Gyn
Wolf's Story: Chapter One-Gyn Meets Riddick
Gyn (pronounced Jin) Wolf drew in a deep shuddering breath as the coppery taste of blood flooded her mouth. Her head hung down and she stared at her boots numbly. Her ribs burned and she clenched her teeth to keep from screaming at the ache. Broken, she thought. How many? At least four. No wheezing, that means she didn’t have a punctured lung.
She shook her head again. Using her last reserves of strength she narrowed her silvery eyes at the man and curled her upper lip in disgust. “No.” Her low voice grated against her throat and she held her breath so she wouldn’t choke on the word.
His fist slammed into her stomach and she coughed, the air forced out of her lungs. “Who are you protecting?”
Gasping for breath, she slumped over, the only thing holding her up the chains and shackles attached to her writs. They burned, too. She could feel the raw skin being torn away as warm blood trickled down her forearms.
The man fisted his hand in the front of her short hair and pulled up hard so she was looking at him through her dazed eyes. “Who are you protecting?”
She knew she had to save her strength if she was going to get away so she feigned unconsciousness, rolling her eyes back in her head and going slack against her bonds, falling forward, her body limp. She couldn’t kick him, they’d chained her feet to the floor. After the last time she’d escaped using her legs they’d figured it was no good just chaining her hands.
The man dropped her head in disgust and walked over to the steel door. He pounded it with his fist and the grate slid open. “She’s out.” The door opened and the man left.
Gyn took a deep breath and began to work on her muscle control. Years of training were finally going to be put to good use. She closed her eyes and forced her body to relax, at least as much as her battered form would allow her too.
Okay, she thought, control the muscles, focus on the muscles. She could feel the strength centering in her stomach. She knew they were watching her, as soon as she showed she was awake they’d be back. She kept concentrating. The process took about thirty minutes and then she felt that the control she had was enough.
Planting her booted feet firmly on the floor, she stood upright and looked directly at the tiny red light in the corner. It blinked at her as she stared at it, and then, just as she’d known it would happen, the door opened and the man re-entered the room.
He stalked over to her and looked her in the face. She could smell his fear. Even chained up they hated being around her. She bared her teeth maliciously and he put up his false bravado, grabbing the front of her shirt he asked her again. “Who are you protecting?” She stared at him, breathing deep, keeping in control. She had to do this.
Can’t escape. At least I’ll give them a taste of the pain they gave me. She grinned again, showing her two, almost canine, fangs and allowing a low growl to erupt from deep in her throat. The man pulled back his fist, flexed his muscles, and went to drive his hand into her stomach. She sucked in her final breath, tensed her stomach and closed her eyes, concentrating.
The man’s fist slammed into her stomach and he howled grasping his hand and stumbling away from her. Hitting her had been like slamming his fist into a rock wall, and in the same fashion his hand had been smashed into bone fragments, broken and mangled.
Gyn laughed at him, the sound low and choked, but a laugh all the same. He tripped his way to the door and fell against it. The door was flung open, but instead of being pulled inside the man was kicked to the floor. A large black shape jumped on the fallen man and there was a sickening crunch as the shape snapped the man’s neck.
The form stepped away in a swift, graceful movement and faced her. She could see him in the dark, but her sensitive eyes were fogged from pain and lack of food and water, not to mention blood loss.
The last of her strength finally used up, Gyn felt real unconsciousness slipping in and taking over. She fought it. “Who are you?” she ground out from between her teeth. The scent wasn’t familiar.
The large shape shifted closer and she made out a shaved head and black goggles. Unable to hold out any longer she succumbed to the black edges of oblivion and fell forward against her chains.
Riddick stared at the woman chained to the wall in front of him. What the hell was she doing here? He’d almost gotten killed breaking into this place to save her ass.
He lifted the keys from the dead guard and unlocked Gyn’s feet and then her wrists, which were raw and bleeding. The rest of her didn’t look so hot either. She fell against him and he threw her over his shoulder, unmindful of her busted ribs, knowing that no amount of gentleness was going to make them feel any better. He just needed to get her out of here, preferably alive.
Jack had told him she was something else. From the planet Trys-Ornay, the people from there were exactly what Jack had said this woman was; “something else.” Jack had also said that if he needed help getting out of trouble with the Company, this was the woman that could do it. The woman groaned and he shifted her weight on his shoulder. She was light but not weak, from what he’d seen through the grate. That man had busted his hand on her stomach. He’d heard of people that had that sort of muscle control, it took years of meditation and training to be able to pull it off though. She didn’t look that old.
Riddick began heading back to the ship at a trot and reached it quickly enough. He dropped Gyn on a cot in the back and slid into the pilot’s chair. With practiced skill he maneuvered the ship out of the docking bay and took off the planet, punching in the coordinates for where’d he’d been taking refuge. Low groans emitted from the back of the ship as consciousness began to return to the woman. He went back and checked on her. She was sitting up, which was hard to believe and her nostrils flared as he entered the closet sized room.
He stared at her intently, his silver eyes glowing in the dark. Her eyes were black to him, but he knew she could see him just as clearly as he could see her. She wasn’t completely human.
She pulled back her lips and bared the canine like teeth at him, a low growl slipped from her throat. He could hear her pulse. It wasn’t hurried, but slow and steady. She was calm. “Who are you?” she questioned. Her nostrils flared again. “You’re not afraid of me.”
He stepped closer so he was towering over her. “Are most people?” His deep voice slid over her and she relaxed slightly.
“Yes. Most people are afraid of you, too.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. But you’re not?”
“No. Nothing frightens me.”
She was telling the truth. “Why?”
Gyn shifted, as if startled by the question. “It’s none of your concern.”
Riddick watched her. “Is it Jack’s concern?”
She lifted her dark brows. “What do you know about Jack?”
“I saved her life.”
Comprehension dawned.“Hunter-Gratzner. You were the guy Jack was talking about. Riddick, Richard B.” She stared at him and her nostrils flared again, and he knew she was trying to get a feel for him.
He sat on the edge of the cot and stared into her eyes. They were silver. Not the glowing silver of his shined eyes, but wolf silver. He wondered if her name was for real, or if she’d given it to herself. “How do you know Jack?”
Once again dark brows lifted in question. “She didn’t tell you? She obviously sent you after me.”
“All she said was that she met you before the crash. You’ve seen her since though, if you know about me.” He could sense that she was in pain but unwilling to succumb to it and lay down.
She nodded slowly. “Yes. At the mining colony you left her on. I was,” she paused for a moment, as if trying to decide how much to tell him. “I was checking out the competition.”
Riddick cocked his head to one side in an animalistic way, curiously. “What ‘competition?’” Her eyes narrowed and he knew then he wasn’t going to get any more out of her yet. He shifted and the cot dipped to his weight, causing her to shift and she let out a low hiss of pain between her teeth. “We’ll talk more later. I can’t have you bleeding to death so I’m gonna patch you up and then you can sleep.”
For a moment Gyn looked like she was going to protest taking his aid, but then thought better of it. “All right,” was all she said.
He stood up and grabbed a first aid kit that was hanging on the wall. It was big and Gyn looked at him strangely. “You were expecting to find me beat up?”
He shook his head. “No, its a good thing to keep on hand though in my situation.”
She nodded her agreement. “I have one on board my ship, too.” With a groan she suddenly collapsed on the cot and he stepped over to her. She lifted her hand as if to say she was all right.
He knelt down and opened the first aid kit. He began swabbing her many wounds with antiseptic and alcohol, surprised that she didn’t even flinch at the pain. He pulled out his shiv and sliced her shirt open and she didn’t even bother to protest. He checked her ribs. Four, maybe five broken. No punctured lung. She was bruised up bad and he rubbed a special ointment he’d come across over the bruises. A purr came from deep in her throat and her closed eyes fluttered. He tried to keep from smiling. Trys-Ornay bred some strange species of people. He’d heard stories about the inhabitants. Years of living in the woods and forests had found them breeding almost superhuman children. Animal-like in the most primitive of ways. Smell, sight, touch, hearing, taste, and among that a strange knack for picking up muscle control techniques. He’d even run into a few of her kind before. They weren’t much fun to tangle with, male or female. High pain tolerance, too. No, not fun to tangle with at all, not even for him.
He cut off her pants and found her legs didn’t look good either. No fractures though, she’d live to walk again. He rubbed in some more ointment and then rolled her over. She growled and he paused, then she resumed her normal breath pattern and he checked her back. Whipped. Not pretty at all. They’d worked her over worse than he’d ever been, and he’d been worked over bad more than once.
When he had her ribs bound he stood up and replaced the first aid kit. He turned to look at her and found she was pretty. More than pretty, beautiful. Her hair was short and blonde, spiky. Golden skin, almond shaped eyes, heart shaped face. Great body, that is, if the hell hadn’t been beaten out of her. She suddenly stirred, her nostrils flaring in his direction and he fled the tiny room, knowing full well he was running from her. He could live with that. Maybe he’d even run back, eventually. Yes, he thought to himself. Definitely have to run back to that little animal.