Luciana sat at the kitchen table in her foster home in her Mississippi hometown of Meridian. Her birth parents left her at the firehouse when she was a baby and the Lopez-Fitzgerald family took her in. Luciana may have their name but she was never adopted by them. There was always something…off about Luciana. It wasn't just the fact that she was a mute – they could get past that. It was just…something. They truly cared about Luciana and took care of her as if she was their own, but they never made it official. With no logical explanation, they always held it back.
Now while her foster parents didn't know what was different about her, Luciana did. Of course, she didn't know everything but she was a mute for good reason. Her reason being why she never let anyone get too close to her – all but Marie D'Ancanto, of course. Even when they were kids Luciana would try and keep pushing Marie out of her life but Marie kept pushing back and thus, became best friend. Marie even learned sign language so he could communicate with Luciana. Granted that wasn't necessary, but Luciana wasn't about to tell anyone about that – she couldn't.
Luciana tapped on the table, looking up at the clock. Marie and her boyfriend were supposed to be picking her up soon to head back to Marie's place and watch a movie or something. 'Did Marie call to say she'd be late?' Luciana signed to her foster parents in case a call was missed.
To try and encourage Luciana to speak, Clara – Luciana's foster mother – answered verbally as opposed to signing. "No, she didn't. Why? Is everything alright?"
'If I knew something was wrong I wouldn't be asking why she's late', Luciana signed back with a bit of force, accompanied by a scoff.
"Don't use that tone with us," Robert – Luciana's foster father – scolded. He knew by now when Luciana's was being sassy with her signing.
At that moment the doorbell rang and Luciana bolted up to get it. She didn't say a word to her friend but her face made it clear she was accusing her of being late.
Marie could read Luciana's facial expressions very well after all their years being friends and this time was no different. "Oh, don't give me that look, I know."
Luciana put her fingers in her mouth to get her foster parents' attention before letting them know she was going out.
"Don't stay out too late," Robert called back and sighed when she waved dismissively back in reply. Once the door closed, he turned attention to his wife. "I don't know what to do about that girl any longer."
"We can't put her back into the system," Clara replied, worried that was what he was thinking. "No one will take care of her the way we do."
"I know," he sighed, "but I'm very close to giving up on her."
Clara poked at her food and looked away, feeling ashamed because she felt the same way.
Luciana sat back in the beanbag chair against the corner wall in Marie's bedroom as she talked about going into Canada, through the Rockies, and into Anchorage. "It's going to be an adventure," she said to her boyfriend, David, with a smile.
"Oh, really?" he chuckled, moving to his side on the bed. "And when do you plan on taking this adventure?"
"I don't know," Marie admitted and turned to Luciana. "What do you think, Luci?" she asked and signed together.
'After High School, before college?' Luciana replied then shrugged, returning back to her package of Red Vines.
"You two are going on this together?" David looked between them. "That's kinda hot."
Luciana rolled her eyes and threw a Red Vine at him.
Marie shook her head with a smile. "You're horrible."
"You know I only have eyes for you." David smiled at Marie and leaned in for a kiss.
Luciana rolled her eyes again and moved her Red Vines package over her eyes to block the view of their makeout session. She soon dropped them and jumped about fifty feet when Marie started screaming. She bound to her feet and saw David lying back, seizing or something. Luciana rushed over to check him out and when Marie's parents came in, she went over to Marie who was crying in the corner.
"I don't know what happened!" Marie cried. "I just touched him!"
Luciana reached out to hold her friend but Marie screamed out, "Don't touch me!", so she held her hands up to show she wouldn't, and stepped back. When Marie's mother rushed out of the room to call an ambulance, Luciana spotted a pair of costume gloves sticking out of a drawer so she snatched them and pulled them on.
Marie shook her head, crying out, "Don't touch me!" when Luciana came back over to her even with the gloves on.
'You won't hurt me,' Luciana assured her. 'I promise'. Of course this was just an experiment but Luciana was willing to do anything to try and comfort her friend. She reached out and took Marie's hands in hers with no side effect of what happened. Maybe she and Marie were always meant to be best friends because Marie, it seemed, was different…just like her.
'No matter what happens, you got me,' Luciana signed, swearing her vow. 'You've got me'.
Luciana was good on her word. Marie wanted to run away and Luciana told her she'd go with her wherever she wanted to go.
Luciana started throwing things into a bag to get ready for her trek into the unknown with Marie. She was just about ready to leave when Robert came into her room without knocking.
"I had a feeling this was coming," Robert sighed, seeing how she had packed up a lot of her things. "Is there any way I can talk you out of it?"
Luciana shook her head, knowing there was no need to go into details with him. Whether or not Robert realized it, he knew her better than most.
Robert nodded in understanding and pulled out his wallet. He handed over all the cash he had there and said, "Be careful, Luciana."
Luciana signed, 'Thank you,' then asked, 'What are you going to tell Clara?'
"The truth," Robert replied, hugging her. "That I let you go. If you need anything, you call. We won't interfere. You have my word."
Luciana hugged him back and grabbed a couple more things before slinging the duffel over her shoulder and darting out of the room and downstairs.
Robert went to the window that looked out onto the street and saw Luciana meet up with her friend Marie. He felt better about letting her go now. Was it irresponsible to not tell Marie's parents? – Yes, he knew this, but at least now…now Luciana wasn't going to be alone.
Luciana and Marie made it into Canada without too much trouble, but much lowered funds. It was because of this that once they crossed the border they hitched a ride with a truck driver. He took them all the way to Laughlin City but it wasn't quite what either of them expected. The so-called city was a collection of wooden buildings, one of them clearly with the appearance of being a biker bar or something along those lines.
'Let's try and get something to eat.' Luciana tugged onto Marie's coat then pulled down her knit cap before crossing the snow covered street to get to the bar. A time or two a couple of cars blared their horns at them. Luciana wanted to scream back at them, but she kept her mouth shut. Last thing they needed was that kind of attention.
'This looks like that Fight Club movie,' Marie signed to Luciana as they walked into the bar. There was even a metal gate cage in the middle of the place with two people fighting inside as people sat and stood around, cheering or booing depending on who they bet on.
'I want to see', Luciana signed back and took Marie's gloved hand with her own before pulling her over to the ring.
The male announcer spoke into the microphone, "Gentlemen, in all my years, I've never seen anything like it. Are you gonna let this man walk away with your money?"
"I'll fight him!" a tall, tattooed, bald man called out before he took off his coat and went into the ring.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our savior!" the announcer called out.
Luciana moved as close to the cage as she could get and watched the fight. The undefeated man had the air of an animal and fought like it was for his survival, but there was more than that. He didn't fight like a normal man – wait, that wasn't true. He did fight as a normal man would but it was almost as if he felt no pain and the punches he threw back hit harder than anything Luciana had ever seen before. Suffice to say, the challenger was knocked out in a few hits. 'He's different, too…?' Luciana thought to herself and pulled her thoughts back when the announcer spoke again.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the king of the cage…the Wolverine!"
"Come on," Marie said to Luciana, "let's get something to drink."
'I want to watch,' Luciana passively signed back, not taking her eyes off the cage. She'd never seen anything like this before and it was cool as hell to her.
Marie didn't think this was a good idea so she grabbed Luciana's hand and pulled her away to the bar and ordered two waters.
Luciana sipped at the water and kept looking back at the cage. 'If I had more than a dollar on me I'd make a bet.'
Marie locked her eyes on the tip jar sitting on the counter and was thinking the same thing. Well, not the same thing exactly. She wasn't planning on making a bet but it would be nice to have some more money.
Luciana and Marie sat together at the bar until pretty much everyone left the bar. The Bartender finally spotted Marie eye-balling the tip jar so he moved it from their reach as he asked, "Can I get you anything else or are you sticking with water?"
'Water,' Luciana signed back and smirked at the odd expression on the Bartender's face because he had no clue what she just said. While drinking her water, the Wolverine guy came to sit at the bar not too far from them. Luciana tapped on Marie's arm to let her know, despite the fact that this Wolverine guy was not someone who could easily be missed.
Luciana was about to tell Marie something but stopped when the tattooed guy that was beat in the cage earlier went up to the Wolverine guy demanding money. "I know what you are," the guy said to him.
Luciana didn't hear what the Wolverine guy said because the tattooed guy pulled out a knife. She almost opened her mouth in warning but quickly turned Marie's head to see instead.
Marie saw the knife and screamed, "Look out!"
Luciana's eyes widened when the Wolverine guy shot up out of his seat and put his fist in front of the tattooed guys throat, only…there was more to his fist. Three long blades shot out of his skin and when the Bartender ordered the Wolverine guy to get out of his bar with a gun aimed at his head, the Wolverine guy sliced right through it with the blades which came out of his other hand.
Luciana turned around when she heard a male's voice call out, "Wolverine!" There stood a younger man with dark hair and large black gloves over his hand. "It's not worth it."
Wolverine looked back to him and with a huffed grunt he pulled the blades back into his hand and walked out of the bar with him.
Luciana and Marie looked at each other and didn't need words. Somehow they came to the same conclusion – they were going to follow him. So they both picked up their duffel bags and went outside.
It didn't take them long to spot the vehicle the Wolverine guy and younger man were headed to. It was a truck with a camper on the back with a trailer attached. As soon as the coast was clear, both Luciana and Marie climbed into the trailer under the tarps there and held onto each others' hands when the vehicle started up and drove away.
Wolverine looked to the young man sitting next to him and could tell there was something on his mind. When Wolverine first found him he was like a stray rabid dog, so he decided to help him out and has been stuck with him ever since. Wolverine's grip tightened on the wheel as he sighed, "Spit it out, Lyall."
Lyall turned to look at him, clearly annoyed. Then again, most teenagers could get annoyed easily but Lyall had a reason. "We had a good thing there, Logan," he shot back. "You got too cocky." He scoffed and looked back out the window at the snowy wilderness around them. There was nothing but trees for miles and as far as he could see, they were the only vehicle on this stretch of highway.
"What was I supposed to do?" Logan chuckled incredulously, "Let him stab me?"
"It's not like it'd have killed ya," Lyall muttered under his breath.
Logan scoffed a chuckle and rolled down the window to get rid of his cigar's ashes.
Lyall caught something when Logan did that. He sniffed the air and leaned closer to Logan to see if it was his cigar, but it wasn't. Lyall rolled down the window and stuck his head out a little before pulling it back in. "You smell that?"
Logan pulled the cigar out of his mouth and took a deep inhale, taking in the scent Lyall seemed to catch and found he smelled something as well. His brow deeply furrowed as he pulled the truck over and stopped to get out.
Lyall got out and went around to the trailer where Logan and Lyall kept their motorcycles to see what was back there. There was definitely something piled up between the bikes there. He leaned over and poked the bulge to find it stirring.
Logan scoffed and tore the tarp back to find two girls laying there – the girls he recognized from the bar. "What the hell do you two think you're doing?"
"Sorry," Marie replied, "we needed a ride. We thought you might help us."
Logan waved his hand for them to get a move on. "Get out."
Marie and Luciana sat up but Marie kept on talking. "What?"
"Get out," Logan repeated. "I already gone one stray. I don't need two others."
"Hey," Lyall shot back, feeling offended. "I figured by now I'd at least be elevated to house pet status."
Logan shot him a 'shut up' glare before pulling out the two duffels bags and throwing them onto the ground.
'Where are we supposed to go now?' Luciana signed and Marie interpreted, "Where are we supposed to go?"
"I don't know," Logan answered, just wanting to be done with them.
'Don't know or don't care?' Luciana signed back with sass and to her surprise, the Wolverine guy understood and answered verbally, "Pick one."
Logan pointed to Lyall, saying firmly, "Get in the truck."
Lyall wasn't going to go against Logan's wishes so he bowed elaborately to the girls, saying, "Ladies," then got into the truck per instruction.
"We saved your life!" Marie called out to the Wolverine guy only to have him retort with, "No, you didn't."
Once Logan was in the truck, Lyall said to him, "They kinda did."
"Shut up, Lycan," Logan shot back and started up the truck to drive off.
"Whatever you say, Wolverine." Lyall acted like it was no big deal but looked at Logan out of the corner of his eye once the truck started driving off.
Logan gripped the steering wheel and caught the sideways look Lyall was giving him. Finally he stopped the vehicle and muttered with a grunt, "Me and my damn strays."
Luciana and Marie were just about to start walking when they saw the truck pull to a stop before going round the bend. Suffice to say they ran like hell to get in before he changed his mind.
After throwing their bags into the trailer, they crammed into the front seat with the two fellas. It was a tight squeeze up there, but they made it work. Marie was closest to the door and made sure not to touch anyone. That wasn't hard to manage since everyone was pretty well bundled against the cold. Layers were definitely Marie's friend.
"You wouldn't happen to have anything to eat, would you?" Marie asked, not able to remember the last time she or Luciana had anything to eat.
"Excuuuse me," Lyall said in a drawn out way as he leaned across them to get to the glove compartment. He pulled out a couple packages of jerky and tossed them to the girls.
Marie and Luciana were both grateful and started eating right off. "I'm Rogue," Marie introduced herself as, "and this is Grita." Those were the names she and Luciana agreed upon if anyone ever asked what their names were.
"I'm Lycan," Lyall grinned. "And this is Wolverine. Pleasure to meet you, ladies."
Logan noticed Rogue rubbing her hands so he turned on the heater and gestured over saying, "Put your hands on the heater."
Luciana was afraid that they were gonna touch so she hit his hand away.
"I'm going to hurt you, kids," Logan scoffed, returning his hand to the wheel.
"It's nothing personal," Marie told them. "It's just…when people touch my skin, something happens."
"What?" Lyall asked, intrigued.
"I don't know," Marie admitted. "They just get hurt."
Lyall shrugged and Logan accepted the answer. "Fair enough."
Luciana reached over Lyall and tapped on Logan's knuckles. 'Does it hurt when they come out?'
Logan caught what she signed and admitted, "Every time." Things were quiet for a moment before he asked them, "So what kind of names are Rogue and Grita?"
"What kind of names are Lycan and Wolverine?" Marie asked in return.
"My name's Logan," he informed them. "And the house pet here is Lyall."
"I'm Marie," she replied. "And this is my friend Luciana." He picked up speed a little bit, so Marie said, "You know, you should wear your seatbelt."
"I don't need auto safety advice from you," Logan shot back.
"Besides, he'd have to touch my ass in order to click it," Lyall added in. "And I don't think either of us want that."
Lyall started to laugh but it was cut off when a tree fell into the road right in front of them, causing Logan to crash into it. Both Lyall and Logan were thrown out of the window, but since Marie and Luciana were buckled in, they got strongly jolted instead.
Marie looked out in the distance and saw Logan and Lyall both lying lifeless in the snow. "Are they dead? Oh my god, Grita, are they dead?!" She got her answer when both Lyall and Logan stood up, stretched a bit, and walked back to the truck. Once they were close enough, Marie and Luciana could both see how their wounds healed before their eyes.
"Are you alright?" Logan called out. "Kids, are you alright?!"
"I'm stuck!" Marie shouted back and that quickly got Luciana trying to free Marie from her buckle. Luciana was already out of hers so there was no issue there.
Lyall was about to go help Marie with the problem when Logan shot out his hand to stop him. He looked at Logan in question then looked where Logan gestured – at the tree. It didn't fall on its own, it was broken.
"Slow," Logan told Lyall quietly, and Lyall nodded before slowly making his way to the truck and try to get Marie free.
Lyall didn't get very far before something lunged at him from behind with a growl. He whipped around with his hands as claws and teeth to fangs to defend himself, but he was grabbed and thrown right into a tree before he had a chance to do a thing. Lyall cried out in pain when he felt his back snap – that was going to take a bit longer to heal up.
Luciana gasped at everything that was going on – Lyall wasn't moving, some Big Foot-esque guy was kicking Logan's ass, Marie was still stuck, and the trailer was catching on fire. Luciana wasn't having any luck with freeing Marie from belt. The fire was growing in the back but Luciana, at least for the moment, thought it was the least of their worries with Big Foot attacking people out there. She quickly signed to Marie, 'I'll be right back,' and got out the other side of the car.
She ran around to the front of the truck and stood in front of it and Logan's unconscious body on the hood. The Big Foot guy snarled at her and Luciana just smirked before opening her mouth to scream. Luciana's scream was unlike any other. Its pitch was so loud that it was painful to hear but more than that, the force from the soundwaves hit the Big Foot guy with such force that he was thrown back as if he'd been hit by a truck.
Luciana figured that wouldn't keep Big Foot down for long so she ran to Marie's door and flung it open. She tried again and again to get the belt free but nothing worked. When suddenly a Geordie-esque guy and a woman with white hair appeared at her side, she almost opened her mouth to scream at them but it seemed they were prepared for that.
Geordie-esque covered her mouth before activating his visor to shoot out a red beam which freed Marie from the truck. The woman helped her out after Marie quickly afterwards.
Luciana, Marie, and Logan were all pulled to safety before the truck and trailer exploded. Luciana looked over to see if Lyall escaped the blast, which he did. As far as Luciana could see, though, he was still unconscious.
She had no clue who these people were, so she pushed the woman away from Marie and stood protectively in front of her, ready to scream again.
"We're not going to hurt you," the woman said calmly to her. "We're here to help. Can you let us do that?"
Marie placed her hand on Luciana's shoulder, "It's okay. Let them help."
Luciana's protective stance relaxed a bit. She signed to them, 'Where are you planning on taking us?' which Marie verbally interpreted.
"Somewhere safe," the Geordie-esque guy replied. "To someone who can help you."
Luciana didn't like the vague answer but she and Marie did get into the trailer of some guy's truck they didn't know. This was just about as crazy, so…she agreed.
End Part 1
