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Italics = Inner most thoughts

Bold Italics =Thoughts of the 'Beast'

Chapter 2

Riddick had known that taking the ghost lane was risky. And something had gone wrong with their trip alright, just as Riddick had predicted. Too bad the "Blue-eyed Devil", Johns, hadn't gotten ghosted in the crash like so many of the others. Instead the fucker was resilient…like a cockroach.

Riddick's "animal-side", or inner beast, had been going crazy since before the crash of the Hunter Gratzner. His primal instincts had battled against the effects of cryo-sleep, staying in a state of constant semi-awareness for the entirety of the time leading up to the crash; but there was another reason for his riled beast to be pacing around inside him. There had been a change right before the crash of the ship, a change in the number of passengers boarded; a change in the fates. Riddick's beast has been unsettled ever since.

Riddick had been able to take advantage of the Hunter Gratzner's crash to get the jump on Johns after their impromptu landing; but lady luck had been a fickle bitch for him lately, and Johns had been able to beat him down. Now he sits gagged, bound, and blindfolded inside the wreckage of the Hunter Gratzner, where the Merc had stuck him after his semi-escape. Sitting in the quiet darkness, contemplating his next move for freedom, Riddick's inner instincts send him into sudden alert mode…someone's coming…and within moments, a sweet and feminine scent fills the room. Female. Blood. Some exotic scent, unique to her. Yum. Perhaps lady luck has a little mercy in her after all.

Something deep inside Riddick shifts, as if his inner beast is stretching its limbs, unfurling, scenting, and perking its ears. It senses something different about this scent, this woman; something intoxicating that calls to the beast in him, the most primal part of him. It makes the beast rub its shoulder against the bars of its cage. Touch her. Take her. Riddick frowns and breathes deep through his nose, scenting her again. Mine. The beast inside is curiously possessive, and Riddick can't help the rumbling purr that emerges from his chest. Interesting.

Riddick manages to catch a glimpse of delicate feminine features in the gap of the cloth covering his eyes. So this is her; the one that didn't board the ship with the others. Just appeared from nowhere.

The woman seems just as mesmerized with him as he is with her, coming close and being brave enough to touch him. The beast is pleased and purrs louder, encouraging her, wanting her to touch more of him. Yes.

"He just escaped from a maximum prison."

The woman jerks her hand away from Riddick and spins around, startled at the unsuspecting voice of Johns as he appears behind her. The sudden arrival of an unwanted third party has the beast snarling in anger; angry at Johns catching him distracted with the female, bound and unable to get between them. The atmosphere of the small space turns tense when Riddick's purr chokes off into a low, dangerous, growl.

Johns ignores it and gives a cocky smile to the female. "The name's Johns, William J. Johns. And who might you be?"

"R-Rain. My name is Rain."

At the sound of Rain's voice, Riddick's beast gives an exuberant surge towards the bars of its cage, making him jerk unintentionally against his cuffs. A wave of heat shoots through his veins and gathers at his groin. Down Boy.

Rain's eyes flick back to Riddick, at his movement, and Johns takes advantage of her distraction to take a step closer to her. NO! Don't let him touch her. Riddick has to fight hard for control from his beast, to stop his body from lunging at Johns and his growl from getting any louder. Damnit, there's nothing we can do. We're fucking cuffed. He tries to talk the beast down.

"What kind of name is Rain?"

"Uhh, it's a long story…so who is he?" Rain takes a step back from Johns in the limited space allowed her, preferring to get closer to the cuffed man; she gestures towards the man to give Johns something to focus on, other than herself. Something about the way Johns eyes her up and down, greatly unnerves her. Gotta keep my eye on this one.

"Well that would Richard B. Riddick himself," John's grins proudly at her before turning his eyes to Riddick as if laughing at some inside joke.

Am I supposed to know who he is? "And why is he tied up?"

Johns' expression turns disbelieving, "You haven't heard of Riddick? What've you been living under a rock?"

Rain hesitates before lightly tapping the large bruise on her forehead, among the drying blood. "I dunno. I can't remember much of anything before the crash." A sudden wave of dizziness makes her vision dim and sends her clutching behind her. She half falls into Riddick, one hand twisting into his shirt, and he stays still to support her without protest. Johns moves forward to help her stand again, and a growl from Riddick makes him hesitate enough for Rain to get up on her own.

"Sorry," Rain whispers quietly to Riddick without looking at him, her eyes glued to the floor. How embarrassing. She has to concentrate hard to convince her hand to letting go of his shirt; after a few extra seconds, it finally cooperates. The heat in Rain's face is mortifying.

"So do we just keep him locked up forever?" Another survivor of the crash enters the small space and draws Johns' attention away from Rain and Riddick. Rain gives a relieved sigh and is able to finally move away from Riddick.

"Well, now that'd be my choice." Johns replies to the woman's inquiry.

"Is he really that dangerous?"

"Only around humans." Johns thinks himself funny. Time to get out of here before I embarrass myself further.

Rain gives a quick nod as she moves past Johns and the blond woman, and back out into the sunlight.

In the time after Rain's embarrassing fall on Riddick, she was able to finally meet the rest of the ragtag band of survivors; other than Riddick, Johns, Shazza, Zeke, and Jack, there is Paris, Imam with his three Arab charges, and Carolyn, the docking pilot from the crashed ship. The how and why of Rain joining their group before the ship's crash remains a mystery to her, but she was able to get some of the others to fill her in on the ships info in the meantime. The name of the ship is the Hunter Gratzner, a merchant vessel that was headed to the Tangier system via the back road shipping lanes, before something had caused it enough damage to make it go down. When some of the group leaves to explore one of the ships' crashed cargo holds nearby, Rain chooses to follow them in the hopes of finding some more answers.

"Just great. I have very little tolerance for alcohol." Rain laments in a quiet voice at the discovery of Paris' stash, and their only source of drink.

"I'm gonna need a receipt for that, for all of these. This is my personal stuff." Paris gestures towards Johns taking a swig of one bottle.

"Mmm-hmm." Carolyn placates Paris and turns to chat with Imam and one of his charges as they stand at the entrance of the cargo hold.

Rain ignores them and picks her way around deeper into the messy room. Is that? Rain spots a familiar brown backpack, overturned on a pile of miscellaneous junk, just barely visible in the dim light of the room. My bag! How the hell did it get here? Why?

Rain struggles her way over and snatches up the pack that usually doubles as her purse. She gives the rest of the room a fast once over to search for anything else of hers that might be around. Nothing else I recognize. She picks her way up and out of the cargo hold, past the others and their questioning looks, and into the open air. She quickly finds a spot in the shade, along the side of the hold, and sits to dig through the backpack.

Why was it in the cargo hold with everyone else's luggage? The first thing Rain pulls from the bag is a small, leather wallet. Inside the wallet is Rain's license, about 26 dollars in cash, her library card, a few credit cards, and an assortment of random coupons. Rain sets the wallet aside and reaches in the bag again. Next comes out a blue cloth zip-case with a variety of things inside it: a nail maintenance kit, a mini sewing kit, some bobby pins, various hair ties, a flip-out hair brush, as well as a container of dental floss, some hand sanitizer, and a travel sized bottle of aspirin. Yes, it's still in here! Rain quickly pops the top of the bottle and takes a few pills, uncaring that they go down slowly. Goodbye headache.

Reaching into the pack again, Rain comes out with a compact umbrella, and a half pack of gum. The last few things in the pack are her noise-cancelling headphones and her portable music player. Sweet, at least I have some music for however long the battery life has left. Rain stuffs everything else back inside of the pack, leaving the zip-case near the top for easier access to its more useful items. Things are starting to look a little better. Despite the thickening of the mysteries surrounding how she got here, Rain is feeling more optimistic as she slings her backpack on.