*KAZUHA-CHAN: So glad to hear u're still reading my stuff. :o)) Hope the next chappies were worth the waiting, hehe*

Of course, Carter had refused to stay in the hospital. Though the doctor recommended to stay at least overnight, he had taken his jacket and left as soon as he was halfway able to stand alone. Which he couldn't very well yet. The only advantage was, that it was easier for his friends to look after him, when he was closer to them. And with his certainly murderous headache, he would give up the idea to leave them, for a while.

"So it's the four of us again", Alex murmured as they drove back. They had taken a cab back to the mall, where his car was still standing. The place in the back had been bolted, the huge hole in the ground reminding of a big beast's jaws, ready to devour everybody that dared come too close to it. Clear shivered involuntarily, as she heard the sound of the cracking glass once more in her memory. At the edge of the stony ground she noticed Alex' dark figure, standing there, not caring about the closing off, looking down. "Let's go, man!" Carter called at him impatiently, paying it the next moment with a sharp pain in his temples.

"You sure you don't wanna go back to the hospital?" Clear asked him, a bit worried. Okay, Carter was constantly moaning about something, but this time he really looked terrible. His face was quite pale and he obviously had big difficulties in fixing his eyes onto one point for more than a few seconds.

"You will get rid of me soon enough, we don't have to hurry up."

Her eyes darkened in anger. "I can't find anything funny about it."

"Oh, c'mon, bet you been laughing your asses off as that big piece of glass knocked me out!"

"Yeah, but we stopped when we found out that you weren't dead." Liz said. Alex, who had just returned and heard the last sentence, exchanged glances with Clear, while Carter gave a little laugh, before twisting his face with pain. "Can we go now?"

"I don't get that, I still don't see the new pattern", Alex said, more to himself than to the others. "But there has to be one."

"Yeah, you're wishing that so desperately, cuz you couldn't stand the fact that - geeze." Carter was swaying distinctly and the dizziness intensified as he closed his eyes automatically so he opened them again. "If you wouldn't mind thinking it over while we're driving home-"

"If there was only somebody we could ask", Liz mumbled.

"I'm afraid Giles' s not here", he grumbled back.

"My God, first an X-Phile and now a Buffynian, don't make me like you!" she gave back ironically, but he was too tired to reply something and would just be happy with leaning back into the soft cushions of the backseat of the car.

The parking lot they crossed was dark and almost empty, only a few cars were still standing there, their owners out of some reason unable to get back in time. None of the four wanted to think about whom they might belong to. It was past eleven o' clock as they arrived at the car. Carter leant against the sidedoor, his breathing heavy and faltering. The dizziness had increased during the last minutes and the surroundings went fuzzy.

"Why can't you ever listen to what I say?" Clear asked him, sounding like a mother talking to her unreasonable child. "We're driving right back to the hospital."

"No fucking way", he answered, his cursing not as emphatic and convincing as usual.

"That was no request, that was a-"

"I just want some fucking aspirin or stuff, okay? There is a …. pharmacy over there…. seems to be open 24 hours –"

"Where are the pills the doctor gave to you?"

He frowned, trying to remember. "Er … at the hospital?"

Clear was left speechless. "Okay, you stay here – no, you stay here!" she repeated resolutely as Carter made a move to accompany her. "In your condition you won't even reach the middle of the street! – Why are you grinning?!" she turned to Alex, who tried to regain control over his features, without succeed. "Come, you can join me, I need someone to make nasty remarks with, about that stupid!"

The two young men were bawling as they chased the other car through the nightly streets. The mixture of alcohol and little white pills made them feel invincible and strong. This time they would win. Grimacing and giving the drivers the finger, they tore past the other car. Their friends speeded up as well, but were forced to drive a short way over the pavement for the others cut in on them. Racing past the corner, they were certain of victory, too late noticing the two figures crossing the street. One of them hit the windshield with a thud, for the car drove too fast to be stopped in time, and was sent flying over the roof, before hitting the ground.

"OH MY GOD, ALEX!!"

As hearing the horrified yell, Liz and Carter jumped up from their seats, Carter holding on to the car door the next moment, as everything went black. The sound of squealing tyres rent the nightly silence; the second car went into a skid, as the driver suddenly slammed on the break, but it still wasn't slow enough to evade the crash, followed by a whole lot of explosions as the cars went up in flames the next second. Perhaps it was the excessive consumption of alcohol up to the early morning hours, maybe the fact that he hadn't ate anything since breakfast, maybe a mixture of both and the moderately severe concussion, at least Carter's stomach began to revolt all of a sudden, and the next second he vomited, directly over Liz' shirt.

****

Clear knelt down beside Alex, disbelieving to see him making a move to get up. "Are you hurt?"

He hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "No." The meaning of his simple answer confused him. He was even more confused as two hands suddenly grabbed his head and he felt a pair of soft lips pressed onto his. Two seconds later Clear scrutinized him from head to toe. "You sure you're alright?"

He nodded, then turned around to the place where the cars stood, still burning and filling the air surrounding them with smoke and the smell of death. His friend shook her head as he gave her a questioning look. "The explosion was too heavy, it was too fast, no one –" she stopped. "I'm so glad you are alive –" she began.

"I must've been dead, Clear, this is just not right –"

"Not right?? Alex, since that day on the plane –"

"Don't tell me you don't think the same."

She sighed. "What do you mean – it's somehow not after us any more? Cuz we cannot seem to die and since we're still alive and human …."

"No, it is still after us, Clear. Now more than ever."

Carter wiped off his mouth with the hanky Liz had given him She glanced over the terrible scenery; the gathering crowd, the ambulance, the fire brigade. All of that seemed to be too familiar. In a weird way. "Sorry for …. puking all over you", Carter interrupted her thoughts, grinning weakly.

Liz made a dismissive gesture. "Oh, don't worry, I mean, you been pissing me off since I first met you, so I guess …. throwing up all over me was just the next step."