CLASS FIVE
CHAPTER 1 - Bridge
Savannah sat in the backseat of her parents’ SUV as they started their trip out to Grandma’s. She tapped her foot against the back of her mom’s seat as she hummed along to the music blaring out of her iPod’s headphones. She busily typed away at her cellphone keypad, filling in Gina, her best friend, on how awful this weekend had already started out.
She was supposed to go on a group movie outing with a bunch of other kids from school. Luke was going to be there, and she’d wanted to put on her cutest outfit to get his attention. It had been so important to her that he like her. When her Mom and Dad had decided to go visit her ailing grandmother, Savannah had cried and pleaded to spend the weekend at Gina’s. But her mother had given her a stern lecture and now, here she sat, on her way to that little town that didn’t even have a Starbucks. What was she going to do without her Vanilla Frappuccino?
She heard her mother’s voice echo through the music. Pale blue eyes snapped up from the cell phone to meet stern brown ones. Quickly, Savannah pulled the left earpiece out. “Huh?”
Her mother rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Savannah. You’re going to go deaf with the volume at that level. Turn it down, will you? Your father and I can hear it even from...”
The car suddenly jerked and slipped. Her mother screamed as her father cursed and swerved to avoid the moving cars. It felt like the world was dipping and rising. Was this what a car accident felt like? Savannah gripped the door handle and clenched her eyes as the car fishtailed endlessly. Her phone and iPod went clattering to the floor as they jerked to a stop. But the dipping and rising undulations kept on going. Savannah gripped the handlebar tighter, screaming in fear.
“Is it an earthquake?” Her mother asked frantically.
“No...” came her father’s terrified response. “The bridge...it’s flying.”
Savannah’s eyes popped open as her mother screamed in fright again. When she looked out the back window, all she could see was San Francisco growing smaller and smaller, the expanse of water growing larger and larger.
They sat frozen in terror as they moved further out from the bay. Savannah’s eyes, glued to the ever-expanding water, couldn’t process what they were seeing. She tried to make heads or tails of it, mouth hanging open. The movement over the bay slowed and came to a stop. She held her breath.
Suddenly, the world dropped away and her heart climbed up her throat in a frightened scream. Her mother and father, holding each other’s hands, cried out as well. The bridge crashed down and the entire car jumped up at least a foot. They were thrown around. Savannah hit her head on the window with a thud. When everything finally stilled, she brought a palm up to her aching forehead and pulled it away to see a small smear of blood.
“Savannah!” Her mother cried. “Are you hurt?” She unbuckled her belt and raised herself up on her knees to get to her from the front seat.
Nodding, Savannah squinted past the blur in confusion. “What’s happening?”
Suddenly, people were screaming and running out of their cars. Savannah’s father jerked at his seatbelt. “We have to go,” he said urgently. “Get out of the car!”
Her mother flipped back around and pulled at her seatbelt. Savannah unbuckled and practically fell out of her door. Her mother’s strong grip pulled at her arm and they ran through cars, weaving in and out. Other people ran as they did, screaming and hollering.
But there were people coming in the opposite direction. Weird looking people. They were calm and looked mean. They looked like the scary mutant monsters the news showed at night. Savannah cringed as her father stood in front of her protectively.
They pressed themselves back against a car as the people walked by. Savannah gaped at them in open shock. Some had tattoos on their faces, others had physical deformations that made Savannah’s stomach curl. She even noticed one wearing a creepy looking helmet.
And among all these ugly mutants were only a few normal looking ones. A blond boy, six or seven years older than Savannah. But there was a woman too. A beautiful woman. With red hair that flowed down her back like waves of fire.
And for the briefest of moments, the terrifying black eyes that seemed so bored moved and landed on the ten-year-old girl. Savannah felt light-headed, using her mother’s death-grip on her arm to stay upright. The woman didn’t stop her forward progress and after a breath, the eyes moved back to face their intended destination.
XXX
Marie was starting to get winded at mile two, which was just plain pissing her off. She huffed an irritated breath of air and stared at the numbers on the treadmill with disdain. She’d been running five miles each morning since....well, since a long time ago. She knew she’d slow down as her pregnancy progressed, but she just wasn’t ready for it to be now.
She growled at herself, grabbed the hand towel and threw it across her dismal statistics so she couldn’t see them any longer. She kept up her pace as she grabbed the hand-held control velcroed to the side of the machine and turned up the music.
Her ponytail swung against her back as she tried to keep up her pace. She was really breaking into a sweat now. This was getting embarrassing.
She was reaching for the towel to wipe off the moisture at the back of her neck when Logan’s voice ripped through the workout room. “What the hell are you doing?”
It caught her off guard and she stumbled on the belt. She gripped the side bars and nearly lost her footing before she caught herself and worked herself back to a steady run. She looked back over her shoulder momentarily to read him the riot act about sneaking up on her like that. She stopped her words when she noticed he’d run over to her, probably when she’s tripped. He looked sorry and angry at the same time. Quite an interesting look to pull off.
“Jesus, Logan. Warn a girl, will ya?” she panted out.
He growled. “Get off the machine, Marie.”
She balked. “What? I’ve still got...” she moved the towel aside to look at the numbers. She gave an internal groan of distress. “...two more miles.”
“You shouldn’t be pushin’ yourself like this,” he insisted. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
She laughed through her heavy pants. “Stop worryin’, Logan. You heard Hank. I should keep up my exercise routine. It’s healthy for the baby.”
“He said ‘an’ exercise routine, Marie. Not the one you have when you’re not four months pregnant.”
She huffed her annoyance. “Same difference.”
He pushed the towel aside and hit the down arrow button on the speed. “Time to shut it down.”
“Hey!” She breathed angrily. “Logan!” She pushed his hand aside and pushed the arrow up key back up to her normal speed. “I’m fine.”
He growled again. “You’re shirt is soaked, Marie. You’re going too hard.” He reached for the button again.
“That’s because I’m wastin’ energy arguin’ with you, Logan. Now let it be!” She swatted his hand away.
“Dammit, Marie,” he snapped. He reached out and ripped out the emergency pull that would shut down the entire machine.
She wasn’t prepared for the abrupt stop of the running belt. She flew forward and tripped while trying to catch herself.
“Fuck...Marie!” Logan cursed, trying to grab ahold of her arm.
She crashed to her knees, slamming her head against the front panel as she went down. Before she could register her fall, Logan was kneeling down on the treadmill right behind her, grabbing at her face.
“Christ! Baby... I’m sorry. Let me see.” He turned her over so that she was sitting on her bottom. He placed his knees on either side of her legs and grabbed at her chin. She felt warm liquid drip down her forehead and cheek.
“Is it bad?” It sure stung enough.
“Shit,” he muttered. He grabbed at the towel still sitting on the panel. When he went to press it to the gash on her head he froze. She felt the tell-tale itch and held her breath as she watched him watch her heal. Within seconds, the throbbing faded.
She reached up when he didn’t move and felt along the skin of her forehead. Smooth and soft.
She sighed. “It hasn’t faded,” she whispered.
He swallowed thickly, his eyes unreadable. “Yeah.” He carefully wiped away the blood.
He didn’t say anything beyond that one loaded word, and she didn’t push him. Something about the situation made him oddly withdrawn. She couldn’t figure it out. She thought it might bother him that she’d absorbed so much of Sabretooth. It made her nervous and anxious to think he might actually be apprehensive around her now.
“Logan...I’m sorry...” she tried.
He cut her off. “What are you sorry about, darlin’? I’m the one who pulled the plug...feeling kinda shity about that, by the way.” He smiled tightly.
She sighed, letting it go. She focused on the original problem. “You can’t be constantly coddling me, Logan. I’m not gonna break.” She raised an eyebrow. “Not without a little help, anyways.”
He grunted and frowned. “You need to take it at least a little bit easy, Marie.”
She huffed and wiped some sweat off her face. “You’re just feeling over-protective, Logan. It’s completely normal...”
“What isn’t normal is you not accepting that your body is changing. You can’t go like you’re used to and it’s botherin’ the hell outta ya.”
Marie chewed on her lip. “If you had it your way, I wouldn’t leave the bed, Logan.”
He shifted uncomfortably. “I only suggested that once, Marie.”
She smirked. “But you’re thinking it every day.”
He let out an adorable growl. He shifted and sighed. “I’ll lay off...but you have to promise to take it easy.”
She tilted her head up to look at the panel above her. She was going to have to accept this sooner or later. The thought depressed her more than she expected. “Fine.”
He smiled smugly, like he’d won some argument. She wanted to shove the towel in his face. “Don’t think this means I’m not going out with the team anymore, Logan. I said I’d take it easy, not stay down for the count.”
This time his growl was real. Real and menacing. “Fuckin’ try me, Marie. You’ll find yourself locked in the bathroom.” He stood up and pulled her up by her hands to stand.
“Good thing you’re not in charge of the team, then,” she responded childishly. “I only have to get past ‘Ro.”
“You’re gonna be the death of me, darlin’,” was his only reply. She smiled.
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Story Notes:
I couldn't help myself. I just needed to continue the story. If you haven't read Class Four, you should. This will make little sense if you haven't. Many thanks to my fantastic BETA, doctorg, for encouraging me. I'm having a tricky time with this story so PLEASE don't expect updates quite as fast as with my last story. Sorry for the broken hearts! Enjoy!
Author's Chapter Notes:
Ok! First chapter is UP and ready to GO! I hope you enjoy it! Reviews, please~ lots and lots of reviews! :-D
Chapter End Notes:
So what do you think? Let me know! I'm struggling with this story so please don't expect chapters to come quite as fast as with 'Class Four'. I will try though, I promise!