”Are you sure about this?”
“I’m sure, Logan. This is exactly what we’re looking for. The very source of our troubles. Reason I took on this journey was to reach the people. The ordinary, everyday working men and women.”
“Well, you’re the boss. Just remember that I warned you.”
“Your vote has been counted and marked, Logan. Now, if you’ll excuse me… It has been a long day, and I’m rather tired…”
“Yeah. Sleep tight. I think I’ll hit the bar we saw earlier.”
“Just remember, Logan…”
“Yeah, yeah. No fighting, no women, no getting in to trouble.”
“And I’d prefer no drinking as well, but knowing you that might be a bit of an overkill. Good night, Logan.”

His last talk with professor Xavier flashed through his mind when he saw the hitchhiker standing on the side of the road, thumb raised to the universal gesture, one foot slung in front of the other, backpack dropped carelessly to the ground at her feet. He smirked. Xavier could screw himself and his stupid rules. He’d get bored out of his skull in this hot and vast emptiness of the desert soon. Maybe having somebody to talk to would alleviate the boredom. And the chick wasn’t bad looking either. He could get lucky… Yes. There was always the chance. And Xavier was somewhere far ahead of him. His mind already tackling with the dilemma of how to turn a town full of redneck miners more accepting and tolerant towards the mutant issue.

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him…” He muttered easing his foot from the gas pedal and letting the truck roll to a halt. The hitchhiker picked up her backpack and run towards the truck. From this distance he couldn’t help admiring the curvaceous figure and the way her breasts kept bouncing and stretching the front of her shirt. However she disappeared soon from the rearview mirror. He reached over to the passenger’s side and pushed the door open. And nearly swore out loud. Instead of a woman he expected to see a young girl, couldn’t be much older than eighteen stood on the curb, slightly out of breath, fiddling with the straps of her backpack nervously. Her gaze swept over the interior of the cab and settled to him.

“Hi. Are you a decent man?” She asked. He nearly choked on his cigar that dangled from the corner of his mouth.
“If I were Ted Bundy, you really think I would tell that to you?” He asked. She tilted her head and her eyes locked briefly on to his. Then she nodded.
“I think you are. A decent man, I mean.”
“You think so? Well, hop in, then. Don’t have the whole day to sit here chatting with chicks.”

“Where are you heading?” He asked.
“Nowhere in particular… Just trekking around…” She spoke with quiet voice and kept her eyes on the road, stealing glances from him every now and then. He on the other hand stared at her openly. There was something unnerving in a person that wandered around in the middle of the desert wearing several layers of long sleeved clothes and gloves. She had pulled the gloves on as soon as she had settled to the passenger’s seat. His eyes zeroed on the front of her shirt, forest green sweatshirt with a large ‘X’ emblazoned on it with bright yellow. Tails of the letter curved over her breasts.

“What?” She asked, rather snappily for a person who earlier had acted all timidly.
“Nothing…” He turned his attention back on the road, chewing on the cigar. It was his last one, and until he got his supply restocked there was very little reason to smoke it.
“Were you staring at my tits?” The girl asked.
“No.” And that was the truth. He had done all his staring while she was running towards his truck. The letter ‘X’ had drawn his attention. It reminded very closely the trademark of professor Xavier’s academy.
“It’s okay. If you were. I’m kind of used to it by now,” the girl huffed and resumed her earlier stance, leaning against the backrest, one foot raised to the edge of the seat, head leaning against the side window and her eyes locked on to the road.
“I wasn’t staring at your tits. That X on your shirt caught my eyes. This guy I work for, he has a serious thing going on with that letter. That’s all.” There. That should have made it clear. He wasn’t some sort of pervert driving around and staring young girl’s breasts, no matter how good they looked when said girls breathed deeply making the cloth of their shirts stretch taut over their nipples. He wasn’t looking. Really.
“Shit. Okay. I was staring at your tits earlier. When you ran towards my truck. Happy?” He huffed. The girl giggled.
“Haven’t met a guy able to resist looking yet. Oh, wait. There was that one, but he was gay. I don’t think that counts. What do you think?” She asked.
“Jesus. You’re weird. Maybe I should have asked if you were a decent woman before I let you in to this truck…”
“And if I had been Elisabeth Bathory, you really think I would have told you that?” The girl asked.
“Elisabeth who?”
“Never mind. My name is Rogue.” He narrowed his eyes. Rogue?
“What kind of a name is Rogue?” He asked. His passenger leaned forward and stared at his chest for a moment. Stared at the dog tag that had slipped loose from the confines of his T-shirt and hung just below his collarbones.
“I don’t know. What kind of a name is Wolverine?” She asked, eyes narrowing to nearly as impressive scowl as his. It didn’t suit well with the image he had formed from her in his mind. He tucked the dog tag back under his shirt.
“My name’s Logan.” Conversation over. That’s what he thought, until he heard a silent whisper.
“What?” The girl cleared her throat.
“Marie. My name’s Marie.”

“So… Where are you heading?” She asked after they had driven a while.
“To Desperation.”
“What’s in Desperation?” She asked.
“My boss is giving a speech in there. And every goddamned small town and village on the map. I’m just lugging around his equipment and see that he doesn’t get in to trouble on his way.”
“A speech? Who is he? Your boss?”
“Charles Xavier.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about him on the news. He’s big in politics,” his passenger perked up.
“Yes he is. And doing his hardest to get that big, bald head of his blown off from his shoulders,” he grunted.
“He’s a mutant. Are you?” The girl asked. He nodded.
“As mutated as it gets. Still comfortable sitting in this truck?” He asked. To his surprise the girl nodded.
“I’m a mutant, too. In case you didn’t already guess from the gloves and everything.”
“Oh… Can I ask you something?”
“Shot me.”
“It’s hot enough to bake a fucking omelet on that road. Why the hell are you wrapped up like a freaking mummy? Afraid that you’ll get a sunburn?” He asked the question that had been bothering him ever since he saw her.
“It’s my skin. When other people touch my skin, something happens.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. They just get hurt. That’s why I have to keep covered pretty much all the time.”
“That’s the shittiest mutation I have come across so far… No offence.”
“None taken. I agree with you. But it could be worse. At least I can avoid touching people now that I know it hurts them,” the girl said with a brave face. He could hear the sadness in her voice. It made him to reach over the console of the handbrake and squeeze her shoulder gently.

He snatched his hand back and hit the brakes just in time, the truck nearly toppling over, rear tires rising from the ground before bouncing back. His fingers grasped the steering wheel when searing pain tore through his head.

**WOLVERINE**

In his minds eye he could see the side of a police cruiser, emblem of two miners and a rattlesnake adorning the front door, surrounded by letters and numbers. Desperation, law-enforcement from 1889.

**TROUBLE**

When he came to the girl was sitting on her haunches next to him, wiping his nose and mouth with paper towels.
“I… I thought… You… You’re bleeding! I’m sorry, I should have warned you but I thought my skin doesn’t work through my clothes, I’m so sorry…” He swatted her hands away and took the bunched up scraps of paper from her.
“No need to apologize… Oh, crap… You didn’t do this. It’s my boss… He’s in trouble…” Xavier avoided using his telepathy with him at all costs. It was just too tedious of a task to get through the murky depths of Logan’s consciousness to reach that small part of him which was able to receive his messages. What ever had made him call Logan now had to be something big. Xavier was more than able to take care of himself under the normal, and even not so normal circumstances.

“Are you alright?” He asked, trying feebly to protect his clothes from the blood still dribbling from his nose. There was a small gash on the girl’s forehead. She raised her hand to it and grimaced. There was a splatter of blood on the dashboard from when she hit her head to it.
“I’m fine. I think. I didn’t hit my head that hard. I think that sharp edge just nicked my scalp open…”
“Here. Press the wound with this,” he said handing her the last clean tissue.
“I’ll drop you off to the ER once we get in to Desperation and go from there to see what’s going on with Xavier.”

He started the engine and turned the truck on the right lane, trying his hardest not to break speed limits. It wouldn’t do to get arrested from speeding when his boss had already gotten tangled up with the law for some reason.

They were still about a half an hour from the Desperation when something caught his eye. Something dark and gleaming in the desert, amidst of cacti and dried up bushes. He stopped the truck.
“Wait here.” The girl stayed in the truck obediently, probably still shaken from their earlier ordeal when he stepped out to investigate.

Wind that rustled his hair was hot and dry, driving stinging bits of sand at its wake. He made his way to the desert with dread tickling his gut. He hated that feeling. And hated his gut with a passion, because it rarely was wrong. When he reached his destination he kicked the sand and cursed out loud.

Hidden under a pile of dry branches sat the car professor Xavier had been driving. Dark SUV from the academy’s fleet specially modified for a handicapped driver. He started dragging off branches from the top of the car, trying to figure out what had happened. To his immense relief there was no blood. Not on the outside, not inside of the car. Gleaming black paint had acquired few scratches, but they had probably come when somebody had driven the car in to the ditch and covered it with branches.

What he saw when he walked around the truck made the saliva on his tongue to turn bitter, metallic. Xavier’s wheelchair, turned around and partly buried in to the sand. There was no way the professor would have left without it, seeing as Logan was transporting his spare chair at the back of his truck.

“Jesus, was that a cat nailed to that road sign?” The girl gaped from the window the scenery that flew past at alarming speed.
“Don’t know, don’t care. Right now it’s more important for me to get to Xavier. Fuck… Why the fuck did I ever agreed to take on this goddamned gig…” He puffed his cigar, fingers gripping the steering wheel with a death grip, leg pressing heavily on the gas. Fantasies of tank of nox installed to the heap of trash he was driving were floating on the forefront of his mind, accompanied with Scott’s offer to tinker with the truck. And himself laughing at the offer, telling Scott he could do it after this little trip with Xavier if there was anything left from the old lady to modify.

He had to force himself to slow down when they arrived to the Desperation. Wouldn’t do to drive over old ladies and little kids. He could be wrong. He could be wrong with so many things. Maybe this wasn’t a life and death situation for professor after all. Maybe there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this. Maybe…
“Oh, my God! That man was dead!” His passenger squealed.
“What man?”
“The one that sat on the bench outside of the grocery store. I think… I think his head was blown off…”
“What is this? The Sixth Sense? You see dead people?” He snorted nervously.
“No. Are you laughing at me?” The girl asked, the look on her face challenging him. Laugh and she’ll strike at you.
“Not laughing. Just… You said you saw a cat nailed on the road sign. Then you see a dead man sitting in front of the grocery store like… Like… Uh… What the fuck is going on in here?”

He let the truck roll to a halt, his eyes fixed to a sign, a large notice board that stood in front of an official looking building. The board was wooden. At some point it had been welcoming travelers. He could still see the text carved on the wood. ‘Citizens of Desperation Welcome You, Stranger!’. On top of ‘Citizens’ somebody had written ‘Dead Dogs’ with bright red spray paint. At least he hoped it was spray paint. He wasn’t going to get out of the truck for a closer look.

And where the hell was everybody? At this time of the day the town should have been buzzing from life. Miners from the freshly opened mine on a coffee-break, women and children doing their daily shopping, old-timers sitting in front of the stores… He let his gaze roam over the quiet streets. Nobody. There was absolutely nobody alive and moving aside from him and the girl sitting next to him.
“How’s that head of yours? Still feel like going to ER?” He asked.
“I think I’ll rather stick with you, if you don’t mind,” the girl answered, her eyes still fixed to the small park between the notice board and the building. There was somebody lying face down on the grass, at least dozen black vultures hopping around and tearing in to clothes still covering the body.
“Okay. Lets go and find the police station. Xavier’s probably in there.”

They drove through the silent streets. Now that he knew what to look for he couldn’t miss the bodies strewn to everywhere. Some of them had been propped to different poses, leaning against the doorframe as if they were just waiting for somebody, sitting on the benches outside small stores, but most of them were just lying on the ground, like toys that had been abandoned after the child had gotten bored of playing with them. Some of the bodies were more evidently dead than others. The ones with skid marks on them, the ones with their heads blown off.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” Logan murmured when they parked in front of the police station. The girl let out a strangled giggle.
“You think so?”
“Yeah. Xavier should have contacted me already.”
“Maybe he’s just being careful? Doesn't want to hurt you anymore?” The girl asked. He dug up his cell phone from the glove compartment of the truck before stepping out.
“Oh…” The girl noted. He nodded. Then frowned.
“No reception. Fuck. For all I know the prof could have tried to call me. Come on. It’s creepy out here. Lets get inside.”

It wasn’t any less creepy on the inside. When they opened the front door of the police station they found yet another body. A small girl, couldn’t have been older than ten. She was lying on her side on the floor, her head bent to an angle that made Logan suspect that her neck was broken. There was a gash on the girl’s forehead, and the stairs stretching to the second floor behind her had blood on the steps. She had fallen, or somebody had pushed her down those stairs.
“Oh, my God…” His companion whispered, kneeling next to the corpse, her gloved hand smoothing off strands of hair that had escaped from the dead little girl’s braids on her forehead.
“I think God has very little to do with what has happened here,” he grunted, his eyes already scanning the darkened staircase. He could smell professor Xavier’s cologne.
“Come on, there’s nothing you can do for her. My boss is somewhere on the second floor,” he said, grasping the girl and pulling her up from her kneeling position. She was crying. He huffed and shrugged off his jacket he had put on earlier, and covered the little girl’s body with it before stepping over her on to the stairs.

The building was as silent as the whole town had been. Now that the sand in the air wasn’t distracting him he could smell bodies everywhere around him, thankfully hidden behind closed doors along the corridor of the second floor. Only signs of life came from behind a door at the end of the corridor. Xavier was in there, he could tell it from the faint feeling of warm glow that he had learned to connect to the telepath. He could smell and hear a wild animal as well, a coyote maybe. It was right behind the closed door. He could smell its anxiety. It was ready and coiled. Prepared to attack and tear to shreds anybody and anything that tried to go through that door.

“Xavier?” He raised his voice. No need to whisper.
“Logan? There’s a coyote in here. Be careful.”
“You know me, prof…”
“Yes. That’s why I’m worried. For some reason I have lost my powers. Lost them as soon as I entered in to this town. And I have a reason to suspect that same has happened to you. I’d advice you not to rely too much on your healing.”
“But my senses are still working?”
“Yes. That only proves something I have been suspecting for quite some time already. They’re not part of your mutation. I strongly advice you to take extreme caution when you come through that door. The animal guarding me is quite a vicious creature.”
“Okay. I hear you.”

He turned to look at the girl standing next to him.
“You heard what the boss said. Move away from me. That mutt will probably come straight at me. I’ll keep it occupied. You go and get Xavier out.”
“Okay…”

He pushed the door open. The coyote had been crouching on the floor on its haunches, teeth bared and tail whipping the floor. Now it sprung through the air, colliding against his chest and its teeth lodged deep in his left shoulder, grinding against the metal covering his bones. He grabbed a firm hold from around its throat.
“Run!” The girl had frozen momentarily, but now she bolted in to action, sprinting in to the room. He could hear Xavier telling her to search through the desk, keys to the cell should be somewhere in the drawers, then the growling and drooling beast took his whole attention.

His shoulder was on fire. The coyote was tearing in to muscle, growling and slobbering frustrated, shaking its head in an attempt to tear off a piece of him. He blinked off the tears from his eyes to clear his vision. His left hand was as good as useless, lolling limply when the beast tore in to him. He squeezed with his right hand instead. The coyote wasn’t even trying to escape though he had to be hurting it. He heard the satisfactory crunch when its airways gave up under his thumb. Then a snap when the neck broke.

“Logan? Are you alright?” He could hear Xavier asking. He struggled, pushing off the heavy carcass of the coyote and sat up clutching his shoulder.
“Almost… Shit… It nearly tore my fucking arm off…” He gasped, grimacing from the slippery feel of the gaping wound under his palm.
“I warned you. Are you able to carry me?” The professor asked. He focused his gaze past the tears that stung in his eyes. Professor Xavier was sitting in a cell. The hitchhiker was in there with him, holding his hand.
“I think so… Wait a moment…” He grunted, scrambling on his hands and knees and rising on his feet. He shook his head to clear off the haze of pain.
“I’m afraid we have to hurry. The person that brought me here… My telepathy isn’t working, but I can feel him somehow. And he’s coming back. Getting closer every passing minute,” Xavier said.

“The man who’s responsible for all of this must be stopped,” Logan heard Xavier speaking. They were sitting in his truck he had managed to park behind an old theatre few blocks away from the police station. He was in no condition to take a part to the old telepath’s monologue. He was still shivering and sweating from the effort it had taken to carry the brittle form of the professor down the stairs in to his truck. It had taken all of his strength to hide the truck and now he could only lean against the backrest and hope that one of his companions would have the sense to plug the wound on his shoulder before he lost too much blood.

“Lets get this shirt off…” The girl was jostling him, huffing and puffing from the effort it took her to lift his limp arms. He nearly cried out loud when skin around the wound bunched up, stretching the gaping hole even further. He bit his lip and tried to cooperate.

“He’s insane. From what I understood he just woke up this morning and decided to slaughter each and every one of his neighbors.” Xavier sounded like he was speaking from a bottom of a well, his voice distant and hollow. He felt cold. Colder than he ever remembered feeling. Finally the girl gave up trying to get the T-shirt over his head and simply tore it in half, then slipped it down from his shoulders.
“I think you’re going to be alright. It didn’t hit an artery. You’d bled out already if that were the case,” he heard her muttering. She was pressing the remains of his shirt against the wound with one hand and combing back strands of hair from his forehead with the other.
“You a doctor?” He asked, his tongue rasping against the roof of his mouth. Like sanding paper. All dried up and sticky. His whole body, sticky from sweat and dried up from blood loss.
“Nope. But I know about these things. You wouldn’t happen to have a sewing kit anywhere near, would you?” The girl asked. He croaked a strangled noise from the back of his throat, trying to laugh.
“What the hell do you think… I live alone in this heap of trash…” He choked out, trying to swallow, but there was nothing to swallow in his mouth.
“In the back… Cupboard next to fridge…”
“Okay. Stay put. I’ll go and get it.”
“Bring me a beer… While you’re at it…”

“Logan? Are you listening? We have to stop that maniac before he continues to the next town,” Xavier spoke.
“I’m kind of busy right now… With this bleeding and shit…” Suddenly Xavier’s face filled his field of vision. Worried eyes scanning his. He nearly suffocated under the stench of fear that was rolling off from the telepath.
“Yes. I’m… I’m sorry. How… How inconsiderate of me… Are you… You are going to live, right?” Xavier asked stuttering. Stuttering. Professor Xavier, self-appointed spokesman for all the mutant-kind, the man who single-handedly turned the tide in the congress and made them revoke the registration act, the man who was responsible for putting away the most heinous criminals that walked on the earth… The man was scared to shitless.

He hadn’t been so worried. Not before. Of course a man capable of slaughtering a whole town full of people was a force to recon with, but he hadn’t met a man able to beat him yet. Xavier’s wide-eyed panic gave him a reason to think that maybe, just maybe he had met his match now. He flashed his best shit-eating grin to the telepath, little lopsided and forced his right hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, prof… You know me. What doesn’t kill me… Just pisses me off. Kid!” He turned his head towards the back of his truck. He could hear the girl rummaging through the cupboards.
“Kid!” He called her again.
“Yes?”
“Stitch me up… There’s an ass that needs kicking out there…”

“Thanks… I needed that…” He gasped and sunk lower on his seat after the girl had given him a swig from a cold beer. She was perched on top of the console that divided the front seat, sewing up his torn shoulder. He tried his best not to squirm and keep his eyes closed, but some shred of perverse curiosity kept his gaze glued to the needle as it pierced his skin time after time, threading thick, black yarn over the ragged tissues and pulling them together.
“Have you done this… Before?” He hissed, stifling a yelp when she hit a nerve.
“Few times… Hold still, hold still. I’m almost finished.” She was all concentration. Hundred percent of it, eyes scanning the wound, brows knitting together and tiny pink head of her tongue peeking from between her lips. He tore his eyes from her face, turning to look at Xavier and took another swig from the beer, bringing the cool bottle against his throat in an attempt to alleviate the pain that radiated from his shoulder.
“You said we should stop him… What for? We’re not some fucking police…” He rasped.
“He’s a mutant. From what I have seen, able to control animals, and even other mutants to some extent. I have no idea of what prompted him to kill these people, but the images he was projecting when I was still able to see his mind… He’s not going to stop before somebody stops him,” professor spoke with clear, articulated tone, having regained his composure.
“Control other muties? Prof… How good idea it is for us to stay here? What if he gets us under… Under his power? We’re pretty much unstoppable…”
“He can’t take us under his control. But he can control our mutations. Shut them off and turn them back on. He can probably even use them by himself if he’s close enough of us,” Professor explained.
“He’s a little like me then, I guess… There. What do you think?” The girl asked putting the yarn and the needle aside, having finished stitching his shoulder.

Row of stitches was relatively straight, and he could even move his hand a bit. Though he couldn’t find good enough reason to do so. Not when every small move made his head spun wildly and colorful set of stars exploding from the shoulder all across his body, igniting pains in places he hadn’t even realized earlier were hurt.
“That’ll do. Thanks… There should be some beer left in the fridge… Go and have some. I need to talk with prof…”

Professor Xavier’s eyes followed the girl as she walked to the back of his truck, closing the door that separated the cab from the camper.
“So. I see you followed my orders, as usual,” he started smiling a little. Logan smirked, leaning heavily against the backrest.
“If you’re going to fry my ass because of her… I’d appreciate if you did it after I get my ass kicked by that super-mutie of yours…”
“Under normal circumstances I might see the need to retaliate. Right now we have more important issues at hand. What did she mean that our new friend is like her?” Xavier asked.
“Don’t know… Said her mutation had something to do with her skin… Hurting people who touch her bare skin…”
“I see. Probably some sort of parasitism. She can… Uh, borrow the power of other mutants by draining it from them through the skin contact. Not much use for us in this situation. But she has proven to be quite skilled in field medicine. How soon do you think… You’d be able to move?” Professor asked. Logan could smell only worry and curiosity on him instead of earlier fear.
“Don’t have the slightest idea… Normally I’d been up and running right after… Now? Who the fuck knows…”
“Maybe we should drive out from the town so you can recover. I don’t know how wide range our friend has, but I highly doubt…”
“Cut the crap, professor. We’re not going anywhere… And you know it, don’t you?” Xavier stared at him with a blank look on his face.
“That fucker… He knows about me… Knows about the girl… Knows even where we are right now. He won’t let us out from this goddamned shithole…”
“I don’t understand…” Professor Xavier muttered, utter confusion shrouding his features.
“Animals… Fucking coyotes, vultures… Goddamned insects, for Christ’s sakes… If he’s controlling them, he can see and hear us through them!”
“Then… How… Why? Why let us escape this far? Why let us rest here?” Professor asked. The door dividing the cab and the camper slid open.
“A game. It’s a game for him,” the girl said.
“A game?” Xavier’s brows knit together. He wasn’t getting it.
“Fucker is after some fun and games… Wants to see who’s the biggest predator…” Logan grunted shifting on the seat and rolling his shoulders, grimacing when fresh wash of blood trickled through the stitches and down his arm.

He stared at the vulture sitting on the hood of the truck. It stared back with unblinking eyes. Professor was somewhere in the back, trying to get through the static with the cell phone. Generally wasting time.
“But that’s something we have. Isn’t it? Time… Dear God, you’re one ugly fucker…” He murmured. The girl sat on the passenger’s seat.
“Whom were you talking with?” She asked, taking the empty beer bottle from his numb fingers, replacing it with a bottle of water. He took a sip and cleared his throat.
“With the Big Bird over there. Quiet fellow. Getting on my nerves… As soon as I can lift my carcass from this seat I’m going to pluck it alive…” He growled. The vulture seemed to understand his words, spread its wings and flew off.
“How do you feel?” The girl asked, plucking her gloves. They were sticky from blood.
“Like shit. But I’m getting there… Give me your hand for a second, would you…” She did as he asked. He peeled off the blood soaked glove.
“Then the other one…”
“No. It’s not safe. It’s better that I keep them…”
“Fuck it. Who’s going to touch you? Xavier’s in to boys as far as I can tell, and I for sure have no intentions to grab you…”
“But…”
“Oh, hell. Okay… If I weren’t this messed up I’d be all over you. I’d get between your knees under ten seconds. But right now I’m not in the mood. Get those fucking… Gloves off…” He huffed, head flopping against the seat again. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this drained. Used up.
“Fine. But promise to be careful around me, okay?” The girl asked.
“That’s a promise…” He closed his eyes. He could afford to rest for a while.
“Marie?”
“Yes?”
“Keep your eyes open… Wake me if anything happens…”

When he came to the girl was still sitting next to him.
“Professor Xavier is sleeping,” she whispered. Logan nodded.
“How long was I out?” He asked.
“Couple of hours… Uh… When I stitched your wound… There was metal inside of you. You have hurt your shoulder before?” She asked.
“No. It’s everywhere inside of me. My whole skeleton’s covered with it. Indestructible alloy called adamantium.”
“That’s not a mutation, is it?” The girl asked.
“No. My mutation is healing. And up until today I thought my senses were part of the package. Guess they’re not. Are you hungry? I think there’s some pretzels in the back…”
“No. I’m fine. Too nervous to eat. What are we going to do next?” She asked. He peered through the darkness behind the window.
“I don’t know. Sit and wait? That fucker wants us well and rested. Wants the challenge. He won’t come after us before he’s sure we give him the run for his money.”

The girl rolled the window open, letting a fresh breeze of air in to the cab. He shivered slightly, but welcomed the scent of sand and dew as it replaced the rather disgusting stench of blood and sweat at least momentarily.
“Jesus… I’m a fucking mess…”
“You probably have the fever. There was nothing to clean the wound. It’s infected already,” the girl said. He glanced at his shoulder. Stitches were stretched taut, partly disappeared under the swollen bright red edges of the wound.
“Nice… Think it’ll leave a scar?” He asked. The girl looked at him questioningly.
“Don’t usually get scars. Heal too fast for that. And from what I have heard, chicks dig scars…” He smirked, waggling his eyebrows.
“Well, I don’t know about other chicks, but this chick would dig very much if you didn’t croak before you got properly introduced. And maybe even prove that earlier claim of yours.”
“Huh?”
“You said you could get between my knees under ten seconds if you were alright. That kind of tickled my curiosity, since I’m usually quite picky.”
“Picky enough to stay virgin… Listen, kid… I talk a lot. Some things that come out of my mouth are bound to be bullshit… Go and find yourself some nice guy to fuck with…”
“I would if I could. There’s this whole poison skin issue. And the fact that there’s a psychopath sneaking around out there somewhere, just waiting for a chance to gut this nice guy I met on the road.”
“Nice guy?”
“Not too many people stopped to give me a ride. Even fewer actually gave me a ride after I told them that I was a mutant.”
“And giving you a ride out here makes me a nice guy? Shit. I’d like to see the not so nice guy…” He grunted, reaching for the bottle of water on the dashboard, taking a sip.
“No you wouldn’t. Wouldn’t want to see that other guy,” the girl said little too fast, turning her head away, hiding her face.
“Fuck. You have seen him. The not so nice guy,” he realized.
“Yes. Saw him. Lived through it. Got on the road after that. But I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Fair enough…”

Uncomfortable silence stretched between them until he snapped.
“That’s when you lost part of your ear?” He asked, cursing his curiosity when the girl sunk even lower on her seat.
“Sorry. You said you didn’t want to talk about it. It just… Shit. Forget that I asked, okay?” He took a swig from the water, noticed that the bottle was empty and started to stand up to throw it to a trash bag he kept at the back of the truck when world tilted wildly and he collapsed on the floor. He could feel the stitches on his shoulder stretching and tearing and cried out loud. They had torn through something important he realized when fresh bout of his blood colored the floor with thick layer of crimson.
“Fuck this. I’m not going to sit on my ass and watch you bleed to death…” He heard the girl bark angrily, then her hands skimmed trough his pockets and she took the keys of the truck from him. Engine started and the truck lurched violently forward, bumping over something. He could hear Xavier’s alarmed yelp, then the blessed darkness engulfed him, drowning the throbbing and burning pain in to the sea of red, and he was floating.

There were bright lights above him. Cold steel under his back. Scent of fresh blood and antiseptics filled his nostrils. He bolted on his feet and nearly sprung his claws before remembering exactly how bad idea it would be under the current circumstances.

“Finally. You got us quite worried. Luckily your new friend isn’t much of a driver,” Xavier smiled from the corner of the room he had parked his wheelchair. Logan managed to relax a bit.
“What do you mean? What happened?” He asked. Xavier rolled from the shadows.
“She decided to try and drive us out from the town. She lost the control of the truck and crashed straight in to a garage. Luckily that garage happened to belong to the sole survivor of the carnage our lunatic unleashed. And even more luckily that survivor happened to be a veterinarian. He cleaned up your wound, and seeing as this is rather unusual situation for all of us, we took a leap of faith and pumped you full of antibiotics. Your fever broke down few hours ago,” Xavier explained. Logan managed a weak chuckle.
“Loony chick… Remind me to thank her properly when this shit is over. Where is she?” He asked.
“In the kitchen with Tom. They’re preparing us a breakfast. It’s probably safe to assume that you’re hungry?” Xavier asked.
“Starving. For blood, but I guess some eggs and bacon won’t hurt before I’ll go hunting the guy who slaughtered these people,” he tried to sound convincing, but sudden buckling of his knees and resulting, rather embarrassing crash against the examination table ruined the image. He could see the fear flickering briefly over Xavier’s features before the professor managed to rein his feelings.
“Yes. Yes… Perhaps a good breakfast would… Would do some good for all of us,” the telepath noted dryly, then tossed him a bundle of fresh clothes.
“There’s a shower through that door, if you feel like freshening up…” He pointed towards the back wall of the room before rolling out.

He dropped the clothes to the examination table and waited until the bout of weakness left him before taking a step towards the shower. World tilted again alarmingly, but now he was ready for it. He slammed his palm against the wall and steadied himself, snickering. He was getting the hang of this ‘being sick’ –business.

Water felt heavenly cascading down over him and peeling off the sticky layer of sweat and blood. It stung a bit when it sloshed over the wound, but he could tell he was healing already. Not the usual pace, but faster than an average Joe. His mutation seemed to share the stubborn streak with his nature. Or Tom, the vet, was truly a wizard in medicine. Either way, it was good news. And equally bad. As long as he was out of the commission the mutant controlling the animals would keep his distance. As soon as he’d show signs of recovery it would strike again. Strike and wipe him out. He was nowhere near good enough shape to fight off an enraged kitten, let alone fully-grown man with all kinds of critters backing him up.

They were already seated when he limped in to the kitchen. Professor at the end of the table, Marie with her back turned towards the doorway, and an older man with white hair and foul stench of booze wafting around him like a heavy cloud opposite her on the other side of the table.
“You must be the guy who patched me up. Thanks for the job well done,” he grunted, sitting next to Marie. There was a plate filled with eggs and bacon waiting for him. Tom the vet nodded and eyed him thoughtfully with red-rimmed eyes.
“You’re already looking much better. Good. Maybe we really do have a chance…”
“Wouldn’t count on that. Nearly toppled over in that shower of yours. But thanks… Thanks for all this…” Logan spoke loudly, yet trying to sound convincingly weak.
“There’s no reason to shout, Logan. Our friend has many ears, every one of them tuned to hear us,” professor Xavier said with conversational tone, nodding towards a cat that sat perched atop on a counter, seemingly grooming itself, undoubtedly keeping an eye on them.
“Yes. Ever since… Ever since Collie went rampant through this town that cat has been my constant companion,” Tom said, throwing a scrap of bacon to the cat that accepted it graciously, polishing the tiny bit of meat from the counter with its pink tongue.
“Collie?” Logan asked.
“Collie Entragian. Police officer for well over twelve years, enraged murderer for twenty three hours,” professor Xavier said.

“We still don’t know what happened. What made officer Entragian go berserk, so to speak. But according to Tom it happened yesterday morning. Or more likely on the previous night. Tom said he woke up to the sound of a shotgun little past six. At first he thought nothing of it. It really isn’t an unusual occurrence around here. Then, little later when he sat on his front porch, he saw Entragian drive past. Our good officer ran over Tom’s neighbor, Mrs. Abercombie. Then as if it wasn’t enough, he backed over the lady to finish the job, and kept backing until he stopped in front of this house, and just sat there a while, staring at Tom, almost as if he were challenging our vet to say or to do something. Tom said he was too scared to do anything else than just sit there. After Entragian left he went hiding in his basement,” Xavier explained. Logan was sitting with him in the living room. Marie had stayed with Tom in the kitchen, helping the old man cleaning up after the breakfast.
“That doesn’t explain why Collie left the old geezer alive…” Logan said frowning.
“You’re right. But if we leave every child and elder citizen that Entragian has killed out of the equation, it leaves one plausible excuse. Tom isn’t posing any kind of threat, and he’s not challenging enough of a victim.”
“Yeah. You’re probably right. And it’s not like it matters. But I need to hear more from this Eantragian. What is he like? How good he is? I need to know what I’m up against.”
“For starters we can rule out my earlier assessment of him. Entragian isn’t a mutant. His power over the animals and over our mutations comes from some outer source, it has nothing to do with Entragian’s own capabilities.”
“He’s possessed,” Tom’s voice came from the doorway. Both Logan and Xavier turned to look at him.

“They have been working in the old mine for quite some time now. The day before yesterday they hit something big down there. Something really big. They called some big shots from the head office to take a look at it. Closed the whole mine for that. Collie went down there with them. Told everybody how he was a part of the committee. He probably was, but let me tell you… He had no other reason than plain curiosity behind him when he tagged along with those monkeys in expensive suits. Collie wasn’t the type to sit around with bunch of people talking bullshit…” Tom started his tale; taking a sip from something Logan’s nose identified as rather nasty excuse of cheap whiskey.

“Down they went. All the way down to the China Men’s path. And brought up something that should have stayed down there…” Tom paused and lubricated his throat with another dose of booze. Logan leaned closer and snatched the bottle from his fingers.
“No offence, but I’d rather hear the whole story before you pass out…” Tom shot him an icy glare.
“None taken… Now, where was I before I got so rudely interrupted?” He asked.
“You were telling how they brought something up from the mine,” Marie helped him. Tom nodded.
“Yes. I don’t know what it was. Some kind of spirit? A ghost? A God of some sort? Who knows? But I do know that it took Collie. Possessed him. And is using him even as we speak.” Logan snorted.
“A God? A ghost? Professor? Is this guy for real?” He asked. Xavier sighed.
“I wouldn’t close my mind from the possibilities. Not when we don’t know what we’re up against. Might be a ghost. Might be a god. Or might be a person that has gone through some great trauma for all we know.”
“Might be? Excuse me; I’m just a small town vet. I don’t have fancy diplomas, like you, mister professor Charles Xavier from New York undoubtedly have. But I do have something. I have a working pair of eyes. And I have brain enough to believe what I see. That thing, driving around killing people may look like Collie, but it sure as hell isn’t him. Collie was an easy-going guy. Knew everybody in this town. Everybody knew Collie. And everybody liked him. He wouldn’t hurt a fly if there were a way to avoid it. And if you need some solid proof, you only have to look at him. He’s bigger than he was on the day I saw him going down to that cursed mine.”
“Bigger?” Logan asked. Tom nodded.
“Taller. And getting fatter. More flesh on his bones every single time I have seen him during this day. He’s growing.”
“Bullshit.” Word left Logan’s mouth. At the same time Tom stood up, reaching for a picture frame standing on a chest of drawers. He handed the frame to Logan.

There were three men standing on the picture, side by side, hands thrown over each other’s shoulders, every one of them smiling widely for the camera. He recognized Tom. He was standing next to a man approximately same height as him. Third man in the picture was dressed in to uniform. Officer Entragian. Not much taller than the two other men in the picture. Logan handed the photo to professor Xavier who stared at it in silence for a moment.
“How is this possible? When Entragian threw me in to that cell, he was at least a head taller than he is in this picture…” Professor muttered bewildered. Tom grinned crookedly.
“Possessed. I told you so.”

“So… You trashed my truck?” He asked. The girl nodded, clattering dishes in the sink. Logan had left Xavier and Tom after it became clear that both men had only educated guesses and tall tales to tell about the situation and wandered in to kitchen.
“Sorry about that. I was just thinking… I was trying to get out from this town. Maybe, if there hadn’t been that coyote… I couldn’t just drive over it…”
“Don’t worry about it. I was planning to get a new truck anyway. And that’s not what I came to talk about.”
“Oh… There’s not much that I know. Just something what I have heard from Tom, and I don’t think it’s so wise to listen to him…”
“I came to talk about your mutation. You were so fucking afraid in the truck when I took off your gloves… You do realize that Entragian has probably turned your skin off as well as he did with my healing and Xavier’s telepathy?” Logan asked. Again the girl nodded, turning to look at him.
“Then why do you want to wear gloves? Why not take this chance to touch and feel? … And that wasn’t supposed to sound so cheesy,” he grimaced, then flashed a brief smile.
“Don’t you think I know that? Do you have any idea how tempting this whole situation is for me? Just to get rid of you, Xavier and that old geezer and hook up with Entragian? Do you have any idea how much I want to touch all of you? Just to see if Tom’s stubble is as prickly as it seems? If professor’s really bald or is he just shaving his head? Are you… If you… If your muscles feel as good as they look?”
“If that’s how you feel, what the hell is holding you back?” Logan asked. The girl sighed, dried her hands and pulled on gloves that Tom had dug up for her. Ugly, hideous green things that hid her hands to green cotton from the tips of her fingers up to her elbows. Then she sat at the table opposite him.

“I was ten years old when I manifested. My parent’s… They took it actually quite well. Just made sure that there wouldn’t be any accidents when I played with other children. Dressed me up from head to toe. That’s how I learned to live my life. Covered. Hidden. Safe and secure. I haven’t touched another person in nearly ten years now. I don’t even remember how the skin feels under my fingers. Do you really think I want to find out that it actually feels good, and then get that all taken away from me again when you guys annihilate Entragian?”
“When we… But what if it was you? What if you drained him? Couldn’t you use what ever it is that he’s using to turn off mutations? Specifically yours?” Logan asked.
“No. I thought about that earlier, but what Tom told us, about Entragian not being a mutant… I don’t think it would work. If it is some sort of outer source, something possessing him…. No.”
“You said we shouldn’t trust Tom. How come you seem to take everything he says as the god honest truth?” Logan asked.
“I… I don’t. But I don’t want to start grasping straws. I spent so many years before I was able to get over the truth that I wouldn’t be able to touch another person, I don’t want to go through that all again. It’s easier to not know, not to hope… Don’t.” He had been reaching for her hand while she spoke. He snatched his hand back.
“Touch me and I’ll swear to God I will take that frying pan and bash in your face.” He stared at her for a moment; his head tilted slightly, his lips curved to a smile.
“You’d really do that, wouldn’t you. Jesus. Where the fuck have you been for all my life?” He huffed.
“Violent chicks turn you on?” She asked. Logan winked.
“There’s something in a woman that can kick your ass coming and going… Don’t see too many of those.”
“Oh, really…” She didn’t get to finish her thought. Sound of breaking glass and bloodcurdling howl echoing from the living room interrupted her and made Logan bolt on his feet.

Professor Xavier was sitting on his wheelchair, face turned to a horrified mask of pure terror. Huge puma was tearing in to Tom, clawing him and trying to push its snout under the old man’s chubby jaw. Logan lunged towards the beast, grabbing it and falling on his back, humungous cat landing on top of him, all four paws up in the air, clawing and hissing, spewing mewling cat-curses, trying to wrangle free from his grip. He could feel his hold slipping, fingers and palms gliding effortlessly over gleaming fur coating. Then suddenly Marie was there; the hitchhiker that had threatened to bash in his skull mere moments ago. She was wielding a large kitchen knife. She sliced open the puma’s belly, twisting the blade and making the animal’s guts spill out from the wound.

“Like I said… There’s very little use for a girl that’s afraid to get her hands dirty…” Logan groaned, letting his head drop against the floor, trying to catch his breath. The puma was steaming pile of guts and shit on top of him, but he had no strength to wrestle away from underneath it. Marie dropped the knife and hurried to Tom’s side. There was not much blood. Puma had only managed to scratch his arms, but nevertheless the man was dead. Dead as a doornail. Logan had been able to hear the distinct moment the old man’s heart had given up and stopped ticking. Wrestling match with the puma had been too much after the horrors he had witnessed earlier.

“Xavier? You alright?” He croaked. The professor tore his eyes from Tom’s unmoving body and turned to look at him.
“Yes… Yes… I, ah… It’s a little disturbing to see him use innocent creatures to do his bidding.”
“I’m not even trying to claim innocence, far from it, but in the end… Is it much different from what you do?” Logan asked crawling from under the puma, sitting up and eyeing his soiled clothes with distaste.
“Why do you think it bothers me that much?” Xavier asked, turning his chair and rolling out from the room, in to the kitchen. And then promptly back in to the living room.
“I think we have overstayed our welcome. Either that, or Entragian has moved on to the next stage of his little game.” Swarm of spiders and scorpions followed him, grasping to the pins of his wheelchair, crushing crisply under rubber wheels. They could hear the cat mewling in the kitchen. Either of them had any desires to go and see what was wrong with it. They fled the tidal wave of the insects out in to the night.

They barely made it past the front gate of Tom’s yard when disaster struck, in a form of an enormous bird of prey, grabbing professor Xavier and dragging him up in the air, disappearing from the view faster than Logan could grab the professor’s ankles.

Logan’s enraged howl echoed from the wooden walls of the houses lining the street. He stood in the middle of the road, his clenched fists still raised up in the air as if he could bring Xavier back to his reach with pure will alone. Scuffle with the puma earlier, and his lurch after the bird had torn few stitches from his shoulder and fresh blood streaked the upper back and the sleeve of the shirt he was wearing. He didn’t even seem to notice it trickling down his arm.
“Logan, you’re bleeding again…” Marie said, grasping his arm. Logan snarled and yanked his hand free from her grasp.
“Fuck it. That bastard messed with me for the last time. You hear me, Entragian? Or what the fuck ever you are! Come out and fight like a man! What kind of a wuss harasses old men when there’s a real challenge waiting?” He shouted from the top of his lungs, letting his voice carry far in the night. Only distant echo answered.
“You fucking gutless piece of shit! Get over here! You don’t want me to come after you!”
“Logan, don’t. I have a bad feeling about this…” Marie tried to shush him.
“Shut up, squirt. Nobody, fucking nobody puts his paws on to what’s mine. And from the minute the professor gave me the order to watch his back he became my responsibility. I happen to take responsibilities seriously! You fucking freak of the nature, get off from that goat you’re boning and show me what you’re made of!” Logan resumed bellowing out his frustration and anger. And the laughter started. Evil cackle that rolled from the shadows, brushing against them like an invisible caress, twirling around and bouncing off from houses and fences.

“You amuse me, mortal… I think I let you life for little longer, now that I have your friend to play with… Tak!” Voice boomed straight from the sky, hammering them down on the street on their knees. She felt a sudden sting in her ears, and warm trickle of fluid rolling down from her left earlobe. She had ruptured an eardrum. Logan wasn’t faring any better. With his heightened senses he had taken even harder blow. Blood was practically pouring from his nose and ears. He shook his head, letting red droplets flying everywhere and rose to his feet, raising a hand towards the sky.
“That all you got? You have to do better, otherwise you’re just wasting my time you fucking retard!” He shouted, flipping a finger.
“Don’t tempt me… I do not wish to crush you like an insect, Os Pa! … Wait for your turn, little mortal…” With that said the disgusting, gut twisting feel of a presence of slithering old and evil started to evaporate. It vanished to thin air, and Logan fell on his knees on the street, his teeth bared to an enraged grimace, hands gripped to tight fists, his whole body shivering.

He was about ready to blow up. Rip and tear in to anything and everything that got on his way. Starting from the girl who was kneeling next to him, rubbing his shoulders and cooing.
“Take your fucking hands off from me and shut up. Playing nurse may be your cup of tea, but right now I’m in the mood for whole another kind of play. Back off!”
“I think we should both back off. Try to leave. You heard that thing. It isn’t even human.”
“I don’t fucking care what it is! I’m not leaving without Xavier! I’m not leaving before I have chopped that spineless fucker that took him to fucking pieces and fed them to those freaking vultures!”
“Maybe we should try and find out more about what were up against before we do anything else?” The girl asked. He snorted, closing his eyes.
“Summers would fuck you to the carpet… Right in the middle of the tactics room. You’re his kind of girl…”
“Summers?” The girl asked. He shook his head.
“Just a guy I work with. When I’m not roaming around and getting my ass handed to me on a silver plate by some fucking demi-god…”
“Well, I prefer my men with stubborn streak and lots of hair. This Summers guy fit the description?” The girl asked helping him up from the asphalt.
“Hell no. But I know this other guy. Name’s Victor Creed. Or Sabretooth.”
“Sabretooth? I’m not in to cats. Not after what happened to poor Tom,” the girl grimaced. Logan chuckled.
“I guess that leaves only me, then. Oh, the horror. If Entragian won’t tear me to shreds you bash my face in with a frying pan.”
“Only if you lay your hands on me.”
“What about my dick, then?”
“What about your dick?”
“You’ll hurt me if I lay my hands on you, but what if I stick my dick in to you? What would you do then?”
“I don’t know. That depends… Oh, God. We really are having this conversation, aren’t we?” the girl asked.
“Yeah. Don’t worry. I talk a lot when I’m scared.”
“You’re scared?” She asked. Logan nodded, serious frown landing over his features.
“I may look and act stupid, but I’m smart enough to know when I should back off...”

They found what they were looking for from a small museum next to the town hall. History of the mine, and the corporation that owned it. Including several, curious looking stone items that were found when an older part of the mine had been re-opened. They were waiting in the back room for to be cleaned up and put on to display in the museum among rest of the knickknacks relating with the mine.

“Those are ugly as hell…” The girl whispered staring at five small figurines perched atop of a table. Each and every one of them reminded distantly an animal. Very stylished animals with another animal serving as a tongue in their gaping maws.
“These must be the things Frank told us about. The stuff they found from down that mine…” Logan murmured, reaching towards the figures. Marie grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t… They feel… They feel disgusting…” He heard her whispering. Then his fingers brushed against a figure representing a coyote, and he wasn’t so sure anymore of what he had heard. Or what she had said. It felt old. Old and brittle. Slimy and dry, scratching the inside of his skull with blunt nails, making his brain hurt and his gut twist and turn, and at the same time he felt his cock growing harder, so hard and big that it actually hurt, and small whispers tried to suggest him the best ways to erase that hurt. Whispers of how he could throw down the girl and ride her long and hard, tear her open with his pole and plant his seed, just take the Can Toi, take the damn Can Toi and she’d be yours, yours alone to do as you please, rolling and rutting like animals out on the desert, crushing her under you, licking and sucking her breasts maybe bite them yes bite them bite her and hurt her and fuck her and…
“TAK!” He screamed the only word that came to his mind and shoved himself and the girl further from the desk, away from the figurines. The desk toppled over and two of the figurines broke, crushing to small pieces, spreading over the floor, but they didn’t stay and watch. He grabbed the girl’s hand and they ran from the back room to the grand hall where more harmless pieces of history hung neatly in their glass cubicles.

The girl was writhing and gagging, rubbing her palms against her thighs as if she was trying to clean her hands from some indescribable substance. He felt like throwing up. The gut busting need to fuck her had been replaced with nausea as soon as he pushed away from the figurine; breaking the spell they had fallen under.
“What… What the hell was that?” Marie asked, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. They had been kissing. Yes. Kissing, teeth gnashing together. He could still taste the blood from the wound she had bit on his lip. But there had been more. He was buttoning his jeans. At some point she had torn them open. Finally he managed to tuck his still erect cock behind the fly.
“I have no idea. Oh, God… You felt it too?” He asked, leaning forward, bracing his palms against his knees.
“I… I wanted to fuck you. Or… Not you. You, but you as one of those figurines. A… Can Toi?”
“But it was not just fucking, was it…” Logan grunted, breathing deeply, trying to force back the bile that had risen to the back of his throat.
“No… I wanted you inside of me. Not just your dick. All of you. Inside of me. To make us like those figurines.”
“Okay… I have a plan. And I think it’s a damn good plan. Lets stay the hell away from those figurines from now on. Not that I would think that you’d be a bad lay, I’d just prefer us both to be in one piece after it’s over…”
“Agreed. How about we try to find something about that mine from here. Since it’s quite clear that what ever we’re up against originates from there. From that old shaft they opened just few days ago,” the girl proposed.

They started walking from display to another. Old and brittle mining gear filled the glass cabinets. Nothing much to see if you weren’t perversely interested about knapsacks and pickaxes, but then they hit the jackpot. A small, darkened room. When they walked in they could hear something clicking, locking in to place, and bright beam of light shot from above the doorway to the back wall of the room. It took them a while to realize that this wasn’t an attack. They were about to see a slide show of sorts.

Black and white pictures, short scraps of film filmed obviously with a hand held camera and black and white boxes of dialogue were glued together, and they formed the story of the most infamous part of the mine. The China Men’s Path.

Pictures flickered over the wall, revealing the horrendous treatment of Chinese workers. How they were practically slaves for the company. White foremen carried weapons and whips, and apparently used them for even the slightest of reasons.
“That was pretty common at that time…” Logan whispered. Marie could only stare the events folding out. Camera panned around the camp, then followed a group of workers down to the shaft, along narrow corridor, behind a wagon that workers started to fill with loose rock as soon as it stopped. Camera slid past the workers, all the way to the back wall of the shaft, finding two men who were whacking their way through the stone with pickaxes. Suddenly they stopped. There was a small opening in front of them, leading to a larger cave. One of the men peered in to the cave, then suddenly jolted backwards as if he had gotten stung, raising his pickaxe and sinking it to the skull of his co-worker. From there it all went downhill. Few men working in the mine stumbled in to the cave, coming out from there with their arms full of small, grey lumps. When camera zoomed closer Logan recognized the figurines he had seen in the backroom. Workers were carrying them around, rubbing themselves with those figurines, beating each others with them, throwing them to everywhere in the shaft and attacking each others like crazed animals. Camera retreated from the scene fast, leaving insane crowd and returned back outside where foremen were already waiting, several cases of dynamite loaded to the opening of the shaft. Fuses were lit, and dynamite exploded, burying the shaft, crazed workers and the figurines under tons of rocks and dust.

Movie ended. Lights flickered on.
“That was weird. I would have thought that the company would have wanted to keep something like that as a secret,” Marie said scratching her head.
“Yeah. It’s not often that they can afford to be that straightforward of the past mistakes and… Shit. This really is weird. Where’s the fucking projector?” Logan asked, trying to find an opening from the top of the doorway. There was none. They stepped out from the room, then back in there again. Nothing happened. Lights stayed on. The back wall that had been previously empty to ensure the best possible quality for the movie was now filled with old, framed photographs of smiling Chinese miners, and equally smiling white foremen who worked alongside them.

“Well, at least we know now for sure where to go next,” Logan said. The girl shivered and grasped his arm, pressing against his side. He could feel her breasts rubbing against his arm, her nipples still hard pebbles. It did nothing to alleviate the throbbing ache and need at the pit of his stomach, but he fought both the urge to grab her as well as the urge to push her away and just stood there.
“I don’t want to go there. I have a bad feeling about that place. Like… Like something bad is going to happen if we go there,” she whispered. He chuckled and brought his fingers under her chin, turning her face upwards.
“Newsflash, kid. Something bad is bound to happen, no matter what we do.” She scrunched her forehead, and thin line appeared between her eyebrows.
“I’m not a kid.”
“Yes, you are. At least as long as it takes from me to forget how badly I’d like to drag you back to those figurines and fuck you on top of what’s left of them.”
“You’d like to fuck me?” The girl asked, her voice a mere whisper, low and seductive.
“Yeah…” He managed to rasp before she leaned upwards, pulling his one hand between her thighs while his other curled on it’s own volition around her shoulders, pulling her closer against him.

His fingers were working frantically, kneading the heated, moist flesh at the juncture of her thighs, scent of her arousal leaking through the denim of her jeans. He moaned in her mouth when her hand cupped his groin and squeezed hard. That broke the sloppy and wet, devouring kiss and he was able to lift his head. What he saw made him push the girl away from him. She fell on her ass with undignified screech.
“Get up. It’s time to go,” he urged her, offering his hand and pulling her up.

The door to the back room of the museum was wide open. A coyote stood in the doorway, one of the figurines in its mouth. It didn’t move, didn’t try to follow when they fled through the front doors.
“Did I really do that?” The girl asked.
“Yeah. We did. We. And because of that fucking figurine. That wasn’t really you who made the move on me. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry? Don’t worry? We were about to tear each other to shreds and I’m not supposed to worry?” The girl screamed.
“Marie. Don’t. Don’t let it get under your skin. That’s exactly what Entragian is aiming for. He’s trying to scare us to split apart.”
“Why? Isn’t it quite obvious that there’s nothing we can do to it, together or separated?” The girl asked. Logan nodded.
“Yeah. But it likes to play. It’s more fun to watch us wander around alone, scared to shitless, than stay guarding the mine when we walk there together.”
“We really are going to do this? Go there and see what happens?”
“Yeah. I know it’s not fair towards you, but I have some unfinished business with that Entragian. I’m going to take care of it even if it kills me.”
“This isn’t about Xavier at all, is this?” The girl asked.
“No. I just hate people who think that they can mess around with me and get away with it.”

The town was silent around them. Wind was whipping sand on its wake.
“Why is it still dark? Sun should have risen hours ago,” the girl asked. Logan pointed towards the mountain that stood out in the desert, overlooking the town. Thick, black mist was coming out of it, covering the sky with impenetrable shield of darkness.
“I guess Entragian isn’t afraid of dark. What is it with these fuckheads anyway? This whole ‘sneaking around in the dark’ –business… It gets pretty old after first couple of times…” He grumbled.
“First couple of times?”
“Blocking the sun is pretty much standard procedure for bad guys. Can’t remember the last time the fucker I fought would have missed the opportunity to cause unscheduled solar eclipse. Of course majority of them are butt-ugly, so I guess it’s only understandable…”
“Wait… You do this all the time? Fight?” The girl asked.
“Well, not all the time. I’m a teacher.”
“Teacher? I’m sorry… I’m sorry, but I find that quite hard to believe…” She was giggling now.
“I am. Fuck, it’s not like English lit or anything. I teach self-defense for the kids living at Xavier’s academy… Hey! It’s not that funny!” He huffed when the girl nearly toppled over, one hand gripping her stomach, other pressed in front of her mouth. Then he felt it as well. All over his skin, disgusting, oily feeling, blocking every pore, burrowing inside of him, slithering in to his ears and nostrils, filling his throat and making him gag.

Darkness had gotten thicker around them, taking a blurred form of an octopus-like creature, yet it was impossible to grasp it. It was like smoke, whirling around them, trying to get inside of them and evaporated under their touch, forming and striking again when they turned and tried to get away. And all too familiar, evil laughter exploded around them.

“Stop fighting it, my little pets! I’m doing you a favor, giving you a gift! You see, I have gotten rather tired… Your friend refuses to play with me. He leaves me no other choice but to play with you… Cay De Mun! Open your mouths and accept my gift! You’ll find it quite beneficial…” Entragian’s voice boomed above and around them. It sounded like it was coming from the air, the earth and from everything around them. Logan turned to look at Marie. She lay on the ground, seemingly unconscious. As he watched a black slither of smoke rose over her face and suddenly dove in from between her lips. The girl jolted as if she had gotten stung and started twitching, her scream nearly deafening him.
“Cay De Mun, Os Pa! Your God commands you!” Entragian howled. Suddenly tendrils of smoke solidified and struck down on him. He had no choice but to open his mouth and scream when they sliced open the back of his shirt and skin underneath. The pain from wounds was short-lived. One of the tendrils had been looming in front of his face. As soon as he opened his mouth it struck, hurrying inside, in to his mouth and down his throat.

He could feel familiar itching, burning and swelling sensation growing from inside out when his abused tissues started to regenerate. Healing was kicking in, knitting together torn muscle and skin, cleansing his system from last vestiges of antibiotics and painkillers, burning off stitches from his shoulder, filling him with raw power. Finally he was able to stand up and lash out.

Claws slid from their sheaths, shredding skin from between his knuckles as they extended and he tore in to now solid black smoke-snakes, slicing them to shreds, reveling in nearly orgasmic haze when their weak struggles quivered along his claws and up his arms.

“My God? My God commands? I don’t have a fucking God to begin with, you little prick! Who the fuck are you to command me? Show your face!” But it was already too late. As soon as Entragian had forced his ‘gift’ upon them his presence was gone.

The girl had stopped twitching and screaming and laid still, her eyes closed and her chest moving at normal pace, rising and falling when she breathed. She was sleeping.

It was only fair to assume that Entragian had activated her skin as well as Logan’s healing. He wasn’t going to take any risks. He nudged her gently with the toe of his boot, trying to rouse her.
“Time to rise and shine… Wake up, kid.” She only curled on her side to a tight ball.
“Hey! Wake up!” He nudged again. Her eyelids fluttered open. She bolted at her feet screaming, wiping her mouth, her whole body twisting and shaking. He dodged her flailing arms, then swiped her knees with one well-aimed kick, dropping her back on the ground, landing on top of her and pinning her down with his forearms crossed over her chest.
“Marie! Wake up!”

She was still crying and struggling, but he could see the sense returning in to her eyes. She was calming down.
“Hush.” He stole her eyes, willing her to look at him rather than trying to see up on the dark sky. Tips of their noses were nearly touching. She started to move, trying to push him off.
“Your skin is on. Stop moving and calm down. Entragian turned our mutations on, that’s all what happened! Calm down. Move another inch and I’m toast.” That seemed to get trough the terror, and the girl froze under him, wide eyes now glued to his, barely breathing.
“Can I let you go now?” He asked. She blinked few times.
“Yes. Yes… I’m… I’m alright now…”
“You sure about that?”
“Oh, my God! Get off from me! I don’t want to hurt you! Get off!” The girl practically screamed. He flinched and rolled off from her.
“Goddamned, I’m not deaf…”

She scooted on her feet, staring at him.
“You knew my skin is on. What the hell were you thinking? Coming that close to me…”
“You have clothes on. And I wasn’t going to let you run off. Plus I got to prove my earlier statement.”
“Huh?”
“It took exactly five seconds to get between your knees,” he smirked.
“You… You asshole! We’re probably going to die soon, and that’s all you’re thinking?” She hissed. He shrugged his shoulders. Asphalt under his buttocks felt cold and hard. Dark shadow of the godlike entity hung high above them. He was tired. He was pissed off. Worried over Xavier. Worried over the girl. Worried over his own miserable ass. And the girl looked about ready to bite his head off, eyes blazing, long, brown hair whipping in the wind, bright red of anger was coloring her cheekbones, and suddenly on top of everything he was plain horny. Horny as hell.

“Yeah. We’re going to die. Let’s fuck.”
“Sure! … Uh… What?”
“You heard me.”
“You do realize that ‘we’re going to die, let’s have sex’ isn’t the most romantic thing to say to a girl?”
“You do realize that only reason I stopped to give you a ride was because I thought I could nail you later?”
“Oh, and now is the time to pay for the ride? Do you except foreign currency? I’m partly Russian from my mother’s side of the family.”
“Fuck this. Get over here…”
“Hey! Careful!”

He grabbed her wrist when she stepped closer and pulled her on his lap, her thighs straddling his hips, his face buried to the side of her neck, shielded from her skin by her long, cascading hair. He locked his hands around her tightly, and soon her struggles ceased.
“I stopped because I thought I could nail you. I gave you a ride instead because I could tell you weren’t looking for a fuck. Right now I’m tired, horny and scared to shitless. And feeling more than a little guilty of bringing you in to this mess. I do want to fuck you, but what happens is up to you. If we fuck, it happens because you want that too, and you shouldn’t see it as a payment of any kind.”
“Uh… Can we take a raincheck for that? We’re both kind of icky right now and besides we probably don’t have enough time…” To his surprise he felt her fingers combing through his hair in a comforting gesture. And there was a definite change in her chemistry. Less fear. More curiosity and lust. He nuzzled his face against her brown tresses and inhaled her scent, letting it soothe his nervousness and anxiety.
“Raincheck. I can live with that…” He murmured releasing her.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” He asked when they climbed up from the pavement, brushing their clothes.
“Did what?” The girl asked, wide-eyed innocence covering her visage.
“Now I have to come up with a plan how to get rid of Entragian without getting killed doing it…”

“Jesus H. Christ, this place reeks!” The girl huffed when they walked a narrow path towards a small tin shack. Word ‘Office’ had been painted on top of a narrow door.
“Probably because of all the bodies. What the fuck has been going on in here?” Logan eyed their surroundings puzzled. Ground was littered with bodies that looked distorted and torn, almost as if they had blown up from inside out. He counted at least fifteen bodies in various stages of decomposition, some of them more brutalized than others. One of the bodies caught his eye especially, a large man lying face down right next to the tin shack. There was something seriously wrong with it, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was bothering him with it.

Among rotting carcasses there were large splatters of blood and entrails, and it took them a while to realize that they were actually bodies as well. Broken down, nearly liquefied forms of birds, coyotes, even pumas.
“I think I’m going to be sick…” The girl muttered palm covering her mouth when her foot slipped and an eyeball squished under the sole of her sneaker.
“No time to start gagging now. We need to find a map. Won’t do to get lost in those tunnels down there,” Logan grunted grasping her elbow and dragging her in to the office after him.

To their relief there were no bodies inside of the tiny tin shack, but it was hot as an oven. Rank, thick and humid air wrapped around the like a blanket when they rummaged through closets and drawers in their search of the map.
“What’s that noise?” The girl asked, drawing his attention to strange sound that echoed from a filing cabinet in the corner of the shack. Like sand falling on steel, small hissing and scraping, sounding endlessly.
“Don’t know. Lets check it out…” He reached for the top drawer. The girl grasped his wrist.
“Don’t!”
“Hell, it’s the only place we haven’t looked for yet. We need that map, and some flashlights wouldn’t hurt either.” He shook off her hand and pulled the drawer open. And found himself wishing he had listened the girl.

The drawer was filled with spiders, scorpions and snakes. They started swarming out from the metal box they had been trapped in, crawling over his arms, down his torso, some of them slipping under his clothes. He shivered and pushed his hand past the squirming mass, feeling around the drawer. Aside from snakes and bugs it was empty.
“Let’s try another… Hey! Marie? Kid?” The girl had disappeared.
“Marie? I swear the God I’ll spank your ass black and blue if you don’t answer right now!” He shouted stomping towards the door of the shack.
“I hate spiders. I hate scorpions. And hey, guess what? I hate sna…” Her sentence was cut to half. Logan managed to catch a glimpse of her being dragged behind the shack, screaming and kicking, struggling for her life. He sprinted after her.

Her captor was possessing supernatural strength and speed. The first opening of the mine loomed several meters away from the shack, but when Logan got there, both Marie and her captor were vanished. Disappeared to thin air. And he could have sworn he could smell professor Xavier’s cologne in the air, mingling with Marie’s fear. Both scents were too weak, and disappeared altogether when he tried to track them deeper in to the mine. He had to back out before he got lost in the dark tunnels.

He staggered back to the shack with numb legs and collapsed heavily on the rickety stairs in front of the door. Marie and Xavier both gone. Both disappeared inside of a mountain reminding a chunk of Swiss cheese. Full of holes and tunnels, and he had no idea of where to start looking for. He knew they were most likely somewhere in a shaft named China Men’s Path, but how the hell was he supposed to know which tunnel was the right one? They all looked the same. He’d need that map. And a flashlight. He had no desire to wander the next eternity in those tunnels.

“Fuck!” He grabbed a loose rock and threw it, trying to get rid of his frustration. Soft, squishy thud told him that it had landed on a body. That led him thinking about Marie’s kidnapper. There had been something familiar in that skinny figure, but they had disappeared from his view before he had been able to tell who it was.
“You’re fucking loosing it… You got here yesterday and everybody was dead already…” He had to remind himself from the fact that these people, dead or alive, were complete strangers to him. He rose to his feet and stretched his back, listening the small cracks and pops from his vertebra and let his gaze roam over the gory scenery. Again the body nearest to the tin shack drew his attention.

There was something seriously wrong in it. Of course the man was dead and he knew, he just knew that if he were to turn the body over, man’s features would be so badly distorted that he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between carcasses face and ass. He scanned over the body; letting his eyes wander, guide him to what he needed to see. And suddenly it clicked. He knew who the man was. Or had been, more accurately. He grabbed it and turned it around for the positive ID, and found what he was looking for. A small plastic rectangular attached to the breast pocket of the uniform the carcass was wearing. Name Collie Entragian was carved on it.

If the cop was here, lying face down and rotting, who or what the hell had taken Marie? Who was speaking at them from the dark clouds? Who kept pestering them?

He was beginning to hope that he was more religious. At least he’d have somebody to shout and curse, blame for what happened. Now he had only himself, and carcass of a man that he had thought to be a killer.
“Fuck it…” He let go of the body and returned to the shack in hope to find a map and a flashlight.

He found them easily enough to let him know that the whole thing, him coming here with Marie and her disappearing were arranged beforehand. Both map and the flashlight were sitting on a table in the middle of the room they had already searched through earlier. Somebody had even marked him the right path through the mine with a red marker. Yes. It was red marker, he kept telling himself. Tried not to smell the coppery scent rising from the deep red line.

Dark clouds were starting to evaporate when he entered to the shaft marked on the map. Behind him sun was shining brightly. A promise of warmth and safety. In front of him damp, impenetrable darkness whispering promises of doom and despair.

It was dark. Dark and dry and humid, sticky blackness twirling around him. He could hear water dripping in the distance, but that had to be a hallucination, something his own warped mind had decided to add to create the right atmosphere. He was out on a fucking desert; there was no water in the desert.

Flashlight had broken, fallen to pieces when he had stumbled to a discarded pickaxe, and for the last ten minutes he had been fumbling forward blindly, fingers skimming the wall of the tunnel. He could hear whispers and distant laughter. Voices from another place, another time when Unformed still ruled the earth. He could see a deep dwell in front of him, faint glow coming from it. No matter how fast he walked he wasn’t getting any closer to it. It felt like walking and breathing in syrup, thick mist clinging to his skin. It had already eaten off his clothes, and his skin was burning, burning under slimy, acidic caresses. Sharp edges of stones were slicing the soles of his feet with every step he took, wounds healing over instantly, only to be cut open with next step he took.

Glow from the well was growing brighter. Now he could actually see his surroundings, but he rather kept his eyes closed. The path was lined with statues, Can Toi. He was walking inside of Can Tak, along the rocky road of its tongue, and Can Toi was guarding his every step, guiding his feet to right direction. He had tried kicking one of the statues. It had simply dodged and returned to its rightful place after he had passed it.

Now he could hear voices from somewhere in front of him. He could see the tunnel ending. From this distance he could already tell that there was a large cavern ahead. The tunnel was manmade, but cavern… It had always been there. An Tak. The grand hall, first stage of the Ini, Well of The Worlds, portal for Tak, The Unformed.

He stepped in to the An Tak, feeling the air rippling around him anxiously. Girl stood beside the Ini. There was somebody standing with her. They were both waiting for him. When he entered, the man standing with Marie turned around to face him.
“Finally. I have grown weary of these games, mortal… Your friend is deteriorating fast, his body is brittle… Come, let me in to you, and we can claim our place as rulers of this world!” Tak spoke through professor Xavier.

“Mortal? You fucking secondhand god-wannabe reject dare to call me mortal?” Logan hissed, trying to shake off the gut-twisting feel of dread and fear that circled in his veins. Tak would never buy his bluff if he wet himself now. Creature that had been professor Xavier took a careful step towards him. He could hear disgusting grating and creaking when joints that hadn’t been used in years protested under the strain. He could only wonder how the professor’s knees hadn’t broken already.
“But isn’t that what you are? A vessel made out of blood and flesh? A vessel made for me to use…” Xavier’s hand rose to touch his cheek. He grimaced. Claws tore out from his knuckles and he swiped off the hand, wincing when Xavier’s blood rained on him warm and sticky.
“I was made, but not for you to use. Get your filthy paws off from me. You make me sick!” When Tak wasn’t retreating but just stood there, staring at him, still reaching with the bleeding stump that was left from Xavier’s right hand he sunk his claws through Xavier’s ribcage. Somewhere in the dwell, in the Ini, Tak was screaming. Out of fear? Out of anger? He didn’t know, but it was clear that professor Xavier was useless to it now. Black tendrils slithered out from professor’s nose and mouth, pooling to the floor and flowing to the Ini. Professor Xavier, now that he was freed from Tak’s hold, started to fall. His claws still firmly embedded in to telepath’s body forced him to follow. They were stumbling towards the Ini, towards screaming and trashing Tak. Black tentacles lashed out from the dwell, wrapping around Logan’s ankles and pulled him and Xavier rest of the way and they were falling, stumbling down for what felt like eternity before bone-jarring thud told him they were at the bottom.

“Wolverine… Look…” Xavier gurgled, pointing towards something with the still bleeding stump of his hand. He turned to look at what Xavier wanted him to see. Retracted his claws. Xavier fell on top of him, dead.

Unformed God filled the floor of the dwell. Black, gelatinous mass that tried rapidly form more tentacles. There was a small hole on the floor. One tentacle connected Tak to it. One cord-like tentacle.

**Cut the cord**

“No! Os Pa! I am your God! I command you! I am Tak…”

**Cut the cord. Kill the god**

“No!”

He shook his head and crawled towards the hole. What was left of Xavier fought viciously against Tak inside of him, both screaming and shouting, making it hard to concentrate. His brain hurt. Tak had turned off his mutation, last attempt to stop him, last effort to stop Xavier. But Xavier was out of reach, not here, but not gone yet.

**Wolverine! Cut the cord! Now!**

Sudden silence. Xavier was gone. He was alone with Tak. God had been momentarily confused, but when he unsheathed his claws tentacles struck, burrowing in to him, tearing and shredding, opening gaping holes and spilling his blood and guts all over the dwell.
“I am God! I command you to stop!”
“Apparently you learned nothing from Xavier… He knew… Knew better than try and command me… I fucking hate people who try to boss me around!” He growled and brought down his clawed hand, severing the tentacle that connected Tak to this world.

Tak, Unformed one, lower level god of everything soiled and unclean screamed. It was screaming with a voice of coyotes. It was screaming with the voice of snakes and insects, hellish noise filling the Ini, slamming down on Logan like a sledgehammer.
“Fuck you… I fucking command YOU! Crawl back under the rock you came from!” He crawled up, wounds already healing. Tak had lost its hold of his mutation.
“Go back where you belong before I really hurt you…” Tak stopped screaming and the black mass started flowing in to the hole on the ground.
“Hey!” He grabbed a tentacle when it slithered past him and stared at it. An eye opened in to the dark, slimy flesh under his fingers.
“Go back. And don’t even think about coming back. I’m going to blow up this fucking mountain. I’m going to make sure that nobody… Fucking nobody can dig you up again…”
“Foolish mortal! You will be lucky if you get out of here alive!” Tak’s voice boomed inside of his head, and he saw a flash of what was going to happen when the Unformed left this plane of existence. The mine, the whole mountain and everything surrounding it would cave in. Tak had made it possible for miners to dig this deep. Tak had fortified unsteady tunnels. Tak had allowed them to open the Ini. Now it was going to close it again.