Xander awoke screaming and drenched in his sweat. The nightmares were getting worse despite his best efforts to ignore them.
The Hyena and Soldier possessions had been two of the worst experiences in his life, and he had thought he was over them. Maybe he had been before he had left on his trip, but using the remnants of the possessions to keep out unwanted guests, not to mention all the extra roommates he had during his stay in Weapon X had woken them both up. Now every night he was treated to the worst parts of the Vietnam War while covered in the blood of kills he had made with his own fangs and claws.
Dragging himself out of bed Xander made his way out of the guest room he had been given, and made his way down the stairs. At this moment he either needed lots of sugar or caffeine because going back to sleep wasn't an option until tomorrow.
"Hey kid, where's the kitchen?" Xander asked a kid that was changing channels by blinking.
"That way," said the kid as he pointed behind Xander.
"Thanks," said Xander as he entered the kitchen and saw Logan talking to Bobby.
"Come down her for round two kid?" asked Logan as he took a swig of soda.
"Not really," said Xander as he started to rummage through the shelves. "Right now I'm just looking for something that contains enough caffeine or sugar to make sure I don't sleep for a week."
"Try the Sugar Bombs; they have enough sugar to keep you up for a month. Lee's the only one who eats them and her roommates would worship you if you contributed to her being a bit less hyper," said Bobby.
"You having bad dreams or something kid?" asked Logan as Xander poured a bowl of cereal.
"You say bad dreams, I say night terrors that are trying to use me as a gateway to enter the waking world," said Xander. He was already getting decent sugar buzz just from smelling the cereal so he was a bit more talkative than he had been, whoever this Lee was he had to complement her on her choice of breakfast meals.
"That bad huh?" said Logan.
"And then some," said Xander between spoonfuls of chemicals that would make a Twinkie look natural. "My life wasn't great before, but some of the stuff I saw in there puts the worst I've seen to shame."
"Like what?" asked Bobby.
"You remember Beth?" asked Xander.
"The big sister," said Bobby.
"That's her," said Xander. "According to the records we uncovered she was about a week from being the first participant in a breeding program before we broke out. What that means is that her uncle was going to have her constantly raped so she could produce baby mutants that he could turn into weapons."
"Maybe you should hold back on the horror stories kid," said Logan as he looked at a green Bobby.
"He's my age, so if he doesn't want to hear the answer he shouldn't ask the question," said Xander with a shrug.
"I don't think Bobby here has led your type of life, that makes him young enough that he shouldn't have to hear about that kind of stuff," said Logan.
"Its okay, I just won't ask any questions, for the rest of my life," said Bobby.
"Not a smart plan when you're at a school," said Xander with a smirk.
"You really kill them all?" asked Logan after a few moments of silence.
"Not me personally, but I don't think anyone who was captured would let one of them get away alive. The ones that weren't killed by mutants during the escape burned to death in the fire, or were buried alive," said Xander.
"Any chance of their computers surviving?" asked Logan.
"Doubt it; Info Lady would have wiped everything before the place came down," said Xander.
"Info Lady?" asked Logan with a raised eyebrow.
"Sorry, but that's just how I think of her. When she was in my head she just seemed to be made from information," said Xander as he finished off the bowl of cereal. "Considering that she was being used as a living computer at the time I guess she was just information wrapped in flesh."
"Any idea where she is now?" asked Logan.
"We figured it was better not to tell each other where we were going when we escaped, that way we wouldn't all be recaptured if just one person was caught," said Xander. "Why are you interested anyway?"
"Got some questions that I thought those files might be able to answer, but it doesn't seem to matter now," said Logan.
"They're all dead, what else do you need to know?" asked Xander.
"Like I said it doesn't matter now," said Logan with a slight growl in his voice.
"Maybe, maybe not," said Xander. "Tessa was in my head a lot while we were planning the escape, and for all I know some of the information she had may still be in here. As soon as this all powerful professor gets back I'll let him take a look to see if there is anything rattling around my skull that you may need."
"Thanks, I appreciate it," said Logan.
"It's not really a favor. While the big brain is up there I expect him to help me with my nightmares. I'm a professional slacker so I don't want to be up before the sun unless the world is about to end," said Xander as he smiled as his own private joke.
"Don't worry kid, I don't think the world is going anywhere for a while," said Logan right before two heavily armed soldiers burst into the kitchen.
Xander pushed Bobby down onto the floor a split second after Logan started to rush the armed men. On the way down time seemed to slow, and Xander relived each detail of his nightmare. At the very end he could feel something escaping from inside him, and then he was on top of Bobby.
Looking up both Bobby and Xander froze in place when they saw the golden, primal eyes staring at them. Okay so they were more afraid of the large sharp teeth below the eyes, but the eyes still turned Xanders blood to ice.
"I take it back, I want the ability to change the color of comic books instead," said Xander just before the abnormally large hyena started to laugh.