AN: Thank you for the review! I highly appreciate it. Anyways here's the new chapter, hope you review and I'll have the next one up in a few days.
"So what's your name?" I glanced at my side seeing Jack looking up at me with large eyes.
"Kat." I answered before looking back at the desert.
"I'm Jack." I nodded already knowing. "Umm…sooo…."
"Don't talk to her." I looked over my shoulder to see Carolyn looking at Jack and me like I was about to bite the kids head off.
"But Fry…I was just-"
"Don't talk to her." Jack sighed in frustration moving away from me. "Johns where's Riddick, we're ready to go." I glanced at Johns who was slightly walking weird. I hid my smile.
"What?" I looked to my other side seeing Riddick pop up out of nowhere. One of the many up sides to being on the run constantly. You moved in complete silence.
"Pull the sled." Johns ordered. "And you." he pointed at me. "Take the cell." I looked at the pretty large circular tube of metal and glass the holy man and his son were carrying.
"Johns she's the same size as me. She can't do it." Fry or Carolyn pointed out. I partially growled and stalked up to the cell. The holy man and his son gave me weary looks. I grabbed it with both hands and hoisted it out of the their hands. Carefully I moved my hand to handle to get better leverage.
"Don't assume you know me." I ground out. The thing was really heavy. I probably would fall and hurt myself, but I wouldn't let her tell me what I could and couldn't do. No woman would ever tell me what my limitations were ever again.
"You heard her." Johns said before turning to the others. "Let's go." I walked slowly behind everyone else. Even Riddick who was pulling the sled was ahead of me. The heat wasn't helping me in anyway. My arms were already shaking from the strain of holding the damn thing.
Stupid woman. Stupid merc. I cursed them in my brain and kept up my slow and steady pace. I could feel the sweat beading down my back. I really hated the sun in the first place, now I despised it. I huffed another breath and looked ahead. We were about to start walking up a hill. I groaned out loud and stopped walking. Riddick must of heard because he turned to see me still at the bottom of the hill. He stopped pulling the sled and went back.
"You know you didn't have to do this." he said taking the cell from my arms. I let out a big breath when the weight finally left.
"Yes I did. I am not weak and helpless." I said with a glare walking beside him now as he carried the cell without any trouble. He dropped it in the sled and resumed pulling the whole thing. I looked ahead seeing the others walking. "You know I think they believe we're some mindless beasts."
"Why do you say that?" his voice sounded like he was struggling only a little.
"Well for one your pulling a sled full of stuff like some dog would, and then they all stare at us with such fear that it's practically the only thing I can smell." I breathed through my nose appreciating the scent Riddick threw off. "Johns plans on double crossing you." I said quietly staring at the merc's back.
"Ya I know." was his only answer. I nodded and we didn't talk as we neared the group. Shazza looked behind her with narrowed eyes before catching up to Johns.
"So you click your fingers and suddenly their one of us?" she asked with an incredulous voice.
"Well, I didn't say that, but at least this way, I don't have to worry about y'all, uh, falling asleep and not waking up." I heard a hint of laughter in his voice. Jack who had been trailing behind the rest of the normal people began walking in front of Johns and Shazza.
"So can I talk to them now?" I almost smiled at her tone. Something about this girl reminded me of someone I knew…but who? I brushed the familiarity of the girl off. I didn't need to be worrying about it.
"No." Both adults said making Jack frown and keep walking.
"I think if Jack had the right kind of wrong people around her, she'd turn out to be one helluva killer." I told the murderer beside me. He smirked and nodded. I watched the prissy mans bottle of alcohol fall out of his pack and roll away towards us. He cursed and turned around to get it, but Riddick got to it first. The man looked up looking like he'd just died. Both stood at the same time. Riddick's face a mask of stoicism while the prissy dude tried to form words.
"Paris P. Ogilvie." he nervously wiped his hands on his weird clothing. They looked like rugs. "Antiquities dealer, entrepreneur." he held out his hand, it was shaking something fierce. Riddick smiled a toothy predator smile taking the hand.
"Richard B. Riddick escaped convict, murderer." Paris looked around him nervously before turning to me blinking rapidly. There was a slight pop as Riddick undid the cap of the whiskey.
"That's-That's a particularly good Shiraz." Riddick took a sip before handing it to me. I took it with a smile.
"Nice to meet you Paris. I'm Kat aeronautical engineer, murderess." I took a small sip handing it back to Riddick. He began guzzling it.
"It's-It's a lovely drop." he stuttered along watching the cherry red liquid disappear. "It's…very expensive by all means please help yourself." he said sounding completely defeated. He walked away with a slight scowl on his face. Riddick threw the bottle to the sand.
"Had a nice taste." I pointed out.
"So you build the ships." I glanced at him as he resumed pulling the sled.
"I build, fix, pilot, and hack ships. I can do just about anything with them." I looked ahead and saw a settlement of some type. As we neared it I couldn't help but notice there wasn't a living thing here. "Not a single soul." I murmured walking off in a different direction as everyone else. Everything was covered in dirt. I drug my hand across the metal where there were peculiar scratch marks. What happened here? I pursed my lips thirstily.
I kept walking around looking at the broken place. It was wiped clean of anything leaving. This whole planet must have been dead. I looked around a bit until I found a knife. It looked to be a kitchen knife. I picked it up and checked it's sharpness. Hm…still sharp enough to cut through things. I silently put it in my pocket.
I closed my eyes breathing in trying to get some type of scent. There was a faint smell of old blood and something so very foul smelling. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Whatever killed everyone smelled horribly wrong. I looked up to see Riddick walking ahead of me. Staring at the buildings.
"Whatever happened here…it wiped out everything." I said when I came up beside him. He nodded. We were coming towards the skiff. I blinked. This thing was ancient, but nothing I couldn't handle. The others were talking about it.
"Well it's no star jumper." Shazza said looking at the engines.
"It doesn't need to be." Riddick gained everyone's attention. Carolyn looked up from rewiring the cell as well. "Take a two seater like this back up to Sol-Track shipping lanes." he had his arms behind his back. "Stick out a thumb, bound to get picked up. Ain't that right captain?" I looked at the ship quizzically then the cell. Carolyn looked to Johns with an almost pleading annoyed look.
"Can I get some help here?" she asked with an authoritative voice. Everyone jumped to help her. Riddick began walking towards the ship. I walked off to the side of it wondering what the hell they were thinking using only one cell. I circled the ship once before going back to it's entrance. Shazza was crouched on the floor near the cell. Johns and Carolyn were up front. She seemed to be thinking of something.
"The ship takes a 90-gig draw doesn't it?" I asked leaning against the wall. They all turned sharply around. "That cell is a 20-gig. You'll be needing five." she gave me an incredulous look.
"How did you figure that out? You haven't even looked at the power grid." she pursed her lips. Johns began walking towards me.
"Get out Kat." he pushed my shoulder roughly.
"I can help." I said with a growl in my voice. He still pushed me on the ramp.
"You're not allowed near this ship you hear me?" he pushed me again. I rolled my eyes and began walking off it myself.
"Okay, but tell me this. Those things weigh about 35-kilos each. How are you going to get that much weight from the ship to here?" I turned on my heel and walked off into the settlement. I heard other language yelling off to the side. I ignored it and went to find Riddick. He was walking towards the buildings. With a heaving sigh I caught up to him. "So their going to need four more of those cells to launch."
"you don't include yourself with the others." he pointed out looking around the closed doors suspiciously.
"I might be able to make that baby run on the one that's already hooked up to the ship." I smiled deviously.
"But you need to get onto the ship to be able to. And you want me to get you on it I presume?" he glanced at me. I nodded seriously. "Alright just stay by me I'll get you on the ship." he fingered a pair of broken glasses on the floor before getting up and going to the doors he pulled on them twice, but they were locked from the inside.
"That's odd…" I muttered looking through the glass. Riddick moved a sheet slightly. It read Coring room. I was about to ask why he thought the doors were locked from the inside when a whistle made us both turn. Johns stood fifteen feet away.
"You're missin the party. C'mon." he patted his leg like we were a bunch of dogs. I resisted the urge to pounce on him as he walked away.
"Told you. Bunch of fucking animals." I muttered watching as he pulled the tarp down in I would call therapeutic anger release. A small surprised gasp made me look up. I saw jack with the broken swimmer goggles and a shaved head sitting in between two solar wheels. I blinked. She shaved her head.
"Missin the party. Come on." he imitated Johns and walked away. I followed. The sounds of everyone else and ended up in some type of mess hall.
Everyone was sitting around drinking water. Water! I slowly made my way to the table where there were glasses of water. I glared at anyone who met my gaze. I grabbed two glasses knowing Riddick wouldn't near them. I turned around went to where he was sitting handed him the glass before moving off to find a comfortable place to sit.
I found a comfortable looking pillow on a table and hopped up on it before sipping at the water. I was extremely thirsty but it was bad to drink in large amounts. You could get sick. I watched from behind my glass as Jack walked in with her new look. Everyone gave her the oh-great-he's-been-corrupted stare.
"What?" Jack asked like she didn't have goggles on her now bald head.
"It's the winner of the look alike contest." Paris said with an uncomfortable laugh. I rolled my eyes. If the kid wanted to look like Riddick let her.
"Well I think Jack looks nice with no hair." I said just to piss everyone off. Jack smiled at me, while the adults gave me grim faces. I saw the Holy man go off like he was missing something. I looked around noticing only two of his boys were there. I finished my cup and set it down. They started to explore the room.
I watched Jack silently. She herself wasn't familiar but her personality was. Like some distant memory of someone I once knew. My brow furrowed as I watched her tinker with some of the old stuff around the room. I saw her face twist up in curiosity as she examined some of the tools. It hit me then. Jack reminded me of my baby sister. She had never been afraid of me. Her older more then slightly unbalanced moody sister. She never gave any indication that she was frightened of the heartlessness I contained.
The image of a bloody butcher knife buried deeply into a five year olds skull, blood pouring into the gold curls coating it in the angry red. The glassy eyes of an unsuspecting victim burned into my vision. The handle still grasped tightly into a small hand whose knuckles were white from strain. The faint echo of a maniacal gleeful giggle perpetrated my mind. I dropped my head against my chest and tightly closed my eyes feeling the slight moisture at the corners of my eyes. She should have been afraid of me.
"You will not loose control right now. Do not loose control." I hissed almost silently to myself, but I felt a pair of goggled eyes on me. It was easy to know his gaze from the others. It sent shivers up my spine. A pure unfiltered animalistic instinct all humans held. Some more then others.
"Who were these people miners?" Paris asked lifting up a rock. Shazza shook her head. I lifted my head to see what they were doing.
"Geologists most likely. Advanced team moving around from rock to rock." I stayed where I was.
"Nice of them to leave so much stuff here." Carolyn said looking around her. "But why'd they leave their ship?" I saw Johns open his mouth to speak.
"It's a skiff not a ship." I said before he could. I was the ship person after all. I rubbed my eyes like I got dirt in them, but I just wanted to make sure no moisture had left the safety of my eyes.
"It's disposable really." he sent me a glare.
"It's more like an emergency life raft right?" Paris asked sounding a little uneven.
"Ya, they probably had a big ship drop take them off planet." I snorted in amusement. These people were trying so hard to convince themselves nothing bad happened to these people.
"These people didn't leave. Come on." Riddick pointed out being the voice of truth. "Whoever got Zeke got them. They're all dead." I nodded in agreement. I looked to see everyone look away or down. They were all idiots. They couldn't fess up to the truth. "You don't really think they left with their clothes on the hooks, pictures on the shelves?"
"Maybe they had weight limits. You don't know." Shazza said with a look that said 'Shut up you have no right to say anything.' Riddick smirked probably reading the same message off her face.
"I know you don't prep you're emergency ship unless there's a fucking emergency."
"He's fucking right." Jack said almost mimicking the word. My lips twitched slightly in a smile.
"Watch your mouth." Johns chastised. I glowered.
"Shut your mouth Johns. You have no fucking right to tell the kid what to do." Jack gave me a small smile again. I nodded in acknowledgement. Johns gave me the dirtiest look he could muster.
"He's just saying what we're all thinking." Carolyn pointed out turning to face Riddick. "So what happened? Where are they?" but before Riddick could answer the holy man nearly ran into the door.
"Has anyone seen the little one? Ali?" he called looking completely frantic. I remembered the coring room.
AN: another chapter. Review please, that's all I ask. Till next time!