Knight Rider 2008 Alternate Storyline – Episode 3 – The Knight Before Christmas
Chapter 5
Kat sat numbly in the Driver's seat and stared blankly at the steering wheel. She closed her eyes, but Sam's room was plastered on the other side of her eyelids.
Meanwhile, K.I.T.T pulled out of the parking lot. “Seatbelt.” He reminded her.
She opened her eyes and slowly buckled her seatbelt. A screen flared up on the windshield. It was Sam's room again, exactly as she had seen it. “What are you doing, KITT?” She asked dully.
“Analyzing the room.” K.I.T.T replied. “I thought you would want to do that together.”
She looked at the picture for a long moment. The corners of her eyes pricked, like she wanted to cry, but didn't have any tears. “Is David right?” She asked. “Is there no chance that Sam is alive?”
“If Sam really did lose the amount of blood shown here, then he is dead.” K.I.T.T told her.
“Can you think of a way that someone could have faked his death?” She asked.
“Negative, I don't have any reference for that kind of situation.” He replied. He moved out onto the highway, driving at the usual breakneck speed. It was nighttime, but there was still plenty of traffic.
Kat glanced at the speedometer. “KITT, slow down, you're going to kill someone.”
“The chance of me hitting someone is highly unlikely.” He retorted, but slowed down.
“Not everyone's reflexes are as good as yours.” She reminded him. “And there are a lot of nuts out on the roads.” She put her hands on the wheel. “I'll take over for a bit. I need something to do.”
As she drove, she eyed the display of Sam's room every now and then, which K.I.T.T had left up. He indicated, for her benefit, what parts he was analyzing by zooming in on some detail or other. “Find anything of interest?”
“Negative.” K.I.T.T said. “I can find no physical evidence. No footprints in the blood. No hair or clothing fibers that are visible from the angle you were at. No signs of a struggle. Nothing is out of place.”
Kat frowned. There was something odd about what K.I.T.T had said. She glanced at the picture again. Under the blood, everything seemed perfectly fine. And yet, incredibly wrong at the same time.
“It's too neat.” She said suddenly. “That room doesn't look lived in. Especially for Sam. Even if he'd only been there two days, the bed should at least look rumpled. He never bothers making it.”
“Sam was never very tidy.” K.I.T.T agreed. Kat wondered how many empty soda cans and gum wrappers had been excavated out of K.I.T.T by Carmen over the course of six months.
“David might not pick up on that either, if he doesn't know Sam's personal habits.” Kat said. “Which, I don't think he's the type to take the time.” She was getting excited again. Here was something... But what? “What does it mean though?”
“Something.” K.I.T.T said unhelpfully. Kat shot an exasperated look at the stereo that housed his Modulator.
A van ahead of them was going below the speed limit, which to K.I.T.T would be 'unbearably slow'. Kat tried to maneuver around it, but found a red coupe in her way on the right. She looked to the left. A black sedan was next to her, driving so close, it was in danger of entering her lane. She looked to the right again, the coupe was edging closer as well.
“KITT, something tells me we're about to get attacked again.” She said. She checked the rear view mirror. Another van was right on their rear bumper. Great, they weren't getting out of this without taking someone with them.
K.I.T.T scanned the four vehicles, displaying the data on his windshield. He closed the display of Sam's room for space. The two vans only had one driver each. There was a passenger and a driver in both of the smaller cars.
“Options.” Kat said tensely as the windows of the cars on either side of her rolled down. “EMPulse?”
“If we take out the front van, we'll crash into it.” K.I.T.T replied.
“You can't take out one of the side cars?” Kat asked quickly. She glanced at the cars nervously.
“My EMPulse is on my hood.”
Kat swore. She glanced right and left. From each of the cars on either side of them, some sort of weapon was poking out of the open windows. Kat knew that bullets would have no effect on K.I.T.T's Molecular-Bonded Shell, that's if they got through the nano-skin, but these weapons didn't look like they shot bullets.
“I don't like the looks of this.” Kat said. “I'm sorry KITT, we'll have to cause an accident.” She turned into the red coupe, smashing into it's side. K.I.T.T was, of course, unharmed, but the ordinary metal of the coupe crumpled like paper.
Both weapons fired. Something shot from the barrel of each and attached to K.I.T.T. A wire trailed from each projectile, back to the guns. Kat pushed the red coupe aside, right off the highway. The wire connecting them snapped.
Suddenly, the wheel in her hands jerked and K.I.T.T swerved wildly. She struggled with it, but couldn't bring it back under control. “KITT! What's happening?” She asked.
K.I.T.T answered her, but in no way that was coherent. It all came out as a jumbled mess. Kat's eyes widened as she watched his Modulator go crazy.
The Camaro swerved wildly again, just narrowly missing a silver SUV in the other lane. Kat gripped the wheel as hard as she could, turning it in the other direction. She jammed her foot on the brakes, but they didn't respond.
Screens began popping up on K.I.T.T's windshield, but they were just filled with random numbers and letters. “KITT! Get a hold of yourself!” Kat said urgently.
The Camaro shot forward, away from the vans and the remaining car. The second wire snapped, but K.I.T.T was still unresponsive. And they were weaving erratically through traffic that was going much slower than they were.
“KITT! Stop!” Kat yelled as she struggled with the wheel. They missed hitting a convertible by a hair.
K.I.T.T responded with a string of random numbers, spoken extremely fast. Then there was a high pitched squeal that reverberated in her ears, making her hunch over and gasp in pain. Darkness swam over her eyes and she fainted.
K.I.T.T drove off of the highway and abruptly shut down. The noise ceased.
********
Kat's heart was beating frantically. Her ears rang. She shook her head, trying to clear it. What the hell had just happened?
There was a dull pounding in her head. She opened her eyes slowly. Had she passed out? For how long?
Movement to her left startled her. She jumped, turning to it.
The pounding hadn't been coming from her head. Someone was on the other side of K.I.T.T's door, going at the window with a sledgehammer. Kat recognized one of the mercenaries from earlier that day.
She stared at him, for a second, but he might as well have been using a paper fan for all the damage he was doing, or not doing, to the window.
Kat regained control of herself. “KITT?” She asked. The dash was dark and unresponsive. “KITT!” She smacked her hand down on top of the dash, but there was still no response. The interior remained dark.
She took in her surroundings. She was about fifty yards away from the highway, and any help it might offer. One of the black vans was parked next to her, hiding K.I.T.T from the highway.
The other black van pulled up about twenty feet in front of her. The back doors opened and two men stepped out. Probably the ones from the red coupe K.I.T.T had disabled. The driver's door opened, and the unknown man from earlier stepped out.
Kat felt a shiver go down her spine just looking at him. He was tall and thin and dressed all in black. Black jeans, shirt, and a leather jacket. Even his gloves were black leather. His pale, thin face was unemotional, his eyes shadowed behind his black sunglasses. She found it odd that he wore them even though it was the dead of night.
The man walked over. He was saying something to the mercenary with the sledgehammer. The merc put down the hammer and stepped away from the door. The man continued talking as he walked up to the door. He put one gloved hand on the handle and opened it easily.
Kat's eyes widened in shock. She undid her seatbelt quickly and scrambled backwards to the other seat. “I didn't know it was unlocked.” The merc muttered as he stepped forward to grab Kat.
Kat didn't follow the rules of the Damsels-in-Distress very well though. She kicked at the man hard. Her boot connected solidly with his face and he reeled back, stumbling away from the car.
The door behind her opened then and she was dragged out of K.I.T.T by the other two men from the van. She fought back violently. She kicked one of the men in the groin and he doubled over in pain. The other man had her from behind. She thrust her head back, into his face. His grip on her arms slackened and she ran for it.
She knew that she had only caught them by surprise. They had underestimated her, seeing her as weaker because she was a driver, or because she was a woman. She was going to take what advantages she could.
A loud ping! Came from behind and her left leg buckled. She fell to the ground hard. Fiery pain shot down her leg. She clutched at it, gasping. She looked down at it and saw thick, warm blood flowing out of the wound in her thigh and over her hand.
The man in black walked over to her calmly, gun drawn. She scrambled back, trying to get to her feet. Her leg wouldn't support her weight. She slipped and fell on her back.
The man was standing right over her. His three companions had recovered by now. One of them ran over. He grabbed Kat roughly by the arm. Panic had set in and Kat fought back desperately as adrenaline flooded her veins. She shoved the heel of her hand into the man's nose. The other two mercenaries came over to help.
They overpowered her and she found herself lying face first on the ground. One of the men held her arms behind her, one knee pressed into her back, keeping her pinned as she screamed and fought. She felt something cold and hard press against the back of her head.
It was the dead of the night, as dark as pitch. She was too far from the highway for anyone to see or hear her. There was no one who could help...
She was dead.
To Be Continued...
