Authors note~ I don't know how to spell Paris's last name so I just sounded it out. And yes, the fact that Emily's Ipod is charged is very important. Thanks shatteredstar21 for reviewing!
Taylor was instructed to collect all the refill air tanks she could find and Shelby was told to keep an eye on Kiba. Johns was getting even more skittish around Kiba and it wasn't hard to notice.
They were getting ready to leave for the settlement and Emily still hadn't appeared. By now the others were worrying. When Taylor and Shelby went to check up on her she was laying in the wreckage in a pile of space blankets.
"Hey, Emily, you ok?" Taylor asked.
Emily looked up from her resting place with bleary eyes.
"What?" She asked in a some what slurred tone.
"How are you feeling?" Shelby asked loudly. Emily winced and held her head. She pushed her self up, pain written on her face.
"I feel like I'm going to be sick."
"We're moving to the settlement. Riddick was also let loose and I'm on Kiba watch." Shelby's voice was barely above a whisper so as not to hurt Emily's head. Emily was attempting to process this info, it taking much longer than normal. Pushing her way through the pain Emily stood, swaying she grabbed Taylor's shoulder to steady herself.
"Here, you can use these." Shelby handed Emily her sunglasses. Since she couldn't process much info other than they were leaving she didn't stop to think about how Riddick had dropped them. She put them over her light sensitive eyes and followed them outside.
Emily's world turned as she was struck by the heat and light. She leaned against the hull of the ship. "I can't do it," she said in defeat. She slid down to the ground, panting.
Shelby looked at Taylor who looked worried.
"Emily how long do these normally last?"
She mumbled something that sounded like 'a few hours' but she slurred her words to the point where they had to ask for clarification. She moaned in pain as her head throbbed. The other Survivors were beginning to stack materials on the make-shift sled and it looked like they were almost ready to leave.
"Come on, Emily, We'll help you." Taylor grabbed Emily's arm and pulled her up, Shelby grabbed her other arm and they started too stumbled over towards the sled.
The only thing Emily was aware of was the intense pain radiating from her head to the rest of her body, the sloshing of her queasy stomach, and the intense heat that was only making her feel worse. She couldn't speak properly, nor could she think straight. All she wanted to do was go home and lay in her nice, soft bed and sleep.
Fry looked up from her work, noticing the trio of girls with the big white animal following them. She dusted her hands off and hurried over to the struggling group.
"What's wrong with her?" She asked, helping them get her into a sitting position by the sled.
"She has a migraine, she's gotten them before, actually this one doesn't seem as bad as the others because she's not barfing her brains out. But the heat won't help at all." Shelby said. Fry rubbed the back of her neck.
"Well let's try to get her as cool as possible." She bent down, taking out a pocket knife and cut her jeans from mid thigh and pulling the pieces of denim off so it looked like she had shorts on instead. Taylor took her hoodie off and tied it around her waist.
Bye now Emily was frustrated at the fact that she couldn't speak. She begins to protest or ask for some air and she wouldn't be able to say the words properly. She slammed her fist against the metal sled and growled.
At this point Riddick came from around the corner of the ship; he stopped at the sight of the group huddled around the sled. He walked over to them, causing Fry to stiffen and Shelby and Taylor to move out of the way.
"What's her problem?" He asked.
Emily looked up, the sun glasses blocking her eyes but she had a feeling he could see her soul even if she wore glasses.
"Mi-," was all she got out before her vocals froze once again and she couldn't speak. She groaned and dropped her head against the sled, closing her eyes.
"Migraine," Fry said. "How long do they normally last?" She asked the girls.
"She a said a couple of hours but normally she has a bad headache for the next week or so after words," Taylor said, her arms crossed.
Riddick raised an eyebrow. 'So she'd been tellin' the truth.' The thoughts ran through his mind as he stared at her before he bent down and picked her up in his arms. Taylor and Shelby glanced at each other with a curios look while Fry looked alarmed.
"What are you doing?" She almost shouted. Riddick looked at her and although his eyes were covered she could feel his gaze burn right through her.
"If she can't walk I'll just pull her." He said simply before pushing over the power cell in the sled with a foot and placing her in the sled. She held her arm over her eyes to block out any sun light. "I can take the extra weight; just tell the holy man and his boys to carry their own rugs."
Taylor scratched the back of her head in thought while Shelby was bent over Emily.
"Emily~ Are you in there~?" She called, she sounded like a ghost.
"Shelby! Stop messin' with her." Taylor shook her head.
Riddick had started to pull the rope over his shoulders.
"Hey. We'll help pull too." Shelby offered. Riddick stopped to look at both of the girls, neither of which had much muscle. He was about to say as much when he was interrupted.
"He doesn't need your help." Johns growled from up ahead, his gun rested in the crook of his arms.
Shelby scowled and when Johns turned his back she started to walk up to him. Taylor rushed forward and grabbed her around the waist.
"Shelby, no. Remember what happened last time?" Taylor cried.
"It's ok Taylor, we can both take 'em, you distract him and I give 'em one good kick in the balls and he'll be down in no time," Taylor growled out while struggling against Taylor's hold.
"Shelby, he happens to be the only one with a gun right now, I don't think it's smart to go up against him." Taylor put in wisely. Shelby sighed and stopped struggling.
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you."
Riddick shook his head, trying not to smile. At least the whole lot of them weren't idiots. The others all trusted Johns, but not him, or the girls it seemed. But unlike them he knew all about Johns and his… habits.
Shelby muttered a few choice curses under her breath and followed the group as they began to move. Riddick showed little struggle as he pulled the sled. Taylor and Shelby moved behind him incase he needed help going up the hills.
It was some time later that Shelby asked, "Do you ever look at guys butts?"
Taylor looked at her with 'well that was random' look on her face. "Well, depends on the guy. You know how I am, I like black guys. So I don't normally look at white guys. But then there was that one time with Stephen…" She trailed off in thought. Shelby laughed.
"You know, we never did find Emily a boyfriend."
"Yeah I know, but I keep telling you it's gonna be weird. You know her and since you like Stephen it would make an odd group." Taylor sighed.
"What do you mean?" Shelby asked.
"Emo, emo, gangster." Was all Taylor said.
"Ooh." Shelby's shoulders slumped. "It would be hard anyways, you know how all the boys are at school, and most of them are jerks. And Emily is so picky, she has all these ideas of a guy who would fight to the death for her but the second one offers to help her up she says something like 'get off I can do it myself'."
Taylor sighed.
Up ahead, Riddick was listening to their conversation for lack of anything else to do. Normally the girls would have been out of ear shot for the regular person, but Riddick was special in this case. It was weird. These girls seem to come from a place of little worry, like they never had to watch their backs.
"You know, you always like the big strong guys Taylor…" Shelby said in thought, looking ahead.
"Yeah, so?" Shelby pointed ahead of them and Taylor looked at the back of Riddick, who happened to be big and strong.
"Look down," Shelby said, almost in a whisper.
Taylor did and she giggled. "Daaaaaaamn~" They both laughed.
Riddick stopped and turned around to find both Taylor and Shelby kneeling behind the sled, still giggling.
"Oops. Guess he can hear us." Shelby was still laughing. Taylor couldn't answer because she was laughing so hard. Kiba was walking up next to Emily who was slowly getting better on the sled. He looked up to Riddick, and the man would've sworn he saw something like sympathy in that wolfs eyes. His lips twitched in what looked like annoyance.
"Start pushing."
Shelby and Taylor stood. Shelby saluted to Riddick before leaning over and bracing herself against the sled. Taylor did the same; she hadn't missed the order in his tone. They were making their way up one of the larger hills and yet Riddick still showed no strain, almost like he had only made them push to get them to stop talking about his ass.
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts; there they are standing in a row. Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head… Taylor what are the rest of the words?" Shelby asked after randomly breaking out in song.
"ummm… Give them a twist, a flick of the wrist. That's what the showman said." She sang.
"Oh, yeah!" Shelby sang the rest of the song and she was glad to hear of the others pick up the tune. "Taylor what's another good song?"
"I don't know, Shelby, it's not like we're on a road trip."
"Yes it is…you should get out your ipod." Shelby looked over at Emily's bag and gasped, Riddick stopped to look back. "No, we should get Emily's, hers is way louder!"
Taylor pulled out the small speakers that she could hook up to her ipod and set them down in the sled while they kept moving.(Riddick had started to pull again, seeing as how nothing was wrong) She pulled Emily's bag over to them and pulled out her Ipod, turning it on she blinked.
"Huh, her Ipod's fully charged." Taylor commented while flicking through the artists.
"What, no way, it never is!" Shelby shouted.
"How about some Super Chick?" Taylor asked.
"IDK, it sounds like a good idea, why not?"
"I don't think it's really Riddick's style. He probably would like something like metal that would match his badassness," these words came from Emily who had pulled herself up. She reached for the Ipod.
"Now how did I know music would get you up?" Shelby asked with her hands on her hips before she continued pushing. Emily started searching through the artists herself.
"You know what, I really want to listen to Super Chick now. Sorry Riddick," the man just grunted his acknologment. She put on the first song that caught her eye, "Rock what you got." Riddick was still smiling at the 'Badassness' comment.
This one's for the beaten down
The ones who lost their rock and roll
Rise up you lost ones, claim your crown
You were born to rock inside your soul
Welcome misfits, orphans, all
The ones who feel they don't belong
You were made to rock, so stand up tall
Go rock the world and prove them wrong
Rock what you got
Rock what you got
Don't ever let them make you stop
Rock what you got
Light up the lot
No one can rock the way you rock
This one's for originals
Who strike out towards the great unknown
Fear not the missteps, take the falls
The rock you find will be your own
Rock what you got
Rock what you got
Don't ever let them make you stop
Rock what you got
Light up the lot
No one can rock the way you rock
This one's for the beaten down
Who gave up on their rock and roll
Lift your eyes from what drags you down
You were born to rock inside your soul
"You know, I like the lyrics," Shelby commented. She was about to say more when Fry came back, shortly followed by Johns. "Oh great, the morphy," Emily muttered under her breath, Riddick glanced at her before looking back at Johns.
"What is that thing?" Fry asked, pointing at the rather innocent Ipod.
"An Ipod. Duh," Shelby said. Taylor blinked before turning down the volume.
"That thing is weird as fuck." Johns muttered. Emily sat up again, this time she stumbled out of the sled. She stood in front of Johns.
"You think everything that you have no experience with is weird. In case you're wondering, it's an old piece of Earth junk, nothing creepy or strange about it." Her voice was laced with venom that was directed at Johns and no one else.
"You listen to me-,"
"No! You listen to me you fuck head! I don't give a shit who you think you are but the only reason I don't beat your ass is because you got the gun and all I got is a spiked bracelet. If you ever so much as piss one of my friends off I wont hesitate to nudge you out of the light!" Johns was on fire with rage, he was a bit confused about the whole light comment, but all he cared about was that this bitch was going down. Kiba growled, his hackles raised and for a second Johns gun was pointed at him.
Emily's hands were tense and curled as if she were ready to claw his eyes out. Johns took a step towards her but was blocked…by Riddick.
Johns glared at the convict, "Control your little gang before they get themselves killed."
Riddick raised an eyebrow, a smirk making it's way onto his face.
"Wow Johns, you let a little teenage girl scare you so bad you want my protection." He said in his deep voice. Johns growled before walking up to the front of the group once more. Fry sighed and followed after him.
Taylor and Shelby both looked at Emily blankly. Then, "Emily are you PMSing?"
Emily looked over at them and laughed, it was loud and almost sinister.
"Don't you wish I were?" She said with a grin.
"Jesus Christ Emily, next time warn us." Taylor muttered.
"I had a feeling she was going to tell him off eventually; every time he pissed some one off she got that kind of giddy look on her face. Remember when she told that one girl off because she told Other Taylor to kill herself," Shelby shivered. "She was laughing about it and telling how excited she was the whole entire class period to do it."
"I wonder how she fights." Taylor rubbed her chin in thought.
"Probably dirty," Shelby said with a shrug.
"Pervert!" Emily shouted.
"Not what I meant Emily!" Shelby said, smacking her self in the head.
"Now who's the pervert?" Taylor said, looking pointedly at Emily.
"You got a dirty mind, you got a dirty mind~" Shelby sang. Emily sighed.
"That's what you get when you grow up in my family." Emily pulled her hair back into a pony tail while walking.
Now that the load was much lighter Riddick didn't need any help. While the girls were arguing, Riddick picked up the dropped bottle of whisky. The man Paris looked rather frightened as he held out his hand in greetings.
"Paris P. Eargolby, Iniquities dealer, entrepreneur."
Riddick smiled, taking his hand, "Richard B. Riddick, escaped convict, murderer."
"Don't forget, expert in being badass!" Rang out Shelby and Emily. Riddick chuckled.
Emily toned out the mans stuttering as Riddick lifted the bottle to his mouth.
"Chug, Chug, Chug!" Shelby and Emily, once again. Paris nodded and walked away with shaky hands, this was not how he wanted to live.
"You guys, are going to get into trouble be hanging around me." Riddick said, turning to face the three girls. Kiba was sitting in what little shade he could get from the sled.
"It's alright; we've hung out with worse." Emily said with a wave of her hand, as if she brushing the subject away.
"Personality wise, anyways," Taylor finished. Emily glanced at her.
"No, you remember the concert when we won the backstage passes," she turned to Riddick. "You never want to hang out with a band, especially a drunk one."
Shelby nodded in agreement. Whatever Riddick was going to say he was interrupted by Jack.
"Emily, are you feeling better?" he asked. Emily seemed to be in thought she held up her finger before walking away. She climbed another hill and was gone. Shelby and Taylor had disgusted looks on their faces and Riddick shook his head for what seemed like the hundredth time since the crash.
Emily came back over the hill wiping her mouth with her hand. She grinned. "Now I am." Jack grimaced, having and idea of what she did.
When they were once again moving Emily made sure to play "like a pill" by Pink very loudly.
"This one's for you Johns," she said only loud enough for Riddick, Taylor, and Shelby to hear. Riddick by now knew that Emily knew Johns was a morphine addict. Shelby and Taylor blinked; Emily wished they had seen the whole movie. She sighed.
They reached the settlement soon after. Fry, Johns, and Shazza went straight for the skiff, dragging the power cell behind them. Imam and his boys, followed by Paris, left to go fix the water pump. Jack and Ali were gone, playing somewhere.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Taylor asked. Emily shrugged.
"I don't know, follow Riddick." Emily said, she got up off the sled that she had been sitting on. She turned off her Ipod and put it in her bag over her shoulders. They headed off in the direction he had taken. When they found him he had just picked up the pair of glasses out of the sand. He looked up at them and stood, brushing the sand off his hands.
"We had nothing else to do." Shelby said. Riddick turned away without a word and grabbed the handles to the door of the coring room. It didn't open. Emily groaned inwardly.
Johns appeared then and in a casual voice he said "you missen the party, come on boy!" He patted his leg. Emily growled at his back, sounding similar to Kiba, who was at her feet. Riddick pulled the covers off the solar powered generators in what seemed like a flash of anger. There was a gasp and they all looked up to see Jack with a shaved head and broken swimmers goggles on. "You missin the party, come on," Riddick said in an imitation of Johns.
They followed Riddick as he moved away.
When they all met up in the cafeteria of the settlement it was without Ali, Emily , and Kiba. Though no one noticed as they were all gulping down the slightly cloudy water.
Emily had stayed behind to save Ali. The kid was supposed to die in the coring room where he was eaten alive by hatchlings. Not if she could help it. Kiba followed her with his hackles raised; he could smell the nasty bird like things.
Emily moved around the side of the building. She crouched at the whole where something had ripped at the metal plating. She squeezed through, not missing the fact that her hips barely fit. She stood and dusted herself off while frantically looking around for Ali.
"Ali!" Her voice was a whisper. Kiba had followed her in and was now crouched at her side, growling softly. She spotted the Arab boy on the other side of the room. She rushed over, grabbing him by the arm. The boy spun, surprise written on his face. She pulled him towards the whole. The boy struggled more. Emily didn't understand why, it wasn't like she was trying to kill him.
"Shhhh! Follow me," she said quietly. The boy had a look on his face that Emily had seen often on others his age. He thought he knew what he was doing and that she was just a girl, she had no right. Emily scowled, she opened her mouth to say something but froze when the panels covering the glass dome began to open. She looked up and could see the hatchlings stretching their wings.
"Move!" She shouted, pushing him towards the whole. The hatchlings suddenly dropped from their perches and flew at them, screeching. Kiba howled.
~A few minutes earlier.
The rest of the survivors had just noticed their absents, when Johns had asked, "where's that fucking horse of an animal now, I thought I told you to watch him?" He had turned to Shelby who suddenly looked frantic. "Taylor, where's Emily?" All hell had broken loose when they heard the howling of one angered Kiba.
Emily ignored the cuts and gashes she had received as she pushed Ali out of the whole. She forced Kiba out and followed behind. Two of the suckers had followed her out. She was covering her head and randomly striking out at them when one of the dropped dead, a pile of burnt ash. She grabbed the other one and threw it on the ground, harshly, it's neck snapped and soon it to became nothing but a pile of ash.
The others were by now rushing towards the three. Emily was panting harshly when she turned to Ali.
"Listen to your elders you freaking midget! I told you to get.." She stopped, realizing he couldn't understand her either but she had a feeling he understood for a tear was running down his face. A jolt of pain ran through her heart and she wiped the tear away, noticing a cut on his cheek. "Sorry," She mumbled.
"What happened?" Fry asked. She had Ali by his shoulders, looking over his wounds.
Emily took a minute to catch her breath. "Those things, little ones." She figured it would get the meaning across and she was glad when she saw realization run across Fry's fce.