Return to Kombat

Chapter 15 - Guilty Conscience

Johnny sat beside me, holding my hand, while we waited for the doctor to come back. Why did it take so long for them to see if I was okay or not? Couldn’t they just push a button or something? For God’s sake, there were so many machines hooked up to me; couldn’t they tell if I was alright or not? Still, I was thankful Johnny agreed to stay with me. I don’t know how I would be able to manage this without him. Everyone else waited patiently in the lobby. Well, close to everyone. I doubt Sonya would stay and see if I was okay. And I think Mila went to find a hotel room for all of us.

Johnny sighed by my side, bringing me back to the present. I looked at him, silently asking what was wrong. He shook his head and looked up at me with sorrow filled eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Zak?”

I shrugged. “I figured you guys wouldn’t let me fight if I did.”

He frowned, “Zak, look where we are. Do you think that’s such a bad idea now?”

Tears sprung to my eyes and I hung my head in shame. “I know…I fucked up.”

Johnny shook his head and stood to hold me against his chest, “I’m just glad you are okay. He could have killed you, Zak.”

I pressed my face into his t-shirt, breathing in his familiar scent. The smell of his cologne and sweat calmed me and I was able to choke out, “Before he died he told me something.”

Johnny pulled away and looked at me, “What did he say?”

“He said there’s so much I don’t know…how I’m just a pawn in someone’s game.”

“Whose?”

“He didn’t say,” I shook my head and bit my bottom lip.

Still confused, Johnny sat back down and said, “Well, Sonya collected a sample of his blood and left for Outworld as soon as we got here. We should be able to figure out what he was soon enough.”

My hands, sitting in my lap, were still stained slightly with Thorne’s green blood. I clenched my fists to hide the dried green around my fingernails. At the moment I could care less what Thorne was or whose army I was supposedly a part of; I just wanted to know why I was bleeding.

Johnny chuckled, making me look back at him.

“What?” I asked.

“I was just thinking about Liu’s face when he found out he was going to be a father…and how I got twenty bucks.”

My eyebrows rose in question.

“Well, me and Keanu had a bet that you and him…you know,” he waggled his eyebrows, making me roll my eyes. “Keanu said you hated him too much, but I told him how angry sex is the best-”

“Okay, okay, okay!” I snipped. “I don’t need to know about your…previous encounters.”

He puffed up his chest, “And there are a-many.”

I snorted, “What, three? Two?”

He blushed, proving me right.

“That’s not many.”

“More than you,” he snapped defensively.

I smirked at him. His eyes grew to the size of saucers and his jaw dropped.

“How many?!”

A knock on the doorframe turned both of our heads and we saw the doctor walk in. I sighed with relief at the change of subject as well as the possibility of good news. My heart stopped at the possibility of horrible news, too.