Dark Eyes (A Riddick Story)

Stop With the Questions

I was left standing in front of the hospital wing watching as Riddick walked away. His back was so intensely toned, and his bald head didn’t even break so much as a slight sweat even though it was hotter back here. I looked around me as the healers scurried about their work when suddenly I heard a sound. It was slight, and so much so that I knew a normal person wouldn’t be able to hear it. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly, though it sounded like claws scraping against the stone.

            I walked back toward the other rooms inside the prison and found multiple stair cases that I guessed led up to all of the cells. In the back I noticed a darker room, and also noticed there wasn’t a single person back here. I could smell a musk that was familiar to my own and opened my eyes wide when I saw the large iron bars that separated me from them. There were three of them, and they were walking around aimlessly and restless. I observed the bars and realized they were handled by electricity and couldn’t be operated inside of the prison.

            One of them noticed me, turned its head fiercely, and ran at the cage with snarling, razor-sharp teeth. I took a defensive stance and stared into the animals yellow eyes. As our eyes met, I could tell the wolf-like creature felt that I was more of a friend then a foe. The wolf, which had thick grey and white spiked fur, was about as large as me. I only had to bend down slightly to be level with it. Its eyes were slightly yellow around the rim, and a greyish color that reflected the light a lot like Riddick’s eyes did. We were in complete darkness so it made sense. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if my eyes looked the same.

            I smiled at the hellish creature and stuck my hand through the bars. It bowed its head to me as I reached forward and placed a hand on its head. Its fur was pointed like a needle and very rough to the touch. There were so many breeds of wolf and hell hounds, and I had only seen a few counting these three brothers. The animal looked up through its thick mass and sent a small whisper of a comment. ‘Manson…’ it seemed to say, as if it was trying to tell me its name.

            Not sure if I was just imagining things, I took my hand away and bowed back to him. There were more important things that I needed my attention on. I needed to figure out how to get out of here before Injecco came to get me. I would not go back there. I stood up, brushed myself off, and walked back into the center room. The fans were still blaring and I had an enormous rush of cold wash over me and rid any sweat that had been on the back of my neck. I wondered how much longer they would be on considering there wasn’t a clock or any way to tell time. How could someone survive in a place they didn’t even know what time it was?

            In the main room, I didn’t see Riddick. There were a few people that looked familiar. The familiar woman that looked like she didn’t have bones, or if she did they had to have been able to bend, was sitting right in front of one of the fans. She was enjoying the cold air like the rest of the people. I was a little too uncomfortable to sit in front of one of those sharp spinning blades. Brocken the boulder was starting to venture away from the fans, as if he knew they were about to turn off. I leaned against a large rock, soaking in what I guessed was the last bit of cool air I was going to get for twenty-four hours.

            A few minuetes later there was a large hum like last time, except this time I could hear as the electricity left the wires they had come from and see the fans slow. Most people started to disperse into the tunnels now that the fans were no longer on. I assumed that they were all going to their cells. I knew it had to be close to night time, or at least a little before sunset. I sat down against the large rock and looked up into the dark, cone shaped ceiling as it went up like a mountain.

            The bone-less woman walked toward me, her eyes a little skinnier than most with a hazel quality to them. She didn’t have any hair, and her skin was bright. She reminded me of a snake, and I despised reptiles. “New girl.” She stood in front of me as if she was queen bitch. “Stand up.” She demanded and I looked up at her like she was crazy.