Thanks to Curtis and Dharke (who is not lovely!) and their reviews. Thanks for the others who reviewed as well, I appreciate it; I'm glad I could make a Bludworth comeback since a few reviewers didn't like the first time he was in the story. As for Dharke's comments about Altessa and Kimberly being lesbians, I actually worried that their relationship was a little too strong, leave it to Dharke to actually voice her thoughts. Well, I love (is that okay Dharke?) her for it. Anyway, please review and enjoy this chapter, only two more after this!

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Spared

Altessa was awakened by the sound of Thomas slamming the front door to the apartment; still half asleep, the teenager sat up slightly, yawning and glancing around the apartment, trying to figure out why the police officer was making so much noise. "Enough, Officer Irritating, I'm trying to sleep." Altessa snapped when she saw she had Thomas' attention.

Thomas ignored her remark and instead said, "Have you seen Kimberly?" He looked worried, though not completely concerned, still believing that his girlfriend would turn up within seconds, unharmed.

Altessa shook her head, still too tired to be concerned. "No. Why?" She questioned, yawning again and stretching her arms over her head. She was certain that Thomas was over reacting and that Kimberly was somewhere close by, not in any kind of immediate danger.

Thomas shook his head, frowning. "When I woke up she wasn't in the bedroom, or the bathroom, or the shower. You didn't hear her leave or anything?" He asked the teenager, beginning the pace around the living room as though looking for something.

"No." Altessa repeated, finally it strange that, if Kimberly had left, she hadn't woken up because she was a rather light sleeper. Her eyes watched Thomas pace for a moment before falling on a scrap of paper resting on the coffee table, pinned down by the television remote. She reached for the paper, and scanned it quickly, seeing that was a note from Kimberly.

Thomas and Altessa,

I decided to see the mortician again, just in case there was something that he just wasn't telling us. I borrowed my dad's car; don't worry about me, I'll be back soon.

Kimberly.

After reading it once, Altessa handed the paper over to Thomas wordlessly, who scanned it even quicker then the teenager had. "I can't believe she'd leave without telling us; something could happen to her and we'd have no way of knowing." Now Thomas seemed worried for the well-being of his girlfriend.

Altessa frowned as well, realizing that Thomas did have a point; Kimberly was stupid to go off on her own, when she could be next. Anything could happen to her, especially in a car. "What are we going to do? She could be next." She said, knowing that she spoke the fears that Thomas didn't want to do.

"Find her, if we can. Make sure she's okay. But, we could always just call her-" Thomas began but Altessa cut him off before he could continue his words any further.

"No, we can't call her; her cell was in her car when it exploded the other day." She informed him, standing up and grabbing a change of clothes out of her duffel. Without a word to Thomas, she hurried into the bathroom to change, eager to get out of the house and make sure that Kimberly was all right. If the incident in the bathroom hadn't been Death out to get the brunette, which Altessa believed that it wasn't, that meant that Kimberly could be next. As she headed back into the living room, Altessa briefly wondered if Kimberly had discovered any new information from Bludworth, anything that could give them more of a chance then they had now.

Thomas was waiting impatiently by the front door for Altessa to emerge once again, his car keys clutched tightly in his hand. "I think we might be able to find her if she followed the same route that we followed the last two times when going to visit the mortician." He mumbled, almost as though he was talking to himself, as he opened the apartment door and stepped outside, Altessa following behind him.

Wordlessly, Altessa climbed into the passenger seat beside Thomas, buckling her seat belt without even realizing what she was doing. The second Thomas inserted the keys into the ignition and started the car, the overbearing sound of the radio filled the cab, which was a surprise to the driver, since he hadn't had the radio on recently. He was about to switch the radio off when the words of the male singer reached his ears, causing Thomas to pause in his actions.

...Somehow I found my baby that night. She lifted her head, she looked at me and said 'hold me darling, just a little while'. I held her close, I kissed her our last kiss, I found the love that I knew I had missed. And now she's gone even though I hold her tight, I lost my love, my life, that night. Oh where...

Thomas and Altessa locked wide eyes as they listened the haunting song playing through the speakers. Altessa's already pale face seemed to get shades paler as she said, "This song is about a car accident isn't it? You don't think..." By the way she trailed off, she knew that Thomas knew exactly what she was thinking, but neither of them wanted to say it out loud.

The songs on the radio had already proved to be important Signs in the past and Thomas wasn't about to take a chance by chalking this up to just coincidence. "I'm not about to wait around to find it." He mumbled as he backed the car out of its parking space. "It makes a little bit of sense though, because Kimberly was originally supposed to die in a car accident, just could just be further proof that Death always gets what it wants."

Altessa frowned, knitting her eyebrows with worry as she stared out the window, keeping an out for Kimberly, praying that her friend was all right. "We'll find her." She repeated to herself, under her breathe, one of the only prayers she had ever said in her life.

* * *

Kimberly sighed as she stared at the row of cars before hers, all stopped before a spot light, which refused to turn green. She was fifteen minutes away from her apartment and her exhaustion seemed to be finally catching up with her; she squeezed her eyes closed for a brief moment, as though attempting to get rid of some of the drag they seemed to have. Kimberly didn't open her eyes until she heard the impatient honking coming from the cars behind her, signaling that the light had changed. Feeling slightly embarrassed for being the sort of driver that inspired road rage, she swore to keep her eyes open until she got back to the safety of her apartment, and continued down the road.

As she drove, Kimberly tossed Bludworth's words around in her head, attempting to figure out just what to do next; she had finally gotten the answers she had been searching so desperately for, she knew now how to put off Death's Design. But it involved the subsequent death of Altessa, which was a price that she had decided was too high. Kimberly also knew that if she told Altessa what Bludworth had told her, that the teenager was more likely to act upon that information. Bludworth was right, Altessa didn't seem afraid to die.

Kimberly wondered what it would be like to have that kind of freedom.

* * *

Thomas followed the route that he had followed the first two times he had gone to 'visit' Bludworth, but there was still no sign of Kimberly. Altessa had remained silent since they had left, offering no supernaturally helpful insight on how to find the brunette, though he wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting her to say.

Altessa glanced over at Thomas, a slight frown upon her face. "Don't worry, I think we'll find her. Kimberly's not stupid, she'll be fine." She assured him, breaking the silence, her words not sounded as forceful as she had wanted.

Thomas smiled faintly, nodding, trying to take comfort in her words, trying to believe exactly what the teenager was saying. He figured he didn't have any other choice.

* * *

Kimberly's eyes fluttered and she yawned once again, feeling even more exhausted then she had moments ago. If she could only make it a few more miles, a few more minutes, then she would be all right. As her eyes closed once more, Kimberly began to believe that she couldn't make it that far.

* * *

All her life, Kayla Bloom had been a careful driver; she always followed the road signs, made sure to use her in cab signals, never talked on her cell phone while driving and rarely kept the radio on above minimum volume. All these things Kayla would later tell the police when they questioned her about the car accident that she was about to get into. "I'm a careful driver, officer, the most careful, that accident wasn't my fault." She would say, hours later and she would be telling the truth. For the car accident that Kayla Bloom was about to be a part of wouldn't be her fault at all, but the fault of the other driver, the one that had fallen asleep behind the wheel of her Sedan seconds before entering an intersection.

Kayla would later use insurance to pay for the new front that her Sunfire, which would be totaled in impact of striking the Sedan head-on in the passenger side. During the initial impact, Kayla was very glad that she had always been a safe driver, since safe drivers never forgot to wear their seat belts.

* * *

The jarring impact coming from her right snapped Kimberly awake the instant it happened. As her Sedan squealed across the intersection, she realized that she had fallen asleep at the wheel once more and had been hit by a Sunfire, that had managed to break before anymore damage could be done. Kimberly was in another car accident, and this time she realized that there would be no waking up.

Kimberly slammed her foot on the break so hard that her car swerved, the back slamming into another car. She suppressed a scream as she braced herself, beginning to feel the back of her Sedan propelled upward, the car beginning to flip over.

Her seatbelt locked, keeping her from slamming into the windshield as the car flipped, though it didn't stop her head from knocking into the side window. Kimberly heard the window crack from the impact (or what she hoped was the window); her vision began to grow cloudy, the edges graying as she fought not to lose consciousness. If she couldn't stay awake so that she could free herself from the car then she doubted that she was ever going to get out.

Kimberly felt her seat belt tighten around her body as she was tossed forward once again as the car hit the pavement once more, slamming onto the concrete on the driver's side, shattering the glass on the already cracked window. Kimberly's head slammed upon the pavement, shards of glass slashing and embedding in her cheek. She was vaguely aware of the pain as everything became black once more.

* * *

Altessa and Thomas heard the car accident up head before they saw it; the sound of squealing tires, blaring horns and twisting metal was unmistakable. Thomas felt his heart freeze up in his chest as he heard the accident, certain that Kimberly was involved somewhere; Altessa leaned forward to get a better look, trying to see the accident with wide eyes. Thomas pressed on the gas, going even faster then he had been before, praying that Kimberly wasn't involved, that she was all right; car accidents happened all the time, that didn't mean that his girlfriend was in this one.

The row of cars before the SUV were stopped, unable to continue through the intersection due to the accident. "Screw this," Thomas snapped, causing Altessa to tear her gaze toward him. "We have to make sure that Kimberly's all right." With that, he pulled the keys out of the ignition and opened his door, hitting the pavement running.

Altessa followed suit, tearing down the road past the impatient row of cars, ignoring some of the assorted shouts that were directed her way. As she neared the intersection, she saw that there were three cars involved in the accident, though only one of them looked in bad shape. A Sedan lay on its side, almost completely totaled, its hood engulfed in sputtering flames.

Thomas' gaze fixed on the Sedan, heart freezing for the second time in as many minutes. "Oh my God," he breathed when he got his breath back. "That's Kimberly's dad's car."

Altessa's eyes grew wide with panic as she studied the Sedan more closely; it didn't appear that anyone could have survived such an accident, but that wasn't going to stop her from seeing if Kimberly was all right. "We have to help Kimberly, that car's going to explode." Without waiting for Thomas to respond, she ran toward the car, pretending as though she didn't hear Thomas shouting out her name.

As Altessa neared the Sedan, she began to looking for any sign of life inside and anyway for her to get to Kimberly, whether she was dead or not. The flames were growing and spreading, cutting down on the amount of time that she had to get to her friend. The passenger side window was shattered, providing the only entrance that Altessa could see. You really are crazy, she mused to herself as she began to lift herself through the window.

A shard of broken glass sliced into her palm, causing Altessa to cry out in surprise; she lost her grip on the sill and tumbled into the car, knocking her head on the dashboard as she fell. Altessa blinked in an attempt to clear her head, brining herself back to the skewed reality that she was in at the moment. In the flickering flames, she saw Kimberly, lying motionless, her lolled to the left, her body only held upright by her seatbelt. Altessa believed that she saw the brunette's chest rise and fall slightly, a good sign if she ever saw one.

"Kimberly? Kimberly, can you hear me?" It was a stupid question, but Altessa found that she had to ask it anyway. She didn't expect Kimberly to answer and she wasn't disappointed.

Taking a deep breath, Altessa inched closer to the still form of her friend, searching around for the seat belt release; her sweaty fingers finally found the red button and pushed it eagerly, freeing the metal buckle from the clasp. The belt rose slightly, but was too tangle around Kimberly to complete retract; Altessa unwrapped the belt from around her friend's waist and shoulders, pulling the brunette closer to her. The left side of Kimberly's face was bloody, from both a bruised cut near her hairline and tiny cuts that covered most of her check. Altessa grimaced when she saw that some of the cuts still had glass imbedded in them, giving the wounds a strange look; Kimberly stirred slightly when Altessa pressed her palm against her bleeding cheek in an attempt to stifle the blood flow.

"Don't worry, Kimberly, we're almost out." Altessa promised, though she wasn't quite sure of how they were going to get out of the car. Leaning Kimberly against the driver's seat, she turned around to face the passenger door, grabbing the handle and attempting to open the door.

The door didn't budge, causing panic to flood Altessa; they couldn't both die in this car, not after everything that they had been through. Altessa tried the handle again, this time slamming her shoulder against the door as hard as she could, praying for it to open. She felt it begin to give away as she hit it and she felt relief begin to prickle through her. Maybe they would get out of this after all, maybe there was still hope of some kind. Altessa hit the door twice more before it creaked open slowly; Altessa whirled around to grab hold of Kimberly once more, dragging her along as gently as she could.

Altessa and Kimberly both toppled from the door and onto the pavement; with one eye watching the growing fire, Altessa continued to drag her friend away from the car, in case it exploded. Altessa and Kimberly were on the side of the road by the time the Sedan finally did explode, showering the area with charred debris; Altessa turned her head away from the heat of the explosion, feeling as though she was back to the day that the Victorian house had exploded. If she could go back to that day, knowing how everything would play out, she wondered if she could keep all of her friends and family from dying.

Altessa opened her eyes again when she heard someone calling her name; she saw Thomas running in their direction with two rescue workers in tow. Thomas dropped to his knees beside Kimberly, clearly relieved to see that she was all right; he pulled her still motionless body into his arms, glancing at Altessa appreciatively. "You saved her." He mumbled, causing Altessa to frown.

"For now, but who knows for how long; we still haven't beaten the Design and we can't keep living like this, afraid to do anything. Somehow, this has to stop." Altessa cried, leaping to her feet and taking off running, unsure of where her sudden burst of emotion had stemmed from. As she ran further from the accident site, she realized that she wasn't heading back toward Kimberly and Thomas' apartment but toward her own house; she also realized that she had been hit with a sudden revelation. A revelation on how to stop the Design once and for all.