Forgotten Past: Chapter Thirty Six-Broken
I hate this, Riddick thought as he cracked a lid to check his surroundings. He shut the lid immediately as bright florescent lighting assaulted his eyes.
Sluggish, he checked for Carolyn’s scent, but only caught that of to many other people he didn’t know. He cursed silently and checked the leather straps holding him down to the metal table beneath his back.
“That’s gotta suck.”
Riddick’s nostrils flared and he turned his face in the direction of the voice speaking to him. He bared his teeth in a feral grin but didn’t answer.
“Good hearing you’ve got there, bud, but you don’t seem any better off than I do.”
Riddick still didn’t answer, but merely stayed silent, listening for clues to the speakers identity. The voice wasn’t familiar and he wasn’t going to say anything that might dig him deeper into the hell hole he was occupying.
“Not a big talker, are ya? Well, I don’t give a damn. I’ve been sitting in this blasted box for three weeks, without a shower mind you, so I stink, with no one to talk to. You’re strapped to that lovely table right there, so I’m gonna talk your ear off.”
Riddick gritted his teeth and turned his face away. He wasn’t interested in listening to someone ramble on and on. But maybe he could get them to undo the straps binding him down.
“Tell ya what,” Riddick began, turning his face back in the speaker’s direction. His cell mate was obviously male, so he decided to proceed cautiously. “You undo these straps, and I’ll talk to you all you want. Hell, I’ll tell you my whole life story.”
“It speaks! Ain’t that a hum-dinger.”
Earth southern drawl, Riddick noted and pulled against the leather at his wrists again. There was a band around his chest, one around each ankle and over his knees as well.
“Are you going to untie me or do I have to lay here while you go on and on?” Riddick asked calmly.
Fabric rustled and the foul smell of unwashed flesh assaulted his nostrils as the man moved closer to him. “I’m not supposed to undo these straps, but since you look less than comfortable and you did offer to talk if I let you go, I’m game.”
A few minutes later had Riddick rolling off the table, away from the man, and rubbing his chaffed wrists, eyes still tightly shut.
“Is there a way to turn these lights off? Or at least down?” Riddick asked, crouching on the floor.
“Lights off.”
Riddick opened his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “Better. You know, you do stink.”
The man smirked in the dark and retreated to the wall behind him before sliding down to a sitting position on the floor. “Yeah, well, I warned you.”
“How long have I been here?”
“A day. I’ve never seen them strap anyone down before. They didn’t tie me down when I arrived.”
“What are you here for?” Riddick asked. He circled the table he’d been strapped to then sat himself on it carefully.
The cell was almost completely dark and the decorator hadn’t been big on furniture.
Two cots, the metal table which must have been brought in just for him, and a metal toilet and sink. One tiny window decorated the steel door and Riddick didn’t bother to look out and risk getting caught off his table.
The man shrugged his reply. “This and that. This isn’t a slam, though. No, this is something else. A horse of another color, if you will.”
“Does the sink work?”
“Sure. Why?”
“’Cause you could clean yourself up with that. You stink,” Riddick reminded him.
The man’s face turned thoughtful. “Never thought of that. Hot damn. I’m gonna wash up now!” He stood and rushed for the sink and pulled off his shirt, dropping it halfway between the wall and sink.
Riddick paced the cell as the man continued to wash himself. Not the brightest guy he’d ever met, but seemed harmless enough.
What sort of tricks had the Company cooked up for him now? And how the hell had they gotten him and Carolyn off the colony without being detected by the surrounding resistance battle cruisers?
Unless they hadn’t left the colony. Shit. That would explain only being out a day and why the drugs were wearing off so fast.
Riddick turned on his cell mate, who was happily dousing his bare feet with cold water at the moment.
“You want to get out of here?” Riddick demanded, approaching slowly.
The man raised his eyes. “Of course, bub. What sort of question is that?”
“Good. ‘Cause I’m getting us out of here and you’re helping me.”
The leather straps that had been used to bind him down had metal bars in the buckles that went through the belt holes. Riddick pried off two of the thick metal pieces and tossed one to the man.
“What’s your name?” he asked the man, instructing him to run the tips of the metal bars on the floor to sharpen them.
“Allen.”
“I’m Riddick. We’re getting out here.”
~~~
“Ready?”
Allen nodded and Riddick smiled grimly, checking his makeshift weaponry. “Good.”
After sharpening the metal rods, Riddick had taken a metal strap and stuck one of the metal rods through the middle of the strap. Then he folded the strap down ward in half and wrapped a second strap around that to give the metal rod a thick leather grip. He could stab someone through the chest with it. Or in the eye, slash a throat. Whatever was necessary.
The second rod was used to pry off the cover on the key code pad beside the door. Riddick applied all his technical intelligence to hot wiring the key pad to open the door.
An hour and a half later had the door sliding open with a soft thud as it receded into the doorjamb on Riddick’s left.
“Ready to go?” Riddick questioned Allen and got a nervous nod from the slender man.
Riddick turned back to the door and glanced down the corridor in both directions. It was dark and unguarded, causing him to grin as he began leading the way to the right.
Allen stayed close at Riddick’s back, watching behind them as they crept soundlessly down the metal corridor.
Riddick suddenly froze and stuck his left hand out behind him. Allen, glancing nervously down the way they’d come, slammed into Riddick’s outstretched hand and stifled a startled yelp as Riddick continued to face forward, shiv held ready for attack.
A few minutes passed before Allen heard what Riddick’s keen ears had picked up earlier. Voices, and heading in their direction. Allen couldn’t make out what the people were saying, but Riddick could.
“They’re still attacking then?”
“Yeah. They’ve got sector one, most of two, and another attack is starting in three. If they get to three they’ll find us here, in four.”
“You think they’ll find the way in here? This *is* the lower level. It’s only known to the higher ranking officers and a few of the newer guys.”
“Haven’t you been paying attention? They wiped out all our star fleet and took out sector one, like I said. If they can do that, they’re going to find us down here.”
Silence, heavy with tension, followed this final statement and Riddick continued to hold back Allen before creeping forward a ways, shiv ready. Only two guys between him and wherever he was going. Easy pickings.
Allen stayed back and watched as Riddick crept in eerie silence towards the corner. Riddick’s broad back disappeared around the corner a few seconds later and Allen waited, body tense, until he saw the dim outline of Riddick’s head and shoulders appear again.
Riddick beckoned with his hand for Allen to come forward and then ducked back around the corner, standing over the two bodies at his feet. They hadn’t even seen it coming. A quick slash to the leading guy’s unprotected throat, followed by a sweeping upward slash between the second guy’s legs, just below his crotch to the thick, pulsing artery beneath the skin. Plenty of blood, but the corridor was dark and they hadn’t even had time to yelp before they’d been drained.
Allen stepped gingerly around the bodies, following closely behind Riddick once more. How much farther? he wondered as Riddick paused beside a door. This time Allen was ready and paused before slamming into the extended palm.
Deep, hushed tones came from the door. Allen couldn’t make out what they were saying and Riddick seemed to be straining for snatches of the conversation.
“Stay here,” Riddick rumbled so quietly Allen almost missed it. “I have work to do.”
Riddick stepped before the door and it whooshed open. Allen cringed as he heard a startled cry before the door closed behind Riddick as he stepped into the room.
There was a thud against the wall he was leaning against from the inside and Allen almost dared to open the door and look inside, but changed his mind when he heard another cry. This one was more a scream of sheer pain.
Time seemed to slow to a stand still as Allen waited for Riddick to reappear from the closed portal. But there was nothing and Allen sank to the floor, wondering when the Rangers would come out and catch him. Would they kill him for trying to escape? Or just drag him back to that God forsaken cell?
Neither outcome was to his favor, he thought dismally. The present was shocked back into him as the door slid open and a heavy boot thudded beside him.
Allen launched himself to his feet, whirling towards the door. It was Riddick, and he was carrying a woman in his arms, cradling her against his chest. The look on his face was pure anguish as he pressed past Allen and headed in their original direction at a trot.
Allen stood staring for a moment then went tearing after Riddick’s rapidly fading back, his bare feet slapping quietly on the steel floor.
~~~
C’mon, Carolyn, Riddick coaxed silently, jogging down the corridor. He could just make out the end of the corridor. A lift, leading to the third sector it looked like. Coming closer he could see a sign. Yes, Sector Three was painted in bright, even letters across the wall beside the lift.
Carolyn sagged against his chest, her wild hair falling all around them both. He didn’t bother to see if Allen was following. He just knew he had to get Carolyn to a doctor that didn’t want to dissect her like some bad science project.
He stepped onto the lift and looked behind him to see Allen rushing up to him, panting. Riddick waited until the smaller man was on the lift before hitting the command button for the sector above, silently hoping no one would be waiting topside for him.
“Who’s she?” Allen panted, gesturing towards Carolyn’s still form.
“A friend,” Riddick growled, effectively ending whatever questions Allen might have fired at him.
The lift headed upwards and the next floor yielded yet another dark corridor. The only difference was that this corridor sported a bank of lifts, all leading to the different sectors of the station.
The Sector One lift was flaring bright red lights, probably in warning to the breach from the resistance fighters.
Riddick crossed to the lift and hit the command button just as Allen followed in behind him.
“We’re going to get out,” Allen murmured, half to himself.
Riddick cast him a harsh glance, silver eyes flashing. The lights would be on in Sector One, he realized suddenly and cursed whoever had taken his goggles.
Carolyn suddenly groaned and twisted in Riddick’s arms. Her eyes flashed open and she let out a low cry.
“Shh, baby. Shh. We’re almost out of here. Bad security with the attack on.” Riddick stroked Carolyn’s hair back from her face, adjusting her in his arms. “Hold on, darlin’. I’m not going to lose you again.”
Allen watched Riddick stroke the woman’s face and her eyes fluttered shut again, cloaking the dark depths.
“Is your friend going to be all right?” Allen asked quietly, eyeing Carolyn.
Riddick lifted a broad shoulder absently. “Dunno.”
The lift stopped then and Riddick let out a pained groan as he stepped into the brightly lit corridor. They weren’t far from the docking bay, he realized, thankful.
He took off towards the sound of voices, obviously resistance fighters. The lift lowered behind him, and a door closed over it, making it look as if there had never been a lift there.
Clever, Riddick thought as he ran through the corridor, trying to keep his eyes shut as much as possible while watching where he was going at the same time. Allen pounded along behind him, breathing hard at the fast pace.
They burst into the docking bay and were immediately confronted by Sleke and Martina.
“What the hell happened to her!?” Sleke demanded, grabbing Riddick’s arm.
Riddick jerked away and headed for a transport. His plan was to get Carolyn back to The Charmer and to Craig Starr. Starr was the only doctor Riddick trusted with Carolyn.
“Where the hell have you two been for the past day and a half? I’ve been half crazed lookin’ for Creed!” Sleke stated, striding along beside Riddick. Being tall helped when trying to keep up with him.
“We were grabbed,” Riddick gritted out. “Now get out my way so I can get her back to The Charmer.”
Martina grabbed Sleke. “Stay here. I’ll go with Riddick to The Charmer, okay?”
Sleke looked ready to protest but then thought better of it. “All right. But try to get a hold of me when you find out what’s wrong. Only reason I’m not out with the rest of Creed’s team is ‘cause I’ve been waiting for her to show up here.”
“I know. I’ll get in touch with you, okay?” Martina cupped her cheek. “Promise.”
“Yeah. Yeah, okay.”
Martina nodded then took off after Riddick, Allen trailing along uncertainly. He didn’t know where to go and no one seemed to be paying him any attention.
Martina arrived at the Charmer of Eden just as Riddick was lowering the ramp with the keypad beside the cargo door. He was holding Carolyn’s limp form against him, an arm wrapped tightly around her waist.
“My God,” Martina breathed, finally seeing what must have been obvious to Riddick.
“Yeah,” Riddick gritted out, stepping onto the lowered ramp. “They took her wings.”