Chapter Fourteen.
* Riddick's POV *
BUFFER ZONE; SURFACE OF PLANET CREMATORIA.
Her petrified voice echoes from the tunnels of the deep valley, I remove my jacket and throw it into the gap in front of her between the wall and Hans, then watch her elfin face light up at me. I gesture for her to lift up the child in her arms seeing how she is struggling. With no time to argue, Elisha gives up the child before climbing like a agile cat up the wall and onto the uneven surface of Crematoria.
She and the others discard their coats; with Hans in my arms, curled up against my chest, I ran ahead of the pack leading them over the surface of the planet, without Hans slowing her down Elisha picks up quite a bit of speed and even manages to run slightly behind me most of the way. Almost as drastic as the changes in Elisha's abilities, the atmosphere of Crematoria changes from clear and chilly to snow covered grown and air yet warmer than expected. I glance back at her foolishly and over protectively, the white flakes of thick snow cling to her clothing and her incredibly frizzy hair.
Ahead of the pack, I exit the thick row of rocks and enter into a clearing just as I do, I sense something is not quiet right. I pause with Hans in my arms but swiftly give the child to Elisha when she enters and direct her around through the thicker rocks on the outside of the clearing whilst I wonder slowly and silently through the clearing to investigate the sudden clanking of metal on the stone surface of the planet and the twisting of a small machine.
Three meters from the edge of the clearing tucked beside a rock face, I locate a guard peep-hole and stand on top of it as the mechanism lifts the head of the peep-hole revealing the narrow slit just big enough for the nozzle of a gun and the scope. From my shive holder situated on my back I remove a sharp bent blade connected to a chain, holding the chain in my right hand, I rotate my wrist and lower arm to swing the blade on the end of the chain around before stepping forward driving the blade downward into the face of the unknowing guard below.
The inmates retreat from the safety of the thickness of the rocks, all pulling free whatever weapon they had taken from the guard station and fried blindly into the mist. From where I stand, I notice that hidden by the rocks on the far side of the clearing, Elisha aims her handgun over the bulk of rocks protecting her body and fires steadily at the peep-hole.
Behind them, the yellow sun light of the day keeps over the rocks of the horizon, sweat trickles down my temple as the heat continues to rise gradually. "Keep moving!" I bellow from across the clearing before taking off across the surface.
The pack follows from their position across the snow covered clearing, up a steep, slippery hill of jagged, skin nipping rock and hidden dips. Once at the flat top, I take the child from Elisha again so she doesn't struggle, the bare skin of her arms, neck and face were matted with dirt wet with sweat; her purple florescent eyes shine like beacons in the darkness.
The hardest part was not over yet, the pack and I reach our largest obstacle since the get-go, a thirty foot wall made out of what looked like rock that had been melted and then re-frozen but considering the roaring temperature that was still climbing and the wall was still standing strong, I doubt it. I glance over at Elisha who looks shit scared at the seer size and formation of the cliff, her head flicks violently from the cliff to the climbing sunlight.
"How...are we going to get up there with Hans...?" she trails off leaving the question open.
Ah fuck, come on Riddick, think, think! And then, like a light bulb inside a dark room, a brilliant idea lit up the inside of my mind, "Take him," I order her quickly, Elisha obeys and cradles him in her arms.
I remove my holster from my back and empty the contents of shives and blades from the interior pockets, remove it from my back to adjust and loosen the straps enough so I can slid Hans's body between my back and the holster. Once I do that, I tighten the straps so his body is secure against my back.
"Hold on, Hans," Elisha whispers to the child who groans weakly but doesn't obey, the child's head rested on the top of my spine, "Hans? Please, hold onto Riddick." at that moment a pair of weak, light limbed arms wrapped around my neck loosely.
I grip the wall with both hands, Elisha copy's me with a devilish grin and determination filled eyes, "I'll race you." she says before leaping off the ground and scaling the cliff like a drunk spider, every so often her foot or hand would slip and she could cuss violently, due to this it isn't long until I have overtaken her and reached the top with time to spare.
With Hans still clenched tightly between my back and the holster, I cross the meter flat surface to the other side of the cliff to study the surrounding area, the ships hanger is located inside a black cliff several hundred meters away from the bottom of this cliff. Elisha climbs over the barrier and onto the flat surface. We turn our heads in unison to watch the bright sun peaking violently over the horizon of the buffer zone.
Elisha sips water from a slowly rusting flask trying not to gulp. Dakota is the first of three other inmates to climb over the ridge, shortly followed by the tanned, heavily accented male from the guard station who leant a friendly hand to Guv and helped him over the ridge into the flat top. Sweat pours like water from a hose down our bodies as we all stand scattered across the cliff top studying the sunlight; we all get caught in the captivating spirals and turns of the growing light beans that we are all childishly blinded by the sun coming over the horizon.
A range of violent and unearthly cusses and sweats erupt from each of us, except from Hans of course, Elisha hisses whilst covering her eyes with her forearm only to receive a burn across the bare skin. We all lung over the far side cliff to land in a small ledge away from the light inside the safety the middle of the buffer zone. I crouch down beside her and dab some of the cold water onto the sizzling flesh before ripping off the bottom section of her oversized shirt and wrapped it over the wound to protect it from infection.
Unlike the opposite side, the side of the cliff we now stand on it make of singular ledges that are easy to reach by small jumps or large steps and we all make it down in one piece. The terrain of Crematoria thickens with large, wet grease covered rocks making them difficult to climb over or slip through as you'll loose your footing and will be unable to get up.
The heavily accented male slips and twists his right ankle and requires support from two volunteers who end up being Guv, no surprise and Elisha. Dakota stays at the back of the back like a protective mother with her gun drawn and loaded but luckily its ten short meters until we reach a ditch at the edge of the clear stone runway, we rest up against the meter thick rock terrain between the flat stone and our ditch.
"There it is." Guv says, his voice dipped with relief as he eyes up the strange pointy hanger, the metal departure doors remain closed protecting the ship inside, the only ship on this planet. Holding up the accented man, Guv and Elisha lung forward to peak over the rock from the ditch.
I aggressively snag the back of Elisha and Guv's shirts dragging them backwards into the base of the ditch, "Listen," I growl to them as the faint sound of electromagnetic buzzing echoed through the air, Elisha and I heard it before the others, her ears twitch like the ears of a cat, adjusting and taking in every sound.
My heart accelerates dramatically as she leaps onto the protection rocks, her head just peeping into position above the surface so she can study the first space ship she has ever seen. Her eyes widen in somewhat amazement at the oddly shaped shiny metal ship release a miniature sized army made of seventeen Necromonger guards all suited up in their signature silver armour and armed with anti-gravity weapons, two of those freaky look out creatures and the Purifier before taking off back into the sky. Stood at the back of the litter was the commander from my previous visit to Helion Prime, the husband of the fucking bitch that lead me straight into a trap that doomed Elisha and myself. The Commander watches his troops secure the entrance-and-departure bay doors of the hanger.
I pull Elisha back down from the top rock back into the desk pressing my body protectively up against her, trapping her between me and the rocks lining the ditch. Guv, the accented man and Dakota crowd around us as they too have seen the small army lined up in our way.
"Let me guess: Necromonger's." Elisha says with fake cheerfulness and sarcasm.
I scratch my bare skinned skull, "Yeah, and a hell lot of Necro fire power." I reply bluntly.
"Fucking shit." the accent man hissed.
Elisha turns back to study the hot show of lights and heat beginning to close in , the sizzling of wet rock and sweat smokes into the air making it foggy. The sound of high pitched screeching from the runway below indicates one, or both of those freaks have located us through the rocks, Elisha hears the screech but is unaware of what it signifies but knowing it cannot be anything goof, she orders to have Hans back but I decline and agree to put him inside the hanger when the time is correct.
"I say we've got three, maybe four minutes until the sun hits us again," she says ties her thick frizzy hair into a messy ball on the crown of her head before removing her pistols, "It dries out this entire land." she warns.
I move aside and crouch down, "Wait." I tell them.
"Riddick," her voice is panicked but she hides it well from the others, not from me, "If we wait, we wont make it."
I raise my dirt covered hand to calm her soothingly without treat of having my hand slapped away, "Just wait." I tell them sternly, before glancing back at her, "Just wait," I whisper soothingly before smiling, something I hadn't done in a long time, but she doesn't return my guester, she is far to worried.