Author's notes: hey all! Sorry for the mondo delay.. ive been having some MAJOR technology difficulties and only now just got my laptop back from the repairers! Thank u all for the amazingly kind reviews! I'm glad ya'll think my story is different coz that's what I was going for. Also, there is one review I'd like to answer to. I know there are a lot of stories out there with Jack being a psycho-kitty but remember in Pitch Black she's this innocent thing.. my story is trying to bridge the gap between that innocent teen and the angry-biAtch she is in COR. Also with us already knowing Riddick's going to leave jack behind.. it doesn't wrek the story coz if he took her with her.. then it would go against the story we already know in COR.
Anywho, enough of my ramblings.. im glad you guys are liking the story so far and yes, bring on the constructive criticisms!
Ch4: All a man needs is a gun and his ship
Riddick, had gone back to bed after he checked up on Jack. He lay in bed, but found that after an hour of thinking, he could not sleep. After the nightmare and thinking too hard about what he needed to do to get off New Mecca, his mind was racing and he was unable to relax. Deciding that he wasn't going to get back to sleep again anytime soon, he got up. He picked up his goggles and put them around his neck. It was still the middle of the night, but he took them anyway. Walking quietly out of his room, Riddick made an effort not to make any noise as he walked down the dark hallway. He didn't want to have Jack asking him to go out to the market with him again. Things got too messy last time. However, hearing a noise down the hall, Riddick's aims at being quiet weren't relevant anymore.
"No! Daddy, STOP!"
Riddick looked down the hall, although the room were dark, he saw everything in a light shade of purple. The screams were coming from Jack's room. Jack had mentioned at breakfast that she'd been bruised by another man, her father made perfect sense. 'No wonder this girl has a daddy complex', Riddick thought to himself. His curiosity getting the better of him, Riddick continued his walk down the hall to Jack's room.
Riddick could see the holy man exiting his own bedroom and stopped when he saw Riddick walking down the hall towards his and Jack's rooms. Imam just nodded at Riddick and went back into his own room. 'Somehow he thinks I'm going to be better at checking up on Jack.. He's mad..'
"No! No more!"
Riddick's attentions went back to the screaming girl. He stood at her door and turned the handle, unsure of what to expect when he opened the door. Jack was thrashing about in her bed. Her crimson covers were twisted as if they were binding her to the bed.
"I said I'm leaving!" Jack said forcefully as she gripped her sheets. "I don't care!"
Riddick didn't even realise that he was walking over to Jack's bed until he was standing right over the bald girl. He watched her with curious eyes. He'd had his own nightmares before, and had seen others have nightmares. But for the first time, he actually wondered what had happened in the past to cause someone else's nightmares. Specifically, what moment was Jack dreaming of and what was being said to her in between the sentences she was calling out?
"I said get away from me!" Jack screamed as she shot up in bed, her fist flying towards Riddick.
Acting on pure reflex, Riddick grabbed Jack's flying fist with his left hand and her shoulder with his right. Jack's eyes opened and stared at Riddick with fearful eyes. She sat, stiff and staring at Riddick, wondering what had just happened. If Riddick didn't see her chest rise and fall under her heavy breathing, he would have thought she'd frozen into place.
"Riddick!?" Jack finally asked, realising that the large man in front of her wasn't her father. "What are you doing here?"
Riddick knew that if he were her ideal man, he would sit down on the bed and hug Jack. But Riddick was not accustomed to such tenderness, so he did what he knew. He continued to stand over her. He finally released her hand and shoulder, and Jack sat up on her own. "It was your father wasn't it?" Riddick asked, wanting to ease his curiosity.
Jack lowered her outstretched right arm and placed it back in her lap. "Huh?"
"Was he the one who you ran away from?" Riddick asked again, being more specific.
Jack looked at Riddick for a moment, unsure of how much information she wanted to divulge about herself. Although she remembered her nightmare so vividly, she wasn't sure what Riddick had heard or why he was even there to begin with!
"What are you doing here?" Jack asked, hoping this one question might provide her with all the answers.
"You were screaming out. Telling your 'daddy' to get away from you," Riddick explained, using a teasing tone as he said 'daddy'. "I came in to see what you were yelling for and saw you having a nightmare."
Jack looked away, down at the crimson sheets. "Oh."
Riddick could see that she was embarrassed at him seeing her like this. He knew the girl felt she needed to be strong around him. 'Why does she keep wanting to be so much like me?' Riddick was still curious about Jack and what caused her to be the runaway she is now, hoping it would explain why she acted the way she did towards him. He placed his fingers under her chin and turned her head so that she was looking up at him again. Feeling her skin with so tender at the touch, made Riddick remember the dream he'd just had, before it turned into a nightmare. He tried to push away those thoughts as he removed his hand from Jack's face. "What happened to your father?"
Jack's eyes widened in fear again for a moment, before she got angry and looked away from Riddick. "Nothing happened," she replied angrily, looking out the window.
Riddick crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the young woman. No doubt she probably only saw his silhouette and the glint of his silver eyes, as the moonlight streamed in her bedroom window. However, Riddick could see her as if it were clear as day. Her white tank top had ridden up slightly, exposing her belly button. Riddick looked lower at the small shorts she'd worn to bed. The sheets covered her legs, but Riddick couldn't help but think back to his dream when he rubbed his hand up Jack's inner thigh. He had to get his mind of sex. Jack was just too young for Riddick to corrupt like that.
"You lunged at me before you woke up." Riddick stated bluntly.
Jacked turned towards Riddick with a furious speed. She noticed he didn't flinch when she got up out of bed furiously and stood toe-to-toe with the man before her. "He got what he deserved!" Jack yelled at Riddick. Standing closer to him let her make out his features with more ease. He had a smirk on his face and she could see it. It was then that Jack noticed just how close to Riddick she was standing. If either moved forward just one inch, their bodies would be pressed up against each other.
Riddick looked down into Jack's angry, chocolate-brown eyes. She had a fire within her that he had yet to meet properly. He secretly wished to meet the woman that Jack was to grow into, with this angry fire burning in her eyes. He too then realised how close she was standing. He also realised she could see the smirk he had on his face. "You smell like strawberries," Riddick commented, as he cocked his head to one side.
Jack took a step back, scared that her crush on the man would turn into something more. Even though he'd freaked her out the other day, she still did find him attractive. "It must be the soap that Imam gave me," Jack stammered as she walked back over to her bed and sat on the edge.
Riddick wasn't sure why, but he too sat on the side of the bed, next to Jack. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together. "There's nothing wrong with defending yourself from someone who is trying to hurt you," He said in his deep, gruff voice. Riddick was taken back by how caring he was to Jack. To Riddick, this is the closest he'd ever had to a heart-to-heart he'd ever had with someone.
Jack nodded, but did not look convinced. "Stay with me?" Jack asked. Riddick looked over at her and raised his eyebrow at her again. "Just until I fall asleep?"
Riddick found himself nodding to her request, before he could even comprehend what she was asking of him. She wasn't just wanting Riddick to watch her, she was asking him to be there for her and protect her from the scary moments of her life.
Riddick sat on the edge of the bed and watched over Jack until she fell asleep, just as he'd said he would do. Convinced she was now asleep, Riddick got up off the bed and walked over to the door. He noticed out of the corner of his eye, the goggles Jack had created to look more like Riddick.
'This girl will be the death of me.'
Riddick walked back over to his room. He picked up his large black cloak off the end of his bed and walked out, towards the front door. He decided that he should take this opportunity to go out into town without Jack. The last time he took her out 'shopping' she killed the arms dealer and then used up half of Riddick's ammo when she asked him to teach her how to shoot. He figured it might be easier and quicker to go it alone this time.
Riddick made his way back to the house of the dead arms dealer. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he wasn't surprised when he found that someone else had raided the room of the now free ammunition. Riddick surveyed the room to see if anyone was still around. The bloodied body of the arms dealer still lay on the floor. The blood that had pooled around his lifeless body had turned black and had begun to dry on the concrete floor. Riddick didn't take a second glance and the body on the floor. It was not the first time he'd seen a dead and mangled body –and it won't be the last. He then looked around to see what weaponry was left.
Someone had definitely been there since Riddick was last there. All the heavy artillery was gone. Anything large, expensive and ultra dangerous had been stolen. All that remained were smaller hand-held guns, grenades and shivs. Riddick packed what he could into his duffel bag and headed out into town. He still hadn't been able to look for a ship just yet.
Jack could hear the voices of people out her second storey window. She slowly opened her eyes, and found it was still dark. Riddick was no longer sitting at the foot of her bed. Jack sat up in bed and looked out the window to see where the voices were coming from. In the street below were two men. One dressed in scraggy clothing with a head of blonde dreadlocks, the other was definitely a Merc. Jack stared at the mercenary. It was dark, but the few lamps lit outside allowed her to see his blonde hair, scruffy beard and the rifles he had pinned to his waist-side.
The merc was showing something to the man with dreadlocks. Jack could make out that it was a piece of paper, but they were too far for her to see what was on the page. The man with hippie shook his head at the merc and walked off.
"I wonder what that was all about?" Jack asked herself. 'He can't be after Riddick. No-one knows we're here!'
Jack sprung out of bed and put on her cargoes and her picked up her boots. She walked barefoot out into the hallway and towards the front door as to not wake the holy man, and Riddick, whom she thought was still sleeping in his room.
Riddick walked across the city, around the buildings surrounding the docking bays where the star ships dock. Riddick was alive today because he knew how to avoid the busy places. Looking up at the rooftops, Riddick saw a ladder scaling up the side of one of the shops he walked past. He climbed it with ease and walked along the rooftops instead of on the ground where he'd be noticed more easily. He stalked across four rooftops until he found the ideal spot. When he found that he had a clear highly-perched view of the docks, he crouched on the edge of the roof and surveyed the docks for potential ships to escape with.
The rooftop that Riddick found ideal, just happened to be the after-hours nest of marijuana users. Riddick could smell the remnants of the hallucinogen in the air. The hippies haven't been gone from their nest for long. There were blankets and pillows sprawled out all over the flat concrete roof, however there was no-one there except for Riddick. Riddick looked at his watch. It was 5am and the sun would be rising soon. He had to act fast and scope out the ships in the docks while he could.
"I gotta get out of here before someone realises I'm here.." Riddick thought to himself.
Riddick looked out at the docks and surveyed the ships that were in the docks. He also sat silently, watching who walks in and out of the ships. It needed to be a ship that was only manned by one or two people. Anything too big will attract too much attention. It needed to be able to have the engine power to get him out of sticky situations.. and most of all, it needed to be big enough to house a 15 year old girl..just in case he changed his mind.
Jack slowly closed the front door behind her, not wanting to wake the holy man. She quickly put on her combat boots and ran down the street in the direction she thought she saw the Merc went. She wasn't entirely sure why she decided to follow the merc. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was 'cause she thought that's what Riddick would do.
She tried her best to stay within the shadows and to stay as quiet as possible. She passed some homeless men sleeping on the street, and tried not to wake them. She may have already killed a man, but Jack was still an amateur at hand-to-hand combat. She quickened her pace, unsure of how far the merc could have gotten by the time she got out of the house and put her boots on.
Jack jogged down two more streets before she spotted the merc. He was showing a nobleman a piece of paper, like he did with the guy with the dreadlocks that she saw earlier. She stopped within the shadows of the building on the corner. She watched as the merc stood across the street, receiving a shaking head from the nobleman. From that distance, Jack couldn't make out who was on the piece of paper, but she could tell that it was a photo of somebody. She watched on as the nobleman walked off and the merc stood alone in the street. Suddenly, the dirty-blonde-haired man spun around and looked right at Jack. Jack gasped and tried to hide in the shadows, unsure if he saw her or not. Her question was answered when she saw him turn around and walk over towards her. "Shit!" Jack groaned to herself as she turned on her heel to run back home.
The last thing Jack thought of was treading quietly around the homeless men. She could hear the pounding of combat boots in the alleyway behind her. She didn't dare look behind her, fearful of how close the merc might be, if it was indeed him that was chasing her. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Jack thought to herself. She stupidly forgot to bring a weapon of sorts, despite Riddick telling her she had more power within her legs than she did with weaponry. The other end of the alley way was getting nearer. Jack was thankful that there was enough light within the alley so that she could see the homeless sleeping on the ground to leap over them as she ran through.
"Gotcha!" The merc yelled as he grabbed Jack by the back of her tank top. Jack yelped as he put his arms around her shoulders and spun her around and pushed her against the brick wall of the building. "You're just a kid!" He grumbled.
Jack, frozen in fear, took in the merc's face. His dirty-blonde hair caught the limited rays of light streaming in from the main street. He had a scruffy goatee and he smelled of leather and gunpowder. It reminded her of how Johns smelled.. before Riddick sliced him open.
"Why are you following me!" He yelled, waking one or two of the homeless men in the alley.
Jack felt tears welling up in her eyes. She was scared, and ashamed to be so fearful. 'Riddick doesn't cry,' Jack thought to herself. "I'm not following you!" Jack mumbled, trying to not sound so afraid of the larger man.
"Bullshit!" He yelled. "I've noticed you following me for three streets now!" He grumbled, pushing her a little harder into the wall. "So tell me, why are you following me!?"
Sprung. Jack racked her brain, trying to figure out what to say to him that wouldn't get her shot. So she told him the first thing that came to mind. "I saw you out my bedroom window. I want to be a merc one day, so I thought I'd come out and see what you do," She replied, looking into his blue eyes, hoping he'd think she were telling the truth.
He looked at her for a moment, as if deciding what to do, before letting Jack go. She rubbed the back of her left shoulder, which had hit a jagged edge of brick when the merc pushed her into the wall. "You? You wanna be a merc, eh?" The man replied with a smirk on his face. "No offence, sweety, but you're a bit of a runt."
Jack crossed her arms and gave a dirty look to the merc. "I'm still growing..." she replied, unimpressed.
The merc laughed at her. "If you were maybe 5 years older, I'd consider your request to join me. But for now, how about you help me out here and then I'll let you go so you can continue dreaming about being a merc," He teased.
Jack watched as he pulled out the piece of paper from his back pocket and showed it to Jack. It was a photo, just like Jack thought.
"Tell me, kid. You seen this guy around here?"
Jack's eyes widened when she saw the photo. "Er.. No.. No, I haven't, Sorry."
Riddick spotted one or two ships that he believed would be ideal to steal. He already had his weapons with him and his goggles. He was ready to leave now. The ship he particularly had his eye on was a small, one-man ship. It was big enough to have a separate bedroom from the bridge and Riddick watched as it was refuelled by the workers at the docks. That meant that the owner would be returning soon to take off. Riddick had to work fast. He hated to admit it, but the ship looked familiar, like he'd been chased by it before. "Fuck'n Mercs.. They all start to look the same.."
Riddick stood, picking up his backpack as he did. He figured that now would be the best time to steal the ship, leaving the merc behind on the planet. Riddick was sure that no-one would know he was on the planet, but he wanted to play it safe anyway. He knew that if he left now, Jack would be pissed off with him, but he found the opportunity to leave right now were more important to him than going back to get Jack.
Riddick watched the dock workers finish refuelling the one-man ship and leave the ship. Now was the time to move. Riddick put the dufflebag on his back and turned around to leave the five-storey building to go down to the docks. It was then that he heard someone else jumping off the adjoining roof, onto the rooftop he was standing on. Riddick grabbed his handgun and pointed it at the new intruder.
As soon as the newcomer saw what was pointed at him, he raised his hands."Whoah, dude! I come in peace!"
Riddick assessed the other man. He was thin, wearing unwashed clothing and had a head covered in dreadlocks. "Stupid hippies," Riddick mumbled as he put his gun back into its holster.
The hippie lowered his hands. "Hey, that's not nice, man. I just came to hang out here," he said as he picked up a bong off the floor. "Wanna hit, man?" Riddick shook his head and figured he better leave soon to catch that ship he'd had his eye on. Riddick walked to the edge of the roof where the hippie had come from so that he can get to the docks.
Just as Riddick passed the hippie, he noticed that the hippie was studying Riddick's face. "Hey, man. You look familiar.." Riddick slowed down and stopped in front of the hippie as he heard this. "There was some guy asking about you before.."
'Shit!' Riddick thought to himself. He didn't want to have people on his tail already. It'd only been days since he escaped and he barely had any time to relax. Riddick needed to know who was asking about him, and he needed to know now. Before the hippie could react, Riddick lunged towards the hippie, grabbed the thin man around the neck and pushed him towards the edge of the rooftop. He lifted the hippie off the ground and had the man dangling from the fifth-storey rooftop, being held up only by Riddick's powerful grasp around his neck. "Who was asking about me!??" Riddick growled, his deep, bellowing voice showed that he meant business.
The hippie dropped the glass bong in shock and a second or two later, they could hear it smash on the ground below. Riddick was waiting for the frightened man to hurry up and answer his question. The smell of marijuana radiated off the hippie and the smell made Riddick even more impatient. "Who was asking about me!??" Riddick yelled again. This time, he pulled the hippie in close so they were face to face, with the hippie still dangling dangerously off the edge. The ground below was almost deserted, due to the time of night it was.
"It.. It was just some dude," the hippie stammered.
Riddick lifted the hippie up again so that Riddick's arm was fully extended upwards. "You're going to have to do better than that," he growled at the skinny man.
"Okay! Okay! He was a Merc!! He was showing a bunch of people a photo of you, asking if anyone had seen you," the hippie explained. "But I didn't say nothin'. I only just met you now!" The hippie explained, hoping to be let go.
Riddick was pissed. He didn't know what made mercs think he was on New Mecca. Maybe it had something to do with Johns needing to take Riddick to New Mecca before he sold him off to a slammer. Riddick figured that Johns would have had an accomplice waiting for them. It made sense. Who would try transport Riddick alone to a slammer anyway? Riddick never went away quietly. Everyone knew that.
"What was his name?" Riddick asked, this time he asked a little more calmly. The hippie hoped that this would guarantee that he'd be let go by the larger man. "He said his name was... Tombs," The hippie said.
Unexpectedly to the hippie, Riddick did not let him back onto the ledge. Instead, the hippie suddenly felt himself falling as Riddick let him go off the side of the roof. The hippie's screams could be heard for a second or two until it all went silent.
"Fuck," Riddick said aloud. The silver-eyed man looked over at the docks once more, seeing the one-man ship was still there. He then turned and ran across the rooftops back the way he came, hoping to reach the docks before the merc could find him. Riddick's black cloak rising and falling as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop was the only indication that it was indeed a man under the gliding figure that seemed to speed across the rooftops like a ghost in the morning darkness.
author's notes: sorry again for leaving ya'll hanging again! I got a sudden idea to spice up the story! Alright, uni finishes in a week so let's hope I find time to get another chapter underway soon! Alright, lemme know whatchas think! I'm really interested to see if I still have any fans waiting around for my story! Ahahah! Virg out!