Chapter Ten: Separated
Riddick found himself in the filthiest bar the planet had to offer, with cheap booze and even cheaper women. The Maidenhead bar was a small legend amongst the people on the planet, and the few visitors it had made a strong habit of avoiding it like the plague. If there weren't drugs there were whores, and when there weren't whores there were brawls. Fortunately, tonight there were whores, so the bar was reasonably peaceful, apart from the occasional petty argument over which man was taking which whore home, or to the nearest motel. Sitting in one of the few empty bar stools, he ordered himself a strong drink and began to size up the men around him for just in case he needed to fight his way back out at any point tonight. Keeping his head down, he downed his drink in one and ordered another straight after, throwing a couple of UD's down onto the bar. Tonight he was going to drown his memories in cheap liquor then screw them away with the nearest woman around in an unnamed motel room nearby.
River walked down the road with her arms wrapped around her. Her heels dragged across the floor from having to grab the nearest pair of shoes, which happened to be several sizes too big for her feet. Her eyes constantly flicked from left to right, looking away quickly when someone met her glances. It was late autumn on Kova and there was fog covering every street. Her breath was coming out as steam and she was covered in goose pimples. As she turned a corner she found herself staring up at the multicoloured neon signs begging for people to come in and drink or eat or buy any woman they wanted. The street was surprisingly busy for so late at night but none of them were sober enough to tell her where the nearest decent hotel was, many of them took her asking as an invitation. At that sort of a reaction she'd merely back away slowly and walk as quickly as she could onwards down the street. Ignoring their shouts and taunts, she eventually found someone that seemed sober enough and clean to ask. Walking over, she took a deep breath, feeling completely exposed all on her own.
"Excuse me? Umm, could you tell me where the nearest hotel is please?"
The turned to look at her with a stern expression on his face, in deep consideration about something as his eyes stopped on her.
"Sir? Hotel?"
She yelped slightly as his hand clamped onto her arm.
"Hay. Let go."
Trying futilely to shake his grip, she continued to try and pull away from him when he began to pull her into the closest dark alleyway.
"Let go of me! Get off!"
She refused to walk so he had to resort to dragging her along as she dug her heels into the ground and continued to try and yank her arm free.
"Fuck you, asshole!"
She kicked at him at first, which turned out to be useful in only angering him more, so she turned to biting his hand, which worked, for a moment. This gave her a chance to run a few metres before he grabbed her hair from behind and pulled her down to the ground. River's eyes watered from the sudden impact with the ground and then went about to fight her attacker from off the top of her. Screaming as she lashed out, she clawed his cheek, drawing blood, which resolved in her own cheek receiving a fist. Ignoring that as much as possible, she continued to lash up at him, wriggling underneath him like a worm. After a moment she resorted to kneeing him in the back and slamming her elbows into his chest and thighs. Once again this resulted in punches being thrown, but this time she punched back, and somehow managed to knock him off balance, after kneeing him in the back again, she finally got him from off of her. Realising her chance, she got to her feet, and ignoring as her shoes fell off her feet, she scrambled for the main street as quickly as she could.
Riddick was on edge as he walked along the empty streets at an unseemly hour at night. He was inwardly cursing himself, he'd been letting himself feel guilty at kicking the beaten brat off his ride. He'd been busy getting as much for his money off the cleanest whore he could find in the Maidenhead bar when he'd groaned out the kid's name. At that he'd kicked the whore out and had an extremely cold shower but still couldn't get his mind off her. She's was the second person that had ever made him feel guilty, the last one he managed to shake off, and he was going to have to try just as hard to shake this one. Turning another corner, he came out onto one of the main market streets, the bright neon lights of various shops and brothels causing him to pull his goggles down. Reaching further up, he pulled his hood over his head to hide his face from any curious eyes that might be watching. He walked silently down the street, not making a sound with his feet, well aware of the authorities standing on the corner, talking with someone who pointed them off and an alleyway. Riddick decided it would be best to walk in the opposite direction of the pointed finger, he wasn't in any kind of mood for dealing with law enforcers. As he strolled pass them he heard his name buzz in over the radio, they were getting faster at spotting him ever time he landed. Lowering his head by a few more inches, he made his way towards the nearest corner and turned it. Stopping on the corner and pressing his back against the wall, he listened intently to the radio as it described a bold man with goggles who was around six feet tall and well built, who was accompanied by a girl, slim build with short auburn hair who was around five nine. A curious hum growled from Riddick as he started to make his way back to the docking station silently, disappearing into the shadows.
