As Riddick posed that question, Phil began to cry and groan in pain even louder.
However, Riddick remained undeterred.
His initial words were a bluff; he really didn't have that much time to start waiting for Phil to succumb to torture. He simply needed the weight behind the threat to convince Phil that keeping quiet wasn't the best decision for him.
However, Phil continued to plead, "Please, please."
At this time, Riddick's watch flashed to life.
"I do not think his mind is at the capacity to respond. The pain is likely overwhelming his brain, which, boosted by the serum, will only enhance it. In such a state, I doubt he will be able to clearly respond or even think as he pleases." Zoe reported.
Hearing that, Riddick clicked his tongue in irritation and raised his gun before aiming it toward Phil's other eye, and firing immediately. The bullet shot through Phil's head and pierced through his one good eye, hitting his brain yet again. However, Riddick didn't stop there and fired two more shots, adding to the damage.
This time, Phil's body slumped to the ground. He was in a state where his brain was heavily damaged, but all the cells in his body were getting boosted by the serum.
Phil's face now had a blank expression, and his mouth hung open like he was dead. However, his body continued to twitch, nearly over and over again.
Not wanting to take chances, Riddick brought the barrel right into Phil's eye socket and fired five more shots in each socket.
Phil continued to twitch but Riddick was content with this. ‘It won't be enough to repair this much damage,’ he thought to himself before stepping away from Phil's corpse and looking into the direction where Johnny had been thrown.
He quickly went over there, taking a moment to scan the damage all around the compound: from exploded vehicles, a completely ruined house, chunks of missing gravel on the roads, and so on.
As he was doing so, Zoe couldn't help but praise, "That was rather impressive, Riddick."
"I would imagine so," Riddick replied. Zoe further added, "Are you by any chance on a superhuman drug yourself? According to the data I currently have, it shouldn't be possible for you to overwhelm someone superior in strength, speed, and mental acuity, possessing a lower quality of it yourself."
Riddick then replied with a bit of irritation in his voice, "When you don't have outstanding superhuman abilities to lean on, you have no choice but to use knowledge, planning, and keen senses to win in fights. Let's just say I had enough opportunities in this one, and so I came out on top. But without having the right gear or equipment on myself, I would never normally take on such a risk."
Even Riddick, analyzing the situation, could tell it was not a good one to begin with. Had Phil already possessed outstanding superhuman abilities and taken all that supracell, it would spell disaster for Riddick and the entire compound. This was simply a testament to the margin between the classes and just how good one needed to be to bridge the gaps, taking advantage of the complacency most had when they faced opponents in lower classes.
But if Phil was anything to go by, any class, under the right circumstances, could prove fatal depending on one's own circumstances. Riddick could remember having seen this happen numerous times, and after experiencing it firsthand for himself on two different occasions in a short span of time, he couldn't help but affirm this belief.
Riddick soon arrived at the section of maize, and it wasn't hard to track the path where Johnny's body had collided with the ground, knocking down numerous stalks of maize in the process. As he approached, he could hear the faint sobbing of a child.
Upon arriving on the scene, he found Sabrina, whose once pure white girly nightgown was now stained with blood and covered in dirt, as she sobbed helplessly near what was now Johnny's corpse.
Johnny's body lay there motionless, with a lot of blood running from his head and midsection. Simply looking at the body, Riddick could find several reasons for the cause of death. In looking at Sabrina, he could see that her left arm was weirdly contorted, likely from a broken bone from impact.
As Riddick got closer, his steps caused the stalks to rustle, and Sabrina, frantically looking up, saw his towering figure and guns strapped over his shoulder.
She was but a little girl, helpless to do anything, so she begged, "Mr., Mr., please save him."
Riddick approached the body and put his fingers on Johnny's neck. He already knew Johnny was dead, but he confirmed nonetheless.
"He's gone," Riddick muttered as he pulled his hand away and turned his attention to the girl, whose eyes trembled hearing the news before she burst into more crying.
She hugged Johnny's corpse, bawled her eyes out, and Riddick could only watch as she did so.
He simply sat down, used one of the guns for support, and also began to allow his body to heal while simply watching Sabrina cry for her deceased parents, one of which he was directly responsible of killing.
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About 10 minutes had passed since Riddick decided to sit down near the crying Sabrina, who had now quietened down as if she didn't have the energy to cry anymore. It wasn't surprising, considering she was just a child.
Now, she just sat there beside her father's body, quiet, her rosy cheeks flushed and her eyes watery, her mind trying to piece together what just happened and why she had just lost her father.
She summoned the courage to turn her head toward Riddick and ask, "Is my mommy safe? She was hiding, wasn't she?" Her shrill voice sounded like it already knew the answer, but she clung onto the small hope that perhaps she hadn't lost everything.
Riddick moved his gaze from the ground and raised his head to look at her, right in her big blue eyes. "She's... she's not," Riddick paused for a moment because he too doubted if this was the best way to deliver the news. But in such a case, it was better to be direct and simple. It may hurt, but the child needed to know early on rather than cling onto hope, only to be disappointed later. It was the least Riddick felt he could do in this situation.
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The injuries he had got from fighting Phil were already quickly healing. In other words, he'd come out of the situation just fine, and with quite a few gains, whereas the young innocent girl in front of him lost everything she knew.
"Do you have any other family?" Riddick asked her. To which she gave a little nod. "Grandma and Grandpa," she answered hesitantly.
Next he asked, “do you know where they stay?"
The little girl shook her head. "I don't remember. Usually, they come to visit," she sniffed.
Riddick paused briefly, then took out his phone. Jamie's profile had still been loaded, and Riddick simply used it to check for any addresses saved on the phone. Luckily, among the contacts, there was indeed an address labeled 'Ma' with contact information.
Riddick then initiated a call and handed over the phone to the young girl. "Here, if it goes through, you may want to tell them what happened." It was a tall order to give the mourning girl, but she couldn't be left to her own devices.
The friend Johnny had mentioned was still a few hours away from coming, and Riddick didn't know his character so he was better off leaving the girl with family. In such a place as lawless as the off-line territories, someone Sabrina's age would never survive for long, and if she did, she likely wouldn't be in control of her own freedom. Life was simply that unforgiving toward the unprotected and innocent here.
As the phone rang and the connection was established, a loud and clear voice resonated, "Hello? Jamie? So nice of you to call, it's been a while. Oh, lemme call your Ma. Janice! Come say hi, Jaime called." The voice belonged to a man, obviously excited.
After all, to them, they believed their daughter was calling.
Soon, the voice of an older woman joined in, "Oh, hello, Jamie sweetheart! So nice of you to call. We've been meaning to talk to you, but I just can't wrap my head around the new phones and establishing them secured data connections it’s always-." She giggled, but before the woman could continue, the man cut her off.
"Let her speak, Janice, you’re ranting. No wonder she doesn’t call often" They almost began to bicker, then they paused when Sabrina began to sniff.
"Grandma, grandpa?" Sabrina muttered softly, her voice weak and shaky. Both of them seemed shocked to hear this sound, and the man quickly asked, "Is everything alright, Jamie? Why do you sound like you’re crying? Did something happen? Johnny didn’t hurt you now did he?"
Because the voice was weak and the two were elderly, they clearly didn't hear Sabrina well enough, as they still assumed she was Jamie.
"Grandma, grandpa, it's me, Sabrina," she said, a bit more clearly this time. The man, confused, asked, "Sabrina? What's wrong? Is everything okay? Why do you sound upset?"
Sabrina took a deep gulp and then, in an even shakier tone, she revealed, "Pa and Ma are… are dead."
Both voices on the other side showed clear confusion at what was said, with the man chuckling slightly. "Now, Sabrina, don't talk like that. Put mommy on the phone. If she made you upset I’ll give her a good scolding alright? So don’t cry"
Sabrina wanted to reply again but began to cry even louder.
This time, Riddick reached out and grabbed the phone, saying, "Hello, is this Mr. and Mrs. Rollo?"
The man answered, "Yes, yes, this is he. Who is this? Where’s Jamie..."
"I’m a client of Johnny’s, and we were supposed to get a job done today, but his compound got attacked by
As Riddick revealed this, a brief silence followed before the man on the other side side responded, “W-what?”
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After Riddick clearly revealed the fates of Johnny and Jaime, the only thing that could be heard from the other side was a bleak silence and the subtle sound of a woman crying, occasionally yelling, "No, no, this can't be right, why?"
Eventually, some static ran from the connection, a clear sign that the device being used on the other side was getting tossed around quite a bit.
Soon, the man's voice responded, "Are you sure they're gone?" The man asked, clutching onto hope that he didn't even believe was there.
But in such a situation, all you could ever do was cling onto hope. Riddick, however, wasn't one to mince his words. "I'm sure," he replied, understanding what the man was likely hoping.
The idea of what qualified as critical injuries had changed after all, with the introduction of cybernetics. One could easily live without their limbs or organs and instead with machinery here and there. This was especially common in the more developed cities and regions such as Hightown in Redemption City. However, death was still death, no amount of technology was going to change that.
Now, the old man's voice turned extremely shaky, but it seemed he finally accepted Riddick's words as the truth. "All right. Can I ask you to keep a lookout for Sabrina? In case the
“Of course, I don't know my way around the off-line territories, so I can't really go anywhere either way." Riddick only added this point to seem like he too was in a troublesome situation.
As locals Jamie's parents knew very well of the troubles that plagued their land and just how dangerous it was for people who didn't live there to roam around without guidance.
The old man showed no suspicion toward Riddick and simply accepted, "Of course, right. It wouldn’t be a good idea if you went out there now, especially if the
“All right." Having said this, Riddick ended the call and put his phone away before standing up.
Seeing him stand up, little Sabrina raised her head with worry on her face, asking, "Are you... are you going?" Her tone was shaky, a clear indication of the fear she currently felt. After all, after such a traumatic event, the last thing Sabrina wanted was to be alone. While Riddick didn't speak much, she felt safe near him. If he were to go, she'd now really have no one.
However, despite calling out to him, she didn’t say anything more. She couldn't bring herself to stop him. After all, to her, Riddick was practically a stranger, even a child like her understood this. So, instead, she asked, "Are grandma and grandpa coming soon?"
Riddick turned his head back to the young girl and gave a nod. "They should be. They're not far away. In the meantime, I'll make sure everything is alright around the compound, just in case."
Riddick then turned his attention to Johnny's body and then toward the shack before finally settling it back on Sabrina. As he advised, "You should go check in there if there's something you can use to cover your your dad’s body."
Sabrina gave a nod and sniffed, while wiping the tears still running down her face, as she stood up and began walking toward the shack. Her steps were slow and direct.
Riddick could only release a slight sigh before turning away and walking toward the gate. Around that general area, he began to check if there were any more supracell vials around. After roaming for a few minutes, he found three, quickly tucking two away, keeping one to show Jamie's parents when they got here, so they could better understand the circumstances.
Although he knew it would likely have great value on the blackmarket, if it meant building a better image of himself in front of the two people who could potentially help him, it was well worth it. Besides, he currently still had quite a few gains, so again, there was no need to be overly greedy when the circumstances weren't in his favor.
After he was done, he could also see Sabrina bringing out what looked to be a tarp and dragging it into the maize, where she covered Johnny's body. Riddick also swung by inside and stripped off one of the curtains from a window still standing on the bottom floor before using it to cover Jamie.
Then, while there, he quickly began to remove the wires and metal meshes that he had placed around the house. After all, even in all its carnage, if someone were to look carefully enough, they would clearly see that someone had set traps, the very one that led to Jaime’s demise.
For that particular one, he simply fiddled with the switch at the bottom of the stairs and left one metal mesh on the ground. At least, in this case, for the mesh, one could just assume Johnny may have simply left it laying around, whereas the socket was a simple malfunction, nothing more.
He didn't need to worry about the cars because the explosions took care of all the evidence, leaving nothing but burning scrap. The with the addition of the
The only real question now came as he retrieved Jamie's phone.
Whether or not to allow the parents to know the truth about Jamie's involvement.