Chapter Five: Waking Up

She sat curled up in a tight ball, holding her knees up to her chest and eyes closed rigid. The rain was getting harder and giving her a headache as it hammered down onto her short scruffy auburn hair. The bruises on her arms and legs had gone numb some time ago from the cold air that was gust into the side of her. Her heart beat thumped in her ears so loud that she didn't hear the approaching footsteps in the distance.

Riddick had been running through the dark alleyways of this forsaken city for long enough and slowed himself down to a brisk walk. The running boot steps that had been chasing him were out of ears' reach so he loosened up, slightly. He'd gotten careless, getting into that bar brawl so easily instead was just walking away, into the shadows. The idea that he almost got himself caught caused him to mentally kick himself as he glanced around yet another corner before turning it. Riddick yawned; he needed to get somewhere safe for the night, if there was such a thing on this mud hole of a planet. It was a mining planet at the edge of a far off solar system that most of the civilised avoided like the plague, but this was one of the few planets that didn't have it, though it has everything else. There were dirty, moral-less whores on every other street corner, and where there wasn't whores there was drug dealers, giving out fixes to any scum that had the cash. One whore reached out to Riddick as he passed by, running her overly long fake fingernails down his muscled arm. Before she had a chance to ask him he had his large hand holding her jaw in a pincer grip, almost lifting her off the ground so she was on her tiptoes. Her brown eyes went wide with fear as Riddick turned his head to look at her, pulling his goggles up to get a better look despite the fact that he knew all the whores on this planet were something that would blind a man. Grimacing in disgust at the state of the apparent woman, he threw her back against the wall and continued on, ignoring the shouting and screaming as the pimp taught the whore a lesson in losing a possible paying costumer. The coat was heavy with soaked up rain so he peeled the dripping item of clothing off and threw it to the ground, not minding the rain but the bitterly cold wind blowing across him. He continued round several different corners, trying to pick the emptiest one that didn't send him in a circle.

She hit the ground with a cracking thud. Blood trickled from her nose and a large cut on her bottom lip caused by a large stone-hard fist. The dark dirty world around her was spinning slightly and everything was a haze. Whimpering quietly as she forced herself to sit up and hold her right hand near to her, she blinked several times while looking round for the one she'd been hiding from up on top of this roof. She'd been dragged to this very motel many times before by the same man, forced to do unspeakable things, things she'd rather forget.

"River! River, you whore!"

Cringing, she turned around looking behind her, at the edge of the roof.

"Get out her bitch! I ain't finished!"

She continued to stare at the edge of the roof, wondering how far down it went, if he still might be used it his fucked up twisted little games even after she was dead on the sidewalk.

"RIVER!"

Staggering to her feet, she ignored the searing pain from her wrist and started limping towards the edge weakly.

"Not today asshole, not ever again."

Closing her eyes, she let herself fall backwards, into the darkness of the alleyway, and the concrete below.

Riddick cocked his head as the smell of fresh blood suddenly filled the air. Standing still for a moment, Riddick had the sudden urge to look up as an impending feeling of something, almost like rain, as coming. Just as his eyes came in line with the edge of the roofs above he knew something was happening. He pulled his goggles back on before he continued around the next corner. He was suddenly stopped by the loud rustling thud that echoed out from in the darkness only a few feet in front of him. The shiv was ready I his hand before he even had to think about it, it came as second instinct now. Crouching down and ducking to the wall to the side of him, he lifted his goggles slowly so as to not catch any light reflecting in his eyes and then looked round. There was nothing to be seen, but Riddick had learnt by now that just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't waiting round the corner for you. Standing slowly, he circled slowly, checking every inch of the alleyway with his mercury eyes. He stopped on a large bunch of rubbish bags, the hanging limb catching his attention. Walking over carefully, he looked down at an unconscious girl in a heap. He instinctively looked up to see a man looking right back down at him who disappeared quickly before Riddick could focus in on his face. Looking back down at the girl, he shrugged, knowing the man was probably coming to finish her off. Just as he turned his back and took a few steps away from her broken body, a quiet groan stopped him. She was coming round, slowly and painfully.

River felt as though she were floating in midair. The body was numb in some places, writhing in agony in others. There was something pressing against the side of her, something warm that was moving. A man's chest breathing at a strong, steady rate. She could feel the flexed muscles on his arms that were wrapped around her waist and knees, carrying her somewhere, fast.