Red On Black

Chapter 12

Riddick:

They were sitting in a smaller room, filled with cargo, they had blocked all the obvious entry points with whatever materials they could find. Carolyn was pacing the room trying to come up with some sort of plan. He was sitting beside Mac and Shazza, Rehtaeh was against the back wall, as far away from all of them as she could get. As far away from him, as she could get without making it obvious that she was avoiding him. When she had joked with him earlier, he had been surprised by her odd sense of humor, but when she had smiled at him. It damn near blew him away. She was a very pretty woman, but when she smiled, hell, she became drop dead stunning. Even with the blood of the creature all over her, she was gorgeous. Right now, she just seemed to be her usual sullen self, watching the others and listening, like she usually did.

"So we got one cutting torch, we got two hand lights, there's gotta be something we can rip out of the crashed ship." Carolyn started an inventory of the supplies that could get them to the safety of the skiff. Ever since they found out that the beasts were burned by the light, they had grabbed on to the idea that the lights could keep them safe, and everyone would make it back. Maybe in a perfect world, but in his experience there was no fairness in this world and several of these people were going to die. The only one he cared about surviving was himself, everyone else was secondary, and he would only help those who could help themselves. He was no hero. He wasn't interested in making the sacrifice play.

"Spirits, anything over forty-five proof burns rather well," Paris told them offering up his alcohol to the pool of material. That was a surprise; the man had been hoarding the stuff all day fervently trying to protect it from everyone.

"How many bottles you got?" Carolyn asked him trying to gauge how much light it would provide if it were worth the risk. The whole topic was boring as hell for him. The only thing holding him here was Johns and his shotgun. He would have been out of here hours ago if it had not been for the Merc holding him back.

"I don't know, maybe ten," Paris told her.

"Kay, Johns you got some flares." Carolyn continued. Riddick could see her mind working behind her eyes, trying to come up with a viable plan. "So, maybe we have enough light."

"Enough light for fuckin' what?" Johns asks, he sounded somewhat hostile. His last dose must be wearing off, he seemed very on edge. He looked at the others, they were watching and listening intently to the two arguing. Rehtaeh was looking from one to the other, her eyes following the conversation. She seemed amused and annoyed by their bickering, at one point rolling her eyes in irritation. Riddick just smirked. This little family was starting to pull apart, just like he knew it would.

"We stick to the plan. We get the four cells back to the skiff. We're off this rock." Carolyn told him, she really wanted outta here. She was willing to just about anything, Riddick wholeheartedly agreed.

"Look I hate to ruin a beautiful theory with an ugly fact, but that sand cat is solar," Paris said walking to the other side of the group. "It won't run at night."

"So we carry the cells. We drag them, whatever it takes." Carolyn told them.

"Shazza," Rehtaeh whispered, she had moved so swiftly, so silently he had not noticed her movement until she was crouched right behind Shazza, pulling her aside. The dark haired woman had stayed silent throughout the exchange; she turned towards the younger girl and looked at her questioningly. "The sand cat, is it solar as in needs ultra-violet light? Or solar as in just needs a light source?"

"Needs a light source," Shazza whispered back. "Why, what are you thinking?"

Rehtaeh sat down with her back to Shazza put up her index finger indicating to give her just a moment and sat back thinking. Riddick could see her mind working. She was as Mac said; too damn smart for her own good. He turned back to listen to the continued flow of the conversation and waited for Rehtaeh to come back with her idea. Shazza turned away from the group completely to watch as Rehtaeh started to draw something out in the dust on the floor with her finger. It was making a soft scraping noise as her nail scraped against the metal underneath. She whispered suggestions over Rehtaeh's shoulder, and the younger woman would make the fix.