Eventually we all forgot. All but one of us. Forgot the sound of choppers and stun guns. Forgot the night when this all almost ended for all of us. Even I forgot. All but one of us.
As years passed, even Logan seemed to get better. He even left his room during days occasionally. Of course at that point we all wished he had stayed up in the attic to where Professor had let him move. There was not a soul among us who wouldn’t have been afraid when shadow dimmed the sun momentarily, and you just knew what you would see if you turned your head. Logan, standing behind your back, lurking over your shoulder, observing your every move with those empty, predatory eyes of his. Just observing, watching. Never touching or speaking. Never smiling. Never sulking. Just those empty eyes staring from the blank face.
We tried to talk to him about it. How it would be better if he kept his own company. Easier would have been communicating with a brick wall. When ever somebody tried to talk to him, he would return to his old habits, pacing and rocking, and would start muttering incoherently, not stopping before the other party made their retreat and left him alone.
I guess it’s fair to say nobody was as surprised as I was, when I woke up one night and found him from my room, standing at the doorstep. He was swaying nervously, shuffling his feet. His gaze was darting back and forth between my face and the toes of his boots.
“Logan?” For a moment he looked like he was going to run. Then he shook his head. Cleared his throat.
“Tell Professor to evacuate. They’re coming.” And with that said he was gone. Disappeared to the darkened corridors.
I don’t know how he did it, but I think Professor had a hunch.
“And the circle is closing…” He said when I run to him and told him what Logan had said. We got everybody out in time. Almost everybody. Thanks to Logan we were all sitting safe and comfortable in a fleet of minivans, waiting for a signal from Scott, when I suddenly realized one of us was missing. Logan. I couldn’t see him.
“Scott, wait! I’ll have to go and get Logan! We can’t just leave him behind!” I shouted.
“Rogue!” I could hear Professor shouting after me. I let him shout. It would take only a minute to go in and grab Logan.
Night was silent around me. It wouldn’t be long before this calm would be shattered, but we weren’t going to be here when that happened. Logan had given us an option. I don’t know what made me so careless and giddy. Perhaps it was the fact that I had seen Logan, only for few seconds, but he was back. I was going to get him. We would hop in to a minivan, and leave this place together. No more scary stalker, just Logan.
I threw open the front door of the mansion and barged in. That was my first mistake. Second mistake was to scream and run when Wolverine leaped from the banister above and came roaring through the air towards me. Third mistake was to keep running to the wrong direction.
He was hunting. I was the only available prey at the moment, and got his full attention. Had I used even half of my brain, I would have run straight out, and in to the garage. I could have tricked him in to one of the empty minivans. Close the door, sedate him from the front seat and keep driving. But no. I just had to do it the hard way. I took the stairs to the second floor.
It took me a while to realize I couldn’t hear him anymore. No heavy footsteps. Just complete silence. From that I knew I was in trouble. He was close enough. He didn’t have to run anymore. He could be waiting behind any corner. He could be hiding in any shadow. I stopped running. Closed my eyes. Strong hands grasped the front of my jacket, and he hauled me against the wall, pinning me there with his body.
“Oh, God…” One hand grasped my hip while the other traveled higher, ending under my jaw. I could feel his hot breath tickling my throat when he leaned to whisper.
“God’s not here…”
“Logan?”
“I told you people to leave for a good reason. I can’t do my fucking job if I have to watch out for you!”
“Logan, please… You’re scaring me…”
“Good…” He murmured, turning his head so that our lips nearly touched. An almost kiss from an almost friend.
“You’re supposed to be afraid…” Hot, moist breath caressed my lips. I wanted to lean in, but I couldn’t. Not if I wanted to get out of here alive.
“I’m fucking terrified.” After that confession his tongue sneaked a quick lick over my lower lip. Quick enough to fool my skin. Yet I could feel tremble racing through his whole body.
“Now, get the fuck out of my face. Go to my room and lock the door. I’ll come and get you later. If there is such thing as later.” He breathed and let go of me. I turned to go.
“Marie?” He called after me.
“Thanks… Thanks for caring.”
For the next hours I laid huddled on his bed, hiding under a blanket, listening screams and gunfire from downstairs. At first they were not so loud, coming from three floors down, but they kept gaining volume. Logan was retreating towards upper levels. I didn’t know if his retreat was planned, or was he forced to it. But every inch he gave up he made them pay.
When the mansion finally grew silent again, and I could hear only engines of the choppers from the outside I threw off the blanket and sat up. There was no way of knowing who would come through the door of Logan’s room. If I were lucky, it would be Logan. If not… I would end up dead, or in to a lab.
It was Logan. Still twitchy and shaken, covered to blood and nasty looking bits and pieces of innards from head to toe. His hair was sticking to every possible direction, caked with clotted blood. He looked like he had gone through the meat grinder. And that grinder hadn’t survived the encounter I found out when Logan pulled me after him. He led me through the mansion to the garage. I will never forget those last minutes I spend under that roof.
There were bodies everywhere. Well, they weren’t exactly bodies anymore. You can’t call shredded pile of flesh and bone a body. A carcass would probably be more appropriate label. Pools of blood. Deep gouges and bullet holes on the walls. Almost exactly like the night when they came for us for the first time. Only back then Logan had had to be more careful, because of all the children around. Now there had been nothing to restrain him, and it showed. Carcasses strewn carelessly everywhere, mangled limb there severed head here. Some of them looked like he had tried to skin them alive. I nearly puked, but Logan didn’t let me stop for it, so I had to force away the nausea.
We walked past the kitchen. I heard a small moan coming from there. Logan stopped, changed direction and we walked in. One of the soldiers was still alive. Badly wounded, but alive, laying on his back in the middle of the kitchen. Logan walked to him and stepped on his face, grinding his skull to a pulp under the heel of his boot.
“Now it’s later. Did Xavier tell you where they were going?” Logan asked from me when we sat on his bike. I think he knew I lied when I told him no. There was no way in hell I would let him near those people anymore.
I still keep waking up in the middle of the night. I can still smell the coppery, red scent in the air; taste the metallic tang of it at the back of my throat. But the worst part is when I hear the bones snapping, and wet, squishy sound when Logan raises his feet from the mess that used to be somebody’s head just few seconds ago. At those moments I’m kind of glad Logan really isn’t with me anymore. He’s gone back to the place in his mind he created while he waited for the next attack. At first it was just few minutes at the time. Then he kept relapsing for longer periods. I think I last saw Logan, talked with him… Must have been nearly a year ago.
But I’m worried, too. Because he’s slowly waking up. Clawing his way back to the surface. And that can mean only one thing. Something’s coming. Something’s going to happen. Again.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Phew. Finally. This has been nagging me ever since I wrote the first part. Then I had to wait for the poll to be over.