Gyn Wolf's: Chapter Fourteen-On the ship

   Riddick cast Gyn a worried look and wondered if he should tell her the truth about the last time he’d seen Ven and Brand.

They’d associated themselves with a woman named Rain, and that might have gotten them in trouble. She might be the one that had Ven frightened enough that Gyn was picking up on her signals.

Gyn was sitting on the floor, knees drawn up to her chest. Her head rested across her arm and the hand holding her shiv lay quivering on the ground. It was still stained with the merc’s dark red blood.

Jack sat on a chair, looking worried and scared. Her eyes shifted nervously between Riddick and Gyn and she rubbed her head self-consciously, the action making a rasping sound that echoed within the dark confines of the ship.

They hadn’t turned on any lights, and the dim, green glow from the controls was preferred by both Riddick and Gyn. It did make seeing things hard on Jack’s eyes, though. They might have light sensitive, but she wasn’t.

She made to stand up, but Riddick shot her a dark look, his silver eyes glowing in the dim light. Jack sat back down hard, folding her arms across her chest protectively.

Gyn was silent and unmoving. Her face was hidden against her arm and she was radiating anger and fear. Fear for her family, Riddick realized, still watching her.

He flipped a few switches with practiced ease and set the coordinates for Crip-Ornay.

Hours passed with no one making a sound. Gyn continued to sit on the floor and Riddick prepared a small meal for them all. Bread, cheese and some sort of chewy meat. That along with a glass of water was all he would allow Jack to eat. He didn’t offer any to Gyn, knowing she would either refuse to eat or refuse to acknowledge him at all.

But he did leave the food out in case she did decide to eat anything later.

Gyn had bought a few tattered paperback books at the supply store on Dres and Jack was looking ready to explode with boredom.

“Gyn’s got some books,” Riddick said.

The sound of his voice seemed to explode in the silence that had engulfed them all for so long.

Jack’s head jerked up and she stared at him. “W-What?” she stuttered.

“Books,” he repeated quietly, gazing at her from his spot close to Gyn. “You do read, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Do you think she’d mind? If I got one?” she asked unsteadily.

Riddick shook his head no and pointed to Gyn’s canvas bag leaning against the wall. Jack rummaged through it carefully, finding the books at the bottom. She checked the covers of a few until coming to a dog eared book with the title Dune sprawled across the front.

A tattered and faded picture decorated the front of endless miles of sand and Jack saw that it was science fiction. Instantly drawn to it, she curled up in one of the ship’s many padded chairs and began to read.

The dim light made it hard for her to make out the typed print and she reached for the small light above the chair, flashing Riddick a questioning look. He nodded and turned his back to the light, leaning against one of the benches.

Jack flicked on the small light and was granted illumination. She read on while Riddick watched the ever silent Gyn.

She looked to be asleep, but she wasn’t. He could hear the slow, steady thump of her heart beating quietly, but it wasn’t the heart beat of someone sleeping. And although her breathing was deep and regular, it too proved she was conscious.

Another hour passed, the starlit space that surrounded them drifting past them as they headed for their destination. For Gyn’s home.

Suddenly, Gyn looked up. It was lightening quick and she was on her feet, crouched as if waiting for an attack.

Riddick crept towards her, careful not to touch her though. She was glancing around wildly, her eyes focused on some distant place he couldn’t see.

“Gyn,” Riddick murmured, his face near hers.

“Shh,” she breathed, bringing the bloody fingers of her right hand to her lips to silence him.

Gyn closed her eyes and cocked her head to one side, listening. Her brow furrowed into a pained frown, which quickly became a grimace. Sweat beaded her forehead and upper lip, and then she fell backwards against the wall. Her eyes closed, the shiv caked in dry blood beside her.

Riddick leapt towards her, grabbing her sleek shoulders and giving her a shake.

“Gyn! What’s going on?” he demanded to know.

Her eyes fluttered open. “Ven...” she paused, gasping for breath. “She’s - She’s on,” another few moments passed with Gyn closing her eyes and trying to catch her breath. “Crip,” she finished finally. Then, with a tired groan she collapsed.

Riddick didn’t have a clue what had just happened, but he knew it must have something to do with Ven sending more distress signals to Gyn.

Riddick scooped Gyn up and carried her to the washroom. He sat her in the solar shower and turned it on. It quickly cleaned the blood and dirt from her skin, hair and clothes and then he carried her to one of the sleeping rooms.

She hung like a rag doll in his arms and he placed her on the padded cot gently.

All the while, Jack had been following him around the ship, watching with wide curious eyes.

“Is she all right?” she questioned Riddick shakily, clutching the paperback to her breast like a lifeline.

Riddick shot her a sharp look and she flinched. He sighed and headed for the main cabin, gesturing for her to follow him.

“She’s going to be fine,” he said as he folded his large frame into a chair. “She’s just exhausted. Whatever happened back there drained her. Not to mention what she did back on Dres.” He ran a tired hand over his head.

Jack nodded slowly, averting her eyes so as to avoid any more sharp looks from Riddick.

Suddenly he was hunched down in front of her, his hand tipping her chin upwards so she was forced to gaze into his glowing, silver eyes. “I’m sorry I haven’t been paying much attention to you, and for everything else, Jack.”

The sound of her name coming from him relaxed her and she let his deep voice calm her nerves. She wanted to lean against his chest, hold on to something more solid than a flat pillow. But she didn’t have the nerve. Riddick was being nice now, but if she acted weak he might turn her away again. So she just stared into his eyes.

“You know how it is, right, kid?” he asked quietly.

Back to “kid,” she though painfully and turned away from him. Riddick saw her flinch at the name and let his hand drop back down to his side.

He retreated to his seat and watched Jack curl in on herself, pulling her legs up onto the chair and huddling back against it. She was clutching the book so tightly her knuckles were white and the paper was creaking and twisting in protest.

“You gonna read that book or just beat the shit out of it?” he asked finally, pointing to the paperback in her clutches.

Jack seemed to snap out of some trance and jerked her eyes back to him, her fingers immediately loosening on the book. She seemed loss for a moment and then she dropped her eyes to thing in her hands. “Uh - oh, right. Um, yeah. I’m gonna read it,” she mumbled throatily and clicked the light above her on.

Riddick hissed as the brightness hit his eyes and immediately jerked his goggles on.

Jack ignored the noise and Riddick, not bothering to apologize.

Riddick didn’t get on her case about it. Maybe now the kid would think they were even.

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