{"id":147,"date":"2022-09-24T13:50:29","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T17:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=147"},"modified":"2023-01-14T14:11:59","modified_gmt":"2023-01-14T19:11:59","slug":"the-slow-burn-chapter-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-slow-burn-chapter-6\/","title":{"rendered":"The Slow Burn, Chapter 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Title:<\/b> The Slow Burn<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 6 of ?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> Pitch Black<br \/>\n<b>Synopsis:<\/b> This is a reworked version of chapter 6 (formerly chapter 5) 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, Fiona takes a different approach to finding out who, or what, really killed Zeke.<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6a8e66ba4eeba1016923336' value='6a8e66ba4eeba1016923336'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a8e66ba4eeba1016923336' 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-6a8e66ba4eeba1016923336' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a8e66ba4eeba1016923336' 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-6a8e66ba4eeba1016923336' ><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;margin-bottom: 20px\"><b>6.<br \/><u>Fiona: Newer Grief<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Fiona was deep inside a large bay in the cargo container, searching for food stashes, when the chaos started. She didn\u2019t even know that anything had occurred until the frenzied shouting, including voices that had been absent for hours, grew loud enough to reach her through the walls. She emerged into the middle of a furious donnybrook. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Johns and Fry were dragging Riddick\u2019s prone, unconscious body into the crash ship. For one horrible moment, Fiona thought he might be dead. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cJust <i>kill<\/i> him,\u201d Shazza screamed. \u201cWhy the fuck won\u2019t you just kill him?\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">The Imam, his expression inscrutable, was attempting to restrain her with very little luck. She broke free, darted forward, and kicked at Riddick\u2019s ribs. He groaned softly but did not regain consciousness. Fiona sidled over to Jack. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cWhat happened?\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cRiddick killed Zeke,\u201d Jack hissed, her eyes never leaving the chaos. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cWhat? How?\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cCut him up or something, out by the graves.\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Fry and Johns emerged from the ship, arguing. From what Fiona could overhear, Fry was asking why, in the light of how Zeke had died, there was no blood on Riddick\u2019s knife or clothing. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\"><i>Good question,<\/i> she thought to herself. <i>It deserves some answers. Soon.<\/i> <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">First, however, Shazza needed comforting. She vaguely remembered that it was Shazza who had held her during the worst of her grief. However Zeke had died, whoever or whatever had killed him, the woman needed the same comfort in return. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">The debate swirled around for several minutes. Paris and Shazza wanted Riddick killed immediately. Imam and his boys retreated from the fray altogether, leaving Riddick\u2019s defense to Jack, Fry and \u2014 oddly enough \u2014 Johns. Holding Shazza in her arms, Fiona didn\u2019t feel able to speak up for Riddick, as much as she inexplicably wanted to. Not that she could muster anything specific to say in his defense. Just a general feeling that <i>everyone<\/i> was becoming far too trigger-happy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Finally Fry stalked off, muttering that she was going to question the man. A moment later, Jack sneaked after her. Fiona found herself simply holding Shazza while all of the male survivors watched them in an uneasy silence.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Having grown up on New Ireland, a colony world that her father had always claimed had brought the best and most egalitarian elements of Earth\u2019s cultural past with it, this was Fiona\u2019s first encounter with men who were so\u2026 utterly <i>useless<\/i> in the face of grief and suffering. Did none of them know what to do?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\"><i>Riddick would,<\/i> the thought came unbidden. She wasn\u2019t sure what, in their brief interaction, made her believe this exactly\u2026 but she <i>did<\/i> believe. <i>God, maybe I <b>am<\/b> crazy.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Jack returned first, looking disgruntled. Fry emerged from the hold a few minutes later, her expression deeply disturbed. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cWe\u2019re going to find Zeke\u2019s body,\u201d she snarled at Johns when he began to question her. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Shazza stiffened in Fiona\u2019s arms, then broke free and followed Fry. Fiona followed alongside as Fry led them to the cargo container to fetch a long coil of rope. When the group headed for Zeke\u2019s burial ground, though, she found herself hanging back. Her family\u2019s graves were there, and she wasn\u2019t ready to face that. Maybe she could get other answers, instead, while she waited.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Like why she kept having an impulse to trust a man that the newsfeeds had called a \u201cremorseless killer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">They had also claimed he was a \u201cpure psychopath,\u201d using a term her mother had snapped was centuries out of date in all but the worst publications, and maybe that was it\u2014 psychopaths <i>were<\/i> supposed to be charming. But it was also supposed to be a superficial charm, and Fiona had the strange feeling that she had detected the opposite: genuine concern for her and others carefully hidden behind a fa\u00e7ade of cavalier detachment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Shazza had used up Fiona\u2019s astringent and moist wipes earlier, but she could improvise. She found what she was looking for almost immediately, in Paris\u2019 locker \u2014 a bottle of unflavored vodka. It would have to do. From her sister\u2019s locker, she fished out one last packet of cotton cosmetic pads, then carried her finds back over to the crash ship. In the distance, she could see the others clustering around a large hole where, she assumed, Zeke had died. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Riddick had been restrained differently this time. The chains ran through one of the ship\u2019s ladders and looped around some of the other bulkheads, forcing his arms wide. Oddly enough, he almost looked like he was sitting on a throne rather than imprisoned. She took a moment to examine him in the filtered light. No blood. Plenty of new scrapes and bruises that he hadn\u2019t had the last time they spoke, but no blood.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">How to even ask about that, though? After all of the accusations that had already been thrown at him, would he even want to talk to her about it? She tried to imagine what her father would say in this moment. Something dry, and droll, and a little silly. Something to put a person at ease. Could she even do that?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Maybe.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cI didn\u2019t realize you\u2019d studied to be a tepanyaki chef,\u201d she told him, after coming up with and discarding a dozen different lines. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">His head came up with a quizzical frown. \u201cSay what?\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cWell, that\u2019s the only way I can think of that you could have filleted somebody in less than a minute without getting a drop of blood anywhere on you.\u201d It was hard to speak so casually about Zeke\u2019s brutal death, but the layer of numbness over all of her emotions helped. \u201cThat takes talent, not to mention training. I didn\u2019t know they offered those courses in the prison system.\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">A sly smile spread across his face as some of the tension left his shoulders. \u201cWhat can I say? I have more talents than even <i>I<\/i> know about.\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cYou didn\u2019t kill him.\u201d She wasn\u2019t asking; she knew. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cNo,\u201d he replied softly, a new look of respect dawning on his dark features. \u201cI didn\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cSo who did, then?\u201d Had another survivor seen Zeke kill the man by the cargo container and targeted him for vengeance? That made no sense. But maybe he had seen something from his brief vantage point in Paris\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cNot who, lady. <i>What.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">She had no idea what to say to that. The others were convinced that the planet was barren. Dead. But he was saying that it wasn\u2019t. That they weren\u2019t alone here, and that whatever else was here, it wasn\u2019t friendly. Her whole spirit reflexively shuddered back from the idea.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">\u201cSomething very, very fast,\u201d he continued after a moment, his expression pensive. \u201cSomething much more dangerous than I\u2019ve ever been.\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">She believed him, she realized, as much as part of her didn\u2019t want to. It wasn\u2019t just that he hadn\u2019t killed Zeke\u2026 he was <i>worried<\/i> about what <i>had<\/i>. Whatever had actually killed Shazza\u2019s husband was a genuine danger to everyone, including him. For a moment she felt an impulse to run from the ship, over to the graves, and warn everyone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">But just because <i>she<\/i> believed him didn\u2019t mean that <i>they<\/i> would. They were only just coming to terms with the threats they already knew about; more would be overwhelming, and <i>their<\/i> minds would shy away from the idea the way hers had tried to. Most of them thought she was out of her mind, anyway. She wasn\u2019t even sure they were wrong, but it <i>did<\/i> mean that she had very little credibility, especially when it came to believing the warnings of someone they were already refusing to listen to. It wasn\u2019t as if she had a tangible threat in mind, anyway. Everything she knew, they already knew, too. They just didn\u2019t <i>believe<\/i>\u2026 yet.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">As much as it twisted at her insides, she was going to have to let them find out for themselves what could make a man like Riddick feel fear.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in\">Still, she didn\u2019t have to be completely useless while she waited. Fiona stepped closer, walking over to his side.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Slow Burn Chapter: 6 of ? Fandom: Pitch Black Synopsis: This is a reworked version of chapter 6 (formerly chapter 5) of The Slow Burn, which was my first attempt at fan fiction. It was s","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 6 by Ardath Rekha","bgseo_description":"Fiona takes a different approach to finding out who, or what, really killed Zeke.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147","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\/147","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=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}