Logan was drowning. He could feel himself being cut off from oxygen, gasping for air that would never reach his lungs. He struggled to free himself from the water, but he just kept banging up against a clear surface every time he tried. He fought and struggled as hard as he could, but it was useless. On the other side of the glass, Logan could see the hazy image of people moving around. He pounded against the glass, hoping to get the attention. All too soon, he realized how bad a choice it was.
As soon as the doctors came, the pain came.
Screaming in agony, Logan fought against the agonizing pain that gripped him. It seared through every fibre of his being, creating a pain that Logan had never thought possible.
“Phase one is complete, sir. Weapon X is fighting the implants.”
“Well that simply won’t do.”
Logan strained against the restraints that bound him to the table, his muscles cording as he fought to free himself. There were needles and knives and so much pain. So much blood. His blood.
“Logan.”
They cut into him without a care as to how much pain they caused him. They cut him and injected him with things that he couldn’t see. Logan could only feel it as the burning heat began to course through his veins. It felt as though he was going to come apart at the seams.
“Logan, wake up.”
His veins pumped with something other than his own blood. It created a fire deep within him, pumping his heart’s blood through him at a much more rapid pace.
Men with champagne glasses passed in front of him, cheering each other on their success. While they celebrated, he screamed, bubbles pouring from his lips as he found himself once again in the water. The suffocating water that held him at its mercy.
“Logan!”
“AAAAHHHHH!!”
With a scream, Logan shot into full consciousness. His eyes wild, Logan scrambled away from the voices and into a corner where they could only attack him from one side. He could see nothing but a blur of images that had the shape of human form. Logan held his hands out in front of him, attempting to protect himself from them.
“Logan, it’s all right. It’s just me.”
He knew that voice. It was Marie’s voice. Marie wouldn’t hurt him. Marie was someone that Logan trusted. She had taken care of him.
The frenzy left him then and Logan collapsed in a sobbing heap. He lay on the wood floor, uncaring of anything around him save the fact that he was safe. No one was going to hurt him here.
Marie had promised him.
“Shhhh.... It was only a dream, Logan. A very bad dream,” Marie whispered softly as she gathered him up in her arms.
Logan went willingly, allowing her to give him some much needed comfort. He rested his head on her lap, his arms automatically sliding around her waist. Logan felt Marie tense slightly, but put it completely from his mind when she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and began stroking his hair with her free hand.
“Logan, d’ ya think ya could put the claws away now,” Marie murmured, her voice never losing its comforting sound.
Her words, though, had the exact effect on Logan. As soon as she finished her sentence, Logan pulled away from her as though it suddenly hurt to touch her. Tears blurred his vision, but Logan could still make out the nine inch claws that extended from his knuckles on both hands. There were six of them in all. Six lethal looking blades that Logan didn’t doubt could kill in an instant.
Marie must have noticed the shock and fear on his face because she reached out and placed a hand on his arm. “Calm down, Logan. Ya need t’ calm down ‘fore ya start hyperventalitin’.”
Instead of calming down, Logan did the exact opposite. He scrambled to his feet and darted past Marie towards the stairs. Logan could hear her calling after him, but ignored her pleading voice. As much as he wanted to lie with Marie’s arms around him, Logan knew that staying with her would only put her in danger.
About halfway down the stairs, Logan stumbled and began to fall. He tumbled down the rest of the stairs, jarring his elbow and his knee in the process. Whining low in the back of his throat, Logan got to his feet again staggered towards the door.
The only conscious thought running through Logan’s mind as he fought to get the door open was the fact that he could have hurt Marie with his claws. He could have stabbed her through the chest when he woke up from the nightmare and not realized it until it was too late.
It took a moment for Logan’s shattered mind to remember how to open the door, but he did and was out in the snow before Marie could stop him.
“Logan, stop!”
Logan forced his mind to ignore her words as he trudged through the snow. The cold was almost comforting because it was the exact opposite of what it had felt like in his dream. Everything had been so hot there. He could still feel the way it burned through his system. The snow was cold. Comforting in an odd way.
Just before he reached the treeline, Logan stumbled and fell into the snow. He struggled to get up, but his tears were too intense. He sobbed into the snow, his hands buried deep in the frozen water as though to counteract whatever had been done to him.
Suddenly, he felt Marie’s warm hands on his back. Then her arms. Before Logan could even react, Marie was lying with her upper body blanketing his. Her lips were right next to his ear, her breath warm against him as she spoke.
“Ah know that someone did somethin’ bad t’ ya, Logan. Someone hurt ya and they stuck those claws in ya,” she whispered softly in his ear. “But that doesn’t change how Ah feel ‘bout ya one bit. So Ah want ya t’ come back inside with me ‘fore ya end up freezin’ ta death out here. Okay?”
Marie’s words shocked Logan to no end. He lay there for a few moments, digesting what she had said before slowly pushing himself into a seated position. He was trembling all over, both from the cold and the bone deep fear that had yet to fade completely. He shifted slightly so that he could see Marie’s face.
There were tears streaked across her cheeks.
“C-crrryin’....” Logan stammered, trailing an index finger along the path that one of his tears had made.
Marie didn’t say anything. She simply flung her arms around his neck and pressed her warm body closer to his. Much more slowly, Logan wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his head against her shoulder.
“Come on, Logan, we need t’ get ya inside,” Marie murmured, her voice muffled against his shoulder. “Yer gonna freeze if we stay out here.”
Logan nodded his head, but made no move to get up. Feeling Marie move, Logan released her so that she could stand up. She leaned over to help him up and Logan allowed gratefully slipped an arm across her shoulders. He was shaking so hard that his teeth were chattering and Logan knew that there was no way he’d make it back to Marie’s house on his own. He could barely stand up as it was.
“When we get inside, yer gonna have a nice, warm shower and put on some o’ the clothes Ah bought ya. Ah don’t want ya catchin’ hypothermia on me,” Marie said as they made their way through the snow towards the back door of Marie’s small home.
Logan merely nodded his head, not wanting to do anything that would upset Marie. The simple fact that she was still talking to him after six nine inch claws had shot from his knuckles amazed him. He didn’t want to lose that.
Eventually, they made it back into the house. Boris watched them from the edge of the living room as Marie led Logan towards the bathroom.
“Gawd, Logan, yer froze all over,” Marie said as she eased Logan down onto the lowered seat of the toilet. Leaving him there, she went over to the shower and turned it on. “Somehow, Ah don’t think that lyin’ in the snow twice in one day with only a pair o’ shorts on is a good idea.”
“Cc-cc-col-llld-dd,” Logan stammered, his body trembling all over as the heat from the room began to seep into his skin.
Smiling softly, Marie brushed the hair away from his face. “Ah figured as much, sugah. Now Ah’m gonna go find ya somethin’ warm t’ wear while ya have a shower. Okay?”
Logan simply turned his face into her palm, moaning slightly.