Forgotten Past: Chapter Thirty Seven-Recovery
The transfer from Al-Anon to The Charmer was tense. Riddick cradled Carolyn’s limp form in his arms, careful of her mutilated back. Whoever had removed her wings hadn’t been gentle about it, and Riddick wondered if they’d even used anesthesia. It wasn’t likely, considering Carolyn’s pale skin and lucid gaze.
Conscious she stared at him for a moment then let out a tortured moan, her eyes rolling wildly, the midnight blue of her pupils disappearing, showing him nothing but the blank, eerie stare of her black eyeballs.
“How’s she doing?” Martina questioned, breaking the tense silence. He attempted to shrink under Riddick’s intense gaze, the eerie silver eyes reflecting the dim light in the passenger hold.
“I don’t know, Doc. She might be dying,” Riddick finally answered, lowering his gaze back to Carolyn’s white face. Her lashes fluttered and she let out a low cry against some remembered pain. Whether it was a recent or long forgotten pain, Riddick didn’t know. He just knew his chest ached for the woman in his arms.
Docking with The Charmer was simple. Getting Carolyn’s crew settled enough to part and allow Riddick to carry her to the med. bay was another matter.
Questions flew at him. Worried voices demanding answers.
Finally, all reason and conscience leaving him, Riddick roared, “Get the hell out of my way!”
The docking bay had gone deathly silent and then the crowd had parted, allowing Riddick access to the lift going to the med. bay.
Med. Bay was on L4A. It shared the deck with the jettison tubes, which was normal, and the library.
The library had been a part of the ship that had shocked Riddick more than a little. He’d never been on any sort of ship that had a library. And it wasn’t just a bank of computer terminals. It was a real library, with old fashion books dating back to as early as the 1800’s. Carolyn’s collection and taste had varied from mystery to science fiction and fantasy.
She’d told him once that she took ideas for books into consideration from her crew, so if there was anything he wanted to read he could probably find it on board, or log on to a terminal and find it digitally. She hadn’t been wrong.
Now, passing the library, Riddick didn’t even take a glance through the windows. His destination was Craig Starr, Martina’s presence trailing behind forgotten.
The door to the med. bay opened before Riddick and he found Craig Starr preparing a room for Carolyn, having already been notified via intercom.
“Lay her down here, Riddick,” Starr commanded, and Riddick did as he was told, gently placing Carolyn’s body on the padded table.
“Could you roll her over?” Starr asked, pulling on latex gloves.
Riddick carefully rolled Carolyn onto her stomach, exposing her bloodied back. Bandages had been placed over the wounds where her wings had once been.
Craig pulled the bandages from Carolyn’s back. They were already saturated with blue blood. Riddick watched as he swabbed the area with antiseptic before going to a table and picking up an injection gun. He filled the gun with morphine then shot the drug into Carolyn’s neck.
Craig scanned a blood sample from Carolyn, and seeing that it was still basically human gave her a blood transfusion from a universal doner.
Riddick vividly remembered thundering into the room where Carolyn had been, back on Al-Anon.
A team of doctors had been standing around Carolyn, her wings placed on a separate table. At first Riddick had been shocked, brought to a grinding halt.
Then the gears in his brain had switched, going from anger to rage. The clarity gained in that moment had resulted in several deaths in a very short amount of time. Riddick didn’t even remember how many doctors there had been.
He just remembered seeing Carolyn, sprawled face down on the examining table, her back bleeding, her wrists and ankles bound. She’d probably passed out from the pain. Maybe the drugs still in her system had dulled the pain some, but not much. The thought made Riddick shiver, thinking of the pain she must have endured. He could hear her screams...
Panic and rage had swapped places with a pained thinking process and Riddick had forced himself to put things into perspective. He’d scrounged through the room rapidly until he’d found bandages, then he’d bound Carolyn’s gaping wounds, praying she wouldn’t bleed to death.
Her strange blue blood was all over the table and her back and clothes, matting her hair into dingy dread locks.
Looking down at his arms and hands now, Riddick could see her blood covering his skin.
In that moment something occurred to Riddick. He stared at the blood, hearing Carolyn’s words in his mind. He remembered her telling him the alien blood had mutagenic properties, than she’d been changed some even before the aluthium spray. It was why her hair had begun to grow so fast. Why her reflexes had gotten faster and her senses sharper.
Not really enough that she noticed too much, but enough to be suspect when things really began to happen.
So, what about him? He considered himself and what had happened just before he’d thought Carolyn was dead back on T2. His leg, torn and bleeding, blue alien blood splattered on and around him to mingle with his own.
“Damn,” he breathed. Riddick hadn’t even noticed the changes, but thinking now, he realized they were there. In the subtle speed he’d gained. The extra strength. His hearing. His vision hadn’t changed, though, he realized, unsure whether he should be relieved or disappointed.
Suddenly broken from his thoughts, Riddick answered the tap on his arm.
“Riddick? Are you in there, man?”
Starr, a worried expression on his face, was gazing at Riddick.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Just thinking. Is she going to be okay?” Riddick questioned, gazing at Carolyn.
Starr had stitched her back and bandaged it. The blood was gone from her skin, but her hair was still matted.
Shrugging, Starr turned to gaze at Carolyn’s prone form. “I honestly don’t know. Her body has suffered a serious shock and she’s lost a lot of blood.” He shook his head sadly and stepped to Carolyn’s side, brushing the hair back from her face, the gesture full of brotherly love and respect.
Riddick stepped up beside Starr. “I’m gonna wash her hair,” he said, unfamiliar emotions becoming an iron band around his chest.
Starr nodded. “Good idea. C’mon. I’ll turn on the water in the bathroom, you carry her in.”
Riddick grunted agreeingly and very gently scooped Carolyn into his arms, careful of her back. A quiet moan rolled from her parted lips and Riddick found himself murmuring soothingly to her as he carried her after Starr into the bathroom. He sat on the toilet seat as Craig turned on the shower, cradling Carolyn in his arms.
When the water was warm Starr nodded at Riddick then left the room, closing the door behind him. Riddick stripped off his clothes and then Carolyn’s before stepping under the warm spray. He raised the water temperature a bit until it was as hot as he liked it.
Holding Carolyn with her back to his chest, an arm wrapped securely around her waist, Riddick snagged a bottle of shampoo and squeezed the lightly scented contents onto Carolyn’s hair.
Adjusting their position so that he was leaning back against the wall of the shower stall and Carolyn was propped against him, Riddick began to wash her hair, working the warm suds into the long strands until they were both engulfed in a mass of white foam. He rinsed her hair out and then worked a conditioner into her wild mane, knowing he’d never get the tangles out of her blonde locks if he didn’t use the stuff.
As the conditioner sat, Riddick washed the rest of her body, careful of her bandages. He could change them when they were done in the shower. Finally finished, Riddick rinsed the soap and conditioner off Carolyn and himself before turning off the water and stepping out of the shower.
He wrapped a towel around his hips and sat on the toilet again, pulling Carolyn into his lap. He wrapped her hair in a towel and then began to dry her off, holding her against his chest. Riddick patted her bandaged back dry, trying not to disturb the stitches holding her torn flesh together.
Carolyn was deep into her drug induced sleep and Riddick carefully wrapped her in another large towel then placed her on the toilet. He quickly dried off then pulled his pants and boots back on before scooping her up again.
Starr was waiting for him in the cubicle he’d stitched Carolyn up in and he efficiently changed her bandages then wrapped a length of gauze around her upper body to hold the bandages in place better.
“You can take her to her room or yours. You won’t mind having to keep an eye on her, will you?” Starr said.
Riddick shook his head. “No chore,” he whispered, brushing a lock of hair away from Carolyn’s face that had escaped the towel.
Starr’s smile was strained and weary. He turned and picked something up. Starr held it out and Riddick saw it was a med. kit.
“It’s got pain killers and clean bandages. If she feels any pain just give her an injection of one of the capsules into her jugular. The drugs are non-addictive and stronger than morphine. Bring her back up in twelve hours and I’ll give her another blood transfusion if she seems to take well to the one I gave her earlier.”
Riddick just nodded, absorbing Starr’s words. He adjusted his hold on Carolyn so he could put the med. kit over his shoulder then shot a tight lipped smile at Starr before heading out into the corridor. He went to his own room and laid Carolyn on his bed so he could change into a pair of clean pants and a clean shirt.
Dressed in clean clothes, Riddick carried Carolyn to her own room so if she were to wake up she’d know where she was without too much trouble.
Stepping into her room, Riddick headed for Carolyn’s bed, laying her on its soft surface, then went to her bathroom. He found a brush and then went back to her. He pulled the towel away from her hair and began to brush the blonde mass of tangled curls. He plaited her hair into a single long braid then secured it with an elastic he’d found in her bathroom.
Releasing a pained sigh, Riddick removed his shirt and boots then crawled onto the bed with Carolyn, pulling the blankets over them both. He cradled her against his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her and buried his face in her hair, inhaling the clean scent.
“Hold on,” he whispered. “Don’t go again.” He didn’t sleep.
~~~
The struggle to consciousness was a slow and painful one. A drug induced haze threatened to drown out sensation and return her to the fog.
With a pained groan Carolyn forced her eyes open. She didn’t know where she was for a long moment, then she recognized her room and her bed.
A large, warm weight rested across her waist and what felt like a hard heater was pressed against her back. Her head was cushioned on a pillow that felt more akin to steel than down and her body ached all over. But the warmth...
She closed her eyes momentarily, savoring the heat against her back and the odd feeling of safety that floated around her like a comforting aura.
When her heater growled and flexed behind her Carolyn knew why she felt safe. Riddick.
“Carolyn?”
His voice poured over her like rough honey and she tried to roll over to face him. Pain ripped through her and she bit her lip to fight the cry that threatened to explode from her chest.
“Shit. Don’t move,” Riddick growled.
The heat of his body departed, bringing the steel pillow that had been his arm and the weight on her waist that had been his other arm with it. Riddick was suddenly facing her, laying next to her on the bed so that they were face to face.
“What happened?” she whispered, ignoring the tears of pain she knew were rolling down her cheeks.
Riddick swallowed and closed his eyes. When he opened them she knew it was bad. “They took your wings, baby. Almost killed you. If I’d found you a moment later you’d be dead.”
A broken sob tore from her and she tried to curl in on herself. The movement only brought more pain and she cried out.
Riddick’s warm callused palm on her cheek brought her back from the edge and she gazed into his silver eyes.
“I’ll be right back,” he said. “I’m going to get your medicine.”
Carolyn could hear Riddick moving around behind her, the sound of a zipper being opened, and then she felt his presence behind her. There was a small prick on her neck and then she felt warmth spread through her, knocking the pain aside. Her body went limp and she could feel sleep taking over again.
She fought it until she could see Riddick’s face. He pulled her close against his chest, and she pressed her face into the crook of his neck, inhaling his scent. A shudder passed through her as she fought the effect of the drug passing through her system.
“Don’t go,” she whispered, her voice so low he barely heard it.
“I’m not going anywhere, baby,” Riddick answered, stroking her plaited hair. “Sleep and I’ll take care of you. I won’t leave you again.”
Carolyn succumbed to the urge to sleep, her fingers pressed against Riddick’s broad chest and her head pillowed on his shoulder.
She didn’t see the pain on Riddick’s face or feel the shudder that passed through his big body. She didn’t see the tear that tracked down his cheek to rest on his jaw or hear the quiet prayer he sent to the God he hated so much.
She just slept, the feeling of safety she got in the arms of a killer unquestioned in her dreams.
~~~
“The transfusion doesn’t seem to have had any adverse effects on her body. Everything is in order and she is recovering. You say she was coherent when she talked to you?”
Riddick nodded at Starr. Carolyn was laying face down on an examining table, her second blood transfusion completed successfully. Starr placed fresh bandages over her back and wrapped her torso up again.
“She’s healing fine. She’ll be bossing us around again in no time.” Starr’s small joke brought a reluctant smile to Riddick’s lips.
“Thanks, Starr. When do you want me to bring her back up?”
Starr shrugged. “Same time tomorrow should be fine. Just keep those bandages clean.”
Riddick gave another nod as answer, realizing his powers of speech seemed to have suffered greatly. He found himself afraid to use words to communicate, unsure if his voice would crack in worry, or shake with emotion. And that was only if he could get the words out past the lump clogging his throat.
Picking Carolyn up, Riddick headed for her room on the lowest deck of the ship. He was so tired...
When Riddick forced his lids up again the lift had stopped on Carolyn’s floor. He shook his head and slid away from the wall, forcing his feet to cooperate with his brain, urging his muscles to carry him one more step until he could place Carolyn on her bed again. He moved to her dresser and found an oversized t-shirt then pulled it over her head. The hem came to her knees and he almost smiled at the little-girl picture she made.
Her blonde lashes rested against her cheeks like tiny gold fans and her breathing was even, proving she was sleeping without pain. Riddick lay beside her as he had before, pulling her back against his chest.
He closed his eyes and tightened his grip on the woman in his arms. Sleep, he though. I want sleep.
It didn’t come. He couldn’t sleep. He just kept seeing Carolyn every time he lowered his lids.
Carolyn being ripped from his arms in the rain back on T2. Carolyn collapsing in the conference room. Carolyn, bleeding and dying on some steel table in the bowels of Al-Anon.
He wouldn’t let anyone hurt her again. The Company was going down and he was going to make sure whoever was in charge of the aluthium project ended up screaming for death before he was done with them.