Hey everybody! Thanks so much for all the reviews and suggestions. They make me happy! Haha So, guess who's in this chapter? Riddick! Whoot!

As always, sadly I own nothing, except Hailey that is.

ENJOY

Chapter 8

The search proved to be nothing more then a complete waste of time at first. Hailey couldn't believe how much effort one man was making them put into finding him. If they did find Riddick, which seemed very unlikely at the current point in time, Hailey didn't know whether she should complement him for being so resourceful, or if she should just kick him in the face.

'Definitely should go with option two.' Hailey thought as the branches from several trees scratched against her legs. Hailey's team was almost to the center of the forest before they finally found a clue to Riddick's whereabouts. A footprint in a clearing of the forest lightened Hailey's mood significantly.

"Alright, let's slit up. You five go that way," Hailey ordered pointing right, "and you four go that way." She finished pointing to the left.

'I'll go this way.' She thought.

Hailey was referring to the direction of the footprint.

"You sure that's a good idea Hailey?" Rob asked in a whisper.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's a good idea Rob. Why?" Hailey snapped.

"Well it's just…I know Tombs wouldn't want you to go off on your own and if something happens to you-…." Rob was almost frantic as he spoke.

"Calm down. Jesus. I'll be fine. And besides, Tombs isn't here. What he doesn't know can't hurt him, right?" Hailey asked with a smile.

"Yeah…I guess." Rob sighed; he knew he wasn't winning this fight.

"Unless you guys find something let's meet back here in two hours. Remember, if you spot anything that remotely looks like Riddick radio Johns, Tombs, or me. You got it?" Hailey asked making sure her team was ready one last time before they spit up. They nodded to let her know they understood, and went their separate ways. Hailey then began to walk in the direction of the footprint. It wasn't long after the others left that she finally found what she was looking for, well more like he found her.

"I thought they'd never leave." A deep voice said from behind her. Hailey nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned quickly, knife at the ready, but she saw no one.

"Come out and face me Riddick!" she yelled, "Unless…unless you are scared." Hailey added smiling slightly. The words barely escaped her lips as a thunderous laugh filled the empty forest.

"Me?" he questioned, "Scared?"

Hailey was about to say something sarcastic again but she didn't get the chance. She was suddenly knocked to the ground, her knife skipping across the dirt and landing near the roots of a huge pine tree. Riddick had pinned her face down and was now leaning over her right shoulder, his lips inches from her ear.

"I think you are the one that's scared of me." He said pressing his body to hers.

"Ha, you wish." Hailey said as fierce as she could, thrashing violently trying to get out of his grasp. Riddick's body weight was making it hard for her to breath, but she wasn't about to let him know that. He chuckled as he lifted up the black goggles that were covering his eyes. Even from the angle that Hailey was at, she could still see the purple tent in them that made them shine.

"Are you sure about that Hailey? You aren't even a little scared of me?" He questioned, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"How do you know my name?" Hailey asked trying to keep her voice steady. She was starting to calm down, relaxing her body under Riddick's.

"Oh, I know a lot more then that Hailey." He boasted.

'Good, keep talking. That will give me some time to figure out a plan.' Hailey thought as she started to access every possible way out of her predicament. She soon decided to keep him talking long enough to reach the spare knife she kept strapped to her side.

"What do you mean?" she asked while inching her hand down to the knife holster by her hip.

"I mean I know that you are a well trained merc, you and Tombs are best buddies, oh, and I know Johns wants to fuck you." He stated, adding a chuckle at the end. By this time Hailey had finally grabbed her knife and had laid it beside her. Riddick mistook the movement for a struggle and thought nothing of it.

"Well, that's funny Riddick." Hailey said preparing to make a move.

"Why's that Hailey?" he asked in a curious tone.

"I thought I was tracking you." Hailey said threw gritted teeth as she pushed her body off the ground with all her might. This caught Riddick off guard as he rolled to the side. Hailey got up as fast as she could, knife in hand. For a moment Riddick just sat there, looking at her. Then he got up calmly, and with a smile started to clap.

"I'm impressed." He teased.

"Looks like you aren't so tough after all, Riddick." Hailey spat.

"Let's find out." He challenged taking a shiv from his pocket.

Hailey was the first to throw a punch, hitting Riddick in the jaw. It connected, but not completely. However, it did make him take a few steps back, which Hailey was proud of.

"Not bad." he said with a smile wiping the small cut her fist had made on his bottom lip. Then without warning he kicked her legs out from under her, sending her face first into the ground for a second time. She rolled over quickly as Riddick went to punch her; he ended up hitting the ground instead. Hailey then jumped up and elbowed Riddick in the side. Hailey was going to capitalize with a punch to his ribs but she had no such luck. He grabbed her fist, spinning her around and pushing her head first into a tree. The impact was enough to make her dizzy, forcing her to use the tree for balance. She couldn't get the forest to stop spinning, making her unable to mount any sort of offense. Hailey fully expected Riddick take advantage of the situation, he would be stupid not to try and finish her off right then and there. She held onto the tree for dear life, tensing her body preparing for the worst. Yet nothing happened.

'What the hell is he doing?' Hailey thought, not daring to try and move for fear of falling over.

"Riddick?" She called opening her eyes slowly. There was no answer, but Hailey could hear rustling in the brush near by. It took everything she had, but Hailey finally managed to let go of the tree long enough to turn around.

'I should have just kept holding onto the tree.' Was the only thing Hailey could think of when her blurred vision came into focus. Hailey's mind raced as an animal bigger then a bear stood in front of her. It had the body of a lion, and its teeth were visible even with its mouth shut. Hailey couldn't do anything, she just stood there, staring. The animal glared at her with hungry eyes as it began to growl. Well, she was right about one thing, Riddick was definitely not her only problem on this planet. This creature was no doubt the reason behind all of the horrible stories the crew had heard.

'Come on Hailey, think of something!'

Hailey slowly took a step to the right, bad idea. The animal growled even louder and started forward. Hailey immediately went for her knife and much to her dismay found that it was still lying on the ground where Riddick had knocked it out of her hand. She barely had time to react as the creature pounced. Hailey closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, which was all she could do. Suddenly, there was a loud yelp and a thud. Hailey opened her eyes and saw the creature on the ground, it was bleeding from its neck. She noticed as she looked closer that a shiv was sticking out of the wound. Hailey then looked up to see Riddick standing over the dead animal.

"Why did you save me?" Hailey asked in shock. Her body was shaking furiously.

"If anyone is gonna kill you, it's gonna be me." He taunted, smiling the whole time. In the distance Hailey could hear someone calling her name, it sounded like Johns.

"Do me a favor, will ya Hailey?" Riddick asked walking closer to her. Hailey, realizing she was without a weapon and in no condition to fight, began to take a few steps back, accidentally bumping into the same tree that had knocked her silly and served as her center of balance.

"I mean, I did just save your live, a simple favor wouldn't be to much to ask would it?" he asked pressing his body against hers again.

"What do you want?" she said trying not to pass out from the pain. Riddick pushed the hair from in front of Hailey's right eye behind her ear. Then, gently putting his cheek against hers he whispered softly, "Ask Johns about that scar one more time." The words seemed to be fading as Hailey fell to the ground.

"Hailey! Hailey!" Johns was trying to get her to wake up. Finally, deciding that she wasn't going to come around, he lifted her up, making sure not to hit her head on the near by trees, as he took her back to the ship.

"When you wake up, you can best believe I'm giving you all kinds of shit for this." Johns couldn't help but tease her, even if she was unconscious.