Tarkat

Chapter 8

"Where's Johnny?" Raiden asks Kenshi. All three of them had been looking forward to this reunion, and Johnny not being there felt weird. "He's not coming." Kenshi replies in a cold way.

Kenshi didn't mean to be harsh with his tone, it just came out like that.

"Oh, okay." Kung Lao seemed saddened by it. The truth was that Kung Lao actually really enjoyed Johnny's company even if he didn't show it. It was a little boring watching the fights with Raiden instead. Raiden was serious and didn't like to make fun while watching, but Johnny did.

—

After the three of them order, they start talking about their days. It goes quiet after a while. Johnny typically held the conversations, it was his thing. Johnny Was the talker of the group, he kept things in motion.

Suddenly, Kenshi chimes into the silence by saying "I'm worried about Johnny." It was the only thing he had on his mind. Johnny. He worried about Johnny.

"Why? Isn't it just a cold?" Kung Lao asks. "That's all he said, but you know him. He doesn't show when he's hurting." it sounded cheesy coming out of Kenshi's mouth, but there wasn't any other way to state it in his mind.

"Maybe we should check on him?" Raiden suggests. "I tried when he wasn't answering his phone, but he dismissed me. I could sense more than just a cold in him." Kenshi tries to explain. "We could try again. He can't fend us off for long." Raiden proposes with a small smirk on his face.

Raiden didn't make jokes a lot. He was the serious one of their group. He was Earthrealm's champion anyway. When Raiden did make jokes, they were small and very subtle. He wasn't very good at it.

"Fine, but if he gets annoyed at us it's your fault." Kenshi smirks back.

The rest of the night had gone well, Kung Lao seemed happier, as well as Kenshi. At the end of the night, Raiden and Kenshi had made Kung Lao take the bill, he had ordered the most and he hadn't paid for dinner in a little while. Of course he complained about the bill but he still paid it.

—

It was the next day, around evening. They knew how much Johnny liked to sleep in on his days off and didn't want to wake him early if he really was sick. Raiden knocks on the door. "What if he is fine?" Kenshi asks. "Then everything is fine." Raiden replies. "What about him being sick?" "Then we get him medicine if he needs it." Raiden replies again. "What if-" Kenshi is cut off by Raiden. "You're starting to sound like Johnny, everything okay Kenshi?" Raiden asks him. "Yeah yeah, sorry, I'm just worried." Kenshi sighs in response.

"He's not answering again." Kenshi changes the topic. "Did he not last time?" Raiden questions. "No, is there a new door there?" "Yeah, why?" "I broke the last one down." Kenshi sighs.

After a little longer of standing at the front with no response, Raiden tries to open the door simply by the handle. It works. As they progress through the house, Raiden asks "Where did you find him last time?" "Kitchen." Kenshi replies as he puts his hands onto Sento, giving him a better sense of what's around him. The two of them venture into the kitchen, Kenshi steps onto something, it feels sticky under his boot. "What was that Raiden?" He asks.

Sento didn't always grant Kenshi vision, it was hard for Sento to do so. A human brain couldn't handle information and pictures being forced into it for so long. So instead it tried to guide him most of the time. Really the only times his ancestors did grant him sight was in battle.

"Raw chicken?" Raiden says, surprised at the state of the kitchen yet alone the rest of the house.

The rest of the house was bad. Raiden hadn't been to Johnny's house a lot, but the 2 or 3 times he had, it was clean. Like freaky clean. Not something you would expect Johnny Cage's house to look like. But this, it was gross. There was raw meat sprawled out onto the floor with the packaging ripped to shreds.  The juices from the packaging leaked out of the styrofoam, it was slippery. Johnny's countertops engraved with scratch marks.

Kenshi sighs, he felt as if he wished he never asked the question.

"Do you see any sign he's still here?" Kenshi asks, letting his guard down a little. "No, but there's still upstairs to check." Raiden says. "Can you find your way to the staircase or do you need help?" He asks. "No, thank you Raiden." Kenshi smiles a little.

"Step forward" Sento guides him to the staircase.

Both of the men make it up the staircase. "Do you know which room is his?" Raiden asks Kenshi.

Raiden knew how much time Kenshi and Johnny had spent together. They grew close after Outworld. Raiden also knew that Kenshi had stayed the night a couple of times, so he thought Kenshi would know where Johnny's bedroom is.

"Follow me." Kenshi replies, walking in front of Raiden. Kenshi feels his way down a somewhat open hallway, leading to a smaller one, where the rooms were.

"Open door, closed door, closed door." Sento whispers to Kenshi.

Kenshi takes his hand off of the wall, knowing he would trip if he were to keep it there.

"That's a guest room." he tells Raiden. "The next one should be his room." Kenshi ads on as Raiden follows from behind.

Kenshi knocks on the middle door. No answer. Even as there was no answer, the two men could hear moaning and groaning coming from inside the room. Kenshi starts to worry again.

"Cage?" Kenshi asks into the room, knocking again. 

Suddenly the groaning stopped. It was dead silent. Raiden and Kenshi wait in the hallway for another noise. Nothing.

As Kenshi puts his arm to the entrance, Raiden taps him on the back, taking the handle instead. "Why do you think he keeps everything locked?" Raiden asks. "He's a celebrity?" Kenshi argues back.

That is what Kenshi truly thought. He had paparazzi on him at all times when he was out of the house. What if one of his crazed fans tried to break into his house? It was dangerous to keep everything unlocked.

Raiden looks around the room Johnny was nowhere to be seen, until that is, he looks into the bathroom. Johnny was hurled over the sink, blood everywhere.