Truest Tears: Sorry, I completely left out all description, She doesnt really have mirrors where she is, I'll try to fit it in somewhere in this chapter then. And I'm not really into writing the romance stuff, but maybe in future fic's I might consider it. Thanks for the long review. :D
glennscm: Thanks, I try.
SoulMama: Heh, thanks, Happy Holidays then and sorry this was such a long wait. But the chapters extra long and it took me maybe four hours to finish this morning, so I hope i don't dissapoint.
Wolf: Awww, shucks, no one else noticed my creativity of the black letterings on the blank white paper...you're so KIND to notice. :P
THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS (I say Holidays because I don't wish to offend anyone by saying any specific holiday, as we're a very divided house hold when it comes to the december holiday--a wiccan yule tree at my mothers house this year)
Quote: I have CDO, it's like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but it's in alphabetical order, as it should be.
--Readers Digest
Chapter 4
Oh...yer still here?...Wow...That's pretty cool. Well, I'll return to the present for a short time, just to get some of the suspense going, and to make you ask those annoying questions like, "..wait...What?..."
Now, you should all remember that THE Wolverine is pinning me to a wall? Good memory.
"Can I help ya?" the man asks dangerously.
I try to respond, moving my throat as little as possible, but as I have a nasty chest cold at the time, all I get is a choking noise then I erupt in a coughing fit. His claws pierce my skin, but I don't notice it as my body is too busy bent over in rattling hacks, including alotta gross mucus...yum. Once I catch my breath and straighten I notice the small line of blood trickling down my throat. Touching it, my fingers come away crimson and I have to stare at it for a moment for my brain to register it. Did I mention that I probably have a fever along with this cold? No? Well my brain is melting, so no wonder I forgot, right?
"You cut me!" I finally manage. My voice comes out a little too indignant for someone who just entered his home with out consent. But it makes me mad! So I blow him backwards and through the wall with my cool powers. This is one of those "wait, what?" moments. I don't have any cool powers? You're right. I don't. Now, if you didn't remember that, go back to the previous chapters. Go! I'll wait...Back? Good. Now, all I really did was yell at him and scowl.
"Not much gets past you, huh?" he growls in response. Then his grip tightens on my arm and he rips my dagger from my hand. "They sendin' kids ta assassinate Chuck now?" I'm pretty sure the question was rhetorical. I don't even have time to answer sarcastically because he starts dragging me down the hall, still muttering to himself. "Didn't even let ya infiltrate the school as a student, did they? Ya must be a bad actor, kid"
"What're ya babblin' about?" I finally decide to speak up. "And who's 'They'? I don't work for nobody." I try to release his hold on my arm but his fingers only tighten. Oh well, I'm not much of a bruiser anyway.
He leads me down an elegant (growing up in North Dakota, of course it seems elegant to me) hall and stops to knock on an office door.
"Come in, Logan," a man's voice says from the otherside before the actual first knock.
I'm dragged into the room and forcibly sat down in front of the desk. At least the seats comfy, I haven't really had a chance to rest in a while. I stare at the bald man seated behind the desk, the famous Charles "Mutants-and-humans-can-live-together-in-peace" Xavier. Bull. I shift uneasily as his eyes slowly focus on me.
"Hey," Wolverine grips my shoulder and glares down at me, "Stay visible."
In response, I wrench my shoulder away and stop the growling that's growing louder from my throat. I'm not use to people seeing me, not my fault.
Xavier looks at the other man with a question in his eyes.
"She snuck past security systems. No one even noticed her until I picked up her scent. She got to the second floor."
Now they both look at me. My first reaction is to not be noticed. But I can't go completely invisible, so they still study me. My second reaction is to glare back.
"She had this." My dagger is handed to the bald man. "She coulda been sent after you. She smells like Creed, too."
I open my mouth to protest but the Professor interjects, "I doubt that Eric is really sending assassins after me."
Again I open my mouth, only to be interrupted, this time by the other man. "Maybe Creed aint workin' for him. Could be that the government got their hands on him. They'd like ta see ya dead."
"I was NOT," I finally get in, "here ta kill anyone."
"Try explaining the Sabertooth smell then, kid."
I scowl but answer, "I was wearing his coat. I had to keep warm somehow."
"Why were you sneakin' around?"
"I haven't been..." I pause, looking for the right word, "...visible...for a long time. It's harder ta be noticed then not."
"Dagger?" Wolverine continues to interrogate me.
"Oh, yea. YOU pinpoint me with a look of a psychopath and come barreling towards me. I'm NOT 'spose ta react?" I know, sarcasm isn't the best thing to burst out with.
Now he scowls at me, "What're ya doin' here, then?"
"I heard this place welcomed mutants. If I'm WRONG," I shake off his restraining hand and stand up, "I can just leave."
Xavier leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers, "You were not mistaken. This is my school for those with gifts. I must say, your own gift is rather intriguing. I still can't sense your psychic presence and your seated right in front of me." He studies me for a moment with his brow slightly creased.
"Yea, I'd rather ya Not try ta sneak through my head."
"His dark eyebrows shoot up, "You can sense my--"
"Nope," I interrupt him, "but yer a telepath. They like ta snoop through minds."
His lips twitch slightly, "Very well, please, take back your seat. I'd like to have a chat."
I glance back at the Wolverine, then take my seat. What can I lose? Nothing, right. "Sure."
"Would you mind explaining, for Mr. Logan's peace of mind, why you were wearing Sabertooth's coat?"
I sigh, a little too loudly. I'm tired, I feel like crap, I supposedly smell like that waste of flesh Creed, and I'm being interrogated by some guy that I was told only a month ago to kill. Yea. Re-read that last part. So when one is in this particular situation, just blurt out the truth. "O.K., lets put this in the back-cover version." I start, "Magneto picked me up three months ago. Him and Creed taught me some stuff, they said it would only be ta protect myself. Turns out, since they knew psychics couldn't pick me up, I was spose ta come kill as many of yer X-Men as I could, get some computer files for something or another, and, if I get the chance, kill you too." I can feel the tension in the room rise. "But," I continue, "I don't do the kill thing. I escaped about three weeks ago. I've been running from Creed since. I swiped his coat cuz I was up in Canada somewhere. It's cold up there."
The men exchange a look and Wolverine says in a calm voice, "I can smell a lie kid."
Now...now I am mad. I turn on him with a glare, "Well, bully for you! I aint lyin' so ya aint smellin' my lies. Yer smellin' my annoyance at the both of ya!" When I'm angry, my 'accent', if it can be called that, thickens somewhat. Dad was a hick, so I picked it up as a child.
The man stares back at me coldly and I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up, just like with Sabertooth. "I didn't say ya were," he says back calmly.
I stop glaring and start to growl, quickly checking myself. Then I start another coughing fit. Not quite as long as the last one though.
"Logan, perhaps you should take her to the infirmary for that cough," Xavier, the peacekeeper interjects at this point. "I'll send Jean down to giver her a tour and she can be in her team." Then he turns to me and says kindly, "Welcome to Xavier's school for Gifted Youngsters."
Yea. I'm beginning to have second thoughts about this school though. Oh well. I'll stay through the winter, then maybe I'll run again. It seems to be the only thing that I'm good at; that and stealing, can't forget stealing. Anyway, I nod and get up, slightly dizzy after the coughing, and follow the guy who had just threatened me.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Time Warp: Back to my little Island O' Cougar XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It had been a month since I was dumped by the creep Blackstone. MR. Blackstone, my bad. I've been sneaking around the island, stealing when I could or just hunting and gathering. Life was in a major rut, till I heard a plane land.
Upon my arrival on the beach, I saw a lump of human, or rather, mutant. It's Jason from the slave camp. Why he got to be awake during the air trip and I couldn't is still beyond me. It takes an effort, but he finally notices me standing next to him.
"Hey, Cougar, right?" he's smiling. Why in God's name was he smiling. Cuz he's a pessimist, so in a horrible situation, he, like me, sees it as great, cuz the only worse thing is death. Still with me? Good. Cuz he was about to be dead.
"Get up, they'll kill ya if they find ya." My own voice was hoarse from the days of silence.
"Who?" he asked but rose obediently.
"Shh..." I grabbed him by the wrist and led him through the jungle on an irregular path until we came across the stream. I plunged in and started wading upstream towards my sanctuary.
Jason hesitated. "I don't want to get my shoes soaked," he explained in a whisper, which saved him from me slugging him from being too noisy.
"In that case," I growled back, "I'll take them off yer corpse and keep 'em nice 'n dry after yer dead. They're following our path. We gotta lose them in the stream. Get over having wet shoes." O. K. So I was a bit harsh. But by this time, my own shoes were inefective and I'd had to toss them a while ago. I was now running around primitively barefoot and not really liking it.
"How do you know that they'll kill me?" he challenged but followed nonetheless.
"Cuz I saw them kill someone not too long ago. I couldn't get to them fast enough." I was having nightmares about the grizzly sight. I was, however, prepared to elaborate on the event to keep him moving, but he chose wisely to finally shut up.
We made it back to my dwelling (what, you want me to call it my home?) without incident. My fire from the morning had burned down to red coals and I added more fuel for Jason to dry himself. He seemed a bit winded from the climb, but otherwise he was fine. I offered him some food--fish (my main diet)-- and he wolfed it down hungrily. He'd get sick of it soon enough.
Stopping between mouthfuls, he looked up at me and asked, "So, what actually happened to you? I mean, you just kinda showed up then disappeared."
So I told him my story. He thought I was pretty funny with all of my responses. I thought I was stupid. By that time, I was beginning to wish that I had cooperated. "So what about you?"
"I beat up a guard when he got too rowdy with Erica."
I shook my head, "Sorry, I'm not too great with remembering names."
"The black girl from our hut."
"Oh." We sat in silence for a moment. I was use to the quiet, but he seemed uncomfortable. I moved to peer out of my 'door' and the motion seemed to startle him. I realized he hadn't seen me during the time. Looking over the land, I saw that everyone was gathered around the clearing. "Stay here, you can sleep over there if you need to. I'll be back in a bit."
Jason started to ask something, but I slipped out the entrance with out looking back. If Andrew made a show of power for me, he'd make one for Jason too, and I wanted to be there at the beginning so that no one would notice a random body among the scrabbling hoard. My instincts were right, and I arrived just in time to hear his little speech and dive into the pile with the rest. I grabbed without prejudice and immediately made my way back before I could be noticed.
"Eat." My command woke my new room mate. Andrew was smart. All of the food he provided would be perishable, then, no one could save anything for later. I explained all this while shoving my mouth full of food with actual taste. "So, lemme see yer power," I said around mouthfuls.
He swallowed and obliged, turning himself into a humanish statue. Then he walked around. Mobility in rock form was good. "I can also turn into a boulder if I curl up." he demonstrated, blending into my cave walls.
"That's good. Do that if ya hear anyone coming."
I'll skip a week but give ya the briefing. I taught him to fish, build a fire and which berries and forage to eat. Then my luck changed. Of course, it changed for the worse, but I didn't know it at the time.
I woke up with a feeling that something was different. Instinct from my mutations or Intuition from my natural womanly intuition, either way, something was different. Jason and I made our ways down to the clearing where we saw people huddled. That was the first time that I saw Magneto.
He was flanked by a green tinted man and a very large guy with cat-like features. The cat man made a sniffing noise and his eyes locked on me. My hackles rose in response. Magneto was lecturing about the injustice of the island and how he was here to liberate us. Music to my ears but my gut was telling me to take a hike. I touched the boulder that was Jason and led him a ways away.
"I got a bad feeling 'bout these guys," I said in a whisper.
"You gotta be kidding me! Did you NOT hear them?" he whispered back urgently
"Yea. He wants us pile into that metal thingy, then he'll float us up to who knows where. What if he works for Blackstone? He might be sent here to drop us into the ocean for all we know."
"Well, no offense, but I'll take that over this," he made an angry gesture of the island. A week and HE was tired of it?! Wussy city kid...
"Then go with him. I'm going back tot he cave." And I did. Jason didn't follow and that made me angry. The anger made me careless of my tracks.
I was probably only there for ten minutes before I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up again. When I turned toward my door, the cat man stood there.
The green guy stood behind him and muttered in an Australian accent, "I don't see anybody."
"Of course not," the other growled, "She's invisible." He sniffed then added, "well, nearly. Come out girlie. We aint gonna hurt ya." Yea. Right.
The smaller one bounded, literally away and back in the direction of Magneto.
Big guy continued sniffing. He walked past me, standing stock still. "Gotcha!" His large, clawed hand wrapped around my upper arm.
I raked my own claws across the inside of his wrist and watched it knit back up and seal off before he even winced from it. "Aw, CRAP!"
"That wasn't nice," he hissed in my ear before flinging me towards my rock wall. I fell tot he floor and rolled easily to me feet. I'd taken Judo before my 'condition' formed. I was used to falling.
"That is enough, Creed," Magneto's voice boomed and echoed through the cave with authority. Big Guy, Creed, apparently, stopped advancing on me, clearly unhappy about it. He shot a glare at Green Guy who smirked behind Magneto.
"Are you alright, child?" Slowly he walked toward me and reached out a hand to touch my shoulder comfortingly.
I moved back and away from his reach. "Ya know, if ya got him neutered, it might improve his disposition. It did wonders for my cats." I dusted myself off as he chuckled over my remark.
Green Guy got a kick out of it too and asked Creed in a mushy voice, "Is that all you need little kitty cat? A trip to the vet?"
"Shut up or I'll tear out yer liver, Toad," he snarled in response. Who names their kid Toad?
Well, to skip over some boring parts, I went with Magneto. I was brought somewhere north of the U.S.A., Canada, maybe, or Alaska, who knows. He had a little colony of mutants, including my fellow exiles. Certain mutants were taken and trained in how own house. I was one of them., and Jason was taken too. We were the only Blackstone Exiles--as we'd been dubbed--to have this honor bestowed upon us. Woohoo.
We learned to fight, to kill, "if need be". Sabertooth himself taught me to use my claws as WEAPONS, not just eating utensils. We were taught and quizzed on different mutants around the world; the dangerous ones, the 'allies', the pawns of Magneto. From the Hellfire Club, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, Dr. Doom, The Green Goblin, to the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Avengers and Spiderman. We learned of all the anti-mutant people out there and the things that they did that made Blackstone look like a Saint, or Schindler. And Magneto never tried to shield us from the horrors of the growing mutant vs. human war. Maybe he was brainwashing us. Maybe he was just oblivious to the fact that we were just kids. Either way, it fed Jason's bitterness and I watched it consume him. All he wanted was the destruction of humans. He'd spend hours trying to make me think the way he did, but I'm stubborn and kept opting for the possible 'Peace on Earth' scenario, naive, maybe, but it was MY belief, and I still had human family members.
Then one day, my bad luck caught up with me--inevitable, really.
My claws ripped through the skin and muscles of Sabertooth's abdomen and he let out a roar of pain as his intestines started to tumble out. Unfortunately, he just stuffed them back in and healed, then swatted me across the yard (the place where me and Creed had to train because we got to much blood on the floors if we were inside).
I rose from the ground to a crouch. A growl was rumbling from my chest and I knew that my lips were pulled back to reveal my fangs. I was growing increasingly feral in the two months with Creed as my mentor. He smiled at my response, so I 'rehumanized'. "Would'ja mind not flingin' me inta the trees? I don't have a healing factor, remember?" I rubbed at my shoulder, which had taken most of the blow.
"I think," he started, "yer ready. Go get Rocky."
Rocky was Jason's code name. Mine was Cougar, since I hadn't given any other name and they just accepted it as my mutant name and my choice. It's been my nickname for years and my online chat name, before my mutations had manifested. As far as I was concerned, away from home my real name didn't exist.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jason entered the room late--as usual--but Magneto never minded. Jason was his little pet. Yea, that's said with slight resentment. Not that I was looking for his approval, but Jason could get away with murder while I still had a curfew. Creed liked me best, though. I relied on my instincts more than the other trainees, and we often had seperate sessions to expand on that little fact. Believe me, I didn't feel special.
"I've been informed that both of you have learned wonderfully well over the last two months," Magneto started.
Of course we did so well, all we did was train. Personally, I loved it; gave me something to do and kept me in shape. And of course Jason did too, with his 'lets destroy the human race' attitude.
"We believe," the older man continued, "that you are ready for your first mission. You'll be partners for numerous reasons. One, being that you, Cougar, are psychically and physically invisible; two, Rocky, you can become invisible if in the right environment and not even Sabertooth can pick up your scent. These two factors are ideal for invading the Xavier Institute. He paused, mostly because I interrupted him.
"That's a school," I pointed out from my place at the wall near the door. Of all the things Creed taught me, paranoia, even in a familiar, relatively safe environment, was ALWAYS a good thing.
"It also houses the infamous X-Men," Jason said with concern. "They'll cream us."
The man's face darkened momentarily but it was gone before he spoke again, "I realize your concern, but with your gifts, you two should have absolutly no problem, I would think."
"How would we get in?" My new teammate asked.
"A simple distraction. Sabertooth causes a scene which takes Wolverine and his nose out of the picture," he looked at me, "Then both of you make your way through the wooded area near the back of the mansion. By this time, Team Air will join Sabertooth.
"What are we doing there, exactly?" Jason had moved closer to the computerized 3-D hologram of the institute and the surrounding area. Magneto had all kinds of cool gadgets like that. I didn't want to know how he got them.
"Once you've reached the sublevels, you'll rely on Electris to walk you through their computer files. We're looking for information. That's all. Xavier isn't willing to share, so we must use our own means." Electris could connect to any computer in the world. Almost. Cerebro was the exception.
"She couldn't do it before. Why now?"
Once again his features darkened at my skepticism. "When she tries, she's blocked out. She knows how to remove this obstacle, but she would have to be in the same room as the main computer. Since she wouldn't possibly be able to make it through that far, we're sending you. She'll give you instructions through our normal ear piece communications. It isn't too difficult for you, is it Cougar?" his voice came out with annoyed sarcasm.
"It isn't too difficult," Sabertooth said from the door way. "Not fer her." I was his little pride and joy. Ick.
I pointedly gave him no answer and we stared off for a moment. Creed smirked at my insubordinance.
Jason was oblivious to the rising tension in the room, or he didn't care, as he continued his study of the map."What if we run into trouble?"
Magneto pulled his harsh gaze from me and softened it with a smile of confidence for him, "What trouble could you possibly run into, my boy?"
"People might detect one of us and try to stop us."
"They're expendable," the leader made a wave of his hand, as if to brush off the importance of the question.
"That's a school." My own voice surprised me. I hadn't expected my mouth to open, and I certainly hadn't expected the words to sound so outraged.
"The inhabitants of the school," he glared back, "are expendable."
"There's KIDS in there," I shot back.
"Kids are easier to kill than adults," Creed shrugged, "You should have no problem, Kitty Cat. Once you've killed them, it'll be easier ta kill the rest of those mush mouthed X-Men." I glanced back at his words, but Magneto brought me back to him.
"They stand in our way." Eric sounded like he was giving a sermon, "They're a threat to our cause."
I frowned, "If 'our cause' means killin' kids, then I don't want nothin' ta do with it." I had pushed myself away from the wall and was fully prepared to walk out.
Magneto almost looked panicked. Apparently, I was an important person in an important mission. "Of course," he held up his hand, "we don't want you to go out and Murder these children. Its highly unlikely that you'll even encounter anyone. And even so, you wouldn't have to KILL them, simply rendering them unconscious would suffice."
I studied him. He needed me. Enough for him to smile and give in to me. My gut hadn't liked him to begin with. It also didn't like this mission he was brewing. I also hadn't forgotten what Creed had let slip about eventually killing the X-Men. But what could I do? If I tried to leave, he'd stop me, or try. "No one gets killed?"
"Of course not. They are our brothers and sisters, after all, even if Xavier has diluted their minds.
Still, something wasn't kosher. When one is in a situation with a demon, one must occasionally humor it. "When do we leave?"
"Not for a week. You'll need extensive training for this mission and to become accustomed to working with a team mate and as a unit."
"Sure." I muttered and moved toward the door. Creed stood in my way. "Move," I said to him flatly. He enjoyed annoying me. Personally, I think he just wanted to get me to fight him. We'd gotten a little rough before, but he was always told not to scratch me up too badly, we had healers for 'accidents'. He did, however, frequently let me know that he could easily kill me. Good teacher, huh?
"Why?" he stared down at me.
"Because," sweetly smiling, I replied, "I getta use my claws during training and you don't."
He stepped aside, "Heh. Keep tellin' yerself that, Kitty Cat. His words troubled me but at the moment I didn't care. I was mentally and physically drained. I was suppose to keep myself visible around Magneto.It was easier said than done. The island had taken its toll on my control of my powers.
I went to my room--not extravagantly furnished, just a bed and a dresser, but no room mate was a major plus--and sat on my bed, awaiting a visitor whom I knew would arrive. Sure enough, five minutes passed and there was my expected knock. "Come on in Jason," I said with out looking up from my magazine.
"How'd you know it was me?" he sat at the edge of my bed.
"Cuz Creed's knock is harder, Magneto doesn't come to ME, and I don't act 'sociable' towards no one else." I continued to study an article on whooping crane populations. "What do ya want?"
"I want you to stop being so ungrateful towards Eric."
Sighing in response only seemed to make him mad, but I did it anyway.
"He liberated us. He protected us. He gave us a place to call home--"
"This aint my home and you know it," responding calmly, I barely glanced up at him.
"He feeds us! He trains us!--"
Now I met his angry gaze full on, "To kill. Face it, he trains us to kill."
We face off for a moment before he answers, "He didn't mean that we kill our fellow mutants--"
"Just everyone else?" I continued to interrupt him.
"Human's deserve to die if they get in our way. WE should be in charge! We're superior to them."
"Yea. Homo Superior. I've had that drilled into my head, but, funny thing, I don't see a bunch of prejudice anti-human BIGOTS out to annihilate most of the world populations as SUPERIOR to others. I see them as WEAK. ya know why?"
"Oh, Please!" He rolled his eyes, "Enlighten me!"
His sarcasm was ignored, "Because people like that aren't willing to think of others. Self-absorbed, arrogant fools."
"So," Magneto strode through my doorway WITHOUT knocking. "What should we do? Wait until we're accepted by everyone? For congress to DECIDE weather we're worth equal rights? We're far from that point, Cougar. Private and governmental agencies work around the clock as we speak on how to remove the 'mutant problem'. We've been hunted and executed like vermine. What SHOULD we do? The entire world out there hates and fears us, they're willing to kill us at the drip of a hat. What SHOULD we do!?" he roared.
Softly, I answered, "We shouldn't give them reason to."
"They don't need reason," he snorted. "They're like wild animals, ready to kill for crossing their paths.
But killing THEM is ok?" Once again, my voice was quiet, almost sad. I suppose I was depressed. I was in a room with two madmen, one of whom was a good friend of mine, and I had to get out.
"Yes." He mistook my quietness for submission--very wrong--,"It is often necessary." His gaze shifted toward Jason and then back to me. Frowning slightly, he reprimanded, "It's getting difficult to see you again. Keep visible."
So I concentrated on being seen by my nice, homicidal maniac liberator. "I have a headache. Please leave." The fact that I said please and really did look miserable sent them away.
I waited a good half hour before I decided to leave. Only grabbing a second pair of clothes, I crawled out of my window and into the snowy path. It was near dusk, but no problem for my cool eyes. I'd made it for perhaps two hours before I heard Creed yelling for me. And he was close.
He hadn't made a noise coming up behind me, but he actually hadn't seen me yet. So charging after my scent, maybe one hundred yards away was a killer mutant with lethal claws and murder in his eyes. They the eyes spotted me. Yea, great, huh? I ran towards a snow bank, hoping it would have a thick enough crust for me to walk on but thin enough for the crazy guy to fall through. My heart sank when I remembered that this was a fresh powdery snow, but I couldn't stop now. My mutant genes kicked in and surprised me, however. The new gift? Flying? No. That would be too cool and useful where ever. I did learn that I could walk on the snow, kind of elfish and out of JRR Tolkine books. But it certainly gave me a lengthy advantage over Creed.
So I ran. I kept running until I found a town. THEN I stole a truck and drove south, turns out I was in Northern British Columbia. When my stolen truck was out of gas, I just kept walking down the road, waiting for the next town with another vehicle to swipe. Yea, you're right, it was a stupid plan. I think that was when I started to get my cold which I, stupidly, ignored. I know it was stupid. Does my low self esteem seep through in this paragraph? Well, deal with it.
My next vehicle was harder to acquire. Sure, it was unlocked, but it also didn't have keys. But it just so happened that one of my online friends told me (in precise detail) how to hotwire a car. Thanx Zekk.
I drove a few more days, sleeping only when my eyelids refused to stay up. My cold was much worse and I know that I had a pretty high temp. I got dizzy easily and my vision darkened around the edges after standing up or coughing. All that kept me going was the thought of Sabertooth on my heels.
Now, I know what you're thinking. 'What about the coat?' right? I'm getting to that part.
So my third vehicle had just conked out and I'd been walking maybe half an hour.
"How's my little Kitty Cat?" a familiar voice taunted from above me.
I slowly looked up, like in an old cheesy horror movie, and sitting in a branch overhanging the road was Creed.
"Actually, I've got a nasty cold. It'd prolly be best if ya just stayed up there and away from my germs, yea?"
He jumped down with a chuckle, "Right, how considerate."
I stepped back, but he wasn't trying to jump ON me, just near enough to scare me, which was working. No, I'm not gonna say that he didn't scare me. Only a fool would. I might be foolish, but I'm not a fool.
"I've got orders to give you a chance ta come back." 'Thrilled' wouldn't be a word that I'd use to describe his tone, disapointed, maybe.
"Really? He'd let me come back and just forget..this?" hopefully my voice was sincere.
"I'd rather just kill ya and get it over with." He took a step.
I stepped back, "No, really, he was right...The people out here...they're savage, ya know?"
He took another step and I retreated some more, "What's the matter, Kitty Cat? Scared?"
"Yes."
"That's the first truth you've told me all day," he smiled menacingly.
Bolting like a rabbit, I went for the woods on either side of the road. Snow was good for me.
I got a leadway and stopped, remembering an ending scene off of the Shining, I walked backwards over my tracks to a tree and climbed up it, holding as still as I could.
My trick only fooled him for a moment and he was quickly underneath me. I pounced down on him. Once set of claws punctured his eyeballs and raked through down his nose, making him, hopefully, blind for a moment and unable to smell anything but his own blood for longer. My other set of claws dug into his throat and ripped out gobs of bloody mass. His scream was cut short when I ripped out his windpipe. He threw me off of him but I had a tight hold on his coat and kept it. That's when another idea struck me. I pulled on the coat and ran off on top of the snow. My idea? Well, no one is really aware of their own scent, right? They just get too use to it. So, I thought, Creed couldn't track me too well if I smelled like him, because he didn't know his own scent, right? Right. And my Irish blood gave me just this bit of luck--it worked. I didn't see him for a long while after that.
I was still in trouble, though. I was near exhausted due to my fever and using my limited energy and now I was lost in a Canadian forest. I grew up in North Dakota, we don't have forests out there. We have plains and fields and if you get lost out there? Look for a line of trees and they indicate a water supply that you can follow until you find SOMEONE.
What do I do? I already told ya I wasn't a fool. And I'm far from being some city kid. Read the next chapter, wouldja?