Four

'The dark is not what scares me'- Johns

>>begin log>>>>> Geological Outpost T2. Log 2.0087. Dr. J. Cohen

Today we found intruders. I don't know how they got here. It seems that their ship crashed on this planet! Doomed luck! I have to announce this to Gregor. He will know what to do. There's no other choice. We cannot let them leave this planet alive. The experiments are not yet finished. I will go inform Gregor through the net-com immediately.

<<end of log<<<<<

How interesting. Gazing into the eyes of a serial killer made her stop shiver. Was he actually making her feel better?

_Not possible, _she corrected herself, _he's probably going to fuck around with my brain again._

Riddick meanwhile managed to cage the beast inside him. The girl in front of him was starting to shiver again and he wouldn't help by pounding at her.

He could see her lips, her skin. And he could see himself kissing her, ripping her clothes apart. Any closer encounter with her was taking up all his damn self-control.

"Common Jack, what happened?" He whispered hoarsely. No, he wasn't making fun of her, but it just came out like mockery.

Jack was starting to tremble again, but now with fury in her eyes.

" You wanna hear?! " She exclaimed.

"Uh, yeah."

"You really wanna know what happened to me?"

"Yes. Did that damn bastard hurt you?" He growled. It was all bottled inside him, he didn't know he hurt her more than Johns.

A torturous silence came.

" What the fuck-- You hurt me more! I can't believe I'm talking to you after what you've done to me!"

Yeah, she was right. Riddick had no right to ask her. And he had no idea on what he was doing in front of her either. Why he was trying to calm her down. Well, maybe he did know, but the animal ripped the thought which knew apart.

Hell, he didn't even know how to calm down and sooth an angry or crying person. He only saw it once, when Fry was talking to Shazza after she'd seen Owens die, repeating that everything would be better again. He never saw any emotion or caring anyway. Damn, how was he supposed to help her?

"Easy, girl, it'll get better, you'll see." He muttered, trying to remember the precise words that Fry used. He was getting mixed up in all his sentences.

She stared at him, blinking away the salty tears. What was she supposed to say? For God's sake, he tried to rape her! Rape her! And now he was acting like a Samaritan.

"You could try talking it through with someone," he told her. It was what he was supposed to say, right? He was not so sure when he saw her expression. She looked at him, her face all swollen from the crying.

_Oh fuck,_he thought,_not with me, Jack. Hope you know that._

--_Sure she does, you idiot_the beast growled,_she won't talk it through with you. Never. But you know what she could do with you….._

Suddenly the thought of Jack never talking to him again struck him. An abrupt lonely feeling spread through his body.

"With someone?" She asked, mockery in her hurt voice, "With you, no doubt? In exchange for some services, I guess?"

"No, Jack," he replied. He drew breath to say something else, but no sound came out of his mouth.

Jack mistook it for: 'You won't be talking to me when I'm done with you.'

But Riddick tried to say something else. He wanted to apologize for what he did. Try to explain that it was something taking him over. The animal inside…

But he never said anything. He didn't know how. And mostly, the beast didn't let him.

"Look, if Johns did something to you, I want to know," he demanded.

This enraged her even more. "Shit, Riddick! I'm not telling you even if he did!" She pushed him away from herself, stepping back from him.

"Just _leave_ me _alone_," she said, turning around like on fire. She took off.

_Well, that went well,_he thought,_at least I didn't do anything to her. Welcome to the normal world, Riddick, this is the closest you'll ever fucking get._

Jack returned to the others. Everyone seemed to watch her every movement. She threw a curious look at them, wondering what they had on their minds.

Carolyn Fry placed her arm around Jack's shoulder.

"Common here, Jack. We've got a new plan. We need the power cells for the skiff, but those are back inside in our old ship."

Jack stared at her.

"Yeah, I know," Carolyn said, motioning to Johns to not close the door to the room, " where the hell is Riddick anyway?"

Johns growled. "He was with Jack a minute ago."

Carolyn threw a curious look at him.

"The situation between them was…"

Jack raised her eyebrow waiting what would pop out of his mouth.

"Ehm, lets say I interrupted them at the right time, before he had a chance to do something to the boy," he boasted.

Jack threw a disgusted look at him. The fuck you helped! You were scared of him, you liar! If Riddick wanted to do something to me or you, you'd be resting in peace now! Or pieces that is.

But she said nothing. How could she, after all. But she made sure Johns saw her face.

"So, he's still outside?" Carolyn asked.

"I think he is-"

"Miss me?" Riddick's voice echoed from one of the dark corners.

Everyone spun round.

"What the-" Paris exclaimed.

"Oh shit," Zeke was breathing hard from shock, "I say we lock him up again! He won't go around scaring the shit out of me!"

"Fuck me, Riddick," Carolyn sighed, watching the silver dots rise and move to them. Riddick's face appeared in a moment.

"What, now? You sure?" He smirked at Carolyn.

Jack managed to hide her smile. These little jokes of his were a pain in the ass, but oh so welcome. Everyone was playing around with her, so if Riddick messed around with everyone she'd be happy.

"Look, I was saying," Carolyn began again, standing up, "we don't know when the dark will start. There's a disk I found in one of the rooms with some info on it, but I don't know with

what-" she frowned, "anyone here know anything 'bout the System computers?"

No response.

Oh, yeah, Carolyn, I'd love to have a look at it…, Jack thought.

"Okay, and now for the power cells. We need five. There should be seven on our ship, but we don't know if they're damaged from the crash. Either way, we have to go to the crash site and dig them up."

Everyone shrugged.

Carolyn continued. "We'll take turns on shifts. The damn ship is about five to six meters deep in the ground and we have to go and find the cells. Even if it means taking out all the debris and stuff. Any comments?"

Total silence.

Johns was just watching Riddick, he wasn't going to admit he was scared of the man, but deep inside he was cursing himself from letting him go from the handcuffs.

"Okay, anyone wanna start on the shifts? They'll be two hours long. I guess there can be two to three people working there together, so at worst it shouldn't take us any longer than three days," when she noticed no-one volunteering, she started with the sign-up, "uh, right-Zeke? You won't mind, will ya?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Carolyn threw a tired smile at him. "And, ehm, Jack, will you,… boy?" Dammit, she nearly gave her out…

_Sure, why not. Afterwards I can go have a look at the program….._

"OK, we'll have lunch now. There's a long day ahead of us," Carolyn said, ending the meeting.

They went to sit at the long table which was in the conference hall. Riddick sat down directly in front of Johns. It was good to have him on sight. Constantly. Bad for Jack that Riddick was sitting next to her though.

He could see her tension. In every move she made, like when she wanted to reach the salt, there was something that proved she wasn't happy sitting next to him.

Yeah, she was probably scared, but didn't want to show it, so she just stayed sitting where she was. Good for her. He could protect her from any harm that could come at her, just because she was sitting close to him. Of course, no-one could say for sure how much harm he would be to her, though.

He looked down at her hands, as she stretched past him. He had to smile to himself, those hands could not be a boy's. They were too soft, tender, yeah but she could hit hard when she wanted. He touched his cheek trying to remember her hand on it. Strange that it aroused him.

"You want the salt, kid?" He growled.

Everyone looked up at them. Jack nodded, trying to free herself from the treacherous eye contact. But he didn't let her. The others returned to their meal, nothing exciting was happening. Riddick took the salt and handed it to her. For a second, their hands met. He could feel himself starting to sweat all over. This was wrong, he thought, quickly letting go. Fuck, if the others weren't around, he wasn't sure what he'd do.

_It's just not right, Riddick,_he told himself,_she's not for you, you idiot. Don't you forget that._

They ate in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Fuck, this is disgusting," Zeke gasped suddenly, spitting the dull flavored biscuit out of his mouth, "what the hell is it?"

"Sorry if it doesn't match your taste," Carolyn shrugged, "but if you wanna go out and eat sand instead, you're welcome."

Johns laughed. "I dunno, Carolyn, but it's not exactly what any of us would eat normally, ya know. Except for Mr. Riddick, I bet. He's probably eaten worse kinds. "

_Jesus, Johns,_Jack thought,_you think you know everything, don't you._

Riddick looked up at him with no emotion in his face and then down at the piece of meat in his hand. Abruptly he took out his shiv and slammed it into the meat. He looked up again, now with a sincere snicker in his smile.

"You were saying, Johns?"

Jack bit her lip. Damn served Johns right. Everyone was shocked, they weren't sure it was a good idea to let Riddick walk around lose. Zeke leaned in to Carolyn and whispered: "Look, we have to do something. Soon. Or he'll kill us, one by one, inch at a time."

Zeke continued. "We have to lock him up again."

Carolyn sighed. God, she wished they knew what they were supposed to do.