Devil's Due
Only after Johns had put away his nightstick did Imam breathe again. The tension of the screeching oppressive darkness, their fragile light, and the conflict between the merc and con grated on even his nerves. Yet he was used to playing the soothing calm persona among chaos. Noticing that Jackie remained in her curled position on her side in the mud until Fry put a hand on her back with a concerned "Honey, are you really bleeding?", he set his resolve.
All Jackie could do was nod numbly. She was so scared, 'What if I made the wrong choice by not saying anything?' She was shaking with the cold. "It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay…" Fry hugged her as she sat up out of the mud.
Imam followed Johns as he edged away from the others. In his drug-hazed state the merc was working through a plan to get himself and Riddick on that skiff, preferably alone. The girl had to go. He had to talk to Riddick without the others overhearing. "Okay, I over-reacted. I mean I knew something was not right about the kid," he was telling Imam. "I just didn't realize it was that she's a girl. How the fuck was I to know?" Imam just nodded. Part of his duty was to take confession, but he did not have to agree with, or like, the person giving it.
Riddick decided that as long as the light was keeping the creatures at bay they could at least recoup here. He fished out the rations and motioned for Suleiman to follow him. Fry watched them approach. "Look, I don't think this is gonna work. I doubt we have enough light. There's 9 bottles of spirits back at the crash, if it would just stop raining…" She hated giving up, but… "We're gonna have to go back. I made a mistake, Riddick." Riddick crouched down next to them. Imam drifted that way too. Riddick just handed her a ration stick and shook his head.
But Johns had heard her, "What did you say?" He began to walk up to them and pointed at Fry with a threat filled look on his face. "You're the one who got us out here in the first place."
"I was wrong. I admit it. Okay? Can we just get back to the ship?"
That pissed him off. Johns shook with fury. Fry, Imam, and the kids were all watching him, slowly eating, looking like a row of drowned rats peaking out of the sewer. They all had to go. Johns grinned his sadistic grin again, "I don't know, Carolyn. Nice downpour, wide-open spaces… I'm starting to enjoy my fucking self."
"What, are you high again? Just listen to yourself, Johns." Fry noted that Johns was acting odd, evilly odd. She discovered that his blue eyes were icy in the dim glow. Shivers rushed through her, shivers of fear.
"No. You're right Carolyn. What's to be afraid of? My life's a steaming pile of meaningless shit anyhow, so I say we go on. The canyon's only a couple hundred meters. Another quarter-hour, at the most, and its skiff city." Johns knocked the food aside that was being offered to him by Suleiman. "So why don't you butch up, stuff a cork in this fucking kid, and let's go."
Riddick watched Jackie's face contort with fear as she tried to force back tears. He stood and moved over to Johns. "We need to figure out how to get the six of us there, Johns."
Johns scoffed, "Leave the girl and the rest of us will make it."
"Not an option, I'm not leaving anyone here with those fucking things," Fry resisted the madman in front of her.
"She is the captain. We should listen to her." Imam jumped into the verbal fray.
"Listen to her? When she was so willing to sacrifice us all." Johns focused an accusing look on the docking pilot.
"What is he talking about?" Jack looked between them confused.
"This does not help us." Fry countered.
"During the crash, she tried to blow the passenger cabin, tried to kill us in our sleep." Johns took sadistic pleasure in answering the girl's question, twisting the knife of a secret deep into Fry's soul.
"Shut your mouth."
"We are fucking disposable. We're just walking ghosts to you--"
Fry rushed him, "Shut your fucking blowhole!" He easily flipped her to the ground as she tried to attack him. Fry's landing was punctuated with a muddy, squishy, splash. She stayed down, feeling as defeated as Jack did at that moment.
"Fine. Fine! You've made your point. We'll all be scared." Imam moved up to Johns in an attempt to calm him.
"Oh, Carolyn," Johns gloated. "How much do you weigh now?" Imam shot the merc a dark look, one of the darkest ones Riddick had seen him wear on this entire journey. "The verdict's in. The light moves forward." Johns unhooked a percussion flare off his belt and slammed it against his thigh. He was going to scout ahead and see how bad the mating grounds really were. He set off into the rain.
Riddick stood up, Johns was gonna ghost the civilians. He could tell. Just like the last time. "Stay here."
As he walked up Johns paused, "Ain't all of us gonna make it."
Riddick blocked the flare's green light with a hand as he passed Johns, "Just realize that?"
Jackie watched him follow Johns beyond edge of the light. 'What are they doing?' she edged away from Fry to see better. Riddick had positioned himself to draw Johns' line of sight away from the group. "Six of us left." Johns commented. "If we can make it through the mating grounds at the edge of the canyon and lose just one, that'd be quite a feat, huh?"
Fry shifted and Imam put his hand on her arm, "Mr. Riddick said to stay here. Perhaps it is best of we do just that," he whispered to her.
"Yeah," Fry mumbled. She still was on her knees now trying to see what was going on through the rain that separated the four of them from Merc and convict.
"Not if I'm the one." Riddick replied to Johns.
Johns lowered the flare so that the light was not directly in Riddick's eyes, "So, what if you're one of five?" He had two different plans in mind. He'd start with the one that called for a single pre-emptive death first… A set of heavy wings flapping by got their attention. Johns waved the flare that direction.
"I'm listening," Riddick rumbled lowly.
Fry didn't like what she could see. The pair was once again acting like equal partners. She shook from the cold, from fear. Imam tried to assure her, "They are likely talking about how to get us through the mating grounds…"
"Battlefield doctors decide who lives and dies, it's called triage." Johns explained.
Riddick listened with rapt fascination. The merc had it all planned out. And it was something that even the most hardened convicts in any of the worst prisons in the galaxy would shy away from. He should have expected that a child-killer like Johns would come up with something like this… "You kept calling it murder when I did it."
"Either way, I figure it's something you can grab onto." Johns was ignoring the disgust that Riddick was throwing off like sharp danger signals.
"Sacrifice play? Hack up a body and leave it at the start of the mating grounds like a bucket of bait." Riddick offered. 'Yeah the answer was easy when you were real scum.' He mentally added.
Johns grinned sadistically, he liked this part of the plan… it was the best bit of all, "Trawl with it," he whispered, "We got extra cable on the 'cat. We drag the body 40, 50 feet behind us."
"Nice embellishment." Had to hand it to Johns, it was inventive in a sick way.
"Well, I don't wanna feed 'em. I just wanna keep 'em off our scent."
Riddick nearly laughed. Even the most twisted individual he'd met in any slam, Ol' Headhunter, would have a hard time topping this one. Not that a hundred bodies could ever hide the stench of old innocent blood on the merc's hands. "So, which one caught you eye?" he asked as he looked back at the group highlighted under the overhang by the cool blue-green light.
"No, no, don't look." Johns chided. "Christ. What the hell's wrong with you?"
"Imam, lets move closer to the sandcat." Fry suggested. "Just a little more cover there incase something happens." Riddick's glance confirmed her feeling that whatever Johns was saying put them in danger.
"All right, enough of this shit. You do the girl, and I'll keep the others off your back." Johns put the motion on the table. Riddick felt the beast inside well up in anger. Johns didn't notice how the suggestion affected the muscular man. Riddick paced a few feet away from him struggling to get the rage under control. Mistaking Riddick's body language Johns asked, "It's not too big a job for you, is it?"
"What's her name, anyway?" Riddick's beast rumbled in challenge.
"What do you care?"
"I don't" The animal side of him stated flatly.
"Well, then let's not name the Thanksgiving turkey, Okay?"
"Oh, you're a real piece of art, Johns. They ought to hang you in a museum somewhere."
Surprised that Riddick wouldn't cave in, Johns altered the plan slightly, "Okay, I'll do the girl. You keep the others off my back." It would be a perfect payback.
Riddick froze as if rethinking everything. He looked at the merc. "I'm just wondering if we don't need a bigger piece of bait."
"Like who?" Johns wondered. Hell, they could off both the kids and the holy man… He could kill Fry later. Or he could just kill them all now…
Jackie watched Johns flip his gauge up onto his shoulder as he turned away from Riddick. 'Easy shot,' she thought suddenly, then, "Fry, get down!" Johns altered his posture and took aim at the saturated rock above their heads. Imam reacted faster than Fry, whipping his body out and over hers as he pulled her down at the same instant Johns fired. Mud and rock rained down on them covering Imam and Fry. Jackie screamed in fear as much as pain when a large chunk pinned her legs and lower torso down. Through the red glaze of agony she watched Johns got two more shots off showering the four of them in even more mud then Riddick knock the shotgun back into the safety zone. The flare fell forming a separate, stronger, circle of green light. She heard the crack of joints as the weapon hit, skid, and spun finally bathing the struggling men in its light beam as they danced in lethal combat. 'We're all gonna die out here,' she thought as her eyes welled up with hot tears. Riddick threw Johns out into the center of the circle and moved his disjointed arm back into its socket. The darkness inside him was as full of death as the unnatural night surrounding them. He let the beast out and embraced it as he pulled his shiv.
Seeing the blade, Johns flipped his badge off his vest and popped out the hidden cutting edge. 'Bring it on.' He was in his element, and finally he no longer cared about the money. "One rule." Riddick informed him as he sent the badge flying off into the blackness and swung for Johns' throat on the back swing, "Stay in the light." Johns hit the dirt at the edge of the green illumination. Although he was down he was not out… he pulled his nightstick and aimed for the convict's knees. Hearing the large man hit the ground Johns twisted and flung his body at him going for Riddick head with the club. They struggled for a moment as Riddick caught his hand and looked for an advantage. He flipped Johns over onto his back but lost the shiv in the process. They both got to their feet.
Johns regained the nightstick and hammered the con in an already bruised location. Johns grunted with satisfaction as his bounty went back down; he circled and flipped the shiv into his hand with the toe of his boot. The catch was partly concealed by the resulting spray of muddy water. "You always did have a soft spot of kids, Riddick. It's gonna get you killed. Not some day, but this day. And when I'm done with you, I'm gonna find out just how loud that girl can scream."
The threat gave the beast another shot of energy. Riddick lunged at Johns knocking him into the mud, "You are never gonna get that chance," Riddick's voice barely carried through the background noise of the rain. He grabbed the hand with the nightstick and crushed it, shattering bone with a vice-like grip. "Remember that moment?" Johns didn't make a sound. The morphine was still running good. He slashed at Riddick only to find a boot knocking the handmade knife into the dark beyond the wall of light. Johns felt his fingers around the knife make a sickening crunch that might mean they were disjointed. No matter, he popped three of them back into place. Jackie noticed that the light they were in was dimming. Johns went for the nightstick laying right at the edge of the beam. Riddick pulled his second, hidden shiv. "See, Johns—you made fatal mistakes. One, Jackie is mine. Threaten her, and you forfeit your right to live."
"I'll see you in hell, you sick mother-fucker!" Johns reached his nightstick. He turned expecting to see Riddick in the same spot he'd been talking from only to face a dark sheet of water.
"Two, you never should have taken the chains off, Johns." The voice came from another direction; empty by the time Johns spun to face it. Riddick buried his shiv in to the hilt in Johns' sweet spot holding it in place to give the stunned man time to register the cold metal; "You were one brave fuck before." Riddick's breath was hot in Johns' ear. "The gauge – the blue uniform – the chains…" He pulled the shiv up and out as he melted into the rain. Johns fell towards the shotgun, clawing the mud with his one good hand. The gun's light sputtered and faded, the battery finally giving up as Riddick's voice taunted Johns' trip down to the abyss, "I told you to ghost me…."
Jackie passed out.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
She was dreaming. It was the only explanation for how her bed ended up in an ocean, floating in the rain. Her blankets were wet. The ocean smelled of dirt. 'What a messed up dream.' She heard a voice, one her mind associated with a dark-skinned bearded man, "Where is Johns?" It echoed. 'Who cares?' She wondered, 'Johns shot at us.' Her mind suddenly remembered where she was. The howling gray monsters with their huge teeth and diamond shaped mouths. The relentless rain. Johns' evil expression. The pale glow of the fiber optics woven into the sand cat's roll-cage. She was not in bed. The weight was not covers but rock and mud. She fought to regain consciousness.
"Which half?" Riddick sounded amused at Imam's question. Jackie felt the weight ease on her legs. Large hands were scooping off the sticky mud and chunks of rock.
"Is she okay?" Fry asked.
"Don't know." Riddick was guarded again.
Imam asked, "Are you?"
"Yeah, we three got mud and water, Imam. Jackie got hit with rock."
Jackie felt like her entire body had been through a wringer. She groaned as she forced her eyes open. She found Fry hovering over her head. She looked odd upside down. Riddick was checking her unburied legs for breaks. Everything seemed okay there. "Move your toes, Jack," he ordered. Jackie wiggled her feet. Riddick turned his attention to her pelvis, where he'd found the largest rock. The bone seemed solid.
"I think I'm black and blue, guys, but nothing's broken." Jackie attempted to be cheerful. Her entire body hurt but it was all bruise-pain. She knew what broken bones felt like and the pain was very different from this.
"I'm gonna pick you up and put you in the 'cat, Jackie. Cover yourself with light tubes." Riddick waited for a nod. After Jackie realized he wanted a go-ahead she nodded. God, it hurt to be moved; it hurt too much, something was really wrong. She tried to breathe normally. Imam, Suleiman, and Fry followed Riddick back to the sand cat. "I'm gonna go fast. Just keep the light over you. That goes for everyone." He placed Jackie into the center seat. Suleiman and Fry flanked her, pulling coils of light up over the three of them. Imam took the remaining back seat. They were all so muddy; it was hard to tell anymore what colors their clothes were.
Riddick started up the 'cat again. It still ran. The area ahead would claim someone, he was sure of it. Jackie groaned softly from the back. He tightened his face and eased the sand cat into a faster pace. The mating grounds were a kill-zone. They were gonna lose people. He just hoped that one of them would not be Jack.
"Lights up," Fry ordered. Everyone assumed positions with their hand light facing out into the gloom ahead. The creatures were bolder in the mating grounds. The swooping got closer and closer as the young males attempted to secure meals to impress potential mates. One finally hit the glowing light tubes, severing them, killing the overhead light and making a huge hole in the makeshift roof. The hand lights drove it back. Only the fact the Riddick had undone half of the cables for them to cover themselves with saved them any light at all. The onslaught didn't end there. Fry centered herself on the side, back to back with Imam, sweeping her hand light through the rain. It was Suleiman who spotted the large hammerhead diving for the group. Unsure of the creature's target he brought his light up, catching it in it's scarred face. It occurred to Suleiman that the light was not pushing this one off, and that its talons were aimed just past him. He flipped over, spotted Jack, and threw himself over her. It shielded Jack but left Suleiman defenseless with his back exposed. Everything happened so fast that Imam barely had time to think about it before he was gone into the darkness. "Suleiman!" Imam screamed. Then they were past the mating grounds, and they still had a ways to go.
Riddick ran the sand-cat at a gathering speed, slowly working up the momentum until they were at full speed. They flew the distance down the canyon, the creatures ahead of them scattering in outrage at the disturbance. They were smaller here, and those who got too close lit up and burned. Jackie could hear the rushing water flowing opposite to their path. By the sound of it they had reached the narrow part of the canyon. More hatchlings buzzed them, wave after wave, finally giving way to larger and larger creatures as they neared the secondary nesting grounds. The hammerheads seemed more intent here on eating each other than them. The blue gore mixed with the mud. Jackie found herself throwing bits of hammerhead out into the night as chunks fell on them. One landed on the roll cage, dead. Imam and Fry moved to heave it off. It oozed over the front and Riddick ran over it in his haste. The creatures never reached the largest sizes, but topped off at man-sized. Any stupid enough to challenge the oncoming boxy shape were smashed under its wheels. Most flew up above them. A few scattered to the sides.
One clawed the 'cat and Fry kicked it violently with her boot. "Are we almost there?" Fry noticed the clawing had cut the tubing on her side. She grabbed a flare and set it off. "Please tell me we are almost there."
Riddick slowed the vehicle; "There's a sheet of water flowing into the canyon ahead. I don't know how deep it is. A lot of them are at the edge, drinking." Riddick whispered. If Fry's seal job was faulty, this would kill the 'cat. Just beyond that was the row of hills that sheltered the settlement from the flow of water. Riddick guessed it was only short distance. He took a deep breath, "Imam, pray." He didn't believe that God necessarily wanted to help them, but it couldn't hurt at this point. He steeled himself and eased the 'cat toward the water. The creatures scattered on the near side. Riddick eased the cat into the shallow sheet. There was no bank, nothing to catch the water and channel it on this side. But as they pressed on the flow deepened and the current caused the vehicle to slide. He angled it into the flood and pushed on. The hammerheads resumed their positions and appeared to watch them much as a bunch of alligators might watch a swamp boat cross. The water reached the underside of the 'cat.
Jackie squeezed her eyes closed, "Make it, make it, make it…" she chanted. Fry's green flare sputtered out. She grabbed another one. Water rapidly reached the top of the sand cat's sides and lapped over. Riddick was already up to his waist in water. So far the wheels were still moving. One of the light generators sparked and shut off. They had not thought to seal those. Imam tried several hand lights noticing how weak the beams looked. He handed two of the strongest to Jackie and lit a flare for himself. The second generator sparked and went out. Jackie continued to chant, "make it, make it, make it…"
They were starting to shed water. The cat was nearly across. Riddick put the accelerator all the way down and charged the waiting creatures on the other side, throwing water with the 'cat as he did so. They scattered in confusion. As the group cleared the water, only two weak hand lights and two flares kept the howling death at bay. Riddick angled the 'cat to a gap in the hill ridge. The settlement was meters away. As they entered the first row of buildings several of the creatures swiped at the vehicle's sides. Imam waved them off with his flare. One of Jackie's lights faded. She threw it at an oncoming creature, and it shrieked as the bulb died with a final spark and flash.
They pulled up alongside the tiny ship. Fry tossed her almost spent flare and lit the last one. She hopped out to check the skiff. Within seconds the lights were on. Riddick lifted Jackie out and put her inside in the co-pilot's seat. "Damn, Riddick. Johns must have left the computer inside the main room. That's where he exited from when we left," Jackie managed to shift in the seat.
"What does it look like," Riddick thought he knew but would rather find out for sure.
"About so by so, and this thick. Metallic, with rounded corners," Jackie used her hands to give the size. Riddick nodded. He'd seen it sitting next to the box of blue shells. Johns had carried a box of red shells with them back to the crash. He knew where it was.
Imam flipped the boxes out and grabbed a cell. He was still fully aware of the hungry creatures gathering just at the edge of the skiff's illumination. Fry lifted the boxes of supplies out of the sand cat and carried them inside. Riddick emerged to heft two cells up and into the craft. Imam went back out and threw his dying flare out to drive the creatures off. Fry kneeled down and begin hooking the cells up in a frantic pace after passing her flare off to Riddick.
"Give me five minutes. Should take less. Then get the fuck out of here," he told Fry.
Fry countered, "It'll take at least 15 to run the pre-flight checks. Go on, while we still have light."
Riddick emerged from the skiff. "Imam, I'm going over there." It was a fool's run, but Jackie couldn't get into the database and work her magic with out Johns' link. Imam handed Riddick the last hand light. As he headed out into the darkness, Imam brought Fry the last cell.
Jackie watched the green glow cross over to the main building. Soon the windows seeped the same glow. Riddick exited the building as the flare died. He switched to the flashlight. It too was fading. Jackie couldn't watch, and she couldn't look away. Riddick tossed the light aside as a man-sized hammerhead settled in front of him. In anger, Riddick rushed it, locking his hands over its claws as they struggled. He outsmarted it as he pulled his shiv and quickly gutted it. He hoped that the mud wouldn't render the guild-link unusable. As he bent to pick it up, Fry hit the headlights of the skiff driving off nearly a hundred waiting predators. He passed to the rear of the skiff and showed Jackie his success. He entered and they closed the hatch.
Riddick passed Imam who was waiting at the ramp, "Good prayer, Father." He moved over to Fry. She was in the pilot's seat, running the last check on the main drive. If there was something wrong they were so screwed. They were not out of the woods yet. Riddick looked at Jackie, "I'm gonna move you." Jackie looked up at him and nodded. He gently scooped her up and carried her to the back. Jackie tried not to stiffen as the movement sent waves of achy pain through the muscles in her torso. Riddick settled her in a chair near the front and buckled her in. Imam settled in two seats down and pulled out his prayer beads.
Jackie looked Riddick over. Her mind recalled what Johns had threatened and Riddick's response. She sighed. "Riddick, the pocket-'puter is in my thigh pocket. Want to see if it survived?"
To her surprise he turned to Fry, "You still have it?" Fry unzipped a pocket and handed the device back without taking her eyes off the readouts. "We took it off you because we feared it was busted, but except for the case it seems intact." Imam smiled at Jackie. It was a 'God was with us' smile. Jackie smiled back. Riddick was more intent on Jackie's injuries. "You were very lucky, Jack. If you hadn't been leaning that rock would have smashed into your head."
"That thought did occur to me, just before I passed out," Jackie tried to smile again, but her spirit was just about exhausted. Riddick crouched in front of her with his hand resting on the edge of the seat. She wanted him to hold her, but there wasn't the time. He reached up and wiped the last of the dirt specks off her cheek. His face softened. This had been his little Audrey, but now – his feelings swirled. He wasn't related to her, he told himself. And he'd only known her when she was a tot for 18 months ending nearly 12 years ago. He was not much older at the tim then she was now. Out of cryo he was just over double her age, a matter of perhaps a few years was all, but he guessed that with cryo taken into account the gap between them was even smaller. He'd spent a lot of time on ice, nearly five years, and by the looks of it Jackie had been under maybe only the twenty-two weeks. Jackie gritted her teeth. She had no idea what he was thinking. His goggles hid his eyes, and his face was softly blank. She shivered, aware that the clothes she was wearing were soaked to the bone. Clinging to her skin. She tugged her shirt away from her chest. Pain from what had to be one big bruise covering her entire middle made her hiss and try to stay still. Riddick remained statue-like, his thoughts hidden behind an impassive front.
"Okay, buckle in. Everything looks good," Fry announced.
Riddick smoothly stood, still watching her. They were still in a danger zone. Not a time to lose it. He ran a hand under her chin before joining Fry up front.
Jackie gulped air. They had made it. Suddenly she was very tired. She let her body relax into the seat.
"With so much prayer to make up for, I scarcely know where to begin," Imam announced.
"I know where I'd start, Imam," Jackie turned her head and looked at the holy man's hollow expression. He'd lost everyone. She reached out and took his hand, "I'd start by putting in a good word for Suleiman. He was very brave. I should have been the one taken there," she weakly tightened her grip.
"No child. God took him. Your role in the universe must not be played out yet. But you are right, I should start with the dead…."
Jackie managed another tired smile as she heard the engines whine to full power. Exhaustion overtook her and she let her head fall back into the headrest. She was just closing her eyes when everything shut down.
"Riddick! What are you doing?" Fry's panic started Jackie back awake. He had put his hand over Fry's and shut down everything.
"We can't leave."
"What? Why?" Fry was about to tackle him.
"Yeah, can't we just get the hell out of here. Now--" Jackie whispered
"We can't leave," Riddick repeated as the hammerheads suddenly made it known that they were intent on opening the ship up like a tin can to get at them. The thuds were everywhere.
"Allah--" Imam wheezed suddenly fearful that Riddick had decided to show his true colors and become the monster Johns had hinted was there all along.
The skiff rocked and jolted. One large hammerhead pounced on the windshield and smacked its face ridge into the tough clear material. Jackie, Imam, and Fry gasped back. Riddick turned all his fury on the raging hungered thing just feet away from his nose, "We really can't—at least, not without saying 'Good Night'." He flipped the power back on and pulled Fry's hand with the lever under it all the way down, knowing that they'd reduce the population by a tiny but satisfying amount. The creature on the windshield shrieked as the force of the take off pounded it to pieces against the bodies of the hammerheads behind it. Jackie felt her body give into its need for rest as the blood was forced out of her head by the g-forces of the take-off. She let out one last faint sigh as the planet fell off behind them.