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Watch out. This un's a nasty one…
Then again, isn't the thirteenth one always the bad one?
Oh, right. I don't like, own, like x-men n' junk! Totally! OMG!
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It felt like his lungs were on fire. He gasped and struggled convulsively against the bonds, fighting for the breath that burned his innards.
Fire. Pain. Unbelievable pain.
It was his dream all over again. But this time it was real.
Kurt screamed as his body began quake on its own.
4:00 AM: Fever reaches 104. Light seizures begin.
Dr. Ralthiers jotted the note down on his pad and yawned.
"Why'd he have to go off at two in the morning," the man mumbled to his assistant, "I was having a good dream too." Dr. McKenzie scowled.
~God damn mother fu- ~
"Oh, Dr. McKenzie could you get me a Tylenol? I think I'm working on a light headache. Not a morning person you know." He yawned again.
Dr. McKenzie smiled a smile that, to anyone less dense Dr. Ralthiers, would have said go f*** yourself. She ignored his request and approached the circular glass chamber where the subject lay. Where he would die, her mind reminded itself. He was still twitching slightly from a mild seizure. She checked the monitors. Dr. Ralthiers would be disappointed; she thought to herself, his temperature had gone down slightly.
"Temp's down," she said, her voice flat.
The other doctor sighed. "Can't he just hurry up and expire?"
Dr. McKenzie glared daggers at him. The pretentious bastard.
"Oh, and could you get me a Tylenol?"
Kurt's head felt as if it was going to explode. Before he'd been burning up and now he was freezing, yet sweat coursed down his brow.
His whole body ached horribly. Pain seared his limbs. Breathing hurt so much. He coughed fitfully and felt something warm on his lips. Blood. He moaned loudly. He was terrified. He began his futile struggle against the bonds holding him to the table.
4:30 AM: Temperature down at 102 degrees. Increase in coughing, bloody discharge.
His dull yellow eyes fixed on her, but she doubted he even recognized her. Dr. McKenzie uttered a silent prayer.
**************
"C'mon hurry up! We're almost there," Wolverine called in the dim light of the coming dawn.
Rogue only nodded and pushed herself faster. Up ahead a fence materialized out of the gloom. She winced at the barbed wire coiled at the top.
"Quick kid, take this." The older mutant stopped just before it and tossed her a syringe.
"What's this for?"
She watched in curiosity as he pulled back a sleeve and stuck a similar one into himself.
Rogue gulped. She hated needles. Who didn't?
"Hank…er, Dr. McCoy's been studying the pathogen the kid stole. He thinks he might'a found a cure, but he's definitely found a preventative." He motioned for her to inject the serum. "Charles gave me a couple'a these before I left. Can't take any chances."
Rogue promptly followed his example. Logan had already hacked an opening in the fence and she hurried through behind him.
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Pain. Pain. Pain.
He coughed spasmodically and gurgled on his own blood.
~I'm dying. Oh God. I'm dying. I want my mom…~
"Hello Arianna? Can you get me a Tylenol?"
Pain. Pain. Pain.
Suffering.
*****************
Rogue ran like she'd never run before. Tree. Dodge. Run. Tree. Dodge…
In front of her Logan growled. They were approaching a low grey building illuminated in a pool of yellow light. She hated it already. Logan didn't slow down as he came to the wall but howled an oath and slashed right through the wall.
"We're comin' Kurt." She whispered.
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The bright lights of the lab buzzed like a swarm of flies. Dr. Arianna McKenzie watched the patient. He wasn't a subject. No. He was a patient, she told herself. A patient I can do nothing to help.
He was lying very still. His breathing was slow and his eyes, unfocused, stared off into nothingness.
~Not much longer now. ~
She shook the thought from her head. She had to do something. She had to.
Her mind made up, she strode to the control panel and pressed the button to open the glass door beside her.
"Hey what are you-"
But an ungodly roar and a terrible crash stopped Dr. Ralthiers in his tracks. Arianna wheeled around as two people leapt through the wall.
It all happened so fast. One minute Dr. Ralthiers was standing; the next he was slumped on the ground in front of her. It was actually kind of funny. She stared at the girl who had dropped him with her touch.
"You're a…a mutant…" the doctor stuttered.
"Yeah and you're about ta go down." Her voice was angry as Rogue reached her ungloved hand towards the woman.
"Wait. I can help you."
Rogue paused a fraction of an inch away from the doctor's face. As if to prove it Arianna ran into the glass chamber and began unhitching the many monitoring devices attached to Kurt's prone form. Logan made as if to enter.
"No! Don't come near! He's infectious to mutants!" The young woman shouted.
"Don't worry about us lady," Wolverine almost chuckled, "We took our medicine."
Though she still looked worried the doctor allowed him to pick the boy up gently, and Logan wrapped him in a blanket the she provided. Rogue almost cried. He was so thin and he looked horrible. His eyelids were puffy and purplish and blood stained his chest.
"Kid, call the Institute. Tell the professor we're coming back. Oh, and tell him to clear the lobby and any halls leading to the med ward. Can't have anyone else getting' sick," Logan added gruffly.
Rogue complied.
Dr. Arianna stared at the pair in wonder as they headed out the way they'd come.
The teenage girl turned as she stepped out the hole, "What's your name?" she asked in a heavy Southern accent.
"Arianna McKenzie."
"Thanks Arianna."
With that she and the man disappeared into the dim early morning twilight.
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Please review! You know you want to!
Tell me what you liked and anything you didn't. But let's keep the latter to a minimum…heh heh.