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.
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