A/N: Okay ladies and gents, I promise I'll start proof reading again so you don't have see all my idiotic mistakes again. I squirm when I read my own work. I'm always thinking, "Ugh! God why did I put that in there!?" or "Eee! I'm such a moron!!" Hope beating myself over it is helping.
Thanks to all my reviewers! I love you guys!
-.-.-.-.- (Can you tell that the bars aren't working for some stupid reason)
The blowtorch cut through Cassidy's restraints, freeing her. She turned to Riddick who she had the feeling was watching her despite the blindfold. She knelt down in front of him and set to work getting him out of his many restraints.
It took about five minutes to free Riddick who stood up slowly. He had to be at least six feet tall, and towered over Cassidy. His large hands reached up and pulled the blindfold off.
Cassidy was captivated by his eyes. They were very dark and flashed silver in the light. In a word, they were amazing.
She tore her yellow eyes awayand grabbed her shades, putting them on. When she turned back to Riddick she saw him pulling on a pair of black welding goggles before he took his bit out.
Everything was quiet in the desert when Cassidy looked about. The other survivors were out of sight. Riddick walked past her and headed in a direction. Cassidy watched as he left his bit before turning and walking in the opposite direction.
For a moment she washesitant about what she should do. She could follow him but would he let her? Cassidy bit her lip as she thought and finally gave a sigh. Following him would be better than staying.
She walked behind Riddick, both of them silently trudging along through the desert. The sun was beating down on them and when Cassidy looked up she notice that there wasn't just one sun. There were three. She shook her head and continued to follow the escaped con.
It was about noon for the middle sun when Riddick and Cassidy came across a valley. They looked down into it to see that there wereenormous skeletons of giant elephant-like beasts. The bones stretched as farCassidy could see and she felt a slight chill at the thought of how so many large beasts could drop like that.
Riddick walked down the slope and began to wander around the graveyard. Cassidy stayed close but not too close. She plopped tiredly into the shade under one of the many bone structures.
"We'll need water," she said as Riddick walked by, looking at something. "Unless you were planning on dehydrating out here."
He sat down next to her in the shade but didn't look at her. "What's your name," he demanded in a deep rumbling voice.
Cassidy turned to him with a wry smile. "Which one? I have several." Riddick raised an eyebrow but still didn't turn to look at Cassidy. She sighed and said, "My birth name is Cassidy O'Leary. My nickname is Cassie. Back on Trebulon I was called Foxy or any various names used by hecklers." She paused with a moment of thought before she continued. "Of course my favorite would have to be Experiment 672."
At this Riddick turned to her. He remembered seeing her yellow eyes in the dim ship. There was only one answer for that. "Genetic testing?"
Cassidy gave a nod and took off her trench coat. A long reddish-brown tail with a white tip gave a few twitches. The fur was thick and fluffy and if anyone were to touch it they'd find it to be as soft as silk.
She reached up and pulled off her sunglasses, looking at Riddick. Her eyes were a little wider than most peoples' and were yellow with huge black pupils. They strongly resembled an owl's eyes.
"I take it the scientists are the ones paying 1.5 mill for you," he said turning back to look out at a nearby skeleton.
"Considering I've only ever killed three people," said Cassidy as she slipped her shades back on. "I doubt anyone else would be offering that much."
"Who did you kill?"
She paused for a moment as she thought back to three months ago. "Two guards and a scientist. It would have been one if the guards hadn't been there." Cassidy shook her head. "Dr. Nash," she murmured before letting out a small sadistic laugh. "What an asshole he was."
Riddick's eyes still wouldn't look at Cassidy. "How did you end up with him?" His deep voice filled the air.
Her eyes darkened as she thought back to her childhood. "My raging alcoholic of a father sold me to Genetitech for beer money." Cassidy's voice was calm and offhanded but there was an under lying hatred to it.
A long silence fell between Riddick and Cassidy as they satin the shade. The longer they sat the more Cassidy thought. I wish he'd talk again, this kinda blows. He has a very sexy voice… No! Don't go there… He has a nice body too… Gah! Stop!!
Something could be heard in the distance and it pulled Cassidy out of her thoughts. "Did you hear that," she asked Riddick as she scrambled to her feet. "Someone's just outside of the valley."
"How do you know," demanded Riddick as he stood up and began to scan the landscape.
Cassidy turned to him. "Foxes have excellent hearing," she said while wiggling her tail a bit.
Riddick's eyes looked her over from behind his black goggles. He took in the sight of Cassidy's long reddish-brown hair. It was tugged at gently by the wind. She was very short, maybe 5'5" give or take a few. Despite her height she was lean, strong looking. Cassidy seemed like the kind of girl who could hold her own. Finally Riddick came to the conclusion that she was semi-attractive, absolutely gorgeous compared to the women he had met in the past few years.
"I think they've sent a search party," Cassidy said, pulling Riddick out of his thoughts. "They're over there," she pointed. "And coming closer."
Riddick began to move away in the direction Cassidy had indicated. "Stay here," he grumbled over his shoulder.
She watched the muscular man as he walked away. He was extremely tall with a shaved head and broad chest. Cassidy tilted her head to one side as she watched him. The way Riddick moved had something to it. He was graceful, almost predatory. He's like an animal, she thought with a smile.
It didn't take long for Riddick to return. He seemed slightly agitated as he approached her and Cassidy quickly got up from where she had been lounging in the shade.
"Well," she asked expectantly as he walked by, looking at the skeletal structures.
He stopped and looked at Cassidy. "Stay out of sight," was all he said before walking away. Riddick's voice had been forceful and dangerous when he spoke and Cassidy didn't have to be told twice.
The young woman climbed up the backbone of one of the skeletons. She carefully walked across the top, her tail sticking out to help her balance. Finally, with a sigh, Cassidy reached on of the tree shaped bones sticking out of the spinal cord. She knew if anyone looked up from the groundthey would be blinded by the sun and she'd blend in with the bones.
Six people wandered into the valley and with her sharp owl eyes she could see that it was Johns, Carolyn, and Imam with his three boys. Cassidy watched as they all made their waywarily through the graveyard. Johns was being the most cautious. He was checking every possible hiding spot that he came by, gun at the ready. Cassidy almost laughed at how idiotic he looked doing it.
She happened to notice Carolyn stop to rest next tothe rib cage of one of the many skeletons. Cassidy saw Johns approaching while something moved in the shadows.
Johns and Carolyn talked for a bit, Cassidy looking on with amusement. Riddick was moving around in the shadows behind Carolyn, in plain sight of Johns. How can they not notice him? Is he really that stealthy?
Riddick made a quick movement before he disappeared completely in the shadows. Johns put his hat on Carolyn and the two of them walked off together, neither one of them ever suspecting that an escaped convict had listened to every word of the conversation.
Cassidy laughed as she rejoined Riddick fifteen minutes later. The man's face was emotionless but she could tell that he was wondering what she found funny. "How could they not realize you were there the entire time," she asked after her laughing fit subsided
He only shrugged in response but Cassidy's smile never faded. "I was hiding up near one of those tree-like bones. Saw the whole thing." She paused for a moment then asked, "What were they talking about?"
The eyes hidden behind his black goggles stared into her sunglasses. "Nothing important," his deep voice said gruffly.
Cassidy nodded, respecting Riddick's decision not to say anything. She turned her head in the direction that the six people had gone. "So, what's the game plan?"
This was a first for Riddick. He didn't usually take people with him so he was never asked what was to come next. However, Cassidy was different, she was every bit as animalistic as he was. There was something else too. Cassidy didn't give off the scent of fear when she wasaround him. Unlike many of the people that Riddick had encountered, Cassidy was one of the few who wasn't afraid of him.
"We go back to the ship," he stated simply before walking away. With a shrug Cassidy followed him.
-.-.-.-
This one was a litte short for my taste but oh well. Hope you enjoy it!