AN: Thank you my reviewer! I appreciate it. Here's the next chapter and stuff…soo yaa. On a side note school started for me again and I hate it.
Disclaimer: (I've been forgetting to put this down.) I do not own Pitchblack, only Kat.
"Has anyone checked the coring room?" I asked looking at them all. A shout of terror alerted everyone to where the little boy was. They all jumped into action. I sighed getting up from my seat and following at a more leisurely pace. I was reluctant to go back into the brightness of the suns.
As we neared the coring room I stayed back. The same animalistic instinct was telling me not to go in there. Imam, Johns, and Carolyn were the ones to go fully into the building. I watched and waited for something bad to happen. I could almost feel it in my gut. Then a loud screeching started. I flinched back at the sound, my eyes clenching closed. The doors slammed shut again before opening.
"Imam?" Carolyn asked walking into the room again. I opened my eyes. There was a short shout and I knew he had found his son.
He had proper burial. His father chanting in the different language tears streaming down his face. I went into the coring room then not wanting to see the mans private moment. I walked below the first set of grates to look at the hole in the ground more closely. Johns dropped a flare. the green light illuminated dozens of skeletons. I leaned over to look.
"Other buildings weren't secure." Riddick knelt beside the hole. "So they ran here heaviest doors. Thought they'd be safe inside, but they forgot to lock the cellar." he put on his goggles again. I stared at the human remains. These people were killed by those freaky creatures. Something was terribly wrong with this planet. I looked up to see Shazza coming towards Riddick.
"here." she threw her breathing tool at him. He caught it easily. I took a deep breath feeling the slight strain it put my lungs through.
"What it's broken?" he asked throwing down at her feet. She looked pissed off now.
"it has a few hits left. Actually asshole I'm trying to say I'm sorry." her voice shook slightly from the emotion readying itself to clog her throat. I glanced at Johns who looked semi surprised before it turned to annoyance.
"Okay let's board this place up and get the hell out of here." I took one last glance at the skeletons before standing. Shazza kicked the breathing tool towards Riddick before leaving. He picked it up with an almost wondering look on his face.
"Well now you have two civilians not terrified of you." I said beginning to walk away. A hand grasp my shoulder before I could though. I turned to see Riddick holding the breathing thing towards me.
"You need it more then I do." was all he said before he walked away. I followed after.
"Carolyn found out something!" Jack said running towards a building. I shrugged and went to see what she meant. Carolyn was crouched in front of a model of this solar system. She was turning the gears faster then they normally went. After a few turns it showed all three suns being blocked by planets. It was an eclipse. Finally the brightness would be gone, but I felt an uneasiness in my bones.
"An Eclipse." I looked down at the model. She turned it some more but the planets didn't move.
"You're not afraid of the dark are you?" Riddick asked looking slightly smug. I glanced at him then the model. Quickly I walked out of the room ignoring the look Johns gave me.
I wasn't afraid of the dark. I lived in the dark. But something in this planet was wrong. These creatures…they kept to the dark. when the lights went out…they would come. I took in a deep breath from the breathing thing. For once it felt like I was actually getting all the air I needed. I heard walking and quickly stole away in a dark corner. Johns and Carolyn were walking out. I followed them.
"So we gotta get those power cells." Carolyn said walking quickly. "Shit I still have to check the hull and patch the wings."
"Wait on the power cells."
"What? Wait for what? Until it's too dark to get back?" she asked sounding annoyed. I hid behind a barrel.
"We don't know when it's gunna happen so let's not get overexcited." she turned quickly on him.
"Just get the fucking cells Johns." I stayed absolutely still. "What What is the discussion?" with a deep breath I crept closer.
"Maybe I should tell you about how Riddick escaped, and who Kat really is." I narrowed my eyes my fist clenching. I followed them to the end of the ship before sitting down on the dirt near the ramp. I closed my eyes and listened.
"Riddick high jacked a prison transport. made a helluva good run before I tracked his ass down."
"Ok ok maybe that's a good thing. We could use him to help us navigate or something." I heard Johns mutter no a few times.
"He also figured out how to kill the pilot." I heard Carolyn sit down.
"What about Kat?" she asked sounding tired.
"Ahh Katrina. She killed her family in cold blood. Was sent to a slam and escaped by tricking one of the guards she was in love with him and a bunch of bull shit. They were together for a while before she killed him to. She's been on the run every since."
"Okay what about her?" I heard Johns sigh heavily.
"She's a genius when it comes to ships. She knows everything about them from just looking at it. She can pilot, so can Riddick." I heard a large heavy sigh from Carolyn.
"You said we can trust them. You said that we had a deal, Johns." her voice sounded pleading.
"Now you may have noticed but chains don't work on these people. Now the only way you people are truly safe is if they believe they're going free." I wasn't going to go free anyhow. "Let's just say they stop believing-"
"You mean if they realize that we're going to royally fuck them over." I almost snorted. We already knew that.
"I want you to listen to me for just a fucking second." Johns was getting pissed off. "If we bring the cells up at the…" I opened my eyes and stopped listening. I stood up brushed off my black pants and turned to walk away. Riddick was sitting on a stool like thing.
"Johns plans on waiting to bring the rest of the cells up." I said walking towards him. "I'm going to need at least three minutes to do everything." I watched him begin to put grease onto his head. I looked at the curved piece of metal in his hand. I leaned against the side of the ship. I heard a heaving noise.
"Bad sign." Riddick commented beginning to shave his head. He scraped the grease off onto the bucket beside him. "Shaking like that in this heat."
"I thought I said no shivs-shivs." Johns dry heaved again. I snorted at him.
"This?" Riddick looked at the metal completely ignoring the fact that Johns seemed to be trying to regurgitate his own stomach. "This is just a personal grooming appliance." he scraped more goop off the shiv. Johns swallowed harshly before going away.
"Needs another hit." I rolled my eyes disgustedly at the retreating merc. "now to only get Carolyn out of the ship…" I muttered looking down. I saw from the corner of my eye Jack walk by. "Hey Jack!" I called to the girl pretending to be a boy. She ran over quickly.
"Ya?" she asked sounding slightly excited to be called over.
"I need you to do something for us." I looked at her with a charming smile. My gray blue eyes softening a bit.
"Sure what is it?" the killer in me turned my smile deadly. Jack's face only slightly changed expressions. I could see the beginnings of unnatural fear in her eyes.
"I'm going to need you to get Fry out of the ship, but be discreet about it kid. We're not allowed on that ship, but you see I am an engineer for ships so I want to check out a few things that Fry wouldn't know of." Jack blinked looking at me then Riddick who was finished up his shaving job. "Tell her to go check up on Johns because he looked like he was getting really sick."
"Okay sure." she smiled largely the fear melting away. She ran off towards the back of the ship. A few minutes passed and I saw Jack leading Fry out of the ship.
"Well look at that." I said with a prideful smile. Riddick stood up walking towards the ship. I followed. "Alrighty then…let's get to work." I muttered to myself sitting in the captains chair. I began typing in commands. The ships ramp closed. I watched as it checked the hull. "C'mon old girl…" talking to the ships always seemed to help. Everything checked out. I turned to get up and Riddick was right there. "Shit!" I jumped slightly. "Give someone some warning sometime." I muttered maneuvering around him.
"How do I know your not going to leave me on this dead planet?" he asked when I was crouched beside the cell.
"What are you talking about?" I furrowed my eyebrows staring at the wires. How the hell could I get this thing to power the whole ship? Maybe if I…
"Well you seem to hear a lot better then I can. Johns must of told Carolyn how I escaped." I stopped rewiring for a second. "So he did." I started up again.
"What are you getting at Riddick?" I asked swallowing over the lump in my throat. He could leave me on this planet just as quickly as I could. I hand grabbed my shoulder roughly pulling my up and around before I was pushed into the wall of a ship. I looked into his face seeing restrained anger.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about." he growled dipping his head lower next to my ear. I could feel his breath on my skin. I couldn't help but close my eyes and breath in his scent.
"No I'm not sure I do." I said purposely goading his anger. I heard his growl of warning. "What do you want Riddick?" I asked my voice slightly hoarse. He breathed out harshly. He began trailing his nose down my jaw line. I exposed my neck my eyes still closed. "How about a deal?"
"What kind of deal?" his voice thickened by emotion. I felt a feather light touch on my neck before it was followed by a slight nip.
"Us convicts got to stick together right?" I swallowed hard trying to keep my mind on track. He nodded almost absent mindedly. I opened my eyes and pushed his head up. I wanted to take off the goggles so I could see his eyes. But I didn't. "We don't have a lot of time before Carolyn get's back. So either we settle this now and I get back to work or you keep wasting my time." he stared at me for a few moments. The black goggles making it look like he had soulless pits for eyes. Then like nothing he stepped away allowing me to go back to work.
"I don't really know what's going to happen when the lights go out, but when the dying starts…" he paused almost dramatically in my opinion. It just added to his ruthlessness. "the psycho fuck family they got going on will rip itself apart." I moved to the captains chair again. My fingers flying expertly over the buttons.
"I know…trust me I know." I stared at the screen as it kept loading up.
"Then you understand what has to be done." I nodded not looking at him. "Good. Now if you won't leave me out here to die, then I won't leave you." I licked my lips contemplating.
"Deal." it was done loading. "Fuck! I hate old shit…looks like we're stuck with relying on the other cells." I said standing up. The ramp began opening lighting up the place once more. I turned the screens off so Carolyn wouldn't be suspicion when she came back onto the ship. "Stupid old skiff, maybe if you were a 800x2 model it'd work…" I muttered bending in front of the cell again and fixed all the rewiring I did. Without another word we walked out unnoticed from the ship. Riddick walked off somewhere else, I didn't bother looking where.
I looked to the sky for any signs of change. Nothing so far. I went back to where they had the water. I poured myself another glass. I drank it quickly relishing on it's cold taste. Setting down the cup I closed my eyes. I ran my hand over my face tiredly. I couldn't wait to get off this stupid planet. It was wearing on the tight control I had kept up for so long. I put up a good front…I wasn't as heartless as I made myself be. I just knew how to hide it. I heard a noise and opened my eyes. Jack walked in. I nodded at her in greeting.
"Thanks for doing that kid." I didn't feel like smiling.
"It was no trouble. Kind of fun actually. Did you get what you needed?" she asked with an innocent look. I held back my frustrated sigh and lied.
"Yes thank you again."
"What was it?"
"You'll see soon enough." I said walking out of the room then. It was growing uncomfortably stuffy in there. I wouldn't let her make me feel bad for what I had planned. I wouldn't allow myself to.
"Kat look!" I looked behind me seeing Jack pointing off to the left. I turned all the way around and saw the beginnings of the rings of the next planet coming into view of the sky.
"Holy fuck." I blinked barely believing my eyes. They rose quickly. I glanced seeing the holy man, Imam, come up to Jack's left.
"What are my eyes seeing?" Paris asked himself quietly. I unconsciously nodded with him.
"If we need anything from the crash ship I suggest we kick on." Shazza said sounding completely calm. "That sand cat's solar." I heard them begin to run in the direction of the sand cat. Everything seemed to go quickly after that.
"Jack…I think we should get to the sand cat." I said ripping my eyes from the almost terrifying sight. I heard her turn and follow me. I jumped into the back next to her watching Paris and Imam come on board with bottles of booze and water. His two remaining sons sat beside us.
"Where's Riddick?" Jack asked everyone sounding almost frantic.
"Leave him he wouldn't wait for us." I turned to see Riddick jumping down from a building onto the Sand cat. He landed with a loud thud. Paris stood completely looking completely freaked. "Thought we lost you." he sat back down. Carolyn got in front. Shazza swung herself off the side of the cat.
"Johns!" she yelled and began moving. Johns came out a few seconds later. Riddick pulled him on, they had a staring contest before he fully pulled Johns onto the cat. I sank further into the sand cat.
It was pretty quick considering everything. I had my eyes on the sky. The planet seemed to be picking up damned speed. It was already almost half way visible. Then I looked at Riddick who merely pointed ahead. Both me and Jack turned to see the skeletons. I ducked my head grunting as one of the bones scraped against my shoulder. I was glad I was wearing a white long sleeve. We came up to the site quickly. Everyone sprang into action. I stayed on the sand cat with Shazza. I saw Paris running off away towards the other container.
"Hey! Where are you going?" she asked with a `you're an idiot` look on her face.
"I'm just gonna get a couple of things…I'll only be a few moments…" he sounded breathless and oh so scared. "You wouldn't leave without me would you?" he asked turning and running to the storage. Shazza sighed.
"If he doesn't come back before they do, we're leaving him." I told her not caring if she protested or not. She turned to glare at me. "Do you want to argue with me?" I asked fingering the knife in my pocket. She must of noticed me doing that and turned back toward the steering wheel. I looked at the sky and I felt all hope of getting back with the sand cat go away. I saw Jack stare at it. The world started growing darker.
I felt the terrible strain on my eyes start to ebb away. Jack ran back to the sand cat. She grabbed a cloth out of somewhere and began wiping the dirt and grim off the bubble of glass so that more sunlight could touch the panels. Shazza backed the sand cat up towards the entrance so the others could get the cells into it quicker. But I knew we weren't going to get back to the settlement with the sand cat.
I saw Riddick come out of the ship with two cells on his shoulders. He dropped them on the sand cat. The two boys and I helped pull them on the back of the sand cat. Johns came out with one seeming to struggle. I would of laughed if it were better circumstances. Imam came out next. I looked back up at the sky. We weren't going to make it. The whirring of the engine shut off completely. I sighed in relief as the sun dulled.
The howling and screeching started. I looked to the funnels while climbing out of the cat. I watched mesmerized as the creatures began to fly out of the funnels by the hundreds. I could see them. I walked slowly towards them. I blinked and kept looking. As the light began to fade the more came out, and the better my vision became. Soon they looked like a giant swarm.
"How many are there?" Johns asked looking to Riddick.
"Beautiful." I heard his whispered word. A smile crept onto my face. Yes…yes it was.
"Allah." Imam muttered holding his sons close. They began to fly towards us.
"People, just a suggestion, but perhaps you should flee!" Paris yelled causing us all to go into action.
"Let's go!" Carolyn yelled. I glanced at her and back at the swarm of creatures coming towards us.
"Shit!" Shazza nearly screamed and ran. I turned on my heel and ran as fast as my legs would let me. I passed Shazza quickly.
"Get down!" the yell was panicked and from Carolyn I didn't argue with her. I dove for the ground closing my eyes and listening. I heard the creatures flying above me, I felt the wind they created on my back, I could smell their putrid foul smell, but most of all I could feel my heart pounding wildly in my chest. It all stopped, but I could hear them turning back. I looked behind me and saw Shazza's completely freaked out face.
"Don't get up…" I whispered to her, but I heard her breathing speed up and she hoisted her self back up.
"Stay there! Stay down Shazza! Just stay down!" Jack yelled sounding like she was struggling with someone. I closed my eyes waiting for the screams. I pressed myself into the dirt feeling them come closer to me. I heard her first pained gasp. I opened my eyes to look ahead of me. They were all tearing at her flesh. Holding her still in a kneeling position. Then I saw five or six dive into her back. She let out a terrible scream as she was torn in half. The carried away her still screaming self. I swallowed and stood up.
I looked to see Riddick brush off his hands like it was nothing. I rolled my eyes and hurried back to the storage unit. I glanced at Jack who was trying to hold in her grief as Paris kept an arm around her. I looked back at the funnels.
"We have to be inside to close the door." Paris said frantically pulling Jack inside. "Come on let's go! GO, GO, GO!" he practically screamed scurrying farther into the storage. I stepped inside still looking at the funnels. The creatures began wailing again. Carolyn looked back. Riddick turned around. I watched the funnels begin to fall releasing the real monsters of this planet. I saw Riddick lift up his goggles.
"What is it Riddick? What is it now?" I turned away from the entrance and went down with the others.
AN: Review please. Till next time!