*To my lovely reviewers PRINCESS_DIVA 06: "excellent"? "mind-blowing"?  Thank u, thank u, thank u!! Actually Clear's already there but I'm sure u've noticed :o) and yes, she will surely show up 'in natura' soon.  I've been on ur page, but – why are u concealing ur fics? :o)  KINGSLEY FEAT: DHARKE: No, not too strong (wipes away her tears -  naaaw), I want u guys to be honest. Where did u get this feeling from since I never hide anything in my stories (like names, logic n stuff, lol). Okay, so the story goes on like – forget it, for any further information: read on, hehe   The moment I wrote that Liz was dead I could hear ur scream of victory n joy in my mind, lol   Well yeah that 'boring' one. Of course surely no normal person would say that, but 1) it didn't directly refer to her death, more to the fact that everything started all over again, u know? 2) Carter's not normal; 3) he's drunk; 4) Carter's not normal; 5) he's drunk; 6) Carter's – eerr ….  Next one: that's the way it was meant.  Noooooo, I'd never do that!! But I've seen people do – the word that described my state of mind then starts with a 'Y' and ends with an 'UCK'!*

Chapter 2

The early morning hours. The sun hadn't risen yet, but darkness had started to disappear and let light have its scene. The air was fresh and cold and touched the skin like an icy hand. Not many voices and noises outside – silence inside. Not deadly, peaceful. It was the short moment after a beautiful dream you just woke up from, yet not noticing the room around you, only feeling the warm sheets of your bed, the place you feel safe. Reality is just a word without any meaning. Until it grabs you, startles you out of the comforting dreamy haze. The thoughts, the worries, this time they do not come one by one, they fall on you like a net, tie you up. You cannot move. There's no way to escape.

It took a moment until Carter realized that he had woken up because somebody was staring at him. He opened his eyes and almost closed them instantly. The headache he had was unbearable. He waited until the pain eased up a little. A 'plop' was heard followed by a fizzing sound. Slowly and cautiously opening his eyes again he noticed a glass somebody held in front of him. There were some white little balls or something in it that whirled round as they were dissolving in the liquid. He felt someone taking his hand and laying it around the glass, which was cold and a bit wet so it nearly slipped off his hands.

"Drink." He heard a familiar voice. Drink? He could feel, smell, more or less see – was he still alive? Carter tried to rearrange his thoughts, but soon gave up due to the fact that it only increased his headache.

"Drink it or your head will explode", the voice continued and though it was low and calm it felt like a scream in his maltreated brain. Drink? Only the thought of made him sick, but nevertheless he took a sip. A bit salty, but fresh. The well-known taste of soluble aspirin; he had taken so many of them in his life; he should get them for free in the meantime. The bubbles ran down his throat and the coolness of the water felt good. "Coffee", he croaked.

"No way; you can have some fruit tea if you want to."

The thought of sweet red tea made his stomach revolting even more.

The next thing he remembered were the cold tiles of his bathroom in his back as he sat down beside the toilet and leant back. If he was dead, this surely was hell. As if he had read his mind he heard Alex' voice from outside. "Still alive?" He stood up, still a bit shaky and went back into the huge living room. Alex watched him as he walked towards the couch, ready to jump up in case Carter needed his help and for a short moment an old, familiar ray of hate lit up in him. He hated weakness, but even more to be unable to hide it, hide it in front of Alex Browning, whom he had thought to be the biggest wimp in the entire school.

"I'd say welcome back to life, but since you weren't dead –"

"Fuck you!" he grumbled and sat down.

"What happened?"

Carter shrugged and drank some more. "Just what I told you before I –" he stopped and gazed across the room. It was a huge loft, even bigger than the last one he used to share with Clear and Alex. About three years ago, Liz had moved to New York, searching for an apartment. Carter still didn't know what had made him offer her to move in. Liz had eyed him suspiciously and than burst out into laughter for the simple thought of her and Carter living together seemed to be the greatest joke she had ever heard. But finding a payable place to stay had been nearly impossible at that time and so she accepted his offer. Clear had recommended to position a right round the clock observation in front of the house, since in her eyes it was like trying to keep fire and ice within a box without one extinguishing the other. But it had worked incredibly well. They had their arguments as usual, especially when Liz drove Carter mad while mocking at the countless number of bimbos he used to bring home and that never stayed longer than one night. He had thrown her out of the apartment a thousand times but she had never left, just laughed.

"You are sure that it wasn't– " Alex cut off as he met Carter's eyes. "Of course not", he added, wondering what had made him say this. Certainly it was an accident, all of those deaths had been accidents. Coincidental accidents, for everyone who didn't now the truth.

"What's up with you Browning? Forgetting so soon?" Carter smirked, starting to regain his self-control.

"Anyone been there who was involved?"

"Ah, the agent's back."

Alex didn't react to that and just waited for an answer. His friend shook his head. "Not as far as I know. I mean, it wasn't a huge wave or a shark or stuff, like I told you; they said it was a cramp." He nearly spat the word.

"Who told you?"

"One of her twin-cousins called me, Benji or Joel, I can never tell, not even on the phone."

"Liz never told them anything?"

"Not as far as I know."

"You asked them?"

"For fuck's sake, Browning, stop examining me, I'm none of those fucking witnesses you use to talk to!" Carter gave him a furious look as he began to become really upset. Which was good, Alex decided. He knew how to treat him when he was in the mood to kill. Ignore him or beat him up were the options.

"You called Clear?"

"Of course." Mentioning her name intensified the pressure Alex felt in his stomach since Carter had called him up last night. He wanted to have her by his side again as soon as possible, the distance to Boston was too far. And thinking of her being in a plane right now made him even sicker.

"She'll be fine", Carter said.

"How do YOU know??" The question wasn't meant to come out that angry. Alex shrugged and mumbled an excuse, then put on his jacket, standing up he added a bit friendlier:  "Get up; we'll meet her at the airport."

~°~.~°~.

"Attention please, flight 475 will arrive at 2:15pm, I repeat; flight 475 will arrive at 2:15pm."

"No!!" Impatiently Carter threw his still half-filled coke into the garbage can right beside him, single drops splashing onto the floor and onto the white coat of a blonde woman who stepped by. She gave an appalling squeak that cut like a knife in Carter's head. "You – you – this is Donna Karan!"

Carter gave her a strange look. "No, you're not."

Her eyes widened. In any other occasion she would've been exactly his type of women, but right now she only got on his nerves.

"You will pay this!" she breathed angrily.

"What?!" He gave her one of his famous scaring looks and the blonde automatically took a step back.

"This was an expensive, limited-edition-"

"Just fucking get out of my sight!" Carter yelled and she took another step back. Alex had opened his purse and took some dollar bills from it, handing them to the perplexed woman. "I'm sure this will offset the cleaner's bill." He pulled Carter away from her, towards one of the cafes. "Sit down, be quiet!" he ordered,  "and get that grin off of your face; you will pay it back."

"Oh my God, so much money, how in the world will I ever be able to?" He rolled his eyes and so did Alex. He glanced at his watch. 1:15pm. Another hour. The flight was supposed to land at 11:40am. He ordered some drinks for them and while they were waiting for the waitress to bring them, he tried to reach Clear. Carter grimaced as he listened to Alex' words; typical lovers' conversation. There was another delay of seventy minutes and Alex thanked the same fate he usually cursed for the fact that this time his friend didn't try to beat someone up to soothe his anger. The minutes seemed to pass slowly and the hands of the clock just wouldn't move faster, but finally the speakers announced the arrival of flight 475 and both of them left the cafeteria, sure to welcome Clear within the next minutes.

Carter stood at one of the big side-windows and watched the sky. It was perfectly blue, there wasn't a single cloud. His headache had disappeared one hour ago - after he had taken about five or six more pills - and so the bright sunlight didn't hurt his eyes, which shone warmly through the glass. Only after a while he realized that the little black spot he saw wasn't what he had thought it to be. That was no bird. Still far away, but it just had to be Clear's plane. Never being the patient one, he couldn't even bear the thought of any further delay. The spot became bigger each second. Carter's fingers began to drum against his hip. He turned around to Alex, who was just leafing though one of the magazines in front of him. It fell on the ground, so he bent down to pick it up. Hearing a strange sound behind him, Carter turned back to the window, just as a huge black something crashed into it, smashing his body as if he was a fly that hit a windshield at full speed. His blood spread all over the place, but there was no one able to help or care because one by one the other people suffered the same fate. It didn't take more than a few seconds to extinguish the lives of 250 people.

~°~.~°~.

"Carter! What's up?" He opened his eyes and saw Alex kneeling down beside him, a worried expression on his face. Some people watched them - the elderly woman, the young man, carrying his little son on his shoulders, the blonde with her DKNY-outfit, all of the people he had just watched being killed - now unsure whether to help or not. "What happened? You suddenly broke down." Carter stared at him, at the magazine he still held in his hands, unable to speak for a few seconds for he just couldn't believe what had just happened, then mumbled two words Alex only understood when he repeated them.

"I died."

"You – what??"

"You heard me! Like one of your fucking premonitions!! I had one this time!" He lowered his voice. "The plane – it's gonna crash down, Alex." And seeing the frightened look on his face, Alex had no doubt he wasn't joking. As soon as he turned around he could see a plane at the end of his approach, but still too fast to stop and obviously racing into the wrong direction. Straight towards the huge entrance hall. The woman in the DKNY-outfit shrieked as she followed his look. Carter jumped up and pushed Alex out of the way, just in time, before the roaring of the motors was mixed with horrified screams and the ear piercing sound of shattering glass. Carter ducked to escape one of the lamps that fell down on him and only by that was able to escape the left wing that decapitated a man standing close to him the next second. He watched the rest of his corpse falling to the ground limply. Like a monstrous dinosaur the machine raced through the hall, the wheels only now and then getting contact to the ground, its steel body smashing bodies, bags, chairs, table all at once, not caring whether it was human flesh and bones, wood or metal. Next to him, there was Alex, standing motionless as if he didn't notice what was happening around him. Meanwhile the machine had been stopped by one of the heavy buttresses outside the building, leaving a battlefield behind. Alex shook his head, unwilling to believe his eyes showing him the disaster around him. Carter laid a hand on his shoulder, but he shook it off, and started to run towards the plane, only one thought on his mind, one name, five letters.