As the crash site, Paris had taken watch guard on top of the crash ship. He leaned further back into his chair as Zeke dragged out the body sled toward the open gravesite. Shazza was somewhere in the shuttle, worker as well. And Jack, well the little monster was around here somewhere. So long as he stayed away from Paris, the man couldn't care less about the child. He mused to himself while the others worked, enjoying their work while he lounged about safe. Paris closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. Settled beneath an umbrella, Paris fanned himself with a wooden fan, trying to escape the heat.
A low scraping sound flittered across the hot air, making Paris pause his fanning. He sat still for a moment, listening further. All was quiet.
"Damn that child." He muttered. Paris rose from his chair and grabbed his war axe. He climbed down the shuttle and ran across the site to the cargo shuttle. His lungs burned from the effort, but Paris paid it no mind, That bloody child was going to get it form him.
Paris climbed the opening and peered inside. He found Shazza and Jack standing by one of the holds, cutting it open. "Tell me that was you just now."
"Um...it was me?" Jack answered.
"I know you love your twisted mind games, child, but enough is enough." Paris blabbered.
Shazza frowned. "What are you going on about? he's been right here helping me."
"Back at the ship." Paris stated. "That noise. You trying to tell me that was someone...else"
Another bang echoed through the hull, silencing the conversation. A shadow flittered across the floor as something passed by the fractures in the hull. Shazza slowly turned off the torch. Jack moved toward the closest fracture sand peered through. He caught sight of a pair of legs, men's legs, moving toward the shuttle. He turned to the others, mouthing with alarm 'Riddick'.
Shazza all but ripped the war axe form Paris' hands. She rushed toward the hull hatch, beating the convict. She pressed ehr body against the wall, gripping the axe tightly in her hands. Jack and Paris moved along the wall opposite her, watching for Riddick. Footsteps drew nearer to the hatch, heavy footsteps. Shazza felt her heart hammer in far inside her chest. She took a deep breath and swung.
"No!" Jack cried.
Jack's cry was all it took to divert Shazza's blade before it rammed into another man's chest. He stood, have daze in front of the hatch. His face was covered in sweat and blood, his clothes were half torn from his body.
"Oh thank god." he muttered. "I though I was the only one who got out of the crash ali-"
The man's sentence died away as the shots of Johns pistol rang out. Blood splattered over Shazza's face and body. The man never even realize what had happened to him. He collapsed on the ground by Shazza's feet. Behind him stood Zeke, holding Johns pistol.
"It was just somebody else." Jack muttered. He looked up toward Zeke. "It was just somebody else from the crash!"
Zeke rushed to the hatch. "Crikey, I thought it was him. I thought it was Riddick!"
From the comfort of Paris' perch on the crash shuttle, Riddick watched the whole even unfold. He picked up the bottle of alcohol and savor the bitter liquid as it coursed down his dry throat. To be fair, that sound Paris heard that sent him running, that had actually been Riddick. The poor bastard that took Zeke's aim, that was just pure luck. For Riddick anyways. It would have been funny if the survivors weren't trying to kill him. Riddick caped the bottle and rose from the chair. As comfortable as it was, he couldn't stay too long. Paris might return and that was not something Riddick was looking forward to. The guy was a damn coward, cowering behind Shazza while she went for the kill. Waste of a brain that one. Besides, there was something Riddick needed off them.
Zeke wrapped the man's body in a tarp and dragged him onto the makeshift sled he'd been using to haul the dead. he pulled the ropes of the sled, dragging it along the graveled earth. Zeke struggled to pull the sled across the earth. Maybe it was the man's weight that exhausted him further. Maybe he was simply too exhausted to pull another body. Maybe it was guilt of killing the wrong. Zeke shook his head. he couldn't afford to think that now. He'd acted out to protect the survivors; to protect Shazza.
The grave sight was good couple hundred yards from the crash ships, in the center of the pinnacle field. Zeke had constructed a tarp to hang over the sight. It protected him for the sun's rays, but also kept him out of sight of the others. Zeke lowered the straps of the sled to the ground and pulled open the tarp. Zeke frowned as he looked at the hole. A second, deeper hole had appeared.
"The bloody hell is going on?" Zeke muttered. He hopped into the hole for a better look.
The tunnel went on far into darkness. Zeke reached for his hand light and turned it on. He cleared away the opening enough for him to fit through. Slowly, light shinning the way, Zeke eased him way into the tunnel. He crawled a few feet, wonder just how far this tunnel went, and who the bloody hell dug it.
He never knew what hit him.
In a flurry of pain and shrieks, Zeke fumbled for the pistol Johns had given him. Slices and stabs came at him from every angle of the tunnel, ripping at his flesh. Zeke cried out, firing every way in the tunnel he could imagine, but the pain didn't stop. A slash took off his arm, still firing the rounds off. Another stabbed into his chest and dragged him into the bloody darkness, screaming.
Riddick had seen most of what had taken place. After leaving the crash ship and moving into the pinnacle field, he'd taken up a place behind one of the pinnacles closest to the grave. He watched from afar as Zeke dragged the poor dead bastard on the sled. Riddick's eyes never left Zeke's breathing rig, up until Zeke dropped into the grave. Riddick moved from his place toward the graves edge, gripping the shiv tightly. Quick and quiet. He'd be gone before anyone noticed something happened. Riddick eased onto his knees and the edge of the grave, just in time to see Zeke crawl into the tunnel.
That was when the game changed.
Call it survival instincts, or animal instincts. Whatever it was, it hit Riddick like a thousand pound force inside his brain. A second after it began, Riddick watched Zeke's legs plunge into the tunnel. Several rounds of the pistol sounded off, accompanied by Zeke's horrified screams. Riddick stood his ground, listening as strange clicking sound accompanied every slash at Zeke's flesh. He watched an explosion of blood burst from the tunnel, painting the entrance and ground, and then the shooting stopped. Riddick knelt beside the grave, listing to the dying sounds within the cave. Whatever was in there had been quick and painful. Whatever it was, it was something that was worse than even himself.
"ZEKE!"
Shit! In all the commotion of the attack, Riddick hadn't heard Shazza's approach. He stared up at her, meeting her terrified gaze. Riddick slowly rose from the ground and turned. He was murderer, but he was not about to go down for a murder he didn't do. Particularly when whatever killed Zeke, could easily kill him too.
okay, I know how it jumps a bit in this one, but there were two pov's to show for this. Besides, you know you wanted to get both sides of Zeke's slaughter. I'll get the next chapter up soon. that one will have a bit more Brisais in it, in case you were curious.