Chapter 4: Terror

The island was massive, just an industrial plot of land floating endlessly in the ocean. It was nothing but water on all sides, just black glittering onyx under a starry night sky. Beth stood hidden behind an old warehouse just a few feet from the water watching the fight between Victor and Remy.

Victor's charge at Remy missed completely as Remy jumped out of the way, flipping over his head with that oh so familiar acrobatic grace. On his face was that cocky grin he often got when taking all the winnings from big league players in his home town.

The fancy movement by Remy had caused Victor to come to a sliding stop opposite of him and while still crouching he turned around, using his right arm to swing his coat out of the way.

Remy drew up a few more cards and sent them in Victor's direction. This time he connected sending the big game cat flying back a good few feet.

Victor got up growling and came charging at Remy once more, this time when Remy moved, he was caught. The beast grabbed him mid-flip and slammed him into the ground. A muffled crack could be heard as his shoulder was shattered. There was no more of his fancy dealing or his acrobatics as Victor grabbed him up by his shoulders, digging his claws into his flesh.

Beth watched as Victor tossed Remy around it several things, digging deep lacerations into the dealer several times with his claws. On his face was that predatory grin, he was enjoying this part of the game. A rock of guilt sat in her stomach as she realized, Remy's death was her fault-it was on her hands.

Remy lay on the ground, bleeding pretty bad as Victor made his slow approach to finish him off.

"You have interfered in my business for the last time…You should have just stayed out of it."

His accent was strong but his voice was weak.

"Fuck you sir."

Victor paused to look in Beth's direction.

"You could have avoided this honey…You can still end this if you just come with me."

Although Remy was weak he looked up at her and yelled.

"No! Run!"

Beth didn't hesitate, she turned to run. It was almost as if she could see the scene behind her and see Victor hovering over the bleeding dealer. Then she heard the scream erupt from Remy and heard his neck snap. She turned around in time to see him walking toward her, his pace slow and steady.

It was like time did slow when he moved and as she watched this terror play out. Victor's feet seemed to almost glide over the ground, his long black coat waved back and forth around him. The whole time she was sure he was moving slow on purpose to make her terror build. She believed for a second that he knew just how agonizing the whole thing was for her. This predator had his prey and he knew it, there was no way she could swim all the way to shore.

All she could think of as she watched him was a mouse cornered by a cat and the cat just watching it shiver. That was it, she realized that he was the cat and she was in fact the mouse. There was no avoiding him or his cobalt blue gaze and those eyes that seemed to look right though her.

For a moment her mind drifted off and she began to find other thoughts to try and make sense of this situation. To her it was like a scene out of Dante's Inferno, only Victor was the devil, that thing-that creepy mutant-was a demon and she was the innocent soul turned devil's plaything. Just how long would he keep her if he caught her? Were there others like her?

The thoughts she had searched for to find comfort, only seemed to make it worse. Her mind drifted back to reality and now she found herself just face to face with the thing from her nightmares.

Even though she knew she would probably drown, Beth still glanced between Victor-the demon from her dreams- and the never ending ocean. She really began to debate on whether or not she might rather drowned in the ocean than to face whatever fate he had for her.

He had stopped walking mere feet from her, his presence looming over her, his chest rising then falling steadily, his posture strong and cocky. An almost constant grin was plastered on his face and it only added to his sinister appearance. In short, he was the nightmare version of Cheshire cat.

The black coated mutant didn't even have to touch her to scare her and he seemed to know it. To look at him, one would see the strength in his muscular tone and just how menacing he really was.

Looking at him now for more than a brief moment, she could feel her terror rise as the realization of just what this man could do to her finally hit her. At any point he could rip her apart with his bare hands. A laugh erupted from him deep and husky.

"What? You gonna swim away?"

At some point, Logan had managed to pull away from that other monster. He came almost running toward Victor but stopped momentarily when he saw Remy's body lying mangled on the ground. Leaning down he closed his eyes with this fingertips.

When Logan did get up, he was extremely pissed off and Beth could even make out a growl coming from him. Logan stopped just a few feet from Victor.

"Victor! Let the girl go!"

Logan did not speak his words, no, he growled them. His growl almost seemed to become a roar deep within his massive chest. It all was so odd and dream-like for Beth-one minute she was in Ohio and the next stuck in some island with a mutant stalker.

She shook her self out of her train of thought and once again flashed back to reality. It seemed more and more she would rather be in her own reality than to be in actuality. Slowly, she backed away from Victor as she was sure something was going to go down.

"Stay out of this Jimmy!"

"No! You want me to leave this alone…then you're gonna have to kill me!"

Victor now turned around to look at him.

"Ooo…that can be arranged little brother."

This was all getting a little weird for Beth, they were brothers? For a few moments she watched as Victor's claws extended and Logan's did as well with a metallic 'cling'. Then the chest deep guttural growls started and then all hell broke loose. The last thing she saw before she ran was Victor on all fours charging Logan.

On the other side of the island she found more empty warehouses with empty crates. There seemed to be nothing useful on the whole island. Beth didn't even realize she had run all the way around it already until she found a slightly comical scene.

That mutant creature was walking around headless and trying to find his head. This gave her an idea-if she found he head and chucked it into the ocean-then she may have a better chance of escape.

Beth snuck over to the doors and stopped to observe. The head lay about 20 feet from the creature, on its' side. After a bit she tip toed into the warehouse and snatched up the head, running quickly away. From behind she could hear the creature stumble towards her, the head could see its' body because she had it facing away from herself.

Even though she didn't want to, she turned the head to face herself and hide its' eyes in her bosom. For a second she stopped to look at the face. Its' eyes-those constant staring eyes- glared at her fiercely and angrily. Those eyes they began to change, they started glowing and the skin around them blackened. Beth freaked out, dropping the head because she wasn't sure what exactly it was going to do.

The head lay on the ground and she just stood watching the body as it stumbled toward her. She glanced from the body to the head and then the ocean. It was only a few feet away and she knew that if she wanted a better chance of escaping then she needed to knock out one or the mutants pursuing her.

So in a fit of desperation, she grabbed the head and ran a few feet closer to the edge of the island before hurling it into the ocean. It splashed into the water and was immediately carried out by the waves. The mutant ran in the direction of his missing appendage.

Elizabeth ran away quickly to try for another side of the island and when she finally reached her destination, she jumped into the water. Not sure just how long she could last or how far it was, she swam as hard as she could.

There were no lights in the distance, no hint of land even being in that direction, but she knew that there had to be something, there just had to be.

By the time she even reached land, her arms and legs were jello. The strength was gone from most of her and so she fell to the ground when she hit the beach. For a few minutes she just lay there listening to the rhythmic beat of her heart in her ears as it reverberated through her body. She felt suffocated by the beat of her own heart, the burning of her lungs and the constant terror that gripped her these days.

Her breathing came in hard, short breaths that racked her body with pain. All she wanted to do was to sleep, just lay there and sleep, but the survival instinct in her kept her awake. There was so much adrenaline in her veins that her body shivered uncontrollably. It was like drinking too many energy drinks and then trying to sit still.

The sand under her was just mud now as the waves around her crashed against the shore and continued to soak her clothes. There was dirt stuck and clinging to her hair, she felt like a wile woman who was hiding in the woods.

Since New Orleans she had went from decent to dirty, sweaty, soaked and her hair now lay in matted wet clumps. She couldn't remember when she last ate or even slept without nightmares. It was hard to fight exhaustion when weighed down by fear.

Beth knew she had to get up, she had to find shelter and barricade herself inside. To survive this, she now knew she had to calculate the nature of the beast and the intelligence of the man into her thoughts of escaping or avoiding Victor.

She dug her nails into the sand and with a grunt tried to push herself up off the beach. At first her limbs couldn't even hold her up and she fell back down to the dirt. When she did manage to push herself up, she almost cried as the pain in her body was so bad it almost brought her down again. But she fought herself, her terror driving her forward to keep her moving.

Although she was on her feet, it was like being extremely drunk, she drug her arms and stumbled around on weak legs. The darkness on this beach was a complete never ending veil of black that hid anything within it. For this she was happy she wore black because perhaps he wouldn't see her. But then she realized he could smell her. 'Scent is lost in water, I'm soaked and maybe the mud on me will mask my scent.' She thought to herself.

Beth made her way across the beach and into the woods. It was cooler here, along with wet hair and clothes it was freezing. But at least she was free of that man if only for a little while. This time she would be quieter here, she would not stop and she would stay in the shadows of the wilderness. Either this would help her or she just walked into Victor's territory.