Theo watched as Riddick paced back and forth on the deck. Walk up to the bow and peer out into the darkness for several minutes and then he would stalk back across the deck to the door to the bridge. Jack had grown accustomed to it quickly and just muttered that the Moorglade was at her top speed and Riddick would pace back to the bow again.
At least Riddick could see in the darkness. Theo had no reason to even be up on deck. Except that like Riddick he was compelled to be there, to look out into the blackness for something, What he didn’t know. The pale glimmer of starlight was all that lit their passage and it wasn’t enough to show Theo some purpose for his presence. The twin moons had set well over two hours ago.
He was tempted to ask Riddick what was out there, what he saw, but he didn’t think that Riddick would be able to state why he was there either. The bridge door creaked and Theo looked back at Shazza as she too came out on deck, heavily armed. Shazza said nothing but stood at the side rail and gazed into the distance at the faint light of dawn that crept over the horizon.
Theo felt short of breath and full of a nervous energy. If not for his grip on the railing he would fly off, or pace like Riddick. Instead he crossed the short distance to stand near Shazza and took one of the rifles from her. She had another two, one in her hands and another slung across her back, with extra clips for them all.
He stayed at the railing about two feet from Shazza’s side, not worried about how close he was to her. Riddick wasn’t worried about it either as he strode back down the deck towards them to stop beside Shazza.
Theo had seen an aggressive Riddick before when he had taken over the Odyssey and then later, when they had both killed the mercs that boarded the ship. He had that same aggressiveness but now that Theo was pretty sure Riddick wouldn’t kill him he could see it in a new light.
Riddick rested his hand on Shazza’s hip and stared out over the side at the black clump of shapes that was the forest. He nearly hummed with violent energy and Theo was fascinated to be so close to something so dangerous. Riddick didn’t question why Shazza had come on deck armed, Theo had noticed. It was as though they all waited for the same thing and had all acted on it without the need to say anything.
They stood silently for a short while and then Shazza spoke quietly. “What do you see, Riddick?” She didn’t sound afraid or nervous and Theo felt something between them; that they had seen things far worse than a few mercs or armed gunmen.
Riddick’s eyes swept back over the grassland, and Theo thought that the low contemplative hum would be his only answer. Time drew out in the silence. “Don’t know. We’ll know it when we get there.” He didn’t need to say where ‘there’ was. Jack had the Moorglade on a heading that would take her right to where Warfield had said his ship had come down and that’s where the trouble would be.
—
Duncan’s leg was on fire, a hot lance that burned a path right through his upper thigh. There were both entry and exit wounds. At least there would be no need to dig around for the bullet. It was cold comfort at this point. Duncan flung himself forward because survival was something he could do without thought. Johns huffed and strained beside him, reduced to curses as he pulled and wrestled Duncan across the distance that remained until they hit the grassland.
The sounds of pursuit grew louder behind them and Duncan listened to Johns’ labored breath, tinged with the sound of panic. Duncan ground his teeth and pushed himself harder. Johns could easily escape and hide in the forest, he could be quiet and in all likelihood would never be found, but he didn’t. Johns pushed himself to get Duncan to safety and so Duncan wasn’t about to let the man down.
“Not…not much farther, Johns.” They stumbled forward and slammed into the dirt at the whine of gunfire overhead. Duncan rammed his fist into his mouth so silence the scream of pain that threatened to divulge their location.
“Fuck!” Johns whispered harshly, the sound a hard hiss between clenched teeth. Duncan watched as the younger man crouched over him and spun back to the forest with his weapon out. Gunfire erupted in quick controlled bursts and then Johns spun to pull Duncan up into a crouch that hurt so much Duncan thought he would die. It felt like it anyway. He knew he wouldn’t, and he knew that Johns would drag him, dead if he had to, to safety.
They moved out at a crouch into the grassland finally and looked out at the dawn as it broke. “Stay low, Johns, we’re easier to spot out here.” On any other day it wouldn’t have made sense to run out into the open grassland and Duncan would have preferred the dark of the forest where there was so much to hide behind. So much that he could slip around and kill at will. Out here there was only that one slim hope that Riddick would return when he said he would.
Duncan crouched with his eyes jammed shut. He didn’t pray, it wasn’t what he was, it wasn’t what he believed. It was something else. In this place it would be fate. Johns inched forward and the tall grass closed all around them. Duncan knew that it didn’t matter, that he had lost so much blood that Shapiro and whoever else he brought would have no problem at all in hunting them out here.
“Duncan…” Johns pulled him a little closer and whispered, his voice full of wonder. Duncan kept his eyes closed for a heartbeat longer, long enough to breathe deep and thank whatever it was in this place that had answered him. “It’s beautiful…”
—
The last tendrils of morning fog cleared over the top of the tall grass as the Moorglade hove into sight of the broken trees where Warfield’s ship had come down. Shazza tensed on the deck at the first staccato burst of gunfire, still too far off to be a danger to them, but it was a danger to someone and that was why they had come back here. Riddick growled under his breath and stood frozen between the bow and the door to the bridge. He wanted to storm up front and swing over the side but they weren’t close enough yet.
The sound of gunfire from the forest grew, and Riddick thundered towards the bridge. Jack had her mouth open to tell him once again that the ship was moving as fast as she could but Riddick just spoke over her, to tell her what he needed her to do. He huffed his breath out with an exasperated snort as he left a small sidearm beside the wheel. “If anything happens, Jack…”
Jack looked right ahead as she piloted the ship, an air of confidence that she had to fight hard to keep. “Don’t let anything happen, Riddick.” She kept her hands on the wheel, because she knew that they would shake if she did anything else. Riddick leaned over and kissed the top of her shaven head, and slipped the firearm into a pocket in the side of her baggy cargoes.
It was hard to leave her and from the way her chin trembled when he slipped out of the door and off the bridge, he knew it was hard for her too. ‘No choice. When this is finally done, there will be time to make up for it.’ To be done and not have to fight anymore. One day. He could run; he would still have to fight for the rest of his life but he would never have anything that was his, just his. He wanted that more than anything and now for more than just him alone.
If this went right Jack would have a home. He would have a home here with Jack and Shazza and that was worth a fight to the death for. His blood boiled by the time he reached the railing again, his knuckles white on the wood.
Jack pulled the ship in closer to the forest; there was a risk but the ability to get in and out again quickly more than made up for it. The gunfire had sounded long before they had pulled into the stretch of grassland which meant that they weren’t shooting at the Moorglade but at something else. Riddick had thought that the villagers might besiege the downed ship; apparently something had gone wrong.
Shazza had taken up a spot on the railing, down in a sniper’s crouch to present less of a target. Theo had done the same further down and between them they covered the entire side of the ship. Riddick still worried about Jack but it only made him more aggressive than he already felt. Joanne and Anna stayed below decks.
Riddick had a rifle slung across his back but it was almost an afterthought; the knives fit his hands and his disposition better. He scanned the grass with a practiced eye to look for trails and gunmen that hid there and so he was the first to see the trail of blood. He watched as a man stood up and spun to fire back into the forest before he dropped down again to pick up someone next to him and hobble forward. Warfield, and he was injured. “Shazza….”
“I see them, Riddick.” Several men had crested a small rise before the forest spilled over into the grassland and now that they saw the Moorglade, they fired. It was a risk but the ship was fast enough, faster than anything else anyone here had, and Riddick hoped that it would be enough of an advantage.
A beast of a man directed several others to fan out across the fringe of forest before he stepped out into the grass to finish off Warfield. “Now, Jack!” Riddick called out before he made a break for the bow of the ship and swung himself gracefully over the side. He ducked and flattened to the ground as the massive sails swept over him and then he was clear.
He shut out the whine of gunfire over his head as Shazza covered for him with a volley of gunfire that cut a line across the trees. Men shouted and screamed as the bullets hit their marks but he was past that. Like a shark he homed in on the trail of blood he had seen earlier.
The pops of gunfire faded along the forest wall and he looked up. The men hadn’t stopped firing because they were dead, they stood with their weapons lowered and looked on in awe. Riddick took a quick glance back at the Moorglade as Jack swung her round and couldn’t blame them. The sun rose fully over the grass and for the first time in a long time he saw something other than pink and purple. It was fleeting, just a hint and it was gone, a pale green like fire. He watched as the men faded back into the forest.
He dropped close to the ground again at another whine of gunfire and its answer from the deck of the Moorglade as Shazza returned the volley. Riddick crouched but didn’t stop as he swept past Duncan and Johns, who stayed low to the ground while the worst of the firing went on all around them. It was a touch on the shoulder, enough to know that he was alive and then Riddick moved on.
—
Duncan turned to watch after Riddick had settled his hand on his shoulder. He had never seen Shapiro so angry. The quarry was so close; injured and out in the open and, rather than take the advantage, the villagers had disappeared into the forest and abandoned him. Duncan had never seen the ship in flight; it felt strange to even say it. It didn’t look so improbable when seen in the light of day, however, and he had to agree with Johns, it was beautiful.
He turned back to watch Riddick stalk Shapiro through the tall grass. Shapiro had followed the trail of blood he had left. Had wanted an end put to it quickly and so committed mistakes he never would have made otherwise. Riddick crept behind Shapiro and rose like a wisp of fog beside him to ram the blade hard up through his chest under the ribs. The gurgle of blood flew from Shapiro’s lips and he turned in surprise, the shock clear on his face. To die just steps from where Duncan and Johns had fallen in the grass.
Johns looked nervously at Riddick; he didn’t like the idea that he would have to defend Duncan against him, but he would have done it. He was relieved when Duncan spoke again, his voice weaker. “Lower the weapon, Johns. He’s with us.” Johns looked as if he wasn’t sure what to believe but he lowered the muzzle after one last look at the forest.
“Let’s go. Don’t know when they’ll start shooting again,” Riddick ground out, the bloody blade still in his hand.
Duncan felt John’s hesitation and moved to get up on his own. He knew that he couldn’t and he also knew that Johns wouldn’t let him fall. Riddick caught Duncan by the other arm, and between the two men they carried Duncan farther out into the grass where he stood and watched as the ship slowed in front of them. Riddick set off at a lope and Johns drove himself breathless to catch up until they were close enough to the side that arms reached down and pulled Duncan over.
Johns tightened as Riddick grabbed him and pushed him up towards Theo who pulled him over the railing onto the deck. Riddick swung up and over as gracefully as he had left the deck earlier. Shazza stepped away from her place at the railing to be pulled into a fierce embrace, Riddick’s fist in her hair to bring her lips to his. He would have stayed right there with her but there was something that he had to do first.
Jack’s chin trembled when Riddick stepped onto the bridge but she wouldn’t let herself cry. He had come back, he always came back. Riddick pulled her tight and held her before she cried; he didn’t want to see her cry. “Quiet, Jack,” he shushed her even though she hadn’t said a word and just held her for a moment, her wiry arms locked around his neck tightly.
It was a whisper against his sweat soaked shirt. “Never had a doubt.”
Copyright © January 2007 xxxevilgrinxxx