::X-Men:: In The Claws Of An Angel ::Wolverine::

Chapter Seventeen.

| Logan |

Men and women in medical masks and lab coats stood all around me, reaching out and drawing strange shapes all over my body with black marker, and discussing 'Test Subject A'.

I couldn't move my arms or legs, and as I looked down I realized I was bound to a cold, metal examining table with thick, brown leather straps. My heart started pounding, but for some reason my body didn't struggle to break free. What the hell was going on? I felt like I'd been here before.

Was I 'Test Subject A'...?

Someone suddenly snuck up behind me, a woman, and slipped an oxygen mask over my face. The rest of the staff in the huge, dark room mumbled a few words to each other that I couldn't quite understand... And the next thing I knew, the table was being lowered into a pool of cold water. The temperature shocked me as my body plunged under, but still I couldn't find the strength to move my arms and legs to try and break free. In that brief moment, I felt strangely calm...

I sat underneath the water's surface for what felt like an eternity before a sudden whirring sound of a large drill crashed into my eardrums like thunder.

Then came the pain. The hot, searing pain that felt like a thousand molten daggers jabbing themselves into my skin over and over, easily breaking their way into my bones. I tried to let out a roar of agony as my limbs finally started thrashing back and forth, at least as much as they could under those leather restraints, but no sound came out. Nothing. Just the sound of the drills, the sloshing water, and the pain... My vision clouded by cold water slowly started fading out into blackness...

But then, there was another flash of bright light... So bright, I couldn't see anything, but I could feel grass under my feet, which were rapidly hammering at the Earth. Suddenly the grass changed beneath me... It felt cold, painfully cold, and I knew in a split second that it was snow. My lungs burned as the cold air rushed in and out, and I could hear my heart pounding 100 miles per hour in my eardrums.

When my eyes finally started working again, I took in the sight of thick trees and brush covered in a blanket of powdery, white snow rushing past me as I raced by, leaping boulders and darting around fallen logs. My breath was ragged, sweat poured down my face and dripped down onto my chest, nearly freezing me to death, but that's not what I was focused on.

This frantic, panicked feeling plagued me, like I was running from something... Or better yet, searching for something, desperately searching as if my life depended on finding whatever it was...

Then, something suddenly clicked inside my brain. Ana. I was looking for Ana. Where was she? Why was I searching for her in this blizzard aftermath? I didn't like this one God damn bit... Something wasn't right.

"ANA!!" I tried to roar out as I kept running, but my voice sounded so far away, like it had barely made any sound at all. I tried to scream again, but with the same result. "ANABELLE!!!"

Suddenly, I heard laughter... A woman's laughter, but it wasn't Ana's. I'd never heard this voice before, and instantly felt my claws unleash themselves from beneath my knuckles. The woman's laughter got louder and louder, like she was sneaking up on me, but my world was spinning. I couldn't see anyone coming toward me, but there was someone there. I knew there was, I could hear her.

I thrashed about wildly, slashing anything and everything near me into pieces. Where the hell was this bitch? Why the fuck was she laughing at-

Then, I heard a strangled gasp as my razor sharp metal claws sank into something... A body. For a second, I thought I'd nailed my laughing target... Until I followed the body up to a face I had never felt so horrified to see...