For Better, For Worse - Part Six

by Khaki


The cloying scent of Marie's terror brought Logan crashing into consciousness as her shrieks reached his ears. His claws were out and plunging into the man holding his arm before he even opened his eyes. When he did, he was thrown into a waking nightmare.

It was hard to focus, he blinked hard and shook his head, but he still saw everything in threes. He had six arms holding the dead weight of three old scientists. No, not just any old scientist. Even through the drug-induced haze, he could tell. It was "the professor," older and completely bald, but still wearing those damned square-rimmed glasses.

Pulling back roughly, he allowed the man's corpse to fall to the floor as he turned to the other people in the room. Three Cornelius's ran towards the exit. He jumped from the gurney, and stumbled after the man. His reflexes were shot, but he was still more than a match for the pasty, well-rounded doctor. He intended to gut the man that had caused him so much pain, but the doctor fell to his knees as Logan struck and he slit his throat instead. Blood sprayed everywhere as the man fell, twitching on the floor.

Logan turned, searching for Hines, only to find her standing over Marie, one, latex-gloved hand pulling her chin back while the other held a scalpel to her throat. Logan growled deep in his chest as he watched Marie struggling against her bonds, trying to escape.

"St... stay there," Hines stuttered. Her hands shaking in fear as he stared her down. The smell of Marie's blood filled the air as the scalpel nicked her delicate flesh.

Logan roared and Marie struck as the woman's shaking hand came into range of her mouth. Hines screamed in pain as her thumb was viciously bitten. She dropped the scalpel, and was trying to pry Marie's jaw apart when Logan attacked, driving his claws through her yielding flesh, literally ripping her apart.

Leaving the bloody heap, he turned to Marie and slashed her bonds with his claws before resheathing them. She hugged him around the waist from her position on the bed pressing her face to his chest. Only the bloody hospital gown he still wore protected him from her skin, but neither of them noticed. Her breathing turned erratic as she tried and failed to stifle the sobs bursting from her.

"I... They wanted... Oh, Logan..." she forced out between hitching breaths.

He stroked her silky hair and tried to calm her as he focused the majority of his energy on just staying upright. His vision had blurred to the point where it was easier just to keep his eyes closed. Soon, he was forced to lean on Marie for support.

**********

When she felt Logan's weight shift and he started to lean on her, she remembered how he'd looked when he was wheeled into the room. They'd drugged him, and even now his healing factor was having a hard time keeping up. She slowly pulled away to assess his condition, and he swayed, clutching the side of the bed to keep falling.

"We have to get out of here," she said.

He nodded, deliberately slow, and Marie could see that if he was going to walk out of here, he needed to rest now. After encouraging Logan to sit on her bed, she started searching the supply cabinets for anything of use. Most importantly, they needed clothes. She had been spattered with blood during the fight, but Logan was coated with gore.

Her search uncovered useless items like gauze, syringes, medications with complex names, and surgical instruments. She was beginning to give up hope when she found a box of latex gloves, and even smiled when she found the surgical scrubs.

Throwing off her flimsy gown, she pulled on the green scrubs, rolling the pants up four times so she would be able to walk without tripping. The latex gloves and long-sleeved lab coat completed her ensemble, covering her skin completely, except for her feet and face.

Now that she was somewhat covered, she turned her attentions to Logan. She peeled the soaked gown from his body and using the sheet from the gurney, tried to wipe as much of the sticky blood away as she could. Logan just sat, eyes closed, allowing her to do what she needed, shivering a little as she rubbed.

Once he was dressed, she urged him to stand, and guided him to the door. His wobbly legs barely supported his weight and he leaned heavily on her, the metal in his bones weighing them both down.

There was no way they would escape unless they could avoid the guards and find their way out, and there was only one way they could do that. Closing her eyes, she reached into her mind and touched Derek's thoughts. Pushing past his deep-seated hatred, she pulled out all the information he had about the facility.

The knowledge shocked her. Project X hadn't stopped when Logan escaped. They had captured new mutants, torturing them and controlling them, all in the name of science and national defense. It was a joint operation between the U.S. and Canadian governments. The only reason the Alkali Lake base had been abandoned was because it had become too small for their needs. With this underground base in the Utah west desert, they were able to accomplish so much more.

She couldn't allow it to continue. With Derek's memories, not only did she now have a map of the underground complex and knowledge of the guards' movements, she knew where the munitions room was. It wasn't on the way to the exit, but with Derek's security codes, it was only a slight detour.

They came across a few guards and facility scientists on their way, but Marie was more than capable of dealing with them. She'd been trained to be an X-Man by the best: Logan.

When they'd finally reached the surface, the alarm had still not been sounded, but Marie knew their luck wouldn't hold for long. Not only that, but they only had about 15 minutes by her calculations to get out of the blast zone.

Logan was breathing heavily and stumbling every few steps by now, but somehow he kept his footing. She half-pulled, half-dragged him behind her as she ran.

Sooner than she'd expected, the ground shook beneath her, throwing them to the ground as she heard a series of muffled explosions. Looking back, she saw the dirt and rocks burst up like a geyser from the entrance to the compound. As the debris sprinkled to the ground all around her, she pulled herself up out of the patch of sagebrush she'd fallen into and looked at Logan. He was lying unmoving on the ground.

"Logan!"

Marie frantically turned him over. Clutching his pale face with her gloved hands, she leaned down, her cheek no more than an inch from his lips. She waited an eternity until she felt his breath on her skin. He was alive, breathing; he'd just passed out.

The relief that washed through her at that realization started to fade almost instantly as she took in their surroundings. Even though they were obviously in a desert, it was a rocky, brown, cool desert. The sun was already dipping to the horizon, and from the nip in the air, she could tell it would be colder still after dark.

Looking around, there were no rocky outcroppings, no caves, no protection from the elements of any kind, just miles and miles of endless sagebrush and brown undergrowth. Still, she tried to drag Logan, to get them to a road and safety, but as a dead weight, he was immovable.

Eventually, she gave up, snuggling down beside him instead in an effort to conserve their body heat and survive the night.

**********

She hadn't been able to fall asleep, and then she hadn't wanted to fall asleep. The cool ground and the tingling breeze had sucked every ounce of heat out of her, causing her to shiver violently. Sometime during the past half-hour, her body had calmed, and that worried her more than the shivering had. The cold was now a part of her, and she could feel the drowsiness fogging her mind, the promise of sleep almost irresistible. She knew she was going to die. Logan was still shivering beside her, and she was glad, hoping that he'd survive the night and be able to find shelter tomorrow.

As she was thinking this, she heard the distinct sound of boots crunching on the rocky ground approaching from the remains of the underground facility.


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