"And I thought you were starting to be nice" she mumbled into her cup.
Riddick threw his head back and laughed. His whole body rocked with the force of his amusement.
"Me?" he gestured with his hand to emphasise his point "Nice?" He slammed his hands down on the table and leaned his head into her until their foreheads were almost touching. " Kitten, I kill people for shits n' giggles, I stalk them, rip out their fucking guts and watch them flail about and I get a kick out of it." He inhaled deeply drinking in her scent. "And you thought I was starting to be nice? I am darkness personified kitten. I am the monster that makes you wake screaming in the night. I am the shadows and I am the salvation of many a twisted soul. But nice? You're way off the mark."
He paused and licked his lips as he watched Karla gulp nervously.
"You are not a god no matter how you see yourself" she whispered nervously.
"And you are only alive because you amuse me."
She looked into his eyes "Why do I think you're all talk" she tried to sound stern, pissed off even.
"Don't push me, kitten" were his last words of warning before leaving the galley.
Karla waited for the door to slam behind him before she dared let out the breath she had been holding.
"What's your fucking problem?" she muttered before sipping at her soup.
Alarms sounded and orange light flashed in the galley.
"What the fuck is it now?" she left the galley and ran to the command deck.
Riddick was already there with Imam.
"Asteroid field Imam, why the hell did you set the ship on an intercept course with a fucking asteroid field?" Riddick boomed.
Imam's hands moved over the stellar cartography screen frantically plotting, re-plotting, and plotting again. He shrugged his shoulders. "Mr Riddick, I do not understand. The course I plotted was to take us to Gamma nine, according to these maps there are no asteroid fields." He checked the ships course "The ship has not altered course Mr Riddick".
"What the fuck are you telling my holy man? That this just appeared out of no where?" Riddick demanded. The ship lurched to the left deflecting an asteroid.
The control panel by Karla began to flash.
"Oh shit" she mouthed.
Sitting herself down she moved her hands over the controls.
"What the fuck are you doing? Get the fuck up" Riddick yelled.
"But…" her hands didn't stop, her eyes scanned the readout. "Hull breach on deck three, we're venting all sorts of shit. Fuck!" she gasped as another alarm to her left went off. "Deck two docking bay doors are busted." She pressed several buttons and the second alarm stopped sounding "Bay doors sealed temporary force field in place". She turned her attention to the first alarm. "What was on deck three?" she asked. "Come on deck three what is it?"
"Supplies, weapons locker it's the ships storage" Imam answered. "Why?"
"I need to get down there and seal the breach. Do we have any welding tools?" Imam thought for a moment.
"Fuck it there's no time" she spat grabbing a laser rifle from the back of the chair.
She ran to the door. A huge hand grabbed her arm and swung her round.
"Riddick I have no time for this shit" the ship lurched to the left again, and then bounced back hard right. Karla lost her balance and fell into the door; Riddick's hold on her tightened.
"What!" she yelled.
"Watch you ass out there kitten" he said.
"You don't do nice Riddick, remember?"
With that she headed towards deck three.
The gash in the ship was bigger than she had originally thought. The ships stabilizers were compensating but the belt clip was forever in the back of her mind. The engines had to work harder and she knew the rigged injection system wouldn't hold out much longer.
She looked at the gash in the ships hull feeling the pressure as the atmosphere of the ship was being vacuumed out into space. The gash was long and thin, the pressure was enough to pull at her but not pull her out. That's how she wanted it to stay.
Taking careful aim with the laser rifle she set the power to maximum and fired.
The bright blue stream hit the hull and as she held it steady she could see the orange glow as the metal began to get hotter melting the top of the gash into the bottom of the gash. She had to be careful however, if she hovered over the same spot for too long instead of sealing the rift she would make it bigger. The laser rifle had enough power in it to cut through the ships hull.
The heat was intolerable, sweat poured down her face and into her eyes. She blinked it away.
The ship lurched to the left.
"Fuck!" she yelled "Keep the fuck still you bitch!" she yelled at the ship. "You're not spilling your guts, not while I'm here."
Just then another shudder rocked the ship. Karla was thrown backwards into a bulkhead. She dropped the laser rifle. An asteroid had bounced off the hull close to where she was sealing it. The rift had reopened, not only that, but it was wider than before. She was being sucked towards the rift.
Jamming the soles of her boots onto the floor trying to get a purchase on the slick surface she grimaced. Her leg still ached like a bitch. She splayed out her hands to slow down her advance.
She rolled over onto her stomach and reached for anything she could find to grab onto. The door was just out of reach, she stretched but couldn't reach.
Her feet touched the outer hull. She was frantic, writhing on the floor using her hands to slow herself but she could feel her strength waning. The pull was too great. Her feet were outside the ship then suddenly another lurch and her legs were pulled through the hole. A jagged piece of metal caught her arm as she held onto the hull. The full force of the venting pressure in her face she could hardly breathe.
She was going, one more lurch and she was history, she knew it.
Lowering her head she gritted her teeth and silently offered a prayer to whatever forces were at work to make it quick. The thought of suffocating terrified her, as did the thought of floating through space for eternity.
The grip with her wounded arm failed and she was ready the fight had gone and she was spent.
She felt a strong hand grab her wounded arm and pull her back into the ship. She looked up to see a pair of goggles eyes dragging her through the doors to safety.
Riddick pushed the door closed and fell to the floor breathing heavily. He let Karla fall to the floor and she rolled onto her back coughing so hard she thought she would retch.
Riddick propped himself up against a bulkhead and dropped his head between his knees panting.
"I thought I told you to be careful" he said through breaths.
"Nag, nag, nag" Karla replied between coughs.
There was a moment's silence.
"Are those doors sealed?" she asked.
Riddick nodded "When that room reaches zero gravity the venting will stop" he explained.
"Felt like it was already there to me" she replied. She sat up and pushed herself against the bulkhead opposite Riddick. "Thanks" she said looking at him.
"You seem to make a habit of saving my life" she offered a small smile.
"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead" was all he said.
Karla was aware that she was bleeding. "Shit" she whispered "that's gonna scar"
Out of the corner of her eyes she could have sworn she saw Riddick smile at her comment.
She stood up slowly gauging how dizzy she was and was pleasantly surprised. She wasn't seeing double yet. She held out her hand to Riddick. He took it and she yanked him off the floor.
"I'm sorry I couldn't seal the breach" she said.
"Not your fault".
Karla excused herself to her room to tie up the wound on her arm.
She lay on her bunk drifting in and out of sleep. She was worn out, edgy, fucked off and in pain: a nasty combination. She scoffed at hr attitude and thanked the gods she wasn't on her period, that would just set the fucker off now wouldn't it.