The Animal Side

“You’ve been following me, watching me and I want to know why” she said.

“Haven’t figured it out yet Jack?” he spoke as he looked her up and down in closer detail.

Jack’s head tilted at the familiarity of the voice, she narrowed her eyes at the stranger in front of her that had seen fit to observe her from the bar and now following her outside, taking a step backwards she shook her head.

“You’re not him, he’s dead” she turned then and went to move away but a hand on her shoulder stopped her, she didn’t flinch

“Jack” he said again as he felt her muscled shoulder tense under his grip.

“I don’t know you mister” she replied, no emotion betraying her, she had taught herself never to show emotion that could be used against her.

“No more the little girl huh?” he gently turned her around to face him, pushing the hood from his head, she saw the silver orbs that was the shine job on his eyes and at that moment her angry face had disappeared.

“You’re better off not being around me” she said in a calmer tone then as the door to the bar opened and the guy that had tried it on with her earlier stumbled out.

“Oh, there she is, big macho girl, only good thing bitches like you are good for is fucking” he laughed as he straightened out his jacket.

“Guess you never learned your lesson, I could’ve sworn I said I didn’t like it when people called me bitch, are you deaf? Do you need me to speak up a little bit?” Jack pushed passed Riddick and stepped up to the guy.

“Little girl like you needs a spanking” he poked her hard in-between her breasts.

“Okay, then why don’t you do it big guy and after you’ve tried I will personally cut your nuts off and serve them to you on a silver platter” she poked him back in the chest a little harder and grabbed a hold of his jacket bringing him in close as she head butted him hard watching as he staggered backwards this time out for the count.

“Nobody calls me bitch” she said before backing up and then past Riddick.

He watched her leave, he knew she would return to the apartment where he had seen her leave earlier and he watched her disappear into the night for the second time before his attention returned to the man lying on the ground at his feet.

“Bitch” he muttered as she rubbed the point on his forehead where she had caught him.

Riddick slid a shiv out from its sheath and in one swift blow had slit the man’s throat without so much of a whimper before disappearing himself into the darkness, Jack had contained her emotions until she managed to get to her apartment.

It was Riddick; he had come to the planet but what for? Certainly not for her surely? Opening a locker by the entrance to the small galley kitchen she pulled a rucksack out and picked up a few items of clothes stashing them in the pack before heading for her hidden box of Universal Dollars and shivs which she also hid in her pack.

Jack liked to travel light it made for a quicker escape if anything happened and she felt she had outworn her welcome. Closing and locking the door behind her she pulled the hood of the garment under her leather coat up and over her head then walked briskly to the terminal where she intended on getting a one way ticket off the planet using the false ID she had made for herself.

She was quick, quickest she had ever been leaving a place she had lived in and by the time she had reached the terminal dawn was breaking, every now and again she would cast eyes over her shoulder just in case but she never found him, this time she had slipped past him unnoticed. Riddick had found her apartment after memorising the route from earlier, knocking on the door quietly he waited and listened for some kind of noise but found the place strangely silent.

He placed his hands in the door testing its give and found it quite sturdy, to force it would only cause undue attention but he figured she wasn’t in. closing his eyes he imagined what he would do if in her shoes, hitting the door with the palm of his hands he moved swiftly heading back the way he had come, back towards the terminal. He moved silently through the gathering crowds of people, his eyes darting everywhere under the protection of his goggles, he was having problems spotting her as he neared a bank of small monitors that showed departure and arrival times on transports.

“Where are you Jack” he muttered to himself.

Jack kept her head down as she moved slowly through and around people careful to dodge in house security, the price on her head meant that anyone with an average IQ and a thirst for a couple thousand UD’s wouldn’t even blink in taking a shot at the bounty. She had thought she was going to make a clean getaway but she hadn’t counted on Travis Cole, the Merc that had been on her ass for the last five months had now eventually caught up with her and was not alone. Last time he cornered her he was in the company of two others, not enough to take her down as she had permanently left him with a parting gift as she had stuck a shiv in his shoulder scarring him for life and now she could plainly see he wanted payback.

“Ah fuck” she muttered as she straightened and dropped her pack, she counted five this time and knew she was in for a bit of a rumble.

Taking off her jacket and the hooded top she placed them neatly on her pack and straightened out the padded waistcoat she wore, hidden pockets kept her shivs out of sight, it gave her more free range to move too, not restrictive for arm movement. She also noted the decrease in traffic like people were aware of what was going on and had decided not get involved, suited her just fine; she could just concentrate on the task at hand.

Cole smiled as he dropped his gear and nodded to his people to flank out to the sides, Jack remained perfectly still, eyes trained on them all as they circled around her like predatory animals in a pack. She looked around to see what she could use to her advantage, above her head was beams, she could use them to jump clear or attack from above using her legs and then there were the many crates scattered around ready for loading.

She also gauged the reactions of Cole’s people; three of them looked real nervous and clutched the blades in their hands like they were going out of fashion which meant they were new to the Merc game, good, another advantage. She relaxed her stance and pulled her shivs out slowly as Cole took a tentative step backwards; he was actually going to allow his other friends to tire her out first before he got to play, very clever.

She allowed the full onslaught to start as two moved in from behind, she dodged and sent one flying with a backwards head butt whilst the other tried to reach out for her wrist was met with her swinging her other arm round and catching him in his neck with the tip of her shiv.

He staggered backwards clutching at the wound, blood slowly seeping through his fingers as his eyes went wide, his next decision saved his life as he refused to get anymore involved with the situation and promptly left through a large set of doors behind her. The third guy moved more like a cat and pounced on her as she had side stepped to dodge another blow; she was lifted up and physically thrown through the double set of doors and skidded to a halt on her ass.