Lucky Me

Chapter 105


When I was eight, I was in a car accident.

The seat belt locked and I felt as if I was going to be sliced into two pieces. It would have been more pleasant had I not been wearing that blasted restraining thing. Though it held me steady, it also didn't allow me to escape. I was in the passenger seat when it happened. The dash board slammed into my gut and I was pinned. I wanted to cry out, I wanted to black out, but I didn't do either. It took the cops twenty minutes to show up and then it took even longer to free me.

I missed that dash board.

Mr. Logan was too fast, too experienced. When he lunged at me, I was too afraid to move and the impact of his fist knocked the air out of me from every breath I'd ever taken in the past ten years. I flew back, cracking a few branches in my descent back to earth.

"Oaff!"

I was pretty sure I slide about ten feet before coming to an unsure stop on some rocks.

Shaking off the debris, I was only able to suck in a breath before having the little wild man pound into me again. I was trying to scream, but they came out as squeaks. It wasn't until I found a part of my body that wasn't bruised and getting battered that I was able to focus. Finding a footing on his chest, I was able to propel him backwards with my strength. I hoped it would be far enough to give me a head start.

I turned, cursing and cringing as each pain became an off key singer in the harmony of hurt flowing through my body. I only was able to stumble a few feet before I heard him come again.

My eyes were wide and terrified as I turned and let out a noise akin to disbelief as his claws were aimed right for my head.

"Logan!" I screamed at the last second before the impact. But it wasn't I who received the lethal blow but the tree next to my head.

"Run…..kid…." he growled and I didn't have to be spit at twice.

I took off into the woods, running (mainly tripping) toward the road. Or at least where I thought the road was…

I stopped to catch my breath.

"You never answered." The voice suddenly questioned. "Who is the most likely to win? The most powerful or the most manipulative?"

I heard the rustle of leaves and felt my stomach lurch. Wolverine wasn't too far behind me.

"Why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you?"

A soft growl, maybe thirty seconds.

"It's not what you did to me, it's what you can do for me." Two white lights, like eyes, flashed and looked past me. I turned my head and felt my fear wrap around my throat. Mr. Logan stood there, eyes wild and claws gleaming.

"What did you do to him?" I breathed out, paralyzed. He would pounce if I as much as flinched, like a wolf on a rabbit.

"Believe it or not, his mind is pretty reckless and that makes it hard to steer. Your friend though, she's another matter."

My friend—?

Julie!

Daring it, I peered over Mr. Logan's shoulder and there she was. One hand extended with a green brown flames engulfing it, a blank stare on her face. That's what she meant when he asked about 'powerful' or 'manipulative'!

There was no way to get to her though! I had a strong, drooling beast in front of me who was going to disembowel me at any moment.

Then another thought dawned on me. If he wanted me to do something, then maybe just maybe, he wouldn't allow me to be killed. Of course, I knew next to nothing about this person besides that he seemed like some type of mind leech.

"Times ticking," he stated flatly behind me, reminding me slightly of D-M. I felt so tired, my vision was blurring and my body was begging me for rest. How the heck had this happened so fast?

"How?" I tried to stall. I was always trying to stall. "How did you set this all up?"

He was silent for a few heartbeats (precious, on-borrowed time heartbeats).

"If you would have been thinking, you would have realized what a trap this was. After all, who do you think it was that caused your little fire starter to walk out all this way?"

Okay, I thought that Julie being out here was pretty weird, but I never even imagined anything like this.

"You are probably wondering how deep I am into the minds of your friends." No, I wasn't. Not really. If that sick dude wanted to go tromping through their minds, hey it was fine with me because apparently they hadn't been mind slammed enough to realize that anyone being 'up stairs' was a bad thing. "Do you understand?"

I wasn't going to talk again! Hello! There was a very intimidating guy in front of me!

Time seemed to freeze. The leaves stopped blowing, the heavy pant/growl coming from Mr. Logan couldn't be heard and all the color drained away from the world around me.

"Wha-?"

Mr. Logan wasn't budging, Julie's flames stopped flickering and the demon eyes floated in front of me.

"I actually came to tell you something."

Something else besides the fact that you can manipulate the manipulators?!

"Why me?" I questioned her again. "Why not someone with more-whatever it is you are looking for?"

The eyes or little white orb thingies narrowed as if glaring.

"Neither of us have much choice, fortune's fate leads us. According to that, you are precious and needed."

Oh goody. I was feeling so much better.

"In two days, they'll be another compound, like the ones you have gone to before. There will be another massacre, but more importantly, you will be going there. At that compound, whoever is to go with you," he glanced over toward Julie. "Your team has been under watch, under fortune, since your injuries."

"Why are you telling me this? I'll just make sure not to go to that compound with or without my team."

"If you fail to show, fortune's fate will become darker." He voice softened again, "Your pain will be nothing to that which is brought upon your loved ones if you do not come."

The world slowly started to turn back into a colorful location.

"One more question, kid, how deep am I in your mind?"

And then pow.

I fell down, as if gravity localized on my head and sent me plummeting like a two ton brick.


"..two cracked ribs. That's pretty convincing, Logan." Dr. Hank?

"I'm telling' ya, I don't know what happened. She was fine one moment and then dropped like a stone the next." What? He was there. He attacked me. He didn't remember? What did I have to have, three puncture marks from his claws or something?

"And what were you three doing in the middle of the woods?" Dad? They're having a group meeting above me? Maybe I was on the table…

"The car broke down." He grouched something about Dad being a cheap, uhm, arse and said he should get rid of the P.O.S. "We were walking back here; she doubled over and then passed out."

"Falling to the ground would not cause her to acquire such injuries. Not unless she fell from ten feet and she is barely five-seven." Hey! I was not 'barely' five-seven! I was five-seven! Sheesh, be nice to the corpse!

"Ungghhh…" I husked out at them.

"Try opening your eyes, dork." Chris? Oh good grief. Where was I? The male locker room?…that would explain the smell. Ack! What if I was in the male locker room? Oh gag! What if they were just in their jock straps or something! Icky! Ugh, I was going to vomit. There was no way I was opening my eyes now!

"Kookie!" D-M….if she was there…then maybe I was in the medical lab…then again…knowing how much she, er, enjoyed being with the guys-it could be the male locker room.

"Open your eyes, git."

Julie.

My eyes opened. I half expected them to be towering over me like pillars but only Chris was lingering around and looking down.

"About time. I was wondering if I was going to have to jump start your brain." He smirked, letting the electricity dance at his fingertips.

Bobby was on the other side, as I turned my head to check out where I was. He was giving a slight smile.

"Please, if not for the crowd you be giving her mouth-to-mouth." Julie pointed out in her normal bored fashion.

He rolled his eyes.

I groaned and tried to sit up only to find that the pain in my rib cage had other ideas and I slumped back on the bed.

"Not so fast there, Kookie." Yeah, thanks for telling me that now. It really helped after the fact.

"What happened to ya, kid?"

"Probably tripped over a root," Julie piped up. I glared at her. She stood behind everyone and flipped me off when they weren't looking.

"How'd", I choked out, "How'd I get back?" I rasped.

"Carried ya." Mr. Logan stated, "You been gainin' weight or somethin' kid?" They'd already called me short and now I was fat?

"You seem to have sustained minor head injury." Chris snorted at that. Bobby was kind enough to smack him for me. "Have you experienced these seizures before?"

I didn't have a seizure. That wicked voice was trying to make a point. He was showing me how strong he was and how deep he was into my mind. I don't understand how! Jean told me that it would hurt immensely if someone tried to get in there. Well, it did hurt. But he must have gotten in some other time or else I was taking dreaming to a whole new physically painful level.

He'd been appearing in my dreams a lot. Maybe I just needed to cross reference the files to see if there was a mutant with a lot of telepathic ability who liked to muck around with innocent, pessimistic girl's dreams.

"No." I answered honestly. I never had a seizure before that I knew. Maybe I was dreaming again. I had to be dreaming. They continued to bustle about me and take wild guesses at things, but nothing added up to them. I did the best to convince myself that everything was just my mental instability (come on, I ran around in tights, how sane could I be?) working over time.

But if everything had been a dream, if I was hallucinating for whatever reason…then nothing was real. I didn't have to worry about my team or anyone else going to any supposedly-fated complex.

Right?