(A/N: I like sentence fragments. I like punctuation. Sorry if they bother you. No one's complained but I know those kinds of things tend to get on people's nerves. I think they add dramatic effect...in my own little world, they do.)
Disclaimer: PB + characters Not mine. Non-PB chracters mine.
Silence. It echoed everywhere. The man was still standing above me and I finally answered.
"What makes you think I would want to kill you all to be stuck on a hell-hole like this?" He stepped back. No answers. "I don't care about you, that's true, but I don't kill. Leave that to professionals."
I flicked my gaze over to where Riddick sat, his body completely still, but his eyes now trained to the group in front of me. They all shifted and the kid, Jack, nodded. He stood and headed for the exit, passing me. His hand lifted to wave but under the heavy gaze of the adults, put his hand back down. They all departed and I turned to Riddick. He looked at me and tilted his head to the side.
"You have a way with kids, lady."
"A regular Mother Goose, aren't I?" I managed to make myself grin and he chuckled. Maybe not genuine, but at least he was beginning to enjoy himself. I worked up a big nerve and shifted myself.
"How much you pay someone to do your eyes?"
"You lookin' to get yours done?" He raised his brows.
"No, just curious. Might get me a few dates." The joke slid over his head and I vowed to keep quiet. Jokes weren't appropriate for those of us destined for Slams.
"Paid a doctor, or that's what he asked us to call him. He did it for 20 Kools and did a damn fine job. Except for the whole light thing." He was relaxed now, head slightly downward and I nodded.
More footsteps down the stairs and Royston appeared, gun gripped in his palm, face plastered with anger.
"Little tramp, what did you do to the water?" He slapped me firmly across the face and it stunned me. I regained my sight and after the stinging left my cheek, I looked up.
"Water? What water?" I held a glare now and he leaned in slowly.
"When you pressed that button to lose the energy stores, it was the water. Now we are going to dehydrate. Maybe we'll get lucky and have Mr. Riddick slice us all up first, but you just fucked us all." He leaned even closer. "And if we get off this planet, I'll cut you until you can't be recognized anymore." He smiled and knocked my jaw with his shotgun. He turned to Riddick. "Hey, Bastard Child, how about you make it easier for all of us and kill off this girl. One less body to feed and you can have her rations." He cackled and there was another voice.
"No one's killing anyone." Carolyn was standing there, her arms across her chest, followed my Johns, the other merc. Royston stopped and smirked. Women were just objects to Roy; that's why he fucked me up so bad.
"Listen, captain, this is my prisoner, my money. Don't tell me what to do with her." Royston was laughing now.
"Well, she's MY passenger. And I say, right now, since she saved your ass, you need to let her go. She doesn't have any violent violations on her record," Carolyn challenged, stepping closer and the grin faded from Royston's mouth.
"I don't care if she killed a whole fucking planet, she's not moving from here. She stays down HERE with Riddick." Royston's mouth was quivering now. He was angry. I suppressed the need to egg him on, because Carolyn was doing a fabulous job of it. "Why are you sticking up for this little wench anyways?" he asked Carolyn, turning to me in disgust.
"She analogged the computer, so that it was able to give the coordinates of where we are. While we don't have communication, she sent out a signal. Someone knows we crashed. We just don't know who knows or if they will follow it." All eyes were now on me. I had done it on purpose; I knew we were headed for the ground and did what I was trained to do: Send out distress when there was distress.
My cuffs were unhooked and I stretched my wrists. Sighing, I let Royston hoist me up and he pushed me from the bottom of the ship. He moved in front of me and Carolyn came to my side.
"How did you know?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.
"I just got a feeling. Something I developed in the Slam. When you get a feeling, it takes over," I replied and she nodded, climbing up a net into the sun. It gave me a momentary headache but a blink or two had me focusing on the landscape. Dry, hot, scorching. I couldn't think of any more adjectives. None positive, of course. I could make out the figures of people milling at the bottom of the ship. I saw the kid, the man and woman who had approached me earlier, and a few more kids plus a holy man. Chrislams? I followed Carolyn down the front of the ship and she checked progress.
"Hey! You brought her out!" Jack removed the goggles covering his eyes and I could see the dismay in the two adults. I stuck out my hand.
"Kate Murphy. We met before." They slowly approached.
"Shazza, and this here's Zeke. We aren't going to be friends," the woman said and I nodded. Fair enough. I wasn't really a person, now was I? No...Criminals aren't people.
A lanky man, hands full of different knick-knacks approached. His face fell when he saw me but he managed to keep his footing. Sticking my hand out again, I actually managed to get his name and a slightly better reaction. His name was Paris Ogilvie. Said he was a dealer and apparently, had in mind to get quite a fortune when we reached the Taurus system. I took a look at what he was handling.
"Is that a scroll from Alexandria?" The scroll was beaten up, torn in places, but he let me hold it. He seemed surprised I knew. "I'm not stupid, you know," I replied to his facial expression and he backed down. I handed the scroll back to him and walked over to where Carolyn was standing. Her arms were crossed, her hands gripping her elbows.
"Thanks." The words spilled out and she turned around.
"No big deal. I wouldn't want to be stuck down there with Riddick."
"What's so bad about him? Kinda creepy but other than that, a real comedian."
"He talked to you?" She raised her eyebrows.
I shrugged. "The Slam's a network of friends and favors. When we both go back, that's one more connection to getting out or staying off of death row."
"From what I've heard, the part you were in wasn't as bad as Riddick's." She had now turned to face me fully, her side to the blazing horizon.
"True, but the Slam is all the same," I answered, "Riddick dealt with the big, psycho, murderous ones, while I was stuck with the mental patients and genius psychopaths. Anyone who tells you there's a big difference is a dirty liar. You learn quickly how to protect yourself."
She nodded and there was a sudden commotion back at the ship. I could see Johns and Royston stalking toward me, grimacing. They approached, kicking up dust.
"Where is he?" Riddick? A ripple went through my spine. I didn't do anything to help that bastard. He's my Slam brethren, but to each his own.
"Who? Riddick?" They nodded and I could tell Royston was ready to break something; most preferably, my neck.
"What did you do?" Royston had snatched my wrist and I could tell Johns was dying to break another part of my body.
"I didn't do anything. I don't help people. And I'm sure he did it alone. He hasn't needed any help in the past, right?" A hand was up, smacking me in the face. But this time it was Johns. His eyes burned with anger and through my stinging eyes I watched his lips purse in obvious disbelief and slight embarrassment. Johns had been on Riddick's tail before; probably had lost him before too.
"Your smart mouth is going to get you eight and a half fingers instead of the usual. And I'll take the other trigger finger this time," Royston smiled and they both stalked away, Johns' glare hanging on me for a bit longer.
"This time?" Carolyn's brow was confused and I held up my hand. Half of my left trigger-finger was gone. It wasn't really big deal, more of a gruesome battle scar than a hindrance.
"He took it off when I was caught. Had a little mishap with my gun and he shot me right in the knuckle. But I got him in the ass, so it's all equal," I explained and she nodded, turning back to the horizon. She was thinking, deeply, and slowly tilted her head to the side.
"Captain!" the holy man was running full-speed toward us and we turned to face him as he came huffing up. "I think we may have found something...Hasan was able to locate some trees in the distance. God has led us to water!"
Carolyn looked at me and ran to the boy who held the binoculars. I stayed back as the holy man looked me over.
"Your aura is good. The Lord has good things in store for you," he said softly and walked away, leaving me to sort out the meaning. His Lord hadn't done anything good for me yet, so maybe it was time. And if good meant that Royston's balls were going to be blown off, I was all for it.
"Hey, Murphy, we found some trees!" Carolyn was yelling up at me and I skidded down the dune to where the company was standing. Royston stood to my side and forced me forward.
"Miss Murphy has volunteered to lead us." I regained my footing and began walking ahead, some of the survivors wary to follow me. The horizon began to get closer and I saw the towering things in the distance; maybe a few straggling trees trying to hold onto the moisture that may be zapped from their leaves. But with every step I saw that they weren't trees. It wasn't an oasis...it was a graveyard.
"What is this?" Carolyn touched one of the large ribcages and stepped around it.
"It's a tomb." The kid, Jack, was now looking through the same cage. I walked through the gates of different looming ribcages which sharply jutted into the air. Was everything so...DEAD on this planet? Walking, I noticed a flash. The sun against black. I looked back at the group, who was now milling around the other bones. I slipped into the shade of one of the towering cages and sat. It was so damn hot.
"Hey Baby."