Hi ya'all! I must say sorry once more for the lack of updates...on this story...Numb has been updated plenty hehe. The problem was...well, I've been kinda avioding writing this chapter because, well, of what I know I will have to do to Chandler. I have a weird fetish for hurting the poor guy, in horrible, horrible ways, and what is coming up really aint that bad..but i so didnt want to write it!

When i came up with the idea it was like 'YES!' I was so excited and happy...then i realised i had to actually write it...not so excited and happy hehe. But I finally got of my backside and wrote a new chapter today...and didnt end up doing the bad thing anyway! D'OH! Oh well, i promise to update incredibly soon! But for now...it's bed time for me! Yowza! Please read and review!

This chap is pretty short too...sorry, but bed time! Love you all, and thanks for the reviews!

I do not own Friends/actors/characters...but if i did, i would have written me in the show as a certain sarcastic guys love interest...would have been a minor at the time, but oh well!

The stars were impossibly dim.

In fact, Joey wasn't sure whether he was looking at stars, or just seeing things. The stars were nowhere near bright enough to qualify as stars.

It looked as though someone had painted them on, but had run out of glitter paint, and had to use boring old normal paint instead.

Joey knew that their lack of shine had a lot to do with the dust.

The dust that he was sure covered the entire sky above New York and New Jersey. He suspected that it may have covered the sky above everywhere. He had no idea how much of the world had been targeted. He didn't want to know.

Nor did he want to think of what the dust actually was. But he thought anyway.

He knew that the dust was mostly collapsed buildings and the result of the ground being disturbed, but Joey had seen.

He had seen the bodies. He had seen some missing body parts. He had seen some missing almost everything. He knew that the guns that the-

Aliens

­- were using not only cut through people like they were butter, but they also vaporised people. Disintegrated them.

And that was why Joey didn't want to think about it. He knew that he was covered in dust. That he was covered in mostly collapsed buildings, and part human remains.

The thought sickened him, and that was why Joey didn't want to think about it. But the thought remained, taunting him like an obnoxious school bully.

He was covered in people.

The car swerved as Joey struggled to keep his lunch down.

Not that he had eaten lunch.

"You okay Joey?"

Rachel's soft voice calmed his stomach. He couldn't be sick. He couldn't lose it. Not with the girls in the back seat. Not with Chandler, slowly bleeding to death in the back seat. Not with Chandler - looking painfully ill and pale – depending on him. He couldn't lose it.

"I'm okay Rach," he reassured his friend, regaining control of the car.

"You want me to drive for a while?"

"You don't have your license renewed," Joey reminded her. There was a long pause.

"Does that really matter at a time like this?" Rachel asked quietly. Joey considered her words, and then shook his head at his own stupidity.

"No, it doesn't, does it?" he muttered, glancing in the review mirror. Rachel smiled weakly at him. "But I'm really okay…we have to stop soon anyway."

"To help Chandler?" Monica said softly. Joey glanced at the blinking light on the dashboard, the one telling him that he needed fuel. The one that had been telling him that for a long while. The one that he had noticed after they had passed the fifth destroyed gas station.

"Yeah, to help Chandler." There was no point telling them that they were out of fuel. That they would have to walk from wherever they stopped. They would find out later. When they didn't have Chandler to worry about.

But they would have Chandler to worry about then. He would be weak and he would be expected to walk. That was a tall order but Joey knew he would do it.

"We're out of gas, aren't we Joe?" Monica's question should have surprised him, but he didn't. She had always been able to read him like a book. Hell, all of his friends had. He wasn't that complicated.

"Yeah."

"Well, that's great," Rachel muttered. "Chandler won't be able to walk."

"I know."

Joey didn't mean to be short with Rachel, but he was worried. He hated seeing his best friend in pain; hated the fact that he knew that things could only go down from here. They were being invaded. There was no way it was going to end in hugs and puppies. Even if the attackers were destroyed, millions of people had died. Possibly more. That defiantly was no cause for celebration.

And there was the possibility that they would be back. They had come once, they could come again. Or others. Who knew what was out there?

Or they wouldn't be destroyed.

Joey hated thinking that, but it was a possibility. There were so many possibilities; most that Joey didn't want to consider. They could die. They could live.

They could all wake up and find it was a dream.

Joey liked that possibility the best, but he had already pinched himself.

He wasn't dreaming. As much as he longed for it, he wasn't dreaming.

This was real.

They were being attacked.

But that wasn't the biggest dilemma at that moment. It was always there, lurking in the back of their minds, but it wasn't front and centre. Chandler was. Chandler's safety was.

"Joey?"

Monica's voice broke through Joey's complicated thoughts and he jerked. The car swerved once more and he squinted through the darkness. He had the headlights on low, the fear of being seen strong.

"Huh?"

"How much gas do we have left?" Monica repeated, her voice gentle and patient. Joey opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the car. By the car stopping. There was a long silence.

"Never mind," Monica muttered. Joey had to grin at her words. Even though they had both been through and were going through hell, their sense of humor was staying intact.

Sort of.

"Well, I guess we walk from here." Rachel's voice was impossibly bright, like a host for a child's TV show. She was trying to put a good spin on the situation, but it wasn't working.

"No, we rest for the night. In the morning, we walk," Joey told her. Rachel nodded, glancing at Chandler's pale face.

"I-I guess it's time to help C-Chandler then," she stammered, her fake happiness gone. None of them were looking forward to this. Joey was just thanking God that Chandler hadn't woken up, and hoping that he wouldn't wake up. He didn't want Chandler to feel what was going to happen.

"You guys stay here for a moment…I'm going to do a bit of scouting." Joey took a flashlight –found underneath the seat by Rachel – in his hand and stepped out the car. "I'll be right back," he told the girls, smiling reassuringly. With the slamming of the door, he was gone. Rachel and Monica exchanged worried looks.

"This is bad, this is really bad," Rachel muttered under her breath. Monica nodded, staring down at her future husbands pale face. "He's going to be okay Mon."

"I know," Monica said softly. "But…I'm just scared of what is going to happen after he's okay…this isn't a good situation. It can't end well."

"You don't know that Mon."

"So many people have dies Rach. Even if we do…I don't know, win, what then? We just get on with our lives?"

"I don't know sweetie." Rachel sighed, glancing out the window. "The stars aren't very bright tonight."

"The dust is covering them…do you see any planes or anything?" Monica's voice was hopeful, but she knew she shouldn't have been.

"No…there hasn't been anything."

"No one fighting," Monica whispered, staring down at Chandler again. "How will we win if no one is fighting?"

"Maybe…maybe they thought that New York was already ruined...that there was no point in defending it. Maybe they are fighting over some other city…like LA, or Vegas or something." Monica considered Rachel's suggestion. It seemed possible.

"Maybe…hopefully." She smoothed Chandler's hair back, smiling when he stirred slightly.

"God, you must be so worried," Rachel murmured after a long silence.

"Yes and no…I know that he is going to be okay." Monica believed her words. She had to. "I have to believe that…I can't lose him…we are supposed to grow old together."

"I know sweetie, I know." Rachel smiled grimly, lifting Monica's blood soaked jacket from Chandler's shoulder. "It's getting worse Mon."

Monica nodded. She was aware of that.

"What's taking Joey so long?" Rachel hissed after a long silence. Monica didn't answer. She couldn't answer what she didn't know. Anything could have happened to Joey. Just like anything could have happened to Ross and Phoebe.

Monica wanted to cry over her lost friend and brother, but she knew that if she did, she would never stop. She had to be strong for Chandler.

Instead of crying, she buried her feelings deep, ignoring the pain she felt each time she thought of them. They were fine.

But they may not be.

"It's clear." Joey's voice cut through the deafening silence like a knife, causing both girls to shriek. "Sorry…it's clear though…I found a place we can spend the night."

"A hotel?" Rachel joked as they climbed out. Joey smiled, placing the flashlight on the seat then taking Chandler's limp body in his arms.

"If only…no, instead we get a nice dank cave." He carefully hoisted Chandler over his shoulder, and then checked to see if they had everything, picking the flashlight back up.

"I've been to a few hotels like that," Monica muttered as she picked up the bag. Joey let out a short laugh.

"Yeah, me too," he informed her as they started walking.

"I haven't," Rachel said after a beat.

"That's because your family is rich." Rachel nodded at Monica's short explanation.

"How are the shoes?"

Monica shuddered at her best friend's question. She didn't need the reminder.

"They're…they're the right size…but I feel so…I don't know, horrible and wrong." Rachel nodded.

"I know sweetie, but you did need something to walk in."

"You know, it's weird but Chandler told me to wear sneakers today…before he went out…I don't know why he suggested that, but he did." Monica frowned, glancing at her fiancée, hanging over Joey's shoulder.

"Maybe he knew, on some level?" Joey suggested. "Maybe you should have listened to him?"

"Yeah…but sneakers didn't go with this outfit." Monica let out a hollow laugh. Rachel glanced at her.

"Yeah, you're right. They don't," she muttered, smiling slightly.

"Here we are," Joey said suddenly, shining the light in front of them. Rachel and Monica stared at the opening.

"You checked for…bears?" Rachel asked nervously.

"It's completely empty…we should be fine for the night." The girls nodded, then followed Joey into the cave.

"Cosy." Rachel's sarcasm went unnoticed by the other two, Monica too busy setting a blanket –found in the car – on the hard ground. Joey waited for her to finish, then set his best friend down gently.

"What do we need?" Rachel asked after a beat.

"Wood…we need a fire and something to…well, you know," Monica said softly, sitting down next to her lover.

"I'll go get some wood…you guys stay here," Joey instructed them.

"Wouldn't be anywhere else Joe," Rachel muttered as she also took a seat next to Chandler. Joey smiled, then left the cave, leaving the flashlight for dim light.

"What else do we need?"

"An unconscious Chandler…check." The girls giggled at Monica's old habit, then sobered quickly.

"Anything else?"

"Water maybe…we got that. I don't know what else…I'm not a doctor. All I know is what I saw on ER, and I was too busy perving on Noah Wyle," Monica explained.

"I miss George Clooney," Rachel whined after a moment. "He was so charming and cute."

"Well…he has a movie career now…you can hire his movies," Monica reasoned.

"Mon?"

The girls froze; their eyes meeting one another in the dim light. They both glanced down to find confused blue eyes staring back up at them. There was a long silence, which was finally broken by Rachel.

"Uncheck?"