Were it not for the ruined remains of the military complex, Alkali Lake might have actually been a very picturesque place. The lake was one of those crystal clear ones that reflect the sky that the Rocky Mountains were well known for. Marie seemed to be in awe of the place, ignoring the same building that Logan couldn’t seem to take his eyes from.
The sense of recognition that he had felt within the lower levels of Chuck’s school was magnified at least a hundred times as he gazed at the ruined building. His past was located in that building. Logan could feel it within every enhances fibre of his body.
“You all right, sugah?” Marie asked softly, placing a hand on his arm.
Logan jerked slightly, looking down to meet her worried eyes. “I’m fine, kid. Don’t worry about it.”
Marie gave him a disbelieving look, her hand moving in a soothing motion up and down his arm. “Ah’ll believe that as soon as ya stop shakin’. Yer tremblin’ all over, Logan.”
Glancing down at her hand, Logan was shocked to notice the way his hands trembled. The motion was almost non-existent, but he could see the involuntary movement of his hands just as well as Marie could feel it. There would be no point in lying. Not to Marie.
“I’m scared about what I’m going to find in there,” Logan admitted, knowing that this was something he would only share with Marie. “My past could be in there. Buried in those ruins.”
Marie gave him a reassuring smile and linked her fingers with his. “Yer not doin’ this alone, Logan. Ah’ll be right there with ya.”
Logan got nervous again. “Maybe I should take you back to the hotel. There might be things in there you shouldn’t see.”
“Ah’m not scared o’ what may be in there, Logan, and ya shouldn’t be either,” Marie told him, reaching up to place a gloved hand on his cheek. “Yer past could be in that buildin’, Logan. Ya deserve ta see what’s in there.”
Exhaling deeply, Logan gathered Marie up in a tight hug. For some reason, the only time that Logan ever felt really calm was when Marie had her arms around him. Logan was well aware of the irony of finding comfort in the arms of a girl with poisonous skin. Considering how unconventional he was, it wasn’t something that Logan thought to be the least bit out of sorts. Marie was Marie whether they could touch each other or not.
“I don’t want you going in there, kid,” Logan said suddenly, surprising both himself and Marie.
“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!” Marie cried, pulling away from Logan as though he were suddenly on fire. “There’s no way Ah’m letting ya go in there alone, Logan. There’s no tellin’ what’s in there.”
“Which is exactly why I can’t let you come with me. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you because of me,” Logan told her honestly, reaching a finger out to brush through the streak of white in her hair.
“What about me?” Marie demanded. “Ya make it sound like Ah don’t give a care one way or what happens ta ya! An’ Ah know yer perfectly aware o’ how Ah feel ‘bout ya, Logan, and that Ah’m not about ta let ya run away into the great unknown without someone watchin’ yer back.”
“Marie--”
“Don’t ya ‘Marie’ me!” she cried, jabbing the centre of his chest with her index finger. “Ya wanted me ta come with ya, Logan. That means Ah go wherever ya do. It’s as simple as that.”
Hanging his head, Logan played the role of the defeated male meanwhile, in his mind, he was smiling. Marie was the first person Logan could remember who had done things for him without expecting anything in return. It was a welcome relief from all the years he had spent hardening himself from something as simple as a gentle touch. He had always blocked them from his mind, refusing to feel anything but pleasure from the countless women he’d used for sex over the years.
It was different with Marie, though. To her, touch meant everything. If she could arrange it, Marie avoided all human contact when they were in public. Except with him, though. Marie would touch him without thought. Holding his hand or resting her head on his arm. Those touches, simple as they were, meant so much to Logan The thing that meant the most to him, though, was when Marie would hold him at night following one of his nightmares. In her arms, Logan found the sleep that normally avoided him following on of his nightmares.
“You stay behind me, kid, and do exactly what I say no questions asked,” Logan ordered, staring intently at her.
Even though she seemed reluctant, Marie nodded her head. “Ah promise, Logan. Ah’ll behave mahself. Now let’s get goin’ ‘fore we freeze ta death out here.”
That being said, Logan grabbed hold of Marie’s hand and started towards the crumbling building.
Never, in all the years that he had been looking for his past, had Logan thought he’d start to chicken out when he got so close. Logan had always been very determined when it came to finding out as much as he could about his forgotten past. For a man who wasn’t entirely sure about his past, finding it had always been an all important task.
The small, rational part of Logan’s mind, told him that the reason he was nervous about finally finding out the truth of his past would mean that his life no longer had a purpose. His quest would be over and he would go back to drifting from place to place, fighting in cages to earn the money necessary to survive.
Of course, there was no guarantee that the information he was looking for was actually in there. It could just be another dead end. Something that Logan had become too used to over the years.
“This place is creepy,” Marie murmured as they entered the first cavernous room.
The air in the room was dead. No one had been in there in years. Thick layers of dust covered the remains of what could have once been very expensive furniture. Logan guessed that this had been a lobby of sorts. The room that would give the outside world a civilized image to guests who could only guess at what went on behind closed doors.
Letting instincts take him where it would, Logan decided on a hallway to their right. It was getting dark in the building now that they were away from the main room and Logan was grateful for the flashlights that Marie had insisted they take in their backpacks. Taking out the slender, black cylinder, Logan shone its light in front of him, picking a path amongst the rubble.
There were countless doors on either side of the hallway, but Logan was immediately drawn to a double door at the end of it that seemed to have been blown off its hinges. The one door lay in a twisted metal heap on the ground while the other was still attached to the wall by the bottom hinge.
As they got closer, Logan could see the distinct tears in the metal. Logan’s eyes unconsciously drifted to his knuckles where the lethal claws lay in hiding, itching to come out at the sight of their handiwork.
“Sugah, that looks like....” Marie’s voice drifted off as she realized what Logan already had.
The light from Logan’s flashlight bounced off a shiny surface within the room. Even with his increased visual abilities, Logan couldn’t tell what it was. Releasing Marie’s hand, Logan sped up a bit, motioning for her to remain behind him.
“Logan, be careful,” Marie whispered as he stalked at a rapid pace towards the mangled doors. “Ya don’t know what’s in there.”
Disregarding her warning, Logan was practically running by the time that he reached the door. He burst into the room, breathing heavily as he scanned its contents with the aid of the flashlight.
The shiny surface his flashlight had found early was the corner of a metal console that was most covered by a thick drop cloth. Logan violently ripped the cloth from the console and stared down at the piece of machinery, waiting for it to fill some sort of gap in his patchy memory.
There was nothing.
No clues. No hints of a past long forgotten.
Logan was just about to move onto something else when a small metal plate screwed into the bottom left corner of the console caught his attention.
GLOBAL SATTELITE TRACKING SYSTEM.
“What the...?” Logan grumbled, staring at the small tag in confusion.
A growl caught Logan’s attention. Spinning around, claws extended, Logan didn’t have time to protect himself before he was hit over the head with a thick, metal pipe. Logan crumpled to the ground, barely able to catch himself with his hands before his head struck the ground. A needle or something was jabbed into his arm as Logan fought the coming unconsciousness.
“LOGAN!”
It wasn’t until he heard her frightened scream, that Logan remembered about Marie. Struggling to gather what remained of his energy, Logan tried to push himself off the cold ground. It was a futile act, though, because every time he would lift his upper body off the cement floor his arms would give out and he’d go crashing to the ground again.
“LOGAN!”
Had he been paying more attention earlier, Logan would have noticed the other scents in the room. He also would have noticed that there wasn’t any dust on the doors. They had merely been a ploy to get him into the room quicker. To get him to let his guard down. It had worked.
“Marie....” Logan groaned as he continued to fight against unconsciousness.
In the end, it didn’t work.