-Within the Absence of Light- ::Part Seven::

She ran the tip of her tongue along her lips, wetting them nervously as she tried to think of a way to Not tell him exactly what it was that she was running from. But she knew he could feel it…fucker had always been connected to her on a level neither of them would ever understand.

“So you holed yourself up on this abandoned rock in an empty colony, surrounded by acid filled pecker-heads that you’ve somehow gotten accustomed to your presence otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. Not that I’m complaining…” He gave a rueful smile that finally caused her to roll her eyes at him. Seeing that loosened something in his chest.

“Yes, they’re accustomed to me because…” She didn’t know how to say it. Which is odd, considering just before Riddick reentered her life less then an hour ago, she wouldn’t give two fucks how it sounded. Now? There was a strange nagging in the back of her mind and she definitely didn’t like the way it made her feel.

Riddick waited patiently, knowing she was having an inner struggle with herself. Yet another good sign that his presence was getting under her skin.

She growled out a frustrated sigh and decided to just spit it out. “I raised them.”

He quirked a brow at this. “Raised them?” Riddick rumbled and watched her give a nod. “Elaborate.”

Wildcat took a deep breath, well as much as she could considering his big ass was still on top of her, keeping her pinned against the map. “I had a few captive bounties on board ship with me. I thought I could give them a chance at freedom and cut’em loose when I landed. They decided they wanted to stick close to me. Problem was they were three very large male ex-cons and one of the three had a taste for female victims.”

Riddick smirked, “you used them for bait.”

“No and for your information, the other two were decent men that earned my trust.” She shot at him, her anger obviously masking the remorse she felt for watching them die. “We touched down seven months ago. Roger and Morris wanted to keep an eye on Cason, didn’t trust him as far as they could throw him, especially around me. While on our first week out here on this planet, Morris had decided to take Cason out with him for a little recon. Roger stayed behind to help me figure out supplies and see if there was any information left on what happened to this place.”

Wildcat stopped for a moment, her gaze unfocused as the memories danced behind her eyes as if it were only yesterday. “It was nearly twelve hours before we heard anything and it got us a little worried. Just as we were about to head out, Morris and Cason dragged themselves back in. Muttering something about huge spiders that ambushed them when they found a derelict spacecraft that seemed to be on the planet for god knows how long. Roger and I immediately took them to med lab just so they could recoup when Morris mentioned something about a container they’d acquired at the crash site but they left it ten feet outside of the compound. Roger offered to retrieve it while I doped them enough to get some shut eye.”

Riddick interrupted when she trailed off again. “Roger went MA too.”

She nodded and regained her thoughts, “same thing but not for as long. Eight hours this time, but three hours too long.”

He could see a haunted look shimmer through her depths before it vanished and she continued. “Cason wasn’t a deep sleeper like Morris, and had managed to give Morris another dose when I thought he was still out. I was right here, when he attacked me. Didn’t quite make this table like he’d planned, but he did get me on the ground.”

He felt his stomach twist with disgust at the thought that he wasn’t there to protect her…but also disgusted with himself for pushing her like he had when she told him she didn’t want to be touched. Now he understood why she’d tried to gut him…

Riddick went to get up and let her loose when something in her voice brought him back and held him there, captive. “Right when things seemed like they were going his way, Cason suddenly jerked back like he’d been shot and convulsed in agony. Finally free, I took the opportunity to end his suffering by grabbing my knife out of his grasp and drove it so deep into his eye socket that I didn’t stop until I felt the crack of my blade hit the back of his skull.”

When she paused again, he took the moment to sit up and back, allowing her the space she’d asked for in the first place. But to Riddick’s surprise, she didn’t move. She laid there, her eyes peering off unfocused as her right hand clutched the black cloth of her shirt at the center of her chest, reliving those horrible memories as she spoke. “But he didn’t stop convulsing. Even when I ripped the blade out and knew he was dead, when his back hit the deck there was a horrible crunching sound deep inside his chest…as though something was trying to get out.” Wildcat finally sat up but wouldn’t give Riddick her gaze.

“That’s when the blood oozed out and something burst out of his ribcage with enough force to cause bits and pieces of broken rib, flesh and thicker things to spray all over the place. The thing that came out of him, a pink and eyeless creature with a mouth full of metallic teeth and a second smaller jaw where it its tongue should’ve been, jutted out at me as it took its first breath. I didn’t feel all that bad about Cason, if anything I felt remorse for not letting the creature escape when he was still alive. I did feel my stomach sink when I heard a faint gasp followed by something splashing on the table in the med lab.”

“Morris.” Riddick added in a low tone and she brought her eyes to his, an expression of pain appearing along her delicate features he wished he could take from her.

“And eventually Roger.” Wildcat said in a quiet voice and swallowed back a sudden lump of emotion from the back of her throat. “So all three dead by three new arrivals that for some reason…I didn’t have the heart to kill. If anything, they were the only living company I had. Maybe that means something isn’t right in my head, but I liked having them around. They kept me company, made my days on this rock less maddening knowing I wasn’t alone.”

“So they started out inside one of those, facehugger things…” Riddick started with a motion toward the med lab where the remaining corpses sat floating in those test tubes. “They latch on, implant one these bad boys, using us as an incubator and we end up human toasters.”

“Interesting analogy…” Wildcat mused softly and nodded, “but yea, that’s pretty much how they work.”

Riddick was truly fascinated. “How long did it take for them to molt?”

She thought about it for a moment and replied, “a little over 24 hours.”

“And they’ve been with you ever since.” Riddick stated but felt as if there was more here then even she knew about.

“For the most part. Lately they’ve only made an appearance once maybe twice a day.” She replied and ran a gloved hand over her hair that was pulled back in a long braid, removing her goggles from her forehead in the process. “Today was there first visit.”

“So there’s a chance they’ll be stopping by again.” He mused under his breath and quipped, “funny how they didn’t really react to my presence.”

This time Wildcat gave him a sideways look. “Riddick, don’t you remember?” She asked and watched curiosity crease his intense brow. “We share a similar scent…and if you were a real threat, you would’ve been dead before you walked off that platform.”

He quirked a brow and retorted in a flat tone, “that’s comforting.”

-End Part Seven-