They walked on down the road, back to John's house, as it was the safest place they could think of.
"Wait a minute, who was that police officer who arrested you at the beginning of this whole catastrophe? Didn't he say something like "Oh no, not again." or something?
"Hey yeah, maybe he could help us with this! I don't know where he lives though."
"Why
don't you just phone up the operator? They can tell you where he
lives if it's important."
"Well, this is very important,
so I will."
John phoned up the operator, and told her who he
wanted to contact, and what police department they were. He found out
that they were only about fifteen minutes away from the police
station; they just hoped he was there to talk to them. John had got
his address as well, just in case they needed to go there if he
wasn't there.
After walking for a while they stopped at a newsagents to get some food, as they hadn't eaten all day.
"Check the sell-by dates on all of them. We can't take any chances."
"I think you're being a bit melodramatic-"
"No, I'm not! We can't take any chances with this!"
"Calm down, John, just calm down." Dominic told him, trying to get him to stop making a scene. "Anyway, I'm next, you have nothing to worry about! It's me who should be worrying! But we've got to handle this like adults, we can't let it beat us, we can't give in to it!"
"I suppose you're right."
"Of course I'm right, now let's just go and-whoa!" Dominic cried as he slipped on the floor. "Hey, there's water on the floor!"
"The freezer's been unplugged!"
"Oh, that must have been Amir," Mr. Rashib, the shopkeeper, told them, "he's new here."
"It's following us."
"We'd better get outta here."
"I'll catch you guys up." John called. "I just have to take care of something."
John reached behind the freezer and put the plug back in.
"You really should be more careful with that. Someone could get hurt."
John rushed to the car, to Dominic and Laura, who were waiting for him.
They went off on their way to find somewhere safer, so that they might have another chance at life. On the way, John decided to rest his eyes for a bit; he saw strange visions, one of the train crash, where he saw Laura being carried off in a stretcher, screaming, and people telling her that she was lucky to be alive; she was the only survivor. Then he saw visions of a fire, and a lot of screaming…then…he woke up.
"What's wrong?"
"I had another vision."
"What of?"
"It was of Laura, just after the train crash…she survived."
"I-I did? But…how?"
"I don't know, according to my vision you escaped with just a broken leg."
"D-Did anyone else survive?"
"…No."
Laura swerved the car to the right in shock, narrowly grazing another car, but pretty much destroying Dominic's door, leaving it swinging open. A car clipped the edge of it, and it fell off, into the road.
"Laura!
Be careful!"
"Why should I be? I'm gonna be the only one
left! You said we could beat this, but you can't…only I can."
"Laura, that's not true."
"Yes it is! It is true, and you know it! Well, some crappy design doesn't get to choose my fate, I do! And if you're going down, I'm going down with you!"
She sped up the car dramatically, they were now going at about 60 miles per hour.
"Laura, slow down."
"Why should I? We're all gonna die anyway!"
"Hey guys, my seatbelt-"
"Laura,
look out!"
John grabbed the steering wheel and swerved the
car to the right, narrowly avoiding another car that Laura would have
hit otherwise.
"Laura, get a hold of yourself."
Low groans echoed behind them, they looked back and saw Dominic lying on the ground.
"Dominic…are you okay?"
"Just a bit bruised, I think I may have broken-"
A lorry's horn cut him off in mid-sentence as he was crushed under its wheels.
"Dominic!"
"See? I told you! We can't beat this! We have no power!"
"My
vision said something about fire, all I have to do is stay away from
fire and then it'll be okay. I promise."
"…Promise?"
"Yeah, I promise. We'll stick through this to the end, no matter what. We won't let this beat us."
"Wait, wasn't there that cop who told you that he'd been through all this before? Won't he be able to help?"
"Who, Officer Burke?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, maybe he could help. I've got his address from the police station, it couldn't hurt to give him a call."
"Okay, which way is it to his house?"
"Just
a few more houses down the next road on the left."
It wasn't
long before they arrived at Officer Burke and Kimberley's house. It
had been a year since the awful tragedy of Route 23, and Officer
Burke and Kimberley were still alive, having escaped the wrath of
Death, not once, but twice…but this time Death was not going to let
them get away with it.
Officer Burke was getting up to answer the door, dripping wet in his swimming costume, after having been relaxing in the pool with a crate of beer by his side. He put his board he was lying on next to the crate of beer and went through the backdoor, but was stopped by Kimberley.
"Wait, don't go through the house dripping wet! Go to our room and get changed, we can't have whoever it is seeing you like that…that's my job." She said, almost seductively, before going to answer the door.
Officer Burke went to his room, and turned on the fan – it being a hot day and all, he needed some cool air. He switched the fan on, but nothing happened. He leant over to see the switch and turned it on, dripping over the fan as he did. He picked up a towel, but since it was too small, chucked it carelessly to the other side of the room, not noticing that it had landed on the fan. The fan started whirring and making noises, as it was finding it difficult to move what with the weight of the towel now on it.
Officer Burke got changed and sprayed on some deodorant. Then he went over to inspect the fan. He took the towel off the fan, and a single drop of water splashed into the mechanism, causing it to start malfunctioning. It caught fire, and exploded, shooting a sharp piece of metal into Officer Burke's forehead. He put his hands up, and took out the piece of metal. He was now bleeding pretty heavily. He needed to stop the wound from getting worse, so he put the towel over it, and stumbled across the room. He tripped and hit one of the buttons on the fan, causing it to spark and the towel to catch alight.
Now on fire, Officer Burke ran screaming for the swimming pool, as it was the best place to go. Since he could not see, he slipped up on the step, and fell to the ground, still burning slowly to death. Kimberley opened the backdoor to see what was going on, just as the fire caught a trail of alcohol that was from one of the cans of beer he'd been drinking and promptly exploded, killing Officer Burke.
The board smacked itself into Kimberley's chest, propelling her backwards onto the ground. John grabbed her and tried to remove the board, while Laura phoned an ambulance.
Kimberley was crying, not only for herself but also for the loss of her husband. She knew it was her time to go, and wasn't going to try and fight it.
"Whatever happens, happens…"
The doorbell rang. Laura went to answer it while John stayed with Kimberley.
"You're going to be okay."
"Just…just go. You've done enough. It's my turn to go and soon it'll be yours."
"Yes, I know, that's what we came here to talk to you about."
"M-Maybe this is a…warning…that you cannot cheat Death, no matter what."
"Maybe…"
The ambulance men ran into the room and grabbed Kimberley, leading her carefully away to hospital. John and Laura were in shock. They just wanted to get home and sit down, to spend however long they had left together.
They started for their car but John collapsed mid-way. He was having another vision – this time it was of Laura again. In his vision he saw her call his name before grabbing him, then falling backwards over a bin as blood splattered over her face – she looked upset as well as looking slightly relieved.
John woke up and pulled Laura away from the car. All this was getting too much for him.
"John? What is it? What did you see?"
"I…I think you might have caused my death. We have to stay away from each other, then I can't die."
"John, you're freaking me out. What's gotten into you?"
"Oh, am I scaring you? You're the one who's going to kill me!"
"How did I cause your death?"
"I don't know, you called my name and then blood splattered on your face – it was a bit hazy – just stay away from me!"
John ran off, trying to find somewhere he could hide. He noticed the underground station and hoped a train was just about to leave so he could get away from Laura. He was starting to get delirious from knowing he was next…he was going to die and she was going to survive. It wasn't fair – why should it be their turn? They hadn't done anything wrong, not now, not ever. But Death works in mysterious ways, and no one can escape it.
There was no train at the station – he was early. He stood at the station, waiting and hoping that Laura wouldn't catch him up. He grabbed a nearby bin and placed it in front of the stairs, in the hope that it might delay her for just long enough so that he could get onto the train.
"John!"
Laura rushed down the stairs, and pushed the bin out of the way, so it rolled off in a circular direction. She ran past it, and called to John again.
"John! Get back, we're going to be okay!"
"Get away from me, Laura!"
A horn blared from the tunnel, the train was coming in fast – it wasn't one that stopped at this particular, it was a fast train. The next train to stop would be in 10 minutes…but John didn't know that. He stepped over the yellow line, ready to get onto the train.
"John!"
The train raced through the tunnel, John stepped closer towards the edge of the platform, putting his hand out, waiting to open the door and get away from Laura.
"John!"
Laura grabbed John, and John pushed her away. No sooner than he had done this, one of the train doors flew open and smashed him into a fine paste, propelling him into the tunnel. Laura fell backwards over the bin that had caught her up, and felt a sharp pain in her leg. It had happened – it had come true – Death was now becoming smarter and was tricking people into causing their own deaths…she was lucky to have escaped it this time – but she knew that one day, it would catch up with her too…