Chapter Ten.
*Elisha's POV *
Adrenaline pumps through my veins as I glide my fingertips along the jagged broken stone walls to keep my balance as I exit the crumbling stone monuments to mix in with the mayhem I could not understand, amongst the hazy flickers of flames licking the air and attacking the surroundings. I try to make sense of what is happening or where I even am but my brain remains like scrambled egg that has been left out and gone stale. My weak limbed body crookedly bends forward to keep what I have left of my balance to narrowly escape the collapsing roof of the ruin behind me; enter what is left of a village clearing inside a centre of buildings built in a circular form but as I scan the area quickly I realise it is a market square, or a meeting ground.
My head hangs heavy on my shoulders as I looked around, to my right behind the fallen burning mess of a wooden barn, the land stretches out into grassland but laid out in front and to my right was the remainders of a burning village – a village I am unaware of – discarded bodies of children and adults mixed with those in between lay amongst the ruins. My feet felt as if they had been chained to the ground restricting me, my eyes settled on a muscular women picking up a child in her arms before scurrying away from the destruction at a blinding speed mixing in with the equally as foggy figures clinging to their children, siblings or parents as they rushed from the beacon of burning buildings – many successfully dodged the falling ruins, others weren't so quick – cracking trees and dying livestock.
My chest tightens as my throat beings to swell to the size of a pin-head as the thick smoke filling the air makes it twice as difficult for oxygen and clean air to break through. I cover my mouth and nose using my hands, the fuzzy purple picture of my vision becomes watery as my eyes tear up due to the irritation caused by the thick smoke however through the cloud I noticed a large man wearing chunky silver amour with two identical faces welded onto his shoulders, in his right hand he carried a silver weapon unlike any of the guns I had seen previously; on his head the male wears a strange helmet that protects the entire surface of his head expect from his eyes that were night sky black, soulless without any colour.
Sharp pains flutter through my chest as my heart speeds up too quickly causing it to shatter into sharp splinters piercing my organs at the sight of a young boy, no older than ten, crying along side the body of someone. The man in amour stands ridged yet strong several meters from the child and studies him before raising the silver gun and aims in accurately at the defenceless child.
Anger surges through my body as my muscles tense, "Hey! Stop!" I scream fighting the chains at my ankles to pace down the crumbling stone steps, I break the barrier made by my body and raced forward across the grass, the man in amour turns swiftly to raise the gun at me with no mercy, the child sees his chance to escape a horrible fate and sprints off into the darkness and as I turn to do the same, the armoured male pulls the trigger sending a coloured wave like a sound-wave through the air meeting my body, the wave sucks in the fire near by causing an explosion within the field that shatters my eardrums whisking my body from the floor forcing my through the air in an unknown direction.
For a split-second, I was blind, deaf and lost in an abyss but as I felt my body begin to fall, the pain filled screams erupt from around me filling the air, a faint orange light forms beneath me allowing my body to plummet out of the darkness and back into the blinding light...
My eyes dart open as a sharp magnetising pain travels through my body making it jerk with my heart palpitating rapidly inside my chest with an overwhelming sickness leaping from my stomach with the feeling of my spiritual body had replaced itself – or more fallen back – into the hollow cocoon of my now conscious body. My shoulders and elbows cracked as I used them to shuffle my body backwards to lean upright against the cold metal bars of the front of the cell, gasping for dense air my lungs did not require yet my body felt was necessary.
The cell was vacant and quiet. A yellow light flickers unhelpfully in the far left corner beside the jagged cell wall. I whipped off the blanket that covered the surface of my body to swing my legs round to rest my booted feet on the hot floor and leant forward to rest my elbows on my knees and ran my hand through my hair whilst wondering who the hell had undone the tie, leaving it to curl wildly. Laziness oozed from my pores resulting in me lacking enough movement to tie my loose hair, so instead I pushed the mess backwards before arising from the mattress to snatch a short sleeved, baggy t-shirt from hanging on the end of the bed.
I exit the cell and enter out onto the walkway of the second floor not even glancing to see if Sybil sat to the right in her usual place of cell protector. I would have ignored her anyway. My knees buckles beneath the weight of my tired body as I speed walked towards the wall of water created by the burst pipe, hidden behind the wall of liquid was a small cave opening, just tall enough for me to stand up straight inside and wide enough for me to turn around without scraping across the pointy walls.
I stood behind the wall of water in the dry section of the cave and kicked off my boots; removed my clothing, throwing them to the ground with annoyance at the previous events that left me shaken, confused and flat-out embarrassed. Years of thinking and stupidly believing I was grown up and able to defend for myself but the first time someone truly annoys me, I go and deify clear instructions like a stupid and childish little girl demanding to be respected and wanting to see how far the boundaries are. Why? I am unaware of any good reason to act like a child. Maybe I still am.
No, you're an adult, your seventeen, old enough to make your own decision. My defiant voice growls inside my head.
I sigh heavily. I cupped my hands to collect a handful of cold water and washed away the grease, dry blood and dirt from my skin, the surface area of my ribs on my right-side have began to colour with faint purple and blue blotches. I turn around to face the back of the cave to allow space for me to tip my head backwards to soak my hair in the running water before stepping into the dry section, ringing my hair to get rid of the excess water.
The thin layer of water that glistened across the surface of my skin dried rather quickly in the searing heat. I slipped on my trousers before struggling like a toddler to find the correct holes for my arms, once I have correctly directed my arms into the right place, I pulled the shirt over my head then dragged it down the length of my body. I was much happier and more comfortable with the largeness of this shirt compared to the one Dakota kindly allowed me to borrow. This shirt hung to my thighs, to shorten the brown fabric, I tucked it into the waistband of my trousers, the shirt hangs loosely around my middle hiding the even layer of fatness that protects my stomach – or so I like to think.
I chewed the already raw inside of my mouth releasing fresh, metallic taste of blood as I scrunched up the hair closest to my scalp in my hands, I inhaled deeply processing the musky smell of sweat and leather booth, masculine smells. My body becomes ridged as I brush my hair to the side revealing the back of my neck as I begin to braid small sections of hair. A shiver catapulted down my spine causing me to scrape my nails across the bare skin underneath the fabric brining faint lines of sticky red moister.
"You shouldn't do that." a thick voice spoke from behind me making me leap unexpectedly digging my nails deeper into my skin by accident.
I turned swiftly on my bare heels to reveal the voice belonged to Riddick, who stood inside the cave behind me with his back to the trailing water. My heart accelerated inside my chest knocking against my ribs. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Bounded together and suddenly you think you can tell me what to do?" I ask rhetorically.
Riddick copied my facial expression, "I never said I did." he grunted.
I slip on my boots and collect the old shirt from the floor before turning to face Riddick. He watches me with hawk-like eyes like I am a wounded animal, he steps forward pushing me backwards against the wall pressing himself against me with no space to fight back mixed with no will to do so either, I melted into his connection. Melted into the animal.
"Are you okay?" he asks, his deep voice no more than a whisper as he leans in closer, our eyes never breaking contact until he abruptly crushes his lips against mine before I can reply. Our kisses become aggressive as we begin to fill with ecstasy. He snags my bottom lip seductively between his straight edged teeth causing a pleasurable moan to escape my throat. My nails dug like small knives into the flesh at the base of his skill as my body stretches and struggles to continue meeting his lips.
His hands trailed down my back leaving a line of shivers and fire as he gripped the top of my thighs, lifting me from the floor, oblivious to the low cave ceiling. His large palmed hands cup my thighs keeping my up as I wrap my legs around his waist, once I had, his hands slip higher to start un-tucking my shirt from the waistband of my trousers. I pull my mouth away from his as my body trembles with nervous energy.
"What's the matter?" he whispers to me, his voice edged with concern as he grazed gently his nose along the tip of mine, his muscular right hand reaches up to move a cluster of my curly hair that had fallen in front of my face, he traces the edge of the stitches of the cut on my forehead before cupping the left side of my face tenderly.
I smile shyly at him whilst shaking my head, "Just catching my breath." I whisper back.
Riddick chuckles quietly before pecking me on the lips as the sound of approaching voices stuns us silently, we remained entwined together, our lips close enough to be kissing but instead we listen intently to the voices as they pass unknowingly of our presence.
"Are you not worried? Do you not see the way he looks at her?" a masculine voice asks with a venous hiss, "And how he acts so dominate around her, its disgusting, she's young enough to be his niece for fuck sake."
A huff projects itself from the second person's lips, "Will you let it go?" a female voice snaps angrily, it was Dakota, "Stop mollycoddling her, you do remember what happened right? Plus she is old enough to make her own decisions."
The male, who by process of elimination had to be Pharrell, took a sharp intake of air in reaction to the memory and huffed as they continued on.
Riddick's body suddenly shuddered violently and recoiled away from me, he shrugged me off with an emotion I could not understand, he was physically annoyed but his shrug wasn't violent. My feet retouched the ground steadily and tensed awkwardly as he stayed close to me, our bodies still touching but he was ridged and unfriendly.
"What's the matter?" I ask.
He licks the inner rim of his bottom lip nervously, "You need to understand that if I kiss you again, you're mine." he growls sternly with a hint of aggression.
My body shivered as his words rattled through my skull and sunk into my brain. His, the idea was more appealing to me than what I originally thought it would be, a life with Riddick protected and safe, it is any girls hope and it is not like Riddick could not protect me, he is "The Riddick" as Pharrell put it.
"Are you with me?" he asks after a minute of silence.
His forever?
I licked my lips whilst forcefully swallowing the lump of tension that had formed in my throat and then allowed a inward smile to creep across my face, "I'm with you." I reply in a whisper.
His forever. Sounds good to me.
A/N: If you enjoy please review! – VA.16.