Chapter 1: Freedom

The cold Canadian air swarmed around me as I sprinted through the forest. Despite my healing factor, my legs ached and my head swarmed with pain. My pain was due to the excruciating experiments which I had to endure earlier today. Yet, I continued to press on. I had to. There was no way in hell was I going back there. I was never ever going back to that hellhole. Not after everything they put me through. My breathing was sharp and short, I was running beyond the speed of any human. I could hear the viscous barking of the hunter wolves as they chased me. These beasts could tear you from limb to limb if ever given the chance. I had seen it happen first hand. The guilt still tore at my insides. It was my fault… it should have been me! But it was my punishment. She died because of me… she was my best friend...

Suddenly I was pulled from my thoughts, my painful memories, as one of the beasts attacked me. It launched itself at me and sank its fangs into me arm. I screamed in pain. The beast shook its head and yanked my arm painfully from side to side. I inhaled and clenched my free fist, releasing my adamantium claws and stabbed the beast in the face. It whimpered and let go. I wasted no time getting up and sprinting off again. Quicker than before.

As I ran through the forest, I could hear more and more men yelling as they chased me along with their killer wolves. I could see an old tavern in the distance. I was so close now! I could hear the clinking of glasses and cheers of drunken men as I neared the tavern. But as I drew closer to the tavern, a truck came out of nowhere and crashed into me. The force of the impact sent me off my feet and into the snow covered ground. I groaned as I smacked painfully into the ground. I could hear footsteps drawing closer to me. Unaware of who they were and if they posed a threat to me, I lay as still as a corpse. Voices echoed to my wolf-like ears.

"Oh ma gad! Is she okay!?" A Mississippi female asked, her voice filled with concern.

"Yeah… she is breathing…" A Canadian man said, his voice rang with guilt. "I swear I didn't see her!" His voice insisted

"What are we gonna do!?" The girl asked worriedly

"I dunno Rogue, I have to make sure she isn't badly hurt!" The Canadian man said. His footsteps echoed towards me. "Hey are you okay?" I heard him ask as he placed his hand on my shoulder. I freaked and vanished in shadows and teleported away from him.

I snarled. My bottom lip rippled and I released my adamantium claws. Fire started to rise around me. I was faced with a man around 6 foot tall and very muscled, he had hazel eyes and a gentle face. There was a young looking girl, I think she is Rogue… she looked around 17 years old. She had shoulder length light brown hair with a single white streak and green eyes. She wore brown leather gloves on her hands and seemed to be very heavily clothed. The man took a step closer to me.

"Hey… chill. We ain't gonna hurt ya…" He said gently. His voice somehow soothed me. I could feel my muscles relaxing despite my efforts to stay tense. Something about him told me I could trust him… but did I know how? Would the trust be broken again?

"What's your name?" Rogue asked me

I opened my mouth to reply when I was attacked by one of the beasts. It jumped on me and began attacking me. Scratching its claws on me. I cried out in pain as I struggled beneath the beast. I could hear the girl screaming. Before I knew what was going on, the beast was suddenly off me. I groaned as I slowly got up. I saw the man wrestling with the beast. The girl, Rogue, helped me up as more wolves appeared. Oh joy. This was brilliant…. why couldn't they leave me alone!

"Rogue! Run!" The man shouted as he wrestled with the beast.

Rogue took my hand and was about to run when more appeared out of nowhere. "Logan!" She cried as one lunged at her. I didn't think I just grabbed her and vanished into a cloud of shadows and reappeared on the roof. "Wow… how did you do tha-" She didn't have a chance to finish as the roof beneath us gave away and we fell. We were pretty far up. Rogue would have died! I couldn't let that happen! Even if it would expose me as the freak I am, I had to save her!

She screamed as we drew closer to the ground. I grabbed her and swerved so I would break her fall. The impact wasn't too bad. But it did knock all the oxygen from my lungs as my body crashed into the mahogany floor with a major SMASSSSSH!

"Rogue!?" I heard the Canadian call as he ran into the tavern. "Marie, are you okay!? Jesus! What the hell happened!?" His sweet voice filled with concern and worry for Rogue's safety. It made me smile inside.

"Ah'm fine! But Logan! She broke ma fall! Is she gonna be okay?" Rogue asked as my vision began to blur.

"Yeah Kid, she will be…" Was all I heard before I allowed darkness to take over