Chapter 1: Revelation
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Logan sat in front of his computer desk thinking of what had happened the night before. What was meant to be a celebration today, was now a period through which to mourn. For one dead, and one capture. It was not a happy day. Logan doubted that there ever would be happiness now in his life. Max was dead, gone, probably being hacked to bits at this very moment for undamaged organs. There was never a chance to say good bye to her. It happened so fast. Logan remember that just last night, he had held Max in her final moments of life, while gun fire and sirens were going off all around them.
Bling walked in at that moment, "Logan, you all right man?"
Logan smiled, without turning around he said, "yeah, hey, I am going to head down to Max's job to tell Cindy what has happened. "With that, Logan got up from his chair and without looking at Bling, walked out of the door.
Logan walked down the street head down, deep in thought. How would he tell Cindy? Not just Cindy, Max's co-workers as well. They would all have to know the truth wouldn't they? I mean he could make up a story, but her co-workers would ask where the body was. He could say he creamnated her. But how? So soon? His mind was flooded with questions. Finally he came to the conclusion that he would let whatever came to him came to him, and he would act upon it.
Logan walked through the little door to the large post office where Max worked. Taking a deep breath he walked over to the desk through which Max's boss, Normal, occupied. Logan asked him in a stressed voice, "Where is Cindy?"
Normal answered in a smart allelic voice, "Where is Max? You tell me where she is and I will be happy to tell you where Cindy is."
Before Logan could reply Cindy's voice broke through the air, "Hey Logan! Come here."
This was it; he had to tell her. He had to tell Cindy. He couldn't postpone this; Sketch and Herbal were also with Cindy beside the lockers. Taking another deep breath he walked over to the trio, with out looking at either one of them he told them that they had better sit down for this. Immediately Cindy asked in a voice filled with concern, "Logan, where is Max?"
Logan knew that Sketch and Herbal didn't know the whole history of Max's life. Would he have to start from the begging? Yes, he knew that he would. So he began. He told the three of them, although Cindy already knew, about how Max wasn't normal at all. He told them how she was an advanced genetic enhancement soldier who portrayed human perfection. He told them what they did to people in Manticore. How they practiced experiments on the X5 group, and other groups. By breaking their arms, and putting them in tubs of water to time them on how long they could hold their breath. How one group had to be put down. He went into detail about the bar code on Max's neck. Then he told them about the escape. Finally he went into discussion of how they met.
There was a pause; Logan took another deep breath. Then he went into telling them how Max and Zac tried to save Tinga, how they were caught. Then Lydecker came into the picture. This was the part that Logan had dreaded to speak about. This was the point in this revelation about Max that he had to tell the trio. The trio of friends that were now sitting in front of Logan listening intently, and hanging on his every word. Logan than told them how the idea of destroying Manticores DNA lab came into play. How all of the X-5's that were left were reunited. How the plans to sabotage Manticore became real. How the group of X-5's broke into Manticore grounds, how the bomb was set in the DNA lab, how they tried to escape. Here was the part that he had been building up to for about 20 minutes.
"Then I heard a gunfire, I called for Max to speak to me over the headset. She, she didn't answer me. So I ran out of the van to go see what went wrong. I thought that may be she lost her headset while dodging a bullet. But then, then I saw her lying on the ground. I then figured that it couldn't be her, because she had been through tougher stuff than that. But I knew it was over when I saw all of the blood. Cindy, Max is dead. She died last night in my arms, one gunshot wound through the chest. She's gone."
Cindy looked up at Logan. Her eyes were brimming with tears. She asked in a quite voice, "did she suffer?"
Logan replied in a shaky voice, "No, no, I, I don't think so. She held on for a minute or two."
Cindy said nodding her head, "Well that's good. At least she went without pain."
Logan stated more than asking, "Funny you know? She was born at Manticore and died there."
There was a
Cindy jumped up from her seat along with Logan, Sketch, and Herbal trying to hold her back as she screamed, "MAX IS DEAD. YOU HERE ME? MAX IS GONE AND ALL YOU DID WAS SHOW HER DISRESPECT HER ENTIRE LIFE THAT SHE WORKED HERE. SHE SAVED YOUR ASS AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS WHINE AND COMPLAIN ABOUT HER AND EVERYONELSE AROUND HERE. DON'T YOU THINK THAT SOMETIMES THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAN WORKING IN THIS HELL HOLE LIKE BEING TOLD THAT YOUR BEST FRIEND IS DEAD, AND IS NEVER COMING BACK?!?!?"
A eerie quite filled the post office. The only sound that was heard was Cindy's sobbing in Logans shoulder.
