X-Men Evolution: Rogue Evolution

Secrets Secrets 9.5

Pop - Snap! ... Pop - Snap! ...Pop, Snap!

Over and over Anna heard the splintering of wood echo the air throughout the woods, and it only got louder the closer she walked towards Logan's encampment.

Pop - Snap!

She tried to keep the leaf rustling between and under her footfalls to a minimum by following well-trafficked rabbit trails and footpaths. After a while, she could just hear the soft beats of drums, the minuscule splashes of cymbals, and the raspy recorded voice of a man singing over the rhythm of a guitar.

Poking her head around a tree, Anna could just spot Logan with his naked hairy back facing her. Before him was a stump and on either side were stacks near as tall as him of split wood. She watched him set a roughly sawed chunk of wood on the stump before him, raise his dark iron axe high above his head, and then bring it down with the force of an executioner. The wood split like a knife to butter, and Logan pulled the sharp tip of the axe blade out of the stump with a single swift tug.

After, he stood to his full height and slowly cracked his neck to either side. His back and shoulders expanded as he took in a long breath of the cold air. Anna could see now that the music, sounding as if it was recorded in a can lined with duct tape, was being played off an old record player nearby.

Logan reached past the stand where the record player sat and grabbed a sweating bottle of blue Flavor-aid. The label had been peeled off leaving only white scraps of paper stuck to the remaining adhesive on the bottle. He sucked down several mouthfuls of the stuff and dropped the bottle back where found it when he was done.

"You gonna come out or am I gonna have to drag you out?" Logan's voice was even more raspy than usual. Like his smoking habit had picked up chewing tobacco as a hobby.

Anna left her hiding spot behind the tree and walked over. "What gave me away?"

He didn't turn to face her. Instead, he set up another block of wood to split. "You were upwind." He raised his axe and followed through with another loud "Snap"!

Walking the well-tread earth of Logan's camp, she found it not anywhere near the peaceful oasis she left it once before. Multiple coats with strange colors and patches were laid over the single foldout chair resting before a flagstone firepit littered with wrappers and other trash. Leaves, twigs, and other random debris from the surrounding trees were scattered upon the formerly well-maintained walkway leading to Logan's quaint log cabin, and the weathered green tent where Logan kept his yard equipment was scattered with tools as if he had been looking for something.

She then spotted the old olive green Jeep Logan kept around. Her eye froze on four long gouge marks that ran the broad side of the car between the front and back wheels. These markings weren't rusted like some of the other dings and scratches on the Jeep. These gouges were recent. "What happened to your Jeep?"

"Scraped a pine tree."

She glanced at the fat black wheels and saw nearly all of them were flat. Anna eventually turned to look at the man himself. His body was coated in a thick layer of sweat and grime, and his hair was longer and more gray than she remembered. His lips were chapped and she spotted patches of dried blood crystalized on his bottom lip. His arms were covered in scratches and his knuckles were a beet-red color.

"You come to say something to me or just to gawk?" Logan set another oddly shaped piece of wood - Snap!

Anna slipped off the hood to her green hoodie. The cold immediately started to nip at her ears. "None of us have seen you for nearly a week."

"Notice that did you?" Snap!

"Of course we did. So you wanna tell me why you're being so weird?"

"I already told you, Anna. I like my alone time." Snap!