“I never said I was going to.”
The stranger brings his fist down and knocks Xavier out
cold.
“NO!! YOU BETTER NOT HAVE KILLED HIM, YOU BASTARD!”
He looks up and smiles charmingly as the professor’s
body shimmers and disappears. “Oh, he’s just going to wake up with a
headache. I was simply evening the odds. Honestly, my dear, you do want to be
fair about this, don’t you?”
“You speak as if I want to be here,” I comment
sardonically, aiming my crossbow at him and pulling the trigger.
The stranger dodges the bolt and looks at me with mock hurt in his eyes. “You mean you don’t want to be?” He smirks and points his crossbow at me. I leap out of the way, feeling the breeze from the bolt brushes against my face. I allow my momentum to carry me to the wall and kick off of it. I fly towards my adversary, bash him in the jaw with the butt of my crossbow as I go past and hit the floor. As soon as my feet hit, I’m off and running.
I bolt through the hallway lined with small electric
lights. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a shadow move, and I spin to face the
threat, just as a light to my left sparks violently and goes out. That light
must have been wired to the rest, like an old string of Christmas lights or
something, because that light started a chain reaction of all the lights
switching off up and down the hallway.
As soon as there’s complete darkness, a boot connects
solidly with my shoulder, spinning me around. Reflexively, I strike out blindly
and feel my fist glance off of someone’s body. There’s a grunt, so I home in
on it and aim a kick at the origin of the sound. I hit, but somehow the man
grabs my foot, and I have no choice but to go down with him. He viciously twists
it. I scream as I feel my knee dislocate. I swirl my body around, hearing my
knee snap back into place, and lash out with my other leg. To my gratification,
I feel my foot connecting with his stomach. He lets go with a pained grunt.
I get to my feet.
“MOTHERFUCKER!” I can’t help but scream as my knee
sends bolts of pain through my body.
I take off at a cross between a limp and a leap when I
hear my adversary fumbling with his weapon.
I must find a bright place…light!
Finally, I see the source of the light. At the end of
the tunnel, there’s a beautiful forest with regal mountains towering over the
trees.
Once I get there, I know I can beat this guy!
About a foot from the end of the tunnel, I get tackled
from behind.
“NO!” I scream as I crash to the floor.
“I’m not letting you go,” the stranger says
coldly, pinning my hands above my head.
“You BASTARD! I don’t even know your friggin’
name!”
“My name is Vincent, and by all rights, you’re mine.”
“Like hell!”
I bring my good leg up under him and kick him off of me.
He goes flying back. I desperately dive for the sunlight, knowing it’s my key
to freedom.
Vincent, however, has other ideas. As I dive, he grabs
my bad leg and tries to pull me back. In doing this, he tears my lower leg apart
from my upper leg.
“AAAAGGHHH!!!! LEGGO YOU ASSHOLE!”
I wriggle free and kick him in the face hard enough to
knock him out. His body shimmers away as his mind rejoins his physical body. I
drag myself into the safety of the sunlight.
Part
Eight
Part Ten
Mind Index