South African Safari by TexanQue

Chapter 1: Life at Terminal City

Back at Terminal City Logan, Max, and everyone else was trying to ease their nerves after all the battles laid behind them. Finally, now they, the humans, gave an apparent ease with the transgenics and the interim regime had let them be for now. Except for the infamous Ames White and his associates, but for now, thank the Blue Lady that they had retreated because of his failure of the elite of his clan to do Max in and her group. And now Max, the leader of the transgenics, which she did not want the task in the first place, but now was faced with the thought of who or what everyone had been trained in or had done other than for soldiering.

Looking at Logan's face, which she was mad and thankful at the same time that he was with her while all this shit was coming down she grieved because she would love to be in his arms, but none the less the virus was in the way. She needed someone to hold her and say everything would be alright, like Logan had said in the past. So much for thought! It was time to look to her place that she was at now.

"Mole, would you get a small group together to find out what everyone can do or experience in other than fire arms? Like is there any cooks around, I'm starving? And someone needs to inventory what we still have after the fights.

"Alright," he grumbled. "But I can't say what kind of cooks is in this dump. And I need some more cigars, by the way."

"I'll get you some somehow, but you need to quit smoking it will kill you Mole. Any chance, that you know of any doctors from Manticore in here that escaped that day that I blew it up?" If so, I need to see if whoever can look at the wounded," Max commands with authority.

"You've got to be kidding me, right?" asked Mole.

"What?"

"I mean about quitting smoking. As if I had a choice of being killed by a bullet or smoking. Hum, let see what would I choose, yep, its bullets not cigars. And yes, there are doctors here from Manticore hiding out here. I saw one that I know from coming down to the basement to check sometimes on us. But I don't know where they are, though."

"Well, good grief man find them! And everything else I said to do, please."

Max's headache was at the worse she'd ever had, but she was worried about the transgenics that were wounded and the fellow humans that had fought with them. She was tired, cold, for once in her life, and hungry that she couldn't think straight now. She just needed to rest and get some aspirins, so she assume. She started shaking a little. "Oh, shit." She said out loud. OC and Logan were close enough to hear her. And they both ran to her, but OC held Logan back so that he wouldn't touch her.

"What's the matter, Boo?" Original Cindy asked concerned. She saw what was happening then. The shakes had gotten worse by then. So bad that Cindy didn't know what to do. Alec was approaching about that time to see what was going on.

"Oh man. Where is her meds?" Alex spoke in a state of surprise. She was bad. "Let's get her to her room and give her some Tryptophan quick." Logan was hurting inside so much and jealous of Alec that he couldn't think straight. He just stayed behind while Alec lifted Max and OC lead the way to her room.

'Why is this happening now?' Logan considered. 'She's under too much stress that's why she is having this severe seizure. All these fights and now the demands on her are wearing her out. I'll talk to someone, who is going to listen to me. Mole would definitely listen to me, yeah right. He wants to be leader,' Logan's thoughts of frustration was expressed all over his face. The woman he loved is being lifted and took to her room by another man, Alec. And that I know what lie she told about her and Alec? OC finally told him one night at Crash when I was drunk and full of self-pity. Max was my life no matter what happens or has happened between us. I won't let her out of my life. He was just about to go to Max's room when a grey haired lady came in and noticed Logan in a daze.

"You're not a transgenic, are you?" I don't see a bar code?" she asked in wonderment. She didn't recognize who this guy was, but she knew he wasn't a transgenic for some reason. She had seen him somewhere; but where? Her mind was jumping from incident to incident.

Logan looked at her in amazement. His head was so wrapped up in Max that he didn't see anything or anyone around him. "No, I'm not a transgenic." He said to her. My …. My name is Logan …. Logan Cale. I'm a … a…. friend of Max. He wasn't sure what he was to Max any more. Still just a friend, it hadn't gone any further than that. How he wished and agonized over wanting to be a hell of a lot more than that, but that damn virus came in the account.

"Who are you? I'm sorry, my mind was somewhere else," On someone else, Max is what he genuinely thought.

"Mole said that there was wounded, and I assumed they'd be here. I'm Dr. Verizon. Dr. V. to everyone in Manticore. I'm a doctor and a geneticist, but I came here for fear of my life after it was torched like everyone else. Manticore won't let anyone or any body alone until we're all dead. No human or transgenic from Manticore has a prayer of living. That's why I'm with them."

"You don't have to worry about Manticore now. Only ones you have to worry about is Ames White and his cronies," said Logan. "Max was the one and others, that torched and destroyed Manticore," with a worried look on his face. He wasn't sure if he should have told that, but it was out now. He had a good feeling about this doctor, he didn't know why, but he just did. All of a sudden his thoughts went back to Max. "Max is having a severe seizure and Alec took her to her room. Would you follow me to her room and look at her?" Logan asked totally out of his head with worry.

"Yes, I'll come with you. Anything for Max. I've helped a lot of X5s with these seizures, and I know that it's a terrible thing to see them go through it. And you say Alec; who is Alec by the way?" She questioned.

'Oh, shit. Now I've done it. She doesn't know about Alec. Maybe she knows of 494, which was Alec also'... He was summarizing in his head.

"Oh, Alec, 494," she said with the look knowingly from Logan. "I didn't know that was for sure his name out in the world. I always thought of him as "a smart aleck, I guess." she amused knowing 494.

They left the command center to go to Max's room quickly. As they were approaching Alec said to OC, "Watch her, and I'll be right back." He turned and ran into the doctor and Logan. Alec said, "I know you. You're Dr. V, right?"

"Yes. And by what this man says your name is Alec, 494. That's a good name for you," Dr. V said in an amusement. Alec just gave a quirky smile. Then it dawned on him that she could look at Max, since she knew about the seizures that the X5s had. 'Dumb ass,' Alec hit his head...

Dr. Verizon went into Max's room where OC was hovering over and protecting Max from this seizure and anyone, whom she did not know. Logan was looking on at the doorway with a sickly look all over his face for his Max. 'Yeah, his Max, right,' he exclaimed. 'If only I had told her or animalistic thought crept in, was his feeling at that time, mark her as mine... He had had a tramsfusion from Max some time back, and he began to have a feeling that he was catching what Max had; in a way. 'Hum, maybe I'm a tom,' as Max had said while she wasn't noticing him around to Cindy at Crash one night not too long ago.' OC had asked Max to explain what happens when she was in heat and how her mind worked that time of the year. And Logan being the freelance journalist he just couldn't help but listen in. His mind was yanked back to earth by the doctor's voice. "Max, are you able to speak any at all," she questioned.

"A --- li -- little. Who ---are--- you," Max cautiously inquired between shakes. "Where did you come from?" Max wanted to know.

"I ran here from Manticore. I -- I wanted to thank you for torching Manticore. I had been trying to escape for years. I had tried a couple years ago, but I got caught. And it was hell on wheels when they took me back for me. You know what it was like getting caught by Manticore. You know who I am. I'm the one that overseen your surgery after you had been shot in the heart," she said with a sad look in her eyes.

"Yes, I --- I re --- rem -- remember yo --- you. Ca -- can --y -- you --- he ---- help," Max was exhausted by now, and was soon unconscious shaking like a leaf.

Logan by this time had a shock look on his face not knowing what to expect and Original Cindy was the same way. Alec took it in stride, though. He knew this woman, and what she was capable of doing. Alec thought, 'Well, luck was on our side at least for a little while. She's a damn good doctor and what else?' Alec couldn't remember what else she did at Manticore. 'What was it?' All he knew is she was good at what she did as a doctor. And a friend. 'I would speak to her about the younger kids about their problems and some, um, other things for himself,'he he thought smartly... Alec sauntered away with a smile on his face.

OC had the questions now. "Whatcha gonna do, doc?" Is my girl gonna be okay? What did ya do at that place where my girl was? We don't wanna lose my girl again." OC shot the issues like a rifle being fired. She and Logan were looking on sadly.

"Who is we," asked Dr. Verizon?

OC looked at Logan with her questioning eyes. "You gonna tell her, Boo?"

Logan looked at Cindy like a whipped pup. Since he didn't have a cure for the virus, and he didn't want Max to know he knew that Max's statement about her and Alec was in fact a lie. And that Cindy had told him when he was drunk. OC didn't think he would remember her confession at Crash the other night when Logan was sooo drunk, lonely, and in a stupor. At least that's what she assumed.

"Um, well, I -- I was concerned about Max? We've been --- friends over a year and she's been --- well, we've ---. Oh, hell. Max has a virus in her blood stream that can kill me." He said stumbling. The fear in Logan's voice was enough to loose mobility in his legs. He just couldn't stand right then even with Joshua's blood coursing through him. He needed the exo for sure. He had taken it, off since there was no fighting going on. He sat down on the nearest chair right then.

"Oh...," Exclaimed the doctor. "So, Max is the one who the other genetics were talking about," said the physician in surprise. "I might have known something like that would happen. That poor girl has been through hell. First getting captured, then having to have her sibling's heart. Thank God, she didn't watch him kill himself for her. Zack wasn't it? His name, I mean? I heard them, the other doctors called 599 her brother. I can't understand why she called him his brother, although. Their genetic makeups were alike, but there were different surrogate mothers that bore both of them. So what's up with that?" She was asking as she gave Max a liquid form to the unconscious Max.

OC and Logan just looked dumbfounded at the statements the doctor had just spoken about. Logan was the first to fire out the questions between the two of them. He had regained his speech by then after putting his foot in his mouth from earlier. "How --- why --- do you know all of that?" Was Logan's first question sort of. "Who the hell are you? And what the hell are you giving Max? Is it poison or something?" Horror in his heart and his eyes when he suddenly realized that she might have killed Max, Logan didn't have to think twice, he tossed aside his anger and jealousy and called for the only one he knew could help to save his Max. "Alec, come here!" He exclaimed. OC and Logan caught her hands and threw the needle on the ground fearful for Max's life. OC had her pinned up against the wall as Alec came rushing in the room.

"What the hell is going on? Let her go for God's sakes." Screamed Alec. In confusion, Alec didn't know who was doing what to whom. But he was sure it was bad with the faces he was looking at at that point. "Will somebody explain what happened and why Cindy has the doc pinned against the wall over there?" Totally confused Alec shook his head. Looking at Logan he exclaimed, "Well, you want to tell me or what?"

Logan looked at Alec and shouted, "She tried to kill Max is what. I thought you knew her? Do you know who or how long she has been working at Manticore? Do you know who in the hell she is for sure? Logan loss of breath cause him to quit asking questions when he started worrying about Max again.

"Hey, hey. What the hell are you talking about? Max, tell them what and who this lady is? Max, Max? What's wrong with her, doc? His heart leapt into his throat as he stood and looked at Max then back again to the doctor.

"No, nothing is wrong with Max if this lady would only let me loose, that is." Dr. Verizon asked OC with her eyes to let her go to go to Max. And just to relieve everyone's mind she began to speak as soon as OC let her go and resumed taking care of Max. "Okay. This needle has liquid Tryptophan that goes in her bloodstream faster than the pills. Alec, isn't that right?" She asked Alec to show OC and Logan that she wasn't lying. "Logan come here and Cindy. Is that your name?" Pointing to them both and asking the girl. Both OC and Logan approached Max with worry on their faces.

"Yeah, that's my name but everyone calls me OC or Original Cindy, doc," said Cindy.

Logan stopped suddenly remembering the virus. OC continued further on looking at her girl then looked back at Logan with a smile. "Max?" OC asked. Max, are you with us? Shaking Max on the arm with gentleness as if she was a fragile doll.

"Hey, OC! What's up? Did I space out on everybody, again? Max had the questions then. "Okay, now who are you," looking at the grey haired woman. Max's big brown eyes looked at the woman a second longer then remembered -- 'Manticore --- doctor --- Dr. Verizon! How did she get here, and -- oh wait -- the destruction of Manticore.' "Are you friend or foe," with a teasing smile asked Max to Dr. Verizon. She recognized her and winked. She was one of the good guys or rather good 'ladies' at Manticore. Everyone sighed with relief as they and even Alec saw the wink and smile on Max's face. Logan's heart soared with happiness and OC just chuckled as usual. This was a day to remember and gained a friend.

As the days flew by, Max was wondering how in the world she could get OC, Sketchy, and Logan out of TC without being spotted. She knew her friends could not stay there indefinitely because of the toxin around Terminal City. Oh, how she wanted them to stay! But they couldn't. Max and Logan were talking with gloves on the hands just in case something happened that would have to touch each other. They discussed how they could get them, their friends and Logan, out of there before it was too late and not be seen by the outside world. Even the TV new stations had a look-out. So, it was going to be tricky for all concerned. And the military was hanging around with Ames' insistence. Their weren't too many from the police force there, because a lot of them knew Max and Logan but did not tell any higher-ups that they knew them. Even several of the sector cops knew Max and liked her. When she whizzed by them on her baby or bicycle delivering package for Jam Pony, she had always had a smile for them. "How do you think I should get ya'll out of here," asking Logan.

"I don't know. I got the blue-prints on the sewer system when Joshua was trapped down there, maybe we can figure out something with them," said Logan to Max. Max was wondering the same thing as Logan. They thought alot alike as far as situations go. And other things which neither of them wanted to go down that road now. Max had a reluctant statement to make to Logan and just didn't know how to direct to conversation toward that direction --- her and Alec. While she was wondering how to approach Logan she started to say, "Logan, I have a confession to make to you and I don't want you to get mad and start up with me," is the statement she started with.

"Okay, shoot. What is it." He said nonchalantly. At this time, he had no idea where this was coming from or what it was. He was just glad to be with Max. Even if they couldn't touch. He had missed her so much especially their talks and playful bantering. He was in heaven.

"Okay. Well, you remember when I came to your apartment with the talisman that Joshua had hanging around his neck," Max asked Logan shyly.

"Yeah, I was fairly drunk that night. And I wanted to apologize for that. I didn't normally indulge in that much liquor, Max." He said in a calm and sobered voice. 'But now I'm drinking like a fish cause I can't be near you all the time and touch you.' His thoughts were busy thinking that that's why he was still drinking. 'I need to quit drinking now that Max and I are talking at least.'

"That's okay, Logan. Everyone once and a while gets stiff over something once in awhile, Max said with concern. I -- I didn't tell you the truth about Alec. I mean I did but I didn't. Does that make sense?" Max asked with a shaky voice. She wasn't sure how to start the conversation off still, but she had to finish what she had started... somehow..

"What do you mean, Max," Logan questioned. He now knew what Max was trying to tell him. Since OC let it slip the other night at Crash.

"Logan, I --- we, I mean Alec and I aren't like that. Oh, man. This sucks big time. We, Alec and I aren't a couple." 'There I said it, whew!' Perspiration was rolling from her head like she was in heat. No. She wasn't in heat, but this was so hard to lie then to the man she loved. 'I don't want him to know that considering the virus. He doesn't need to know how hard it is for me to be near him, smell him, feel is hot heat from his body. 'Oh, God. I've got to get away from him now.' "Logan, I -- I got to go now, but you do understand why I said what I said back then, right? Max was pleading for him to understand now.

"No, I don't. Why did you lie to me that night? You and Alec are not together then why was he coming from your apartment," Logan asked as if he didn't know.

"Because, I told you kind of the other day here at TC, weren't you listening," making a statement with a question. Max always did that when she was cornered. "Logan, Alec was put in jail because of Ben. And -- and all the murders Ben committed. And I -- I had to get him out. I tried to be his legal aid, but when he told me what he was charged with, well, you know, I just couldn't let him stay in jail as I first thought. Logan, that's the truth, honest. I know I haven't told you about Ben, well, it's not the time or place to discuss it -- Ben I mean.

Okay. Well, why didn't you tell me instead of lying to me," Logan asked questionly.

"I just told you why I made it up, for your safety. That was the only way I could insure I didn't touch you or you come in contact with me, I'm -- I'm sorry, Logan." Max said sadly now. Thinking that she had lost her best friend in the world other than OC. The man she was in love with and will be from now on. She almost cried knowing she had lost him with her deception.

Logan saw what he wished for all the world that he didn't see. Her tears in her lovely deep pools of chocolate brown eyes. So round and bright with love written all in them. "Why – um -- thank you for trying to save me, Max. But next time let me think for myself. I know the dangers of the virus don't you think," Logan stated with a smile. "I won't let the virus tare us apart, I promise, okay?" He asked with a contended smile. A hurdle had been thrown out of the way for those two as the day was beginning to vanish over Seattle.