POV: Logan

My skin feels like pins and needles are pressin' in all over it. It's like the tingling you feel after your foot falls asleep and you finally let the circulation come back, only spread out over your entire body.

Still, I'm healin'. Marie's not. As soon as I see her crumpled on the floor, I want to touch her and let her heal, too. Before I get a chance, though, I hear the voices.

"Those last two have to be down here somewhere. Check every room." a deep voice commands.

Other male voices answer with a unified, "Yes, sir."

They're military, and they're after me and Marie. From the sound of footsteps echoing down the metal-plated hallway, there's gotta be at least twenty of 'em. They're splitting up, but if they find us in here, the sounds of fightin'll let the rest of 'em know just where to come. I've gotta get Marie outta here. I can't fight and protect her at the same time.

I lift her into my arms, but she's limp, a dead weight. The way I'm cradling her, her head lolls back at what's gotta be an uncomfortable angle. I can't carry her like this. I set her down and instead lean over to pull her over my shoulders in a fireman's carry, but before I can move her, she half-whispers, half-says, "Logan."

I freeze, waiting for the voices to get louder and the footsteps to speed up, but they don't. They must not have heard her.

"Marie, you gotta be quiet," I whisper, barely audible.

"My skin," she whispers back, quieter now.

Dammit. I'm still wearing that damn hospital gown, and even though she's fully clothed, there's no way I'll be able to pull her over my shoulders without her face touchin' my bare skin. That's why she stopped me.

There's no time, though. The footsteps are gettin' closer, and I'm sure those doors'll whoosh open any second. We can't be here when they do. Cradling her in my arms as quickly and gently as I can, I hurry over to the pile of clothes I'd changed out of behind the privacy screen and lump them onto her stomach before heading to the back of the lab.

There's an elevator back there leading down to the flight deck that's used mostly for medical emergencies. Despite my healing factor, I've become very well acquainted with that lift over the years. I usually haven't had to stay in the lab more'n a few hours before I heal, but until then, Jeanie's insistent on checkin' me out.

The lower levels are made up of two stories to give the plane enough room and the Med Lab is on the higher level. The lift'll get us deeper into the underground, but it'll also get us further from whoever's lookin' for us.

I set Marie down as soon as I enter and have a long sleeved flannel shirt pulled on by the time the bell dings. I press myself against the wall next to the doors and am ready for a fight when they finally open onto the flight deck.

As soon as the air from the massive room invades the elevator, I know that no one's waitin' to capture us. They probably haven't made it down this far yet. No, only the scent of death hangs in the air.

Marie's facin' away from the doors and I'm glad, 'cause Hank's body is lyin' on the ground underneath the jet in plain sight. Even if I could fly the thing, there's no way we'd escape in that. The engine's in pieces, parts spread neatly around Hank's body on tarps. He must've been working on it when it happened. Just like Jean, it looks like he died instantly.

"Logan? What is it? What's going on?" Marie asks, startling me from Hank's limp form.

"Nothin'," I say quickly, then return back to my clothes. "There's no one here. I'll just get dressed, and we'll get movin'."

I don't think she believes me. Hell, I've never been a good liar, especially with Marie. She knows me in some ways better than I know myself. Still, she lets it slide. In no time, I've got my jeans snapped, my shirt buttoned, and my boots pulled on. We're good to go. Just one more thing.

"Marie, I kinda... well, I gotta use you as a doorstop. We can't let 'em follow us with the elevator."

"It's ok, Logan."

"I'll be right back," I assure her.

Pulling Marie half-way out of the lift, I use her to keep the doors open as I run to get one of Hank's screwdrivers that I can use as a more permanent stop.

As I crouch down by Hank, though, I see two more bodies on the other side of the Blackbird: the Popsicle and his wife. They've collapsed into each other's arms, sitting on crates where they'd probably been keeping Hank company. I thought I'd smelled them in here, but I was hoping I was wrong.

I feel my rage risin' when I look at Kit Kat's pregnant belly. She was expectin' in three months. I want to turn around and hunt down the faceless men followin' us. I want to plunge my claws into them and watch them die for what they've done.

"Logan?"

Marie. Gotta stay focused. She's completely helpless, paralyzed like this. If I run off and get myself killed or captured, she'll be caught too.

"I'm here," I answer, picking up a flat-head screwdriver and going back to where she lay, using it to jam the doors open.

Now that I'm covered, I pull her onto my shoulders, her right arm and leg hanging over for me to grab onto. With her positioned like this, her head isn't bobbing around so much and she's facin' so she can only see what's right below her on the floor.

Heading for the auxiliary stairwell, I take a wide path around Hank, so she won't see him lying there. They'd become good friends over the years, and I didn't want her to have to see him like that, his eyes staring lifelessly up at the hangar doors high above.

Once I enter the stairwell and reach the top, I stop before opening the door, listening for any movement. There isn't any, and when I crack the door open, I can't smell anything but more death. Slipping out into the open foyer, I see even more bodies. Kids are strewn where they fell, in the hall, on the couch by the TV, around the foosball table, everywhere. I can't hear any breathing, so they're not paralyzed. They're all dead.

I don't know how long I stood there, staring at their innocent, pale faces before Marie whispered my name. That's when I came back to my senses and realized that my claws were out and I was growlin' low in my throat. When I clamp my mouth shut, though, I can still hear noises, outside. Men's voices, shifting fabric, and muffled, soft thumps. I wanna go over to the window and check it out, but there's no way I can move without Marie seein' the bodies. They're too close together for her to miss them in her peripheral vision.

"Marie, baby," I whisper. "Close your eyes."

"Logan, what..."

"Trust me, darlin', just do it."

She doesn't answer, but as I walk over to the closest window, she's still breathin' evenly so she must've listened. Once I've siddled close enough that I can just barely see what's going on without being visible to the men outside, I feel suddenly sick to my stomach and am glad Jeanie didn't let me eat lunch. The muffled, soft thumps I hear are the sound of children's bodies as they pile 'em up like dry cord wood. They're collecting them from the grounds, and I'm sure they'll soon start on the inside rooms.

There's no one alive here, no one but me and Marie and the soldiers. They killed everyone else. How did we survive? Was it my mutation? Does Marie still have some of it that's keepin' her alive?

Even as I wonder this, I see two soldiers walk past my window carryin' Cyke's body, only he's not dead. I can hear his choking sobs and see the tears streaking down his face from under his glasses. I get closer to the window, tryin' to see where they're takin' him, and I can just make out the back of a black van.

When they open the back, I see a few more kids in there, paralyzed and cryin', and just before the doors shut, I can hear Cyke say Jean's name through his hitching breaths. He knows she's gone, just like Marie and I thought, but he couldn't get down there to help us 'cause he was just as bad off as we were.

Whoever these soldiers are, they killed whoever they didn't want and paralyzed the rest. Judging from the back of that van, they didn't want very many. They've killed children without a second thought and I don't want to know what they have planned for the people they wanted to keep.

Just as I'm thinkin' about how I can get to that van, I hear a door opening on the other end of the foyer and start to run in the opposite direction. I can't let 'em get Marie. There's no way she's ending up in the back of that van, too.

I make it into the kitchen, and I don't hear anyone followin' so I don't think they saw us. Still, I can't push our luck any more. We've gotta get away, regroup, and then rescue Cyke and the others when we've got a better chance at winning. I head towards the garage.

It doesn't smell like anyone was in here when it happened, no death, just stray people smells and gasoline. I lower Marie off of my shoulders and into the passenger seat of Scooter's black, convertible Porsche. He's fitted it with the same turbo engine that's on his motorcycle, and it's the only thing that'll get us far away fast enough that these guys won't be able to follow us.

I strap Marie into the passenger seat and lower it down until she's practically lying flat on her back. They've got guns and automatic weapons, holstered and casually slung but still there, and I don't want her gettin' hit. Sniffin' and listenin' by the garage door, I don't hear anyone close by, still I'm not takin' any chances. I start the car at the same time I trigger the doors. Just when we've got enough clearance, I speed outta there, racing down the driveway.

We caught 'em off guard, but they're professionals. They start shootin' at our disappearing vehicle, but I know it's too little too late. Of course, that's before I take a bullet in the back of the head.