Once more, Max drifted slowly to conscience. She felt her face pressed against a hard surface. Opening her eyes, squinting, to avoid the clarity that came from the room, she saw herself lying face down on a wooden floor. As she tried to raise herself, she felt a sharp pain emanating from the back of her neck. Ignoring the pain, and some feelings of dizziness, she let herself up, only to realize that she had been lying on the floor, in the middle of Logan's living room.
Still confused, she pushed her hair away from her face, only to notice that something in her hands didn't feel right. A deep chill ran down her spine, and all the way to the bottom of her soul, as realized that her hands were soaked in blood.
She stood there frozen in the moment, reliving with horror the images from the dream she had, where she had found herself back at Manticore. Now here she was, standing in the middle of Logan's living room, with blood on her hands.
She gathered all her strength, and started to turn around slowly, trying not to face the horrible possibilities that kept springing in her mind. She walked in slow mechanic paces, trying to clear her mind of all thoughts.
As she came near the rooms she saw Bling. Lying lifeless with his back to the floor, holding his throat with one of his hands // Images from the dream when she broke the guard's trachea flashed in front of her eyes //.
Desperation took hold of every part of her body, with the realization of what she had done. Trying to keep legs from faltering, she burst into the guestroom, only to find Original Cindy, her best friend, lying in a pool of blood, with a pointy object, a pen, sticking out of her neck.
She knelt down near her boo, and started gently caressing her friend's face with the back of her hand, trying desperately to feel warmth in it. But there was none. She stayed there near her friend, for what seemed like ages, in a semi-catatonic state.
She didn't want to look around the room. She knew what she was going to find. And she knew that her soul would not take it. It would be the loss of all hope for her. As long as she didn't see him, hope would always exist in some small part of her mind. But she had to.
Gliding her gaze across the room, she froze at the site of Logan's wheelchair, empty on the other side of the bed. Using all the strength that was left in her, she raised herself and walked slowly to the where the chair was.
There he was...
His once beautiful blue eyes, were now lifeless, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Max sat down next to him, and gently placed a kiss on his now cold lips. Then pulling his body to hers, she held his face tightly to her chest and started rocking him slowly back and fourth, weeping. She wept silently at first, then louder. And finally, when all the suffering in her soul exploded, she did something she'd never done before.
She screamed.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Outside, in the hallway of the penthouse in Foggle Towers, and in some
the apartments below, a loud gutural scream was heard.