Note : My muses are currently at war with the plot bunny ninjas, which is why this chapter came out a little later than all the others. To answer that nagging question you all are definitely asking - Yes, Riddick will eventually be in this story. However the next two or three chapters will probably still be only Jack, cause it's gonna take a whole lot to get off that planet.

Valley of Death

Chapter Four : Welcome to Purgatory

Jack be nimble.

A bullet whistled past her ear, striking the wall above her causing little chunks of concrete and dust to come trickling down onto her head like snow. Quickly she dodged around a crumbling corner, narrowly dodging the next round of fire as her heart hammered itself against the inside of her rib cage. It was a week since the incident with the pencil and she had, not regrettably, left Hell in favor of 'the City formerly known as Verdan'. Unfortunately for her, the place was also the major stamping grounds of one of the warring factions known as the Core, and they apparently didn't like her sneaking around that much.

Jack ducked into the nearest doorway, placing the wall between her and the guns, not that this helped very much. They would easily guess where she'd gone to, after all there weren't that many places where she could hide. In the particular section of the city she had chosen to walk in through most of the buildings were bombed out and crumbling like back in Hell. The only difference was the patrols and that perimeter fence that had been oh so easily bypassed by a simple pair of wire cutters.

The fact that she'd gotten past that little defense of theirs was probably what had pissed them off so much. Taking a deep breath, she chanced a look outside the door and was greeted by another shower of bullets. She jumped back into the building and looked around, taking in the cracked tile floor and the hollowed out shell of what used to be some kind of reception desk. Dust, dirt, and minuscule pieces of glass littered the ground and there were cracks in the once white plaster walls. The building had once been a hotel, not that it mattered much to her, she was just searching for another way to escape before they came barreling in, guns blazing.

Jack be quick.

"Shit, shit, shit!" she hissed to herself, gritting her teeth as she stumbled away from the door, nearly losing her footing as her boots skidded on the glass. Kneeling low as she passed a window, she traversed the room, having spotted a gaping doorway that she hoped might lead someplace useful. She paused outside of the next room, hearing the sound of the soldier's voices outside. It was enough to spur her on and she dashed through, finding herself in the darkened shadow of the maintenance stairwell. The metal stairs were slightly rusted with peeling blue paint and cobwebs stuck between the railings, but they rose up for five floors, ending at the roof.

Sparks rang out as a bullet struck the railing and Jack, given no escape route but upwards, scrambled up those steps as fast as she possibly could. If she'd had the time, she would have stopped to marvel at how much faster she could run when the alternative was death. Sparks flew at her feet as she reached the second floor and she let out a pained shout, feeling a metal fragment digging itself into her leg.

FUCK!

She staggered, nearly falling face first into the steps as the pain bit at her leg, but she caught herself on the rail. Pulling herself back up she kept on running, forcing herself to ignore the pain and the blood that was now freely flowing down her leg. She could hear the metallic clank of heavy boots chasing her now, but she dared not look back. Jack focused on looking up, mentally shoving her muscles into action with each and every step, making the pain take a back seat.

One foot up and then the other, picking up the pace when a bullet smashed into the wall a few steps down. Never once did she pause to ask herself why they were wasting their time chasing her down. That question wouldn't nag her until later because right now she just had five more steps until she hit the roof access door. She hoped someone up there liked her enough to ensure that there wasn't a lock.

Jack hit the door, her hand grabbing the handle and yanking back to find that the hinges had rusted through. It nearly fell on top of her, but she managed to twist out of the way and it instead went falling back down the steps with a crash. Ignoring it and the shouts of the soldiers still chasing her, she leapt through the frame and out onto the roof, running around the side of the door and only stopping a foot short of the ledge.

There were lower buildings all around the broken down hotel she saw, but the air between them was empty and the fall instantly regrettable. And then the bullets started flying again.

Jack, you'd better jump over that fucking candlestick, 'cause guess what! Those guys in the uniforms, they're shooting at YOU!

She ran. Not like before, hell, what she was doing before was jogging compared to the speed she pumped into her legs this time around. No, Jack ran towards the opposite ledge, not bothering to time it, not bothering to let herself be troubled by the fact that it was a long, long, long way to fall. Gravel flew up in waves behind her from the guns trying to chase her and out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the soldiers fall trying to turn and follow her movements. But that image didn't reach her mind until after she'd pushed off from the ledge, propelling herself into the air like some high jumper in an Olympic sport.

The world seemed to freeze for one infinitely long second and then, like a freight train the paved roof of the next building over came slamming into painful reality. Jack hit like a hammer and rolled, fresh pain shooting through her injured leg and the sting of fresh scrapes marring her arms. But she was alive enough to realize that they were still shooting.

So up to her feet she climbed again, running with a pronounced stagger now as she headed for the next ledge, this time finding a convenient fire escape that she scaled halfway down in less time than she could remember. Her leg was still trickling blood as she found herself clinging to an alleyway fence in order to climb through the window of the adjacent building. She could hear shouts, but they sounded so far away, like a badly tuned radio echoing in her head. Jack groaned as she fell into the inside of this new building, collapsing on the floor.

Exhaustion washed over her, but she fought it off in favor of seeing to her leg. She dug out her knife from her pocket and ripped away at her pant's leg so she could get at the wound. It wasn't as bad as it felt, probably because the metal was still stuck in there. Biting her lip, she dug it out with her knife, flicking away the bloodstained fragment with a pained grunt. She then cut off a piece of her shirt and wrapped it over the wound, having nothing to clean it with because she'd lost her bag and canteen in the earliest portion of the chase.

Sighing, she leaned back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling as the little voice in the back of her head began to rant.

Should have gone around the other way like all the other civilians.

"I'm not a civilian," she muttered, staring at the blood dripping down the blade of the knife. Her blood. "Not even a fucking citizen."

Should have stayed in Hell then, 'cause they obviously don't like you here.

"Oh yeah, and wind up dying when they do another fly-by. I don't think so."

What were planning on doing, anyways? Stealing a ship? You've never even flown a ship, Jack. The most you know is how operate the comms and some minor navigational shit.

"Shut up."

Just saying the truth. You can't fly a ship, so you can't do shit to get yourself out of this fucking mess. You're brilliant Jack. Brilliantly fucked up.

"Goddamn it, just shut up!"

She punched the floor, skinning her knuckles in the process and granting herself a blissfully painful silence in her head. She waited five minutes before shifting in her seat by the window, lying down on the floor and resting her head in her hands. Another ten minutes and she closed her eyes, listening to the seemingly distant creaks and shifts of the building. Fifteen more minutes, she was almost asleep and the voice spoke up again, whispering in her mind just as exhaustion claimed her.

Should have never left New Mecca.