Dark Eyes (A Riddick Story)

Time Has Come

I was sitting on the ground against the rock and staring at the hell hounds pacing inside of their locked cell. They would turn to look at me every so often, but when they did I would look away. They were large animals, and their eyes were strong and independent. When I looked at them I saw myself, even if I didn’t want to admit it. I turned my head and looked down the tunnel, I could hear as the electrical surge boomed through walls and the morning fans turned on.

            My arms were wrapped around my knees as my orange eyes looked around the room. There was no reason for me to be out there in the main room. I didn’t feel like having all of them stare at me like I was either a God or a Devil. I just didn’t feel like I deserved it. I was no one to these people. I would be gone who knew when. I heard a small whimper to my right and saw one of the hound wolves sitting by the bars and staring at me with sad eyes.

            “What?” I asked it and it perked its ears to the side, hearing my voice echo off the walls. He tilted his head and whined again. I bit down on my bottom lip and stood up, wiping my sweaty palms on my tight pants. I took a step toward it and he didn’t move. Walking over to the large iron bars, I kneeled down in front of him and watched his eyes search mine. He wined and barked once and I gave him a small smile. I held out my hand and he growled at it softly and then sniffed at it. I put my hand closer and he shoved his large nose into my hand.

            His muzzle was bigger than my hand, and I stroked my hand up and down his nose. Suddenly one of the other hell hounds walked over and growled at the one I was petting. He took his nose from my hand and turned against the other wolf with bared snarling teeth. “Easy guys…” I said with a giggle and they turned to look at me their bright eyes. I smiled and stood back up.

            I turned around and walked out of the small cave and felt as the wind was flowing through the tunnel. I turned and started walking up the steps toward my cell and when I got up there I stuck my hands into the bucket of water. Splashing the water over my face I felt cooler and took a breath in. I wiped my hands and face with the large button-up shirt I had gotten from the man I killed. I was feeling bad that I was wearing it, but I wasn’t going to parade around naked either.

            I stood back up and went to the edge of the railing and looked down at all of the people standing in front of the fans. I could feel the swirling air and let it wash over me. I hopped over to the other side and jumped a few rocks scaling the sides of the inside of the mountain. I found a decent ledge and laid down on it. I took a piece of cheese out of my cargo pocket and nibbled on it. I wasn’t really hungry but I was feeling a little down and I didn’t know why.

            After a while I made my way back to my cell and started walking down the steps. I went to the bathroom, watched the people in the library read the same books they had read one hundred times, and then roamed the random caves that were in the back of that side of the mountain. I was careful to avoid the small caves and crevasses with moaning sounds coming from them. Everywhere I went people were staring at me. Some smiled and some glared, and I knew that some of them wanted to kill me but were too afraid of what I was fully capable of.

            They had seen my eyes, but not many of them had seen my nails and teeth, and only Riddick had seen the full extent of it. Inside of the main room I stopped suddenly and looked around. I could hear something moving in the walls, and turned to see the rock wall opening up as the elevator started moving down to the bottom floor. Everyone started gathering around wondering what was going on. The electrical surge around the wires prevented anyone from going near it, and I realized how smart the people were.

            The elevator opened and my eyes widened when a mass of armored soldiers started piling out of the elevator. Everyone inside the prisons started backing up, wondering who they were, but I knew. There was a symbol on the back of their white helmets as three of them turned and grabbed the way to nice woman by the back of the neck and looked into her eyes. I backed up as the crowd started to gather even more. I slipped through them and ran through the tunnel and past the infirmary cave toward the hounds. I didn’t what I was going to do, but…I had to do something.