Chapter 33
Logan
Logan followed the blood trail until it stopped. He hoped that meant the bleeding had stopped. There was no body there, so he took that as a positive sign. The heat signature was harder to read above ground. The radiation waves from the nuclear disaster disrupted the equipment he was using, making tracking her difficult. But he adjusted the readings to focus on her signature.
Ten minutes passed by, but it seemed so much longer, and every minute counted. He found himself at the opening of a partially destroyed structure. Surely, she would not have gone inside this thing. He barely squeezed through the tight opening that was blocked. Thankfully, he had amazing eyesight, which allowed him to see in the dark just as well as in the light.
The broken steps led him down to a dimly lit subway tunnel. It wasn’t like any he had seen. The tunnel was cut off at one end. There was a subway car, much older than the ones he had seen. He noticed odd collections of broken or dirty objects placed on shelving. His attention was directed toward a whimpering sound coming from the inside of the subway car.
“Faith?”
No answer. He rushed to the opening of the car and stepped inside. Faith was lying on her side on one of the leather seats. He knelt next to her and eased her onto her back.
“Faith? Love. You need to wake up.” He felt her pulse which was weak. Then, for a moment, she stopped breathing. He lost it.
“Faith! Come back! Do you hear me? Please, Faith. I need you. Faith!”
“Logan?”
“Thank fuck!” His own heart had collapsed at the thought of losing her. They hadn’t had enough time with one another.
“Where am I?” she asked, confused.
“I am not sure, some tunnel. Can you tell me where you are bleeding? I need to make sure it’s stopped.”
“Wrists. Ankles.” Her answer was barely a whisper.
He quickly checked her wrists and winced at the damage. “I will kill all who dared harm you.”
She half laughed and half choked. “That damage was my doing.”
“How could that be?”
Logan reached for the medic pack and opened it. Talking to her was the best way to keep her awake and distracted while he treated her wounds. The first thing he used was the medic wand to scan her. This would let him know her health status and it was a starting point for what to do for her first.
“I tried to break free while I was being…”
“Tortured,” he supplied. “They tortured you.”
“Yeah.”
Her blood level was low, but there was nothing to do to fix that except give her a stabilizer and supplement. He did so with the pressurized syringe. It also gave her something for the pain, which took effect immediately.
Her breathing became a slow and steady rhythm that pleased him. “Thanks.”
“Of course. I’m going to contact my people to come for us.” He reached for his communicator. “This is Captain Coor.” Static was his only response. “Warrior Lake, Powers?” More static.
“It’s probably another windstorm. It interferes with transmissions. At least, that’s what we noticed with the dome dwellers. They can’t communicate with one another during windstorms.”
“We’ll have to set up something to improve your receivers. I want to know who took you and who tortured you.”
She sighed as she struggled to a sitting position. “It was Waller. He had people on the inside who grabbed me.”
“Waller, one of the tribe leaders?”
“Yes.”
“He harmed you?”
