Chapter 6
Author's Note – My apologies for not updating quicker but Real Life has a way of butting in too many times! I'll try to update the next chapter faster!! Thanks again for the positive reviews. I'm very happy everyone is enjoying it.
Summary – All the people in Johnny's life are part of a disturbing vision he must piece together.
Characters – Johnny, Bruce, Dana, Sarah, Walt, Little Johnny.
Spoilers – First Season up to Destiny.
Disclaimer – The Dead Zone belongs to USA Network and Lions Gate Television and is based on the characters and novel by Stephen King.
Content – Drama/Angst/Mystery
Rating – PG13
The shrill ring of the cell phone echoed around the hallway of the Smith house. The three reached for their phone, only to realise that it was Johnny's cell phone that was ringing. He looked at the two women and then moved into the sitting room.
"Hey Johnny, man," Bruce's voice came over the handset. Johnny could hear the TV in the background.
"Can't talk right now, buddy."
Bruce recognised the stress in Johnny's voice. "What happened?"
The blond man paced the sitting room. "The vision!"
"Who was it?"
Johnny glanced out in the hallway where he noticed that Sarah was talking on her own cell phone. "It's Little Johnny."
A breath caught in Bruce's chest as he switched off the television he was watching. "I'll be right over." He ended the call, grabbed his jacket and sprinted out of his house.
Johnny stood in the middle of the living room for several seconds listening to the crackling fire. When he turned to look at the two women he noticed that Sarah was crying silently at the door to the living room. She clutched her cell phone to her chest.
He quickly moved over to her side. "Did you make the call?"
She wiped away a tear that fell down her face and nodded. "I called Walt but they must be out of range –"
"What about Search and Rescue?"
"They said they couldn't justify spending thousands of dollars to send a team out to search for people who haven't gone missing yet."
Johnny slammed his fist down on the table. He ignored the pain which shot through it. "Dammit." He looked up at the two ladies. "There's only one thing we gotta do then!"
Dana glanced curiously at Johnny. "What's that?"
"We go up there ourselves."
********
The rain poured from the heavy grey clouds as Walt and Little Johnny sat in the car in the campsite. Little Johnny stared unhappily out the car window. He watched as the rain bounced off the ground creating one big puddle.
"It should stop soon," Walt said looking at his son in the backseat of the car.
The little boy let out a huge sigh and turned his attention to the computer game he held in his hands. The musical noises and beeps coming from the game were soon drowned out by the noise of heavier rain pounding against the car.
"Give it a few more minutes champ. It'll ease off in a few minutes," Walt said hoping he was right. He looked out the window and noticed that there were some lighter clouds and blue sky in the distance. As Little Johnny played his game the rain began to get lighter and then it stopped.
Walt turned around and smiled at his son. "See. We can put the tent up now."
The little boy looked up from his game with a huge smile and raised one arm. "Yay!"
*******
Johnny, Dana and Sarah were running down the steps of Johnny's house when Bruce pulled up in his cruiser. The three stopped when they saw the car stop.
Bruce looked from Johnny to Sarah to Dana and back to Johnny. "Get in. The cruiser will get us there in no time."
Johnny nodded gratefully to his physical therapist and he climbed into the front seat and the two women got into the back.
Sarah pulled her cell phone out of her pocket again and dialled Walt's number again. She'd lost count of the number of times she had dialled that number. She sighed with frustration and slammed the phone down on the seat when there was no answer. Johnny glanced through the rear view mirror at his ex fiancée and saw that her face was pinched with anxiety. He was trying to keep an outward calm but inside he was just as anxious. He noticed that the dark clouds were building up again to the east. The first fat drops of rain began to fell just as they passed the county line.
********
A light breeze blew as Walt sat on a plastic chair in front of the tent that he and Little Johnny had put up together. It was late evening and he could hear the crickets chirping. The storm clouds had cleared up but small puffs of cloud dotted the dark blue sky. They had set up camp in a valley of the White Mountains. A dense forest and jagged rocks towered over the valley. He could hear the flowing water of river nearby. He watched as Little Johnny took the fishing poles out of the car. A sudden chill came over him as he recalled the vision that Johnny had.
"Dad? When are we going fishing?"
"Not this weekend, son."
The little boy's face had a look of disappointment on it. "Why?"
Walt took a drink from the bottle of beer he had in his hand. "Weather ain't too good. We're going home tomorrow morning."
"But we just got here!" Little Johnny's voice had gone into a whine.
"It was a bad idea to come when the weather would be bad. We're going home tomorrow. End of story." Walt got up from the chair and threw the beer bottle into a trash can.
"But Dad!" whined the little boy.
Walt blew some air from his cheeks and frowned at the little boy who was looking at him with a look of defiance on his face. "We'll do it another time, JJ."
The little boy glared at his father, threw the fishing poles on the ground in a fit of temper and stomped off in the direction of the river.
"JJ! COME BACK HERE!" yelled Walt.
Little Johnny spun around to face his father and scowled at him. "I WANT TO GO FISHING!"
Walt raised his eyes skywards and swore under his breath. "Keep THAT up and we'll pack up and go home now! What would your mother say?"
Little Johnny blinked hard to stop his eyes from filling up with tears. "Don't tell mom."
Walt shook his head. "She's gonna wanna know you yelled at me."
The little boy eyed his father with uncertainty and then looked to the ground. Walt knew the boy was disappointed but too many things had cropped up, spoiling his enjoyment of the camping trip. The main one was Johnny's vision. He knew he should trust the visions. They were never wrong. He recalled the first time he had met Johnny. It was in his office after Johnny had been released from the hospital. The psychic helped him to catch a serial killer which turned out to be one of his own police officers. He pursed his lips and ran his hand through his hair. He walked over to his son and clapped his hand on his shoulder.
The little boy glanced up to see his father smiling down on him.
"I won't tell your mom. But we're going home tomorrow."
Little Johnny kicked the ground with his foot and stuck his two lips out. "Ok."
"Come on let's have something to eat before the heaven's open again," Walt said ruffling the little boy's blond hair.
Walt looked towards the sky as they finished their meal. The Dark heavy clouds were starting to build up again but they seemed far off in the distance. A humid stillness hung in the air which could only be cleared by a thunderstorm. His mind wandered to the details of Johnny's vision again.
"By having knowledge of the future we have the power to change it," he thought to himself.
He rubbed his chin as he looked towards the sky again. "Let's call your mom."
Walt reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He looked at the screen and noticed that he had no signal. He held the phone high in the air but saw that there was no change on the screen.
"Hey, JJ. There's no signal. Do ya wanna take a walk with me to the highway to see if we can get one."
JJ creased up his face as if contemplating the long walk to the highway. "It's too far. Tell mom I said hi."
Walt bit his lip. "I don't know, JJ."
The boy picked up his computer game and held it out to show his father. "I want to play this. I've nearly beaten my highest score."
Walt sighed. He knew that Little Johnny was mad about his computer game and couldn't be parted from it sometimes. He also knew that once he started to play the game he would stay where he was. He nodded. "Ok. Don't move your butt from that seat. I'll be back in about 15 minutes."
The little boy giggled and high fived his dad. He watched as his father made his way to the highway. As soon as Walt was gone from sight Little Johnny put down his computer game and ran over to the car. He opened the car and pulled out one of the fishing poles. Keeping an eye out for his father he made his way over to the river.
TBC
Author's Note –The end is nearly in sight now! I hope you've all enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I hadn't intended to spend so long writing this so I thank you again for your patience between updates!