The Chronicles of Riddick: Ghosts of Furya

2

The squad marched back with the Furyan kid guarded on all sides. He moved warily but at least he behaved--well, for the most part. He was constantly taking in his surroundings. Still planning his escape? Probably. Waters wasn’t surprised. If she were in his position with his culture and language barriers, how safe and trusting would she feel? There had to be a way to put him at ease.

Waters ordered Pond to switch places with her and told Spark to keep his stun gun at the ready. Both men complied. She walked beside the kid and made furtive eye contact. He broke away from his escape plot--or whatever was going on inside his head--and studied her with interest. Waters began to wonder if her being female would give her some leverage. She didn’t like it but executing a successful mission outranked keeping a cold distance between her and their only link to the rest of the Furyans.

She had a sudden vision of her subordinates teasing her if this played out like a Tarzan and Jane scenario, but an unwilling Jane with an underage Tarzan. Heck, she already had an oversized fang tied to her pack. She sighed.

The kid sighed back.

Waters looked at him again. Did he think that was her way of saying hello or something? “What’s your name, kid?”

“Whasser-eh, kid?” the Furyan said.

Waters halted. So did the rest of the squad. She probably should’ve expected the response but... “We can’t stop here. Keep moving.” She and her Marines fell back in-step, forcing the kid to continue with them.

“Keep moving,” he said in the same authoritative tone. The rest of her squad laughed.

Pond said, “Looks like Sarge has her own mimic bird.”

“Very funny,” she said dryly. The Furyan echoed her and the Marines laughed again.

“Ha ha ha,” the kid said, sounding unsure. He awkwardly imitated laughter again, which generated more laughter from the squad.

Pond said, “I think this is the first time he’s experienced laughter.”

“Probably,” Markham said.

“Poor kid.”

The Furyan imitated laughter             a third time, which made even Waters laugh. Everyone fell silent and the kid slipped into contemplation mode. He perked at every sound the forest made but would turn back to his thoughts right after, as if disappointed with what he heard. Maybe a minute into this repeated behavior, he perked up and stopped contemplating. “Ha ha ha.”

Waters smiled, and so did the rest of her squad.

The kid laughed again, which got a few laughs. He looked at all of them and kept imitating laughter every time they stopped. It was amusing at first, but soon something felt off about the situation. It was like he didn’t want there to be silence. He imitated laughter without any humor in his voice and looked at them expectantly. Waters had feeling he wasn’t doing this for his own amusement.

And then she realized what was off. “Everyone quiet!”

The kid considered her a moment. “Ha ha ha.”

The men snickered.

“Shh!”

“Something wrong, ma’am?” Pond said.

“Listen.” They marched on, hearing only the swishing of their boots through the brush.

“I don’t hear anything,” Markham said.