"Okay, Jubes," he said as they resumed their trek, "what happened?"
"They got me as I was going home from the mall on Friday night," she told him. "I was driving my scooter down the street when I ran over something and busted a tire. It's gonna cost me ta fix it. When I bent over ta look at it, someone grabbed me and slapped a cloth over my mouth. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in a stinky truck with two big Mexican goons pointing guns at my head and that stupid collar on my neck."
"Why didn't ya leave then?" he asked as he helped them up a steep incline. He'd trained her himself. He knew that two guards couldn't hold her for long.
"I was hog tied," she told him as they crested a rise.
"Hog tied?" he asked, surprised.
"Hands ta feet," she confirmed.
"Someone not only knew ya were a mutant but what ya could do without yer powers." he said thoughtfully. "Anyone in LA know about ya?"
"Just Aunt Hope and Shane." He flashed her a questioning look. "A friend and fellow mutant," she explained.
"What about you Tessa?"
"I don't remember much," she apologized. "Carol and I were in a bar in Nuevo Laredo. Next thing I know, I'm in a cage. I don't even know where they took Carol."
"I do," he growled. Jubilee's head snapped around to look at him. She knew that growl. He was pissed about something.
"Where is she," Tessa asked anxiously.
"Dead," he said in a flat voice. "Her body was found the morning after ya went missin'. Her throat was cut."
Color drained from her face. "No," she whispered. "Nononononono," her voice getting louder, hysterical. "It can't be true," she was screaming. "It's my fault." She ran from the group into the brush.
"Don't," Logan yelled. He dropped his pack and ran after her. His heart leapt into his throat when he heard the first hissing rattle. She was heading straight for the snake. His legs pumped faster He gave a tremendous leap, flying ten feet and landing on his belly in front of the fleeing girl just as the snake struck. He howled in pain as the fangs tore through his thin shirt and into the flesh of his right arm, pumping venom deep into the tissues. He felt Jubilee skid to a stop beside him, gasping. She acted quickly, sending a concentrated plasma stream into the snake, flash frying it instantly.
"Wolvie," she cried, dropping to her knees beside him and turning him to his back. She pulled his hunting knife from his belt and cut open his shirt. The wound had already healed but the venom was moving through his body with every beat of his heart. "Can ya handle this," she asked, worried.
"Should," he said through chattering teeth. He felt cold. He knew he was going into shock. "How big?'
"Four maybe five feet," she told him. "Had seven rattles."
'A snake in it's prime,' he thought. 'It'll have lots of venom.'
"Need time ta get it out," he gasped, pain blossoming through his body.
"It's all my fault," Tessa wailed.
"Yes," one of the other women said in heavily accented English. "You should not have run away."
"This man will die because of your thoughtlessness," the other Latina sneered. Jubilee jumped up and confronted them.
"He won't die," she yelled angrily. "He's not gonna feel too spiffy for a while but he won't die."
"We have no medicines," the first woman argued, "we are miles from the nearest hospital and he was bitten by a rattle snake. We cannot help him. He will die. And without him, we will die as well."
"Not Wolvie," Jubilee insisted stubbornly. "By morning, he'll feel much better."
The woman shook her head sadly. "You delude yourself, child." She walked back to the two women talking quietly together.
Jubilee stomped back to Logan's side in a temper. "You'll show 'em," she grumbled. He was sweating freely. Jubilee could smell the bitter tang of the snakes' venom in his sweat. Logan had fallen into a healing coma, his breathing shallow and rapid.
She searched the ground, finding several pieces of dead wood and gathered them together. Returning to Logan's side, she piled them together and paffed them. Soon, she had a respectable fire going. She opened his pack and took inventory of the supplies. There were four knives, a compass, a GPS locater unit, two canteens, four bottles of water and some food; not enough to get them back to the States. She hoped Wolvie would feel up to hunting soon. She hated hunting. She continued to dig through the pack finding several more useful items as the woman she'd argued with returned to her side.
"My name is Maria," she said. "That is my sister, Rosa."
"Jubilee," she introduced herself. "This is Wolverine."
"You know him well?" Maria asked
"He was my partner," Jubilee told her softly.
"He is a brave man," Maria remarked. "He saved the stupid Gringa's life."
"Wolvie's like that," she said with a small laugh. "He's saved my bacon a bunch of times."
"You are a mutant, yes?"
"Yeah. Being a mutant makes me a target for a lot of boneheaded bigots. I try not ta let anyone know what I am."
"You deny your nature because of closed minded people? Why do you do this?"
"People are afraid of what we can do," Jubilee explained. "The world isn't ready for us yet."
"The world was not ready for the power loom but it came anyway," Maria replied. "It started the industrial revolution and changed the world."
"I remember that from history class," Jubilee remarked thoughtfully.
"The world is never ready for revolution. It must be shoved down unwilling throats."
"That sounds a lot like Magnetos' plan," she told her. "I think differently. I believe that humans and mutants can share the world, peacefully"
"I am not sure that is possible," Maria said as she stood. "We must dig a grave. He will die before morning."
"No he won't," Jubilee told her. "Wolvie's a mutant too. He has a healing factor that will take care of the venom. He just needs time."
"We shall see," she replied doubtfully. "In the mean time, we will gather more wood and dig the grave."
"Count me out on the grave digging. I have faith in Wolvie." The woman nodded sadly. Jubilee settled down to keep watch over her best friend while he worked to clear the poison out of his system. Maria grabbed three of the knives and took the others to a flat area a short distance away. Jubilee shook her head and watched as they began to dig a grave that will never be occupied.
Tessa and the others had been working on the grave for over two hours before she decided to take a break. She made her way back to the camp site and grabbed a bottle of water. Taking a long swallow of the warm wetness, she sat down near the restless form of the man she expected to die shortly.
"How's he doing?" she asked the tiny girl curled up at his side.
"He stinks of snake venom and sweat," Jubilee said as she sat up, "but he's breathing better. He's sleeping now."
"I'm sorry, Jubilee," she said quietly. "This is entirely my fault. If I hadn't have run away, he never would have been bitten."
"Why'd ya panic like that?"
"I was the one that wanted to go shopping. If I hadn't convinced Carol to go with me, she would still be alive," Tessa told her tearfully, "and he would never have been bitten by the snake."
"If it hadn't been the snake, it woulda been something else," Jubilee said. "Trouble seems ta find us whenever we're together. Been that way since the first time I laid eyes on him, hanging on a cross in Australia."
"Hanging on a cross?" she asked her mouth open in surprise.
"Bunch of bad guys crucified him," Jubilee said. "I helped him down and took care of him until he was better. Been with him ever since."
"And he survived that?" she asked astonished. Maybe he would survive the snake bite.
"Almost didn't," he croaked from behind Jubilee. She snatched up a bottle of water and lifted his head. He drank a few mouthfuls greedily.
"Feeling better?" she asked anxiously.
"Yeah darlin'," he said in a stronger voice. "Ya can tell those two ta stop diggin'. I ain't gonna need the hole yet."
"Maria," Tessa yelled. "Rosa. Come over here." The two women abandoned their task and ran back to camp. They stopped short when they saw Wolverine sit up with Jubilees' help.
"How is this possible?" Maria asked as she crossed herself. Rosa mirrored the gesture absently as she goggled at the man she thought was dead.
"Madre Dios," Rosa exclaimed. "You are alive."
"I'm pretty hard ta kill," Logan said. "Help me up Jubes. I need ta wash the venom offa me." Jubilee braced him as he got to his feet. He sniffed the air, searching. "All I can smell is snake venom. Where's the river?"
"I'll take ya Wolvie," Jubilee volunteered. "I'll watch yer back while ya get cleaned up."
"Grab my clothes and anything that'll hold water," he instructed. "We need ta refill our water supply before we set off again." Jubilee left him swaying on his feet as she rummaged through the pack to get the requested items.
"Come on Wolvie," she said as she lifted his arm over her shoulder. "Ya don't have yer strength back yet so I'll guide ya. I wouldn't want ya up yet but yer stink'll scare the animals away and we need fresh meat."
"Yer all heart," he said sarcastically as they moved off toward the river. The three astonished women watched as he walked on shaky legs away from the camp.
"I guess we'd better fill in that grave," Tessa said. The other two women looked at her with eyes full of wonder. "It's not a miracle," she told them. "He's a mutant." They turned and went back to the hole they spent hours digging and began to fill it in.
Logan stripped to his skin and sat down in the middle of the shallow stream with a sigh. Jubilee watched him for a while to make sure he wouldn't fall asleep and drown before he finished washing, then walked a little way upstream with the bottles and canteens. The water was clean and clear and very cold on her legs as she waded in. Shivering, she opened the bottles and filled them. When she was done, she returned to where Logan was washing.
"Grab a handful of sand and wash my back darlin," he said as he sensed her return. She packed up the containers and waded back into the icy stream.
"Got any chlorine tablets in that bottomless pack?" she asked as she attacked his back.
"Not so hard," he hissed. She eased up and began to massage his skin in slow circles. He began to relax and enjoy the soft touch. "There should be some near the bottom."
She began to massage the tight muscles of his back. Lying in one position with a fever for so long had stiffened his back. She attacked his shoulders with strong hands, going deeper with each stroke. After five minutes of work, she felt the hard, tense mass relax and smooth out. She also noticed a vibration coming through her hands. He was purring. She smiled to herself as she continued down his back, her fingers digging deep.
"Ah Jubes," he sighed as she finished. "Yer too good fer me."
"And don't you forget it," She said giving his shoulder a slap. "Get up. We need ta get back ta camp." She climbed out of the stream and stood, her back to him, beyond his clothes. She heard him dripping as he got up and left the water and the zip of his jeans as he got dressed. She finally ran out of patience and turned around. She threw herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his waist as far as she could.
"God, I missed you," she whispered thickly.
"I missed ya too darlin," he whispered back. They stood there in each others arms, breathing each others scent for a long while.
"Are ya happy, Jubes?" he asked in a low voice.
"Sometimes," she admitted. "I miss the action sometimes. I miss the people a lot. But I miss you most of all. Aunt Hope is great but I feel so alone sometimes."
"You were the one who wanted this,"
"I know," she sighed as she pulled out of his embrace. "Maybe it's too much of a change. I'm so bored most of the time that I go looking for trouble just ta have something ta do."
"Ya used ta do that at the mansion." he smiled. "Nice ta know ya haven't changed much."
"Not funny, Wolvie," she laughed. " And my room! You should see it. Aunt Hope decorated it and she has strange tastes. It's awful."
"Ask her if ya can change it," he said as he looked around the ground. "Where's my shirt?'
"I didn't bring it," she said.. "Don't look at me like that, I only have two hands. Yer lucky I brought yer pants!"
He gave a laugh that only Jubilee has ever heard and threw an arm around her shoulder. "Let's go kid."
"I'm not a kid," she said automatically. He laughed again as they made their way back to camp. Jubilee insisted they stay the night at the camp so Logan could sleep and regain his full strength. The other women agreed with her, not wanting to continue the hard march any time soon. Logan gave up easily. He knew he needed to sleep or he wouldn't be at full strength if they were attacked. He treated the water they'd gotten from the stream and repacked them into his pack. Maria was assigned first watch with instructions to wake him if she saw anything. He curled up on the ground and closed his eyes. Just as he fell asleep, he heard Jubilee tell Maria to wake her and not him. He would have to talk to the kid tomorrow.