Chapter 39: In the Dark
Kyra fell asleep quickly, cocooned in Riddick's warm embrace in her little cave. He lay quietly between the cave's opening and Kyra, watching the light of the flames flicker across her peaceful face. Happiness and contentment, two emotions that had been so lacking throughout his life, filled him. He had his Kyra back, and she was carrying his baby. If there was one thing that he would have never thought would happen in his life, it would be this. But, it had happened and here he was, with his own family. His and only his to love, care for, and protect. He felt as though the last piece of the complex puzzle of who he was had finally fallen into place. He was a man of contradictions; he was a murderer, and a savior; an enemy, and a lover; an orphan, and a father; a convict, and the leader of a race. His place was first with Kyra and their child, and second with Furya. He would never forget that lesson. The last time he did, it nearly cost him everything he held dear; Kyra.
Riddick fought off his own exhaustion as he lay in the warm cave, holding everything he loved in his arms. He knew that soon the mercs he had followed would be descending into their canyon. With a small, content smile playing on his lips, Riddick leaned forward and kissed Kyra gently on her brow before slowly untangling himself and exiting the cave. The smile left his face, leaving it hard and unreadable. His silver eyes flashed in the darkness. It was time to hunt.
Jefferies led the other two to the canyon. The heat was bearable on the surface of the planet at night and the wind had not picked up to dangerous levels, though it still pelted them with grit. They had long since wrapped their faces and necks with a protective layer of cloth and their hands were safely encased in gloves. Because of the forceful wind, it had taken them nearly five hours to walk the ten kilometers from their ship to the small canyon where they now stood.
The night was deep and silent; the only sound was the unending wind whipping across the empty plains and howling as it crossed over the canyons. According to the scanning equipment on their ship, the girl should be about a half of a kilometer away. Jefferies didn't want to take any chances of walking right by her in this canyon maze, so he order the other two to spread out and they would sweep the area; J would take the far side of the canyon, Jefferies would stay on their current side, and Rat would walk the canyon floor.
Using their ropes and equipment, they made quick work of it and soon J was standing solidly on the opposite side of the canyon with Rat down below them. Testing their radio contact they turned and began walking towards Kyra's last signal.
Riddick moved quickly up the rope Kyra had attached to the canyon wall. He crouched in the darkness, ignoring the stinging of the wind and the dust as it bit into any exposed skin. His goggles were off and he squinted against the onslaught of dirt particles as he surveyed the flat emptiness around him. He stopped as something caught his eye, about half a kilometer away were two glowing flashlights bobbing along either side of the canyon. He could just make out the slightly glowing pink of the men behind the lights as they made their way slowly forward, buffeted by the wind. He couldn't see the canyon floor from his angle, but he figured they had one walking the basement as well. He smiled. "This is going to be easy."
Quickly, and as silent as a ghost, he stood and moved toward his prey.
"This fuckin' WIND!" J shouted into his headset. "I can't see a fucking thing in this shit. I feel like I've picked up a good twenty pounds of this shit-dirt in my clothes. God, this place it hell."
"HA! It ain't so bad down here." Rat said in response, "It's nice and quiet and still…"
"Shut the fuck up, ass hole, or I might just give you a different kind of shit flying in your face!" J said, turning and aiming his gun and flashlight into the canyon, right at Rat's head.
"Both of you shut the fuck up! Let's just find the bitch and we'll get the hell out of here." Jefferies said, breaking up the string of profanities Rat and J were now yelling at each other. "Get moving!" he yelled as he continued walking along the cliff, well ahead of the other two.
Riddick crouched low behind the man who was aiming his gun down into the canyon. His distraction worked to Riddick's advantage as he crept up on him unaware and now was in his blind spot in the darkness. At last, after kicking some loose pebbles down in the canyon on top of his companion, the merc turned and began to move on, chuckling to himself.
Riddick made his move. He stood and quietly pressed his shiv against the man's back. The merc froze. Riddick could hear his heart skip a beat and then begin pounding as he leaned forward and softly whispered into his ear. "You think you're going to find who you're looking for, merc? You have no clue who you're fucking with." With that, Riddick pulled his second shiv and slit the mercs throat, leaving him gurgling and spitting alone in the dust as he melted back into the darkness.
Both Jefferies and the Rat had stopped dead in their tracks when they heard the unknown voice rumble in their headsets and then the sounds of J choking on his own blood filled their heads; he fought for one more breath, and then fell silent.
"Shit…Shit…Oh SHIT!" Rat yelled, panicky, breaking the shocked silence.
"Shut UP!" Jefferies yelled into his own headset, crouching low and aiming his gun at every shadow, every gust of wind, searching for any danger. J had been one of his best. "Who could have killed him like that? With no warning? No fight, nothing!" His mind was racing trying to answer his questions; trying to identify the threat. It kept coming back to the same answer; Riddick "But how? Our scan would have picked him up, a ship, something. Maybe Rat was right…Maybe this bitch does have big friends."
Panic nearly overtook him, if it was indeed Riddick, he was way out of his league and he knew it. "Rat, keep going. Don't stay there like a fucking moron. Find the girl, and we'll get the hell out, got it?
"Yeah…yeah boss, I got it." Came the shaky reply. "You, you don't think that it's … him, do you?"
"It doesn't matter, just keep moving." Jefferies spat back, "Out."
Rat crept along, jumping at every sound and every shadow. His heart was racing and his breathing came in gasps. He felt a sinister presence all around him, and the sound of footfalls echoed off the walls, causing him to twist and turn trying to locate the source of the sound. Suddenly the feeling of another presence became so strong that he froze, his light pointing straight ahead of him until it disappeared into the darkness that filled the canyon. A low voice broke the silence, "Scared of the dark?" it said, sounding almost seductive.
Rat spins around, shining his light the other direction. A soft chuckle fills the canyon. "Of all the creatures I've hunted, humans are the easiest to kill."
Again Rat spins, shining his flashlight wildly around, looking for the owner of the cold, deadly voice. "No natural weapons, poor survival instincts, no armor, completely blind to the back…"
Rat spun frantically, whimpering with every exhalation. "…And the great human mind, the one thing that is supposed to set them above the animals, stops working when stressed."
A soft ticking sound came from above him and his light shot skywards, where it stopped suddenly. Crouching, not ten feet above him on a small ledge of the cliff face, was a man dressed completely in black, with goggles pulled over his eyes. In his hand he held a long, curved knife which he was tapping lightly on the edge of the ledge between his booted feet. Rat's heart stopped and his whole body froze. With absolute calm, the man gazed back down at him and said in his eerie voice, "You've chased, killed and stolen the freedom of too many people, merc. But you're biggest mistake? You went after someone that is mine."
Before Rat had time to react, the dark form launched itself from the ledge and with deadly finesse, sliced his head from his body: Blood splattered onto the dust.
Jefferies listened to the entire exchange until he heard the headset crackle and footsteps fading into the distance. He knew now. It was Riddick, it had to be. And he was next. Abandoning all hope of finishing the capture, he turned back towards his ship. He broke into a stumbling run, fighting the wind. Only one thought filled his mind; get the ship and pray the fucker doesn't know who he is.
He had been running for less than ten minutes when suddenly a knife cut through the air and lodged itself into the dirt not six inches from the foot he had just planted. Stopping instantly he raised his hands, mind darting around for any possible way out. He could hear footsteps closing in behind him in the darkness. "You must be the leader of this little group." It was the same voice that he had heard before J and Rat had died; low, soft, and mocking. "So what, you were going to snatch the girl with the three of you and run, leaving her to rot in some fucking slam so you could feed your greed? That the big plan?" The voice had grown more and more forceful until the last question was almost snarled.
Jefferies flinched at the violence he heard in the voice, but suddenly a plan came to him. He waited until he heard the heavy footsteps right behind him before he dove forward and grabbed the knife imbedded in the dust, rolling to the side and spinning around. With a rush of triumph he thrust the knife upward towards the big man's heart. An icy, sharp pain below his rib cage suddenly stole his breath away. The knife fell uselessly from his traitorously weakening hand. He looked upwards and met eyes like he had never seen before: Mercury and iridescent, they looked straight back into his. The triumph faded from his eyes before their silver gaze. His mouth worked uselessly for several seconds until finally two words escaped in a final whisper, "The dark…"