I started to run. Somewhere in my head not gripped by terror I could hear Scott shouting. His voice was lost as I started moving far faster than his voice.

I didn't make the decision consciously to run to the school but I ended up there moments later. Miraculously Styx managed to stay in my hood as I made my frantic run for the school. I knew this because after I regained control of my full faculties I felt that my hood and back were thoroughly sodden. Poor girl.

The Professor rolled into the room that I was sharing with the other guys my age. I told him what I remembered, which wasn't much. I got out of the car and the rest was a blur of testosterone and adrenaline. Scott came into the room twenty or so minutes later and found me crying softly into the Professors lap like a child needing the comfort of their parents. I didn't understand the reaction I was having. and that was making me even more upset and angry. Why was I crying like a fucking baby? I helped that family! I made sure a thief wouldn't steal again. But in doing that I had done… I can't even remember what to a regular human. A man that, after the first bullet, was reacting purely on fear.

I cried until the ambient light in the room dimmed. The Professor stayed with me until my sobs ceased and I fell into unconsciousness.

When I woke up there was a note on the night stand. "I should be in my office when you wake up, if not wait for me. I'll be there soon. -Charles"

I changed out of my soiled and smelly clothing and put on a newer pair of blue jeans, a "Save Ferris Bueller" t-shirt, and a clean hoody before going to Charles' office. He wasn't there when I entered but before I could sit in the chair in the corner of the grand room he wheeled into the room.

"Hello, David. Glad to see you read my note."

"Hello Professor."

"I'm certain you both must be hungry."

I looked around wondering if I was so out of it that I missed there being another person in the room. Styx nibbled at my ear and I understood.

"Oh. Yessir."

"Well come then, have you seen our dining facilities?"

"No, sir. I haven't."

"Tell me, David, When was the last time you've eaten?"

"I had something to eat with Commander Fury." I lied, honestly I couldn't remember the last time I ate. If the discomfort in my stomach was any indicator it had been quite a while.

"My God I'm very sorry David!" Right, Fury was like a week or two ago. Weird, I usually never miss a meal. Funny what you forget when your world goes tipsy.

"It's alright Prof. Everything has gotten weird, I didn't even remember."

The dining facilities were just as elaborate as the rest of the mansion. I didn't really care though my mind was centered around filling my stomach at the moment. I filled my plate with bacon, eggs, fruit, and just for kicks pancakes. Normal breakfast food stuffs. I cleaned my plate twice. I didn't have a clue what ferrets eat so I let her eat what she wanted off of my plate. Mostly the bacon. I loaded a smaller plate with bacon and sausages for her.

We were all very quiet. Allowing the dull roar of the cafeteria fill in any space our potential conversation would've taken up. Gradually the sound faded, or rather just moved as the other people started exiting the cafeteria. I grabbed the various plates that Styx, the professor, and I had dirtied and put them on the conveyor belt leading into the depths of the kitchen. I was making my way back to my seat when Styx lifted her head from the Professors lap where she had made herself comfortable after eating her fill.

A few moments later she scurried off of Charles' lap and crawled up my back and into my hood. When I turned my head to look at her I heard the noise that had sent Styx running. A faint, but quick, chopping. There were windows on both sides of the cafeteria, facing Northwest and Southeast respectively, so I could see the cause of the noise, an army gray helicopter like one from a war movie.

I had two very distinct urges, one was to duck behind the solidest looking pillar I could get to in two seconds, and the other, caused in part by the first, was to drag Xaviers ass behind that same pillar. I reacted on the second just in time to see the window shatter as the helicopter opened fire. The skin beneath my right pant leg started to bleed as the flying glass struck where my leg was still out of cover. The leather of the back of Xaviers wheelchair was torn apart. The table we were sitting at exploded into a shower of debris. Alarms deep in the school blared like some prankster had just pulled the fire alarm.

Logan appeared in the doorway with knives in his hands.

"Get out of here, Logan!" I shouted, "Run!"

He did run. Towards us. No, seriously.

He ran with his shoulders and head down, making himself an even smaller target. His knives were extended out at his sides, so that he wouldn't injure himself whilst running. He crouched behind the pillar closest to him, his shoulders hunching inward and molding, as much as the could, to the slight decorative curve. When he felt it was safest he did his crouching run again to the next pillar. There were two more pillars between the one he was at and the one we were at. In the space between the pillar closest to us and ours I saw, as if in slow motion, the .30 caliber bullet enter through the shattered windows frame, pass through the air, and strike Logans skull. I saw his head jerk violently to the side and heard a ping as the now flattened bullet ricocheted lazily from his temple.

"What. The. Fuck!" I heard come from my body.

A small rivulet of blood rolled from Logans temple but there was no wound, even at this distance I could see that. He barely let the impact of the bullet stop his run, though it did mildly affect his balance.

He looked at the chopper and growled at it, as though he were some kind of dog growling at their owners neighbor.

Logan was barking orders before he even reached the pillar. "Charles, get on my back I'll carry you! Kid, just run don't bother waiting on us, just go do you got that? Move!"

I ran. I wasn't nearly as co-ordinated or as instinctual about the way I ran, in fact I think I might have even been screaming a bit. But dammit I did run. I actually skipped the first pillar without realizing it.

At some point between my second and third pillar I got mad. After I cleared the third pillar I got pissed, and when my back struck the last I was way passed furious. I turned away from the doorway, ignoring both Logan, Charles, and even my own senses and faced the helicopter.

I struck my hand out in front of me, mimicking a crossing guard at a busy intersection, and saw my body crumple to the floor through the eyes of a stranger. The pilots finger loosened from the trigger at my call. The bullets stopped peppering the floor around my consciousnessless body. The pilots hand moved the joystick controlling the helicopter forward. The propellers of the aircraft threw sparks up as my eyes opened to see Logan inspecting my body for bullet holes. He looked up as he heard the sound of a crash that would leave the occupants of the helicopter alive but injured. He looked down as my nerves relearned what it feels like to be violently stripped of consciousness.