about weapons to start designing my own hardware and opened an arms trade business. It's good money. Been doing it for two years now."
Shazza nodded, still chuckling and took a long swallow from her brandy. "I hear that lawman gave you some trouble earlier. About your gun shipment?"
Gina frowned in disgust, remembering her last conversation with Johns. That was a close thing! "Yeah, he was worried that if the felon he's transporting got loose, he would take some of my guns and hold us all hostage or something like that." Gina said, leaning back against her seat. "Little does he know that not only does the crate have a lockout out code that responds only to my voice but the guns have a fingerprint control. Unless I give the right code, only I can use those guns." Gina said, feeling a bit tipsy already. Damn Torellian brandy. "Call it an insurance policy."
Both Zeke and Shazza nodded respectfully and the three had a moment of silence, sipping their drinks. "Who's the bugger anyway?" Shazza asked, "The felon?"
Gina shrugged but kept her eyes on her glass, "Name's Riddick or something like that. Johns said that he was guilty of multiple murders. A real nutcase." Gina said as nonchalantly as possible, knowing it was bullshit. Riddick wasn't guilty of shit!
Shazza blinked and studied the woman in front of her, noticing the drop of eyes. She was about to ask something when one of the pilots went up to the table, middle-aged man by the name of Owens or something like that. "Hey, we are about to load up. Better get onboard." he said, then walked away to tell the rest of the passengers.
Gina closed her eyes. So this was it. They were about to load up, get into those damn cryo-tubes and go to New Mecca. This would be last time she saw Riddick. Not sure whether to feel relieved or spiteful Gina muttered a curse and got to her feet. "Thanks for the drink." she said, nodding to the two bushwhackers.
The two smiled and said their goodbyes, Shazza's eyes studying Gina curiously. Gina walked out of the pub, tossing the bartender a chit, wishing the growing feeling of guilty despair and the image of Riddick in that glass tube, chained and straining against his binds, would go away.
Shazza watched Gina as she rubbed her sleekly muscled body with neutralizing solution (to keep the muscles from going numb during the long trip through space), her large light brown eyes never leaving the convict, Riddick. She knew more about the felon then she was letting on, Shazza concluded. She noticed this when Gina had lowered her eyes when she spoke his name. Shazza shook her head, not that it surprised her.
Being in the arms business you meet a lot of whackos. The fact that Gina had a fling with a psychopathic murder was no surprise. After all Shazza herself had fallen for Zeke and he was a merc turned bushwhacker. Shazza smiled warmly at Zeke, him winking in response. One after another the passengers laid down into the cryo-tubes, waiting for the darkness to take them.
Gina absolutely hated interstellar travel, mainly because of she had to crawl into one of those damn lockers and surrender to the sleep, the dreaded sleep of space travel. Every time she crawled into those lockers she had to feel herself slowly die. Her heart slowed down, her blood became sluggish, and her mind stopped. It just closed down, like a computer that was shut off. That was what she hated most, the empty darkness of it. But this time Gina was actually looking forward to cryo-sleep. In that deep, death-like sleep she did not think. That meant she could not think about Riddick. And for that Gina was thankful.
Suddenly a fiery flash of pain speared Gina's mind, making her instinctively jolt forward, eyes suddenly wide, wild and terrified. It was like being born again. Suddenly she could feel, see, hear, smell! Gina realized that she still was in her cryo-tube, the glass cover filled with fine cracks. Gina groaned, feeling the deep cut above her eyebrow, blood slowly trickling down her cheek. She must have hit her forehead on the glass. But why?
Alarms screamed shrilly at her, begging her to waken. Gina groaned again. What the fuck was going on?! Numb still from cryo-sleep, Gina fumbled for the auto-release, immediately regretting she had touched it once she got a glimpse of outside.
It was absolute HELL outside.
Something hard rocked the ship, nearly causing Gina to fall out of the tube. Outside Gina heard the steady roar of wind hitting the metal hull and the whine of the alarms. Slowly Gina sat up, blinking her eyes as her mind raced in animal terror. Something has happened and the ship was crashing into God knows what planet! SHE HAD TO GET OUT!!!
Suddenly Johns was in front of her, gazing at something as blood seeped out of his ears. Gina crawled out of her tube, noticing the cuts on her arms and legs from the broken glass. She was about to ask what was going on when all hell broke loose.
No more then six feet away from where she was standing the strong steel hull was ripped open, sending a gale of wind and sand into the passenger cabin. Gina shrieked as John leapt away, grabbing a handrail. An explosion of wind sent Gina flying against the wall and desperate to save her life Gina grabbed a steel rail, her eyes on the horror behind her.
The damn ship was being buried under the planets surface! A black wall of dirt tore at the hull, pouring into the passenger cabin behind her, crushing forty cryo-tubes, passengers still inside, with it. Gina held onto the rail for dear life, closing her eyes and desperately wishing she would wake up from this nightmare...
