CHAPTER14COC

CHAPTER 14

At the dock she clocked in, letting George, her worthless supervisor, have his pound of flesh for being late. But it didn’t last too long since they were so busy and secretly he was grateful she showed up at all. She was one of his more reliable workers in a field that didn’t exactly attract the good ones.
An hour into Zar’s shift she knew she had made the right decision in coming to the dock. The work took her mind off Richard at least some of the time.
But an uncomfortable feeling of being watched kept sliding over her skin. It wasn’t a caress as when Richard had done it. Rather it had an oily, evil feel. Looking carefully around she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Neither did she see anyone standing and staring.
She went back to working. Shrugging off the feeling. Putting it down to missing Richard’s comforting, big presence in her life. Reminded once again of all the good things he had brought to her.
She was working the last ten lines of the unloading dock. Coming soon to the last line of rolling anti-grav belts. Turning to head back to the first of her lines to start over, the watched feeling came back stronger than ever.
A chill made it’s way down her spine, bringing her to a stop. Every nerve in her body was screaming a warning. But she vowed to ignore her overactive imagination. Promising herself that she would not turn back into the woman left for dead on Jessup 3.
She was just missing Richard. She’d just have to learn to take care of herself. It had been her way of life before he’d come along, it would become her way of life again. It just took a little practice.
Resolutely ignoring her obviously muddled instincts, she was unprepared for the dirty hand that grabbed her around her mouth and brought her flush up against a man’s chest. Dragging her into a dimly lit service tunnel just barely tall enough to let a man walk through.
The hand smelled of grease and sweat and blood, making her gag reflexively. The pressure it was exerting scoring and tearing the soft tissue of her lips. The stomach turning odor brought a memory racing back through her mind. She knew that miasma. It had been in her rooms. On Richard’s clothes.
LEFFNER!
Terror ran through her veins at being in the hands of the man who had done so much evil to her family. But anger soon took over.
Releasing his hand that she had reflexively grabbed, she brought her elbow up and then back in a lightening jab. Catching Leffner in his soft belly. Not willing to rely on one blow, she brought her work-boot laden foot down on his instep.
Damned if she’d be raped and murdered without a fight!
The knowledge that Richard wouldn’t be coming to her rescue added desperation to her fight. The sound of Leffner’s pain-filled grunts giving her satisfaction and motivation to keep up the attack.
Leffner was getting pissed. Well, more pissed than he already had been. He had wasted a pain filled half-hour making his way to where he thought he knew Gonzalez had a transport docked. Now he was short of breath, the Stargazers were already wearing off and his legs were slowly becoming numb. The analgesic effect of the shock of the gauge blast to his back was lessening. His body telling him he was hurt worse than originally thought.
By the time he’d found a hiding place among the docks bustling drop loads, live shipments and transfers he knew he was too weak to carry out what he’d planned.
Then he’d seen the Cholena woman. And another idea took form. He’d use her to get help and raise the alarm. If he couldn’t get the reward for the capture of Richard B. Riddick, then that bitch wouldn’t either. Once the authorities on Polaris found out that the infamous killer was alive and hiding out on their station, they wouldn’t want to let him go. The bureaucracies of government and the penal system bogging down any attempt Gonzalez made to high-tail it out. It would likely take weeks, if not months, for the go-ahead to transport Riddick to Slam City to come through.
Hopefully by that time he’d be on his feet and could lay claim (legally at that...what a laugh!) to his portion of the reward.
Gathering up his last bit of once formidable strength, he’d made a grab for Zar. But being used to women like Helen and Toni, he wasn’t expecting her to put up such a determined fight. She was inflicting some pain. Sapping his already steadily declining strength.
“Stop it, you fat bitch! I’m not going to hurt you if you do what I tell you!”
She didn’t believe him for a minute. Knowing this was the man who had raped and probably murdered Toni and her mother, threatened Hill and beat Audrey. His words did nothing but add fuel to her fire. Making her elbows, feet and hands punch and kick any flesh they could come in contact with. Desperation added force behind her hits. Zar knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that being alone with Leffner was the equivalent of a death sentence.
But strength giving desperation was promptly sliding into strength sapping panic. She knew she had to get the upper hand quickly or Leffner would be in control.
The ramifications of his winning whipped visions of rape and assault through her mind. Zar felt the trembling induced by terror begin to spread through out her body. No matter how much she struggled he seemed to be able to keep her in check. Soon she would tire past the point of having hope to escape.
RICHARD! HELP ME!
Her mind cried for the man who had always been there. Keeping all the Leffner’s and their brutality at bay. Her conscious knew he was gone and beyond helping her. But the terrified primal part of her mind searched for his with a soul deep desperation.
The world went dark for a few precious seconds. Her eyes half-closed in defeat. Sure death was only a few steps from her.
Then HE was there.
In her mind.
And she in his.
She felt the blindfold covering his eyes. The harsh light of an overhead barely making its presence felt threw the thick material. A sharp pain throbbed behind his left eye, making his head ache. His hand and legs were chained. The metal digging into his wrists and ankles, rubbing the skin raw and bloody in places. The rest of his naked body bathed in frigid air. His mouth sore-covered and jaw aching from the bit jammed between his lips. She felt the cold plastic of the bench he was strapped prone to.
He’d been captured!
She felt his every pain and emotion. And she knew he was feeling hers at the same time.
HOW WAS THIS HAPPENING?! WAS this even happening?! Or was it just the despairing mind looking for a way to pull from a hidden reservoir of might?
She didn’t know if the questions came from her or him.
She didn’t have the time to delve into the supernatural wonderment running through her veins.
All she knew is that it FELT like he was with her. Showing her with his mind how to fight Leffner. The thought of it filled her with a small sense of hope.
She wasn’t alone anymore.
She tried to do what he was “telling” her to do. But the fight had gone on too long and Leffner was almost in control of her hands. Tears of frustration and grief pooled in her eyes.
I CAN’T! HE’S TOO STRONG! OH MY GOD!....RICHARD!
His frustration at not being able to physically help made itself felt along her nerve endings. She could “feel” him straining against his bonds on his cold bed of plastic.
A white light flashed through her brain. Searing but not painful. Immediately the fear was replaced with calm. Weakness with power. Anger with cold determination to survive. No matter what the cost.
A fierce animal force flowed through her veins.
Her hands were moving, though she felt as if they were detached from her body. Moving in ways she had no knowledge of. Twisting, striking with lightening speed and brutal intensity, they pummeled a surprised Leffner.
The logical part of her brain marveled at how she was doing this. The reptilian part was reveling in the power that ran through her limbs. Enjoying the sight, sound and smell of her hands bruising and ripping the flesh and bone of one detested. One who had held her in terror only moments before. Feeling more focused than she ever had in her entire life.
Within a minute after starting her counter-offensive, she had Leffner on the ground. Bringing him to down with a sharp kick to the knee. Following up with a stinging punch under the chin. Standing over his heaving body as he tried to rise. She noticed the blood seeping through his overalls. It seemed Leffner’s sins were catching up with him big time.
Smiling as she let him rise wobbly to his knees. Then delivering a two-fisted whack to the side of his head. Sending him crashing into the wall.
His loud grunt of pain brought a deep voiced whisper of a laugh coursing through her brain.
GOT HIM.
Every muscle in her body screamed for her to finish the job. End the threat once and for all.
Moving with an alien grace she could feel and luxuriate in, she approached Leffner with a cold glint of determination in her eyes. Eyes she suspected she wouldn’t recognize if she looked into a mirror at that exact moment.
Leffner saw it and knew she was coming in for the kill. And he knew he was helpless against her. It hadn’t started out that way. He’d been about the get control over the bitch when she went wacko on him. Turning into a miniature Riddick. Now his strength was totally gone. He couldn’t win with his fists. He scrambled desperately to give her a reason to keep him alive.
Raising his hands to protect his face he screamed out his only trump card, “She has him! A merc’s got your man! If you kill me you’ll never find where he is!”
Zar stopped her advance. Caught up in horror at the confirmation of her fears that Riddick had been captured. It hadn’t been just her imagination.
The “presence” briefly caressed her mind before sliding away to nothingness.
Bending towards Leffner and grabbing him by the shirt, she brought his face mere inches from hers. His odor of blood, body odor, sweat and evil making her swallow her bile in disgust. Tramping it down to keep him from seeing the weakness.
“Where is he?!”
“She’s got him on her transport.”
“Who?!”
“Some mean as shit bitch. Goes by the name Miriam Gonzalez.”
Zar’s mind raced with the implications of Leffner’s information. Miriam Gonzalez, Miri Lopresso. Too much of a coincidence!
But she had to be sure. Going off on a wild goose chase wouldn’t help Richard.
“What does she look like?”
Leffner had enough asshole left in him to give Zar a smirk before answering. Smiling lewdly he said, “Oh, I’m sure you know what she looks like. She found Riddick living in the shit hole of the station. Kinda looked like she did a number on you two. What’d she do? Fuck him six ways from Sunday? Make you look like the pathetic cow you are?”
She didn’t raise to the bait. Taking into consideration the source.
“Where are they?”
“Huh! Wouldn’t you like to know?! You get me some med help and you and me can work out some kinda deal. Otherwise your man’s a past tenser. You know what she’ll do to him. Have a little fun with him before he reaches Slam. She blew Toni to fucking pieces! Not that the little whore didn’t deserve it. But that should’ve been my call, not hers. You really want to take that chance?”
A quick flash of sadness washed through her at the verification of Toni’s end.
Then Zar looked into the eyes of a very stupid, very evil human being.
And they thought RIDDICK was the abomination?!
She knew Leffner had only the vaguest idea of where Miri had taken Richard. It had to be around these docks somewhere otherwise he wouldn’t have been here. He was just trying to buy his life, and get some of the reward she knew was surely on Riddick’s head. Zar had no doubt that was his ultimate goal.
She had no use for him.
“You know what Leffner, you’re bullshitting me. I bet you haven’t the faintest idea where they are. So I have no need for you. In fact, you’re a hindrance. I should kill you here and now. Get you out of my and Riddick’s way. Hell, I bet even Miri would thank me for that, wouldn’t she? I know Toni and her mom and Hill and Audrey would.”
She knew the remark hit home in the flare of hatred in his eyes.
“Fuck you cunt!”
And then she knew what she had to do. Strangely she felt no regret.
This must be how Richard felt when he killed. Survival of the fittest...and those most willing to whatever was needed to survive. No time for mercy, no thought of the consequences on ones soul. Just do what needed done. Deal with it later.
“Ha! Fuck me Leffner? No. No. You fucked yourself.”
She spoke the words quietly. Abruptly letting go of his shirt, watching him fall to his hands and knees at the loss of her support.
Backing away towards the service tunnels doorway.
“Hey! Where you going?! Get me some fucking help!”
“It’ll be a long time before they find you here. They hardly ever use this tunnel. There’s no com station, the noise outside will drown your screams. You don’t have the strength to make it to next door, half a mile down the tunnel. You’ll die alone, slowly. I’ll make sure Riddick knows that when I find him.”
“NO!!! DON’T LEAVE ME! FOR GOD’S SAKE...DON’T...”
She stepped outside the tunnel and flashed her hand over the door control. Watching expressionlessly as the door closed with a quiet whoosh. Leffner’s screams abruptly cut off in mid-yell.