The Sun's Radiance

Chapter Five

When I come to consciousness, half of my head hurts.

I groan, trying to curl in on myself to get the light out of my eyes. My forehead meets flesh and my arms twinge. I sit up straight, squinting my eyes.

I'm stradling Riddick's lap. My arms are tied with a rope and my mouth is taped shut. My feet are tied behind him. I growl in frustration. and start tugging on the ropes.

"Something wrong?"

Another growl and some attempted words.

"What was that?"

Condescending ass. Speaking telepathically, "yes." My brow furrows as I tug harder, rubbing my wrists raw.

"Relax. You wont get out of those as panicked as you are."

" 'cause that's the problem here. Sure." I put my head back down on his shoulder.

"Careful not to get blood in your hair."

On my first deep inhalation he moves his neck to the side. "Only fair you get to sniff me back."

I do. The base smell that humans have isn't there.

"Because he isn't human." The voice whispers. "You share an ancestor."

I hum. "Interesting. You've piqued my curiosity. How would you suggest I remove these, then."

Riddick slowly looks up at my hands. "Use your teeth. It's not too tight."

I look at him. I pull myself up and grab the corner of the tape with my hand. I speak aloud, "behave," and flick the tape onto his head. "What happened while I was out?" I start tugging out the end of the rope from the loose knot with my front teeth before pausing and summoning a spectral hand. What am I doing?

"Figure there's talk about killing us."

"Did you tell them about the... things?"

"While they dragged me here but they haven't asked yet. No one's been to talk."

"Great." My hands slip from the rope. " 'scuse me while I get my feet." It's kind of like a hug. I lean over his shoulder, arms around his torso. They're free within a matter of moments. I set my feet on the floor and make it look like my hands are still tied. Just in time for Fry to walk into sight.

"Where is he?"

I look at Riddick's eyes, his head leaned back to keep them in the shadows. Neither of us answer or look at her.

"Fine. What about the noises? You wanna tell me about those?" A pause to let him answer, "alright. That's fine. You don't want to talk to me, that's your choice. But just so you know, we've talked about just leaving you both here to die."

There it is. I squint my eyes at Riddick.

He smirks as Fry begins to walk away, "you mean the whispers?"

She turns around and begins to walk back towards us, speaking softly. "What whispers?"

He closes his eyes. "The ones telling me to go for the sweet spot—"

I interrupt, "—just to the left of the spine, between the fourth and fifth rib."

Riddick continues, "It's a metallic taste, blood. Cut it with peppermint schnapps, and that goes away."

"You want to shock me with the truth now?" Fry sounds angry.

He rolls his head and angles his head towards her, eyes closed. "You're all so afraid of me. Most days I take it as a compliment. But it ain't me you gotta worry about."

"Show me your eyes, Riddick."

He moves his head towards me, move , "you'd have to come a lot closer for that."

She hesitantly steps behind me.

"Closer."

She slowly steps closer. Nervous. Riddick's legs tense. I jump off of him just as he stands, startling Fry. Before anyone says anything, I sharply look at the kid who stayed with Shazza when some tubing shifts. Riddick does the same.

"Where can I get eyes like that?"

Riddick cocks his head. "You have to kill a few people."

" 'Kay. I can do it." They move closer.

"Then you have to get sent to a slam where they tell you you'll never see daylight again. You dig up a doctor and you pay him 20 menthol Kools to do a surgical shine job on your eyeballs."

"So you can see who's sneaking up on you in the dark,"

Riddick grins, "exactly."

"What about you? How'd you get the tattoos?"

I smile, letting a small amount of light pulse beside me. "I suspect in much a similar way to Riddick. I just didn't get caught killing."

"Leave!" Fry yells. Then, softer, "leave."

The kid looks disappointed as they gather whatever they came down here for.

Riddick looks at Fry, "cute kid." He sits, "Did I kill a few people? Sure. Did I kill Zeke? No. Got the wrong killer."

"He's not in the hole. We checked."

"Look deeper."

~~

Johns comes to wherever they put us, doesn't even look at Riddick, just points his gun at me and says, "let's go. You're coming with us."

I look at Riddick. His eyes are closed. I speak to him mentally as I begin to walk with the merc. "Let's hope they don't make me go down that hole."

"Let me know what you find."

How optimistic.