He Didn't Come

The woman was speaking. “All right, guys. Good job. We got a nice haul here. Any survivors?”

Riddick raised his eyes as much as he dared. He could see a pair of black, pointed boots standing in the middle of the lounge. He raised his head just a bit more. Long legs in tight pants. Definitely female.

Several of the ‘rats spoke up at once, and as she quieted them, Riddick, moving as quietly as he could, raised himself up just a little bit more. He needed to get a look at this woman, whoever she was. She reminded him of someone.

“Guys! Shut up for a second, would you?” The woman heaved a strangely familiar sigh. “I only need one of you to speak. Jim. Talk to me, man. Are there any survivors? What was the condition of the fight? Did we have any losses?”

The ‘rat answered with no vocal inflection. It was just a straight report, rattled off as though the man were a computer. “We lost nine guys. Only two passengers aboard, a man and a young woman. Maybe she was a teenager, I don’t know. The big guy took out eight, the girl gutted one. We got a shit-load of black ops equipment. Either these people had some serious money or had some Alliance backing. I doubt it, though. They didn’t seem like right-wing types.”

“Hmm,” the woman responded. “Did the passengers survive?”

“Yeah. The man is in the drive room. The girl is with Lozano.” The chorus of snickers that rose made Riddick’s fists tighten. They better not have hurt her. Riddick wasn’t stupid. He knew that if they left her alive, she’d become nothing but a sex slave. The chances of her being unhurt already were practically nonexistent.

The woman sounded disgusted, “I hate it when you do that.”

“Hey, it’s not like there are many girls on the station, you know. We’ve got to get our fun where we can. Besides, Brand doesn’t care.”

“Well, I’m not Brand, and he’s not here. He’s back on Nebulus and he put me in charge here, so get whoever it is out of there!” Riddick saw a pair of feet leave the lounge, and the woman sighed again. “Okay, the other one. Why did you dump him in the drive room, of all places?”

The snickering resumed, and a different pirate spoke. “Come on. If he wakes up before we jump, then we’ll catch him regardless. There’s nowhere for him to run.”

Another ‘rat interjected, “Yeah. We thought it would be funny to see if he’d get out in time or not.”

The woman said, “Go get him. He could damage something.”

“Come on—”

“Just do it!”

Shit. Riddick ducked back down and silently ran back the way he had come. He contemplated going back to the drive room, but knew he’d never beat the ‘rats. Instead he hid behind a storage unit stocked with emergency power cells and watched as the spot of light faded intermittently as three ‘rats came down the stairs.

Making no noise, Riddick tailed them. He knew that they would have to go down the narrow passage to the drive room one by one. It would be easy enough to take them by surprise.

Approaching from behind, he could see one ‘rat, with a plasma rifle drawn, head down the stairs. Riddick tensed, and without any sound or warning, he grabbed one ‘rat around the throat. One smooth motion and he had knocked the ‘rats legs from underneath him. As the ‘rat fell, Riddick doubled his grip and twisted his hands. Neck broken, the ‘rat slid the rest of the way to the ground. All this happened in two seconds or less, and he took a blade from a sheath in the ‘rat’s belt and slit the other ‘rat’s neck.

The third ‘rat came up from the drive room and stared at Riddick, dumbfounded. Riddick took quick aim and threw the blade with precision accuracy, lodging it in the man’s left eye.

Okay. Mission accomplished. Now it was time to find Jack and get the fuck out of there. Heading back to the lounge, he was surprised to find it deserted. After taking a careful look around, Riddick hurried up the narrow steps and went into a crouch. The lights were off, making it easier to hide.

They said Jack was with someone called Lozano. That woman in charge had ordered Jack away from him, but Riddick needed to make sure himself.

The lounge was smaller than he had first assumed. It would only hold twenty people comfortably. Riddick certainly hoped, for the ‘rats’ sakes, that there were more than twenty ‘rats onboard, because he’d already killed nine of them if there were.

There was a doorway about thirty meters from where he was crouched, and he moved toward it cautiously. He should have taken the knife after killing the ‘rats. He missed his shivs No point in worrying now.

He heard Jack’s voice echoing. She was cursing at someone. That’s my girl, he thought. The only problem was, though, that they were headed his way. Looking behind him, he saw that there was another doorway behind him, on the opposite side of the lounge. He was such an idiot sometimes! The lounge was more than a sitting area; it was also a type of hallway. “Smart, Riddick. Real fucking smart,” he muttered, ducking behind an enormous chair.

“Lights on,” the ‘rat commanded. With minimal flickering, the halogen lights obeyed. The sudden brightness momentarily blinded him. As he slipped on his goggles, he saw Jack spin out of the guy’s grip. The ‘rat reached for her, but she was too fast for him. She brought her arm down on the crook of his elbow, making him lose his grip. The sudden speed of the movement left the ‘rat momentarily unbalanced, and Jack used the opportunity to rack him. Hard. Riddick winced as the man let out a painful noise, somewhere between a scream and a grunt, and fell to the floor.

“Jack.” Riddick stood and waved her over. A look of profound relief crossed her face, and she ran to him. He was prepared for enthusiasm, but when she threw her arms around him, she almost knocked him over. He barely managed to keep his balance.

Jack didn’t notice. She only squeezed him more tightly. “Riddick, I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Riddick chuckled. “I’m invincible, kid. Come on, let’s get out of here. But first-” He stopped, pushed her away, and looked in her eyes. “Did they hurt you?”

Jack shook her head. “No, I’m fine, let’s go.” Her response was rushed, and Riddick stood his ground.

“Jack. Did. They. Hurt. You?”

“No, Riddick, I’m fine. Let’s go! There were some more people following me!”

Riddick mentally smacked himself. “Fine, fine. Let’s get out of here. Any idea where they stuck the ship?”

Jack shook her head. “They scrapped it. It’s all boxed up. Lozano said something about heading back to Neb 4. What’s that?”

Riddick closed his eyes. This was the worst thing that could happen. He didn’t even know why there was a ship this large out anyway. What kind of a space run had these people been doing? There was no way such a huge ship would be out of port specifically to wait for tiny vessels passing by. There had to be a different reason.

At the moment, he didn’t really care. He needed to find some kind of escape craft for himself and Jack. Riddick whispered, “Come on, kid.” He walked in the direction the ‘rat had been taking Jack and tapped the bar next to the door itself. It slid open silently, and Riddick whispered a ‘thank you’ to whoever was up there.

Jack walked ahead of him, and Riddick reached for her. Whatever came their way, he wanted to face it first. Amazement momentarily struck him yet again, how much he cared about her. No time for that, though. He could be emotional later. Right then, he had to think.

Jack pulled her arm out of his grip. “I’m fine,” she hissed. Riddick didn’t answer, but when she rounded a corner about four paces ahead of him, he frowned. It was never a good idea to turn a corner blind. His fear was confirmed, it seemed, when he heard her murmur, “Oh, my God.”

Riddick turned the corner as quickly as he could, and almost ran right into Jack. She was standing in the middle of the hallway with her hands hanging limply at her sides. She was staring at the woman with an expression of shock. The woman just looked confused. Riddick didn’t really care what was going on in either one’s head. All he saw was the huge rifle in the woman’s arms.

He grabbed Jack’s shoulder and hauled her back with him, rounding the corner. When he got there, though, he came face to face with a superbly ugly ‘rat with about three teeth and a massive scar running from the corner of his right eye, down his cheek, and ending somewhere between his bottom lip and his chin. Riddick remembered that face. He gave the ‘rat that scar the day he met Jack.

“You,” the ‘rat breathed, touching his marred skin.

Jack gave Riddick a shove. “Get down!” she shrieked. Riddick ducked and rammed his shoulder into the man’s torso. The ‘rat fell, but not before pulling the small handgun that he hadn’t seen and aiming it at Riddick’s head.

Jack moved more quickly than Riddick had ever seen her move before. Before he could stop her, she dived between him and the pirate. The gun went off, and Jack went flying. She hit the other wall and slumped to the floor.

Riddick didn’t even think—he just reacted. He reached up, tore the gun from the ‘rat’s hand, and emptied the plasma chamber into his face.

Ignoring the rain of blood and other important parts of a man’s head that were now splattered all over the hallway, Riddick swiftly moved to her body. He didn’t know where the plasma bullet had struck her. That she wasn’t moving meant nothing. Plasma bullets of that caliber were always accompanied by a stunner that rendered the wounded person immobile for anywhere between thirty seconds and two minutes.

“Jack,” Riddick whispered, rolling her over. Profound relief settled over him. The bullet had only hit her shoulder. Her shoulder blade was as good as shattered and the bullet had gone straight through her body, but she would live. Depending in the kind of medical equipment they had onboard, she would be as good as new in a month, if not sooner.

Riddick was already making a quick tally of what he would need—surgery to repair any nerve damage, an artificial shoulder blade, major anesthetics… maybe even cellular regenerator. Regeneration technology was illegal all over the Consortium, but with the connections he had, it wouldn’t be that difficult to get hold of someone who could do it. It would take a shit-load of creds that he didn’t have, though.

He rose and stayed in front of her body. The woman was staring at them. Her face was pale. Her eyes were riveted to Jack’s body, and the rifle hung passively from her hands. Before Riddick could puzzle it out, Jack woke up.

“Riddick….” she whispered. “Hurts….”

“Shh, I know, Jack,” he replied, eyes never leaving the woman dressed in black. He could hear Jack trying to stand. Riddick knew she shouldn’t exert herself at all, but he also knew that he had to keep the wound site above her heart. That wouldn’t happen if she kept lying down, so he wordlessly held out a hand to her. She grabbed it and hauled herself up. Riddick could feel her exhaustion in the limp way she leaned against him.

Riddick couldn’t figure out why nobody had moved yet. He realized the pirates were all waiting for the woman to take action, but she seemed frozen. He couldn’t figure it out. She was staring at Jack as though she were a ghost. Riddick knew it wasn’t the gunshot wound. If this woman was in charge of a ship full of ‘rats, then she had to have seen violence and gore before.

Jack was staring at her, too. Riddick didn’t dare break eye contact with the group of five or so ‘rats in front of him, so he murmured the question, hoping she would realize it was directed at her.

“What’s the matter?”

No response. Her shuddering doubled, and he knew she was seconds from falling. Rather than see that happen, he swung her up easily into his arms. Jack wriggled feebly, and Riddick shushed her. “It’s okay.”

Jack wasn’t focused on him, though. She whispered one word, before he saw her eyes settle closed. He hoped to God that she was just passing out from blood loss.

“Libbie….”