Author's Notes: Thank you psycho88 for your review. So you don't like Jean and Scott eh? That's ok, I'm not to fond of them either. Enjoy.

Save Haven and Difficult Times

Logan looked out at the barren waist land from the safe haven just outside of New York. After Infection got out of control the army put up many shelters all around the state for those how had no place to go. The X-Men were only a small percentage of these people.

The gruff man stood by himself as the events of the past few days went through his mind.

He thought of the three team members that they had lost and wondered why their time had to come so soon.

As he stood Kurt came out of one of the tents and walked over to him. Logan seemed to know he was coming.

"Kitty stop crying yet," he asked when the elf came next to him.

"Yah," Kurt answered. "She's sleeping now. Ororo had to give her something in order to get her to do so."

They both stood in silence for a while. It was a sad time for all. And they knew it was very possible for things to get even worse before they got better.

Kurt spoke as he looked up at the star filled sky. "The Professor just went to check up on Amara. The doctors say she should wake up any day now."

"Yep," Logan said as he nodded.

Kurt looked very sadly to the ground as he thought about what had happened.

His mind went back to when the infected got passed the mansion security system. He remembered hearing Roberto screaming as he was buried under those many things.

There were just so many of them. They couldn't hold them back. They couldn't fight all of them. They had no choice but to run for the X-jet and helicopter.

Kurt could still see Sam as he was reaching for his hand when the infected grabbed him and pulled him off the helicopter. He could still hear his cries as they flew off.

And then his thoughts went to Rogue. He had just found out that she was his sister, and he had already lost her.

Logan looked at the elf as the furry mutant sat in his sadness.

"You ok elf," he asked.

Kurt looked up at the gruff man. "I can't believe we just left her behind," he said.

Logan tried to sound comforting when he spoke, but that was never one of his strong points.

"Look elf, there's nothing we could have done," he said. "We tried to get to her, but by the time we did those things were all over the mansion. We couldn't save her even if we tried."

This did not bring any comfort to Kurt. "Do you think that will help us sleep better at night, knowing that we couldn't save her."

Logan looked away from Kurt, as he said, "no."

He then said, "all we can do now is hope she didn't wake up."

The two looked back out at the waist land, trying to keep their minds off of the tragic events.

Meanwhile the other X-Men sat on their beds in a nearby tent. They were not real beds, they were more like cots, and they provided little comfort.

However no sleeping was going on this night. The X-Men were mostly trying to comfort each other.

Scott and Jean sat on the far side of the tent. Scott had his arm around Jean while the red head was leaning against him.

No one was really talking to Jean on the count of a remark she had made about Rogue. Seeing how everybody was upset about leaving her behind she had no idea why she said such a cruel thing.

She had said, "well seeing how Rogue was taking so long to recover we all thought she would die in that bed anyway."

She really regretted saying that, now Scott was the only person who would even look at her.

Back with the group of X-Men Ororo sat over Kitty as she slept. They had to give her a Valium to get her to close her eye.

Bobby was standing near the flap of the tent watching the activity going on around them.

As he watched Tabitha came up behind him. She was not acting like her usual happy and spunky self. She was now a scared and depressed girl.

"What are you doing over here," she asked Bobby.

The boy turned to her as if surprised. He calmed down when he saw her face.

"Nothing," he said, "just thinking."

"Bout what," Tabitha asked.

Bobby gave a long sigh before answering. "Just how strange things seem to play out. I mean we've dealt with so many challenges before. We've dealt with our powers, humans finding out about us, and that incident when Rogue's powers went crazy. And we've managed to overcome everyone of them. But the biggest challenge we have to deal with, and the hardest, is a mutated head cold."

"I see what you're saying," said Tabitha. "It's hard to believe isn't it."

"Yeah," said Bobby. "I don't think anything will ever be the same again after this."

"Well, who knows," said Tabitha, "hopefully things will go back to normal after this is over."

"If it ever ends," said Bobby.

They stood in silence after those words.

The silence was soon broken by a few soldiers dragging in two large glass tanks accompanied by strange hideous sounds.

Bobby and Tabitha looked in the glass tanks. Inside each of them was one of the many people that had been infected.

Ever since the safe haven was made the soldiers had been keeping constant watch, making sure no infected got in. And if one ever did it would not be able to move five feet before being incased in one of those tanks.

Bobby and Tabitha watched as the two prisoners were dragged in.

One of the soldiers ran into a near by tent and dragged out a canister full of a poisonous gas. A hose was hooked up to the canister and then to a small opening in one of the gas tanks.

The gas was pumped into the tank. In no time the infected person began to gasp and cough. It would not take long for it to be dead.

As the first thing was being poisoned Bobby and Tabitha walked over to the tank carrying the second of the infected.

Tabitha looked at the thing. It stared at her with its unblinking and demonic eyes.

"I hate you," the girl said to the infected person.

The thing rammed itself against the glass as it made its horrible sounds to the girl.

Tabitha then formed one of her bombs in her hand and dropped it into the opening of the tank.

Bobby smiled as he backed away from the glass case with her.

After a few seconds there was an explosion. The glass casing shattered in an instant and the thing moved no more.

The sun began to rise slowly over the remains of the Bayeville mall. The infected that had been roaming the streets the night before began to go back in the shadows, which they preferred.

Inside the mall Rogue slept on the chair that Jack had offered her. She had moved there after she finished writing in the notebook she found.

She felt a little better after she had written out all her thoughts down. Whenever she had a difficult time back at the institute she would always write about it and let out all her emotions on paper. It always made her feel better. She figured she was going to really need the notebook she found in order to get through this madness.

As she sat on the chair with the blanket keeping her warm she began to stir. It took her time to wake up, but she eventually did.

Her eyes opened and she was greeted by the sound of snoring. She sat up and took the blanket off of her.

Drew and Keith were still sleeping in the chairs near her. They had their weapons clamped tightly in their hands as they breathed easily.

Derrick stood near the entrance of the store, listening for any sign of the infected.

He turned to Rogue as the girl stood up.

"Surprised to see you up this early," he said to the Goth as he turned back to the entrance.

"Ah normally don't wake up at this time," said Rogue, "but seeing how there's a bunch of blood thirsty zombies running around, it makes it difficult to sleep."

She looked at Keith and Drew as they snored. "And these damn fog horns don't help."

Derrick didn't say anything in response. He just continued his watch.

Rogue walked to the back of the store where she saw Jack sleeping while he leaned against the wall. His ax was placed along his lap, where he could easily grab it in case of an emergency.

Rogue wondered how these boys could sleep in this kind of situation.

As she watched the boy sleep a sudden growling sound came from her stomach. She had not eaten a thing in God knows how long.

Rogue place a hand over her stomach, sort of embarrassed by the noise.

"Hungry," she heard Derrick ask her.

"Kinda," she said as she turned to him.

Derrick pointed to the food piled up in the corner and said, "eat something. It's all cold, but it should still be edible."

Rogue walked over to the pile and slowly looked through it. Eventually she found a fried chicken sandwich and figured it would be the only thing with a decent taste if eaten cold.

She walked back over to the chair she was in and sat back down.

As she unwrapped her sandwich she heard Derrick say, "we'll let them sleep another fifteen minutes. Then we'll take you to your institute."

Rogue didn't say anything to him. She could tell that this Derrick guy didn't like her too much. It was the way he talked to her that tipped her off.

The Goth finished unwrapping her sandwich and took the first bite.

It tasted terrible. Nothing like what she had expected. It had the flavor of what Rogue imagined an old shoe would have. And it was very dry. When she swallowed it felt like sand paper going down her throat. But she knew that there was nothing better in the hide out. Still she could not help but gag.

Derrick watched her eat the sandwich. "Not good enough for you," he asked in a very rude way.

Rogue gave him and irritated look as she said, "Ah can manage."

"See that you do," said Derrick. "We don't have any of that fancy food you might get at that institute of yours."

Rogue stood up, offended by what he said.

Before she could give him what for she heard Jack from behind say, "lay off her Derrick."

Both Derrick and Rogue looked back at him as he lay against the wall. His eyes were still closed, but they knew he was awake. He had been listening to them the whole time.

Jack opened his eyes and looked at Derrick. "As I recall you couldn't stomach the food when you first got here either."

Derrick shut his mouth and turned back to the entrance.

Jack stood up and walked over to Rogue. "You'll have to excuse Derrick," he said. "He's got a rare condition. He jammed his foot in his mouth a long time ago and he hasn't been able to get it out since."

Rogue snickered a little before sitting back down.

She looked down at the shorts she had on and began to try and pull them over her thighs again, knowing it wouldn't do any good, but she still couldn't help but try.

After giving up yet again she picked up her sandwich and began to choke it down a little at a time.

Jack walked over to Derrick. "I take it there was no trouble last night."

"No," said the spiked headed boy. "I thought I heard something about an hour ago, but I don't think it was anything to worry about."

Jack nodded and then turned back to Rogue. "Rogue," he said, "since we're gonna be going out you'll need a weapon of some kind."

He looked back to Derrick. "Do we have anything she could use?"

"I doubt it," Derrick replied. "And I don't think any of us are willing to give up our protection."

Jack thought for a second and said to Rogue, "there is one thing I can give you, but I always think of it as a last resort."

Rogue watched as the boy reached into his trench coat. In a few seconds he pulled out a very well made handgun.

He held it in front of Rogue and said, "this was my father's gun. It's the only remaining weapon we have, and I don't really like to use it much."

Rogue looked at him questioningly. It seemed to her that a gun would be the best thing to use in a situation like this.

"Why," she asked.

"Because," Jack said as he reached into his coat again, "there aren't many bullets left."

He pulled a small box out of his pocket and shook it. "And I always felt that it should only be used in a real emergency."

"And what do you call the shit we're in right now," said Rogue in disbelief. "What kind of emergency are you waiting for?"

"Listen Rogue," he said a little irritated, "when you were chased last night, that was nothing compared to what could have happened. You were chased by six of the infected, there could have been a lot more. That is what I save the gun for, when I'm alone and there's more than a dozen of those bastards riding up my ass. That or when there's to much for us to handle with just our weapon's"

Rogue held her hands up as if asking him to stop. "Ok, ok Ah get it."

Jack calmed down a little and then said, "other than that I carry it for a sense of security. I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. Understand."

Rogue nodded.

Jack held the handle out to Rogue and said, "but until we can find you something else you're gonna have to use this."

As Rogue reached for it Jack held it out of her reach for a second. "You do know which end the bullet comes out of, right," he asked in a teasing voice.

Rogue snatched the gun out of his hand and said rather sarcastically, "oh that's hilarious."

Jack then handed her the remains of the bullets. He reached into his jacket again and pulled out the gun's holster attached to a belt.

Rogue took the holster and tried to wrap it around her waist. Sadly she was to skinny for the belt, there weren't enough notches in it.

With a roll of her eyes she flung the belt over her shoulder and stuck the gun in the holster. There was no way she was going to keep her hands clamped around that gun.

Jack then moved over to Keith who was still sleeping. He gave the fat boy a quick slap in the face and said, "wake up, we're on the move."

The four comrades and the Goth moved through the empty city. The sun was high in the sky and made everything warm up from the cold night before.

Rogue led the way seeing as the boys did not know the location of the institute.

It was difficult for her to find the way. Everything seemed so different now. Rogue could hardly even recognize any of the buildings she had seen hundreds of times.

As they moved through the vacant streets Rogue could hear Jack and Derrick talking behind her. She tried to make it seem like she wasn't listening, but Derrick said some cruel things that made the Goth want to suck him dry.

"Are you sure we should let her tag along," Derrick questioned Jack.

"We can't just leave her to fend for herself," Jack said.

"But she's a mutant," Derrick kept pushing. "How do we know we can trust her."

Jack said very sternly, "look, she's got no one to help her. We didn't either before we met up. If we leave her than she will die. Do you think you can live with that?"

"Jack I'm just saying," Derrick paused before saying quietly, "she's gonna slow us down."

"I don't think she will," Jack insisted and then he left it at that.

'Well,' Rogue thought, 'at least Ah can trust one of them.'

They continued one their way, passing by all the destruction. They tried not to let it depress them, that would only make them easy prey for the infected.

It took them quite a while, but they eventually made it to the institute. By the time they got there it was almost sunset.

They passed through the gates and up the lawn, passing the fallen Roberto on the way.

Rogue looked away from the body. She could not bare to see him like that again.

Drew saw her reaction to the corpse when they went by. "Friend of yours," he asked in a sympathetic voice.

Rogue could only choke out, "yes."

Drew then kneeled down next to the body and slid his eyes shut.

They made there way to the front door which had been torn off. Rogue's eyes turned wide at the sight of this.

"That door was still there when Ah left here the other day."

The boys looked at each other nervously at that statement.

Keith looked at the empty doorway and said, "maybe we shouldn't go in there."

Jack moved to the doorway and looked inside.

"We might have to," he said before turning back to his friends.

He looked up at the sky as he said, "it's gonna be dark soon. If it didn't take so long to get here, then I would agree. In this case it will take us just as long to get back to the mall. We'll be stuck out in the dark, with all the infected."

Derrick gave an aggravated groan and said sarcastically, "well, this was a fucking great idea. Hey lets take the girl back to her institute so she can find stuff to remember her family. And then we'll get stuck out here like sitting duck. Thank you Jack for screwing us over."

"Hey," Keith said as he held his bat up to Derrick's face. "We did the same form each other when we met up. We went back to our houses and got stuff to remember our families. So don't give us that shit."

Rogue looked over to Jack who was studying the broken parts of the doorway.

"So we're staying here tonight," she asked.

"Maybe," he said turning back to them. "first we're gonna check the place out. See if there are any infected here. And if there are we hightail it out of here as fast as possible and find some different place to hide for the night."

All nodded in agreement before entering the institute.

As soon as they entered a dank feeling filled the air.

They moved around the entrance way keeping there eyes on every shadow.

Rogue took hold of the gun and cocked it. She was prepared to shoot at anything that didn't move the way she liked it.

"Everybody stays with the group," Keith said as he looked through the doorway that led to the kitchen. "Nobody goes off by themselves."

Jack looked around the room. He held his ax tightly, ready to make something bleed.

"I think we should start with the upper floors and work our way down," he said.

"Well, what if there are infected down here," Rogue asked.

"Then we'll have the advantage of the high ground," Jack answered. It seemed to be a reasonable idea.

They went up the stairs. It made an eerie creaking sound with every step one person took. If there were any infected in the building they sure weren't going to sneak up on them.

The second floor of the institute was no better then the first floor. The wall paper was shredded and bloody handprints and streaks were on the left side.

"Oh God," Rogue said as she put her hand over her mouth.

They followed the blood all the way to the room that Rogue used to share with Kitty.

Jack grabbed hold of the door knob and both Drew and Keith stood with there weapons ready.

Jack pushed the door open and the two ran in. There was noting in the room but a huge blood stain on the floor. They all sighed in relief, except for Rogue.

As the boys moved on to the next room Rogue stayed behind, which should not have been done.

She walked in and stared at the pool of blood. She kneeled down in front of it, think that the blood could only have belonged to one person. Kitty.

"No," she said. She could not picture Kitty being dead. That girl was so innocent. Why did she have to be killed.

Rogue stood up only to sit down her old roommate's bed.

"This can't be happening," Rogue said. "They can't all be dead."

She looked over to Kitty's dresser. Most of her belongings were sprawled all over it. One thing in particular caught Rogue's eye.

It was the necklace Kitty always used to ware. She hardly ever took it off.

Rogue slid over to the dresser and picked up the necklace with a shaky hand. She held it up to her chest and said, "Ah'm sorry Kitty."

The Goth then put the necklace around her own neck. It was something that would remind her of her friend.

She tried to hold back her tears as she thought about the prep. Sure she was annoying some times, but she was still Rogue's friend.

Rogue looked to the side of the bed and saw Kitty's teddy bear that she always had sitting next to her pillow.

Rogue slowly picked it up and hugged it as she tried to calm herself.

Little did she know that she was not alone in the room. She was being watched by hidden eyes.

Rogue took a deep breath before standing up from the bed.

When she did something grabbed hold of her ankle.

All the Goth could do was gasp as she was pulled off balance. The gun holster flew off her shoulder when she hit the floor.

There was something under the bed, that was now pulling her, and Rogue was afraid that she knew what it was.

She began kicking her free leg, and made contact with a hard something.

The grip on her ankle was released and she got back up to her feet.

When she stood up the thing that grabbed her came out from under the bed.

She knew the face. She had seen it many times before.

"Sam," she blurted out in surprise.

It was indeed Sam. But not the one she knew. This Sam had the orange eyes and his arms flailed about in the air. He was infected. The Sam she had known was no more.

Rogue tried to aim her gun at the thing, but it leapt at her and pinned her against the wall, knocking the gun out of her hands.

As the Goth struggled with what used to be Sam she saw another of the infected crawl out from under her bed.

She struggled with "Sam" trying to free herself, but the thing was much stronger then the boy she knew.

As Rogue fought for her life, Derrick came running into the room. He saw the two things attacking Rogue and screamed out, "JESUS CHRIST!"

The second of the infected looked towards him and charged.

Derrick had no time to defend himself before he was tackled.

Rogue could hear him scream in pain as she fought with "Sam".

Within seconds Drew and Keith were in the room followed by Jack.

Derrick managed to push the second thing off of him and he began hitting it repeatedly with his sledge hammer.

Drew ran over to Rogue and jammed his machete into the former Sam.

He swung it off of the girl and over to Keith, who knocked it down and bashed it's brains out.

Jack looked at Rogue whose face was panicked. "Are you alright," he asked.

She didn't answer. She only said, "that was Sam."

Jack shook his head and looked at Derrick. "What about you," he asked, "are you ok."

Like Rogue, Derrick didn't answer. He didn't say anything.

He rolled up his sleeve. Blood dribbled down his arm as a wound was revealed.

It was a bite mark.

Jack looked at the wounded boy. "Derrick," he asked.

Derrick looked at him. He knew what had happened. Every one in the room knew.

Jack let out a sad sigh as he held his ax.

"You know what I have to do now, don't you Derrick," he asked.

Derrick just looked at him. He did not shed one tear, are give any whimper.

He only said, "make it quick."

Jack then swung his ax at him. In one powerful swing he cut off Derricks head.

Rogue gasped as her face turned to shock and terror.

Drew gave a sad look and said, "goodbye Derrick."

All three of them looked at Rogue. The poor girl was frozen with fear.

All of them then began to hear sounds from the upper floor. The sound of more infected.

"We gotta move," Jack demanded.

They began to leave the room, but Rogue just stood there starring at Derrick's dead body.

Both Jack and Drew grabbed her and began to pull her out of the room.

They all ran out of the institute as the many infected that were there began to fill its halls.