Knight Rider 2008 Alternate Storyline – Episode 7 – Nightmares
Chapter 1
Kat bowed her head as the Priest droned on and on. His words blurred together until they were unrecognizable. She stared down at her black dress shoes. She didn't think she could bear seeing the coffin lowered into the ground again.
She knew where she was. This was Mom's funeral.
A strong arm wrapped around her shoulders, holding her tightly to it's owner's side. She looked up at Sam. His face was grim. There were tears in his light blue eyes. Kat's own tears had long since dried up.
Kat knew she was dreaming. This had all happened years ago, when she was still in college. When their mother died, only Sam and Kat were left. Kat's father had died when she and Sam were both children. Her father's only relative was a younger brother, but he had died when Kat was still a baby, so she had never known him. Her mother had been an only child.
She knew what would happen next. Sam would turn to her, tell her that he would take care of her until she finished school. She didn't have to worry about anything. He would put a hold on his career, come back home and make sure she was taken care of. And she knew what her response would be.
She looked up at Sam expectantly, but he did not turn to her. He watched as their mother was buried. His expression was different. Thoughtful. He dropped his arm from her shoulders and took her hand in his.
Finally he turned to her. “Come on.” He said quietly. He tugged on her hand and led her away from the funeral. “Mine is this way.”
Kat let him lead her. She felt dread coming on slowly. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go where he led, but she couldn't bear to pull her hand from his.
“It's not that far.” He said, smiling at her gently.
Kat hadn't seen him in so long. Had he always been this tall? This broad? She couldn't remember him working out that much, when had he gotten so huge? Was her brain remembering him as an ideal? Her big brother, larger than life?
“Almost there.” He said, not taking his eyes from hers. He led her to a small tombstone that was off by itself.
Kat shook her head. She definitely didn't want to see this.
“It's all right.” He shushed soothingly. A short lock of blond hair fell over his sparkling blue eyes. He looked so serene. Sam wouldn't let even his own death bring him down. He put his hands on her shoulders and slowly turned her to face the tombstone.
Samuel Alexander Long
Feb. 23rd, 1976 – Dec. 9th,2008
“Darkness can never extinguish
Such a shining light.”
Kat drew in a sharp breath. Her eyes stung, but no tears came. “Sam, I can't-” She tried to turn away from the tombstone.
His hands were firm on her shoulders, not letting her turn. “Kat, it'll be all right.” He said.
“That's easy for you to say.” She whispered. “You're with Mom and Dad now. I'm the one who's all alone.”
“But you're not alone, Kat.” Sam told her earnestly. He moved his hands from her shoulders to the sides of her face. He gave her a steady look. “There are people all around you. People that want to be your friends. They're with you. He's with you.” Kat started shaking her head, but he held on to her firmly, his blue eyes were determined. “He'll watch over you Kat, better than I could. He'll protect you. I trust him to do that, more than anyone else.”
Kat smiled weakly. “And you don't have to worry about him making a move on your little sister.”
Sam tried to suppress a laugh, but it forced itself out. “A fringe benefit.” He agreed, then turned serious again. “Don't make me laugh, I'm trying to do this right. That's all I ever wanted for you, someone to watch over you when I couldn't.” He grinned at her. “You're kind of hopeless on your own.”
Kat rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks. Some big brother you are.”
Sam chuckled. “Brat.” He said fondly. He kissed her forehead. “You know I'm right.” His eyes turned sympathetic. “I didn't bring you here just to torture you, or to joke around. You need to understand that I'm gone. You need to accept it. So you can face what's up ahead.”
Kat gave him a confused look. “What are you talking about?”
There was a sharp crack beside her. She turned back to the tombstone. A chip was missing from the top. Sam was looking in the opposite direction, his face grim. Kat followed his gaze.
The unknown man stood, gun pointed at the two of them, a few rows down. He was exactly as she had always seen him, right down to the black sunglasses.
Kat's pulse quickened. She felt something like terror creeping over her, numbing her limbs. Sam dropped his hands to his sides and stood in front of Kat. Kat could still see the unknown man around his arm. “Once you accept that I'm dead, you'll be able to face him.” Sam said quietly.
Before Kat could react, the unknown man fired. Sam jerked back, then fell against his tombstone. Kat watched in horror as his white dress shirt slowly stained with red.
Kat turned back to the unknown man. His gun was pointed at her now.
There was no one to protect her. No one to stand in the way.
There was nothing she could do.
********
Kat woke with a gasp, her eyes flying open. She sat bolt-upright in her bunk, looking around in the darkness.
“Kat, your heart rate and breathing are accelerated. Is something wrong?” K.I.T.T asked.
Kat collapsed back onto her pillow weakly. “No... I'm fine. I think.”
“You're not certain?”
“I just... had a bad dream, that's all.”
“What was it about? You were mumbling incoherently.”
Kat stared at the ceiling for a long moment, one hand on her forehead.
“Kat?”
Kat closed her eyes against remembered pain. “Nothing. It was about nothing.” K.I.T.T was silent. Something occurred to Kat then. “How do you know that my heart rate is accelerated?” She asked. “Can you hear it all the way down there?”
“No, I can see it.” K.I.T.T answered.
“That makes even less sense.” Kat told him.
“My Forward Looking Infrared is very precise. You are technically only fifty yards away from me, so I can see the individual parts of you that give off the most heat, like your heart, quite clearly.”
“You can see my heart...” Kat said slowly. “That's sort of romantic. In a creepy, morbid, stalker-ish kind of way.” She shook her head, sitting back up. “You can do other things at night, you know. You don't have to watch over me like a mother hen.”
“I am far from idle.” K.I.T.T told her. “I am also learning Latin.”
“Moving on to dead languages now?” Kat asked.
“It may be useful to us one day.” K.I.T.T replied.
“Yeah.” Kat agreed. “The next time we go up against a bunch of wizards, you'll have me covered.”
“I am detecting sarcasm in your voice.” K.I.T.T said dryly.
“Oh?” Kat asked. “Is that so? Huh... Imagine that. Sarcasm! From me?”
“Are you done?”
Kat laughed. “For now.” She put a hand over her mouth and yawned. In the opposite bunk, Angela turned over and sighed. Kat glanced at her. “I'm heading down.” She whispered to K.I.T.T. “Before I wake Angela.”
Kat grabbed her pillow and blanket and headed down to the Main Lab. K.I.T.T sat alone on his circle. He opened the door for her and lowered the front seat. Kat crawled into the back seat and curled up.
“Is there a particular reason that you sleep in my back seat during time of stress?” K.I.T.T asked her as he closed the door.
Behind her eyelids, Kat saw the unknown man and shivered. “Times of stress? Do I do that?” She asked casually.
“Yes.” K.I.T.T, of course, hadn't fallen for her light tone.
Kat looked across the cabin to his Voice Modulator. “I dunno. I guess it's a security thing.”
“Security?”
Kat turned over, facing away from the Modulator. “Yeah. Where else is safer?”
“The secret underground warehouse under the Pentagon is said to be able to withstand nuclear impact.” K.I.T.T replied.
Kat's eyebrows raised. “Well. Uh... I don't really have regular access to the Pentagon, do I?”
“You do not.” K.I.T.T agreed.
“You'll do, though.” Kat told him sleepily.
“Interesting.”
Kat thought about asking what was so interesting, but her eyes were getting awfully heavy. She allowed herself to drift back to sleep with no fuss. If she remembered later on, she would ask him.
********
Kat woke late the next morning. The first thing she did was raid the kitchen. “I need some comfort food.” She said, pulling out a loaf of bread. She rummaged in the fridge for some cheese.
“What is comfort food?” K.I.T.T asked.
“Oh? Not just going to look it up yourself?” Kat asked coyly.
“I want to hear what you believe it is.” K.I.T.T told her. “The more I learn of humans, the more I realize that they can use the same words, but mean entirely different things.”
“And here I thought you were just being lazy.”
“I am never lazy.” K.I.T.T said haughtily.
Kat rolled her eyes. “Well, comfort food for me is something that is very calming when I'm not quite feeling myself. My comfort foods are things that my mother used to make me and Sam when we were kids, helps me get back in touch with who I am. Mac and cheese out of the box, it was kind of a treat for us because Mom only ever made it when we had a particularly rough day. That might be because she had had a rough day too and didn't really feel like cooking. There's also spaghetti with homemade sauce from my grandmother's recipe. Baked potatoes. English muffin pizzas. And of course, grilled cheese.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Angela said from behind Kat. “I'll have one of everything.”
Kat looked over at Angela. “Sorry, just making grilled cheese right now.”
Angela shrugged. “It'll do.”
Kat laughed. “If I can find the American cheese...” There was an entire drawer of cheese in the monster fridge, but she couldn't find American. “You guys never heard of Kraft singles?” Kat exclaimed as she shoved a wedge of Brie out of her way.
“Use the mild cheddar, it makes awesome grilled cheese.” Angela suggested. She was getting the plate and frying pan ready.
“What about pre-sliced cheese?” Kat asked. “Why do you have no pre-sliced cheese?”
“I'll tell Kevin to stock it when I see him.” Angela said.
“Who's Kevin?” Kat asked as she pulled out a block of cheddar and hunted through the drawers for a cheese slicer.
“Head of the Custodial Staff.” Angela said. “Though 'Staff' might not be the right word since there's only him and two other people.”
Kat sliced the cheddar, then Angela put the sandwiches together while Kat prepped the pan. Soon, they had a neat little pile of sandwiches. “So...” Angela began. “Three for me?” She asked hopefully.
“Two each.” Kat said, bringing the plate to the table.
“You're so skinny, where does it all go?” Angela frowned.
“I'm tall, what's your excuse? You eat twice as much as I do.” Kat set the plate on the table and sat down.
“Art takes a lot out of me.” Angela replied taking, her seat. She slid her sketchbook over to herself and flipped through the pages. She stopped at one and slid the book over to Kat.
“Hey, this is amazing!” Kat exclaimed, studying the picture. It was a sketch of K.I.T.T and Kat. Kat was lying on her back on K.I.T.T's hood and windshield.
“Thank you.” Angela said, taking a bite out of her sandwich.
Kat began flipping through the other pages while she ate. “You've got everyone in here, don't you?” She asked. She found one of Charles, hard at work on some piece of circuitry or other, his reading glasses slipping down his nose. His intent expression was captured perfectly.
“Pretty much.” Angela said around a mouthful. “There's one of David too, look.”
“Wow.” Kat said, looking at the sketch. “I didn't think a person could 'draw' evil.” David was standing outside of his office, both hands on the metal railing. The perspective was from the floor below. “He's like an evil Overlord, surveying his domain. You even got those eyebrows of his just perfect.”
She flipped to the next page and paused. She stared at the page for a long time. Angela waved her hand in front of Kat's face. “I'm stealing your grilled cheese.” She warned.
Kat started. She looked up at Angela. “Oh, sorry. I was just...” She looked back down at the sketch, she gently traced those bright eyes with her fingers. “Angela, you really have a gift.” Kat told her.
“It's just drawing. I double as out sketch artist.” She joked humbly.
Kat shook her head. “It's not just the drawing. You managed to get my brother to sit still long enough to be sketched. That takes talent.”
Angela grinned. “No easy task, I assure you. I told him I was going to nail his feet to the floor.”
They laughed together. “How did you ever wind up here?” Kat asked her.
Angela shrugged. “David found me. He found all of us.” She placed her chin in one palm thoughtfully. “I used to work for a movie studio, doing makeup and making costumes and such. I was in a few credits, nothing too big. David just showed up at the studio one day.” She smiled serenely. “When he told me I had to live underground I told him to go to hell.”
“How did he manage to convince you?”
“Don't think too badly of me for this. But it was the money.” Angela shrugged. “He was offering twice what I was making then, and he promised me my own studio. I grudgingly accepted. In four more years, my contract expires. Then, I'm going to take my savings and open up my own studio.”
“An art studio, or a costume design studio?” Kat asked.
Angela grinned, her nose scrunching cutely. “Probably a little of both.”
