Treacherous

“I know not of the others,” Imam told them. “Many went to the crash ship before the planet rose to block the sun. Allah be with them. We stayed behind. We were trying to get to the skiff. Lights burn there.”

Bell didn’t want to tell the man that the chance of them reaching the skiff even at this short of distance without any sort of light was nil. She was surprised that he had survived so long.

Ramsay stepped forward to give the man a supporting hand, oblivious of the curious look he got in return.

“To the crash ship?” Bell asked an unmoving Riddick. He stood with the lights as much behind him as possible, staring out into the settlement as if the holy man’s words didn’t concern him.

“They’re all dead, Bell. Give it up.”

She barely heard him. His low growl of a voice was so small next to the whirlwind of noise surrounding them.

“No. They could have made it. The cargo hold would have been sealed, right? They could have made it, dammit!” She started back toward the ship, not waiting to see if he followed. At least six more people were out there, alive or in pieces. And she wasn’t leaving this rock until she knew.

Ramsay helped Imam to one of the secured seats in the cockpit. Two rows along the back wall kept personnel safe during takeoffs and landings. Bell assumed her seat and checked with the ship’s computer to see that Riddick had boarded before closing the hatch. He entered the cockpit a minute later and sat down without a word. Bell ignored him.

Lights off, the outside of the ship became a playground for the beasts. Scratching and butting against the hull to gain entry. Bell sent a mild shock through the hull and then smiled at the resulting screams from outside. Riddick was watching her when she looked up.

“What?”

He just turned away.

Whatever. “Hang on,” she whispered as she gripped the controls.

It took several minutes of searching to find the crash ship. When the survivors had first left it to search the planet they’d gone in the direction ‘north’ of the settlement and then nearly circled around on it. It took them hours to walk the distance. Even in the sandkat it had taken a good half-hour. Now she swooped past it nearly without seeing it.

Infrared was virtually useless with the planet’s own heat still burning off. Plus, the beasts showed some heat of their own. There was no way to tell if anyone was alive at the crash site. Without getting out and checking, that was.

The sandkat sat near the crash ship, some distance from the cargo hold. Bell brought the ship down between the two castoffs, closer to the crash ship. From this angle she could she that there was light glowing from inside the remnants of the ship. Well, that was good at least.

Lights on outside didn’t change the view any. Nothing moved.

Riddick was at the lead as they headed out of the ship. Bell had to wonder at the why of that. Maybe it was just eagerness. Get the death count and be on their way. But Johns had been armed at last telling. That thought had her trotting faster to catch up.

Hatch lowering, Bell took a flashlight from a mesh locker. It worked, but she didn’t know how reliable it would be. Two-decade-old batteries were far from new.

“Crash ship first. Stay back for a fuckin’ change, Bell.”

Bell frowned at Riddick’s words just before he stepped down.

The path to the crash ship was well lit. Riddick didn’t slow a bit as he trotted toward the lit opening of the door. Nothing moved inside.

In the end they found no one. Things had been moved. More of the power cells were gone, but that was it. Standing back at the door looking out they saw that the door of the cargo hold was open. If anyone was inside they were most likely dead. Inspecting the ground showed tracks leading away from the crash ship. Something heavy had been drug in the direction of the settlement.

“They’re trying to get back,” Bell whispered, her flashlight beam shining out into the dark expanse. Nothing moved out there. No light could be seen.

“Good. Let ‘em go.”

Bell huffed, “We can’t do that. What if they don’t make it? The sun hasn’t been down for very long. They can’t be too far out.”

He turned to stare at her and she held her ground, staring right back into his seemingly glowing gaze. “Your heroics are gonna get us all killed. Call it. They have the cells, they have the skiff.”

“You don’t know that damn thing will even fly. What if they get them there and it won’t run? I’m not leaving any living person on this planet.”

Tensed, eyes narrowed. He was fucking beautiful. Like a spider before the kill, a storm before the first raging blast. His danger made him what he was. It excited her to cross words with him and control him, if just this little bit.

“Let’s fucking go then. Get some more light. Grab your ‘droid and let’s go.”

Imam wouldn’t be left behind, so the four of them prepared to set out. Ramsay hefted a pack with water and other supplies that he had thrown together. They each carried flashlights, except for Riddick who’d found a sort of harness to wear looped over his neck and arm. With the light on his back he could carry it and not have it shine in his eyes. Running a few yards ahead of them, Riddick’s pace was brutal.

They stayed in the track of the sled the others were pulling, which seemed to be veering back and forth a bit. Constantly around them was the sound of the creatures. Sometimes they sounded so close she would aim her light in that direction, but never see anything more than a blur of movement.

Finally there was a sign of life before them. First a glow, then individual points of light. Riddick had them aim their own lights up and behind to keep from being seen for as long as possible. Bell didn’t like it, but didn’t argue. Johns was armed and they were in danger from more than just him. Riddick had control for now.

The light around the sled dimmed and went out for several seconds. A riot of screams sounded, some human? Moments passed and then the blinding green of a flare. Smaller flames were lit from the flare and while the group was distracted they joined them.

“Well, if it isn’t our escape artist and his whore,” Johns drawled, holding his rifle closer, the butt finding a seat against his shoulder. He didn’t aim it at them yet, but he made it clear that he was ready to. “Was hopin’ you’d bought it out there.”

“How?” Fry asked.

“Imam?” Jack whispered.

It was just the three of them Bell realized. Where were Shazza and Zeke and Paris? Dead most likely.

Imam joined Jack, holding hands with the boy as if it offered some comfort. Ramsay stayed at Bell’s left hand, always just one step behind her.

Bell stepped forward, “We came to—“

Riddick’s hand on her arm cut her off. She winced at the pain, but said no more. Right. Don’t tell them about the ship. With Johns armed he could just off them, or just Riddick, and there would be no more argument.

“Going for a walk?” Riddick asked, his soft voice sounding dangerous.

Johns reacted immediately. Obviously there had been some exchange of words before they’d arrived. “This stupid bitch convinced them we could reach the settlement. Wandering till the lights go out. Probably not even headed in the right direction.” He was yelling as he stepped toward Fry with his last statement.

“You’re not.”

All eyes turned to Riddick. Power. Guns, piloting, knowledge, faith. All fell aside in the face of the one necessary power. Sight. He had them. Whatever he wanted, they’d do. Might have to word it just so, might have to convince, but in the end it came back to him being able to take them where they needed to go and them being fucked without that.

Johns suddenly looked like a balloon losing its air. He tried to show that he was still the tough one. He tried to appear in control, but to Bell it just looked like a façade. He was scared.

“What’s your plan?” Johns asked. He stepped closer and then they were moving off together like bosom friends. Bell watched, fascinated. To her she could see that Riddick was the stronger one. If she didn’t know Johns at all she would still be able to see it. The way he gestured, the way he looked at Riddick when he talked. It was like seeing a little kid with an impressive older brother.

Fry moved to get the cables to drag the sled, but Bell stopped her. “Leave it. Let’s just follow for a minute. It’s not going anywhere.”

Jack and Fry exchanged looks, but didn’t argue. They looked exhausted and scared. Bell didn’t blame them, but she wouldn’t explain either.

Bits of words floated back to them, nothing that made any sense. Johns seemed to be doing all the talking. Then they stopped, facing off and Bell kept the rest from moving closer. Long breath held seconds. Both men trying to appear relaxed while they murdered each other with their eyes.

Riddick moved first, disarming Johns of the most crucial weapon. The flare. With it Riddick couldn’t fight. Johns spun with the hit to his arm and they ended up back to back, the flare flying through the air. Riddick grabbed Johns’s gun right from the holster as he turned behind him. Johns knocked the gun barrel up and the shot went wild.

“Let’s move!”

The five of them ran in the direction they’d come from.

“Leave the sled! Let’s move!” she yelled when Fry paused there.

She tried to keep to the track of the sled. No matter that it wasn’t a straight path, it was still a path, but their jostling lights lost it time and again and she only found it back each time by knowing it was on her left.

After a few minutes they stopped, panting, lights arcing out in circles as they each tried to stay close yet see what was around them. What was around them was noise. The thrumming sounds the beasts made seemed to be within reach, but they never saw anything.

“We have to keep moving,” Fry said, though she looked as scared and lost as the rest of them. “We can at least be safe at the crash ship.”

Bell was more interested in what followed them. Or what didn’t. There was no sign of movement, no other source of light besides their own.

“Ramsay, is he out there?” she whispered.

“I do not see him.”

They’d left him. There had been no way to help, but he had so little light. No matter what happened with Johns, would Riddick have enough light to protect himself against the night creatures?

“We have to go back,” she said suddenly.

Three shocked gazes fell on her.

“There’s nothing we can do.” “We can’t even find them.” “We don’t even know where we are.” They each spoke at once. Jack’s words were last and had the most effect, silencing the others.

No one spoke until Ramsay did, “He is capable. You’re bleeding. Return to the ship.”

In the end the planet decided for them. A few splattering drops of rain were their only warning, then a deluge let loose from the sky. Sputtering, the rigged liquor bottles went out, leaving just the four flashlights.

The kid Jack nearly whined in fear as he pressed in closer to the group. Ramsay solved the problem by pulling several glow-sticks out of the pack he carried. Snapping them, they put off a light that would almost hurt the eyes if you stared at it directly.

Without discussing it further they moved in the direction of the ship. Slower now, staying close together.

Fry and Jack gasped their surprise as they came into view of the waiting ship. Ramsay ushered them all up the ramp, finally out of the rain. Bell remained on the rivulet-covered ground. Though the ground beneath the ship was dry, the monsoon caused water to run over the packed dirt.

“Captain, you need to come inside,” Ramsay told her.

Bell looked up from her vigilant watch for something, anything, and saw Fry standing next to Ramsay in the open door. Seeing the regretful but resigned look on her face forced Bell to make a decision.

“I’m going after him.”

“NO!” they chorused together, but Bell ignored them as she picked up the discarded glow-sticks and one of the flashlights.

“I came for you, I’m not leaving him.”

Fry came down the ramp, “I’ll go.”

“This has nothing to do with you,” Bell told her, surprised by the offer, and not really trusting it. Would the displaced pilot just run until she was out of sight and then return in a couple minutes with news of their deaths? She’d done nothing to prove herself to Bell, or anyone else for that matter, as far as Bell knew.

The two women faced off, each holding the glow-sticks between them. If Bell were to trust her own judgment, she’d say that Fry was sincere in wanting to help. What demons did the woman have that would motivate her to run out into the living night after someone like Riddick?