*Cheap thrills, huh? lol Quite pathetic, I know. Oh, and the quote is taken from Abel Ferrara's The Addiction, though I wished it was mine.*
"He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt." J. Heller"What's up?" Alex wanted to know. "What?" he repeated, seeing the horrified expression on his friend's face. Clear put down the receiver to take a look at the display. Since the line had been disconnected a few seconds ago she was desperately trying to make a connection again, but didn't succeed. "It's been cut off suddenly!"
"Cut off?"
"Interrupted. Liz said they had sorta an accident, dunno whether they're hurt or not, I could hear Carter screaming, then something like a terrible crack –" she made a gesture with her hand, like drawing a final stroke. She looked into Alex's eyes, searching for an answer she probably didn't want to hear. "Didn't you see anything?"
The blond-haired shook his head, worrying, wondering. Glancing over the room. Outside the rain swooshed down, pounding against the windows, sounding like a big ogre's heart, beating fast while waiting in anticipation to attack its victims anytime. There was nothing, nothing that could've told him what was going to happen. No hint. And therefore, no premonition.
Clear reached for her jacket. "We should go out and search for them. Liz got our cell-numbers, she will surely try them and so can we, so we don't have to stay here to –"
"Clear, hey", Alex softly cut off, pulling her back. "We don't even have the slightest idea, where they could be. You know I'd be the first to run out there with you, but we cannot comb the whole city and the surrounding places. We wouldn't be able to see anything during this Flood."
She knew he had a point there, but only thinking of being locked in here, while their friends needed their help badly or maybe even were dead, made her crazy. Alex took his own phone out and dialled. "Police", he explained, though he wasn't very confident that they could or would do anything. Clear walked around the room, continuously pressing the repeat key, always listening to the same nine words -"The person you have called is temporarily not available."- becoming each time more desperate, but refusing to give up hope to reach them.
None of them had noticed the little thing that had fallen under Liz' desk. It was a paperback book about the films of David Cronenberg, having a picture of his famous 1996 - movie at the cover.
**********
The black car was in terrible condition. Loads of deep scratches and bumps had destroyed the gleaming metal. The windshield had been broken by an enormous tree, part of its treetop now lying in the front of the car, some rainwater dropping onto the seats.
Clear had had a hard struggle, trying to get out of her seat, the branches and twigs had nearly nailed her on. This was a nightmare. Somebody had to wake her up. She looked down. Her formerly white jeans were soiled from a mixture of dirt, water and blood. Especially blood. Due to the fact that it was pretty cramped in the back, Carter had to lay down his injured leg across hers, for he was not able to bend his knee. The mobile had been completely destroyed by one of the branches and Liz still couldn't understand that it hadn't shattered her hand as well.
"Hey!" Carter suddenly cried, making her start. "What about your fuckin' cell?"
Liz turned to him in slow motion, eying him in disbelief. "Well, as you might know it's still lying on the ground of some canal, since somebody threw it into a few days ago." The calmness in her voice was apparently a bit forced. She could remember the scene vividly. Carter had just started to take it out on them again, since he had forgotten his mobile at home and hers wasn't working the way he wanted it to, when he suddenly reached back and furiously swung it into the dirty water of the canal they were standing close to. Liz had nearly thrown him behind, but unfortunately Clear and Alex prevented her from doing so, though being damned angry at his behaviour themselves.
"Oops", he made. "Yeah, guess I've forgotten to replace it."
"Replace it?? There were messages I never ever wanted to delete, especially the last one Cara sent to me, furthermore it was a birthday present and meant a lot to me – but nevertheless you will buy a new one, don't worry."
"If we get outta here. Man, will that fuckin' rain never stop??" He let out an impatient groan.
"We really should get out of the car. I've had enough of being stuck here with you."
"Yeah", he made an inviting gesture, "just go ahead, I won't hold you back. I'll just stay here where it's safe and warm, waiting for you to return. Oh yeah 'n hey: don't mind a family of bears crossing your way or maybe some wild pigs. Round that time they usually aren't hungry."
"Oh, that's just great!! You got us down here, we were nearly killed, and now we're not having the slightest idea of where we are nor how to get back home, but Mr smart ass still takes it for a joke!! Ya know what?? As long as you don't come up with something useful, why don't you just shut your trap?!"
"So, Miss big mouth, why don't you just tell me then?? C'mon, lemme listen to your great plans!" Carter snapped, giving a wince of pain the next second as Liz dropped her hands in resignation, not thinking about his leg.
"So sorry", she growled.
"Bet you are! So? Still wanna play the scout?"
The only thing she wanted was to get out of here, away from this idiot. But it was useless and she knew it. The rain was still drumming ceaselessly strong against the car. For the short time single flashes had lit up the surrounding area, they had seen that they were deep within the woods and one must have gone absolutely crazy to try to find a way home with all the flashes striking into the ground and the trees and without any torch or local knowledge.
"Hope we not gonna end up like Spooky Mulder and Scully, spending a whole night outside on a platform just to find out that the shore was so close they could've walked to it."
Liz raised an eyebrow. "You're watching the 'X-Files'?"
"Well, everybody does."
"Just thought it was too freaky for such a cool guy like you!"
He smirked. "I know you'd like to see me dead."
"Oh per-lease, you're not that important, okay? I ain't got any feelings towards you, you're only getting on my nerves. Which is a state of mind." Something came to her. "Was that …. like …. Does it mean, Clear's next?"
Carter gulped, then behaved as cool as usual. "Guess so."
"We gotta warn her!"
"You got any telepathic abilities I should know about? Calm down okay? They have to fear the worst, so Alex 's gonna keep an eye on her. Or both." He grinned at his own silly joke, before starting to glance over the car, apparently searching for something. He finally reached under his frontseat, unearthing a black and blue sweater and something that looked liked a bottle. Liz refused to believe what she saw. "You're not gonna drink that now?!"
He gave a hard, arrogant laugh. "Who's gonna stop me? You?" His eyes got an icy-cold expression. "Touch the bottle and you're dead, no matter whose turn it's next. Seriously, what else can we do? We're stuck in here, it doesn't seem as if the thunderstorm stops so soon, the car's damaged so driving's out of sight – not much left."
"Oh, so you got another meeting with one of your three best friends - wait, what were they called; Jack, Jim and Johnnie?" she asked sarcastically.
"Fuck you", Carter answered, taking a deep swig.
"How can one drink whisky at all?" Only imagining it made her shiver. That was even worse than liquorice or ravioli. Or bitter chocolate.. Eek.
"I bet you're drinkin' such candy-ass-crap like Bailey's, don't you?" he questioned her condescendingly.
"And if?" she wanted to know with an unnerved sigh. This macho-behaviour started putting her under stress.
"Which is no whisky, huh?" Noticing the expression on her face with a half-hearted smirk, he drank more.
"Someone said: 'We drink to escape the fact we're alcoholics. Existence is the search for relief from our habit, and our habit is the only relief we can find.' "
" A capable person. But I'm no alcoholic."
"Oh no, I don't drink, man", she mocked him, "I don't take drugs as well. I can stop it anytime I want to. I just don't want to."
"Go to hell", he snorted, drinking even more.
"Already been there. You're repeating yourself, Carter. Just think of something new, for a change."
"What for? I'm not your private entertainer."
"My God, was that a joke? If there's nothing funny on TV the next days , I'll maybe remember it and laugh a bit."
"Wow, you're just so cool. Why do you keep on prattling on things you don't understand? It really starts getting on one's wick, in the long term."
Liz stared out of the window. There was big flash of lightning, only a few meters away from them. "This velvet-soft feeling, that's the best. As if walking in the clouds. A pleasant dizziness. And everything seems to be so easy. You drink to forget your problems. And even if you don't manage, it doesn't matter, cause everything's suddenly so simple. Because nothing seems to be important any more. Finally you can float off of everything. Only the next day, there's this strange feeling waiting for you. Every time. This dissatisfaction, you can't tell for sure, where it's coming from. This restlessness, stirring you inward, which you cannot seem to fight. Screwing up your stomach, making you slowly but surely going mad, but you calm yourself, because soon you won't have to worry about that any longer. But you hate this feeling, inevitably coming, when you, one or two hours after having fallen asleep blissfully, wake up in the middle of the night; you could drink now twice as much, but this nice feeling is gone and it's not coming back, no matter what you do. And the next day you have to swig down much more and especially high-proof stuff, when it shall be like the night before. Meanwhile you've also checked out which stuff's only getting you a nasty headache, but you accept even that, if your purse's not allowing anything else. Though your mind's making it absolutely clear to you how stupid you are, you're sweeping away those objections, cuz you got it under control. And you're not only saying so, it really seems to be right. After all you can do without for weeks sometimes, without noticing the slightest withdrawal symptoms. So you can just keep on doing it, whenever you want."
Carter let the golden brown liquid circle in the bottle, before gulping down more. "Sounds as if you were talking about an old friend." He seemed a little astonished. "Though not a very good one."
"I think I've already overstepped the point, where I could've told you, I'd read this somewhere." She was angry with herself. Why couldn't she just shut up? Excellent, now he even thought her a boozer. She tried to make herself believe that she didn't give a damn at what he thought.
*TXL, DARK!! lol Seems as if I liked Carter more than I'd ever thought possible, huh?*
Carter studied her face. "You sure, you don't want some?" He held out the bottle to her, but she shook her head. "Cuz you already look a little freezing 'n I suppose it's gonna get even colder down here."
Liz raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to make me drunk?"
He smirked derisively. "What for? To make it easier for me to screw you?" He leant forward and she could feel his breath on the skin of her face. "I don't have to get a girl sloshed to do it with her, believe me", he said in a low voice, a little husky from the JD – (*and that goes out to you, Dark*) some German dubbing artist would've given anything to call this voice his own – looking her right into the eyes. "Never had to." And, lounging back with a self-satisfied expression, he took another swig of whiskey.
"I see, you have to get pickled instead."
"You won't provoke me. Hey, it can't get worse: I almost died twice that night, my car's got a write-off, I'm stuck here with you, my knee hurts – well I guess that's basically it. But I'm still alive, cheers!" By now the initially three-quarters-filled bottle, only contained about one last quarter. Carter lay his head at the back rest. "And you should be happy as well. Nice scenery, cool company, okay, no music, but fresh air, the wood so close to you that you can even touch the leaves –"
Only after a few seconds Liz realised that he had suddenly cut off. She turned her head to see what happened, then tried to suppress a giggle. Carter had closed his eyes, a peaceful expression on his face, and snored slightly, holding the bottle in his arms like a teddy bear.
*Well okay, I've sorta overdone that. Gonna stop it here. Have to shorten my dialogues, I guess. I can never let them stop talking and talking and talking. lol Like me. O . O (hope I was allowed to borrow that from you, Dark, if not, I will clear it immediately.)*
******
Liz coughed and sneezed for the 284th time this morning.
"I told you to have some whisky, but you just wouldn't listen", Carter said cheerfully for the 312th time, sounding like a senior primary school teacher.
"It's just a bit of hay fever", she said talking through her nose and sneezing once more. It had become damned cold during the night and Carter's sweater hadn't helped much since it was made for summer. She still wondered how it could've protected the whisky bottle from breaking.
Two forestry officials had found them only three hours ago, by a pure fluke, trying to check out what damages the thunderstorm had caused in the woods. Alex and Liz, unspeakably relieved to see them alive, had picked them up at the hospital, the forestry officials had brought them to for a check through. Carter's knee wasn't seriously injured, so they could've left soon.
"'Popular' by Nada Surf was made especially for you, huh?" Liz groaned at him, ill-humoured. "At least the chorus."
"Nerda who?" he asked, pretending to be bored, though knowing pretty well what she was alluding to and it really annoyed him, but he begrudged her the satisfaction.
She shrugged. "Why doesn't it surprise me that you have no idea of good music?"
Behind the newspaper Alex was reading, a slight chortle was heard. Carter gave him an if-looks-could-kill-one. The paper rustled audibly as Alex folded it up, while trying to regain control of his features.
"Ah, fuck you!" Carter yelled, turning like lightning into the well-known aggressive jock, grabbed his jacket and marched, eerr, hobbled out of the room furiously, straight into Clear who was returning from the kitchen, entering the very same moment. "Don't stand in the way!!" he snubbed her.
"Hey, what –" she was incensed, but he had already disappeared around the corner and the door leading to the stairwell banged at the wall with rattling panes.
"What is it now??" She stepped into room, glancing around wondering.
"'Popular' by Nada Surf", Alex smirked.
Clear frowned for a moment, then grinning as well. "Bad girl", she turned to Liz, for it was quite obvious from whom it had come, but her just shrugged. "He might be your friends a thousand times, but I cannot bear his arrogant fuss no more. What an asshole!! If he goes on like this, I personally will finish off the work of –" she stopped abruptly, taking a deep breath.
"I guess it's not very easy for him", Clear made an attempt to explain.
"Ah well, but for us it is, huh?" Liz mocked.
"What I'm trying to say is …. that Carter is his own worst enemy. I suppose that it's somehow harder for him than for us", she continued, without caring about the sceptic looks Liz gave her. "I - we are at least able to talk about the whole thing, while Carter's keeping it all inside. It's always been like that; just don't let anything come through, that could cause fissures in the façade, keep it under lock and key; it's gonna sort itself out somehow. He just cannot stand the fact that there's something he's unable to solve or at least ignore. Which is the way he used to handle things. His whole life through. Until the crash everything was alright. He had control over it. Okay, he pretended that life just pissed him off most of the times and he was pretty aggressive and all of that, but well, call it his rebellious nature or whatsoever, anyway, he liked life. He liked being rich, being cool, having a car, a cheerleader-girlfriend, even always enough alcohol to drink himself away now and then, his life in general. And even when he felt that dissatisfaction sometimes, he wouldn't have exchanged it for anything else. There were only two persons he cared about, so it was just so easy. Then that crash. And suddenly everything had changed, and it got worse every day. He somehow got through it, over it and he really thought that that was it. Now it's happening all over again. Death, the fear, most of all this uncertainty. Again losing control." She hesitated, surprising. "Did I really just say all of that 'bout him?"
"Yeah", Alex confirmed, "phew, quite a long speech 'bout our favourite topic. I suppose, someone should have a look after it, uhm, him. Bet he's just outside in his car, listening to some hard rock, trying to cool down – " he hesitated, thinking about the last night, he rolled his eyes at his own stupidity, "maybe he's not sitting in his car, but I'm sure, he's somewhere near." His eyes focused on Clear. "Take care of yourself, okay?" he said softly and it was obvious that he hated to leave her alone. Concerning the pattern, she was next, so there was no direct danger for Carter, but since things had turned out to be pretty strange, Alex wouldn't trust in that a hundred per cent.
He had no idea how right was.
*Okay warning, this is another 'talkative' chapter, I can't do anything about it. But things have to be said. Thanx to KAZUHA-CHAN: loved to hear that u liked 'my' asshole. Thank you so much for your review. I thought so, that ur German as well, I mean, that 'ähem' gave me at hint. lol*
Clear looked at Liz, horrified, after hearing her last words. They were still in the apartment for it seemed to be the safest place for Clear. "Are you crazy? Man, you mustn't even say that to him, joking. He's quite capable of jumping out of the window, to avoid that something's happening to us."
"I'm not sure, but …. what if –" Liz tried to find the right words, "Alex, so to speak …. what I want to say is, it was him, getting all of you out of the plane then, and –"
"Actually he was only responsible for Carter getting thrown off with him, though, not even for that", Clear cut off, lost in thought. Once again the scene was played through in her mind's eye. Again and again they had run through this, she couldn't remember how often. She sensed Alex' agitation as clearly as then, saw him jumping up from his seat beside Tod, saw Carter, furiously pouncing on him, and the security officers, leading him out of the plane, Terry, following them being indignant, Billy, having come to late and being refused to enter, Tod, her two teachers and finally herself, grabbing her stuff at the last moment, following them back into the departure lounge. She took a deep breath, trying to banish the terrible pictures, inevitably following, off her head, but they stuck like a glutinous mass in the convolutions of her brain. "Okay", she finally said", let's sum it up: Alex had that vision, Carter was mad at seeing the start recede into the distance and he couldn't stand Alex in any case, now definitely less than ever, so he attacked him and therefore was thrown out with him. Of course Terry didn't wanna fly without her boyfriend, Billy wasn't allowed to get in, for the security was unnerved slowly but surely, not caring why he was that late, they just wanted to have everybody off board, that wasn't sitting well-behaved in its seat. Tod's brother asked him to care for his best friend, but he certainly would've followed him two seconds later by himself, since being our teachers, Miss Lewton and Mr Murnau were responsible for us and I – I just believed him." Once more she took a deep breath, a little more quavering this time. There just seemed to be not enough oxygen in this room. Cautiously Liz took her hand, gently pressing it, and Clear was grateful that she didn't take it back within the next minutes. "Alex even would've got out voluntarily and no one forced Terry, Tod and me, to do as well, Carter and Billy actually had no chance to do something else as well as our teachers, though Miss Lewton, well, remained voluntarily – you know what I mean – sending back Mr Murnau. Okay, taking out the others, then I'm left. Like the FBI agents said: at that time there was no considerable connection between us, I could've stayed on the plane. Do you understand; the rest of them more or less had a reason to stay, all, save me. But it trailed me nevertheless, just as them. But it didn't get me." With an angry gesture she wiped away some tears. Actually she almost never cried and surely wouldn't start now.
Liz smiled at her. "I see you've understood what I was driving at."
"You think, if Alex wouldn't have thrown us into a state of panic, then we all would've crashed down as it was meant to be. No matter how you look at it; it's all coming from him and going back to him."
"A frightening cycle, isn't it?" a voice rang out from the door. Both girls jerked round to see Carter and Alex, loaded with some paper bags and a box of bottles, obviously being back from buying. Engrossed in conversation, they hadn't noticed that the lock had been opened.
It took a minute, before Clear noticed that it had been Alex talking. His tone had sounded so odd, almost unknown. And she didn't like the expression in his eyes, at all.
"How long have you been standing there?" Liz asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable, though she basically had no reason to.
"Long enough to know, that you are of the opinion that our friend Browning here should blow his brain out as soon as possible", Carter replied lightly as if talking about the weather.
"It's not funny!" Clear said.
Carter, who was putting down his bag, stood up. "It might astonish you, but I agree with you completely. It's not funny. Nevertheless, it's the quintessence of what she has said." He turned to Liz. "Am I right?" he inquired with a smug grin.
"You're such a wanker, Carter. Such a damned, fucked up asshole." She looked at Alex. "Listen, I don't want to give you the feeling I'd –"
"No, it's okay", he answered calmly, closed the door and slowly sat down on the floor at the opposite wall. "It's not as if that thought was so new to me –"
"What??" Carter let slip out. "You know the solution to this problem and only come out with it now??"
The heads of the three others turned to him one after the other, their facial expressions varying from amazement to horror.
"What kind of solution is that supposed to be?" Liz voice had a disbelieving undertone.
It was gradually dawning on him what he had just said and he tried, to neutralize it somehow, but couldn't think of anything, that would be compatible to his cool image, though he himself was obviously shocked at his words.
Liz swallowed her sarcastic comment. "I just didn't want –"
"You didn't", Alex interrupted her again. "And I'm sure, we all had this idea
before."
"Okay Browning, somehow I still don't like you, but I want to straighten out that I don't want you to snuff it, no matter what I've just said. It –"
"But you did think of it. Admit it." Alex still spoke unusually composed. "It's not about whether you really want to see me dead or not, solely a logical conclusion. "
Carter lowered his eyes, taking a deep breath, but then refrained from comment. After all, what could he say?
"Perhaps all of this is big nonsense." Liz ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "And besides, it doesn't get us any further."
An awkward silence spread across the room; no one dared to look at the others, in secret each of them cursing themselves for the thought flashing through their minds within a split second.
After a while Alex got up.
"Where do you want to go?" Clear asked alarmed.
"I need some fresh air", he replied toneless, taking a step towards the door.
"You can also have that on the balcony." Liz pointed backwards.
"You don't get it, I have to get out of here." He went on, but Carter blocked his way, pushing him back a bit. "The balcony is outside, Browning." Intending to lead him towards the corresponding direction, he put a hand on his shoulder, but Alex reluctantly shook it off, collared him and slammed his back hard against the wardrobe in the floor.
"That's just not far enough, okay??" he shouted at him. "I gotta get out of that apartment, away from that house!! I cannot stand it any longer, I cannot stand you any longer, don't you get that??"
Carter stared at him, an indefinable look in his eyes and in his experience Alex expected him to attack him every minute, but nothing of that kind happened. "You won't go anywhere alone, did you get that?" he gave back instead, astonishingly calm. "If you want to I can also smash your face in first, but you won't go without one of us, got that?"
Alex shook his head, but let go of him, reaching for the handle. "I just have to be alone for a while, or I'll crack up. Please", he mouthed.
"You're not gonna do silly things?" For the fifth time Clear twisted the same strand of hair around her finger.
Alex gave her a tired look. "Do you want it in writing?" He was almost out at the passage, Carter ready to go with him, as Liz' voice called him back one more time. Resigned he hung his head. It was interesting how long it could take to leave a building.
"You should never forget that it's just a stupid theory, one out of countless others. And even if obviously all of us, including you, had the same thought, I'm sorry that it was me who said it out loud. We have to rely on suppositions if we don't wanna sit around idly, but no one tells us whether we are right or not. And there's one more thing you ought to know; it was you, saving them from the plane, but I was the one getting panicky in the restaurant – though you believed me pretty fast and supported me – so everything applying to you also does to me. Okay, now you can say that, you wouldn't have been there, if you had been on that plane then, but geeze, Alex, there are so many factors not being considered, they can't be, cuz we're not capable of taking everything into account. That what if-game is not much help to us. I mean, do you know whether for example Billy Hitchcock or Miss Lewton didn't cheat death before and, following this sick theory, mustn't have been with you any longer? Maybe the pilot took his coffee this morning with milk cuz there was no sugar left, spilling some over his suit and therefore arrived at work two minutes to late. Perhaps otherwise things would've been different. If you believe in that fate-stuff, some meteorite storm could even haven an effect on the durability of your Walkman-battery. See, what I'm trying to say is – we still know too little. Your scheme with the sequence's correct in any case, but", she hesitated for a moment, before continuing. Something in her head had begun to take shape, but she wasn't completely sure how to express it. "The real question is more –"
"Why me, of all people?" Alex leant against the doorframe, his arms folded. "Believe me, for a thousand times we –"
"No, no", Liz, starting to organize her mental chaos, firmly shook her head, "that is second place. Man, I can't believe that I only catch on it now. It's not about why you had this vision, it's more important why you had it at all. How? Where suddenly from? You're not known for supernatural abilities. So why?"
"Well, it's not important any more, cuz I have them no more. I didn't see anything of what was going to happen to Carter and you."
"But you were meant to. What makes it even more weird." She took something from her desk and hold it up. It was a thin book. "You know where I found that? Under my desk. Must've dropped. I remember that I was reading in it the night before the crash for I was searching for an actress' name. I'm sure I didn't throw it there. It's Cara's. About David Lynchs movies. And now, look at the cover." They stared at the picture of a severe car crash. "If there's something like a Grim Reaper, tracking us, because some perfidious plan has been thwarted, who makes up the rules? Where does this plan come from? Does, who- or whatever's after us, only ensure the correct implementation, or is it the initiator itself? And assuming that all of this is in accordance with reality, who's standing on the other side then?"
"Us", Carter answered, shrugging.
"And where do these visions come from?" Liz started to draw circles onto the carpet with her finger. "Why are we able to do this, all at once? Of course, I always wished to have some supernatural skills, but the truth is that unfortunately I'm no witch or something of that kind." She looked up, first at Clear, than at Carter. Then she glanced past him. But there was nothing. She understood only with a little delay.
"Where is Alex?"
****
*Whoa, OMG, will I ever stop talking?? Are you still with me? My only excuse is that this was one of the first parts existing of my story. Now, with all the other chapters, it's of course pretty long, but I didn't wanna shorten it. Yeah well, end of excuse."
"A fucking cemetery?? You're kidding!!" Carter got out of Clear's car and leant against it. "Okay, we all know that he's a psycho, but –"
"Yeah well, but it makes kinda sense, doesn't it? No ones gonna disturb him here." Clear gave back. "We've been searching for him in all the other places you proposed. Which were two. Now we're following my plan!"
"Could you stop talkin' 'bout plans?? I've really had enough of them!!"
They entered the huge iron gate. Okay, to be honest, they climbed over it.
"Breaking in a cemetery, how pathetic can one be?" Carter complained.
"Well stay out then", Clear snapped, sick of his constant grumbling. "I just feel that he's here, okay?"
"What and leave all the fun to you?" he asked sarcastically. "N what did you mean by feel? You're not starting that premonition-stuff yourself, do you?"
She didn't listen to him. "Clear? Hey, Miss Snooty, I'm talking to you!! Clear?? CLEAR!!"
She felt him pushing her forward, throwing her to the ground. "What the –" she started furiously when she heard how something heavy hit the ground, it was even possible to feel a little tremor. Her heart stopped beating for a second, than began racing like crazy. Slowly turning around, she saw a huge angel, built of stone, that had fallen off his high plinth, near to a grave. Without Carter's reaction it surely would've struck her head. He let go of her, scrutinizing her.
"Shit, are both of you okay??" Liz cried.
Carter still looked at Clear. "Are you?"
She shrugged, then nodded slightly, still busy trying to stop her hands and the rest of her body from shaking. Until now she had really loved angel sculptures, for her father had bought her a little one when she was a child. For her protection. She had believed in their powers. Then. Of course she had known she was next, but –
"Dying on a cemetery – that's really crap!" Carter said, him and Liz helping her friend to get back on her feet. "Like out of a bad, bad, bad D-movie!!"
"It skipped me", Clear whispered.
"I know", he nodded, wiping the dirt off of his pants. "I know."
****
It was only this night, Alex had the strangest dream. Right after the crash he had had nightmares for about two years, but then it got better, he almost stopped dreaming, or, at least, couldn't remember any of them. Well, this night, they had come back. Or rather, him.
He crossed a morgue, looking similar to the one he and Clear had broken in, for he wanted to see his best friend Tod one more time. The smell of decay and disinfectant wasn't as strong as then, but still clear enough. This time he was alone, walking through a big entrance hall, he couldn't remember having seen the first time. He turned right, finding himself in a long passage that lead to single niches. Without knowing why, he entered one of them. There were kind of shelves, directly built-in the stone walls, that contained loads of urns. He glanced over the names, when a certain one caught his eye. Reaching out his hand, to stroke the letters on the small silver nameplate, that was attached below, when a sudden noise made him jerk, unintentionally tearing down the urn. It surely would have broken on the hard ground, but a hand grabbed it quickly and cautiously placed it back onto its shelves. As if spellbound Alex stared at the slim bracelet, made of plaited black and blue leather bands. Pictures of his childhood flashed in his mind. Black for the protecting darkness and blue for hope. Two boys in a tent, a bottle of root beer, the flickering light of a torch with low batteries, a promise. "You still got it?" he asked, not daring to turn around, afraid, the one standing behind him could disappear the very same moment.
"What, did you really throw yours away? Last time I saw it, it was pinned on your notice board. And since you've never been able to throw your childhood-stuff away, bet it's still there. C'mon, dude, don't lemme talk to your back."
Slowly, Alex turned around, looking at the young man now standing in front of him. Speechless. Tod looked pretty well if you could say that concerning a dead person. And he seemed to be the same age like him, Alex wondered how that was possible.
"Just a little trick", Tod said.
"Can you read my mind?" Alex asked, still unable to comprehend what was going on.
"Ooops", Tod smirked, scratching his head. "Well, just one of those things that make it bearable here." He pointed at the urn. "I know, I wasn't burnt either, though I'd preferred it, ya know, thinkin' of your body rotting in a grave's not that great, but my parents …. "
"Are you really here?" Alex' voice had become somewhat croaky due to the tears he tried to suppress.
"Reality's so relative and since this is a dream - oh c'mon, man, come here", Tod said softly, embracing him. Alex had somehow expected to fall through him, but Tod's body was warm and alive.
"You're fine …. there?"
"Hey", Tod shoved him away, laughing, something, Alex really had wished badly to hear during the last years, "do I look great or what?? Actually, George is always – well ya know, I can't tell you that." The next minute his face was serious. "You dunno how I longed to talk to you for eternities, but I'm afraid we haven't got the time and there's something you need to know. I'm sorry that I can't make it that clear, but: ya know, I know what's going on down there, but I cannot help you, I shouldn't even be here. All I can say is: Watch out, Alex. It's started again, but it's different this time. More furious. Something has changed. It's not willing to let you escape once more. It's not what you used to know. And though I really miss you, dude; don't join us so soon." He smiled. "And if – Alex? Alex? Can you hear me?" He put an arm on his shoulder. " Alex? Don't wake up, don't –"
"Wake up, psycho!!" Reluctantly Alex opened his eyes as someone shook him heavily, nearly ripping off his shoulder, looking straight into a pair of well-known cold blue eyes. "My God, how deep is your sleep?" Carter rolled his eyes, turning to Clear. "See? He's not unconscious."
Giving him an angry sidelong glance, she jostled past him and knelt down beside Alex. "Are you okay?" She gently ran her hand through his hair, then touched his forehead, finding it was quite warm.
"Fever?" she asked worried, but he shook his head. "It's just pretty hot that night 'n with the jacket –"
"What the fuck you thought you were doing?!" Carter yelled at him. "Do you think at all??"
"Oh, so you were anxious 'bout me?"
Carter gave a cold laugh. "Dream on, man! No, but these two girls were getting on my nerves with listing all the things that could happen to you. Seriously, as soon as we're back home I'm gonna tie you to some chair, or better to the wardrobe." He laughed as imagining it. "Cuz I'm sick of running after you!"
Alex noticed Clear 's torn shirt. "What happened?"
"We had wild, passionate sex on the beach, before we thought of maybe saving your life." Carter answered, the dirtiest grin on his face, Alex had ever seen.
*Geeze, my 'attacks' are really cheesy. Pathetic. A 100 per cent 'unscary'. So, go on lc, and lose all your readers, boohoo.*
"So loser, was it at least worth it? Did it you get a kick out of it?"
Alex screw up his nose. "You're weird."
"Nonononono, you mix things up; you are weird, I'm cool."
"Which is so damned important." Carter glared at her, but Liz just couldn't refrain the comment.
"Well, a stupid like you will surely never understand."
She snorted with contempt.
"You're hurt?" Alex was still looking at his friend, but she shook her head and lowered her eyes. He reached out to push her hair back from her face, then put a finger under her chin, to raise it, so she had to look at him. "So you cheated it?" He smiled.
"You know what –"
"Shhh, don't worry." He gently stroked her hair, wondering whether this feelings inside of him would disappear as soon as the strain, the situation had caused, diminished.
"Don't worry?? Alex, you –"
"What are you whispering together all of the time over there?!" an impatient voice cut off. "So freak, if you don't have anything interesting to tell I'd propose we leave this place to get you back home, where I can tie you up and gag you, just to make sure, nothing's gonna happen to you, of course." He laughed out loud, as something crossed his mind. "And I'm still the safest fucker in the world. Twice."
"I wouldn't be too certain of that –"
The jock gave him an almost bored look. "What do you mean by that?"
Alex told them about his dream, somehow still sensing Tod's presence. Clear groped for his hand, gently stroking it, following the lines of the scars that had been left behind from the night many years ago, when he had saved her life, ready to give his own.
"That was it??" Carter cried in disbelief, after he had finished.
"Yeah well, that's where somebody ripped me out of the dream."
Carter took a step forward. "Hey, don't worry, I can knock you unconscious so you can go right back into dreamland and get the fucking information!"
"And there's another thing."
Hearing that, Carter let out a loud, peeved groan and let himself fall to the ground, beside Liz, regretting it the next second.
'Maybe you should take more care of your knee if you want to keep it. Could be pretty useful when you have to escape the Grim Reaper next time."
Gritting his teeth in pain, he looked at her, his eyes flaming with desire to kill.
Chapter 13 of their little private war was interrupted, as they were distracted by the rustle of paper. Alex put a newspaper between them, and they all leant forward to be able to decipher something in the pale light of a single lantern. It must be a strange picture for somebody passing by. Four young people, sitting in the dark of night in the midst of a cemetery, close to a hidden little chapel, not celebrating a black mass, but reading a paper.
Fortunately no one passed by.
'Man, surviving explosion, died of heart attack!!' the headline announced. "Felipe Noriega, the manager of "Mar Océano", the restaurant, which was completely destroyed due to a gas explosion a few weeks ago, claiming the life of four people, - we reported - died of a heart-attack in his holiday home in Malibu, this morning. Mr Noriega leaves no family behind. Further details will be published as soon as they are available.'
"Poor man." Liz was the first one to speak. "But didn't you say he came out …." she hesitated, making an undecided sweep of the hand.
"After you." Carter concluded, remembering the situation vividly. "At the last moment …. But this is weird. Kinda vice versa. It's not following the rules."
"Or they've changed 'n we dunno." Liz continued. "Don't you remember what Tod told Alex in his dream?"
"Well I'm always the first in breaking stupid rules – I mean, that's what they were made for, weren't they -, but ….no! It can't make up the rules first to not obey to them then."
Liz tried to suppress a grin about Carter's disbelief, but he caught it anyway, shrugging. "Explain, if you can find any sense."
"Okay, if it's no longer following the plan …." she scratched her head, "maybe it's now after the one that saved the others, nonononono, that guy surely wasn't trying to save our lives in Malibu Beach …. okay, stupid idea …. then –"
"What about not following any plan?" Clear asked in her calm way. "What, if the new design for us goes like: just kill them all?"
