A Kid Like Her (A Riddick - Jack Romance/Adventure Story)

Cast Into Darkness

"Fuck!"

Kyra awoke with a horrible headache and every last part of her body ached, some more than others. Sand was everywhere, especially places where sand should just never go, scraping her skin and making her feel like bugs were crawling all over her. Topping it off, she reeked of saltwater and the room was pitch black.

"Where the hell am I?" she groaned, slowly moving into a sitting position, her aching muscles screaming in protest. Reaching out to test her environment, she felt the ground beneath her and it was soft and padded, so unlike the accommodations she would have expected a merc to provide.

"Great. I'm either in a gym or a mental institution. Lights."

Nothing happened.

"Shit! Prick obviously doesn't want me to see. Let's try and figure out what we've got anyway."

Slowly, she felt around and eventually came to a wall, and crawling on her knees, followed it until she bumped into something hard and flat. "What the-. A bench?"

Running her hands over the flat surface, she came to a tall round container sitting on top of it. She stood and realized that her shoes were gone. He had taken them off along with her socks. Probably for the best anyway since she was sure they had been completely soaked and most likely full of sand. Then she snorted as a thought hit her.

"Wonder if I got him in the 'nads when I kicked him earlier. Damn, I hope I got him good, too! The fuck!"

Exploring the container further, she moved her hands up the side until her hand hit the top and she felt something liquid, bringing her fingers to her mouth she was delighted at what she found.

"Water! It's a water container! Maybe there is a drain at the bottom."

She felt her way down and indeed there was a lever to drain water out into a cup. She put her mouth below it and drank liberally, uncaring that she was spilling as much as she was drinking. She was so thirsty that the quality of the water or the fact that it could be drugged never even entered her mind. After getting her fill, she let the water run over her face, hissing in pain after she brushed sand across the abrasions on her chin and lower cheek. The pain, she reasoned, was worth it to at least get some of the sand washed off. Anything to feel a bit more human.

"Too bad I can't just dump this on me. If I knew I'd get more, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Exasperated, Kyra smoothed her hands over her head only to find a tangled mass of hair and even more sand scraping into her scalp. "Fuck! I've been in situations before, but this-. No! Don't panic. Think. What do we know, girl? You're in a gym. He's left you with water but no lights. Question is this: Are you on the ground or are you airborne? I've got to find a control panel. Every room has one if this is a ship." Slow and steady she made her way around the perimeter of the room. "Wall...corner. Wall...DOOR!"

Tracing the outline of the door she found it was completely flat. "Shit! It's a sliding door. I'm in a ship. Now where's the fucking control panel?" Her fingers soon stumbled over what she sought. "YES!"

Unfortunately, after examining the keypad, none of them felt particularly worn, which meant she had no chance in hell of figuring out which keys the code consisted of. "It's almost new, but I wonder if I can pop the faceplate off." She tugged at the corners and it wouldn't open, only succeeding in breaking a few more manicured nails. Then she felt around the edges to no avail. "Nothing! I can't budge it. Dammit!" She hit the padded wall to the right of the control panel and then sank to the floor, her hope waning.

"If this is a gym, where is the equipment? Has to be something. He can't be so smart that he thought of every fucking detail. No merc is that intelligent or thorough."