AN: Shuttle scene number two. Oh Pitch Black, how I love you so! I changed a few plot things here and will change a few more in the next and final chapter to keep people from dying and to make this a romance with a happy ending. Thanks to everyone who reads and leaves me lovely comments!

Not For Me

By Indygodusk

Chapter 4

Since Carolyn didn't even know where to start in tackling the implications of that kiss, she skipped instead on Riddick's initial words. Could she really be so blind about Johns? Who was he really?

Maybe it shouldn't matter since the shuttle had passed the hull integrity test and they should be good to leave once the rest of the power cells got here. Once back up in space and rescued, she'd never have to see Johns again. Or Richard B. Riddick… who'd probably end up betrayed and back in prison, seeing no one.

The smart thing would be to put her head down and look to her own six. Getting between Johns and Riddick would be suicidal. Carolyn was a survivor, not stupid.

But what if Johns had lied to her? She'd trusted him, even shared with him her secret shame. She had to confront him about this. Riddick was merely the catalyst, not the reason, she told herself. This was about her and Johns. No one had the right to walk all over her. She would not be a puppet with easy-to-pull strings. Not for Johns and not for Riddick. She would find out the truth and go from there.

Shutting down the shuttle systems, she set her jaw and went searching. She couldn't find Johns in the usual places, but Suleiman and Hassan, who were playing some mysterious game involving rocks, bones, and a grid scratched in the dirt, finally directed her to a small building on the edge of the settlement.

By that time her righteous anger had muted into doubt. She was so tired of this planet and the tension created by these people. Maybe she just needed a good night's sleep to put her relationship to both Sentinels into perspective. Maybe Johns was exactly as he seemed and the one who'd been manipulating her really was Riddick after all.

Carolyn pushed open the door and jerked to a stop at the sight before her eyes. Her stomach dropped. She'd thought she'd braced herself for this conversation and knew what to expect. She'd been wrong.

Not pausing at her presence, Johns tipped back his head and inserted a needle into the corner of his eye, a dangerous but popular spot for hypes or hard-core drug users. Depressing the syringe, he winced and shuddered. Seconds later he gave a whole body sigh and relaxed back in his chair with a blissed out smile. With her Guide gifts back Online, she could feel his relief as the drugs flooded his system, dulling his physical pains and causing euphoria.

To add to her shock, there was no instinctual pull on her empathy to soothe Johns's Sentinel. His mind wasn't enticing, it was off-putting, with what felt like a lesion where his Sentinel gifts should be, a wound not caused by any suppression drugs.

Carolyn felt unsteady. "So who are you really?" The feelings of apathy and disdain she felt from him as he glanced over at her hurt. She hardened her heart. "You're not a cop, are you?"

"I never said I was," he answered, unconcerned.

Carolyn walked over and looked down at the open ammunition box. The red casings were mostly full of drugs and needles instead of bullets. "No, you didn't."

She was so stupid. She'd created this whole persona of Johns out of assumptions and desperation-fueled dreams. She'd seriously considered bonding with him and he probably didn't even know she was a Guide. He probably wouldn't care even if he did know. His Sentinel gifts weren't suppressed, they were Dormant because he was too selfish and corrupt. "You never said you were a hype either."

"Some people wake up with caffeine, some with morphine. So what?"

"So what?! Those drugs could've helped Owens so he didn't have to die like that!" So she wouldn't have had to feel him die like that.

Johns looked at her with eyes devoid of empathy or care. "Owens was already dead, his brain just hadn't caught up to it yet."

Teeth grinding, she wanted to lash out at him but realized that nothing she said or did would make a lick of difference. He wouldn't care. She didn't matter to him. Johns saw her, saw everyone as just tools to be used and discarded for his own agenda. No wonder he'd gone Dormant.

"Is there anything else I should know about you? Besides the fact that you're not suppressed, you're dormant?"

Surging to his feet, Johns grabbed her hand and shoved it up the back of his shirt, pressing her fingers hard against a slick, ropey scar on his lower back. She tried to pull away but he was too strong. "Do you feel that? Last time I went after Riddick, he went for the sweet spot and missed. They had to leave a piece inside. I can still feel it, Carolyn, scraping against my spine. During that hunt my Sentinel gifts deserted me. As a mundane, you have no idea how that feels. The loss of my gifts is a constant ache, just like that knife tip is a constant ache, so maybe you should leave the care and feeding of my nerve endings to me."

Being so close to him, feeling his emotions pressing against her, filled her with revulsion. For a second she wished she was a mundane so she wouldn't have to know how he really felt. Strange how his mind felt like the complete opposite of Riddick.

Releasing her hand, he shoved her away. "And since the source of your new attitude is obvious, here's some advice. Watch yourself around Riddick. I've caught him rubbing a lock of your blond hair across his lips, smelling it, playing with it. He's fixating on you, has probably spent weeks planning just how he's going to kill you. Remember that next time he's whispering in your ear."

Jaw clenching, she met his eyes. "I asked if there was anything else I should know about you."

"Yeah, look to thine own ass first, right? You'd know all about that." The memory of her confession about trying to purge the passengers hung between them. Her sense of self-righteousness faltered as bitterness surged up her throat and guilt flooded her chest.

"Captain! Captain!" Excited young voices broke their stare-off as Suleiman and Hassan burst into the room.

"I'm not your Captain," she snarled, pivoting on her heel and stalking outside. Most of the others were there, but she couldn't spare them any attention. Her steps stumbled to a stop on seeing the sky dominated by a huge ringed planet slowly moving to eclipse all three suns. For the first time since crashing here, the everpresent sunlight began to dim.

Imam said something at her back but she was in too much shock to listen. Why couldn't this cursed place ever give her a break? Was God punishing her?

Shazza appeared by her side. "If we need anything from the crash ship, I suggest we kick on. That sandcat's solar."

"We still need those power cells for the shuttle." Carolyn pulled in a deep breath and told herself to suck it up and keep dealing.

Seeing everyone looking at her, she raised her voice. "We've got to go now! Back to the ship for the cells! Get a move on!"

Hopping into the sandcat, she saw Riddick off in the shadows between two buildings, his face raised to watch the eclipse. He put the mouthpiece of the oxygen line Shazza had given him so long ago into his mouth and breathed in deeply. Canister now empty, he took the loop of tubing off his shoulder and carelessly tossed it aside in the dirt. Meeting her eyes with an enigmatic look, he turned away and left at a jog, presumably to grab something around the corner of the building.

They didn't have time to wait for him. The sandcat roared to life and began to pull away from the settlement. As they passed the last building, Riddick jumped onto the back, followed by Johns with his box of drugs disguised as shotgun shells. With everyone on board, they roared through the canyon full of skeletons that lead back to their ship, knocking down the huge rib bones in their haste.

The sky dimmed much quicker than she expected, than anyone expected. They hadn't quite reached the ship when the sandcat sputtered and died, though it was only a few steps on. Shazza stayed with the sandcat to try and find a way to keep it running. With the sky getting darker, Carolyn hoped the other woman could somehow work them a miracle. Paris ran for the far section of ship where his alcohol was stashed while Carolyn and the rest jumped out to begin pulling out power cells from the torn open front of the ship.

Standing up on the back of the sandcat, Riddick stared out into the gathering darkness towards the stone chimneys she'd almost died in. He seemed mesmerized, lips parting as he slid up his goggles and stared.

They didn't have time to waste stargazing. They needed to load up those power cells.

Irritated, Carolyn followed the direction of his gaze and faltered. She felt the blood draining from her face and her knees going weak. The people next to her stopped and looked as well. Jack's voice broke on a curse and Hassan whimpered. Thousands of those creatures who'd killed Zeke and almost killed her were bursting out of the stone chimneys and up into the sky. They kept coming and coming, a never-ending deluge.

Their screeches echoed through the desert air as they swirled through the sky and arrowed towards the crashed ship, no, towards Carolyn and the passengers!

"People, just a suggestion, perhaps you should flee!" Paris shouted from the door of the storage locker.

Haunted by thoughts of being torn to pieces by the ravenous creatures overhead, Carolyn ran. Thankfully it was downhill. Johns outpaced her, shoving past Paris to get inside. Grabbing the doorframe, Carolyn pivoted to make sure everyone else made it before they closed the doors. Jack arrived next, followed closely by Imam and his boys. Unfortunately, Riddick and Shazza were still running from the sandcat when the flock of creatures reached them.

"Get down!" she cried, heart in her throat.

They dived onto their bellies in the sand just as the creatures swooped over their heads, barely missing them. The creatures wheeled up and disappeared into the swiftly falling darkness.

Shazza's terror and desperation hammered at Carolyn's shields. In contrast, Riddick felt almost supernaturally calm. Carolyn thickened her mental defenses, not wanting to feel everyone's fear on top of her own.

After a few seconds Shazza pushed up onto her arms and looked around. It looked like the creatures were gone.

Riddick lifted his head, did a visual sweep, and then flattened himself again.

A bad sign.

"Stay down," Carolyn cried.

Shazza didn't listen. The dark haired woman gulped in a breath and jumped to her feet. She'd lunged a single step when Riddick rolled to his side and threw a handmade bone dagger at her before flattening himself again.

Carolyn's mouth dropped at the unexpected betrayal.

The shiv smacked Shazza in the small of the back and bounced off instead of embedding itself. Crying out, Shazza sprawled face-first onto the sand.

Out of the shadows boiled a flock of monsters. They swarmed through the space where Shazza had just been standing, snapping their razor-sharp teeth through the air above the two prone passengers. There were so many of the dark bodies that Carolyn couldn't see what was happening to Shazza and Riddick.

The air filled with blood-curdling screeches as the creatures zipped across the ground and then up and over the far side of the crashed ship. Two unmoving bodies lay on the sand. The flock's cries became distant and disappeared. The twilight sky looked clear.

"Shazza," Jack gasped wetly.

Riddick moved, rising to his feet and dusting off his hands. Carolyn let out the breath she'd been holding. Striding past the downed Shazza without a glance, he reached the ship a second later and sauntered inside.

Raising her head to spit out sand, Shazza—still alive—scrambled to her feet and ran. As soon as she reached the group they closed the doors and locked them tight.

Gulping back sobs, Jack grabbed Shazza around the waist in a tight hug. Shazza winced and adjusted Jack's arms higher. She probably had a bruise from the impact of the knife against her back. Thank goodness it had hit hilt-first. Had what happened been Riddick's intention or had he meant to kill Shazza to draw the monsters away from himself? The left side of Shazza's face was abraded and swelling from where she'd hit the ground face-first. She glared sourly at Riddick. "You couldn't have just said duck?"

Riddick glanced at her sardonically. "I was being efficient," he drawled. "Next time I won't bother since we're now even for the O2."

Carolyn could tell that he meant it. It was a fact in his mind, not a joke or a threat. Maybe that was how he got around his Sentinel programming, by a careful calculation of favors owed to balance the scales of personal justice. His coldness chilled her. She never wanted to become like him and Johns, not caring about or trusting other people, thinking only of herself. She'd gotten close, but she'd learned her lesson. She was better than that. She would be better than that.

Creatures thumped and rattled around the exterior of the ship. Their alien emotions pressed at her like the stench of rotting food. Swallowing, she thickened her mental shields again and blocked as much of it as she could. Thicker shields took concentration, but they served the added benefit of blocking her companions' fear and despair. She could only deal with her own emotions right now.

Without a better plan, they began searching for as many sources of light as they could find as the planet and inside of the ship turned to blackest night. Monsters began to sneak inside the ship, scratching against the walls. They retreated to a more secure section with fewer holes in the hull.

Things were looking dire, but Carolyn refused to give up hope. She would not die here. She refused.

Everyone started pulling open boxes and crates, trying to find more light sources and anything else to increase their chances of survival. It was hard work, sifting through mostly useless gear from people who'd never come to claim it, people who'd already died in the crash.

While the rest of them sweated like pigs from strain and terror, Riddick kept to the periphery, ignoring any orders he didn't feel like obeying, which included most of them. Imam worked doggedly but the kids quickly tired and became distracted, curiosity and boredom overriding their fear.

Catching the back of Hassan's shirt as he wandered by with something shiny in his hands, Shazza yanked him in front of her and called over Suleiman and Jack too, turning the three boys into her own personal work crew. Imam merely smiled to himself and ignored their beseeching looks, letting Shazza keep them in line and stop anyone who tried to sneak off.

It was the only spot of humor to be found.

Riddick's drifting along the dimly lit periphery led to him almost getting skewered by a creature who'd managed to infiltrate the room. In the scuffle he was almost shot by Johns. The second blast from Johns's shotgun sent the creature falling at their feet, dead.

In the light of Johns's rifle the creature's skin puckered and blistered, sizzling like meat on a grill and releasing a foul stench. Riddick's nose twitched and he stepped back before stopping at seeing her eyes on him.

"Light hurts them." It was a weakness they could exploit, a weakness that might keep them alive. The search for light became even more urgent.

After the last crate had been searched through, they piled their loot into the center of the room and sat around it to make a plan. Johns no longer even pretended to try and work with her, putting down all of her suggestions and trying to convince everyone to ignore her and just hunker down in the ship and wait for the suns to return. Unfortunately, she and Imam were both convinced from the solar system model found in the settlement that the eclipse would be a lasting darkness. They'd run out of food and water long before the return of the sunlight.

Frustrated with Johns, Carolyn put forth her own plan, something bold and risky, but with the best chance of survival. "I think we have enough lights. We can use them as protection while we carry the power cells to the shuttle and get the hell off this planet. The longer we wait the weaker we'll get."

The infuriating argument that caused with the silently panicking Johns started with him trying to draw everyone's focus to the poor, scared children they shouldn't be risking (who she knew from her empathy that he couldn't care less about) and culminated in her calling Johns a gutless coward. Temper snapping, Johns drew his gun on her, causing Riddick to simultaneously stand and pull his knife on Johns in a surprising stalemate.

Even with her empathy, she wasn't sure if Riddick had cared more about protecting her or screwing over Johns. Maybe it was better not to know. She didn't need more reasons to appreciate and depend on the enigmatic Sentinel. Not now when everything was falling apart. That way lay a world of hurt. She refused to fall for Riddick.

However, she was going to have to depend on Riddick if they were going to get those power cells back to the ship. He was the only one who could see in the dark to lead them there.

Realizing they had no other choice if they wanted to survive, the group over-ruled Johns and rigged up all of their lights, put the power cells on a sled with tethers, and began the dangerous trek through the pitch black night towards the shuttle.

Despite her racing heart, Carolyn thought her plan was working. Then a group of monsters decided to test the boundaries of the light by swooping above them and Paris panicked, crawling away and breaking their largest source of light in the process.

Paris died in the dark.

The rest of them stayed together and survived. They lit Johns' flares and the bottles of alcohol they'd converted into oil torches and marched on, grimly following in Riddick's wake. It was a setback, but she still felt this plan could work.

Until they crossed their own tracks.

Riddick had made them circle the canyon of bones to buy time to think. The canyon was supposedly full of creatures and the scent of Jack bleeding—revealing that Jack was actually a girl, not a boy, and just starting her menstrual cycle—was calling to the creatures like a dinner bell.

Overwhelmed, unable to think of a solution, frustrated at Jack but not wanting the girl to die, Carolyn swallowed her pride and admitted she'd been wrong, that coming out here was a mistake. They'd already lost Paris. She couldn't let anyone die because of her plan.

Angry and vindictive, Johns chose to be contrary and argue for continuing on. Just like in the ship, the two of them fell into a heated argument, ripping into each other verbally. Carolyn refused to give him an inch. She would not back down. The others were starting to nod along with her arguments when Johns switched tactics and announced to everyone what she'd done—that during the crash she'd tried to blow the passenger cabin and kill them all to save herself.

The horror and betrayal felt by the others hammered at her mental shields. Riddick felt no surprise, just curiosity. It was too much. Combined with her fear, anger, and guilt, it sent her launching a wild swing at Johns's smug face. He side-stepped her attack with contemptuous ease and watched with cold satisfaction as she fell to her hands and knees. Smirking, he threw her earlier taunt in the ship back in her face. She felt so selfish, cowardly, and small, so ashamed.

The silence bloated until Imam, hurting but also full of compassion, stepped forward and helped her to her feet.

"The light moves on," Johns said, lighting his last flare with a sharp motion and striding forward to join Riddick up ahead, gesturing on towards the canyon.

Angrily wiping the sweat and tears off her face, Carolyn lifted her chin and got everyone moving again. Survival meant staying with the group in the light. It meant putting one foot in front of the other to keep moving.

When the weight of their eyes and emotions became too heavy, she cleared her throat and spoke. "I'm sorry. In the heat of the moment I made a mistake. I've done my best since to make up for it. I'm doing my best now to get everyone out of here alive."

Eyes flinty, Shazza gave her a choppy nod and looked away, yanking the back of Jack's shirt to bring him—bring her in closer to the center of the group. "I don't like it and I'm angry, but I understand how it could happen. Keep working to keep us alive and when we get back up into the black I'll work on forgiving you." No one else had anything to say and the group fell again into silence.

"What are they talking about up there?" Jack asked with a quaver in her voice.

Blowing out her breath, Carolyn looked up ahead at Johns and Riddick and felt a foreboding. She thinned her shields and shuddered at the emotions coming from that direction. Johns felt clinically murderous and Riddick unwillingly protective, trying to either shove away the feeling or fit it into some sort of value proposition. Whatever was making Riddick waver couldn't be good for the rest of them.

"Slow down," she told everyone warily. "Just a little more space between us and them."

Riddick's feelings went flat and calm. He'd made his choice, but what was it? Johns felt confident and smug until something made him switch to suspicious. Between one heartbeat and the next the two men went from talking to trying to kill each other. Riddick's knife slashed and bullets flew wildly from Johns' gun.

Carolyn jerked up her mental shields and made a split second decision. "Abandon the sled! Get to cover!" She herded everyone back in the opposite direction and away from the violence. She did her best to keep everyone huddled in the light of the torches and backtracking the lines in the sand.

She was so focused on not losing the trail that she almost tripped and fell when Riddick suddenly loomed up in front of them out of the darkness. "Back to the ship?" She didn't have to ask to know that Johns was dead.

Jack wasn't so perceptive. "Where's Johns?"

"Which half," Riddick asked meanly.

Flinching back, Jack blinked rapidly, her eyes beginning to swim.

Riddick looked annoyed. "He died fast." Looking up, he met Carolyn's eyes. "If we have any choice about it, that's the way we should all go out."

She held his gaze and nodded, agreeing and thanking him for what he must've done. She'd felt Johns's emotions just before the fight broke out. He'd been thinking of murder, but not of Riddick, not of his payday. By killing Johns, Riddick had protected Jack, had protected all of them. Even if no one else ever understood, she wanted him to know that she did. He'd stood Sentinel over them all.

Nostrils flaring, he looked away. Her gratitude and understanding seemed to annoy him even more than Jack's tears.

Stalking past Jack on his way back up to the front, he growled at the girl, "Don't you cry for Johns. Don't you dare."

On reaching the canyon, they were forced to bunch up. Imam and Shazza bookended the two boys while she made sure Jack didn't fall behind. Riddick took on the task of pulling all four cells by himself, the belt of lights slung diagonally across his back his only light.

"Go faster!" Riddick cried when the thud of bodies and screech of creatures fighting made their feet slow. The creatures were everywhere, flying overhead, fighting and eating each other, crawling through the bones on every side. "Keep moving!" Even with the torches their presence attracted more and more of the creatures just outside the ring of their light. "Keep moving!"

Despite carrying all of that extra weight, Riddick slowly began pulling ahead of them.

"Slow down!" Jack cried after him. "Riddick!"

Riddick didn't listen. He was too focused on himself. It was a feeling she understood too well. Understood and resented. She didn't think they could survive this passage without him.

While Carolyn was distracted staring after him, a boy screamed at her back. She spun around to see Suleiman falling with a creature on top of him. The boy screamed again and dropped his alcohol torch. The bottle broke with a burst of bright flame that made the creature jerk back. Desperately shouting and waving their torches, Imam, Shazza, and Hussan managed to drive it back and pull Suleiman away quickly enough that he only lost part of his pants and some blood instead of his entire leg.

"Wait!" Jack called after Riddick.

"We need to go faster!" Carolyn cried. If they didn't get out of this bottleneck soon they were all going to die.

No sooner had she thought that then Jack was pounced on by a creature hiding overhead in the spine of the great beast they'd been crawling under. A vertebrae fell, shielding Jack from the creature's frenetic head butting. Jack screamed.

Riddick's pace stuttered and slowed. His head dropped... but he didn't turn back.

Screaming a battle cry, angry at Riddick, herself, and this entire planet, Carolyn charged at the creature battering to get at Jack. "Get off her!" She was not losing anyone else. Not on her watch. Carolyn swiped at it with her torch, wishing she had a better weapon. The creature lashed at her with its tail, making her stumble and almost fall. Thigh stinging, Carolyn found her feet and pressed forward again. "Get off her!" She was not going to lose this child. She refused. The creature's skin sizzled sickeningly beneath the light of her flame, but it ignored the pain, too crazed and fixated on the scent of Jack's blood.

Suddenly Riddick was there. Grabbing the creature, he flung it off Jack, twisted viciously, and snapped its neck. He looked up and their eyes met and caught. She felt enthralled by his power and embraced by his protection. It was a heady feeling. Riddick's eyes sharpened on her, as if he was on the cusp of saying or doing something momentous.

"Keep going, don't stop now!" Shazza cried, pushing past Carolyn to help Jack up and breaking the connection.

Carolyn could feel Riddick pulling back from whatever he'd been about to do. Thinning her shields, she felt him struggling against a strange warmth and unexpected pride at protecting them mixed with anger and confusion. The internal conflict was something he resented.

She tried to sense more from him, but the fear, pain, and desperation of the others combined with the HUNGER FIGHT BREED EAT HUNGER of the alien creatures and became too much. She closed down her shields and returned to focusing on putting one step in front of the other and staying alive. They had to be close to the end of this canyon, didn't they?

As they pushed their way up the nearest slope, Riddick once more pulling ahead with the power cells, a freezing rain began to fall from the sky. Within seconds, she was drenched. "Please, no," she begged softly. Their torches sputtered and died one by one, casting their devastated faces into shadow until only Jack's flame remained lit where the two of them huddled over it against the canyon wall. The others pressed close.

Horrible laughter burst from Riddick's chest, dark and morbid. The sound echoed off the walls of the canyon. "Where's your God now?" he asked Imam. She could feel him purposely not looking in her direction. The warmth, hope, and confusion that had been in his mind extinguished like their torches. A cold, hard practicality took its place. He turned his attention forward, minimizing everything at his back.

"Are we almost there? Just tell me the settlement's right there!" Carolyn cried, needing good news, needing him to once more turn a warm, protective look her way in the face of the freezing rain.

Riddick searched ahead with his silver eyes. When his voice came it was so quiet she doubted anyone heard it but herself. "We're not going to make it."

Her heartbeat stuttered.

Dropping the power cells, Riddick ran over to one of the sheer canyon walls. He crouched down and pressed his shoulder to a stone slab, heaving it to the side to reveal a small cave. "In here, now! Hide here!"

Hunched protectively over her sputtering torch, Jack and the other two children scrambled inside, followed by Imam and Shazza. Carolyn went in last. She turned to demand that Riddick explain his plan, only to see the slab being heaved back into place, trapping them inside the tight space without him.

"Why's he still out there?" Shazza asked roughly, tired and bewildered.

Carolyn felt frozen.

"Come," Imam said softly, "let us combine the alcohol into the one torch to keep the light burning as long as possible."

Firming her lips, Carolyn nodded and moved forward to help. Maybe Riddick would get more light from the shuttle and come back for them. Come back for her. As the minutes passed and the torch burned lower and lower, her hope died.

"He's not comin' back… is he?" Jack asked as the flame dimmed, only saying what Carolyn had long since figured out herself.

The cave went black. Too exhausted for even tears, Carolyn thought she was imagining it at first when a blue light slowly illuminated the faces of her companions.

Then Suleiman jumped to his knees and pointed. "Look!"

"Oh!" Jack exclaimed.

The cave walls were covered with glowing blue alien worms.

Scraping the label off a rectangular glass bottle, they filled it with every glowing bug they could find. However, there were only enough bugs for one bottle. They couldn't get six people through the rest of the canyon and over to the shuttle with just one glowing bottle.

"I'll go," Shazza said. "I'll go and—and force Riddick to come back with me." Her face twisted and she met Carolyn's eyes with barely hidden despair.

Jack looked up in hope, but Carolyn knew just like Shazza did that no one could get Riddick to do anything he didn't want to do. Shazza didn't believe in her own words. She didn't believe she'd survive the trip or that Riddick would come back. She was just trying to give the kids some hope.

Nevertheless—"No, I'll do it. I'm the captain." And she'd rather die quick out there alone and on her feet than slowly huddled in here with the people she'd failed.

Barely hiding her relief, Shazza nodded.

"Of us all, he likes you best," Imam said, passing over the glowing bottle.

At least Carolyn wasn't the only one in the cave to react to that statement with incredulity. Imam just gave a thin smile and patted her on the leg.

Running through the canyon and down the abandoned streets of the settlement with only a glowing blue bottle was a new level of nightmare. Using her fear as a goad, she clenched her teeth against the discomfort and used her empathy to avoid the largest congregations of creatures. Slowly she fought her way through until she caught sight of the distant lights of the shuttle powering up.

Carolyn splashed forward through the streets, not pausing until she stood panting in front of the brightly lit shuttle. Already strapped in, Riddick stared at her in shock through the windshield. The hatch in the back was closed. He really had written them all off for dead. He'd been going to leave her, leave them all here to protect himself.

And she couldn't even sustain her anger at the thought because she was exhausted and a part of her completely understood the feeling. Now that she'd reached the safety of the brightly lit shuttle, she didn't know if she could face going out into the dark again. But she had to. She'd promised. Riddick had to see reason and help her. He had to help her get the others to safety. He had to.

Lowering the ramp, Riddick walked out to stare out at her in the mud and rain. She moved beneath the shelter of one of the wings but didn't walk closer. The space between them felt too thick. Riddick gave her a complicated look, his goggles hiding the silver sheen of his eyes. His lips curled. "Strong survival instinct. I admire that in a woman."

Carolyn was barely hanging on by a thread. "I promised to go back for them with more light." She stared up at him.

Riddick hummed and tilted his head to the side. "That's nice." Otherwise he didn't react.

Acid surged up her throat. He wasn't going to make this easy. Jerking up her chin, she attacked. "What, are you afraid?"

He laughed, the sound of scorn failing to hide his discomfort from an empath. "Of what?"

Instead of what she'd meant to say, something about alien monsters and teeth the size of flight control sticks, she found her instincts taking over her tongue. "Of caring, of being part of a Tribe again and letting yourself be the Sentinel you were always meant to be."

All humor dropped from Riddick's face. "I don't have a Tribe."

Beneath her steady stare his lips quirked and he leaned an arm against the side of the shuttle. "To be honest, even if I did want a tribe, I wouldn't know how to start."

"With helping me now. Help me save them."

For a moment he stared at her thoughtfully. Hope sputtered in his heart for a second and then died, replaced by weary cynicism. He gave a slow shake of his head and angled his face away. "It won't work."

"Then give me light and I'll go back for them," she demanded wildly, hoping to break through to him somehow.

"Okay." Lifting his light belt off a hook, he tossed it at her feet. At least four of the six bulbs were cracked and blackened. It was useless. She wondered if it had gotten broken on accident or if he'd done it on purpose to keep himself from being tempted to come back.

"Please, just come with me," she begged. She couldn't do this on her own. She needed him.

"How about this." He took a step down the ramp. "Come with me instead. Those people aren't your Tribe. Come inside and we'll get off this planet and explore our chemistry in comfort, privacy, and safety." A sensually cruel smile curved his lips, tempting her, tempting her fiercely.

Carolyn hugged arms around herself. Swallowed. "You're messing with me. I know you are." She wanted to go up into the safety of the shuttle so badly, but—"I can't."

Stopping, Riddick's expression went cold. "You don't know me. I will leave you here. Come with me. Now."

"I—I can't." Carolyn sank to her knees. "I can't." Panting, mouth working soundlessly, she fell forward, her fingers sinking into the cold, gritty mud. Her head felt too heavy to keep up.

"No one would blame you for saving yourself. Here, I'll help." Riddick held out a hand to her, offering her safety, offering her an escape.

She looked at it helplessly, paralyzed by the war taking place in her conscience.

Riddick moved to her side with a sigh and put his hands on her waist, pushing and lifting her up.

Gasping, crying, Carolyn slowly started crawling up the ramp on her knees. Riddick let her go, let her take those final steps to damnation without his interference. Shakily she pushed herself to her feet. She took a step, the weight of her shame almost too heavy to bear. Safety was so close. It's right there in that brightly lit cabin. She just needed to move forward to be done with this nightmare. She took another step.

She'd live.

But she and Riddick would be the only ones who'd live.

Her body's momentum wavered, picturing Jack, Shazza, Imam, Suleiman, and Hassan waiting for her back in that dark cave, picturing their faces and that of the other passengers in their cryobeds when she'd pulled the lever to try and save herself by purging them during the crash. The visceral feel of that lever jerking in her hand was something she'd never forget. Nor would she ever forget the guilt.

Carolyn couldn't pull that lever again. She won't. He won't tempt her. It was wrong then and it's wrong now. They're Guide and Sentinel, meant to protect others with their gifts. She's better than that. He's better than that. It was time for her conscience to guide them both, even if that meant forcefully drafting him as a Sentinel.

Feeling like an ember dropped into a crate of rocket fuel, she turned and jumped at Riddick with a cry of righteous rage, knocking him flat on his back in stunned surprise. "Now you! You listen to me, Sentinel Richard B. Riddick!" she shouted in his face. "I am your Captain and Guide! And I say we are not leaving anyone on this rock to die, even if that means—"

Riddick flipped them over in the slippery mud and slid her body beneath his, pressing his knife to her neck with a snarl.

It should scare her, but it didn't. She was too worked up to be scared of him anymore. This was too important and at some point she'd apparently decided that he didn't want to hurt her. That trust might get her killed, but she's too exhausted to fight with both herself and him at the same time. "Get that off my neck!"

"Shut up!" he barked, features twisting with a maelstrom of emotions.

Biting her tongue, she glared at him mutinously, blinking rain out of her eyes so he couldn't fail to miss the full force of her displeasure.

"You'd die for them?" he demanded unexpectedly.

She still didn't want to die, but—"I'd try for them." Living with herself meant being able to live with her actions. She couldn't carelessly throw away the lives of these people again, not without trying her very best to save them first.

Disappointment stained Riddick's face and emotions. "That's not what I asked." He stared into her face, searching for something, maybe for the answers he needed to rejoin the rest of humanity. "No lies."

How frustrating must it be for a Sentinel who could detect lies to always be lied to? To be constantly used and betrayed as he must've been? Would it teach you to stop caring for others? To stop seeking for a Tribe because no one you met would protect you the way your instincts urged you to protect them?

And did he see a light of redemption for himself in her journey? A Guide who'd gone from being willing to kill a shipful of strangers to keep herself alive to being willing to risk her life to save just a handful of those same passengers? Carolyn didn't know how to show him how to care for others when she herself was so flawed, but damned if she didn't want to try. Saving the passengers meant saving him too, even from himself. Maybe she could guide both of them there.

"Yes, I would." She sucked in a breath and felt peace and resolution fill her soul. "I would die for them. I would have them as my Tribe. I would use my Gifts to protect them."

Riddick pulled off his goggles and examined her intently with his silver eyes, a look that penetrated to her very soul. She met his gaze unflinchingly, letting him see what he would.

Finally he gave a faint nod and leaned back. His lips parted and curled faintly. "How interesting." Eyes still locked on hers, he stood up and held out his hand.

This time, she took it.