What Might Have Been

Because we are ghouls, AgentInWaiting and I traded a few alternate opening paragraphs to chapter 52. If you do not want to be trolled, these are not for you.  Otherwise, enjoy after the jump.

Neil really got into it, revealing his bloodthirsty streak.  These are his gems:

**Sarah woke up with a moan, her head throbbing.  Raising her head a little, she saw she was lying in a bed in some kind of hospital room.

“You’re awake!  God, honey, you gave me such a scare.”

She turned toward the source of the voice.  A tall man with wavy brown hair and gentle brown eyes was standing next to her.

“Who are you?”

**Chuck watched as his wife collapsed to the ground, blood spurting from her chest.  His scream of anguish was echoed by the kids who had rushed across the beach to join him.  Megan ran forward and began to tug at her aunt’s lifeless body.  “Aunt Sarah,” she sobbed, “Aunt Sarah, please don’t be dead.”

Chuck started forward to get Megan away from Sarah’s body.  He jerked to a stop when he saw the body stir and Sarah slowly pick herself up.  She looked down at her youngest niece.

“BRAINZ.  I NEED BRAINZ.”

**The bullet zinged past Sarah and she heard a sharp cry.   Whirling around, she saw Chuck clutching his stomach, a shocked expression on his face.  She was about to run to him when she was grabbed from behind and turned back.

“Hey, how you doin’?”  a grinning Bryce Larkin queried.

**As soon as Sarah was hit, she knew it was a fatal shot.  She heard her husband scream her name as she collapsed onto the beach.  Chuck rushed up and dropped to his knees beside her.   She tried to lift her hand to ruffle through his curls but couldn’t.   The world grew darker and Chuck lifted her close to his chest.  She closed her eyes and strained to catch the last words she would ever hear, coming from the man she loved with all her heart.

“You know,” Chuck mused, “Carina really is limber.”

**Sarah ducked as the bullet flew past her head, making a weird splintering noise behind her.  She shot back at Benoit, killing him instantly, and then turned to see a body lying motionless on the beach.   Chuck ran up beside her and both of them started to walk towards the bystander.  After a few steps, they stopped dead in their tracks.

“Shaw?” Sarah gasped incredulously.

“I thought he was dead,” muttered Chuck.  “What do we have to do?  Throw him off a bridge into the Seine?”

And these are mine:

**Sarah sat cross-legged on the pebbly beach with Fred's head--blood oozing from the bullet hole in his forehead--in her lap.  His dead, unseeing eyes seemed to gaze up into eternity.  Sobbing, hot tears streamed down her face as she keened over his lifeless body.  Rocking back and forth, she cried over and over again, "This is all my fault. This is all my fault."

Chuck's voice was devoid of emotion when he stood over her and replied, "Yes, Sarah, it is.  I could never love a woman who would put children in danger. And now my nephew is dead because of you."  Chuck bent down and lifted Fred's body from the beach. "Don't bother looking for the kids and me. You'll never find us. Your divorce papers will be in the mail."

With that, he turned and slowly walked away. She never saw him again.

**Chuck wiped the tear from his cheek as he gazed down at his wife's corpse.

"Huh. That's a shame. I wonder if I still have Jill Roberts' phone number."