Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Black; but I'm allowed to dream, right? Right?
Mwuahahaha, my secret plan to finally get this fic over 100 reviews worked. I got tons of reviews after that last chapter. You guys are so awesome; I feel so loved. :D Thank you all for continuing to read and review! I have heard your pleas to continue this story, and I will see this fic until the end (perhaps even farther?). ;D This next chapter is your reward for proving to me that you actually read the author notes. The longest chapter yet!
Italics = Inner most thoughts
Bold Italics =Thoughts of the 'Beast'
Chapter 13
As Rain runs, one step in front of the next, her focus narrows down to that immediately in front of her. Her pulse pounds hard and her breath come fast. She follows Carolyn's motions in front of her, running, ducking low when a group of the faster, younger monsters come flying overhead. No screaming Rain, that won't help anything. Right?
"Do not look up." Riddick suddenly urges them.
Rain is too focused on not screaming to listen to Riddick, oblivious of the blue gunk falling from above. She passes Carolyn when she slows to look at the sky.
"Do not look up!" Riddick insists.
"They're killing each other." Carolyn mutters, before noticing Rain in the lead and suddenly moving to catch up. Just as she's in motion again, the shredded body of one of the large flying creature's crashes to the ground where Carolyn had been.
Rain's focus finally broadens to the many corpses hailing down from above. Oh god, this is bad. She panics further, halting, when she reaches a blockade of bones in the middle of the canyon. What now? Rain's brain seems to be running slower than the rest of her.
"Move! Keep moving! Keep moving." Riddick is suddenly beside her, covered in the blue blood of the beasts and dragging the cells. He pulls at a few of the bones, making space to get through before taking the lead. Rain snaps out of her stupor enough to follow him.
Riddick is in the lead, gritting his teeth and dragging all 140 kilos of the cells up an incline, when he hears screaming and yelling behind him. Male voice, not Rain. Keeping moving. Riddick trusts his beast, staying focused on not losing ground.
"Riddick, wait." Jack calls. Almost to the top. Don't stop. "Riddick!"
Riddick crests the top of the hill just as Jack starts calling out in terror. He turns to finally check the scene for himself, seeing Jack pinned beneath a large, arched, bone with one of the creatures trying it's best to break through it, to get to her. Imam is at the back of the group, helping to support the boy that now has an injured ankle. Rain and Carolyn are moving toward the creature trying to get Jack, raising their torches high in an attempt to scare it off.
"Get off her!" Carolyn screams at the beast, waving her torch in frantic motions. "Get off her!"
Rain follows Carolyn's lead, moving to circle around the other side of the creature, swinging her own torch. She's too close.
No sooner does Riddick's beast growl of Rain's danger, than the creature decides to abandon Jack in favor of easier prey. Fuck! Riddick lunges down the hill, yelling a battle cry and putting himself in front of Rain.
Riddick intercepts the monster as it darts for Rain, grabbing it's forelimbs to keep them from slashing him open. The fucker is strong. It bobs its head, trying to bite Riddick, but blind to his whereabouts while he's stationed so close. When the creature pulls back to try a deeper strike, Riddick quickly drags both its limbs together, securing them in one hand, drawing his shiv with the other. A few deep slices to its' unprotected abdomen and throat, and it hits the ground, dead. Make sure it's not coming back. Riddick bends, giving the creatures' head a sharp jerk, breaking its neck.
"Did not know who it was fuckin' with." Riddick mutters to his inner. They never do.
Rain is in full shock mode after her newest, near-death, experience. She stands frozen in place, unblinking, staring at the dead monster that Riddick had just slaughtered. She's vaguely aware of whispered voices around her. They seem to be pleading with her, calling to her. A trick? Rain is half convinced the whispers are coming from the dead thing on the ground.
Something suddenly grabs Rain's arms in a tight grip, startling her into losing her hard-won control. The entirety of the terrible emotions that had been building in Rain since the moment that darkness first fell, pours out of her in the form of a terrified scream.
Rain thrashes for freedom, gone beyond reason.
Riddick tightens his grip on Rain's arms, trying to keep her from doing something drastic; like flee out of the safety of their light. He winces at the pitch of her scream, grinding his teeth and growling. "Damnit kitten, get ahold of yourself." He's tempted to shake her. If you'd listened, and marked her already, we'd be able to reach her from the inside. What the fuck does that mean?
Rain finally stops screaming when cold, wet, drops drip down on her face from above. She blinks startled eyes at Riddick, bringing him into focus, regaining her senses.
Riddick is relieved to have her back. "It seems you've called your namesake to us. Quite the talent you've got there."
"Riddick?" Her voice is raspy from screaming.
"I'm here, darlin'." He reassures her.
"Is it raining?" Rain stares confusedly up at the starting downpour.
"Yup. Your fault. You bring the rain with your screams, right?"
Rain smiles at Riddick. "What can I say…it's a gift."
Rain comes back into herself slowly. Riddick, Jack, and Carolyn watch her with concerned eyes, as they all move to the edge of the canyon to get out of the rain. Imam follows, supporting his injured charge. They're down to one torch, and the lights around Riddick, but the torch won't stay lit if they move back into the rain.
"Now what?" Mutters Jack, hopeless. I'd like to know the answer to that one, myself.
Riddick motions for the girls to stay together with the remaining torch. He climbs a nearby overhang to get a look at their location in relation to the skiff.
"Riddick? Are we close?" Carolyn pleads to him. "Shit. Just tell me that the settlement is right there."
He stares for several long moments before whispering a reply. "We can't make it."
In the stunned silence of Riddick's conclusion, the creatures take the opportunity to pull Imam's injured charge from his grasp. They slither a tail around his neck and simply yank him up the side of the canyon, pulling him away with little trouble. Imam yells into the darkness in Arabic, dropping to his knees, outraged. Oh no! Not fair! They're finding smarter ways to get us.
Riddick tunes all else out, focusing on Rain, weighing their options and best chance of survival.
"Maybe if we had a way to keep the torch dry…an umbrella. Wait! I always carry an umbrella in my bag." Rain meets Riddick's eyes. "We can use it to block the rain from the torch, and keep moving."
"An umbrella?" Jack is hopeful. "But won't that block the light from the creatures and defeat the purpose of the torch?"
"Not if the umbrella is clear." Rain grins as she takes off her backpack, searching for her fold-up umbrella. "Got it! This will work right?" she holds it out to Riddick as he jumps down to rejoin them. There's still hope!
His expression is grim as he thinks it over. "It's still not enough light for all of us to make it." What?
He searches their surroundings, looking for something. "There." Riddick motions for the group to follow; he's discovered a cave. "Hide here." He shifts a rock to open the cave wide enough for them to get inside. When Rain moves forward, to join the others inside, Riddick holds her back. "Not you. You stay with me."
"Huh?" Rain's voice is thick with confusion. "I don't understand. You said there's not enough light."
"Not enough light for everyone to go at once. That's why they're staying here. Me and you are still going." Riddick motions as if to move the rock back over the cave, to seal the others in, but Rain stops him.
"No. We should all stay together." Rain frowns. "Or you can take the remaining lights and get the skiff working, then come back for us." If I let him leave the others behind now, there's no way he's coming back for them.
"Won't work." Riddick gives Rain unwavering eyes. "Don't argue with me about this."
"We had a deal, Riddick, remember? I can't just leave them. Why won't it work?" Hopelessness settles on Rain's shoulders. "I don't want to argue either. Please, Riddick, please." Tears well in her eyes, and she bites her lips to keep from begging further. Please don't make me do this.
"It's suicide for four people to share one torch, especially with one of them reeking of blood. The deal is off. You're taking the torch, and coming with me. Now."
"No." The tears in Rain's eyes finally well over, streaking down her cheeks and leaving tracks on her face. What do I do now? "Please." She pleads one more time, pouring as much emotion into the one word as possible, trying to guilt him into compliance.
Rain watches a tick form at Riddick's temple. He clenches his jaw, balls his fists, and spins away from her. "Fuck!" he yells into the canyon, making Rain wince. Now he just sounds pissed, this isn't good.
Jack suddenly pokes her head out of the cave to see what's wrong. "Everything alright?" Jack looks slowly from Riddick to Rain.
Rain quickly swipes the dampness from her cheeks, but doesn't have time to answer Jack before Carolyn calls from inside the cave. "Hey guys! You should see this."
While Rain had been outside with Riddick and their remaining light, Carolyn, Jack, and Imam had been waiting patiently in the dark cave; or not so dark…as it turns out. What the hell are those things?
Carolyn had come out of the cave to show Riddick and Rain a strange blue creature, glowing on the palm of her hand. "Imam's already started gathering more; almost better than the torch, right?" More Light!
"This is perfect." Rain smiles at Carolyn and Jack. "We can all go together, now." She turns to Riddick, new hope in her eyes. "Right?"
He looks less than pleased, frowning and still tense. "We leave in 5."
The girls scramble into the cave to help gather more of the blue glowing worms.
A/N: Rain influences the plot again! Things are turning more towards an AU. I know, I know, I'm sorry to those that hate AU's. But the characters have a mind of their own, and neither Rain, nor Riddick, refused to back down at the cave. I wasn't sure what I was going to do to get the plot moving again, until Carolyn found the blue glow-y worms. :C I hope this fic is still worth reading?
Does anyone else notice Imam yelling to the sky after Riddick gives that line about "Where's your God now", in the movie? They muted him, and even pulled whatever he's supposed to be saying from the subtitles. I assume he's cursing God, or something, and it was a little too cliché to keep? I left Riddick's "God" line out in exchange for Rain's dramatic breakdown. Sorry, I just really wanted a moment where she finally freaks to the extreme. :) Please Review!