Hey all, here is chapter 6. Thanks for the reveiws, tell me what you think.
Happy Reading
Kayla
Chapter 6: The Past.
Jack felt useless as she lay on a bed mat behind the pilots chairs, some eighteen hours into their journey home. She had depended on herself for so long that it was weird to have someone else take over like Riddick automatically had. Why she had let him, she still wasn't quite clear with herself on, one of those force of habit things more then likely. But it made her feel useless and at that moment in time, she needed to feel useful. Guilt was eating her up inside.
She rolled over onto her side and clutched her pillow close as she listened to the sounds of The Chancer around her. The whirring of the power cells, the purring of the air generator system and the clinking sounds that the artificial gravity initiator made. She trusted those sounds as long as they continued to belong to the items that made them and not whatever was lurking in her head.
Then there were the sounds of Riddick's breathing and her own breathing, both steady and rhythmic. She could feel her heart beating in her chest and the blood pulsing through her veins in steady waves. It was all safe and familiar.
Safe.
To be truly safe would be something that she would love. Not to have to worry about security or Mercs or people finding out who she really was and making trouble for her. That would make her feel pretty safe but that wasn't an option in the life she had been given. Last time she had been with Riddick she had been as safe as was possible under the circumstances but it was only the last time she had been with her parents that she had felt that nothing could hurt her in the whole universe.
She took a deep breath and fingered the thick fabric of her blanket.
With all the characters that she had played since she was fifteen, she was beginning to wonder who she really was. Was she really Jack or was Jack just another one of her aliases? No, that was only insanity talking and she knew it. She was Jack that was the only thing about her that seemed truly real. Only, how close was she to tipping over the edge this time?
"You need a hand?" Jack asked.
"Nope. Get some rest kid." Riddick answered.
"Don't call me that. I'm not a kid anymore." And that was the end of their exchange. Not much in the way of stimulating conversation.
It wasn't like they had had deep and meaningful conversation before, but then she had been used to it. Over the past two years of her life, she had found her voice and with it an enjoyment of conversation. The silence was something that would take some getting used to again. At least she wasn't alone. Wasn't alone but was feeling guilty as heck.
Rest was something that she knew would not come on her cruiser that night. There were no lights on and though she knew that Riddick needed it that way to see and work efficiently but it didn't help her at all. She couldn't get used to darkness no matter how hard she tried. Already the noises were coming out. The clinking of the gravity initiator turned into the sounds of their claws, the whirring the beat of their wings and even a screech could be heard.
Jack clenched her teeth and her fists and forced herself to lay still and concentrate on the steady in and out of her breathing, forcing herself not to listen but to focus on other things. But the sounds were in her mind and she couldn't seem to escape the things of her mind no matter how hard she tried.
She wasn't sure how long she laid there until she was so tense she felt like screaming but she didn't let herself scream or make a noise, she just got to her feet. Standing up didn't make her feel much better though, just edgy. She took her butterfly knife from its holder at her thigh and opened it, testing the metal's edge for sharpness. She ran her finger along the flat of the five-inch blade and closed her eyes. She closed it and put it back before stooping and picking up her blanket.
Jack wrapped the blanket tightly around her shoulders to keep out the chill she was feeling and sat down in the co-pilot's chair, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping the blanket around them too. She stared out at the stars, wrapped up in a cocoon of warmth and thought.
"I grew up on Madalus Five." She said speaking suddenly and unexpectedly. "For as long as I could remember my dad and I would go to this hill behind our house on the 18th of August every year.
"It was the one day a year that dad was guaranteed to be all mine, it was our day and no one and nothing ever intruded on it. We would get up early and go to the Dome in the morning and watch the Tiberis Tigers beat the Lameir Wolves, eat dinner out and then go to the hill.
"We used to lay on our backs and watch the stars. Sometimes, we would lay there and try and count them, sometimes we would talk and sometimes, he would tell me stories of when he was a kid living on earth with his parents and sometimes we would just lay there and be silent, listening to each other's breathing." Her voice tapered away as she looked at the stars. "As a kid I didn't realised just how many of them there really were."
"You never talked about your father before."
"I didn't know what to say before, he was dead. They were both dead." Jack shrugged. "My mom was convinced that she was pregnant with a boy when she got pregnant with me. She was almost positive and my dad totally believed her. I think dad's always want boys anyway, even if there are happy with their daughters, they just want a boy so they can turn them into mini versions of themselves. Or at least that's what I figure.
"So anyway, they decorated my room, picked out baby clothes and even picked out my name. Lucky me was to be named after my dad's father, Jack. I dunno why they do that, name a kid after a relative, doesn't make sense. I kinda surprised them I guess, when I turned out to be a girl. My mom didn't quite know what to do so called me Jackie. I think it was so she didn't disappoint my grandfather."
"Why are you digging up the past now Jack?"
"To try and find some peace with it I guess. I've never really dealt with my past before, not with people dieing on me or leaving my all over the place." She shrugged. "I figure if I can deal with the easy stuff, like my parents, then maybe I'll be able to deal with that planet."
"I'm sorry."
"Rule One: Don't apologise for things that aren't your fault." She quoted his rule of earlier.
"Fare enough." He conceded.
"I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me, least of all you Riddick." She shook her head. "Why didn't you do the smart thing and leave like Imam did? I know that I only ever slowed you down." She asked carefully, not sure if she would be given a straightforward answer or another one of his cryptic grunts.
"One of us had to make sure that you lived." Riddick answered. "You might have grown up a little more normal with Imam but I guess I was better equipped to protect you. Mind it was mainly me that put your life in danger but you seemed to deal with it all right."
"I'm good at dealing with things. I always have been." She shrugged. "And some of those places weren't so bad as long as you didn't go outside." He snorted which she figured was as close as she would get to a real laugh. Well, it was a start.
"I thought you would have kicked up and left the minute you could, to get away from those places."
"And be alone, I think not." It was her turn to snort. "Those kinds of places grow on you. All the violence and the thugs..." She was smiling as she looked over at him but he wasn't smiling. He didn't seem to think it was as funny as she did. "Really, it wasn't that bad Riddick."
"I should have never taken you to those places but it was where I belonged. I could keep you safe if I understood the rules, and I understand the rules of cutthroats and thieves."
"Oh." She hung her head slightly. "I thought I was just tagging along, that you felt obligated to let me stay if I kept up. I always thought that."
"You kept up most of the time and never complained but there was more to it then that." He didn't seem all that comfortable talking about it to her anymore. She had either joked too much or pushed too much and the last thing she wanted was for him not to talk to her at all. "Try and get some sleep Jack. I don't want you landing this thing on zero sleep."
"Sleeping isn't that easy." She answered. "I'll be fine when it comes to landing, I might just crash for twelve hours when I get home." Home, she didn't even feel comfortable thinking about it. Not knowing where her friends were headed, back to that planet and none of them knew, none of them understood.
"And how do you propose to do that?"
She pulled a four inch long clear bottle out of one of the pockets of her vest jacket that was wrapped around the back of the chair. The liquid was red "Caffeine in a bottle." She shrugged. "On this thing, I have about eight hours of totally awareness, after that I crash hard but the sleep after this stuff is dreamless. It's not only caffeine, there's some other junk in there and it turns the whites of your eyes red but it works well. I get a couple of bottles off Joe before a go on flights."
"Learned a few tricks of the trade I see."
"No." She shook her head. "I've stayed sane. There's a difference."
James Bradley was a self-professed bastard and it didn't bother him in the least. He was nearing thirty-one and had already had two wives both that divorced him because of his job but surprisingly that didn't bother him in the least either, he was happy enough with who and what he was even if no one else seemed to be. He was a single-minded merc and his job was his life, if his wives couldn't deal with that then that wasn't his problem. Once he had a trail it was hard to throw him off it and he wouldn't leave the trail until he had collected his prize.
James Bradley loved the hunt and he had it in his head to hunt one of the known universe's most notorious killers and escaped convicts, Richard B. Riddick. He had never had a trail blow so hot and cold on him at the same time. Even the man's name was a taunt and a jeer challenging the skills that he had worked so hard to prefect.
The girl had been something of an unexpected part of his hunt and not an unpleasant one for all that she was hiding and not forth coming with the information that she held. He had found out everything that he could about her past but had expected to find a shell of a human being with a hatred for Riddick. He hadn't expected her to be beautiful or smart and he hadn't expected her to protect Riddick so venomously.
The girl had had a tough life, or at least a tough few years, her parents dieing, the crash, the night on the dark planet and living with Riddick. There was something haunted about the girl's features. It had been stronger then ever the last time he had been to see her onboard her own little cruiser. He had noted it then, but he had seen it before.
He had seen the blade and the gun she carried at her side and knew that Riddick must have taught her a thing or two about the fight but he was sure that there would be paranoia there too. The slam did that to people and though she had never been there, Riddick had and young minds could be very impressionable. Just the way that she had carried herself proved that Riddick had had a hand in her skittishness, though she was good at controlling it. The convict had had his hands in that and in her cold, hard exterior; he had had a hand in ruining a good kid.
Yes, James Bradley nodded, they would have worked well together, he was sure of it and if it had worked out, then one day, perhaps his charms might have worked on her and their relationship turn to something a little more then just work. At least he was sure that she wasn't into girls. Her string of relationships proved that, but the mercs had learned that going after her through them wasn't a good idea. That stupid guy had gotten himself killed because he came between her and a Merc.
She seemed to have a toxic like effect on the men that she came into contact with; only the holy man had escaped that effect. Riddick now, seemed willing to risk his own life for her and the Robson guy had willingly thrown himself into a dangerous position to keep her alive. The merc that had killed him and turned up dead a few days later, but it was Kelly Marks, the dead man's sister who was said to have killed him and she hadn't been heard of since the ship that had been carrying her to a Slam was hijacked, not even her husband seemed to know where she was.
He chuckled to himself as he thought about her and shook his head. Who was he trying to kid? That girl would never be more then five foot seven inches of pure trouble in an attractive body and yet, she had to be the key to finding Riddick. Only it wouldn't be as simple as that, he had a feeling that she would fight as fiercely for Riddick as Riddick would for her.
Jackie had admitted herself that Riddick had invested too much in her to let her die and that would more then likely mean that he had invested too much to stay away from her forever, even if he thought he could, James Bradley was sure that he wouldn't. But the question was when? Riddick was probably already a shadow in her life that didn't belong but that she didn't know was there, making sure that she kept the life that he had saved, perhaps one too many times.
How long would it take the girl to realise that he wasn't dead and how long would it be before Riddick made a mistake for her? His bet was sooner rather then later and until he did, James Bradley mused, he might as well do a little more of a background check into the girl and see if he could find out the connection between all of her aliases. There was still something that didn't fit about her and he wanted to know what.
He was not a man made to be idle and wait for the information he wanted to fall into his lap. He made sure that he kept himself active and his mind sharp while he lay in wait and so far his tactics had been highly successful, after all, he had spent sometime in the company of some of the best mercs around, including the man who was always chasing Riddick before the girl had come into play, a man called William J. Johns and while Riddick seemed to have been too much for him, James Bradley was the better hunter.
Eight convicts so far and Riddick would be his crowning glory.
"Have you just been running over the past two years?" Jack asked as she leaned her head back against the headrest of her chair, the bright light of the stars they were passing conflicting with the cold black of deep space. It was a contrast that she didn't particularly enjoy thinking about but it didn't mean that she didn't appreciate the beauty in the stars. It just meant that there was a contrast.
"Been laying low and keeping my ear out for any sign of you." He answered as she shifted restlessly in her chair and turned her green eyes on him. If she hadn't known that being watched unsettled him, she would have been watching him the whole time that she had been talking before. She would have been watching to see what had changed in his features, taking them in and trying to figure out what had happened for herself.
Her eyes darted over his tall and well-muscled body, the strong shoulders and arms leading to hands that could kill a person just by squeezing. He was still clean-shaven, his face and his head, like he had always kept them. His eyes still shone like pools of molten silver and his jaw was set in stone like she always remembered it being.
She looked away again, knowing that he would only tolerate her intent gaze for so long. She looked down at the floor. She had missed him.
"Can we turn up the lights a bit?" She asked tentatively, but her voice sounded small and a little skittish even to her own ears and her eyes darted from the spot she had been staring at to him and then to a darkened corner. The dark made her nervous. It would take a while before she got used to having Riddick around and it would take her time to relax.
"Feeling nervous?" Riddick looked at her out of the corner of his eye and the muscles of his jaw worked a little.
"Don't make me beg Riddick." She snapped.
"If you want them on." He nodded and pulled down his dark goggles as a couple of lights flared on over head, bathing her in light and calming the flutter of nervous energy in her muscles. "When did this obsession in light happen?"
"When there were no eyes that could see in the dark." She answered and he made a small snorting noise. "It's Bret's fault really. He used light as a weapon against my nightmares. I used to wake up screaming, names, or just a single endless pitch. It didn't make them go away completely but it kept them at bay, if I happened to fall into a deep sleep though, we were screwed. But most of the time we were alright, the light kept my sleep light. Only it kept his sleep light too."
"Bret?"
"Yeah." A half smile crept across her face. "I took to sleeping on the couch after a while, the living room stayed light and didn't bother anyone. The only problem with the light was that he couldn't sleep well with it on, it was the only way I got any sleep unless it was drug induced, tried that for a while but he didn't like the side effects."
"Side effects?"
"Giant mood swings, happiness, depression, hysteria." She shrugged. "I didn't particularly like me then either. I'd start off next to him but I'd only be there until he was asleep, then I'd transfer myself to the couch. It meant that he slept well but it drove him crazy." She shook her head. "I never did figure out why, but for some reason, he liked to be near me."
"Sounds like he was alright." Riddick said but he didn't sound convinced.
"He was more then alright, though, I'm not sure if you would have gotten on with him all that well."
"What does that mean?" He moved sharply that time and she wondered why.
"Don't look at me like that you big idiot. Bret was the opposite of you; I mean he was a big guy, an athlete, armature rock climber, actually he was pretty strong. But he was the kind of guy that got rid of trouble by talking. He was gentle and sweet, went out of his way to make stupid gestures that meant nothing but everything at the same time. Maybe that's why I liked him." She shrugged. "He would have been too full of the good part of the human race for you."
"What are you saying about yourself Jack?"
"My humanity has been slightly twisted over time. I'm a survivor Riddick." She shrugged. "I've done a number of things in the last two years that I'm not exactly proud of but that I wouldn't hesitate to do again."
"And why do I get the feeling that that's my fault somehow?"
"Because, it was you that taught me to survive."
"You alright?" He asked as Jack stood up abruptly and walked to the back of the ship.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Jack answered with a shrug as she started pacing. Thinking about Bret made her feel guilty again. Guilty about the way he died, guilty for not telling him who she really was, guilty for leaving The Aurora. "Riddick?" Jack voice was small, a little shaky as she stood up and walked back to the front of the ship a couple of hours later and took her seat. She gave him a long look from where she sat in the chair next to him.
"What?" He answered a frown creasing his brow.
"I can't do this." She shook her head, looking at her hands which were sitting in her lap. She toyed with her fingers for a moment or two trying to find the right words and then just let herself explode with exactly what she was thinking. "Danny can't fucking land The Aurora but I can. I can't do this. What the hell am I made out of anyway? Chicken shit?"
"You gotta make more sense then that Jack."
"Turn this ship around. I need to go back to The Aurora. I need to make sure that no one else gets killed down on that fucking planet. I can't find out that something has happened to those people just because I chose not to stick around which mean I ha..." Her voice broke and she closed her yes and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to draw herself away from her fear. "Which means," She repeated slowly. "I have to go back to that damned planet."