*^Clear^*

We didn't see Carter the next day. It was weird, even for Carter, so Alex and I decided to go over to his house to see if anything had happened. Almost naturally the first thing we thought of was the Plan.

"Sorry, he's not here," Mrs. Horton said when we asked for him. "He never came home last night."

"Do you know where we might find him?" Alex asked.

She shook her head. "No idea. Maybe one of his friends' houses, although we've phoned everyone trying to find him."

"Don't worry, he'll turn up," I assured her as we left.

"I seriously hope he's not dead," Alex said.

"Of course you do," I sniffed. "That's everyone's first thought when someone goes missing."

Alex gave me a funny look. "Are you forgetting what else we're facing?"

"No."

He seemed exasperated as he moved his gaze away from mine. "Come on, we gotta start looking."

*-Carter-*

I was tied to chair in a dark room. My head was throbbing, and all I could remember was being whacked in the head with something heavy (A/N: Maybe a leg of lamb... hehe, inside joke), then waking up like this. An evil-sounding laugh echoed through the room.

"Hey, who are you?" I yelled. An all-too familiar voice answered.

"You should know perfectly well, Carter."

I could feel the blood drain from my face. "Billy?" I whispered.

"In the flesh. Sort of. I'm kinda dead now Carter. And it's all your fault."

"Excuse me? How is it my fault? It was the Plan!"

"Fuck the Plan, Carter," Billy's voice said. It was hard and even. "You were the one that should've died, Carter. But no. You had to act like the jackass you are and go driving like crazy before stopping the car on the tracks. Then death came in, you had to get rescued, therefore the Plan skipped you and it's bye bye Billy! I was decapitated, Carter. My fuckin' head was cut off."

"I didn't mean for you to die! None of us knew what was going on then!" I shouted.

"If you weren't such a jerk, maybe I wouldn't have died!"

I was silent. Billy was right. I had been an asshole, and my actions had lead to Billy's gruesome death.

"It's not fair," Billy said, his tone softer now. "You at least got on the plane."

"I'm sorry Billy. I never thought of it until now."

"No, you didn't, did you?" Billy taunted. "Now 'I'm sorry' is too late."

I finally got a glimpse of Billy then. He walked out of the shadows, pale and translucent. Billy was dressed the way he was when he died, only his shirt was liberally soaked with blood around the collar. The worst part of it all was his head. Gone, like it'd been before, but what I hadn't noticed was that the cut wasn't clean at the neck, like someone who'd been sent to the gullotine. It was severed just at his mouth, leaving a section of his lower jaw still attached to his neck. He carried the top portion of his head in his left arm. I couldn't bring myself to look at him after seeing that.

"You're that disgusted, aren't you? You can't even look at me now," Billy said. "But no, you never did before the plane exploded, did you? The only time you even spoke to me before that was when you were looking down your nose at me, thinking I acted like an idiot. You were Mr. I'm-Too-Cool-To-Care."

"I-I-I'm not like that anymore," I stammered.

"Then look me in the eye and say you were wrong, then maybe I'll give you some peace," Billy ordered. "Admit you were wrong Carter."

I looked to Billy's face, and of course found nothing. I was stupid enough to stare at his neck, forgetting about how he died. I jerked my gaze to Billy's lifeless eyes, and spat out the words. "I was wrong Billy. I shouldn't have acted so irresponsible."

"Nice touch. I'll consider letting you go," Billy said before stalking off into the darkness.

I hung my head and sighed. This was going to be a long night.

I sat there for hours until Billy came back. "I've decided what I'm going to do with you Carter," he said.

"What?" I asked, not expecting an answer.

Billy sauntered around behind me and put his head on the ground. "I'm gonna need two hands for this."

I suddenly felt incredibly scared. Billy grabbed my head in his hands and moved his thumbs over my skin roughly, like a relative who's pinching your cheeks would. He mushed my face around for a while before going back behind me. "What the-" My question was cut off by a blow to my jaw.

-+Billy+-

This was going to be easier than I thought it would.

"Shut up Carter," I said. It was strange being able to talk, seeing as my head was cut off at the mouth. I held his head tightly in my hands, then jerked it up so he could look at what was supposed to be my face. "Bye Carter. Nice knowing you," I sneered.

I don't think I'll ever forget the look on Carter's face as I jerked his head to the left, snapping his neck. And if my face could make expressions, mine would've been one of pleasure and glee.

~*Alex*~

So Carter was missing. Clear and I had no idea where to find him, which was getting rather irritating. We looked everywhere he could possibly be, and some places we knew he wouldn't be. We finally decided to call it a day around ten o'clock. Or rather, Clear did.

"Alex, it's getting late," she said. We were wandering down the main street of town for the sixth time. "And we've been here before. Let's stop for today."

I gave Clear an impatient look. "But we haven't found him yet," I protested.

Clear put her hand on my arm. "We can start looking again tomorrow. Who knows, maybe he'll come back in the night."

"Clear-"

"Alex, don't argue. We can't look for Carter very well if we're not rested, can we? Of course not. I'm going home," Clear said.

"Come on Clear," I said. "I gotta find him!"

"Oh, all of a sudden it's about you, huh?" she said, her voice louder and kinda angry. "Well screw that Alex. I'm leaving." She started walking away.

"Wait Clear," I called. She kept walking, so I followed her. "Clear, stop! This isn't just about me!" Clear ignored me. All of a sudden I got that weird feeling I got before something having to do with the plan happened. What the -- Isn't it Carter's turn? I thought.

I glanced at the window of the store I was next to: a shoe store. There was a pair like Clear was wearing; boots with heels... the heel was broken. I looked to Clear and her shoes were fine, then I heard the rumbling of a truck behind me. She was almost at the street. "CLEAR!" I yelled, and began running towards her.

She stopped, turned on her heel... and it broke. "Damn," she muttered.

"Clear, move!"

"What?"

Exasperated and afraid, I grabbed Clear by the waist and pulled her away from the street corner. Seconds later the truck sped past.

"Alex, what on earth are you doing?" she yelled, glaring at me, struggling to pull away from my grasp.

"Clear, calm down! Something happened. You could've died," I said, not letting her go.

She stopped suddenly and stared at me. "I thought it was Carter's turn," she whispered.

"Like I said, something must've happened, making you next," I told her. "But now it's me again."

"So Carter's safe?" Clear asked.

I shook my head. "None of us will ever be safe Clear. And I don't think Carter's okay."

Clear's breathing was shaky. "You think he's dead?" she whispered.

"Maybe..." She was scared, I knew it, and I really didn't want to make it worse. "I'm sorry for how I acted Clear."

"I'm sorry too," she said, wrapping her arms around me and laying her head on my chest, "and thank you for saving me... again."

"Your welcome," I said, tightening the embrace. "Come on, I'll walk you home."