At the alarming news, Rogue quickly lurched round in her seat to stare out of the back window. A large, armoured vehicle was speeding up after them, imposing barred front straining to meet their back bumper. “Logan! Faster!” she cried, aware of the complete contradiction to her nightmare. Logan held no hesitation, quickly shifting to another gear as they raced off along the road, the Mazda easily leaving the vehicle trailing behind. She turned back to face the windscreen, staring as the passing roadside became all the more blurred. Logan was conducting the vehicle with swift, sharp motions, carrying them around tight corners with the speed and precision of a professional. His eyes kept anxiously checking the rear-view mirror before darting back to the icy road. “Who are they? Why are they chasin’ us?” asked Rogue in a panic, her hands gripping onto the door tightly as they raced around a bend.
“It looks like one of Stryker’s cars.”
“Stryker’s drivin’ that car?!”
Logan wrenched the steering wheel to send them skidding across the road, straightening the car once they’d rounded the hairpin corner. “No, he ain’t gonna come out himself. He’ll send his soldiers out to do his dirty work.” Rogue glanced towards the wing mirror on her passenger door, seeing the large vehicle tailing them in pursuit. Whilst the distance was great, it seemed it was going to be impossible to shake them off entirely.
“Logan, what are we gonna do?” she whispered fretfully, still staring at the reflection of their pursuer.
“Keep drivin’,” he muttered in response, continuing to anxiously check his mirrors. “Shit,” he added in a soft curse, and Rogue quickly looked back to the road ahead in time to see a vehicle pulling out of a lay-by, identical to the one that was tailing them. In his haste to escape the additional car, he abruptly wrenched the steering wheel to the right to send them hurtling off of the road and down a rough dirt track. The snow was thicker here from lack of disturbance and quickly impeded their progress.
Whilst it had given them the advantage of losing one tail, the large car behind them, though initially thwarted by their abrupt change in direction, was soon gaining speed, as it’s chunky wheels easily carried over the unsteady terrain. “Logan!” whimpered Rogue in a panicked tone as she looked round out of the back window. “We gotta get back onto the main road!”
“I know, I know!” replied Logan, harassed. He continued to press the car over the uneven earth, straining it go faster. His unyielding attention on the driving was broken as he heard Rogue scream. He whipped his head round to see the armoured vehicle come in besides them, scraping Rogue’s side of the Mazda in the process. Fortunately, the wild passage was wide enough to contain both vehicles side by side, but getting them to collide into the nearby trees seemed to be the driver’s intention, for the large bars shielding the headlights rammed into Rogue’s door. She screamed again at the jolt, fighting to get away from the door.
“Logan!” she cried, but he didn’t need the encouragement, his foot was flat on the accelerator and they were bumping and skidding across the rough road. They were getting shoved further to the thick trees that flanked their side of the trail, large snow covered branches now swatting the windscreen, twigs snapping. Growling, Logan wrenched their car back towards the armoured one besides them, the screech of sparking metal sounding as the sides connected once more. It caused Rogue to cry out again, pinned against her seat as she stared in horror at the close proximity to their pursuer. She could see into the chasing vehicle, seeing the driver as his face contorted with effort to return to the rough jostling. She panted as she looked ahead to the landscape rushing towards them, eyes becoming transfixed on the approaching distance. The distant track sank down off a muddied banking into a vast expanse of iced water. “Logan..” she uttered in feeble warning.
But Logan, who had been watching the other driver, shouted over her, “Get down!” Before she could make any movement herself, his arm lurched over to tightly grab her and shove her down in her seat, just as the glass besides her shattered from the impact of a bullet. She screamed once more, her hands flying up to shield her head. Her torso slumped and fell against the door as the car lurched with a screech of brakes and a desperate wrench of the steering wheel.
Disorientated by the bullet in his temple, Logan had lost control of the car. His hands madly grappled with the steering wheel, frantically trying to straighten the vehicle as they ploughed through the snow. The car skidded against the ground as the wheels spun, snow had turned to ice as they breached the banking. Controls were futile as they were catapulted off the earth, airborne for a few sickeningly slow seconds before their front end crashed into the ice. They began to sink below the smashed ice, freezing cold water rushing in through the destroyed window and air vents.
Darkness closed in on all sides as the back end became submerged. Rogue made a gasp for air as she realised she had been holding her breath. Erratic pants of panicked breath shook her as she pulled her head up from the dashboard, blood smearing the material. She quickly looked towards Logan, finding him slumped against the steering wheel, blood trickling from the bullet wound, as well as his nose from the impact to the wheel. She gasped softly as she pulled her feet back from the water that was quickly flooding the car. They were sinking fast. “Logan,” she muttered shakily, wrenching off her seatbelt and leaning over to him. She grabbed him by his arm, tugging him. “Logan!” she cried louder, feeling the cold water beginning to seep over her knees. He wasn’t conscious.
Whimpering she turned from him, looking towards her door and desperately trying the handle. It wouldn’t open, the damage from the armoured vehicle having crushed the door’s mechanisms. She sobbed weakly as she banged her fist against the door’s upholstery. The window was her only option, but the water was fast reaching her chin. She desperately tried to lift with the rising water, head meeting the soft roof. She gave a strangled gasp as she strained against the ceiling to take in her last gulp of air before the water overtook her. Holding her breath, she turned, unfastening Logan’s seatbelt and beginning to tug him out of the seat. Leaving him slumped over the handbrake; she wriggled her lithe form out of the window. Once free, she turned to grab him in a bid to drag Logan out after her.
He was very heavy and much larger than Rogue. She strained to get him through the window’s opening, feeling her need for oxygen increasing as her lips remained firmly shut against the threatening water. She grunted as she tugged him towards her, losing grip for a moment and frantically trying to get hold of him again. Her vision was clouding as her lungs screamed for mercy. She yanked harder, floating back as Logan’s torso came free through the window. Struggling, she swam upwards, straining to bring him to the surface with her. Her hand clung desperately onto his, fingernails digging into his flesh as she fought to keep them connected and not lose him to the depth. As she swam, she felt his grip tighten, and the heavy load ease. Glancing back through weakening eyes, she saw his head lift to stare up at her. She was losing her battle, and just before his arms met her waist, she began sinking. Her head slumped backward as her body lost the strength, closed lips falling open. Hold tightening on her hand, Logan grabbed her about her middle to begin propelling them upward.
Logan broke the surface with a huge gasp of air, shaking his hair back from his face. He held Rogue carefully in his arms, panting as he stared into her slack face. “Marie!” he whispered softly, tightening his hold about her as he turned, swimming them to the nearest banking. The broken ice led a path of water to the rising dirt, of which Logan was relieved to slump against as he heavily drank in the cold air. He deposited Rogue on the wet slope, rolling her onto her back. He quickly wiped the wet hair back from her face, “Marie!” he called again, bringing a hand to her neck where he felt her faint pulse. He hurried to tilt her head back accordingly, hands moving to open her mouth. Sealing their lips, he let in a few encouraging blows of air, begging for her to recover and resume breathing.
He only needed to administer a few breaths before she let out a great gasp of her own accord, quickly turning to cough up the water that had entered her. She panted for air desperately, her head swimming as she stared around blearily. She was quickly grabbed by Logan in a tight hug, and when she realised what was happening, threw her arms around him in return. Her chin upon his shoulder, she saw the opposite banking through her clearing vision, eyes locking upon the gathering armed men. “Logan!” she whispered.
Logan quickly looked over his shoulder to see an armoured vehicle screech to a halt besides the stationary one, men jumping out with readying rifles. “You gotta run,” he murmured, standing and pulling her up with him.
“I’m not leavin’ you!” cried Rogue as she stared up into his face.
Eyes on the soldiers, Logan shook his head, quickly looking back towards her. “And I’m not puttin’ you in danger again.” His hands rested on her upper arms, squeezing her, “They’ll kill you jus’ to get me and I ain’t riskin’ that..”
“How will I find you again?”
“I’ll come and find you. I promise. Just get somewhere safe!” he pushed her back into the undergrowth giving her one last glance before he turned back to the lake, diving inside to pursue their attackers that lay ahead.
"I'll wait for you.." Rogue whispered. Her eyes lifted to see one of the rifles aimed her way and with a sob of tears, turned and fled into the trees.
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