DF
Part II
The lights in the vast chamber shifted red, a curtained wall lifted and a pit grew in Riddick's stomach.
"Oh shit." He sighed at display down below.
He walked to the edge of the balcony still wearing his cuffs and saw them -all three of them- standing below. Jack and Imam were the closest, standing with arms bound on a giant ball. Their necks were tethered to something high above to keep them from moving too much or risk suffocating. Rhya was just passed them in the same rig and looked thoroughly pissed off. She cocked a brow to the man high above with the crazy people, internally yelling at him. He seemed to notice and let a grin touch the corner of his lips briefly before The Woman began to speak again.
"I want to watch you work." She told him calmly. "I have spent the later half of my life watching incredible things, the works of terrible men such as yourself. But it's always after the fact, after the moment the bloody creation is cold and passed. That changes now."
Jenner typed a few things into the piece of tech he held and opened a distant door behind Rhya. She tried to look over her shoulder, but her restraints kept her from seeing anything. While she could still hear the people above her talking, Rhya was more preoccupied with whatever devil was going to come out from the shadows. She struggled -not with balance but with sight- to pierce the darkness of the shadows.
The sound of crunching bones and fighting made her realize Riddick had leapt into the pit along with someone stupid enough to try and confront him. She rolled her eyes.
The lights suddenly dimmed to a purple hue. Rhya knew he could see better in this and she was right. Just before her she saw his iridescent orbs focusing on whatever lay behind her.
"Don't move." He warned her.
"Wasn't planning on it." She replied sarcastically as glowing light began to appear behind her.
Pinks, purples, greens and blues began to pulsate just out of sight.
"I was on a pilgrimage, just a pilgrimage." Imam mumbled to himself in a panicked voice. That is all."
"This is bad, huh?" Jack asked.
"Give it a minute." Riddick replied as he watched the creatures advance. "Imam, pray."
Rhya closed her eyes and groaned to herself. If someone like Riddick told you to do something religious, it was bad. Sure enough, barely a moment passed before brilliantly glowing tentacles started to advance. The mystical beings they were attached to glided into view. They would have been beautiful if she wasn't certain how dangerous they were.
The Merc that was stupid enough to tumble into the pit with Riddick took aim at the creatures. He fired repeatedly only to miss. They glided out of his line of sight faster than any of them could register. The lights dimmed again when the creatures' brilliant glow faded. They disappeared and the air went thick with tension.
Without warning, a tentacle wrapped around the man's arms, the other his legs and held tight. The Merc began to scream in such pain, you could feel it in your bones. No one saw what touched his skin, but it was slowly beginning to eat through it. The spectators watched in horror as the Merc soon dissolved and fell to the ground in a sloppy mess.
Riddick stiffened his gaze when the purple creature lunged for him. Its thin, luminescent arms shot forward and tried to catch him, but Riddick was faster than he looked for a man his size. He dove and dipped out of the way and avoided the dangerous appendages.
Suddenly, it tossed him into the ball Jack was standing on. She fell. The thing around her throat snapped tight and nearly broke her neck before Imam rolled to her aid. After that, everything happened so quickly, if you blinked you'd have missed it.
At one point, Imam and Jack sent their only remaining ball towards one of the creatures and to save the two from choking, Rhya rolled hers towards them, but she was too far away to join it. Instead, she climbed her rope as high as she could before dropping, snapping the weak chain and landing on the ground. Riddick still fought. He sliced bits and pieces from the monsters as he went. When he finally landed a blow, the monster shrieked and screamed as it crumbled to the ground dead.
One left.
Riddick was busy fighting with the animal as Rhya went about trying to get Imam and Jack free of their confines. She leapt up onto the sphere higher than they thought she could, but the Holy Man still helped her by standing on the opposite end to keep it from rolling. She struggled briefly before standing beside them. She quickly gripped the chain and snapped it. The three went to jump down before the ball was knocked from beneath them when Riddick slammed into its side. The last creature grabbed him and held his arms suspended to his sides.
Rhya moved towards the display. She grabbed the creature and gave the con the few seconds he needed. He called to Jack to throw the shiv and she did. He caught it, sliced through the alien's tentacles and shredded its insides. It screamed, withered away and fell to the ground in a hulk. Its luminescent blood flooded the ground around Riddick's feet.
"Ew…" Rhya sighed as she wiped gunk from her body.
Slow, reverent clapping was heard from above. The lights flickered on forcing Riddick to slide his goggles back into place. Rhya took slow steps to his side while her eyes remained fixed to their spectators. Jack raced for Imam.
"Bravo!" the creepy woman chimed as she clapped. "The grace! The expression! The sheer violence of it! Exquisite."
"The shiv." Riddick grumbled through clenched teeth.
"What?" Imam asked quietly.
"Give me the knife." He said.
Imam seemed to understand and quickly reached for the blade still imbedded in the monster. He held it firmly while the crazy woman high above spouted how she felt about her supposed art. Riddick was the only one who understood the nonsense she was spewing after being shown the other murderers she had suspended in cryo. He didn't plan on being one of them.
With his chance presented, Imam threw the man his knife. Riddick didn't hesitate to shove it into his neck. Jack and the Holy Man winced. Rhya closed her eyes and tried to ignore him digging into his flesh. But no sooner than he had, Riddick produced the piece of tech he'd hoped to retrieve. It looked like an octopus, mechanical, but still like the sea creature. Again, he seemed to know something they didn't.
"Down!" he bellowed.
The instant the small piece touched the wall, it ignited. Rubble flew through the air, surrounding them and nearly knocking a few of them out. Unwilling to remain behind for whatever horrors The Woman could produce, the small group fled the pit and raced through the hole.
"Find them!"
The witch's voice echoed behind them as they ran for a place to hide.
"I'm going to kill that chick." Rhya growled as they propelled themselves through the ducts where the gravity was almost nil.
"I might beat you to it." Riddick replied.
She smiled and glanced to the man beside her. Her smile faded.
"You're bleeding."
He didn't bother looking and shrugged before they turned a corner. When they reached an area where the gravity returned, they switched to walking. Riddick seemed to have memorized more of the ship's layout which was fine by them. They weren't certain how he knew, but he did.
As they made their way into another corridor, something in the distance roared. It forced the four to pause and look behind them.
"What the hell was that?" Jack asked worriedly.
"Nothing good." Rhya replied.
"Don't move." Riddick warned.
He kept his ears trained on the distance. He could hear the metallic clank of the thing walking. It was big, heavy and coming their way.
"Move." He said firmly.
He didn't have to tell any of them twice. Imam and Jack may not have known exactly what was following them -Rhya didn't either- but she could feel it in the ground. Every step vibrated through her and it was coming.
The group stayed low as they followed Riddick until they came to a turbine of some sort jutting through the floor and reaching high above their heads. Riddick rolled his head towards Rhya.
"You think you got it in you?" he mocked under his breath.
She looked to him and cocked a brow.
"You think you can keep up?" she shot back without hesitation. "You're getting kind of old."
He chuckled deep within his chest before they began to scale to monolith. Rhya was light on her feet and nimble. As a result, she took to it much easier than the others. Riddick wasn't far behind and Imam surprised them all with his dexterity given his age and the gown he wore. Jack was another matter entirely. She was weak still -a child- and it was beginning to show. She was getting tired and the adrenaline from before was wearing out. She wouldn't last much longer and Riddick knew it.
Shots rang out as Riddick grabbed Jack and heaved her small frame up onto the highest point. He caught a bullet to the shoulder when he had.
"You're injured." Imam told him concerned.
"Just a graze." Riddick replied as he glanced down at the Mercs swarming the main floor. "This time."
"We have to keep moving." Rhya sighed.
Riddick nodded and the running commenced once again. It didn't matter how hard they pressed themselves, they didn't seem to make any headway and Jack was slowing down. Reluctantly, Riddick slowed. He heard the beast behind them.
"We cannot stop." Imam breathed, bending over and trying to steady his erratic heart.
"We're not going to outrun this thing, not the four of us."
"I can keep up." Jack whined.
"Someday maybe." He muttered as he examined their surroundings. "Duck out in there," he pointed to a small gap between machines. "And wait for this thing to pass. Then go to the flight deck."
"And where do you think you're going?" Rhya asked. Her irritation was coming through.
Riddick had already taken a few steps away when she came up behind him. He turned to face the young woman with her hands on her hips.
"You take them to the flight deck." He said simply. "Get them out of here and don't come back."
She raised her brows at the man in disbelief.
"Really?" she asked sarcastically. "And what, leave you here?"
He didn't reply and that was more than she needed.
"I'm not leaving you on this ship."
A smile touched the corner of his lips.
"Careful. Your humanity's showing." He teased.
She openly rolled her eyes.
"I'll leave you on a rock any day," she told him simply. "But not on this ship and not with that psycho hunting you."
Something crashed in the distance. The creature was closing in and they knew it.
"Hide." He told her sternly before dashing off.
Rhya openly growled at the man before grabbing Jack and all but shoving the young woman into the nook with Imam behind her. Jack opened her mouth to speak, but was silenced quickly with Imam's hand clamping firmly over her lips. Mercs rushed by them, guns aimed and ready for the convict. Rhya kept her keen eyes on the area just beyond their hiding spot when the heavy footfalls grew closer. A moment later, they saw it.
