LEGAL A/N: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon, 20TH Century Fox Television, UPN, The WB and CW. The Dead Zone and all characters belong to Shawn & Michael Piller, Stephen King, Lion's Gate Television and USA Network. Monk and all characters belong to Andy Breckman, Mandeville Films, Touchstone Television, NBC Universal Television and USA Network. Psych and all characters belong to Steve Franks, Tagline Pictures, NBC Universal Television Studios, GEP Productions and USA Network. The 4400 and all characters belong to Scott Peters & René Echevarria , Renegade 83, American Zoetrope, Paramount Network Television Productions, Viacom Productions Inc. and USA Network. Final Destination and all characters belong to James Wong, Jeffrey Reddick & Glen Morgan, Hard Eight Pictures, Zide-Perry Productions and New Line Cinema. No profit is being made off of this and no copyright infringement is intended or implied. All ownership not mentioned here is acknowledged and respected.
3: It's All Around You
Silence fell across the Los Angeles City Morgue until a door of the entrance creaked and cracked open, spilling bright sunlight into the dark lobby. Xander, Johnny, Shawn and Adrian stepped into the building and gazed around quietly, an ominous feeling lingering over them. The icy cold air clawed at their skin as each of them gazed around at every object with a new kind of fear. Xander gazed down the main corridor and began a steadfast journey which the others followed.
"Xander," Johnny warily asked as he gazed around and the darkened lobby, "why are we here?" The psychic glanced behind him as he and the others had several times since they had left the diner remains. A presence was stalking them closely, pursuing their every step, and breathing hot fury down their necks.
"If you want to know about Death," Xander explained as he led the group quickly down the hallway, "you've got to talk to someone who practically lives Death."
"Translate that in lame terms?" Shawn requested.
The four of them reached the end of the hallway and Xander pushed opened two double doors revealing an examination room. A bright overhead light in the center washed down on a lifeless, pale body lying on an operating table with nothing but a cloth covering his lower section.
The four men gazed at the body in silence, the words being ripped from their mouths. The overweight man in his late forties lay as a foreign shell, albeit peaceful. They studied the body, staring at the face. Whoever this man was before dying was gone and there was nothing but a crumpled, vacant paper bag left behind, the items which once made it full vanished.
"Are you waiting for something?" a deep, dark voice called from beside them. Their hearts skipping a beat, they turned quickly to see a large, middle-aged, muscular, dark-skinned man enter the room with a knowing expression and a twisted smile. Wearing a bright blue collared shirt with black suspenders and tie, he stepped through the room towards the body with fire burning in his dark eyes.
Xander stared at him and recognized him instantly. "You're the Mortician," he declared.
The Mortician smiled with a devilish grin. "And you're the one who sees everything. The one who found himself tumbling down the rabbit hole and right into Death's grip." He glanced back down at the body laid out across the table. "Admiring my new arrival?"
"This man was sick before he died," Adrian observed, gazing down with close examination.
"How do you know?" Johnny asked.
"His face… there's a film covering it," Adrian explained idly, exploring the evidence. "Salt residue from sweat, but it was unlikely that he was doing any exercising." He stared intently. "Slight foaming of the mouth…" He pulled his head away, removing a handkerchief from his pocket and holding it to his mouth. "That smell," he declared through the thickness of the cloth. "Bile…"
"How interesting," Shawn nodded his head. "And thoroughly disgusting."
"We shouldn't be here," Adrian nervously declared, stepping away from the body. "These conditions, they're… unsanitary. There's disease in here that… We just have no idea."
"You've nothing to fear, Mr. Monk," the Mortician declared as he lifted the sheet over the face of the body, covering it. "When Death truly wants you… no antibiotic in the world could save you."
"You're not good at the pep talking, are you?" Shawn observed with a nervous tone. "Well let's talk about the facts." He glanced back at the body, and then he suspiciously stared at the Mortician. "Death is… coming to get us?"
"Life has a plan for us all," the Mortician explained in calm, round tones. "Each of us has a destiny and the need to fulfill that destiny. Different, all, yet no matter how diverse, we each share a common fate."
Johnny peered at him beneath a furrowed brow. "Death?"
"The great equalizer," he answered with a nod.
"Unless you cheat death," Xander shrugged.
The Mortician couldn't help but crack a smile at the boy's arrogance. He shook his head slightly as he gazed down at the body on the table. "Those who cheat death only win back their lives for a short period of time. A few years, a few weeks..." His dark eyes met with Xander's. "A few minutes."
"But…we can cheat death?" Johnny asked.
"What you must realize, Mr. Smith," he replied, "is that though Death can be sidetracked, there is no escape."
"But we can cause heavy delays," Xander announced. He glanced around at them with optimism. "By doing what we did today for John, we cheated it again. We intervened and it skipped him."
"Skipped him?" Shawn repeated in confusion.
"It'll go to the next person in line," Xander replied. Shawn and Adrian nervously glanced at each other, as Xander tried to explain, "So we have to keep our eyes open for the signs that Death lets slip. If we can pick up on the signs and figure out Death's next move, we can intervene again and again until we defeat it."
"Defeat it?" the Mortician repeated with a humored tone. "Defeat Death?" A cold smile formed on his face as he replied, "It's all around you."
"But we can't just give into this," Shawn stated with an overwhelmed tone. "Death's everywhere, fine. But we've got to believe we can beat it." Xander turned to him with a flummoxed expression. "Like I have this cousin who lived next to this guy that froze himself to death when he got locked in a meat cellar. He was in there for hours shouting himself hoarse and beating on the doors, but no one was around to hear him. They found him a day later and he had all the signs of being frozen to death."
"That's not strange," Johnny shrugged in confusion.
"But you see, they found out that the temperature never dropped below fifty," Shawn replied. "He scared himself to death. He believed that it would happen and it actually did."
"You're saying that… you can overcome Death?" Adrian concluded. "In your mind?"
Shawn nodded with a shrug. "If our actions decide when we die, then... shouldn't they be able to save us, too?"
"Death always wins," said the Mortician with a resolved conclusiveness. "It's a fact known since the beginning of time. And if you disrespect that bit of common knowledge… you'll find yourself pitted against vehemence unlike any other." He turned to Xander in disproval of his constant, defiant expression. "Death isn't some game, boy."
"We can play it," Xander reinforced. "We can cheat it."
The Mortician turned away from the haughty young man. "And what happens when Death starts playing you?"
He stared at him in silence. "What do you mean by that?"
"Wait a second," Johnny remembered, turning towards Xander, "you said that you thought this was a dream. Why would you think that?"
"Yeah," Shawn agreed as he stared at Xander with curiosity. At this point, anything was possible. "What's up with that?"
Xander looked over at them, uncertain of how to explain. "I still think it's a dream," he admitted. "But weird stuff happens – I know. Just look at what's happening now." He gazed around at the detectives and hesitantly continued, "I have these friends – this girl who's… kinda special. We've seen some pretty weird stuff in our time where we used to live. Like back in high school, this little kid who was in a coma had some sort of effect on the rest of the town and their nightmares kinda… became real." They stared at him peculiarly. "Look, it's really a long story. But I think this may be similar. It's all a bad dream."
"Your dream?" Adrian asked. "Well, haven't you… tried to pinch yourself, or something?"
"For the past two hours," he shrugged. "My arms are sore."
Johnny stared at him suspiciously. "So… if you think this is all a dream, why are you so worried?"
"Good question," Xander declared with a light tone, which fell flat as he shook his head with quiet frustration. "I don't know."
"Maybe you're not really dreaming," the Mortician suggested, enjoying the sudden insecurity within Xander.
His eyes widened a bit as he glanced over at the other three men who stared at them, unsure themselves of what was real and what wasn't. He turned back to the Mortician, mustering his confidence again and declared with as strong a voice he could gather, "This has to be a dream. It's too crazy to be real."
"Have you ever had a dream that felt so real that your heart couldn't save itself from the fear?" the Mortician curiously asked. Xander's gaze fell down to the ground. "It couldn't distinguish the line between hallucination and reality?" The young man swallowed hard as he glanced back up at the Mortician with a shaky heart he was trying to conceal.
"Yeah," he shrugged casually, "but those dreams usually involve prehistoric warrior women and a weird guy with an attraction to cheese."
"If you're right, Xander," said the Mortician, "if you can cheat death… maybe even defeat it by the power of your mind… then it doesn't matter if it's real to anyone else. All that matters is if it's real to you." His moment of optimism was overshadowed again by a dark warning. "But the moment that you believe it's anything more than a dream – then it's as real as you've made it." His eyes narrowed as he added, "If you're right." Xander swallowed again as he faced the Mortician with all the courage in his heart. "If you are, then when you die… you'll die by your own doing. If you're wrong... nothing can save you."
Xander stared at him defiantly. "This is a dream," he concluded with resolve. "I'm not gonna die here. I can control it. I can defeat it… because I'm not afraid."
The Mortician peered at him in silence as Shawn, Johnny and Adrian glanced back and forth between the two theorists. Another amused smirk formed on his face as he answered, "Only for now." He casually turned around and began to walk back towards the office door from which he had entered, passing the new body without another thought. "You can have some time alone with the deceased," he idly offered as he entered his office. "It may provide some… closure."
Pulling the door closed behind him, he left the four marked men alone to their thoughts.
Xander pushed open the doors and exited the morgue, stepping out into the bright light of the sun on the sloped street outside. "Xander, wait," Shawn called from behind as he rushed out second with Johnny and Adrian stepping out at a slower, more calm pace. "Xander," Shawn said again as he began to walk side-by-side with him as they walked down the staircase leading to the sidewalk, "you believe him, don't you?"
"Him?" Xander scoffed. "The guy who just spent all his time telling me how we couldn't defeat Death?"
"Isn't that how you saw it after the explosion?" Johnny asked in confusion.
"That's before I realized we really could intervene," Xander answered as he stopped in his tracks and turned back to the others. "Just like in the movies." Shawn leaned against the trunk of a nearby maple tree, Johnny placed his hand on the railing of the steps and Adrian stayed on the stairs to make himself eye-level with the other men because of the street's incline. "I know we can win this, I just… know it." He looked around the circle for some support, but found nothing but unoptimistic looks.
"But what if… we don't?" Adrian replied hesitantly.
"We can't afford to think like that," Xander shook his head firmly.
Johnny sighed, "But we have to deal with this realistically." Xander glanced over at him with an irritated look and John stopped him before he could reply. "Just hear me out," Johnny pleaded. "I made the mistake once of not doing everything I wanted to do before it was too late. Whether we're on Death's list or not, we all should treat this – treat everyday – as if it's the end."
A calm quiet fell over them as Adrian nodded in concurrence. "He's right," he softly agreed.
Johnny took a deep breath as he crossed his arms and gazed down at the ground. "It doesn't mean I'm giving up," he began, "but I've got a son that I love… and I've got friends that I care a great deal about. I have to talk to them."
Shawn stared down at the ground with a heavy heart and sad eyes. Adrian looked over at Xander and Johnny, still nervous although he was trying to keep himself calm. "I really should talk to Natalie," he said. "She's… she's my assistant. She's so…" The words fell away. "She's been so good to me and…" He gazed down at the ground with a hint of shame. "I know it's not always easy… to cope… with me. I… I-I need to thank her."
Shawn's head rose as he looked over at Xander with apologetic eyes. "I'm… Look, I'm sorry guys. I've gotta go." He turned around and began to walk down the incline in the sidewalk towards the parking lot where his best friend Gus' car – the one Shawn had taken without asking that morning because he was short on gas – was parked.
"Shawn, where are you going?" Xander asked with confusion.
He turned around with deep conflict in his green eyes. "I know this is a dream to you," Shawn tried to kindly explain, "but it's not to me. There's somebody I have to talk to."
"Wait," Xander called. "We have to stick together. It's not safe to go off—"
"It's my dad, all right?" Shawn said with deep distress in his heart. "I just… I have to talk to him now, okay? It's important."
"We don't know who's next!" Johnny called out.
"I know!" he answered with resolve. "So I have to do this." He turned and bounded off to the parking lot without any hesitance. Xander sighed and turned his attention back to the two other men. Adrian stared up nervously at the sky as Gus' blue Toyota Yaris drove by, driving up the incline and stopping in the turn lane at the top of the hill, waiting anxiously for the green arrow signal.
"We need to get inside," Adrian said. "We shouldn't be outside in the sun without protection. Skin cancer is… very serious." He looked at the other two with a sudden worry of realization. "In fact, we should get screened right away. Who knows, we might already be carrying something that Death will utilize later."
Johnny nodded in agreement, then stated, "What we should do first is get in a safe place where we can be protected from the outside world. Some sort of…"
"Controlled environment," Adrian finished. His attention was clearly drawn away from the conversation as he noticed something out of place on the street.
"Exactly," Johnny declared. "Let's make some calls."
"I'm gonna call Buffy," Xander concluded. "If she's not watching us on television in a separate universe or something, I know she'll be able to…" Xander's words faded off as he looked over at Adrian's eyes, studying hard on an inconsistency in detail. "What is it?" Xander asked as he and Johnny turned to face his point of view.
"Shawn's car," Adrian declared as he gazed hard at the line of cars on the three-lane street. The Yaris was waiting in the center lane to turn left as the traffic from the five-lane street in front of it moved by swiftly. "It's lined up with the car in the other lane."
"What do you mean?" Johnny asked. "What's the matter?"
"He's supposed to stop behind the line," Xander explained. "The two lanes are supposed to be unaligned, but they're not." The traffic from the center lane in the street in front of Shawn began to make their turns left as car by car had to pay extra attention to avoid the Yaris.
Johnny pulled his eyes off of the car and placed them on the small maple tree Shawn was leaning against. Holding his fingers outstretched, he placed his palm on the trunk of the tree. He was thrown into a vision as he jerked his head downwards.
Johnny could see Shawn surrounded by shadows as small beams of light shot down around him. A moment later, he realized that Shawn was submerged in water and struggling to escape but could not seem to move.
The psychic was ripped back to the present as he turned to Adrian and Xander, who were waiting with anxious expressions. "He's going to drown," Johnny nervously declared. The three of them rushed up the hill on the sidewalk to Shawn's car. They watched as a mega-sized pick-up truck sped around the sharp, left turn just before the light was about to turn red, but turned too sharply. The pick-up collided into the front of the blue Toyota, deploying the airbags inside.
Shawn was confused and disoriented as the airbags punched him in the face. Xander, Johnny and Adrian watched as the small car was knocked backwards and began an uncontrolled roll back down the hill.
"Shawn!" they shouted in fear as they rushed into the street, dodging the traffic cautiously. His head throbbing and his face burning, Shawn tried to push the airbags away from his face and realized he was rolling backwards at a high speed blindly. He tried to step on the brake, but he heard what sounded like a wire-short as the brakes failed. Johnny, Adrian and Xander stopped in the center lane as the Yaris careened backwards at a high rate of speed right towards them.
Recognizing that there was no control of the vehicle, they quickly bolted across the street, diving out of the way just in time. Once they reached the safety of the sidewalk, they turned around and saw the blue car rushing backwards as one of the tires exploded suddenly. The Yaris suddenly made a sharp turn left and backed through a chain-link fence that held the sign: "NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY – SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK."
Their eyes going wide, Johnny, Xander and Adrian ran frantically towards the public pool and watched helplessly as the Yaris rolled backwards into the vacated pool area and into the water, dragging patio tables and chairs with it.
Finally pushing the airbags away, Shawn panicked with terror as he heard the crash and saw the dark shadowy wave of water wash over his windshield. Within seconds, gallons of chlorine water were rushing into the confines of the small car.
He grabbed the handle of the door instinctively and tried to free himself, but to no avail, the pressure on the outside being too intense. He slammed his hand on the button of the power windows, but they failed him as well. The water was rushing up passed his stomach as he glanced down at the cold liquid in horror.
Johnny, Adrian and Xander rushed into the pool area, stepping over the chain-link fence. Xander was about to dive into the pool before Adrian shouted out and stopped him. "No, wait, the patio furniture is in the water!" he called out, pointing towards the sharp, protruding objects protectively surrounding the blue car. "You'll impale yourself!" Adrian warned. Johnny grabbed Xander by the arm as the two of them rushed into the shallow end using the stairs and swam across the lap-pool to the sinking car in the deep end.
The water at his throat, Shawn nervously clawed at his seatbelt buckle, trying to get it undone. Time running out, he took a final gasp of air before the water washed over him. Shawn calmed himself quickly for a slight moment and he suddenly thought to reach down for the seat-adjusting handle. He rolled his seat all the way back and pushed it as flat as he could, leaving an opening in the arms of the seatbelt big enough for him to pull himself out of. Now free inside the car, he tried the door again, his racing heart shrinking his oxygen supply dramatically.
Xander and Johnny swam towards the car and reached it to see Shawn beating on the windows. Shawn glanced up and saw the two men with a slight sense of hope, but was gripped with terror as another ominous shadow passed over the drivers-side window. Death was not going to let him go easily. Xander and Johnny tried to pull on both doors on both sides and tried to break the glass with their fists, furiously punching the relentless walls.
Still at the water's edge, Adrian stood next to the pool with fear. He stared down at the water and wished with all of his heart that he could stand to leap in. He was afraid of the dirty water – and terrified of swimming in general – and found himself shrinking away. The familiar self-loathing appeared again, rearing its ugly head as Adrian swallowed hard with disgust of his mouse-like behavior. He knew they should have surfaced by now.
An idea suddenly smacked him, interrupting his moment of self-doubt. Adrian glanced around the destroyed pool area, knowing that they wouldn't be able to get the doors open or break the windows. His eyes moving from side to side, they spotted a large stone sticking out of the dirt and mulch of the landscaping at the edge of the cemented area. Ignoring his fears, he grabbed the large, dirt-covered rock and dropped it into the deep end of the water near Johnny, taking care not to hit him.
Johnny punched again at the glass of the windows, a halo of blood surrounding his fist that floated gently through the dark water. He could see Shawn inside, his moves getting slower as the air in his lungs burned out like a matchstick. Xander was on the other side of the car, now kicking and punching at the glass, but was stronger than a brick wall, mockingly laughing in their faces as their friend was dying inside of its impenetrable boundaries.
The noise of the surface being broken pulled Johnny's attention away from the glass momentarily as he saw a large rock the size of a regular brick sank in front of him. He reached out and grabbed it instantly, pulling it back and breaking the glass of the drivers-side window. Johnny kicked the rest of the glass out of the way as he reached in and grabbed Shawn's severely weakened body.
When Johnny wrapped his arm around Shawn's chest and began to pull him from the cab of the car, Shawn's mouth opened as he gasped desperately for air, water instead filling it and forcing its way down his throat. Xander and Johnny both fought for the surface, pulling Shawn up with them.
As they looked up, the metal leg of a patio chair stuck gently into the water from above, barely cracking the surface as it slid down deeper towards them. Johnny fought the water and grabbed the leg of the chair, Adrian on the other end pulling forcefully, as he pulled Johnny and Shawn up to the surface, Xander surfacing after them. Both Xander and Johnny took a deep breath as Johnny gripped Shawn's stomach and chest, kicking the water out of his throat and lungs.
Shawn coughed and gagged as air rushed back into his lungs and he tried to rid the water from his system. A feeling of calm rushed over them once more as Xander and Johnny swam to the side, Shawn in between both of them. Tossing the patio chair aside, Adrian reached down into the pool and grabbed Shawn while Xander and Johnny pulled themselves out of the water. The three men together pulled Shawn from the pool next and sat him away from the edge, his energy exhausted as his heart slowly came back down to a normal pace as his lungs quivered from the rush of new air.
"You all right, man?" Xander asked as Shawn shook his head, still coughing.
"No…" he replied in between coughs. Johnny, Xander and Adrian glanced at each other as they looked back at the Yaris sitting at the bottom of the pool. Shawn raised his head and gazed at the pool and took deep, slow breaths for several moments of silence.
"Hey!" a voice called from beside them. They turned to see an old man standing on the sidewalk with an orange tabby cat at the end of a leash and a dumbfounded, angry look planted firmly on his face. "What the hell's the matter with you!" he shouted at them. "You kids drive like maniacs!"