Smokescreen: A Collection of Vignettes

Chapter 25

Follows up chapter 23

The violet-eyed woman could just kick herself for running. By running, she had triggered her stalker's hunting instinct. Once he got triggered, it was rather hard to shake him off. She groaned. Well, she couldn't turn back now. She knew for sure that the portal was rather close. All she needed to do was recite the incantation to open it. Clearing her thoughts and focusing, she began to chant.

"Whoa!"

A karambit went flying by at a high rate of speed, missing her face by inches, before knocking out one of her sais. It soon followed with having her second weapon knocked out. Sakura still had one more ace up her sleeve. She grabbed the hilt of her late husband's hunting knife. She had kept it after his death. She knew that it had originally belonged to his mother and how he kept it after she died.

"Using my mother's knife?" A deep voice sneered. "I ought to take that away from you."

The young woman spun around to find no one. She gripped the hilt tightly. Footsteps were faint but she could hear them. They were slow and deliberate, and a chuckle put her on edge. Her hand hurt from the tight grip. This was the last thing she had of Tomas. She didn't want to lose it.

"How about you take yourself away?"

Silence.

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The Sakura he knew had always been a little spitfire. It was the reason why he had married her in his timeline. It was just a shame that she had died trying to run from him when he turned to Shang Tsung. Perhaps he should have taken Quan Chi's offer of having her completely enslaved after all. Then again, he wouldn't be having this much fun hunting either. She always entertained him one way or another.

The second-in-command to Sub-Zero stayed silent and invisible, prepared to pounce. Snaring his prey was his favorite part of his hunting expeditions. Slowly, Smoke approached Sakura. He loved the look of trepidation on her face, but it was time to end this. He let his body fade into tendrils of smoke and began to glide upon the ground.

His victim had her eyes everywhere, including the ground. Of course she would. She had married him in this timeline, after all. The Smoke of this timeline would have had trained her. Didn't mean that he couldn't surprise her still. He just needed a small opening and...

A shriek pierced the silent woods.