Backstage Pass to Mortal Kombat

Chapter 31 - "I don't want your future, I don't need your past."

[[I know I left you guys with a brutal cliff hanger, so here's your next chapter. I hope you like it! I know you will!]]

Johnny was restless, like a tiger in a cage. He paced back and forth in the cell, looking for something - anything - that might get us out of here. Of course, he found nothing, and I watched him for the hundredth time jiggle the cell door in frustration, growling in defeat. Cory sat in the corner of the room, trying to distract himself by counting the cracks in the stone floor. Walter sat a bit closer to me, closing his eyes. It didn’t look like he was asleep, and I saw his lips moving; he must be praying.

I felt horrible; if I hadn’t snuck out to train, Ice-Man would have never found me, we would have never spoken, and Hanzo wouldn’t have been angry. For the tenth time, I lifted my head from the wall and gently smacked it against the wall. “I’m so stupid...” I muttered to myself.

“No, you’re not.” Johnny snapped. I opened my eyes and watched; he was pacing the floor again, but this time he looked like he was concentrating - like he was planning something. “There’s got to be a way out of here.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but a banging noise down the hall made me stop. Johnny leaped to my side and sat down, pretending he had been sitting there the whole time while we waited for the loud footsteps to grow closer. Instinctively, I reached over and took both Walter’s hand and Johnny’s hand, gripping them tight. Were they coming to kill us now? Would this be that last time we’d see each other alive? Without question, Walter and Johnny held my hands in return, waiting for whoever it was to open our cell, and probably slaughter us.

The footsteps grew closer, until finally the figure was standing outside the bars of our cage.

Ice-Man looked in on us, his eyes roaming the cell, seeing our defeated expressions, until they landed on me. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, his hair was a mess; he looked like he had just crawled out of bed. There weren’t any windows down here, or clocks, so I didn’t know what time it was to confirm this theory.

“I’m going to open the cage,” His voice was thick and jagged, but we listened intently anyway. “I’m going to step inside and lock the door behind me...you’ll stay put or I’ll have to hurt you.” He said to the guys. They were confused, like me, but they nodded anyway. “Alright,” He nodded, his voice cracking slightly as he raised the keys and unlocked the cell bars. I watched as he opened the door. In that second, we could have escaped. We could have taken him down quickly, between the four of us, and we could have left. And no matter how many times I ran the fantasy through my mind, I found myself glued in place; unmoving and barely breathing.

Johnny at my side gripped my hand a little tighter as Ice-Man locked the cell behind him. Had he been thinking the same thing? I flashed a glance to him and saw the anger in his eyes, and I knew he was thinking the same. We had all missed our chance, and we let it slip.

Ice-Man turned around, facing us. Once again he looked us over, quietly assessing us, before deciding we were going to listen. He looked back to me. “...What is your name?” He demanded.

I frowned, “Why do you care? I’ll be dead by daylight anyway.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and held up a shaking hand, “Please,” He pleaded. “Just answer my questions.”

Normally, I’d be offended, but instead of yelling in reply I clamped my mouth shut and waited.

He opened his eyes again and put his hand back down. “Where are you from?”

“Edenia.”

“Were you born there?” His voice picked up, sounding slightly hopeful.

I shook my head and watched as his frown increased. “I was born in America.”