Riddick: Bloodhounds: 6

"Feelings, Memories, and Faces"

Author's note: The story thus far, Riddick continues to think his random thoughts after triggering the transponder beacon he had found on Santana's spacecraft, while Toombs continues to prepare his crew for their journey to recapture the renegade. Also, the individuals who thought that they would be of no interest to Toombs (Dahl and Luna), once he'd learned of the whereabouts of his conquest, were thinking that he'd just let them go. They assumed wrongly…..

**********Alexander Toombs **********

Dahl and Luna considered that Toombs would just leave them behind, once his pursuit of Riddick began in earnest. Well, their assumption had been a mistake, and now the two had become aware that their release had been, in no regard, a part of his plan. Now they began to wonder what he would do with them.

Alexander Toombs was not an idiot. He knew that leaving Dahl and Luna in his wake could cause problems (they could contact Johns, or even warn Riddick that he was coming). The thought was pure lunacy for him to let them go, an idea of collective stupidity.

No, Toombs, was not an imbecile, not by any regard. He knew how the universe worked. A seasoned mercenary, he was well aware that bandits often times, set out to spoil the schemes of other bandits. If a crew of bloodhounds couldn't gather the swag first, then they would often make sure that competing bounty hunters couldn't attain it either.

The idea of leaving Dahl and Luna behind had never entered Toombs' thoughts. Neither had he expressed to them in any manner that this would happen. His idea was to leave no shoelace untied; Dahl and Luna were to accompany him and his crew to LC-236. And they were, if you will, along for the ride. They might not be fond of the idea, or maybe consider it in sour spirits (as if that would sway his conscious), but they would be accompanying him and his crew just the same. His intent was for them to be present when he again placed Riddick into shackles (a pride thing).

The mere idea of having Riddick back as his prisoner, by his own hand, stimulated Alexander's brain cells (as well as other places), to no end, and having Dahl and Luna be witness to that capture…. Would be like putting icing on the cake.

As hostage, Toombs could rest assured that Dahl and Luna would not turn into rats, punk him out. Having the ex-con unaware that they were in pursuit was a part of the plan that Toombs was unwilling to gamble on. No, the better idea was to have Dahl and Luna join them so the he could keep an eye on the two.

Of course there was another option, but Toombs was no murderer. If he had to shoot someone it was out of self-defense, or if they would not comply with his suggestions. No, he needed Luna's expertise, and Dahl was his leverage if the tech-guy became unmanageable. Besides, he liked looking at Dahl…. She was a feisty fuss.

********** Feelings, Memories, and Faces **********

"They would be coming for me, I could smell it, sense it…..feel it in my bones the same way a prisoner senses his executioner awaiting outside that cold, solid and rusty prison door. They would be coming, the people ready to deliver my toll. Ready to evoke final sentence upon me come judgment day. Still, the thing that made me different from most, that thing inside my gut that expelled me from the norm, released me from fear…. Was the simple notion that I didn't give a shit. I didn't cringe at the thought of an executioner…..or Death. It didn't bother me that one day my body would be nothing but bones.

People were fickle; some feared that the known was better than the unknown, that death sent one's soul into the eternal blackness of space and time, the empty void of nothingness… Well who's to say that after death one did not just enter into a separate realm, a new existence? The priests and shamans may have had it right in that regard. Although not a religious man, I did believe that once this life ends there came something after.

However, in the same frame of thought, that didn't mean that I would eagerly expel my soul from this reality, casually surrender what I knew. I would not sit quietly and take a grasp of Death's hand when he arrived to escort me to Valhalla, or wherever it is that the angel of the nether region takes you…..I didn't work that way.

Death seemed almost a relative of mine, a relative who had been standing over me since near the day I was born. Almost like an uncle holding vigilance at my side. An uncle who'd planned to kill me, deliver my soul to a separate realm…..wanting to watch as the last spark of my life drain away from my eyes. Someone ready to strangle the life out of me, or slit my young belly and let the nectar of my mother's breast flow out onto the sanctuary of my crib(Zhylaw).

Zhylaw, future Lord Marshal of the Necros hadn't known that I still drew breath as he turned and walked away, hadn't known that instead of sending my essence to a separate realm he had actually caused my soul to accept the pain and suffering of this universe, the struggle to remain living within the first few hours of my new life.

Maybe the future Lord Marshal was the one who had given me the will to live, the ability to become stronger? I'm not saying that I owed anything to Zhylaw (anything but a knife to the head… a few grams shy on the backside), however he had, in some regard, shown me a favor. Allowed me to see the cruelty of the universe before I could even speak, although inadvertently.

Years later I had not sought revenge on Zhylaw, he was the one who had sent souls in search of me, still, when I'd seen what he'd done to Kyra, and had become aware of what the Necromongers had done to my world, it was in my heart to see the Necro religion vanquished, that was, if I didn't die first.

I had become Lord of their fold, not a position or privilege I much cared for, and had become impotent in my duties. Vanquished myself, I knew that the bloodhounds would soon be on my trail again, searching for me, and I can't say that I blame them. The price that remained on my head was substantial; however, what I can tell you is… I liked my head where it sat, neatly upon my shoulders…..(laughs)

Now, there was someone about to be hot on my trail again, and I was aware that reward money was not their sole objective.

Toombs…..Alexander Toombs was coming for me, and it wasn't totally for reward money, or exalting his name among the High & Mighty. It had more to do with revenge, revenge for something from his past, our past, and all I can say is that revenge can sometimes be a cruel and deadly thing."

Riddick….

END PART 6