CH. 5

"Showdown"

He was breathing heavily, his heavy footsteps crunching along the dirt and grass as he sprinted from the highway toward the trailer park where Sophia had fled to.

Victor was ahead of him and had disappeared around the corner, he had not heard the girl scream yet, she was still okay, still hiding.

Logan knew it wouldn't take long for Victor to find her, he was a master tracker, no doubt due to his mutant abilities.

Skidding to a stop, Logan held his breath and listened, then the crash of a door and the scream of a girl thrust him back into action.

Rushing toward the sound's source, Logan busted through the front door of a trailer, and the panicked breathing of Sophia could be heard clear as day.

Running down the hall, Wolverine unsheathed his claws and barged through the door quickly locating Victor who was holding Sophia by her neck.

Wolverine never slowed down and charged into Victor knocking him into the wall and putting a sizable crater in it.

Wolverine stabbed Victor in the chest, pinning him to the wall. "Get outta here, run!" Logan shouted, turning to face the girl who was stumbling back to her feet, holding her throat.

Sophia only nodded before stumbling out of the trailer, Logan screamed in pain before looking down to see Victor had shredded his leg in a single swipe.

Wolverine retaliated by swinging his left arm and claws at the enemy, Victor blocked it easily and countered by moving from the leg slash, which was already healing, and plunged his talons into Logan's side.

He flinched before screaming again as Victor tore a chunk of his side out, Logan withdrew from his opponent.

Soon Wolverine went through a wall and was in the dirt, lying on his back, Victor had upper-cutted him.

"I see your partner is playing hard to get," Victor drawled with a sinister chuckle.

The mutant stalked right passed Logan who was still struggling to get back to his feet.

Logan put his fist on the ground and lifted himself up growling and sprinting forward, his claws extended as he dove forward, roaring as he flew through the air at Victor who was still merely walking away.

Before he could do anything, Logan found himself redirected and sailing through the wall of a trailer and into an empty living room.

Angry and worried about the girl he was escorting, Logan shot up and stumbled over to the hole in the wall he had just been thrown through.

Victor was gaining on her, Jumping out of the trailer and onto the ground, Wolverine rocketed off toward his query.

His breathing turned into more of a growl with every passing second, he was nearly there when he heard Sophia scream, Victor had caught her.

Victor had her pinned and raised a hand to strike her down, but Wolverine had other ideas.

Piercing his right set of claws through Victor's raised forearm, Wolverine jerked the aggressor off of Sophia and slammed him on the ground.

"Run!" Wolverine barked at Sophia before claws hit him in the torso and ripped a chunk of his skin off, earning a snarl from the former X-Man.

Turning back, Wolverine shoved his left set of claws into Victor's shoulder and ripped upward, blood spattered everywhere.

Victor rolled away as his right arm which had been sundered, began to heal as he stood up with a sadistic smile. "Finally," Victor breathed as his bones cracked and realigned. "It's party time!" he exclaimed before running at the seething Wolverine.

The two met in combat, throwing fists and legs claws and talons clashed, Wolverine took a slash across his stomach and retaliated by stabbing Victor in the sternum.

Victor wrapped a hand around Wolverine's throat and pulled him close, to which he snarled.

Wolverine countered by putting his second set of claws into Victor's stomach and pulled them sideways opening his abdomen.

Re-inserting his claws, Wolverine threw Victor over his shoulder and into the dirt.

Wolverine felt a cut forming along his inner thigh and down to his calf, roaring in rage and pain, he pulled his right hand and claws up and swung them down at Victor's face.

Victor blocked his attack and countered with a two-footed kick sending Wolverine up in the air and falling back.

Landing hard on the ground, Wolverine scrambled up to all fours and snarled before roaring before something caught his attention.

"Logan!" he heard Sophia yell, she didn't sound as far away as he hoped she would be.

Whipping his head around, and saw Sophia on the motorcycle, it should have been totaled, but there she was sitting on it.

Whirling back to look at Victor, Logan saw he was busy holding his intestines in his stomach while the wound was closing.

Getting to his feet, Logan sprinted toward the road when he saw several black vans and trucks with the letters "M.R.D." painted on the sides in yellow.

Logan watched as Sophia looked back at the vehicles in bewilderment, he knew who they were, and he knew they wouldn't be given candy.

"Scootch back!" Logan said as he lifted a leg up to hop over the bike. "How's this thing running?!" he asked as he revved the engine and it sputtered lightly.

"I tried to fix it with my powers, but I didn't know how to," Sophia yelled over the revving engine as Logan sped off.

"Works for now kid, we'll look at it more, later!" Logan shouted as the duo rolled down the highway at high speeds.

"Can they stop that guy?" Logan heard Sophia ask over the wind that now blew past them.

"No, but it'll slow him down!" Logan replied as he passed ninety miles per hour.

"Are they gonna follow us now?!" He heard Sophia ask, sounding anxious, Logan mulled over whether he should tell her they definitely might, or might not.

"Uh, yeah, they'll chase across the state and more if we don't make it where we're trying to get," Logan answered, taking the curve that was oncoming.

Victor had nearly got her, it truly had been close.

Too close.