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He awoke with a start. The house was dark. The window was open, but there was no sound. No traffic or anything. Cautiously, he made his way down the hall to Peter's room. Peter was flat on his back on the bed, apparently asleep. Quietly he left the room towards the kitchen. Something was wrong. It was too dark, and too quiet. Suddenly the ringing of the doorbell pierced the silence. He felt panic flood him. He had to hide before it was too late. The doorbell wouldn't stop. As fast as he could he ran down the hall to Benton's room.
"Dr. Carter!! You're not going to make it!" the man hollered as the sound of the front door creaking open could be heard.
"Dr. Benton? Please wake up," he pleaded. He tried shaking his shoulder and got no response. "Dr. Benton!" he yelled with increasing urgency. "Get up! He's here!" Benton didn't budge.
He heard heavy footsteps echoing as the man walked down the hallway and entered the bedroom. Quickly, he crawled under the bed as the man entered the room. The man wore a policeman's badge. As the man bent down the reach under the bed, he saw the name inscribed on the badge. Deadrick.
Benton was spooning the soup into two bowls when he heard terrified screams coming from the room Carter was in. Immediately he dropped what he was doing and ran into Carter's room. As he entered he was greeted by the sight of Carter sitting on the edge of the bed, panting for breath. Peter went over and sat beside him.
"Carter?" he softly asked.
"I'm okay," Carter responded. He knew once again he wasn't fooling Benton. He was shaking like a leaf. This dream had told him something. If only he could figure out what.
"Wanna tell me what was in it this time?" Benton inquired. He could feel Carter trembling and knew this dream had been as bad as the others.
"No...I... just need to think about it," Carter answered. The man had worn a badge that said Deadrick. Why? He did know Officer Deadrick was in charge of the investigation. He thought back to when he had been in the hospital. Carter had thought that the dreams were actually predictions. What had this one been saying? He decided now was the best time to ask Benton what had been on his mind for awhile.
"Dr. Benton? Why is this guy after me?"
"I told you. He's mad at you for something you couldn't change."
"Yeah, but what was it I couldn't change? I have a right to know."
Benton knew Carter was right. He wasn't in the hospital anymore, and didn't seem as scared as he'd been when he was in the hospital. He did seem more level-headed.
"About a month ago a man and his wife were brought in after being in a car accident. You worked on the wife, but she died. I guess her husband holds you responsible."
"What was his name?"
"It was Jason Vollmer. I don't know his wife's name."
"Dr. Greene!" Jerry hollered across the ER. "There's an Officer Dalton on the phone for you!"
"Thank you, Jerry," Mark said as he took the phone.
"Yeah, this is Dr. Greene. Did you find something?"
"You could say that," answered Pete. "We got the results back on the fingerprints. With two matches."
"What?! Two matches?"
"Yeah. One for Jason Vollmer, and one for an Al Devreaux. It looks like he changed his name for some reason. I'll see what else I can find out. Unfortunately my partner Jack has gone home sick so I'm gonna be working on my own. I might be a little slower finding these things out though, so be patient."
"I understand, but please try to hurry." Mark hung up feeling discouraged.
Carter and Benton sat in the kitchen eating lunch. Carter had been deep in thought since the nightmare, and didn't feel like talking. Benton just wished Carter could get a good nights sleep without having nightmares. If he still wasn't sleeping well by the next day he was considering getting Carter a prescription that would put him into a dreamless sleep. Peter had hoped it wouldn't come to that. He was just thankful Carter was actually eating. At the hospital after the nightmares he'd refused to eat. He'd also have to remind Carter to take his pain medication after lunch. It was obvious his ribs were bothering him.
"We have to get out of here," Carter mumbled.
"What?" Benton asked, taken by surprise. He had no idea what Carter was talking about.
"I just figured out part of what my dream was telling me."
"Carter, what the hell are you talking about? What do you mean your dream told you something."
"So far my dreams have predicted what's going to happen. I think this one might also be predicting something." Carter knew Benton was going to think he was crazy, but he had to tell him. "He came into the house after us. We have to leave before he gets here."
Benton couldn't believe what he was hearing. Maybe Carter wasn't as recovered as he'd originally thought. Carter was starting to look panicked again. "Carter? Relax. It was just a dream. No one is coming into the house. We've got the guard outside. Remember?"
Carter got up and started walking towards the front door. Peter walked over and stepped infront of Carter. "Carter, what the hell are you doing, man?" Peter could see Carter's eyes had started to glaze over. Gently he reached out and touched his shoulder. He was shocked when Carter flinched from his touch.
"Please, Dr. Benton," he pleaded.
Quickly, the man hunched down and ran behind the hedge row opposite the car. He carefully observed the man in the car, and thought of a plan. He picked up a nearby rock, and as inconspicuously as possible hurled it at the car. It made a satisfying crack as it bounced off the hood. The guy in the car got out to investigate the strange noise, and as he did the man who was hiding behind the bushes stealthily crept up behind him and brought the butt of his gun down on his head.
Jason Vollmer smiled as the guard sank to the ground.