Title: Fast as You Can part 6

Song: "All Eyes on Me" by the Goo Goo Dolls



The end is near . . .

SIDENOTE: I wrote this story between season 6 and 7 - it was my very first one. The characters are a little over-exaggerated, I'll admit, and the storyline is a bit over the top . . . hehe . . . but no one's first fanfic is perfect . . . ( And oh yes, the stabbing never happened.

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Daylight burns your sleepy eyes

It's hard to see you dreaming

You hide inside yourself

I wondered what you're thinkin'

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12:30 am

Luka's eyes blinked twice, then opened fully. His mind was blank as he quickly surveyed the scene around him - blazing lights above him, a blue blanket on top of him, several machines around him, and Carol Hathaway sitting by the foot of his bed, facing away from him. *What is going on?* Luka thought frantically as he tried to sit up. A throbbing pain in the back of his head brought back the memories in an instant, and Luka groaned as he gingerly touched the wound. His head was wrapped in gauze, with a bandage covering the back of his head. "Sto ide . . . Gdje sam . . ." he mumbled.

Carol quickly turned around. "You're finally awake," she smiled. "How do you feel?"

Luka rubbed his eyes. "Besides the blinding pain in my head? Perfectly fine."

Carol moved closer to him. "I can't give you any painkiller until your BP goes up," she told him apologetically.

Luka waved her words away. "Yes, Carol, I know." His pained scowl lightened as he asked, "Where are the girls?"

"With Malucci," Carol answered, an amused smile flickering across her face. "He broke his ankle trying to kick a door in. He's not going anywhere for a while."

Luka nodded as he strained to see the monitor on his left. "100 over 60," he observed. "That is not good enough for painkillers?"

Carol shook her head. "It's not safe yet." Her smile faded into a more serious expression. "You have a concussion," she told him gently. "You've been unconscious for about 4 hours now. Do you remember what happened to you?"

Luka closed his eyes, trying to think past the pain. He remembered a dark room . . . a gun . . . a scream . . . and blood. "Yes," he said bitterly. "I remember."

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And everything you're chasing

It seems to leave you empty

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Carter wiped his eyes. "I'm sorry for falling apart like that," he sniffed, composing himself. "It's been a long night. With my leg and Cleo's death . . . I don't know what happened."

Jing-Mei smiled and sat back into her chair, still holding his hand. "I completely understand," she told him.

Carter looked at her with concern. "I would think that you have more right to break down than me," he said. "You were out there for an hour in the freezing cold while I bled all over the place. And you're still composed enough to calm me down now. I don't think I could ever be that strong."

While Jing-Mei enjoyed getting this praise from Carter (she really, REALLY enjoyed it!), one comment had caught her attention. "I never told you it was cold," she said. "How did you know?"

Carter thought for a moment. "I don't really know . . . maybe I just remembered it."

Jing-Mei was getting excited. "Do you remember anything else?" she asked anxiously. "Think very hard, John. Try to remember anything . . . anything at all. Just remember the trauma, and the rest will come."

Carter closed his eyes tightly. "I remember Cleo getting shot at Mercy, once in the shoulder and once in the lung. . . and I remember loading her onto the chopper because she wanted to go to County instead of Mercy." Carter opened his eyes and stared at a spot on the ceiling, trying to pull up any other memories from the event from the recesses of his mind. "I just can't remember any more."

"Try, John," Jing-Mei urged. "You've got to try."

Carter concentrated. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. "I remember landing! . . ."

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And it won't take long to burn

All eyes on me

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Elizabeth knocked on the exam room door and opened it slightly. "Benjamin?" she asked tensely.

The student sat up weakly; his eyes widened as he saw Elizabeth. "Dr. Corday?" he choked.

"Yes, Benjamin," Elizabeth said gently as she sat next to him. "Your test results show that you are quite anemic, which explains why you collapsed outside."

"Good, great, can we go now?" the officer complained from Ben's left. "I've gotta take him in."

"I don't think it's such a good idea to release him quite yet," Elizabeth explained. "We need to give him some iron treatments, plus run a few more tests. We'll probably admit him for the night."

The officer groaned. "Can I talk to you outside?" Elizabeth nodded, and they headed towards the doorway.

"Are you joking?" the officer hissed. "You want to admit him? Look at what he's done to your staff already! Do you have any idea who this kid is?"

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed. "I know who you're trying to make him out to be," she snapped. "Just let me talk to him before you do anything rash."

"He won't talk," the officer informed her. "I've tried everything."

Elizabeth stepped closer to him. "Just let me try." She stepped back into the room, but turned around and added, "Alone." The officer threw up his hands and walked outside.

Elizabeth sat next to Ben again. *I'm just going to be straightforward with him,* she told herself. *I'm just going to ask him, straight out -*

"I did it," Ben mumbled pitifully.

Elizabeth jerked her head around. "What did you say?" she asked.

"I hit the doctor with the cane," he said miserably. "It was an accident . . . I didn't mean to . . ." He looked at Elizabeth. "But I did it. I'm sorry."

Elizabeth looked at him sympathetically. "Why don't you just tell me what happened," she said gently.

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Through the nothing that you've learned

All eyes on me

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"Once we landed on the roof, we realized that there was no one there to meet us with a gurney, so I went into County to get some help," Luka explained. "Carter and I couldn't carry Cleo into the hospital on the paramedic board." He quickly added, "Not that we are not strong enough, of course!"

Carol smiled. "Of course not."

"Those things are heavy!" Luka exclaimed. "There were only two of us to lift it, and Carter is not as strong as I am, so it was sort of lopsided -"

"I get it," Carol said. She couldn't help but be amused by Luka's effort to remain masculine, even as he lay completely frail and helpless in the small hospital bed. "Go on."

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And the things you choose to be

All eyes on me

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"I swear, you wouldn't know to look at him, but Luka's not exactly a bodybuilder," Carter continued. "He couldn't keep up with me when we were carrying that paramedic board."

"I know, John," Jing-Mei said tiredly. "You told me already. Just keep remembering."

"All right. After Luka went to get a gurney and to get some help-"

"Wait," Jing-Mei interrupted. "Why didn't you just radio in for help before you landed? I was paged a full 5 minutes after you arrived."

Carter thought for a moment. "The pilot told us the radio was broken," he answered. "He tried to get through but it didn't work."

A sudden feeling of déjà vu hit Jing-Mei as the image of the landed helicopter on the roof flashed into her head. *The disabled radio . . .* she thought suspiciously. *Why would the helicopter be abandoned, with the radio disabled?*

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But your eyes look away

It's so hard to be someone

Strung out from today

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"I could find no one to help," Luka told Carol. "Everyone was down in the ER - I figured that it would take too long to go all the way down there. It ended up taking more time to find a gurney - it took me a few minutes."

"So then you and Carter took Cleo to the ER," Carol rationalized.

"No," Luka said, his brow furrowed. "Carter wasn't there."

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And all that you know slips away

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"Luka had only been gone for a few seconds before the pilot turned around to me and said, "Do you recognize me?" Carter said rapidly. The memories were coming quickly now. "I could barely hear him over the noise of the helicopter. He was wearing huge goggles and a helmet that was too big for him so of course I wouldn't recognize him! I was pretty sure I'd never seen the guy before, but I had a feeling that I knew him from somewhere, so I said "Yeah!" I didn't want to hurt the his feelings. He said 'Are you positive?' so I said 'Yeah,' again." Suddenly a tremor of shock visibly ran through Carter as the memories quickly unfolded. "And then . . ."

Jing-Mei, sensing his pain, squeezed his hand gently and whispered, "And then what?"

Carter's voice shook as he spoke. "He . . . he took a gun . . . from his jacket," he stammered. "I don't remember what the guy looked like . . . but I remember that gun. I couldn't talk, I was terrified . . . he was saying something about how no one knows him . . . I thought he might be delusional so I started to back out of the helicopter . . . he didn't even notice until I was all the way out. All I remember after that is Cleo sitting up and yelling "Carter!"; then nothing I think I blacked out." Carter hung his head, now overwhelmed with these new memories. "He must have shot Cleo in the back when she sat up to warn me."

Jing-Mei's mind was spinning at these revelations. The sweet, serene expression on her face had subtly been replaced by one of shock and horror during Carter's retelling of the incident. "Oh my God, John . . ." was all she could muster. "Oh my God."

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You drown in deeper oceans

Inventing new religions

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"I didn't want to see the trauma with Dr. Romano," Ben told Elizabeth. "So I sat in the waiting area while it was going on. I didn't even see when he and the other students left so when I noticed they were gone, I tried to find them but got sort of lost. I got back to the waiting area and waited for, like, 20 minutes or something, till I got bored. That's when I saw that short doctor with the cane."

"Dr. Weaver?" Elizabeth asked.

Ben shrugged. "Whatever her name is. I thought it would be useful, so I-"

"You stole Dr. Weaver's cane?" Elizabeth asked, horrified.

"Not really . . . she was talking on the phone and she left it next to the desk," Ben told her.

Elizabeth was aghast. "Didn't you know she can't walk without it?"

Ben looked at her shamefacedly. "No," he answered. "I just thought it would be fun."

Elizabeth sighed. "So you were playing around with Dr. Weaver's cane and 'accidentally' hit Dr. Kovac in the head?" This was getting ridiculous.

Ben's eyes widened. "No! That's not what happened at all!"

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They smile and stab my back and

I lie and have to laugh

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"A doctor from Mercy met me on the roof, instead of Carter," Luka explained. "She told me that Carter had been paged to the ER so she would help me bring Cleo to the ER."

"The woman was just there?" Carol asked skeptically. "Where did she come from?"

"She followed us from Mercy in one of the news helicopters," Luka answered. "She was a friend of Cleo's and wanted to assist. So we went onto the roof and loaded Cleo onto the gurney."

"Was she still responsive?" Carol asked.

"No," Luka answered, suddenly somber. "The other doctor told me that Cleo had begun to bleed out from the exit wound from her lung."

"And you didn't check it out?" Carol asked. She knew very well that Cleo had not bled out from her lung, but from the wound in her back - and Luka hadn't mentioned that wound yet.

Luka stared at her. "I had already been concerned about Cleo bleeding out, so I was not surprised when she did. I trusted the doctor - I didn't need to see for myself." His face hardened as he leaned back into his pillow and closed his eyes. "I should not have trusted her," he said mournfully.

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And it won't take long to burn

All eyes on me

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"How are you feeling, Carter?" Mark asked he approached Carter's bed in Recovery.

"Hey Dr. Greene," Carter responded. "I'm doing all right, except my leg is killing me. Any chance I could get some more morphine?" Jing-Mei had left a few minutes ago after being paged to the ER, so Carter was glad to have some more company. Ever since he had remembered the shooting, an uneasy fear had settled upon him. He did not want to be alone again.

Mark checked Carter's chart. "I don't see why not," he answered. "Just make sure they don't give you too much. The last thing you need to develop some kind of addiction."

Carter laughed. "I don't think I'll have to worry about that." His smile faded. "I thought you were in New York."

Mark quickly shifted his eyes. "Let's get you that morphine now."

"Did you and Elizabeth come back early because of me?" When Mark didn't answer, Carter sighed. "You didn't have to do that."

Mark looked at Carter. "Actually, it wasn't you, if it makes you feel any better," he told Carter. "We heard about Cleo when we were in New York, and then in the airport in New York we heard about Luka. We heard about what happened to you after we landed."

Carter's eyes widened. "Luka?" he questioned. "What happened to Luka?"

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Through the nothing that you've learned

All eyes on me

-----------------------------------

"When we wheeled Cleo to the ER I noticed that her stats were dropping quickly," Luka said. "But the woman didn't seem to be concerned about it, which surprised me because she was supposed to be Cleo's friend. Once we got to the ER I had Randi page everyone who was on, and I started working on Cleo with the other doctor. It was then that I realized Cleo had been shot a third time, in the thoracic spine, which is why she was unresponsive." Luka's face tightened in anger and his eyes reddened slightly. "She could not respond because she was paralyzed."

"Do - do you think that woman did it?" Carol asked in shock.

Luka looked sadly at Carol. "It's the only answer," he told her. "But I did not realize it at the time. When I told the woman that Cleo had the third gunshot and that I didn't know when she got it, the doctor glared at me and told me to step outside. She pulled out a gun . . . she made me leave Cleo unattended." Luka hung his head. "Cleo was in V-fib when I left."

Carol closed her eyes, remembering the similar scene into which she had walked. "Then what happened?" she asked.

"She put the gun in my back and told me to go down to the morgue," Luka explained quietly. " I didn't understand why at first, but then it came to me - there is no one down there. It was the perfect crime scene." He grimaced. "That was where she wanted to kill me."

"Is that when . . . she hit you?" Carol grimaced.

Luka shook his head. "She started to lose control when we got there," he told her. "She suddenly remembered something she hadn't done. So she locked me in the morgue - I don't know how, she didn't have the key - and left. I think she forgot about me." Luka shuddered. "Being in a dark room with so many dead bodies . . . I nearly passed out."

"Wait a minute," Carol said, confused. "I thought you were attacked at 8:30 or so. When did the woman attack you?"

"She didn't," Luka said. "She never came back. But I was ready if she did."

"What do you mean?"

Luka smiled. "She was so preoccupied with whatever she forgot that she left her gun in the morgue . . . with me."

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And the things you choose to be

All eyes on me

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"So what exactly were you doing with the cane?" Elizabeth suspiciously.

Ben looked at her shamefacedly. "Promise you won't laugh."

Curious, Elizabeth nodded. "I promise," she said as seriously as she could.

Ben sighed. "I was practicing my sword fighting," he mumbled.

Elizabeth stifled a laugh. "What?" she asked, trying not to giggle. This boy was tall, lanky, and thin, with big round glasses and pale skin - she could more easily see him as a computer engineer than a swordsman. "Why?"

"You're going to think it's stupid," Ben warned.

Elizabeth held up her hand. "I swear, I will not think it's stupid." *Even though I'm pretty sure it will be,* she thought amusedly.

Ben paused for a moment. "I have this virtual reality game called 'Dungeons' at home," he explained. "I lost a battle with the Demon of the Dungeon yesterday and it cost me three badges. I thought that I could improve my fighting technique with that cane - it was exactly the right length." He looked down. "I guess I got really into the battle, because soon I was lost again."

"Where did you get to before you realized that you were lost?" Elizabeth asked. She had to change this ridiculous subject before she asked an unnecessarily cruel question.

"The very bottom level, I think," he answered. "I couldn't find any more stairs going down, and after a while I couldn't find the ones going up anymore either. That's when I found that one room." His eyes lowered.

Elizabeth leaned closer. "The morgue?" she asked softly.

Ben looked at her. "I don't know . . . I think so." Suddenly he became quiet again, like he had been in the beginning of the conversation. "There was someone locked in there. He was yelling in some language I've never heard before."

*That must have been Luka,* thought Elizabeth.

"I started to jimmy the lock to let him out, but that's when Dr. Greene came and pulled me outside," Ben continued. "Dr. Greene said that the man in the room was the one who killed the doctor, and that if I let him out he'd kill me too!" Ben shuddered. "Then the door slammed open - I guess I jimmied it enough to open it - and the guy pointed a gun at me . . ." Ben's eyes filled with tears. "I was so scared . . . I didn't know what to do . . ."

Elizabeth took a deep breath. "So you hit him with the cane?" she asked quietly.

Ben nodded sadly. "I hit the gun out of his hands, and it went back into the morgue," he explained. "He just looked at me, and when he saw Dr. Greene behind me he panicked and turned around to pick the gun up again." Ben's eyes dropped. "I hit him again. I knocked him out."

Elizabeth paused for a moment. "I thought you said it was an accident," she told him hesitantly. "That's not really an accident."

"I was scared!" Ben cried.

Elizabeth sighed. She really didn't know what to make of any of this. The student had continuously named Mark as the killer, but Elizabeth knew that this was geologically impossible. She had been with him all night - not to mention across the country. There was the possibility that the student actually was the killer, and that he was putting on this act to try and put the blame onto someone else, like Mark. But this young man didn't strike Elizabeth as a cold-blooded killer, or a liar at that. Something definitely didn't add up.

What Ben had told her outside of County also disturbed her. "Benjamin . . . when you told me I was next -"

Ben's eyes widened. "That's what Dr. Greene said!" he whispered.

Elizabeth stayed calm. "When did you talk to Dr. Greene?" she asked.

"Right after I threw the cane into the trash," Ben told her quietly. "Dr. Greene started yelling 'That son of a bitch stole my gun' and stuff like that. That's when I realized that that other guy wasn't the killer; Dr. Greene was." Ben leaned closer to Elizabeth. "Then Dr. Greene calmed down, and asked me if I had seen Dr. Elizabeth Corday. I said no, and Dr. Greene started yelling 'She's next . . . I'll make sure she's next!' "

The constant "Dr. Greene" reference was a little too eerie for Elizabeth to keep hearing. "How do you know that the killer's name is Dr. Greene?" she asked.

Ben shrugged. "It was on the name tag," he said simply.

Elizabeth tilted her head curiously. "Did it say, " 'Dr. Mark Greene?' " she asked. It was all too obvious to her now - the killer must have stolen Mark's ID. It finally made sense!

"No," Ben said, confused. "Why would a woman's name tag say 'Mark?' "

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But your eyes look away

It's so hard to be someone

Strung out from today

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"Dr. Greene?" An officer hesitantly entered the room. "I'm Officer Thompson. You mentioned that you'd like to see the places of the attacks?"

"Yes, I do," Mark answered as he stood up from his seat next to Carter's bed. "Will you be ok?" he asked Carter.

Carter shrugged. "Yeah, of course," he lied. "I'm feeling great."

Mark looked at him, concerned. "Are you sure?"

"I'm good," Carter said a little less convincingly.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," Mark assured him. "I'll also try to find out how Luka's doing." He took one last look at Carter, then followed the officer outside.

Carter sighed and leaned into his pillow. The room was swirling around him; it had been ever since Mark had told him what happened to Luka. It was no coincidence that the three doctors who had gone to the trauma were the three victims in these bizarre attacks. The helicopter pilot had managed to kill Cleo, but had failed to kill Luka and himself. Would there be more attacks until all three were dead? And why were they the chosen three? Carter's perplexed expression quickly faded and his eyes closed as he felt the effects of the beautiful, blissful morphine . . .

A short, blond woman entered the room. Her footsteps were light: a mere "tap . . . tap . . ." was all that could be heard. Her white lab coat swished against her green scrubs, and her brow furrowed as she approached the young doctor's gurney. "Carter. . ." she murmured. She sat next to him, watching his chest rise and fall, rise and fall . . .

"You've changed."

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And all that you know slips away

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"This is where they found Kovac," Officer Thompson explained. He gestured into the room but held up his hand when Mark tried to enter. "You can't go in. It's a crime scene."

Mark nodded. "So you're sure the med student did it?" he asked, peering in from the doorway. "And with Dr. Weaver's cane?"

Thompson nodded. "They found the kid right here -" he pointed to the left side of the doorway, "and the weapon in the trash can."

Mark listened as he attempted to look farther into the room. There had to be something - anything - that proved the student didn't do it. Kerry had told him about her theory of the Mercy gunman coming to County, and it made a lot of sense to him. There was no physical way that the student could have killed Cleo, shot Carter, and attacked Luka. No way.

"Thompson, Thompson," the officer's radio called. Thompson took it off of his shoulder. "This is Thompson," he spoke into the radio.

Mark didn't hear the conversation; he was too wrapped up in speculations and theories. The morgue was spooky enough without the knowledge that Luka had nearly bled to death there. His eyes combed the room, searching for any clues that would give him the answers he needed.

"Dr. Greene, I just found out that Kovac is awake," the officer informed Mark. "I'm going to go question him. Want to come?"

Mark considered this. "I'll be up in a minute," he responded, still staring into the morgue. There had to be something . . .

The officer shook his head. "I'd feel better if you came. I'm not comfortable leaving anyone alone in this hospital right now."

Mark turned around to face him. "I thought you already had the killer," he challenged.

The officer shifted uncomfortably. "Well yeah, but. . ."

"I'll be up in a minute," Mark informed him, and turned back into the morgue. Sighing, the officer reluctantly headed up County's stairs alone.

Frustrated, Mark shook his head. "It just doesn't make sense," he mused.

"Nothing does."

Alarmed at the sudden voice, Mark whirled around-

-and faced the barrel of a gun.

"Hello, Mark," a calm, pleasant voice spoke.

Mark's heart stopped momentarily. This face . . . this face had haunted him for a year . . . this face had crept into his subconscious and made his skin crawl . . . this face had made him uncomfortable and disgusted in his own workplace . . .

"Amanda," he finally choked. "Amanda Lee."

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And you hide in your room

And the light burns away

And you move from the truth

It's all so far from you