Categories > Movies > Pitch Black > Darkness, Be My Friend
Chapter Five : Monsters Under the Bed
It had happened almost too quick for Jack's mind to register, but that was the key word, almost. If she had been a half-second slower she would have been skewered; it had scared her badly, having the flashlight knocked out of her hands, but in the bright flash as the bulb shattered she'd seen it. That was when she'd screamed, to have that nightmarish image burned into the back of her retinas in one lightning flash of a moment; she had jumped back as quick as she could.
The thing was huge with a diamond-shaped mouth that was nothing but razors stained red with blood. It had a curved up skull with two protrusions on each side somewhat resembling that of a hammerhead shark, which was a creature she'd only seen in books. This creature, however, possessed scythe-like claws that it was even now scraping over the cover of her hiding place, trying to pry her out.
Jack couldn't see it, but she could hear the scrapes and the small screeches it was making above her. She had managed to get beneath one of the floor panels, so now the only thing between her and that thing was the steadily denting metal floor. She refused to scream again, however, because she knew with certainty that, if she was going to die, she wasn't going to do it screaming.
Pain cut through her stomach and she let out a small grunt, her body automatically trying to curl into a ball. Her knees hit the metal above her and she let out a soft curse, forcing back tears at the sting of torn skin.
Hate this...hurts...
The pain faded after a moment and Jack took in a deep breath, wincing as the creature slammed its claws into the covering of her hiding place. The metal was dented now, it would only be a matter of time before it broke through.
Feeling around the small crawl space, she felt a metal bar on the left side of her and yanked it towards her, desperate for some kind of weapon to let her fight back if, no, when it broke through. She was startled to find her haven suddenly light up with a ghostly greenish-blue glow; evidently the fiber-optic cables still worked just fine. Something slammed into the wall above her hiding place with a violent crash and Jack heard the creature screech in what sounded like pain, followed by a shout; her heart froze in her chest as she heard it.
Riddick...oh shit...
Jack scrambled around under the floor back to the ripped open panels, unaware that she was dragging the fiber-optic cable with her. She peeked out from the hole and saw the creature turning away from the wall, one clawed arm hanging limply at its side as if it had been crushed; there was some kind of blue substance dripping from it. Standing opposite the creature was Riddick, looking altogether menacing even though he was unarmed; his goggles were pushed up and for the first time Jack got a look at his eyes.
Silver...
She almost forgot the danger of the situation, staring at his eyes, but she was snapped out of that trance when he spoke.
"Get moving," he pronounced each word as a separate sentence, not taking his gaze from the creature. "Now, Jack. MOVE!"
Hefting herself out of the crawl space, Jack nearly tripped when suddenly the thing let out a shrieking scream; she turned in time to see it crash its head into the wall, grey skin rippling as if something were burning it. A strong hand closed over Jack's shoulder, dragging her backwards and out of the front end of the ship. She was vaguely aware that she still had a hold of the fiber-optic cable, but when she went to drop it, Riddick shouted at her.
"Don't you dare fucking drop that!"
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He hadn't meant to yell at her, not really, but shouting was basically the only communication that could be allowed right then. The thing was following him as he dragged the girl away, the only thing keeping it from lunging straight forward was the glow of the fiber optic cable that Jack clung to now with death grip. He could smell her fear and it carved a knot in the pit of his stomach, a knot that he partially knew the reason for.
Five minutes he had crouched there, watching the creature scrabbling and scratching at the floor in an attempt to get at the girl. He had listened to its screeches and had listened for another frightened scream from Jack, but she had stayed silent. It had unnerved him; any other person in her current position would be scared shitless, calling for help, begging. She wasn't doing either and he knew she wasn't dead; the only smell of death was old and stale now.
Riddick had contemplated leaving her right then; it would have been simple, letting the creature kill her instead of facing the decision of killing her himself. Then he had remembered how quickly she had accepted the fact that she'd die here on this planet when the skiff had appeared to be useless. That memory, still fresh in his head, of that despairing glint in her eyes mixing with the faux hope in her expression, stirred him into action.
He had caught the thing by surprise, slamming it into the wall; there had been an audible crack as the its arm snapped against the metal. He didn't remember shouting or the creature's shrieks until he heard the girl climbing out from the crawl space beneath the floor. The thing had spun back towards them, but it didn't turn to the obvious threat, but back to the girl; the smell of her monthly blood was even more evident now than when he had first caught the scent.
Blood...they go on blood...
Every instinct he had was telling him to dump the girl and get the hell away from there; but he dragged her back out to the sandcat, out into the sunlight where the creature wouldn't follow. She let out a startled cry when he dropped her in with the power cels, banging her elbow against the back wall. Her lip was still bleeding from earlier and now her shirt and pants were ripped, but other than that she seemed to be okay; she hadn't just grabbed a single fiber-optic cable, but the entire generator, clutching it close like a life-line.
Her eyes were set past Riddick's shoulder, towards the shadows of the ship; the silhouette of the diamond jawed monster lurked just outside of the light, waiting. Riddick looked over his shoulder, frowning; he could see it better than the kid, even with the sunlight stabbing with pins and needles at his eyes. There was another problem presented by the presence of the creature, however; The last power cel was still inside the ship and it now blocked all access.
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She wanted to close her eyes and just curl up into a ball, will everything to just go away, but she couldn't take her gaze off that thing. It was watching her, she could tell even without knowing where it's own eyes were; it was waiting to get her and that wasn't the worst of it. There was a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, not from her monthly pains but something far worse.
Its starting...the darkness...
"Stay here," Riddick's dark voice suddenly cut through her thoughts.
Jack tore her gaze from the monster in the darkness and gaped at him, eyes widening in disbeleif. She didn't even have any time to protest; one second he was there, the next he had vanished into the shadows of the ship and she was alone in the sandcat with the soon to be waning sunlight. She glanced at the horizon and saw a thin line of shifting darkness cutting across the sky, rising steadily towards the red and gold suns.
Glancing around, Jack paused to stare at the nearest spires, that ominous feeling increasing ten fold; she hugged the generator closer, biting her lip and tasting blood. She turned to look at the sandcat's cargo, counting the four power cels with a small surge of hope; it was cut short as an unearthly howl snapped her attention back to the ship.
Without thinking, Jack scrambled out of the back, stumbling in the dirt a little as one of the fiber-optic cords was tangled around her leg. She kicked it off and started towards the ship, pausing only to pick up a bent metal bar from the outside wreckage. Brandishing it like a baseball bat, she stepped slowly into the shadows and paused, ready to jump back into the light if something decided to jump out at her.
Nothing happened, so she stepped in farther, taking in a deep breath; her foot hit something soft and she gasped to see the crumpled corpse of one of the creatures, head twisted at a bizarre angle. A faint screech greeted her ears and Jack froze, turning to look in the direction of the noise. Another of the creatures was lurking just beyond a fallen section of ceiling panels; back turned and focused on something just out of sight.
Oh shit...
On a whim, Jack bent down and picked up a stray chunk of debris; she hurled it at the monster, striking it in the shoulder. The creature spun towards her, distracted from its current quarry by this new threat; this time around, however, Jack didn't scream. She watched as the thing prepared to lunge at her and refused to even blink when Riddick stepped forward, snapping the creature's neck as he had the other.
He looked pissed off and annoyed; she guessed the reason for it was that she hadn't listened to him, but he didn't say anything at all. Jack watched as he bent down and picked up another power cel, hefting it over his shoulder before heading towards the door. She followed, still holding on to her makeshift baseball bat, the taste of blood in her mouth as she bit her lip again.
It was still bright out, but that line of darkness she had spotted on the horizon had risen further into the sky; it was towards this that Riddick was looking when Jack climbed up into the back of the sandcat, his goggles back down around his eyes. He still looked angry and now she saw that there was a gash on his shoulder, dripping blood down his arm.
"Sorry," Jack whispered, turning away; she was aware that this mess was more than likely her fault. She felt his gaze on her but didn't look up, instead she pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them close and bowing her head.
"Kid, you've got nothing to be sorry for," Riddick said after a moment, and Jack glanced up at him as he passed by the side of the sandcat. She watched as he climbed back into the driver's seat, but her gaze was drawn to the horizon. Another line of darkness had appeared parallel with the sand, thickening ever so slightly with each passing second; she turned her eyes back to Riddick to see that his usual apathetic expression had returned. "Let's get the fuck out of here."
It had happened almost too quick for Jack's mind to register, but that was the key word, almost. If she had been a half-second slower she would have been skewered; it had scared her badly, having the flashlight knocked out of her hands, but in the bright flash as the bulb shattered she'd seen it. That was when she'd screamed, to have that nightmarish image burned into the back of her retinas in one lightning flash of a moment; she had jumped back as quick as she could.
The thing was huge with a diamond-shaped mouth that was nothing but razors stained red with blood. It had a curved up skull with two protrusions on each side somewhat resembling that of a hammerhead shark, which was a creature she'd only seen in books. This creature, however, possessed scythe-like claws that it was even now scraping over the cover of her hiding place, trying to pry her out.
Jack couldn't see it, but she could hear the scrapes and the small screeches it was making above her. She had managed to get beneath one of the floor panels, so now the only thing between her and that thing was the steadily denting metal floor. She refused to scream again, however, because she knew with certainty that, if she was going to die, she wasn't going to do it screaming.
Pain cut through her stomach and she let out a small grunt, her body automatically trying to curl into a ball. Her knees hit the metal above her and she let out a soft curse, forcing back tears at the sting of torn skin.
Hate this...hurts...
The pain faded after a moment and Jack took in a deep breath, wincing as the creature slammed its claws into the covering of her hiding place. The metal was dented now, it would only be a matter of time before it broke through.
Feeling around the small crawl space, she felt a metal bar on the left side of her and yanked it towards her, desperate for some kind of weapon to let her fight back if, no, when it broke through. She was startled to find her haven suddenly light up with a ghostly greenish-blue glow; evidently the fiber-optic cables still worked just fine. Something slammed into the wall above her hiding place with a violent crash and Jack heard the creature screech in what sounded like pain, followed by a shout; her heart froze in her chest as she heard it.
Riddick...oh shit...
Jack scrambled around under the floor back to the ripped open panels, unaware that she was dragging the fiber-optic cable with her. She peeked out from the hole and saw the creature turning away from the wall, one clawed arm hanging limply at its side as if it had been crushed; there was some kind of blue substance dripping from it. Standing opposite the creature was Riddick, looking altogether menacing even though he was unarmed; his goggles were pushed up and for the first time Jack got a look at his eyes.
Silver...
She almost forgot the danger of the situation, staring at his eyes, but she was snapped out of that trance when he spoke.
"Get moving," he pronounced each word as a separate sentence, not taking his gaze from the creature. "Now, Jack. MOVE!"
Hefting herself out of the crawl space, Jack nearly tripped when suddenly the thing let out a shrieking scream; she turned in time to see it crash its head into the wall, grey skin rippling as if something were burning it. A strong hand closed over Jack's shoulder, dragging her backwards and out of the front end of the ship. She was vaguely aware that she still had a hold of the fiber-optic cable, but when she went to drop it, Riddick shouted at her.
"Don't you dare fucking drop that!"
****************************
He hadn't meant to yell at her, not really, but shouting was basically the only communication that could be allowed right then. The thing was following him as he dragged the girl away, the only thing keeping it from lunging straight forward was the glow of the fiber optic cable that Jack clung to now with death grip. He could smell her fear and it carved a knot in the pit of his stomach, a knot that he partially knew the reason for.
Five minutes he had crouched there, watching the creature scrabbling and scratching at the floor in an attempt to get at the girl. He had listened to its screeches and had listened for another frightened scream from Jack, but she had stayed silent. It had unnerved him; any other person in her current position would be scared shitless, calling for help, begging. She wasn't doing either and he knew she wasn't dead; the only smell of death was old and stale now.
Riddick had contemplated leaving her right then; it would have been simple, letting the creature kill her instead of facing the decision of killing her himself. Then he had remembered how quickly she had accepted the fact that she'd die here on this planet when the skiff had appeared to be useless. That memory, still fresh in his head, of that despairing glint in her eyes mixing with the faux hope in her expression, stirred him into action.
He had caught the thing by surprise, slamming it into the wall; there had been an audible crack as the its arm snapped against the metal. He didn't remember shouting or the creature's shrieks until he heard the girl climbing out from the crawl space beneath the floor. The thing had spun back towards them, but it didn't turn to the obvious threat, but back to the girl; the smell of her monthly blood was even more evident now than when he had first caught the scent.
Blood...they go on blood...
Every instinct he had was telling him to dump the girl and get the hell away from there; but he dragged her back out to the sandcat, out into the sunlight where the creature wouldn't follow. She let out a startled cry when he dropped her in with the power cels, banging her elbow against the back wall. Her lip was still bleeding from earlier and now her shirt and pants were ripped, but other than that she seemed to be okay; she hadn't just grabbed a single fiber-optic cable, but the entire generator, clutching it close like a life-line.
Her eyes were set past Riddick's shoulder, towards the shadows of the ship; the silhouette of the diamond jawed monster lurked just outside of the light, waiting. Riddick looked over his shoulder, frowning; he could see it better than the kid, even with the sunlight stabbing with pins and needles at his eyes. There was another problem presented by the presence of the creature, however; The last power cel was still inside the ship and it now blocked all access.
****************************
She wanted to close her eyes and just curl up into a ball, will everything to just go away, but she couldn't take her gaze off that thing. It was watching her, she could tell even without knowing where it's own eyes were; it was waiting to get her and that wasn't the worst of it. There was a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, not from her monthly pains but something far worse.
Its starting...the darkness...
"Stay here," Riddick's dark voice suddenly cut through her thoughts.
Jack tore her gaze from the monster in the darkness and gaped at him, eyes widening in disbeleif. She didn't even have any time to protest; one second he was there, the next he had vanished into the shadows of the ship and she was alone in the sandcat with the soon to be waning sunlight. She glanced at the horizon and saw a thin line of shifting darkness cutting across the sky, rising steadily towards the red and gold suns.
Glancing around, Jack paused to stare at the nearest spires, that ominous feeling increasing ten fold; she hugged the generator closer, biting her lip and tasting blood. She turned to look at the sandcat's cargo, counting the four power cels with a small surge of hope; it was cut short as an unearthly howl snapped her attention back to the ship.
Without thinking, Jack scrambled out of the back, stumbling in the dirt a little as one of the fiber-optic cords was tangled around her leg. She kicked it off and started towards the ship, pausing only to pick up a bent metal bar from the outside wreckage. Brandishing it like a baseball bat, she stepped slowly into the shadows and paused, ready to jump back into the light if something decided to jump out at her.
Nothing happened, so she stepped in farther, taking in a deep breath; her foot hit something soft and she gasped to see the crumpled corpse of one of the creatures, head twisted at a bizarre angle. A faint screech greeted her ears and Jack froze, turning to look in the direction of the noise. Another of the creatures was lurking just beyond a fallen section of ceiling panels; back turned and focused on something just out of sight.
Oh shit...
On a whim, Jack bent down and picked up a stray chunk of debris; she hurled it at the monster, striking it in the shoulder. The creature spun towards her, distracted from its current quarry by this new threat; this time around, however, Jack didn't scream. She watched as the thing prepared to lunge at her and refused to even blink when Riddick stepped forward, snapping the creature's neck as he had the other.
He looked pissed off and annoyed; she guessed the reason for it was that she hadn't listened to him, but he didn't say anything at all. Jack watched as he bent down and picked up another power cel, hefting it over his shoulder before heading towards the door. She followed, still holding on to her makeshift baseball bat, the taste of blood in her mouth as she bit her lip again.
It was still bright out, but that line of darkness she had spotted on the horizon had risen further into the sky; it was towards this that Riddick was looking when Jack climbed up into the back of the sandcat, his goggles back down around his eyes. He still looked angry and now she saw that there was a gash on his shoulder, dripping blood down his arm.
"Sorry," Jack whispered, turning away; she was aware that this mess was more than likely her fault. She felt his gaze on her but didn't look up, instead she pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them close and bowing her head.
"Kid, you've got nothing to be sorry for," Riddick said after a moment, and Jack glanced up at him as he passed by the side of the sandcat. She watched as he climbed back into the driver's seat, but her gaze was drawn to the horizon. Another line of darkness had appeared parallel with the sand, thickening ever so slightly with each passing second; she turned her eyes back to Riddick to see that his usual apathetic expression had returned. "Let's get the fuck out of here."
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