A/N: Well, I read the book… the whole thing in less than three days. Although, I didn't like the ending at all, nor some of the other details. But no worry; it will not change my story line. I am going to stay with my original story line because I have it all outlined and ready to go. A lot of things are going to be different, but some things will be the same. Don't worry. This is still my idea on what the Chronicles of Riddick should be. Now on with the fiction!
Chapter Two: Introductions
Kyra smirked a bit as Riddick tilted his head in recognition, "I thought that would jog your memory, Big Evil."
"Really? You were so sure?" Riddick taunted her.
"As sure as I knew you were still alive," she looked away from him and toward the horizon. She narrowed her eyes a bit and started to walk toward another alleyway.
"Now where are you going?" he watched as she walked toward the blocked alley. He noted how her hips swayed from side to side as she tried to keep a large step size toward the alleyway.
'Where was I when you grew up?' he thought to himself.
"Home," she replied, "If you don't mind Riddick, I need to go down and warn the others that sunrise is close."
"Others?"
She sighed and turned toward him, "The 'untamed' as he put it," she glared at the decapitated man's body, "There are only a few of us left here."
"And where is here, exactly?" Riddick mused watching her turn back to the alleyway wall and smooth her hand over it, trying to find something.
"Welcome to the high profile slam on Crematoria," Kyra hit the wall hard and stepped back as the wall opened to a passage, "Or as we like to call it… our own little living hell."
"Crematoria, huh? I heard of this place," he followed her into the passage as the door shut behind them.
"I thought you might have, given your knowledge of the slam systems," she stayed still for a moment trying to regain her bearings. Once the door behind them shut, it threw them into a world without any light. It didn't bother Riddick, the darkness was his element.
"You so sure this is such a living hell, Jack? I mean, that damned rock with the hammer heads felt very close to hell," Riddick smiled as Kyra put her hand on the wall, following the groves and notches.
"This is even closer. These monsters are not only killing, they waste the lives they extinguish. I mean, at least some of us have excuses to kill others. They seem to do it for pleasure. The hammer heads ate the ones they killed," Kyra picked her head up from the wall and began to walk down the dark tunnel, "Another thing, Riddick. I'm not Jack any longer."
"Well, where is Jack?"
"She died a long time ago. She was lagging behind, and soon enough couldn't survive in the rough world. Especially after you left her behind."
"Left behind?"
"Yeah, left behind with Imam… who didn't even last the first month after you left," Kyra didn't stop walking, and her voice stayed unusually calm.
"The Holy Man? What happened?" Riddick was shocked. The man he once knew may have been a bit weak, but nonetheless he had a spirit that wouldn't be put out very easily. He proved that on the planet with the hammerheads. That is part of the reason he left her with him.
"Something I would rather forget," Kyra brushed it off, trying not to show the emotional attachment that was really there, "But don't worry, I got rid of the bastards who were responsible. I told you I could kill a few people. I then started to run after that."
"A merc finally catch up to you?" Riddick noted her calm exterior and knew that she must be hiding some if not all the pain.
"No," Kyra looked back at where his voice was coming from. At one point he could have sworn she knew exactly where his eyes were in the dark, "I turned myself in. Don't ask why. I just did. I wasn't afraid of it. I was tired of running was all…"
"You weren't afraid?" Riddick grabbed her by the arms and slammed her against the wall behind her, "How about now?"
"To tell you the truth… I'm terrified of everything down here, Riddick," she stayed calm as she continued to gaze into his eyes.
"I meant of me," he growled lightly.
Kyra was unmoving and still continued to burrow her eyes deep into his own, "You have saved me countless times. I trust you, Riddick. You should be honored, I don't give my trust to just anyone these days."
He chuckled a bit and looked at the side, "You have a bad judge of character, kid."
"I don't think so," she sighed, "And I'm not a kid anymore."
"I've noticed," he backed away from the wall eyeing her a bit and she began to walk down the tunnel once again, "Ja- Kyra…"
He grabbed her wrist, but accidentally grabbed the leather-like material around her arms by mistake. Under the material he could see long vertical scars running from her wrist to her elbow. Riddick stared at the scar for a few seconds before Kyra grabbed her arm from his grasp. She quickly tried to put the strings back in order.
"What the hell is that from?" Riddick asked.
"Nothing really," Kyra tied the strings around the material to secure it back to her arm.
"That doesn't look like nothing. It looks like a suicide attempt to me."
"Yeah, well, that means that they did a pretty damn good job," Kyra said a bit harshly, "And why would you care anyway?"
"Who's they?" Riddick asked in a deadpan voice.
"Forget it," Kyra waved her other arm also covered with material. Riddick followed her, wondering whether or not Kyra had another scar running along her other arm.
"How do you make it through here? You're not even touching the walls anymore," Riddick called up to her.
"I've walked this path over a million times. I can do it in my sleep," Kyra turned a corner and waited for Riddick to catch up, "And you may want shield your eyes before I open this. I'm not sure if it will be too bright or not for your eyes."
"Fine," Riddick put his hands up to shield his eyes as Kyra opened the door and let the soft glow fill the small tunnel.
They both stepped into a large cavern like room with a few craters scattered around the area. Light wasn't found from the outside, but from the numerous candles that were strewn everywhere around the huge cavern, casting a soft glow over the crevices. Riddick looked around the odd cavern and saw a few people sitting in their own little places. Most of the fifty or so people were walking around like it was a normal day, minus the fact that they were baking to death from the heat.
"You so sure this is the Crematoria Slam?" Riddick lifted an eyebrow and followed Kyra through the cavernous area.
"If you have your doubts, you can go back up top and see how long until you explode from the inside out," Kyra said in a hardened voice. She stumbled a bit as she tried not to fall over a crater, "You might want to watch out for craters in the ground."
"What the-" Riddick tripped in a hole as he turned his head to look at a pregnant woman by the far wall. Kyra came over and offered her hand to let him up, "Thanks for the warning."
"It would be nice if some people actually followed them," she said as he stood up by himself.
"This isn't a usual slam, is it?" Riddick grumbled brushing himself off.
"None that I ever experienced before," Kyra dropped her hand and glared at him.
"You've been to others?"
"I turned myself in quite a while ago. I've been to quite a few of them. I was on Helion Prime, until I decided I didn't want to go with the newest trend and they sent me here."
"Quite a while ago, huh?"
"Look… they took someone else for my crimes, all right? I wanted to set them straight. No one else was going to take credit for what I did. No one."
"You, I understand being here," he paused watching Kyra fume, "I still didn't think they took pregnant women."
Kyra looked over at the woman at the side, "Well, it all changed after the sons of bitches came and took over Helion Prime. Who ever didn't go to their side were thrown down here… or killed. Well, apparently most of the prisoners went their way. I chose another way. That woman refused also, while her husband joined. Some husband and father he turned out to be."
"I feel animosity."
"Let's just say she wasn't the only one betrayed," Kyra gave him a weak smile, "Come on, you need to see a few people."
She led him to a big building-like, hollow structure where four people stood inside. There was one woman about Kyra's age with dark brown hair tied in a pony tail leaning on a table toward the back of the room. She wore a slight smirk that grew a little larger when he and Kyra entered the room. At the other side of the room there was a guy maybe five years Riddick's senior with brown hair and a huge gun which hung over one shoulder. The older man looked strikingly familiar to Riddick, maybe it was his stance or his stare, but there was something about him that Riddick just couldn't put his finger on. Standing right by the door there was another man younger than Riddick with darker skin and covered in robes that reminded him of the holy man. Last but not least there was really young boy in his late teens sitting crossed legged on the table.
The woman that was leaning on the table that looked similar to Kyra walked over to him and Kyra after they entered, "So Kyra, who did you manage to round up today?"
Kyra rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, "Logan, Riddick; Riddick, Logan," she waved her hand between the two and walked toward the young, dark skinned man.
"I…I can't believe I'm standing in front of the infamous Richard B. Riddick," Logan mused, taking Riddick's hand, "I'm a big fan. I'm also a killer."
"Really?" Riddick said unimpressed.
"Yeah, I have killed about ten people so far," she desperately tried to gain his full attention, "How many people have you really done in?"
Riddick looked past Logan at Kyra who was talking with the young man. She was keeping her gaze on the man's face, trying not to look Riddick's way. The young man kept glancing over at him, so he already knew the topic of conversation. The young man pointed to the gun at Kyra's side with his finger and a disapproving face. She touched it and quickly smiled to cover up her story. The robed man said something to her that caused her to look Riddick's way, but then quickly shifted her eyes back to the robed man.
"Riddick?" Logan tried again to grab his attention.
"Call me crazy, but I never really enjoyed killing. So I never counted," Riddick pushed past her without making eye contact and started to walk toward the others.
"So how do you know Kyra?" she asked trying to catch up to him, "Was she on one of your hits?"
"No," Riddick said a little short and started to walk a little faster, "I saved her…a long time ago."
"So she was telling the truth then," she stopped to think, but after realizing Riddick didn't respond she looked up to find him a good distance away from her and still heading towards Kyra.
Kyra looked at Riddick as he approached the group. He looked a little perturbed, but fine nonetheless. Logan stood at a distance, looking a little pissed off. Kyra smiled at Logan's mood. Riddick must have totally rejected her advances.
'Serves her right.'
"What did you think of Logan?" Kyra asked when Riddick stopped in front of her with his arms in front of his chest.
"A little… um, destructive, isn't she?" Riddick asked.
"You have no idea, but granted she is a good fighter," the young man with the dark skin stepped forward with his hand extended, "My name is Hassan. I once studied with Imam. I was not able to join him on his voyage to New Mecca. From Kyra's story, I'm glad I hadn't."
"Riddick," he said gripping Hassan's hand tightly, "Escaped convict, murderer."
"I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Riddick. Kyra talks of you often," Hassan looked down at Kyra. Riddick couldn't help but think of how similar this man's voice was to Imam's. It was as if he could be a younger twin, with a better build.
"Really?" Riddick looked at Kyra and his eyes shown a little in the candlelight, "I understood that she was upset at me."
Kyra rolled her eyes again and motioned toward the other man with the brown hair, "That's Toombs, a merc."
"Merc?"
"He actually tried to hunt you at one time, but didn't elaborate on the story. He tries to stay off topic as much as possible."
Riddick suddenly snapped his fingers and smiled, "That's where I've seen him before. I left him tied up to the wall of a hotel room. I was wondering if anyone found him. I locked the room and put the 'do not disturb' tag on the door. It was paid off for another week or so."
Kyra tried to hide her short laugh, but did not do so well, "That's probably why he doesn't talk about it."
"He isn't going to come over to say 'hello'? It has been a while."
"He knows who you are… Besides he doesn't trust new people very often. Be grateful the others are giving you a chance. He is going to be a stubborn ass, as usual. And counting on the circumstances, I don't doubt that it will be a very long time before he warms up to you."
"What about the kid?" Riddick nodded to the teenage boy sitting on the table. He noticed a familiar pair of neon green goggles on the top of his full head of black hair.
"That's Nick. He doesn't talk all that much and he absolutely admires you. At least from the stories I told him of you."
"Huh… so a real boy Jack."
"Haha," Kyra mock laughed, "You know, you never told me why you came here."
"I was interested by that too," Hassan joined back in the conversation.
Riddick chuckled a little, "I have no reason for being here really. I guess I just got a little too close to the planet. And that is now considered trespassing or something."
"Why do you say that?"
"It's not everyday someone tries to shoot you down."
"You're saying that you are here by mistake?" Kyra asked.
"That's pretty much it." Riddick nodded. He couldn't help but catch the slight disappointment on Kyra's face.
"Oh," Kyra replied and turned toward Hassan, "I'm going to get Riddick settled in. The sun is rising. It will be another ten minutes before it rises over the crest. If you need me, you know where to find me."
"I will start the precautions," Hassan nodded and kissed her on the forehead, "Careful."
Kyra nodded and started to walk further into the cavern with Riddick not that far behind.
"Are you two something of an item?" Riddick asked in a flat voice.
"Oh please, Riddick," Kyra sighed, "We see each other as family. He is my older brother."
"Aren't they the ones who are supposed to give you noogies and treat you badly?"
"Those are the younger, older brothers. If you understand that."
Riddick decided not to ask, "Well then, what am I?"
Kyra suddenly turned stiff and turned around to face him, "You are Riddick. I don't really have a term for you. I don't know what you are."
She turned her head and let her hair whip his face. They both hurried along the corridor passage into a hallow cavern.
"This will be our quarters," Kyra announced when she set down her heavy ammo belt that was weighing down on her hips and the gun that she stole earlier from the late soldier.
Riddick whipped his head toward her and let a smirk cross his face, "Well, this is an interesting slam. They let us share quarters?"
"They don't really care," Kyra didn't look up at him, "As long as we don't bother them in their plan, they leave us alone. That's probably why they love to bother me so much."
"Why is that?" Riddick hopped onto the bed at the side of the room and put his hands behind his head. His goggles gleamed a little from the light of the two candles at the side of the bed.
"I am one of the few who stir up trouble and leads the people who want to fight. So far, we haven't succeeded much," she turned around and saw him sprawled out on the bed, looking very comfortable, "What do you think you are doing?"
"If we have to share, I have to get used to this mattress," Riddick said looking back at her.
"Actually, you're sleeping arrangements are over there," she pointed to a large crater filled with what looked like blankets.
Riddick looked at his 'bed' and back at Kyra with her hands on her hips, "You don't really expect me to sleep in that do you?"
Kyra nodded and went into a small adjoining room, "Don't worry you have until tonight to get used to it."
Riddick got up and went over to the crater in the floor. He sat down and found it to be surprisingly comfortable, "Been expecting me?"
Kyra came back out from the other room, "Not particularly, but we always should be prepared just incase more of the Necromongers send more people down here."
"So you going to join me?" Riddick looked up at her and put his goggles at the side of the bed.
"In your dreams, Riddick," Kyra snorted and started toward the door, "I got to go to a meeting with Logan. You could come along if you like. I don't really like the idea of you walking around here with Toombs."
"What, you worried about me, Kyra?"
"Huh, that will be the day."