Kayla was feeling her fingers start to cramp up. She was, more or less, used to that feeling. She'd been made to shoot until her fingers bled in the past. That had been one of Stryker's ideas.
What was concerning was the lack of ammunition. Initially she'd had plenty of ammo. However, most of it had been back at her perch where she had started out. It was out of reach to her now, unless she wanted Vic to attack her when they were on a level playing field.
There just wasn't time. She figured out that Vic started to move every time she counted to three hundred, and that was when she shot him. Kayla would start counting the second the shot rang out, and then she would fire when she reached three hundred.
But she was also shooting at the marksmen, which took ammo too. She had to be the distraction, but she didn't have an endless supply of bullets to use on them. Kayla was sure that Peter should have been back by now, and she knew enough to know something had gone wrong. She was concerned. Peter was hard not to like, and he'd lost a lot of blood.
She paused and checked her gun, just to figure out how much more ammunition she had. Five shots. She leaned her head against the tree, thinking to herself. Five shots meant five counts to three hundred, or two counts with distracting enough people to keep them from thinking they'd got her and turning their attention inside.
Struggling to lift herself up, she saw that Vic was starting to move again. She shot him in the head, and looked back at the people. They were waiting for her, and she fired one shot, then waited a while before firing the next one. Two more bullets left.
The only real decision left to make was whether or not she was going to try running from Vic or sheltering in place. Peter might be on his way and, if she ran, he might not be able to find her. If she waited too much longer, then there might not be enough left of her to run.
Kayla had no illusions: whatever healing factor Essex had managed to duplicate from Logan, it wasn't anywhere near his level. If Vic stopped her heart, then she would die. Given her earlier comments to him, that was a very real possibility. He'd do it anyway, but the method would probably be more painful now.
He moved again, and she shot him in the head. Kayla swallowed, and decided she'd have to stay. Running from Vic wouldn't do any good. She might be able to fight him off for a while if she was ready at a higher altitude. He'd know she was out of bullets as soon as he saw her, it would be the only reason he was up, but he might not be ready for just how much fight she had.
She had to try and hold out for as long as she could. Peter might be able to whisk her away if she waited. At the same time, every minute she kept Vic occupied was another minute he couldn't spend going after Logan, or some of the people on the team who wouldn't heal. Kayla couldn't run.
Vic stirred, and she shot him in the head. She peered through the scope, seeing that the marksmen were beginning to disperse. Not much she could do about that now, and she hoped that they had already set the charges. If she wasn't there, she also hoped Erik and Raven would be able to provide enough cover. Logan was more of a short range fighter.
She heard a noise and looked down. Vic was starting to move over, shoving his body up. Fear was curling in her stomach, but she tamped it down. She had a minute, maybe two, to get ready. Emotions were not welcome.
She drew her knife, turning it up so it was hidden underneath her sleeve. Then she turned the gun around, ready to use it as a club. She'd have to aim it at the nose, maybe shove the bone straight up into his brain. It would take a lot of strength to do so, but she might get lucky.
Vic got up, scratching the back of his head. He started to smile when he saw her, and then looked casually around. He smiled even wider when he did, and started circling the tree. Her body tensed, watching him.
"So, no one here ta save ya, huh?" he asked.
She scoffed, even though her heart was beating furiously. Her fingers were twitching, and her toes were moving around in her shoes. It was likely he could see the sweat it was calling forth, smell the adrenaline seeping through her pores. She didn't doubt that at all. He knew he could kill her. He knew she was scared.
Damned if she would admit it though.
"I'm not going down easy this time Vic," she said, "You wanna drag me from this world? I'll be kicking and scratching all the way."
Vic nodded, folding his hands across his chest. He was still circling now, looking up and down.
"Ya know why this hasta happen right?" he asked.
"I know why you think it does," she replied, her hands sweaty and voice hot.
He raised his eyebrows, and she shook her head.
"You think you can't share him," she said, "Don't want your brother living his own life. Not with a lover, not with a daughter or a sister-in-law."
She looked down and, at least until he moved, she made sure their eyes made contact.
"So you'd rather he hate you forever than let him know there's a life without you in it," she said, "You know how seriously screwed up that is, right?"
He laughed, his eyes still going up and down the tree. She swallowed again, because she knew exactly what was going on. Part of her was swearing about the fact she hadn't fled for her life. But she had a part to play.
This way, even if she never saw Laura or Emma again, she'd know they could be proud of her.
"Not as dumb as you look then," Vic said, "I mighta liked ya, if things were different,"
She scoffed again, her lips dry.
"No," she said, "You wouldn't have."
He cocked his head.
"Yeah," he said.
Vic launched himself at the tree, his claws digging into the bark. She slammed the butt of her gun into his face, but he jerked his face away at the last minute. It slammed into his cheek, and he used the other hand to yank it away from her.
She slid the knife out of her sleeve and stabbed it toward his throat. Again, he moved, and she drove it deep down next to his collarbone. It still did the trick and made him lose his balance. Not before he sank his claws into her wounded shoulder though, dragging her down with him.
Her back slammed against a tree branch, sending pain spider-webbing through her back. At the same time, Vic's claws were digging into her shoulder even further, raking downward and ripping her jacket. If she lived, she would have even more scars from his claws.
They hit the ground hard, and her back screamed. Nothing was broken, at least she didn't think so. She gritted her teeth together as tightly as possible, reaching out. Kayla managed to grab the knife, her hand slippery with sweat, and she wrenched it down.
It splintered into the bone, and he grabbed her hand. She let go of the knife and wriggled out of his grasp before he could break her fingers. He yanked it out, tossing it away. Kayla brought her hand around, shoving her fingers into the area between his eye and skull.
He smashed his head down, slamming into her forehead. The impact made her see stars, disorienting her. A sharp pain in her side brought her back, his claws digging into her side and slowly coming around to her stomach.
"Not…again!" she yelled
Kayla managed to move her hand to where she could knock his away. It only made him grab onto her hair, pulling her to the side as he clambered to his feet. She tried to kick him, but he slammed her into a tree. The level of disorientation increased, and she punched him in his face.
He simply grinned, his eyeteeth gleaming. One of his hands slammed around her throat, the claws digging slowly into the flesh there. She grabbed onto his hand, trying to find some way to loosen in his grip, but the lack of oxygen to her brain, combined with her disorientation, made it difficult.
He was still grinning, and she felt him draw the tip of his claw across her throat. It was a light touch, but she knew exactly what that meant, what it foreshadowed. Kayla tried kicking out, but without air, it was weak. He barely did more than raise an eyebrow.
"Hey-o!"
His hand abruptly let go of her throat. She gasped and choked, falling to her knees. Blood speckled the ground, her hands, but not enough to bleed out. Kayla forced herself to lean back, to look and try to figure out what had just happened.
Her entire body was wired, the adrenaline still prickling through her skin. Her heart was thumping wildly, and she tried to calm herself down. She had nearly died. She had nearly left, and she had just gotten everything back.
The air stirred, and Peter was crouched in front of her, pulling what looked like more duct tape from his pocket.
"OhmyGod. I am so freakin sorry I'm late. There was a crazy guy with weird eyes. I suck at bandages, but I can make something outta this, I think," he said, "Or we can just duct tape it until it heals or the Professor has Hank possess Mysty again."
"Where's Vic?" she asked.
"Who?"
"The asshole…Logan's brother," she coughed.
His eyes widened. Peter looked to the side, and he made a vague gesture.
"Uhhhhh…I think I dropped him at the bottom of the mountain and used three rolls of duct tape to tie him to a tree," he said, "He kinda freaked me out. Think that'll hold him?"
"For awhile anyway," Kayla said.
She staggered to her feet, and Peter rushed to her side.
"No, no, we need to, I dunno, bandage it or tape it or something like that," he said, "We can't just-"
"Peter, I need to get down there," she said, "I won't bleed out before I heal. I'll have some scars but...right now, I'm good."
"Okay, not the definition of good."
"Maybe not, but I need to get down there," she snapped, "I need to give cover fire. I need to make sure they don't have everyone firing at them. You need to be there in case we have any inured. We need to be where we need to be! That's how..."
She blinked a few times, realizing Peter was staring at her. She needed to calm down. Kayla pinched the bridge of her nose.
"That's how I get home, wherever that is," she said.
"It's the school," Peter said, "I guarantee that."
She managed a small smile, and gripped his shoulder.
"So get me to where I can give cover," she said, "And we need to make a pit stop by where you dropped me last for ammo, but we need to be quick. I want to be in position in the next minute."
"Okay," he said, "But I'm duct taping you back together when we get there."
He grinned.
"And, don't tell Logan, but Laura's super lucky she takes after you in the looks department," he said, "Because, if that asshole was Logan's brother, then there is an uh-ugly streak that runs in that family."
The laughter came, not hysterical or sharp, and she realized this was why she liked Peter.