A Wish Is A Dream The Heart Makes.

A.N: Right, a question for my readers; who do you want to survive Fry or Shazza? At the moment I'm wavering back and forth between the two, so if you review and suggest one or the other, I'll take it into account... if there is a clear winner between the two women. If it is equal I'll either kill them both off or let them both live. The next chapter will be the first of several interlude pieces and should be up after the weekend, hopefully. Thanks for reading and for reviewing. And I still haven't got around to watching C of R!! Hopefully this weekend. Bye for now.

Chapter ten: By The Killer We're Led.


Riddick helped Fry pull the door to the container closed behind them and then moved swiftly to stand beside Xander. Johns shone his torch around the interior, flicking the light around nervously, checking there were no breaches in the walls around them. Shazza grabbed her lighter from her pocket and tried to get it to light.


"You remember the bone yard?" Johns asked, still shining the torch around him, "These just might be the fuckers that killed every living thing on this planet."


"So not helping, Johns." Xander muttered as he caught Shazza's breath hitch with fear. "Are these the only light we have?" Xander gestured indicating the two torches and the lighter that Shazza had finally got to stay lit.


"No. There's a cutting torch on the floor... I just can't find it." Fry said, directing her small torch on the floor as she spoke. Xander and Riddick could hear the creatures coming closer again,


"Quiet, please everyone." Imam said curtly, everyone fell silent and Imam put his head to the outer wall Fry made to join him but Xander spoke as she moved,


"Don't bother Fry, we can hear them, they're all around us and moving closer." The squealing grew louder, clearly audible to everyone now.


"Why do they do that?" Shazza rocked slightly where she sat, "Make those sounds?"


"Perhaps," Imam whispered, "it's the way they see, with sound reflecting back..." Suddenly everyone jumped there had been a loud metallic tapping that seemed to come from inside the container. Fry and Johns tracked the noise with their torches.


"Could be a breach in the hull." Fry said mostly to herself, "I don't know." The group moved as one towards the skittering noise, trying to see if there was a gap the creatures could get through.


"Come on, Johns." Riddick mocked when the noise came again and everyone froze, "You got the big gauge."


"I'd rather piss glass." Johns made no move to get any closer, "Why don't you go fucking check?" Xander rolled his eyes, "Chicken. Give me the torch and I'll go check." Shazza stood and grabbed up a metal bar using it to pry open a nearby doorway,


"Let's move, people. This area's obviously not safe!" Fry and Imam moved to help her as soon as the door fell, they all scrambled through. Imam quickly raised the metal screen over it and locked it in place, leaning against it breathing heavily. Just as his panting ceased there was a skittering from the room they'd just left and a claw punched through the metal screen, emerging less than an inch from the side of Imams head. He stared at it shocked, before he bolted away from the doorway. The others backed away with him, Johns started shooting through the screen, Riddick ignored the panic and searched the room looking for anything that could help them. Xander saw him bend down and grab something off the floor, as he came closer he could see it was the cutting torch Fry had mentioned. Riddick moved swiftly and held the torch over the lighter in Shazza's hand, even as she jumped at the whoosh it gave as it lit he was gone and busy cutting an exit in the wall opposite the doorway. Within seconds he'd managed to cut a hole large enough for them to crawl through. Riddick passed the torch to Fry and entered the new room; raising his shades and searching the darkness for any threat; Xander moved up to him, as Imam and Johns blocked of the hole.


"Riddick, can you see anything?" Xander asked as he too peered into the darkness,


"I'm not sure," Riddick cocked his head to one side, "Did you hear that? Wait here, I'm gonna go see." With that he took several steps forward and faded into the darkness. Xander stared at the place he'd been before muttering, "He is so teaching me how to do that." Cautiously the group began to edge away from the walls, spreading out slightly and working their way across the large room. Xander found that if he stared into the darkness it seemed to get lighter, brightening from complete blackness to the greyness of early evening, allowing him to see clearly enough to move safely. He found his ability had its drawbacks though when Johns shone his torch around wildly and the light fell across his eyes; the brightness hurt him, it had felt as though the light was burning his eyes. Xander staggered slightly and swore,


"Fucking hell Johns! Are you trying to blind me? Watch where you shine that thing." Xander rubbed at his eyes, before blinking rapidly and trying to regain his sight. Fry had found the next wall and started to cut into it. Xander thinking he heard something shushed everyone,


"What was that?" He paused listening carefully before asking softly, "Riddick?"


"Don't stop burning." Riddick's reply was equally soft as it drifted through the darkness, but Xander could tell he was stressed. Then he heard it; even over the noise of the cutting torch, a creature squealed and it was in the same room. Then another one. Xander's heart leaped to his throat, Riddick was out there, with at least two creatures somewhere in the darkness and Xander couldn't help him. He listened harder, he actually felt his heart stop for a moment when he heard the start of a fight, before he realised that he could also hear someone running towards them. Imam and Johns could also hear Riddick running and automatically started to shine their lights towards him. Remembering the pain he'd felt, Xander yelled out quickly,


"Luv, get down!" Riddick reacted as soon as he heard and flung himself to the floor, shutting his eyes as he saw the beams of light aimed at him. The creature following him screamed in agony as the beams of light hit it, flying upwards to escape the light. Johns almost without thought aimed his gun and shot rapidly at the creature. To everyone's astonishment he actually hit it and it fell, landing in front of them making everyone leap back away from it screaming in fear. Xander was mildly amused to notice how girly Johns' scream had been.


"Is it still alive?" Shazza asked as they crept towards it, shinning the torches at it. They watched as wherever the light hit the creature it sizzled and began to melt, flesh bubbling.


"The light hurts them," Imam said amazed at the sight, "light actually hurts them." A moment later everyone except Xander, leapt back as the creatures arm suddenly fell forward relaxing into death.


"What the hell is happening over there?" Fry yelled out as she continued to cut away at the wall.


"We're all okay. Don't stop cutting!" Shazza called back over the screech of another creature. Riddick stood and walked towards the group, Xander turned to him and belted him on the arm, shouting at him, "You jerk! What the hell were you thinking moron?!" Xander thumped him hard on the chest, ignoring the startled onlookers and almost sobbing as he continued, "I thought you were going to die. You... You..." Riddick ignored the hits and hauled Xander in; silencing him by kissing him hard. After a few moments Xander hung limply in Riddick's arms, unable to remember what he'd been so angry over, his entire body and mind consumed with the kiss to the exclusion of all else. Riddick slowly pulled back aware of the half-fascinated, half-disturbed looks the others were giving them and not caring in the least. Xander slowly came back to himself and blushed when he realised that they were the centre of attention. The blush faded quickly after he noticed he could scent Riddick's blood, Riddick was far more important that mere embarrassment. He quickly examined the body in front of him; running his hand over him and checking he was not badly injured, he found one slice on Riddick's upper chest, luckily although it was about the width of Xander's hand it was fairly shallow. Xander leaned towards Riddick and used his sling to blot the blood away; watching in relief as it quickly stopped bleeding.


"If you've finished fondling the murderer, let's get out of here." Johns said snidely turning away and rejoining Fry just as she exclaimed triumphantly at finishing burning through the wall. Everyone moved swiftly into the new room, relieved to find it small and unoccupied by any creatures.


After they barricaded the room, they moved to find place to sit. They needed a plan if they were going to survive. Imam dragged a chest to the centre of the room and Fry placed the still burning cutting torch on it, its light illuminated the small room perfectly, allowing them all to relax for the first time in what felt like days. Riddick was the only one to remain standing he hovered behind Xander; growling quietly at Johns as he came and sat too close to him. After a few minutes silence Fry spoke up,


"What do we have to work with," she looked around the circle, "So we've got one cutting torch, two hand lights. There's gotta be something we can rip out of the crash ship."


"Booze," Xander said suddenly, "I saw Paris with some earlier and if there's more it'll probably burn." He turned to Johns, "You had one as well so you must have seen where he got them from, was there any more?"


"I think there was about ten or so bottles left, not sure." Johns shrugged.


"Johns, have you still got some flares?" Fry looked at him hopefully he nodded slightly, "Maybe we've got enough light."


"Enough light for fucking what?" Johns said angrily glaring at her.


"We stick to the plan." She said firmly. "We get the four cells back to the skiff: we're off this rock."


"Umm," Shazza looked up at Fry uncertainly, "how? The sand cat is dead, it's solar."


"So we carry the cells." she looked around the circle meeting everyone's eyes, "We drag them, whatever it takes."


"What about the creatures?" Shazza murmured fearfully.


"How long can this last?" Johns said evenly, "A few hours? A day, tops?"


"I have the impression from the model." Imam said speaking for the first time, "The two planets were moving as one and there would be a lasting darkness." He looked sadly around at the others. Johns stood up abruptly in the silence following Imam's words,


"These suns gotta come up some time." Johns spoke sharply, "If these creatures are phobic about the light, we just sit tight... and let the sun come up."


"I'm sure somebody else said that, locked inside that coring room." Fry's words hung heavily in the room.


"We need to think about everyone now." Johns said righteously, Xander snorted, "Yeah right!" He stood up and turned to face him, "Why don't you tell the truth, Johns? You're terrified, too frightened to move and looking for an excuse to do nothing!"


"Why don't you shut your fucking mouth, boy?! Let me come up with a plan that doesn't include mass suicide."


"Oh! Grow a pair why don't you! We're all frightened, don't hide behind someone else. Go ahead think of your great plan!" Xander glared at him waiting in silence, the calls of the creatures growing louder again, "I'm waiting Johns, where's your great plan? I know your type bitch and moan as loud as you can but gods forbid you actually do anything useful. At least Fry's suggested a plan. You, you're a coward, Jack's got bigger balls than you and she's a girl!"


"Is that fucking right?" Johns drew his gun aiming it at Xander who didn't seem bothered by the overt threat. Riddick moved calmly forwards and Johns shifted the gun pressing it tight to Riddick's chin, "Where are you going?" Johns spat.

"This solves nothing." Imam chastised them quietly, Riddick seemed to ignore the gun as he slowly turned his head to look at Johns, casually reaching up and lifting his shades; locking his silver eyes on the man before him. His face revealed no fear only slight amusement, Johns felt something tapping his leg just beside his balls and risked a quick glance down; Riddick was tapping him with the tip of the dagger he'd seen earlier. Johns swallowed and nodded his head slightly muttering, "Okay." before easing back on the trigger of the gun and moving it away from Riddick, backing off and slowly dropping back into his previous seat. Breaking the tense silence Fry spoke as she looked around at them,


"Look they're afraid of our light. That means we don't have to be so afraid of them."


"And you are sure you can get us there," Imam asked Fry, "even in the dark?"


"No, I can't." Fry answered immediately, "But he can." She looked at Riddick and everyone followed her gaze.

They made their way back to the first room, stopping only to gather up the bottles of alcohol, before moving to the large doors and the first part of the journey. After checking to make sure that everyone was ready she nodded to Imam and he slid the large door open. She swept the torch around the doorway checking it was free of the creatures before taking a deep breath and dropping out the door onto the sand, the others swiftly followed and the crept forward moving as one shinning the sparse light around them Johns at the back of the group with his gun drawn and cocked ready to fire. Riddick and Xander stayed back from the group a little way, listening and as Xander's eyes adjusted searching for any sign of the creatures. Tensely the group crept forwards towards the bulk of the ship, after what felt like hours, but in reality was probably no more than a few minutes the reached the main ship.


"Okay, wait." Fry whispered sweeping the flame of the cutting torch around them, "Wait!" she moved forward to the entrance, leaving the huddled group, to sweep the first few feet of the interior of the ship. "Riddick." She hissed as she rejoined the others. Xander moved forward to stand next to Imam, carefully keeping his eyes averted from the light. Riddick stopped in front of the entrance; carefully looking inside for any hint of movement or life.


"Looks clear." Riddick turned his head slightly before reaching up to lower his shades, Johns came forward gun at the ready, as he drew level with Riddick a creature shot out of the ship straight at them and they both dived for the floor as it shot over head, screeching. Johns rolled over and glared at Riddick,


"You said 'clear.'"


"I said it looks clear." Johns shot a glance at the ship.


"What's it look like now?" Riddick slowly raised his head and looked at the ship, not bothering to raise his shades,


"Looks clear." Xander could tell from his voice he was amused at Johns relying on him for safety. Luckily when they approached this time there were no surprises. Moving quickly they got the emergency lighting working and began to construct a sled out of pieces of the hull. They worked together, Xander stood on "watch" listening out for the approach of the creatures and yelling when he heard them come close, everyone would immediately stop what they were doing and hit the floor. He thought that they were getting bolder too; the fly-bys were definitely coming closer together. Xander watched as Johns started to pull some weird looking florescent tubes, wondering absently what there purpose was, at least until he heard the approach of yet another creature and crouched as he yelled, "Hit the deck guys!" he waited until he was sure it had gone before he gave the all clear. Shazza was sat near him and was making wicks out of some rope she'd found and inserting them into the eight bottles of alcohol they'd picked up, Fry helped Johns gather the tubing and a small detachable generator; even as Imam and Riddick carried the power cells from the sand cat to the sled. Xander helped where and when he could, limited by his broken arm, in what he could do. When the were finally ready they gathered around the sled, although Xander noticed that Johns wasn't with them,


"I'll be running about ten paces ahead." Riddick informed them, "I want light on my back, but not my eyes. Keep as quiet as you can, if it's needed I'll speak to Xander and he'll reply. We don't know if our speech will register with them or not but better safe than dead. And check your cuts." he moved to Xander and checked him over even as Xander did the same with him. "These bad boys know our blood now."


"Are we actually going to do this?" Shazza whispered peering into the darkness, listening to the call of the creatures around them.


"We stay together, we keep the light burning. That's all we gotta do to live through this thing." She looked at each of them in turn and spoke with a confidence that impressed Xander and Riddick as they could both smell how scared she was. She turned and entered the ship to see what was keeping Johns as the others moved to their assigned positions. Their voices were easily heard by all in the quiet,


"Are you ready Johns?"


"Yeah."


"Look, we're just wasting light here."


"You give him the cells and the ship... and he'll leave you all out there to die. He'll leave all of you." At that Xander left the sled and walked up to Riddick and placed his hand on his tense back. The conversation fell quieter now and only the two of them could hear it.


"I don't get it, Johns. What is so goddamn valuable in your life that you're worried about losing? Is there anything at all... besides your next spike?" In a few moments they rejoined the group, Fry noticed where Xander was, the tension in Riddick's frame and the discomfort on the other two's faces and blushed when she realised they had all heard every word spoken. Xander leant forward and placed a kiss between Riddick's shoulder blades and whispered, "Stay safe or you'll answer to me." He turned and joined the others around the sled; all of them wrapping several yards of the glowing tubing that was attached to the small generator, around their torso's Xander struggled to do it with one hand until Imam noticed his difficulty and helped him; before returning to his place and wrapping his own body. They then grabbed the second light they'd been given and lit it.


"Everyone ready?" Xander asked quietly at the nods he turned around and spoke to Riddick, "Let's go." Riddick began jogging forward; Imam and Johns pulled the sled between them, as Xander and Shazza ran alongside and Fry brought up the rear. Now they just had to reach the skiff.