Chapter Five: Pain Revisited
Logan blinked heavily as they came out into the late afternoon twilight, seemingly a nova to his eyes after so long of seeing through the green tinge that gave him sight in the dusky recesses of the earth. He had no relapses while they had trekked through the darkened tunnels, for which he had been thankful, but now his pupils suddenly did not want to return to normal. He shook his head several times, looking at different points in the forest around him trying to jar whatever had locked his vision loose. It seemed to work when he and Max had been in the alley. After several painful eye-watering moments he sighed gratefully when they resumed normal function.
"You OK?" Tinga asked looking back at him.
He smiled disarmingly, "Yeah, just the usual problems associated with a DNA rewrite, nothing wants to work when I want to. If I could just control some of the stuff happening to me I'd be a lot happier. I feel like I'm going through puberty again and boy was that a long time ago."
She looked back at him her eyes narrowing, "DNA rewrite? You part of some experiment or something?"
He laughed out loud then, "No… a victim of circumstance is more like it."
Tinga stopped crouching low and waiting for Logan to catch up to her. She looked him dead in the eyes as he stopped next to her assuming the same crouched position. She said nothing but the question was clear to read on her face. He looked away avoiding her eyes, why had he even brought the subject up? He was having a bad case of diarrhea of the mouth this week. If he told Tinga what had happened to him, then she would want to know about Max… and he was not up to explaining that… not again. A pang hit him in the gut as all the memories of the last three weeks replayed, catching in the same loop of images. He shook his head trying to clear his mind of those thoughts realizing that he needed to remain in the present if he was going to get to the objective.
When he did not answer her she shrugged and moved away again. They continued on for about forty minutes before stopping. They paused at a small shack that stood alone in the woods. It was old and decrepit, and Logan thought it looked as if a good wind would send it crashing to the ground. Instead of going into the dilapidated shack as he had begun to think she moved to the back where there was another burrow in the ground. Reluctantly he followed her into it starting to feel like a gopher or a mole. The passage was short and ended in a small room with several other corridors leading off into the dark. The room itself was piled high with boxes and Tinga immediately broke into one the nearest. Logan saw easily the neatly packed weapons stored there, well preserved. Without looking she tossed one his direction which he caught automatically, he looked at it and then back at her.
"Are all of you preparing for the apocalypse?"
Tinga shrugged, "Helps to stay prepared when Manticore is on your back." She said simply
"What are these tunnels anyway?"
"I think that they were storage cellars a long time ago, they were not in use when we found them," Tinga shrugged again.
"How long have you guys been living here?"
"'Bout three years… we were doing alright until recently. When Manticore drove us out of hiding a few of us teamed up, starting out up in Canada until the heat died down. We moved down to California to muddle our trail and found Yreka. The locals were supportive and asked no questions, and we were left to our own devices. Knowing that it wouldn't last we began gathering this stockpile knowing the day would come when we would be found and have to defend ourselves.
"We think that an operative came through here and discovered us, and then reported our whereabouts to Manticore. When the first of the troops arrived we holed up in the tunnels. We led them on a false trail to the house staying in the woods and the tunnels to keep from getting caught,"
"Sounds like you were doing alright, why'd you get Zach involved?" Logan asked.
"We didn't, and that is another reason I stayed behind when the rest left. Somehow Lydecker got a hold of Zach's contact number and left him a text message that we were in trouble. They set him, and you up. But part of it backfired anyway, they were already supposed to have us by the time you two got here. So they will keep him alive and hope that it will force us into exposing ourselves," she looked away, then looked him dead in the eye, changing the subject "We'll stay here until it gets dark and then approach the camp," she nodded toward one of the dark tunnels, "That one comes out about a mile from their base of operations. I think I know where they will put Zach."
Logan grunted as he settled his overworked body on the nearest unopened crate. He straightened his left leg out in front of him relieving the tension on his screaming quad muscle, "Well that's good because I haven't clue. We have a few hours?" Logan asked and Tinga nodded, "Even better, Lord knows I need the reprieve," he replied shaking his head, "Is it going to be enough… just you and me? We went through some of their troops there at the house, but I don't think we touched their numbers."
"Grunts I can deal with," Tinga said sounding offended.
"There is also this… Zach briefed me that there are at least two Manticore soldiers assigned to this operation."
"I know, I'm the one who told him," Tinga replied non-chalantly, "They're kids I've not seen before gotta be X-7 or newer."
"Great…"Logan said trailing off. He again experienced a pang of self-doubt, even if he had fought well in the past several hours. He chewed on the inside of his lip as he contemplated the wisdom of having ever gotten himself involved, all in the name of revenge.
"You OK?" Tinga asked nodding toward his leg.
Logan nodded his mouth thin as another spasm rippled through his protesting muscles, "Yeah fine," he said tersely. He felt the pain in his mind again as if it happened just moments ago, the feel of hot lead tearing through his leg. The agony as he tried to walk on it like a junkie on too much speed, determined to get to Max, to keep her from dying alone surrounded by the people she had dreaded all her life.
"Where is Max anyway?" Tinga said ripping him back to the moment violently, "I would have thought she would have volunteered to be on this little excursion."
"She…" Logan started, his mind racing. How would he explain it to her? He was not ready for another ostracism. Surely Tinga would have the same reaction to him that Zach had.
Tinga's eyes furrowed as she saw the pain move over Logan's face, "She's alright isn't she? I mean last I heard you two had gotten married. Did something happen?" To Logan her voice was high and accusatory. But it was just his guilt bleeding in.
Logan shot her a hard look, anger flashing in his eyes feeling forced to tell her, saying in a harsh tone, "She's dead… Alright," he waited long moments searching her face waiting for the backlash, waiting for the blame to fall from her mouth square on his already overburdened shoulders. He felt the hot tears well up in his own eyes as the admonition laid the wound open yet again. He tore his eyes from her face when she hadn't said anything, "And it was my fault," he whispered, "I failed her and the baby."
"Baby?" She whispered.
He nodded unable to speak for a long moment, "We had just found out when Lydecker caught up to us," he whispered raggedly.
"Lydecker had her shot," Tinga said as a statement, her eyes vacant, but Logan nodded again. She looked away from him, and Logan looked up again swallowing hard the lump in his throat, here it came. She turned and walked back to him stopping just a pace from where he sat. She lay a gentle hand on his shoulder, kneeling in front of him. Tinga looked into his hurt expressive blue eyes. Before Logan knew what happened she was hugging him whispering in his ear, "I am so sorry, Logan," His body was stiff as a board under her touch. She released her hold of him, "Logan," He looked into her dark eyes, "Don't blame yourself, not where Lydecker is concerned."
"You don't understand, I have all these Manticore abilities, Max gave them to me and they've been manifesting themselves for three years… If I had just utilized them, practiced in their use… she might…. She might still be alive. But I balked… I was uncomfortable with them. I listened long enough to gain control, so I could resume a semblance of a normal life… then I stopped listening, only halfheartedly trying when she wanted me to practice what she knew about keeping herself on top of a fight. In the end it cost Max her life."
Tinga backed up a step at the vehemence and self-loathing in those words, "I really don't think so… he would have gotten to her one way or another. You wouldn't even had been a speed bump to him, no matter how honed your skill," his jaw worked and she could tell that he didn't want to accept that, "Think about it… He has managed to track and kill all but seven of us, five, trained from birth, transgenic soldiers, and no offense what chance did you stand against them… even with your newfound abilities? You're lucky that you're alive after a run in with him… he is not known to leave witnesses to what he does."
As much as Logan wanted to refute what she was saying the logic of it made sense to him. He nodded minutely acknowledging her support. She watched as his mood shifted, slowly stiffly he stood up, drawing in a deep breath, "Let's get Zach cut loose," He stated in a strong voice, thinking, "And then Lydecker, you and I are going to dance."
