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2
Recruitment
They were close. I wouldn't feel like this if they weren't. But something was wrong. Just beneath the ribs, a deep and painful sore. I've felt it countless times. But this was doubled in intensity, an exact trice of blazing heat. It started right above the pelvis, too personal a place to bring meaning to but it was there, and then swarmed around every muscle and peel of skin until radiating in slashes. This needed to stop soon or I could very easily lose consciousness again. There's nothing to relieve even one strand of heat. I wasn't on a bed nor in a room with anything to cling hard to. No light poured in or defined air. I was lying on crumbled filth. Dirt and grime mixed with the decaying rust of earth and scratched metal. A prison cell.
And just then, it let up. The opportunity to breathe again was met with one sharp inhalation that swept over with a sudden sickness. It's never been this bad. Maybe I was wrong. If they were close, it wouldn't have been this painful. But they were. There's the endlessly deep and dauntless scent only they carry. Something else was there though. Something that didn't belong. The source of my suffering not a few seconds ago.
Gun shots.
Very short-ranged gun shots.
Our own men had followed through with what they've surely always wanted to do. And Victor pushed it far enough to provide the perfect excuse. An execution. They've been executed. The pain ended just around the heart and stayed there until disappearing completely. The definitive target for ending lives without haste.
The soldiers from behind had struck the back of my neck so hard as to catch both Logan and Victor off guard since they weren't the ones who prevented nor caused it. Never would someone come that close without a reason to separate us completely. And this reason meant death.
The cold metallic tinge of my dog tag seemed to glisten with more of a frosted chill. The door had opened and let long awaited air in. Followed by heavy footing.
"The hell is this?" The air shouldn't be this chilled, Vietnam was still just beyond the walls.
"Not under my authority I can assure you."
"Elix? Don't lift her up yet."
And it's still so dark. No, it's getting better. The rugged looks of the two brothers gleamed down and held hard.
Victor used the reassured smile past what I intended though. Yes I was happy to see them so near but I was far from being ready to move. He nearly pulled me to my feet if Logan hadn't been kneeling to the side, holding out his hand as a limit bar for how far he should go.
"Not so rough!"
"What do you mean? Look at her, she's fine-" he reached again but only to be smacked by me and held separate by Logan.
"Don't, she's not fine and you know it."
"Which is why I meant to carry her not force her otherwise."
"Just stop alright?"
I may have been unable to move and weak beyond their strengths but why they were acting like this here is far from expected. How can he, meaning Victor, be this ignorant after full well knowing he did this by his own actions? He went completely beyond what the feral would bring. Not only ruining our lives in the army but our future lives as mutants.
"You should have come sooner," but instead this came out rather than that much needed rave. "You did some damage."
"Us? Blame the ones who-"
"You," was I not emphasizing him enough? Logan may be holding firm yet this gaze was on Victor the instant he entered. "Victor, you did this. All this. You and Logan were simply executed, you didn't feel what I did. All you felt were the short stings, the quick bullets, not the actual pain," it wasn't about the pain, not entirely. And they knew it.
"How do you know of the execution?"
The general, still near the doorway, lowered his sunglasses in an attempt to regain his presence. "Look," Logan answered. "If you want us to go with you then leave so we can discuss what you've offered with her in private because if she's not going, we're not going got it?"
He brought his lip into a tight line before nodding politely, and leaving for the halls.
Victor finally knelt to a more comfortable level, sweeping moist dirt from his arms before doing so for, one of my legs it seems. I couldn't say since the haze was still there. But such a gesture meant he was finally leveling the feral peak and returning to who I was more familiar with. Some of which was still there though. He gave Logan a ridiculing brow.
"What do you mean if she's not going? Of course she is. We are going."
If it's possible, they've gathered closer. I'm not complaining since whomever previously occupied this cell never showered a day in their short punishable lives and avoided the toilet at all costs. It's almost like they're tightening this space as if they're planning to grab tight and run as far as they could. Only Victor meant to run towards the halls while Logan for the countryside. Logan stretched his left arm far along my spine with his raised knee additionally supporting a stronger posture. Victor knelt over my leg, clung to the other while pressing his shoulder against mine to keep balance. Actually, they've sewn themselves in a rather complex puzzle.
"We've just been offered a way to escape everything you're worried about," Logan began slow but Victor finished without noticing the look to do so.
"To join a special team, a mutant team. We've waited long enough for something like this. For our chance to do something actually worth our time, where we can be ourselves and nothing less. No more complaining about hiding, never letting the world know who you really are. Who we really are, Elix."
"And we're not doing this if you're not in," Logan said with haste, wrinkling his nose with a distasteful cringe. This place was more than tolerable. His leg slid down soon after replacing the lost support with his physique instead. Victor nearly stumbled over the unexpected move before switching his grip to my wrist instead. Even though Logan was clearly all the support I would need to be upright. Why are they doing this?
"I know you'll make the right decision. Especially for what's best for our future. For our mutant lives."
He did hear it. Of course he did. They both heard. This weakness took over the attempt to conceal those kind of thoughts. To no avail.
Logan breathed deep, motioning me towards Victor while doing so. It wasn't going to be my decision and he knew it. A small yet devious smile graced Victor's already insidious features.