Chapter 33: Search for Escape

Riddick stood alone in the dusty field watching as his ship burned. His face hardened with resolve as he turned away and took in the landscape around him. The little cleared area that had been used as a make-shift spaceport was surrounded by acres upon acres of farmlands. Crops spread out as far as he could see. His well trained eyes found what he was looking for; footprints heading straight into the farmland, the bomber's. Riddick followed. Getting out of places no one else could was one of his tricks, and he was already working on his escape.

Kyra sat for several minutes, stunned. She had never felt more disoriented then she did now. She had no idea where she was, no idea how long she had been in Cryo, no idea what she was doing wherever the hell she was, and to top it all off, she felt as though she didn't even know her own body.

She tried to gather her thoughts: What did she know? She started with that. She had been kidnapped and brought to this planet by four men and she could remember being chained and locked into the Cryo chamber so at least she could count out rape; this baby had to be Riddick's. She felt her stomach again; from the feel of it, she must be what, four, five months along? The night before she was kidnapped…That must have been about four or five months ago because it had been such a long time before that that she and Riddick had been alone together, that she would have know she was pregnant before she had been abducted.

Okay. So she was at least four months out of Furya, maybe five, on planet held captive by four men who she assumed were mercs. And she was pregnant. With Riddick's baby.

Through all the fear and confusion a soft warmth spread through her; comforting her. This was her baby. Her baby with Riddick. She wasn't alone. A rush of love and protectiveness flowed through her. She wouldn't let anything happen to it. With that renewed strength and resolve she stood and began walking along the cliff face away from the ship, searching for a way out.

Kyra had no idea how long she had been walking, stumbling along in the dark when her hand suddenly no longer felt the canyon wall; she had found an opening! It was only wide enough for her to squeeze through sideways, holding her thickening stomach in as much as she could. It was pitch black inside and she couldn't see how far the crevice continued, but she struggled along anyway; hoping it would lead her out of the canyon.

As she squeezed through the dusty crack she noticed a slight brightening, she could finally see the wall in front of her. She looked upwards and saw a pale green light filtering down. The sun was rising. She hurried on.

J awoke with a start. Something felt wrong. Quickly he looked around at the other three sleeping soundly and his eyes crossed the empty Cryo chamber. They darted back.

"SHIT!" He yelled and jumped up kicking the Hand in the knee who then let out an equally loud yell as he grasped his knee threatening to do all kinds of horrible things to J.

J was not listening but had run to the Cryo chamber and stared inside. Jefferies and Rat joined him with Hand limping along behind. An explosion of vulgarities were shouted as the four men grabbed their preferred weapons and stepped out into the already blazing sun.

Kyra had come to a dead end. She now had a rock wall in front, back and on her left side leaving her only two choices; she could either go back the way she had come and risk being recaptured by the mercs; or she could climb, risking herself and her baby on muscles that had been stationary for five months.

She debated with herself for only a moment and then planted her arms against the wall a mere six inches from her face, wedging her back against the opposite wall and began to climb.

It felt as though days were passing as she inched upwards. Her whole body was bathed in sweat from the ever increasing heat. Her mouth was dry and her lips were beginning to crack from the lack of water but she forced herself on. At one point her arms buckled, sending her sliding down several feet; tearing her back against the rough stone wall and sending a small avalanche of bouncing and banging rocks and dust down to the crevice floor before she was able to stop herself.

"Shit!" She said softly to herself as she sat frozen, her arms and legs shaking from the exertion. Tears of frustration rose to her eyes but she quickly blinked them back. It was no time to be weak. She had to do this. She couldn't give up. Taking a deep breath she began climbing upward once more.

Finally, when her body was just about to give out, she made it to the top and pulled herself exhaustedly onto the hot, flat dust; lying sprawled out on her back, trembling as her muscles began to relax. She lay that way for nearly a quarter of an hour before she could summon enough energy to move.

She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked around: She was sitting near the edge of a deep, circular canyon. The crevice she had just crawled out of shot out from the cliff wall like a ray of the sun. She turned away from the canyon and saw that the orange-red dust stretched out as far as she could see. There were no mountains or hills to mark the land. The sky was an odd green color with wispy, dark clouds scudding quickly across the sky without giving any shade or relief from the burning hot sun. A constant wind was blowing in sharp contrast to the dead air she felt down in the bottom of the canyon, and it was constantly pelting her exposed skin with tiny, stinging rocks and dirt particles. Her hair was thick with it. Ignoring the irritation, she stood, turned her back on the large canyon and to the wind and began walking toward the sunrise.

Down in the canyon bottom the four mercs continued their search. They had found some foot prints but then lost them outside a small crevice in the cliff wall. It was nearly mid-day and they knew from the release time on the Cryo chamber that Kyra had had an eight hour head start. They were growing more and more frustrated. None of them could fit inside the crevice to see if she was still there or if she had somehow managed to climb out. The heat was nearly unbearable in the thick, dead air of the canyon bottom so they returned to their ship. They decided to fly out of the canyon and search for her on the planet's surface, just in case she had somehow escaped from the crevice. They all knew one thing; there was no way in hell they were letting their little payday go. It had become personal.