Chapter Two: Heat
It was only eight-thirty, but she peeled the covers off her. Her crusty lids started to close, and Raina regretted it as soon as her foot made contact with something. Her weight after sliding out of bed caused the object to crack. Cursing when she felt a sharp point wedge into her skin, Raina lifted her foot and saw the portrait of her family, which now had a fracture in the thin glass protection. Sighing, she examined her right foot and saw a small piece of glass sticking to her heel. Throwing the useless glass away, she picked up the portrait and set it back on the nightstand.
When stretching, the question formed: how had the picture fell in the first place? Raina blinked and lowered her arms. As insignificant as the object was, if it fell Raina would've set it back in it's right spot to prevent stepping on it, though she ended up doing the latter. Which obviously meant she hadn't noticed the disorder beforehand. Of course, now she was over-analyzing things...but why did she have such a nagging feeling-
She gasped. Raina looked to the foot of her bed. Even though no one was there, she approached steadily. Kneeling down, she reached out and felt the carpet. Still soft, no stains... Common sense then made its way through to Raina and her outstretched hand balled into a fist. Of course there would be nothing there since no one had ever been there in the first place!
"You idiot." She glared at the carpet as if it were at fault and stood back up. After steaming out her stress with a long shower, Raina made her way to the kitchen and grabbed the orange juice from the fridge. She checked the microwave's clock and almost spit out her OJ. Nine-twenty!
"Dammit!" She dumped the rest of her juice in the sink and ran for her keys and coat. Her coat was just shrugged onto her shoulders when she was out in the chilly atmosphere. In a fast paced trek, she made her way across the slushy street and waved a taxi.
From two different eyes, the girl entered the vehicle and sped away in it, eventually turning from the street. She still suspected, he thought. Otherwise she would not have looked so troubled. The figure stood at its full height and jumped to the roof of the next building, heading in the direction of the cab.
The waitress set down her cup of frothy cappuccino and walked away to evade the gusts of wind. Raina shivered and wrapped her coat around herself. Even under the awning, against the wall of the café, she couldn't mask out the wintry weather.
Fifteen minutes…and she was still waiting. Perhaps she wasn't so late after all. Raina glanced around, but only saw the faces of strangers. Today the cafe was busier than usual; a large line of shivering people framed the gate, inside bustling with customers and steam...
...she figured the picture fell last night when she had thought a ninja man was in her room. Being so freaked, she didn't notice and went back to bed, explaining how she stepped on it this morning. But it all lead back to the same thing: had she been hallucinating?
Raina bit her lip. She could still see how his shoulders rose up and down from his silent breathing. The way his shadow cast across her carpet, and the intensity of his glare and the bulging of his muscles. All too real to be…an illusion.
'Stop it, he was an illusion', Raina thought when goose bumps rose. 'You were half-awake when it happened. And why am I calling it 'he'? Not even 'he'…more like 'it'. But then again, ninjas can be women too…'
The blonde realized what she was thinking and let a laugh escape her; a nervous laugh. Maybe she really was crazy, perhaps all the taunting back in the days were true-
Raina then noticed someone standing over her. She looked up – expecting the waitress – but instead saw a man, though he was staring ahead. "Can I help you, sir?" Raina said. When he didn't move or give an answer, she repeated the question louder. Getting the same results, she pushed away her cappuccino and gave him an icy stare. Another chill darted through her. His body started to sway back and forth. Raina gave him another eyeing. And then she started back out of her chair.
Raina screamed when he fell. The table toppled over and crashed to the ground, her drink smashing with it, burning through her coat and to her skin. She jumped back, eyes glued on the corpse and the people near started out of their chairs, gasping and crying out when they saw.
You could only tell from the back that the man was dead. The small knife embedded in his back had leaked out a crusty trail of blood, along with the deep gash in his neck. Blood started to run from his mouth, from what showed of his face.
Head spinning, Raina backtracked from the sight, weaving around the clumps of people moving in. She realized her whole body was shaking wildly which caused her legs to give away when stepping on ice. She hit the ground head-first and the snow started to consume her body heat. Even in that position, Raina continued to gape at the body. She was so preoccupied she – and others - never saw the projectile streak through the street.
The ear-splitting smash broke away Raina's eye-contact. Before she could decipher the sound, a rain of glass showered on her. New screams arose inside. A dazed Raina shook off the fragments of glass and opened her eyes to a roaring fire dominating the interior of the café. The awning had fallen – half of it covering her legs – and the window was gone. The sound of wood snapping, glass popping, and china crunching joined the chaos. The flames started to lick at the snow, but by that time she was up and running.
More people crowded around the café and Raina had to literally jump over them to escape. She shook herself clean of remaining glass while halfway down the street, not caring when people stared. Raina wasn't sure where she was going since everything was a blur – either by her running speed or the wetness of her eyes – but she just wanted to forget everything.
She wasn't running long when something whistled past her. Ahead, the sharp edge of a shuriken embedded itself into a building. She pushed her legs to move faster and turned from the street, not daring to look behind. Another screech of a shuriken; this time it grazed her ear. Raina cried out when a lock of hair fell off. She rammed her way past a group of people exiting a store. Screaming started, but a sickening crunch ceased the outbursts. Another shuriken went for Raina while she started to veer, but at the last moment she changed her course when the weapon buzzed in her path.
Tears leaked down her face, but dried at her running speed. Half gasping, half sobbing she tried to ignore her burning legs, the tightening of her chest. She anticipated the next shuriken to strike her, but it never came. In fact, as soon as she had changed her running course, she vaguely felt as if something had gone through her. Before her subconscious thoughts could think more, Raina felt a force whisk her forward.
At the roof of a building across the café, a lone figure stood. He was a pale man, only obtaining clothing on his lower body. He merely glanced over the building that was afire and looked back to the girl. She was running towards the correct spot…
The portal whisked her away and she was gone from the sight. A second figure teleported next to him.
"You are sure that is the girl?" a voice spoke as smoke cleared; Noob Saibot emerged.
Quan Chi looked at his accomplice as if he had been there the whole time. "Of course. I can see she is the correct one."
Sirens started to rise over the screams.
"Shao Kahn is waiting for us. It would be best to leave for the Emperor's sake," Quan Chi said. A swirling portal formed and he stepped through it. The black assassin followed behind.
Raina hit the ground once…twice. With each contact, stabbing, sweltering pain seared though her. But the heat…the heat was so unbelievable she forgot about her pain. Her exposed skin prickled like a thousand needles were puncturing it, her head was flaming hot. Screwing eyes shut, Raina found herself in a black hell. Thrashing and crying, she ripped off her layers of clothing until she was only wearing pants and a tank top; even that it was too hot. Rolling on the ground, Raina gritted her teeth as gallons of tears stripped down her face. Each tear left a trail of fire.
'Wh-what...is...this...? M-make it...stop...'
The woman tried to get her mind off the heat, to think of anything, anything else, but it was impossible. Each gasp of polluted air scratched her throat, her dry mouth tasting the gaseous odors. Gritty dust flew in her nostrils, boiling hot as everything else was.
A queasy feeling erupted inside her stomach when she was lifted by the throat. Raina's breathing hitched and heat only seemed to rise, but her eyes remained squeezed shut. A short and scorching breeze blew past her and Raina struck the hard ground, finding herself in the middle of the most agonizing torture she'd ever received.
'St-stop it! Make it stop...make it end...please...st-stop it...'
The woman found herself trying to scream, but the blood rushing through her head gave weight and drowned her words. Her fists pounded against the ground, a hoarse gasp managed to escape her, but it was only caused when a weight slammed down on her chest. She felt blood stream down her chin, nausea churning her organs.
She pried her eyes open and saw two white slits glaring down on her.
Though her eyes down poured from the contaminated air, she did not care, she could not feel. All Raina saw were the solid pale eyes. She stopped moving all together as the eyes flashed…
"Pl...pl-please," Raina begged. "…kill me."