TRUST ME WHEN NIGHT FALLS 22

Twenty Two

Riddick dozed from time to time, but he never really slept; he rarely slept for long periods of time anyway. In Slam, sleep was a luxury he could ill afford, but here strangely enough he felt safe, as he held Shazza and Jack.

The sun should be up already and he had listened for the creatures for the past hour or so, as their cries grew more frantic before dawn. After a while there were no more scratches on the hull, or cries from the creatures as they slammed into the top of the ship above them.

He put his head back and thought about his run here the night before, when the creatures wheeled above him and killed each other. If they only got out every twenty two years or so, at night, what did they eat the rest of the time? Riddick imagined they would eat each other, and when the creatures realized that the survivors were out of reach, they probably fell upon each other in a feeding frenzy.

That didn’t mean that it was safe to walk right out the door however; a good deal of the ship would still be dark enough to hide the creatures. The cutting torch sat on top of a crate on the other side of the bay, which made him smile again. Why walk out the door, when they could cut a hole in the roof and go right out into the light of day?

He sat and listened to the silence for a little while longer, before he had to face the fact that there was one reason and one reason only that he hadn’t moved. He didn’t want to wake either Shazza or Jack, not just for them, but for him. To hold someone, to be held, was another luxury he experienced rarely. If he was honest with himself, it was something he experienced very rarely.

He had held women but it was fleeting, a moment here or there while he was on the run; and they didn’t really want to be held by him, that wasn’t what he paid them for and they weren’t that interested in how he felt. He was first imprisoned at the age of thirteen, just shy of his fourteenth birthday. What he knew of women could be summed up in his innocent experiences before then, and experience with whores or the next best thing afterwards. He was always willing to take what he could get, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew there was more, that there should be more.

He closed his eyes as Shazza nuzzled against his side, and wondered if this was what he had looked for all his life. That was a scary thought, but what else was there in his life? To be on the run forever? And run for what; if this little adventure had taught him anything it was that there was more to survival than just to draw breath. What purpose was there if all he ever did was run? What scared him even more is that he couldn’t even begin to know how to ask. How do you ask for something you can’t even say to yourself, never mind out loud?

It was too much to think of all at once; he rested his head back against the bulkhead and thought about how to get them out first. He chuckled to himself when he realized that he still hadn’t moved. He had sat here and worried about what the rest of his life could be like and he couldn’t even let go of Shazza and Jack in order to take a piss. If he could plan that first, it might be a start.

Shazza woke easily when he moved, not quite wide awake and aware, but he was willing to bet that if the need was there she could pull herself together in a hurry. Another survivor, he reminded himself, full of admiration for her again. He kissed her hair and moved his arm slowly as the pins and needles set in.

Jack was another matter. Under normal circumstances he didn’t imagine that she slept soundly either. Part of it was him, because she felt safe with him; a feeling that still touched him deep inside in a place he had forgotten existed. Part of it was emotional and physical exhaustion. A bigger part was likely the couple of shots of whiskey chased by who knows how much champagne.

His own head hurt, hers must be killing her; he didn’t see her as a big drinker. They should be able to find something for it when they reach the settlement. Jack moaned against his side and mumbled something under her breath when he moved. It sounded like either ‘my head’, or ‘I’m dead’. Either one was probably pretty accurate. He eased out from under her and stood in the corner to relieve himself; he grinned when he realized just how long he had held it rather than move away from them.

Shazza spoke quietly as she tried to help Jack wake up; Jack still held her head and looked a little green. She held the bottle to Jack’s lips and made her take a drink. “Hair of the dog, Jack, come on. You’re already dead; this’ll just make it hurt a little less.” Shazza laughed a little at that and thought it was probably for the best that she didn’t have any children of her own. Jack was all of what, twelve? “You can hate me for it later”

“Do you think its light yet, Riddick?” He had to swallow hard before he answered, as he remembered their kiss from the night before. He wanted more time, he wanted to be anywhere but right here, to be somewhere where there was no rush. It would probably be a good idea if it wasn’t somewhere right in front of Jack. He took a step closer to Shazza as she held up Jack, and saw the same questions in her eyes. He kissed her forehead gently and whispered “yes”.

“We’re going to go through the roof. Don’t want to run into any of those fuckers in case they decided to stash away in the ship and wait for us. Help me with that crate.” Riddick and Shazza took turns with the torch and burned through the ships hull; it didn’t take long. Riddick had Shazza stand back down while he pushed the flap of hull up just a little before he broke into a huge grin and pushed it up all the way to let the light from the blue sun wash down through the hole in the roof.

He was still wary as he levered himself up through the hole and took a look around to make sure it was safe. The ground was littered with carcasses, most of them picked clean, but nothing moved.

The blue sun shone brightly across the landscape as he pulled Shazza up through the hole in the roof and then they both helped Jack, who groaned at the glare. They stood close to the hole in the roof, as though they expected to again be pitched into darkness surrounded by the screams of the creatures, but the air was still and silent all around them.

He watched everything; then closed his eyes and listened. It was then, with his eyes closed, that Shazza took his hand again. “Thank you, Riddick.” Like her apology before, what felt like forever ago, Shazza didn’t go in for flowery thanks either, but when she thanked him, he knew it was real. She squeezed his hand, and her thumb traced a pattern over his. She could have said nothing at all and he would have still understood her. He wanted to thank her as well, but didn’t know where to start. Some things were hard to say, especially when he didn’t understand them himself.

It was strange just to walk across the soft earth to the sandcat, as though nothing had happened; to just walk across the bones of the creatures as though it was a perfectly normal thing to do. Shazza and Riddick walked quietly, on the balls of their feet; their eyes darted all around for the sign of even the slightest movement.

Jack clumped along between them, miserable and oblivious to the tension they both felt. The sandcat started up, and Riddick directed Shazza back to the canyon, and told her that the power cells would be close to the end, near the settlement.

Shazza thought about how close Johns and Fry had been to escape and didn’t ask what else they would find. Jack hung on for dear life, her knuckles white against the grill of the sandcat as Shazza drove through the canyon. It was nothing near the breakneck speed that she had driven through it the first time, but every bump and jolt had Jack moan. “You gonna live, Jack?”

“Quit talking so fucking loud Riddick, you’re making my head hurt.” If what he had said earlier, in a quiet voice, had hurt, his booming laugh that echoed off the canyon walls definitely didn’t help. If the Jack that had shaved her head just to look like him had gotten under his skin, then the Jack that swore and cursed at him to shut the fuck up had just curled up somewhere inside him.

When they finally stopped to pick up the power cells, Shazza held Jack while she threw up. It was partly the booze, but mostly it was the sight of what was left of Johns and Fry scattered all over the canyon floor. There was nothing left but bones, but Jack knew what a human skull looked like, and she couldn’t tell herself that the two she saw partially crushed and scattered were anything but what they were. The remnants of torn clothing carelessly scattered made any lie she could tell herself that much more difficult.

Shazza held on to Jack as she shook and trembled and the full weight of everything that had happened washed over her. “It was such a stupid way to die, Shazza, we lost so many…” She blinked furiously against the tears, she didn’t want to cry, not in front of Shazza, and not in front of Riddick, but everything just seemed like so much to handle all of a sudden.

Riddick walked up behind them both after he had loaded the power cells and put his arms around them. His hand rested on Jack’s lower back as her turned her, so that she would have to look out across the remains again.

Shazza listened as his voice carried a gentleness and a strength she knew he never showed to anyone else, and he whispered in her ear. “Don’t you cry for them Jack; don’t you dare.” He had seen it all, how they had intended to kill the others, how Johns had shot Fry to leave her in the dirt for the creatures. He had seen it all, and neither one of them was worth even one of Jack’s tears.

She sniffled and wiped her face on her sleeve before her face got hard again and she looked at the remains once more, her jaw set. “There’s my girl.” Riddick kissed her stubbled head before he gave her a hand up into the sandcat.

Shazza almost prayed for darkness when Riddick turned to look at her, just so she could see his eyes. She wondered if anyone ever saw this side of him, if he ever showed it; she couldn’t imagine that would be a clever idea, given how he had to live.

Shazza and Riddick would never know it, as they stood and quietly watched each other, but they both had the same question that burned in them; ‘What now?’ He had thought about it since he first woke up, that he didn’t want to, that he couldn’t, leave them. He had tried to explain it away as just the reaction of survival, and the need to stay with those that survived with you; but he knew even at first thought it that it was a lie, and a bad one. He didn’t want to be apart from them, either of them. Definitely not Shazza. When he had kissed her he knew he wanted more, not just a quick fuck but more. He wanted her, and Jack was a part of that, because he knew that neither one of them would ever leave Jack. Jack was theirs.

Nobody said anything as they drove through the ghost town that was the settlement; the questions were all too big, and no one knew how to start any of them. Jack giggled when she saw the skiff. It was sort of odd just to see it there, it should have been a dream, but it stood there and glinted in the hard light of the blue sun and wasn’t about to go anywhere. It defied them with its stubborn solidity, until they realized that they hadn’t moved from the sandcat.

They sat out on the ramp for a little while longer, after Riddick had hooked up the power cells and ran a systems check. They could take off whenever they felt like it. Jack had swallowed a couple of pain pills that were in the ancient med kit and she seemed less irritable after a while. Riddick felt awkward when he put his hand out to Shazza; the first time wasn’t thought out at all but was born of panic and fear. The second time, Shazza reached for his hand, and now he wanted to hold hers. It seemed like a good place to start, and he smiled a little to himself when she took his hand in hers. It was such a small thing, but it felt like a lot more.

“What do we do now?” No one thought he had spoken about the skiff or about the flight off the planet. All of those things were a given as they sat out on the ramp, like a family on an outing, an adventure where they had had their fun, but would leave when they were good and ready to.

“I really need a bath.” Jack’s face broke into a huge grin and she looked up over her shoulder at the two of them, who laughed with her. Shazza sniffed at herself and wrinkled her nose, “maybe more than one. Wherever we end up better have a lot of hot water.” Riddick didn’t say it, but he thought she smelled beautiful.

Shazza watched as Riddick pulled at his bottom lip with his teeth, it was subtle, and he probably didn’t even notice he did it. She realized that they weren’t out here on the ramp just to admire the view. He didn’t want to go, because he didn’t know where they were to go, and if they would be together when they got there.

She held his hand a little tighter and looked down at Jack; it would be easier, if it was Jack. “You’re staying with me, Jack?” Jack turned around and looked at Shazza; the nod began before her words could start. Jack looked at Riddick; as though she waited for him, like so many things, she would do what Riddick did, she would follow him anywhere. “I can’t live in big cities Jack, there’s too many people. It’s not my sort of life. Free settling’s hard, but you’re free, and people leave you alone.” Jack watched Riddick a moment longer, and knew in her heart that Riddick would stay with them; she also knew that he couldn’t say it; it just wasn’t who he was.

“Let’s get off this fucking rock, I hate this place!” Jack jumped past both of them, no longer worried about the answers she already knew. Riddick didn’t know what to say, he had no idea; all of this was new to him. He reached over and kissed Shazza softly, at the temple, and hoped she knew anyway.

Jack had already strapped into the co-pilots seat so Shazza sat behind them as they lifted off and sailed gracefully over the landscape. “What do we tell them about you, if we run into anybody?” Riddick reached out and held Jack’s hand, far more comfortable with the gesture now, with what it meant. “Tell them Riddick’s dead; he died somewhere on that planet.”

The end.

Or is it? Sure, the story could easily end here and it would all work out okay. Or, you could read the epilogue, which will open up the story for the sequel, “Rider”. Enjoy…