Sightless Future

By Gymp

Disclaimer: Yes this is a FAN FICTION. No i am not getting paid for this, or getting anything out of this aside from the satisfaction in knowing someone actually READS my stuff. Dont own Riddick or his universe, that belongs to Universal and David Twohey. Sigh

Prologue:

The angry cry of a newborn child echoed through the deserted streets of the night. The harsh cry of a man on his last legs melded with that of the infant as he stumbled into an alley. Leaning back against the rough hewn walls of an abandoned building he held his hands tightly around his middle, trying desperately to staunch the follow of blood that seeped between his fingers. When the sound of running footsteps passed the darkened alleyway, the man pushed himself away from the wall and continued deeper into the alley. Spying an open dumpster he headed towards it, the only thought being the safety it might somehow provide for him. The hollow cries of the infant went unheard by the man who stood so near as he crumbled to the ground. Thunder pounded in his ears as the man collapsed, he could feel his own heart slowing in his chest, causing his breath to come out in short hurried gasps. As the man lay dieing, his lifeblood flowing from so mortal a wound, the child, umbilical cord wrapped around its neck breathed in the rank scent of life and death passing full circle.

Fast Forward:

The faded and chipping paint of the cell ceiling was something that Riddick had stared up at for hours everyday, and now, he looked up sightlessly at that same ceiling. No blindfold need cover his shined eyes ever again, the doc had said, because he would be able to see once more, he would be able to see colors again. Unfortunately the Doc Riddick had bribed, had loved the thought of a pay raise and a transfer to a better prison over helping Riddick go back to the man he'd once been. Trapped on a planet that had sunshine thirty out of forty hours a day left Riddick in goggles and blindfolds more often than not. It had taken over seven months of bartering, stealing and fighting in order to come up with the forty five cigs needed for the reversal. Most of the time, they were collected two or three at a time. He'd gotten lucky once and been able to lift half a pack off a prison guard, but soon after he had been tortured with shock sticks and knife wounds by the same guard and his buddies.

Now Riddick could expect to be the bitch in most situations. After the surgery, Riddick had woken up to find himself back in his cell, a guard standing outside waiting to taunt him with the knowledge that he would never be able to see again. The small slam facility Riddick resided in boasted as being one of the hardest to escape from. The cell he resided in had no computerized technology, and the inmates were outnumbered four to one. The planet was earthlike in the respect that there were habitable continents, yet islands thousands of miles from anything else were still wild. The one Riddick called home was one of the smallest, with some of the most ferocious beasts on it. Hell Hounds roamed the island outside the grounds of the prison while guards patrolled on high walls and stood sentry in guard towers. The outside perimeter fences of the small prison were made up of high voltage razor wire, and any inmate out of their cell without their escort was shot sight on seen.

The life Riddick had gotten used to in the slam was better than most. The place was clean, and run with an iron fist by the old warden that usually employed the least dangerous convicts as clean up or food serving crew. They all got equal time at turn out in the large open courtyard. Most of the prisoners were allowed books or small mementos in their cells. The fact that the facility only held two hundred was a bonus.

Riddick gave a heavy sigh and turned his head away from the ceiling; he felt his eyes close as he reached out a hand and rolled over onto his side. The fact that most inmates at Priory One had some sort of impediment hadn't bothered Riddick until he'd tried to get his eyes reversed. Common sense had told him that it was too risky, but the thought of living as he once had, had been a taste he'd wanted to savor all too much. Regretfully he'd learned his lesson the hard way. Once fully on his side Riddick's hand brushed against rough concrete, the paint sealer that covered most of the walls being missing in that particular spot. Using his other four senses, Riddick examined the wall. His calloused fingers ran along a hairline crack that ran along the wall parallel to the floor. When they encountered the corner of the room a mere six inches from his face, he let his hand drop to the mattress. Outwardly as calm and unapproachable as ever, inside he was screaming his heart out. He had never deserved the rotten luck he had been stuck with since he was born; but that was something that only god would have to answer to in the end. The fact that his senses were constantly on high alert to counteract his total blindness caused him to observe most goings on in the prison rather than actually partake in the limited things he was allowed.

As Riddick lay still on the padded slab of concrete which served as his bed, he heard the sound of four pairs of booted feet along with chains rattling as their wearer took light steps on the grated flooring of the second level's railed catwalk. As the steps drew closer Riddick's arm reached below his mattress into the corner to find a small shiv formed out of a curved piece of steel. Hiding it in the palm of his hand he heard the joking comments being made by the guards.

"You get to room with the beast, but don't worry about him, he's been muzzled."

"More like castrated." One of the guards joked.

One of the other guards snickered.

"You're real sick sometimes, Michaels, you know that." Another guard said.

"Hell Brian, he's as docile as a kitten now that the warden had the Doc perform that operation." Michaels stated as they stopped outside Riddick's cell.

"Riddick, Get up and put your face up against the rear wall." The guard named Brain said as Michaels unlocked the cell by the manual controls at the far end of the catwalk. The new inmate was walked into the cell and then had his chains removed. The articles in their arms were set down on the concrete platform opposite Riddicks. After ordering the new inmate to sit on the bed, the two guards inside the cell exited and Michaels used the manual control on the barred door to close it. As the four walked away down the catwalk, Michaels' voice drifted back.

"So who you think is gonna be the Bitch?" The other men were to far away for Riddick and his new cellmate for them to hear the reply.

…

Riddick lay on his back his eyes staring sightlessly up at the ceiling. He could feel the curious gaze of his cellmate on him as he silently recited what the guards had said earlier. Sighing heavily Riddick rolled back over onto his side, facing the wall, he tucked his shiv back under the corner of the mattress. His new cellmate apparently saw the action because they let out a gasp. It was the first noise they had made in the four hours since they had been delivered. After a few nervous movements, they settled down again.

The lack of conversation hung over the two men like a barrier. When a group of guards came to escort the two men to the courtyard it was a fast and clean maneuver. Riddick who had been sightless for well over three months was used to the process of being chained and collared in order to be transferred to turn out for six hours. The long walk was something that Riddick looked forward to twice a week. It allowed him to find out any news of the outside world, and get a hold of some more cigs. As the pair of convicts and their guard proceeded down one of the last sun lit corridors, Riddick felt a twinge behind one of his eyes.

Blinking furiously, he kept walking until the group turned around a corner and Riddick lost count of his paces as a stabbing pain surged through his head. He tried to rub his eye with his shoulder and only managed to aggravate it more. Desperate to get the stinging out of his head, Riddick crouched down and used his chained fists. As he clawed furiously at his sightless eyes, his cell mate was dragged away towards the turn out as Riddicks set of four guards circled, wary and ready to react to any sudden movements. When Riddick's clawed hands made a desperate attempt to claw his own eyes out, the guards pounced, knocking him over onto the ground they pinned his hands away from his scratched and bleeding face, then one of the guards took out a syringe and pumped him full of tranquilizers.

When Riddick awoke not knowing where he was. As he took a deep breath, he inhaled the faint scent of blood, antiseptic, and floor wax, he was in the infirmary realized. He could tell he lay strapped down in one of the beds farthest from the windows, and that his eyes and face were covered with some sort of blindfold. A machine beeped on and off by his bedside, as a doctor and the warden conversed in quiet tones in the doc's office.

"You better have a good explanation Harding or you're out of here on the next transport." The Warden hissed.

"You think I wanted to take the implants out?" Harding questioned.

"You took them out?" The warden asked outraged.

"I had to. The electronic signals being sent to his optic nerve nearly killed him when the implant overloaded."

"Can he see?" The Warden asked.

"You got what you wanted warden, he's blind, only this time it's permanent." The doctor murmured.

"Well," The warden said with humor in his voice as he exited the office, "at least some good has come out of it."

After the clipped sound of the warden's determined walk disappeared from Riddicks hearing, he growled at yet another injustice done to him. Not only was there no chance of him ever seeing again now, but also there had been away to reverse it before. As Riddick growled low in his throat in anger, the machine beside him went haywire causing him to lash out desperately at it. The cool bands of steel that kept him attached to the bed he lay on stopped his fisted hands suddenly. Letting out an anguished scream, he pulled forcefully against his bonds, the chains straining against the metal they were attached to. With a massive pull and twist of his wrists he heard the joints in his hands dislocate. With a quick pull up and out, his hands were free.

The Doc, hearing Riddicks scream of rage rushed out of the office, only to see him slamming the bones in his hands back into place on the wall beside the bed. Grabbing a tranquilizer gun off of a nearby counter the doctor ran to Riddick's side and grabbing hold of a chorded arm jabbed the gun barrel into his arm and pulled the trigger. Still caught in a blinding rage Riddick grabbed the Doctor by the neck and pressed up against the wall. Harding let out a strangled gasp at the suddenness of Riddick's movements.

"It's ok; I'm not here to hurt you." The doctor whispered, her quiet voice spoke volumes to Riddick.

Reaching his other hand out he lightly traced the woman's face then loosened his strangle hold on her throat. Stepping back, he weaved crazily and lost his balance as the drugs began to take effect.

"How much did you use?" Riddick growled out.

"20cc's Hetrodepamine." She said as she grabbed onto his arms and helped him back onto the bed.

"Too fuckin' much." Riddick whispered hoarsely. "Seein' colors like I'm in a dream." He muttered before he went into shock.

"Fuck, Riddick!" She swore as she desperately tried to tie the shaking man's limbs to the table. Hitting an intercom button she yelled out, "Security team to Infirmary, I got a bouncer in here!"

Immediately the four guards who had been escorting Riddick rushed in. "How much did that guard use on Riddick when you brought him in here?" She asked as she went in search for more drugs and an empty gun.

"Jacobs had the canister prepped for forty cc's." One of the guards said as he and the other three guards held down Riddick log enough for the cuffs to be put back on him.

"FORTY!" Harding yelled, "You trying to flat line your prisoners?" The Doc yelled as she prepped a tube for the gun. Getting it loaded she injected the clear liquid directly into his heart then after seeing that the shaking began to lessen rounded on the Guards.

"I don't know what the last doc told you, but I like to keep my patients alive. Regulation for all officers to carry is 15 ccs of ANY substance for the simple fact that if I have to double dose a prisoner, they won't die! Am I clear?" She asked the four men before her.

The four men looked to each other before each nodding their assent and making their way to the door.

"You can leave; I'll call the warden when the prisoner needs to be picked up." Doc Harding said as the men filed out of the room.

With a heavy sigh, Harding walked back to her office booted up an electronic log book and spent the next two hours writing down the hectic events of the day.

…

The back mists of sleep held sway over Riddick's mind for almost ten hours before he jolted awake drenched in a cool sweat and let out a horrified gasp of what he had been seeing. Lifting a hand to his eyes Riddick felt the softness of a cotton bandage wrapped around his head. Thinking himself alone in the large infirmary he began to unroll the bandages.

"There's no use taking it off, you're still going to be blind."

Riddicks head snapped quickly to the right, his ears picking up the whisper of material as the doctor moved slightly where she sat in a chair by her office door. He heard the almost inaudible inhale and exhale of her breathing, and from outside the occasional shout of one of the convicts, and foot steps of personnel as they walked past the Infirmary.

"I never was one to do the expected, so I'll take my chances." Riddick grunted as he continued to unwrap the bandages.

"So be it." The doctor said as she walked back into her office and sat down. Riddick could hear the soft click of her low heeled shoes on the fake tile flooring, the swish of her clothing as she walked and finally, the low groan of a chair as it swiveled to accept her weight. Riddick bunched the cotton strips in on hand as he slowly opened his eyes. He felt a low growl building in his throat at when he started to put two and two together. He was blind now, only this time it was forever.