"Infinite Darkness" - Part Four

 

Part Four

            Not-Furya?

            Mandy didn’t find it to be much of an original name and obviously something that Riddick himself thought up. Regardless, it clued her on the fact that they were still in the same dimension, following the Anti-Angel’s latest attack – albeit much further in the timeline. It was an unusual method to Mandy. A Weeping Angel had never been known to send someone forward in time. That just made the Anti-Angel an even more special case for Mandy to look into…if she could survive long enough.

            “We need to take shelter now,” Riddick advised, indicating the peculiar vultures that circled several feet above them, anxiously waiting for one of them to die.

            “You seem to know your way around this place,” Johns retorted. “You lead.”

            Riddick gave an amused smirk at Johns’ consent. He had to be desperate to trust him of all people to take leadership.

            Recounting his last time on Not-Furya, he brought them to a cave that looked to have been previously lived-in. “You’ve taken shelter here before,” Fry deduced from the somewhat roomy atmosphere. “How did you end up here?”

            It wasn’t a topic Riddick particularly wanted to discuss.

            But he made an exception for Fry.

            “After I was made Lord Marshal of the Necromonger Empire, I became a target to my own commanders,” Riddick recounted. “Each time they failed, and each time I felt like I was losing my edge. I had to get back to Furya, my homeworld. So, I wound up here on Not-Furya when this fella named Krone stranded me…left me for dead. I spent six months on this rock.”

            “Six months?!” Mandy gasped. “It’s a miracle you didn’t go insane.”

            “I welcomed the challenge,” Riddick told her. “Everything on this planet wants to kill you – and I relished every second of it.”

            “Well, I’d rather not expose Clarence to it,” Mandy disputed. “Is there somewhere else we can go that’s more fortified?”

            “A mercenary station on the other side of the planet,” Riddick said. “Getting there on foot will be a pain though.”

            “How long’s the walk?” Westlake inquired.

            “A month at best,” Riddick answered. “And that’s if you’re not trying to find it.”

            A month on a deadly planet like Not-Furya was out of the question, but the group had no other choice. It was unanimously decided that Riddick’s cave was adequate shelter for the next few days, until they were better prepared to make the journey to the mercenary station.

            In that time, Riddick’s knowledge of the planet and its vicious wildlife proved beneficial to their survival. With Johns and Westlake’s assistance, he went out on hunts that supplied meat for everyone to consume. Riddick ate his raw, whereas Mandy made a fire spit to roast the food on for herself and the others.

            “Tastes like the barbeques we’d have at my house,” Clarence beamed, his mouth covered with meat bits that Mandy cleaned off. Her black cap had to serve as a suitable napkin for Clarence, but it was worth the sacrifice.

            “I cannot eat this,” Imam respectfully declined.

            “Not good enough for you?” Riddick belittled his refusal.

            “It goes against my religion,” Imam excused.

            “I’m sure the Quran didn’t have this in mind when the rule was written, Imam,” Mandy eased his burden.

            In response to Imam’s discomfort, Riddick took an eel that he fished out from one of Not-Furya’s mud pools, stripped it of its skin, and tossed its raw remains over to Imam. “See if that tickles your fancy,” he offered begrudgingly.

            Gazing at the eel remains in disgust, Imam reconsidered his initial decision. “I’ll take what I already have.”

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            It was agreed that two of the adults in the group would serve as lookout during the nights they slept. During Riddick’s previous stay on the planet, he sealed himself under two large stones whenever he slept. Unfortunately, with as many people as they had now in the cave, that was no longer a luxury. Jack and Clarence were excluded from the lookout position, due to their adolescent status, although Jack (the oldest of the two boys) made a heavy plea to shoulder the responsibility.

            On the eighth night, Clarence felt the unbearable urge to pee.

            He wiggled himself from Mandy’s embrace, which was even more protective when she was asleep, and went to the mud pool in the cave that functioned as the only available bathroom. However, he forgot the most important rule that the adults established for the kids: to not go alone.

            The mud pool where he went was much further in the cave where it was darker and murkier. Had either Westlake or Johns – who both served as the night’s lookout – noticed Clarence going alone, they would’ve been able to prevent what happened next.

            Everyone was alarmed once they heard Clarence howl in pain, the noise being loud enough to echo throughout the cavern.

            “Clarence!” Mandy shrieked, just as her ten-year-old companion rushed back.

            Tears streaming from his eyes, he repeatedly cried, “It hurts! It hurts!”

            “What hurts, honey?” Mandy asked, seeing how he was nursing his left arm. “Let me take a look.” As soon as she was able to, her aquamarine eyes flared when she spotted a small creature clinging from Clarence’s arm. It resembled a scorpion, its tiny yet razor-sharp teeth biting into Clarence’s skin and drawing blood. Mandy pried it off him before it could’ve done any further damage.

            However, the damage seemed to have been done, as Clarence suddenly stopped crying and collapsed into Mandy’s arms. “Clarence? Honey, can you hear me?” She placed the back of her hand against his forehead, beads of sweat already starting to form along it. “He’s running a fever!”

            “Speaking of ‘running’…” She heard Johns trail on.

            Looking up, she noticed how tense everyone had become.

            She soon realized why when multiple adult versions of the creature that bit Clarence emerged from the mud pool, snarling and advancing on them. “What are these things?”

            “Mud Demons,” Riddick growled.