Chapter Thirteen.
* Elisha's POV *
"What is he thinking?" one inmate asks with disbelief, "Once that sun comes up..."
Sybar steps forward to stand beside me to my left as we all watch Riddick, they watched in complete confusion but I knew what he was thinking and I don't like it along with the rest of the inmates frozen stiff.
"We won't last five minutes," Sybar's heavily accent voice whispers.
Another inmate laughs like a evil witch, "Five minutes!? We won't last thirty seconds, it'll light you up like a match."
I shook an uneasy glance to Dakota at my side, who also looks ridged but not as much as the rest of us, "Twenty mile buffer zone. Thirty clicks to the hanger." she mumbles to me, Hans sleeps soundless in my arms, her strand of information comforts me slightly, that is until the large stone doors open to reveal Crematoria's surface.
Dark jagged rocks poke up from the ground in twisted and sharp shapes, the ground is hideously covered in sudden dips and uneven surfaces with unjumpable gaps making it extremely difficult to cross with large rock faces scaling upwards for meters upon meters. As I study the surface of the dead planet I begin to ultimately question Riddick's metal state.
"Thirty clicks over that terrain." I say with doubt whilst looking down at my cheap leather boots.
The guard station comes to a stop and Riddick locks the machine into place. Ceryll steps forward to inspect the movement of night and day, luckily, we have landed in the buffer zone, the space between the flesh melting temperatures of the day and the below sub-zero temperatures of the night. Staying inside the buffer zone is the only way to survive the surface.
"It's moving in the right direction." Ceryll says. "We could make it. Stay behind the night, ahead of the sun."
Riddick turns to rest his back against the control panel, scanning the crowd making eye-contact with each one of us for a second, "There is going to be one speed, mine," he warns clearly, "If you can't keep up, don't step up, you'll just die."
My eyes flicker cautiously all over his face as he approaches me through the crowd parting them like the Red-Sea, he eyes up the parcel neatly covered by blankets in my arms before pulling back the blanket designed to cover Hans as the child slept, Riddick raises an disappointed eyebrow as if to say 'really, the kid?'
"I couldn't leave him here, out there people can help him." I snap protectively.
Riddick sighs heavily, "Fine but he's your baggage, don't fall behind I want you alive."
"I won't." I insist stubbornly.
BUFFER ZONE; SURFACE OF PLANET CREMATORIA.
After raiding the clothing lockers that belonged to the guards, we are ourselves with coats, all of which are too big for me but it was bigger than nothing, also inside the locker I ransacked I found a adjustable waist holster and pistol already loaded. The buffer zone was cold after taking the force of the night but it would soon have to deal with the day and non of us wanted to get court in it.
Riddick's googles rested on top of his head as he and I knew we are at an advantage as the darkness of the buffer zone was passed twilight but wasn't a problem for us as we dodged dips and discovered quicker ways to get round obstacles but despite my advantage against Dakota and the others, the added weight from human body in my arms was proving difficult as Hans lay motionless in my arms disabling them from helping me create momentum. Also apart from inside the Pit, from the Glade and along the balcony in the slam, I have never ran this much and soon, not far from the guard station, my lungs begin to burn and my muscles feel like hot liquid but the fire and determination inside me keeps me running.
I kept in the middle of the pack, running in front of me like two grey hounds out of a trap keeping the pace were Riddick swiftly followed by his ex-whore Dakota. On either side of myself staying level, keeping me company whilst running at the gentle yet quick pace I have created to allow my body to cope with running and holding Hans securely against my chest.
The pack follows Riddick as he funnels us down into a small valley to avoid any dips and unexpected mishaps. We run blindly through the narrow pathways as Riddick disappears from view ahead from the rest of us. Dakota hooks her arm through mine and helps me through the roofless tunnels as we begin to panic that he has left us.
No, no, he could have...no. A voice screams inside my head as my heart accelerates inside my chest, "Riddick!?" my voice escapes my mouth without my realising.
We then meet a dead end,Hans squirms against my grip as the heat begins to rises gradually and worst of all, Riddick is no where to be seen.
Ah holy fucking shit, Riddick, where are you?