Riddick lay on his back staring up into the sky; the rest of the dogs quickly gathered around him and began to bark frantically just inches from his face. The black dog stood across him, gripping his throat in its massive jaws; Riddick could feel hot saliva dripping down the sides of his neck and he could hear the dog panting through its nose with great blasts of hot wet air. He felt one of the other dogs bite into his pant leg and tug, stretching him out like a man on a rack; two more dogs did the same with his other leg, and he felt a chill of primeval terror when he thought about his unprotected groin and abdomen. He tried to kick his legs free but the dogs just pulled harder; he grabbed at the black dog’s snout with both hands and tried to pry it off his throat, but when he did he felt its teeth sink even deeper into his flesh.

He tried to wedge his fingers in between the dog’s teeth and his throat, but once again the dog clamped down harder and he felt the flesh pop as the teeth began to puncture his skin—then he felt something else running down his neck.

The muscles of his neck began to cramp and he tried to scream, but almost nothing came out. He now realized that the dog was crushing his windpipe and he started to panic. He began to beat at the dog’s head and face with both fists, but at such close range he couldn’t generate any power and the dog just absorbed the harmless blows. He tried to squeeze his fingers into the dog’s eyes, hoping to blind it or cause it so much pain that it would momentarily release its grip—but the effort only strengthened the dog’s resolve, and it tightened its grip even more.

Riddick lay flailing in the dirt like a grounded fish, with each flop of his exhausted body a little weaker and less defiant than the one before. He slowly sank down and lay motionless, straining to draw each tortured breath through his slowly collapsing trachea. His eyes bulged out and he stared unblinking into the sky with a look of frozen astonishment on his face. His mouth gaped open and his swollen tongue jutted out between his teeth, and a final hiss of air was abruptly cut short. His oxygen-starved brain began to boil and his mind slowly faded to a single pinpoint of light—and when that light reached its zenith, it simply clicked off.

His hands dropped away from the dog’s head and his arms fell limp to the ground.

The pack of dogs fell silent. They cautiously moved closer, sniffing at Riddick’s inert body and pawing at his lifeless limbs.

They raised their muzzles into the air and with a single voice let out a low, long, mournful howl.

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