Riddik's Story: Escape

A light was on when Gara woke. Not the main, overhead light, but the little desk light. It seemed the best way to keep him from getting nibbled on by grues, without waking him up or bothering Riddik too much; Big Girl and Brown were lurking in the safe, dark bathroom, while Riddik sat on the floor beside the door, one arm draped across an upraised knee and his other leg stretched out comfortably. He had his goggles down, so it was impossible to tell whether he was awake or asleep. He'd dozed a little, maybe, but mostly he stayed awake and kept an eye on things.

Gray had curled up inside his shirt, a "reward" for being such a good tracker. Rewards worked with Gray; not the other ones. Too bad. Rewards were easier than punishments, and made for less resentment, though Riddik would dole out either as necessary.

It hadn't been long enough, though, when Gara woke. Three hours and, by the clock on the desk, forty-two minutes. Riddik didn't need much sleep, himself, but he didn't think that was a species thing. If they even counted as the same species. And even if it was, Gara was just a kid. He should, by all rights, have been out for at least a full eight. Probably more like ten. Waking up after not even four bespoke the kind of self-training he had, and completely un-healthy habits for someone who was barely an adolescent. Riddik had simply started sleeping in much more condensed blocks of time, somewhere along the way, because it made more practical sense, which was probably exactly what Gara had done. The difference here? Riddik was an adult. Gara was not. And Gara was forced to act like one, just to survive.

Hrm.

Riddik didn't move as Gara sat up, got up, and picked up his barrel of sand, looking around with a completely blank expression. Then his eyes fell on Riddik himself, and his expression didn't change a hair, even if he didn't think himself actually watched. Unless he did, but Riddik doubted it. He'd have said something if he assumed himself watched, maybe, or been less stealthy in his movements, taken more glances Riddik's way. There was an attitude people had about them when they didn't think they were watched; even blank-faced little Gara wouldn't be able to hide it. And blank-faced little Gara didn't display it. It was as if Gara considered him part of the scenery.

The impression was reinforced when Gara merely stepped around him, sand-carrier slung over his wings again, and went to open the door himself.

"Leavin' already?" Riddik asked without moving. Gray stirred against his belly, but didn't make a sound.

Gara froze, hand still outstretched, resting on the lock. He didn't move, but he didn't smell like fear yet, either. "I have to keep moving. This is a bad place for us. You'll learn. Keep moving and you'll be harder to find. Make them work for your pain."

"I don't intend to give anyone any of my pain," Riddik answered just as simply, and lifted his hands to lace his fingers behind his head, resting back against the wall. "Whether they work for it, or not. But if they find me in here, I'll move. They haven't yet." Considering they weren't looking for him, they probably wouldn't, either.

"They will," Gara assured him. "They don't let their terigon hide for long, you'll see. You'll stop fighting your Brand and you'll see everything."

Terigon. There was a word for what he was, apparently. Perhaps, anyway. Terigon. Riddik chewed on that a moment, then called Brown, silently. The little runt fought him, but not for long, and he dove into his shadow immediately, protected from the tiny desk light. Gara had opened the door and was peering out, then stepping out, and Riddik scooped Brown up and tossed him after him. The grue, unprepared for being thrown, bonked right into the back of Gara's head, and clung to his hair with a little creel of displeasure before burrowing into the mess of it.

"Don't act like he's gonna give you away, this time," Riddik suggested, a warning he felt necessary given the sound of the cork being popped from the sand-carrier, then settled back against the wall to let Gara digest that. There was a lot of ways this could go, a lot of things to be prepared for, and Gara--

--Gara went with confused violence. Riddik was on his feet in a heartbeat, ready to rescue Brown if need be as Gara's fingers closed on him, yanking him free from the boy's hair, and he shrieked with distress, pain, and anger, both mentally and physically. There was light outside that hair, after all, and fingers trying to trap him. Even if he was an obnoxious and rebellious little thing, Riddik wasn't about to let him get splattered or smashed or smothered. But Brown rescued himself, diving through the too-loose fingers and into the thick fur of Gara's arm.

Gray stirred and warbled against his belly, but thankfully didn't do anything more distracting. Probably too cowardly to brave light and possible splattering, himself. Big Girl growled from the bathroom, but Riddik held up a hand, and she sensed the movement and stayed where she was.

When Gara did nothing more, just stood there-- Brown sent sound-sight impressions of tendrils of something moving around him, circling restlessly: sand, Riddik assumed-- Riddik held still, just out of sight, listening for Gara's final decision. He heard the soft hiss of the flying sand, he heard a rustle of fabric-- Brown relayed that he'd grabbed the fabric of his shirt-- and he heard uneven breathing. Brown didn't have the angle or, really, the sensitivity to convey facial expression, but Riddik knew that, whatever else he'd done, he'd shaken the kid.

Finally he heard an answer, hissed as if it were angry or pained. "Stop... caring."

Riddik leaned back against the wall again silently, relaxing so his voice sounded casual again, not like he'd been ready to leap into attack. "Nobody orders me around, kid. Not even you."

Said kid's reaction, after a pause and a flinch, relayed by Brown... was to flee. Tuck his sand away again and flee. One step, two steps, three and four-- then he had turned and run.

But he still had Brown clinging to his forearm, and he had to know it. So it wasn't a total loss. And now Riddik at least knew whether he was going to do something.