Red On Black

Chapter 10

Riddick

Johns blasted through the door of the coring room, breaking the chains holding the door closed, he went through first shotgun ready, and Mac went in the other door. Riddick had to give credit to the guard he was very thorough, as he swept each room Imam followed right behind him, he wanted to get to his kid. Johns stayed in the main room as the other two searched for the young boy.

"Ali!" Imam called. "Ali!"

Carolyn and Paris held back Jack and the two older boys. Keeping them outside where it was safer. Riddick waited outside, no point in getting in the way. The place smelled of death and decay, no wonder Rehtaeh had turned back. He could hear the creatures in the dark places.  He heard Imam cry out and the rending of clothing on metal at one point, and Mac went back for him. There was a sweep of metal hinges as a door swung open, and the creatures squealed and screeched as they flew by.

"Imam, get down!" Mac called out to the holy man, his voice echoing through the chambers. The creatures made a pass by the door, Johns and Carolyn scrambled out, locking the other two men inside with the creatures. When they passed, Johns let the door swing back open just in time to see the beasts swoop up and then down into the coring shaft.

Once Imam brought the boy's body out for burial Johns, Carolyn and Shazza went in to investigate. Riddick followed them in. Mac still had his gun out, sweeping the interior until he was satisfied that there were no more creatures hiding in the shadows. He joined their group as Johns lit a flare and dropped it down the coring shaft. As it fell, the luminescent green light showed the skeletal remains of several bodies. If Riddick was to hazard a guess, there were at least twenty different skeletons.

"Shit!" Mac said under his breath, "They sure as hell did a number on this group. Bones were picked clean."

"Other buildings weren't secure, so they ran here," Riddick said leaning over the lip of the shaft, looking down inside. "Heaviest doors, thought they'd be safe inside, but they forgot to lock the cellar."

Upset by this turn of events, Shazza left the room, heading back outside to work on the sand cat. She had been so hopeful that there had been some survivors, probably because it increased the likelihood that they too would survive. The others moved around the room, trying to get a feel for what happened. Carolyn was picking up coring samples, looking at the tags, Mac was rifling through some journals that were lying on a table. "These journals indicate they were planning to move off planet for a while. The last entries are dated twenty-two years ago."

 "Whatever the fuck those things were, they seem to stick to darkness. So if we stick to daylight we should be alright. Okay," Johns said turning away from Carolyn and heading to the door of the room, apparently he had seen enough and made to leave.  "Let's go."

"Twenty-two years ago," Carolyn said quietly, echoing Mac as she picked up yet another tag. Her brow was creased in deep thought as she started coming to conclusions.

"What?" Johns said turning back to her. Had he not heard her or was he just being obtuse?

"These coring samples are dated," She replied holding up a tag, "Last one is twenty-two years ago this month."

"Okay, is there something special about that Carolyn?" Johns asked rubbing his nose. Riddick could tell he was getting annoyed with the captain. He just wanted to leave, he had started shaking so Riddick knew that he was jonesing for his next fix.

She hesitated for a long moment, thinking about the things that she had seen while at the camp. A thought crossed her face, and she whispered, "It could be-"

Mac looked at Carolyn and then at Riddick, his face was intense as the solution dawned on him. "The model."

Carolyn turned and left the room, going into the one that had the moving model of the solar system. She bent over it and started turning the dials following the cycle, the planets the suns and the moon, swung round and round till it hit the end of the period at twenty-two years. Everything aligned and dropped the little ball that was their rock into complete darkness. Her voice was filled with horror as she whispered, "An eclipse."