Chapter Three

As they all walked, Amelia once again being carried, she cocked her head to the side and listened again. She heard the others talking but didn't pay attention, just started as they came to a stop and Riddick put her down.

"Looks clear," Riddick said from where he stood next to the crash ship. Johns began to move forward but Amelia suddenly ducked seconds before a creature flew out. He glared at Riddick and said, "You said clear!"

"I said it looks clear," Riddick replied. "You didn't ask if I heard anything."

"Well," Johns said in frustration. "What's it look like now?"

Amelia smiled as Riddick repeated, bored, "Looks clear."

"Sounds it too," she offered and knew she was getting glared at.

Amelia felt Jack putting neon tubing around her waist and arms. She ran a hand over her sister's scalp and muttered, "Mom would kill me if she knew you'd done this."

"She's rolling in her grave," came the reply and Amelia smiled as she kissed her sister' s brow. She felt Riddick come behind them and turned to him as he said lowly, "I'm running ten paces ahead of you."

"I know," she said as Jack went to arm herself. "I'll be keeping my ears alert."

"If we don't," Riddick began but was silenced as the young woman touched his chest with a small hand. She looked up at him and said quietly, "We will. I trust you Riddick."

"Why?" came the whisper.

Another brilliant smile.

"Because," she said. "You smell trustworthy."

As she sat on the sled, she can hear the creatures flying around them. Fear filled her but she merely tuned into the sound of Jack's steady heartbeat. Suddenly, she heard chaos and felt the tubing go out. She stilled her body, hearing the screaming and cried, "Jack? Jack, where are you?"

She can hear Fry screaming her sister's name and panic fills her. Once again, she remembered...

Thick.

Wet.

Spice.

Suddenly, her sister is in her arms and she said in Celtic, voice thick with her accent, "Do not do anything like that again. Do you understand me Jacqueline?"

"Yeah," comes the shaky response and she holds her tightly. Suddenly, she realized that her sister's scent was off. "Jack?" she hissed as she pulled away. "Are you bleeding?"

The others stopped at the discussion and Fry swore as she came over to them, saying, "Are you bleeding?"

"He's not cut," Johns snapped but the glare fed to him by Amelia and Fry made him realize. "Oh, fuck," he muttered. "You gotta be kidding me."

Jack was sobbing into her sister's shoulder and Amelia sighed. "I'm sorry," she told them. "I really am. I'm normally aware of her cycle. It slipped in this panic..."

"I just thought..." Jack blubbered but Amelia shushed her as Johns scowled. Riddick didn't say a word but then again, he'd already known of Jack's true sex. Amelia knew it but hadn't bothered to confront him about it.

Fry sighed and knelt down beside the two sisters. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said gently. "Sweetheart are you really bleeding?"

"You could've left me," Jack sobbed as she clung to her sister. "At the ship Fry. That's how come I didn't say something sooner."

"Why didn't your sister say a goddamn thing?" Johns demanded as he glared at the women. "Fuck, what, you got no control over her?"

"I don't need too," Amelia said tightly. "Control my sister Johns. It's better if people assume it is a brother and sister traveling alone, rather than two defenseless women!"

"Fucking bull shit..." Johns began but Riddick cut him off.

"They've been nose-open for her ever since we left," he said lowly. "In case you haven't noticed, they go off blood."

Amelia tightened her grip on her sister and murmured to her soothingly as Fry sighed deeply. Argument arose once more and she closed her eyes, even as Johns said, "Listen to her? When she was so willing to sacrifice us all?"

"What's he talking about?" Jack asked and Amelia frowned as she replayed her awakening in the cryotube. She straightened, Jack holding her tightly, and said, "Caroline?" as dread filled her. The other woman didn't answer her, the guilt clouding her aura making Amelia fill with sadness. "So," she murmured softly. "We are disposable, are we?"

"We are fucking disposable," Johns confirmed and Jack repeated, "What is he talking about?"

"We're just walking ghosts, to you," Johns taunted. "Aren't we?"

Fry let out a scream of rage as she lunged for him and Amelia closed her eyes tightly as he spat at her, saying mockingly, "Ah, Caroyln. How much do you weight now?"

Amelia opened her eyes at the sound of a flare and Jack led her forward as they resumed the journey. She listened to Riddick and Johns ahead of them, shook her head, and murmured in Celtic, "May God grant us all life..."

"Amelia?" Jack asked but she shook her head again.

"So, do one of the girls," Johns said to Riddick as they stopped. "Do both, do the blind woman, I don't give a fuck. But seven of us aren't going to make it, so why not cut our baggage?" He grinned at Riddick, icy blue eyes filled with mocking. "It's not too big a job for you, is it?"

Riddick stared at the man, face unreadable. He thought of Jack, of Amelia. Of how Amelia trusted him, despite his history.

He chose.

"I'm just wondering," he said. "If we don't need a bigger piece of bait."

Johns frowned as Riddick stared at him grimly. Suddenly, the flare was knocked from his hand and they were struggling as the gun fired.

Amelia started at the gunshot and Fry shouted, "Leave the sled! Let's move! Let's go, let's go!"

She ran, Jack keeping her hand tightly around her wrist. She can feel Riddick behind them, Johns and him struggling, and knows that Johns is dead. She slows down and says, "Wait! Wait! Where are we going?"

"Away from him," Fry snapped and Amelia shook her head, saying, "He is the only one who can-"

"I don't give a fuck!" Fry screamed and suddenly, Riddick said from somewhere, "Back to the ship, huh? Just huddle together until the lights burn out?"

"Get away from us," Fry retorted and Amelia said, "And then, what, Caroline? After the lights die, we won't see what's there. I can't regardless. I won't die here."

"Where's Johns?" Imam asked and Riddick said, "Which half?"

"Dead. I heard his death," Amelia said grimly as she rubbed at her eyes. "Heard his screams. The whispers are louder. Riddick is the only one who can help us."

"He's the one who will kill us if they don't," Fry hissed but Amelia heard her doubt. She shook her head and frowned at the sound of Jack's voice, "We should've stayed at the ship."

"He died fast," Riddick said. "And if we got any choice about it, that's the way we should all go out." Amelia felt him come closer to her sister. "Don't you cry for Johns," he said lowly. "Don't you dare."

She looked up as Riddick said, "Only see one way; that way. It's the only way off this rock. Just keep the girls between you. Don't let them go."

"What about the cells?" Imam asked and Amelia got to her feet, rubbing her hands up and down her arms as Riddick said, "I'll take those. Move."

Amelia felt Jack take her hand.

"Are you sure," Fry asked. "You can keep up?"

"Move!" he roared in reply and they ran. Amelia felt the canyon surround them, heard the whispers grow louder. Her mind exploded into three simple thoughts...

Thick.

Wet.

Spice.

She clutched Jack tighter as they ran, felt the ground beneath her feet, felt her body reacting automatically. Howling wind in her ears as she felt Riddick behind them, his heavy footsteps behind them, his voice shouting, "Keep moving! Keep moving!"

Suddenly, she is crushed beneath her sister and lets out a scream of terror and anger as the creature is above them, she can hear it whispering, hear it hiss...

Thick.

Wet.

Spice.

"Get off them!" Fry screamed from somewhere. "Get off them!"

She felt Riddick appear, felt herself being picked up, and blinked a few times as she felt rain begin to fall. "Oh, God," she murmured as Riddick asked, "So where the hell's your God now?"

"You all right," Riddick asked her and she looked up towards his face. "I'll live," she said with a tired sigh. "I'll live. Thank you."

He didn't reply and set her down. Amelia clutched the wall and let herself be led, her mind whirling with too many thoughts, emotions...

She heard nothing after that.

End Part Three