{"id":123,"date":"2022-09-04T21:22:02","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T01:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=123"},"modified":"2023-01-14T14:09:30","modified_gmt":"2023-01-14T19:09:30","slug":"the-slow-burn-chapter-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-slow-burn-chapter-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Slow Burn, Chapter 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Title:<\/b> The Slow Burn<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 3 of ?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> Pitch Black<br \/>\n<b>Synopsis:<\/b> This is a reworked version of chapter 3 of <i>The Slow Burn<\/i>, which was my first attempt at fan fiction. It was semi-successful, but I stopped writing it after I found my real calling with Apprentice. Now I\u2019m revisiting it. The story adds an original character to the group of survivors, and this time around I\u2019m trying to strip away any and all Mary Sue qualities she possessed. In this heavily reworked chapter, Riddick makes his way back to the crash ship after having fruitlessly explored the nearby area, still operating under the assumption that this planet has normal days and nights.<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6aabfe7336a720047763665' value='6aabfe7336a720047763665'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6aabfe7336a720047763665' value='This story has, overall, an X rating, and is derived from an R-rated movie. By clicking on this link to access the story, you are declaring that you are 18 years of age or older, and that this content is not illegal in your place of residence.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6aabfe7336a720047763665' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6aabfe7336a720047763665' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">This story has, overall, an X rating, and is derived from an R-rated movie. By clicking on this link to access the story, you are declaring that you are 18 years of age or older, and that this content is not illegal in your place of residence.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6aabfe7336a720047763665' ><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;margin-bottom: 20px\"><b>3.<br \/><u>Riddick: Watcher in the Hills<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Recon didn\u2019t take long at all. Accustomed as he was to hiding in plain sight and negotiating unfriendly terrain, the crash site posed no real challenges to him. Riddick wasn\u2019t sure if his findings left him impressed with the pilot\u2019s skill or amazed she\u2019d managed to land the craft at all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">The ship had skidded for more than a mile during its crash-landing, leaving a deep groove in the desert as it had torn itself to pieces. Cryo pods had gone flying and were scattered along the back trail. He\u2019d popped the locks on a few, unsure whether their inhabitants still lived but figuring he\u2019d give them as much of a chance as possible. One container, however, disturbed him. It had been wrenched open and was empty, with a small spatter of blood nearby\u2026 and what looked like claw marks, or the marks of fingers desperately digging into the soil and being dragged, leading to a small hole in the ground. There was more blood on the hole\u2019s rocky edges, but no sign of the cryo pod\u2019s inhabitant.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">He had listened by the hole for several minutes but hadn\u2019t heard anything else, except possibly wind whistling through the nearby rocks.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">In the far distance, toward the end of the ship\u2019s skid marks, he could see the wreckage of yet another cargo container. There was no point in even trying to hike the distance to see what was inside it, though; it was burning with dangerous intensity. Useless. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\"><i>Okay,<\/i> he told himself as he doubled back. <i>That leaves the resources on board the ship itself, and the cargo container the other survivors are already plundering. Plus whatever exists in nature here.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">The heat was powerful, but not the kind of oppressive heat that came with humidity. This was dry, thin air, thin enough that he had felt a little light-headed until he got used to it. He bet it would get every bit as cold when night fell. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Well, it wouldn\u2019t be the first time he\u2019d done a night raid to get something warm to wear. His first order of business would be to take Johns out, but the man\u2019s jacket would be way too small for him. Maybe one of the others would have something larger and feel inclined to share. Assuming that the cargo container with everybody\u2019s clothes wasn\u2019t the one burning merrily in the distance, of course.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\"><i>Next order of business:<\/i> he told himself, <i>find out what everybody\u2019s up to and how they\u2019re planning on circling the wagons.<\/i> Johns would be filling their heads with horror stories about him, of course. One or two might even be true.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">The crazy girl and another kid had been put to work, he saw. The two were slowly making their way from the cargo container to the main crash ship, a large crate with Emergency Ration labels emblazoned on its sides awkwardly carried between them. In the intense heat, the girl had stripped down to a small halter top and shorts, and he took a moment to just enjoy the show. Weirdly enough, though, the boy still had several layers of clothing on and seemed loathe to shed them, even though he was clearly suffering in the heat.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\"><i>That\u2019s gotta be damned uncomfortable,<\/i> he thought, and frowned. More than that, it was dangerous. <i>Tryin\u2019 to give yourself heat stroke, kid? You need to at least take off that vest.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Long sleeves, vest, hat, trousers\u2026 the kid was going to be comfortable enough come nightfall, but working in those clothes now put him at serious risk. Was he that self-conscious around the girl? Riddick had vague memories of feeling intimidated by that kind of beauty when he was the boy\u2019s age\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\"><i>Was I ever that young? Really?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">But still, this was dangerous. Very dangerous.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">He stole closer, feeling an irrational urge to protect the kids.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\"><i>This is how Billy catches you, asshole,<\/i> he reminded himself. And yet he crept closer still.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Slow Burn Chapter: 3 of ? Fandom: Pitch Black Synopsis: This is a reworked version of chapter 3 of The Slow Burn, which was my first attempt at fan fiction. It was semi-successful, but I","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"\u201cThe Slow Burn\u201d chapter 3, by Ardath Rekha","bgseo_description":"Riddick makes his way back to the crash ship after having fruitlessly explored the nearby area, still operating under the assumption that this planet has normal days and nights.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-the-slow-burn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions\/138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}