Author's note: This story began ages ago, and I have still been working on it. I have several other projects I'm working on, and this took a backburner. For instance, I have long since finished reading the novel The Dead Zone, and the show has just begun it's third season. However, carry on reading.

Disclaimer: This is my little attempt at a Dead Zone fic. I am currently reading the novel, because Stephen King is like, my favorite writer. I love his books. Speaking of Stephen King, if you are a fan of his and you haven't read Bag of Bones yet, DO IT! It is the best book he's written. Even if you aren't a fan, that book will convince you to try reading some of his other stuff. OK, back to The Dead Zone. I am going to try to write it as well as I can. This story is based on the show and the book. Anthony Michael Hall is REALLY hott. I love the show, but it's so wrong compared to the book. Anyway, on with the story! (Just so you know, I hate Sarah. This is why. She is still in love with Johnny, and married to that inantimate object, Walt. And she does nothing. Johnny is her true love, not Walt. I hate Walt, too, because he hates Johnny for no reason. He hates him because he knows that Sarah still has feelings for Johnny, so instead of being mad at Sarah, he's mad at Johnny. So I hate both Sarah and Walt.) Enjoy the story!

Temptation

By Julia

Mornings didn't always agree with Johnny Smith. They didn't always agree because of some of the nights that he had. Last night had been particularly awful. He'd had one of those monster headaches that the doctors had told him he might have for the rest of his life as a result of the car accident he'd been in when he was younger. When he was twenty-two years old, he'd gotten in a car accident that left him in a coma for four and a half years. He was twenty-seven when he came out of it. His girl had married while in a coma, so she wasn't even his anymore. He hadn't loved anyone since. It had been more than a year since he'd come out of his coma. Now he was mostly back to normal, and his best friend was his physical therapist, Bruce.

Johnny went downstairs to get some Tylenol or something, to get rid of this monster headache. He was very tired, and he was volunteering at the Cleaves Mills county fair that they were having. He was manning the kissing booth. He didn't know how he managed to get roped into that, but he was doing it.

He took the medicine, and got the morning paper. There was nothing of true interest, but he scanned it anyway. Seeing an article about himself, he quickly ignored it. He didn't like to read the articles about himself. Since Johnny had come out of his coma, he'd been able to see things about the past and future. He could do this by touching someone. He tried to use his gift for good. Somehow, though, sometimes people tried to manipulate his abilities for other things.

An hour later, he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a gray tee shirt. The weather was great, since it was May, and in Maine, it was gorgeous in the spring and summer months. Johnny grabbed his cane and jumped into his car (a black Jeep) and drove downtown, to the high school. They were doing the fair outside on the grounds. He parked, and walked across the grass to the front steps, where he was supposed to talk to Sarah Bannerman, his friend, (who had had his child, although no one knew it but him, Walt, her husband, and Sarah herself) to find out where he was supposed to go.

Sarah stood, holding a clipboard. She was the chairperson of the event, since she was one of the English teachers at the school. (Walt was the sheriff of Cleaves Mills.) She smiled as Johnny approached. ''Hey, Johnny. I think they set up the kissing booth on the soccer field.'' She pointed off to the side, on the yard of the school.

Johnny grinned wryly and said, ''Great, right on the middle of the soccer field, in prime view.''

Sarah laughed. ''It'll be fine, Johnny. Besides, it's not like you don't know how to kiss.''

Johnny nodded. ''That's not the problem.'' He left her to go take his seat at the booth. The fair was already in full swing, but he didn't get a line for a half hour.

He was in the middle of kissing a high school junior, when he got a vision. In his vision, she was sitting on her bed, with a friend. They were kissing each other, and when they pulled away, the girl's friend was saying, ''I don't know how you manage to keep our relationship a secret.''

Johnny pulled away after a few minutes, and the girl, who'd told him that her name was Elizabeth, looked at him strangely. Johnny smiled at her, and she walked away, shaking her head. He didn't know what this vision meant, but he'd have to find out.

The next person stepped up. Johnny's eyes widened. It was Elizabeth's friend! She smiled at him, and he quickly said, ''I'm Johnny Smith. I figure we should at least exchange names.''

The girl replied, ''I'm LeAnn. So let's kiss already.''

As Johnny placed his lips on the girl's, he got another vision. In this one, the two girls were having a fight. Elizabeth was yelling, ''I told you, I'm one of the most popular girls in the school. I'm not going to come out of the closet as a lesbian.''

LeAnn looked at her lover, her eyes on fire. ''Look, I am tired of kissing all these guys, when all I want is to be kissing you. The idea of it being exciting wore off a long time ago. I want to be with you in public.''

Elizabeth shook her head. ''I love you, but I am not going to out myself.''

As LeAnn stared daggers at Liz, Johnny's vision came to an end. He pulled away from her and shook his head. His lips were already sore, and he'd only been at this for an hour and a half.

Sarah came up to the side of the booth, and noticed the line that led halfway around the soccer field, and even lead to the parking lot. She was still holding her clipboard as Johnny sent another girl along her way. Sarah said, ''Do you need to take a break? A real quick one? I'm gonna have Bruce manage the booth while you're gone.''

Johnny nodded. ''Yeah, that'd be good. I need some food.'' He got up as Bruce approached and took the booth's seat with a smile at Johnny. Johnny walked through the fair, looking for something to eat, and shaking his head the whole time, trying to get the image of the girls' fighting out of his brain. He wasn't sure why he got these two visions, but obviously, there was more to them than just two girls having a fight. He was going to have to investigate this; learn as much as he could.

Walt Bannerman, Sarah's husband, was standing by the soccer field, watching as Bruce took Johnny's place with the kissing booth. He also saw Sarah walking around with her little clipboard, writing everything down and working hard. He loved her. But he also knew that Sarah still had feelings for Johnny. This made him dislike Johnny somewhat, but Johnny had never tried anything with Sarah, so he felt guilty for feeling the way he did. You couldn't help but like Johnny Smith, especially since he had helped solve a lot of cases in Cleaves Mills, with the use of his visions, of course.

Walt folded his arms and sighed. He knew that he should be working on his surveillance of the fair, but he had guys working on it, so all would be fine. You'd wonder what sort of trouble could occur at a smalltown fair, but Cleaves Mills did have its mischief...

LeAnn Delmont was angry at her girlfriend. They had been seeing in secret for about a year now, and LeAnn was ready for their relationship to be public. Elizabeth was not. Liz wasn't out of the closet, but LeAnn was. Needless to say, she wasn't Ms. Popularity. But she didn't care. Liz, however, was. And Liz didn't want to be outed until she left high school. They had a year left after this one ended. LeAnn didn't want to date in secret for another year. She just didn't want to do it.

She knew that Liz wasn't going to listen to reason, so she was going to have to do something drastic. She pulled a knife out of her back pocket. Something would be done...

Johnny sat at a picnic table, eating a hamburger. He hadn't been able to get the two girls off his mind. He didn't know why. He just had a feeling that something was gonna go wrong. He took a sip of his drink and finished his hamburger. Next thing he knew, he was hearing screams, and Walt Bannerman was running up to him. Johnny looked at Walt, all of his senses immediately on alert. ''What's wrong, Walt?'' He asked.

Walt didn't answer at first. He said something in his radio. ''This is Bannerman, I'm with John Smith right now. I'm about to tell him what happened. Rejoin ya soon.'' He turned to Johnny. ''Girl stabbed another girl. Witnesses couldn't tell who it was, she wore a mask. But she was hollering something about love, and something.''

Johnny's features twisted. ''Who was stabbed?'' He asked, wondering if it was Elizabeth, if LeAnn had gone crazy with not being able to love her girlfriend in public.

Walt replied, ''Elizabeth Hazlett. She's been rushed to the hospital. We don't know yet if she's gonna live, but there's a lot of blood at the scene.''

Johnny sighed. ''What does she look like?'' He needed to know what she looked like, so he knew for sure that it was one of the girls from his visions.

Walt shrugged. ''Blond hair, violet eyes, looked to be about seventeen.'' He looked at Johnny more closely. ''Why, did you have a vision or something?''

Johnny nodded. ''But not one in which Elizabeth dies. She was in line at the kissing booth. When I kissed her, I got a vision of her sitting on a bed, kissing another girl. Her friend said when they pulled away something about not knowing how Elizabeth could keep their relationship a secret. Then a few people later, LeAnn shows up in the line. I kiss her, I get a vision of Elizabeth and LeAnn fighting about their relationship. LeAnn wanted her to out herself, Elizabeth wouldn't do it. So I'm willing to bet that LeAnn was the one who stabbed her.''

Walt said, ''OK, we've got to find her, then. Come with me to the station, tell me exactly what you saw.''

An hour later, Johnny had finished telling Walt all about his two visions. Now Walt was going to make him describe LeAnn's appearance to a forensic artist. Johnny was tired and wanted to go home. But since they needed a description of LeAnn, he stayed.

Walt ducked his head into the room. ''Forensics hasn't sent their guy?'' He inquired.

Johnny shook his head. ''No, and I've been waiting for quite a long time, Walt.'' His calm, quiet voice told Walt more than if he'd yelled.

Walt disappeared, promising to find out something for him.

Johnny sat in the room, tired of seeing it, but knowing as long as he still had his visions, he should help the police when necessary. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. This was another reason not to get along with Walt; he kept him held up for such long periods of time.

The forensic artist finally came. He stepped into the small room, carrying a pad and a box of sketch pencils. ''Hello, Mr. Smith.'' He said, sitting down.

Johnny asked, ''I've been waiting for quite some time, so let's just get this over with.'' He continued with, ''LeAnn is about seventeen years old, brown hair, blue eyes...''

A half hour later, Johnny was free to go. He went home, drained. When he stepped into the house, the first thing he did was get a Pepsi and listen to the voicemail. There was a message from Sarah asking if he was alright, since she hadn't seen him after the stabbing occurred. There was a message from Walt, telling him that Elizabeth had died on account of the stabbing, so LeAnn was gonna be charged with murder in the first degree. Johnny waved that off, not worrying about it, because he was gonna advise LeAnn to plead insanity to get herself off. She just needed help. Besides, she might not actually have done the killing. Then there was a message from Bruce, wondering what the h- happened to him.

Johnny figured that Walt and Sarah could wait; he'd call Bruce back to fill him in on everything. He dialed Bruce's number.

Bruce picked it up, saying, ''Johnny, where were you today?''

Johnny held back a laugh. ''I was talking to Walt. I had a couple of visions about the dead girl, so...''

''Oh, she's dead then?'' Bruce cut in.

Johnny replied, ''Yeah, Walt left a message that she died. I guess her girlfriend's in trouble.'' He told Bruce about the visions that he'd had.

Bruce said, ''Johnny, I wonder why you had those two visions that you did, and not one in which Elizabeth dies. I mean, how could you save her if you didn't see it coming?''

Johnny shrugged, then remembered that Bruce couldn't see him. ''Maybe I wasn't supposed to. Maybe Elizabeth was supposed to die, and the thing I'm supposed to fix is a result of her death. Besides, these visions are never the same.''

Bruce replied, ''Well, I'm gonna go, I've got a book I've just started. We'll do anything we can for LeAnn tomorrow. See ya then, John.'' He said good-bye and hung up.

Johnny figured he'd better call Sarah to let her know that he was alright before going to bed. It had been a long day, and all he really wanted was to get some sleep, but he knew Sarah would worry her head off if he didn't call her. He really wanted to read the Thad Beaumont book he'd started. It was old, but he actually hadn't read it yet.

Sarah answered on the first ring. The wonders of caller id had told her that it was Johnny. ''Johnny Smith, are you all right?'' She asked immediately.

Johnny finished off his Pepsi and put the can in the sink, to recycle it later. He figures he shouldn't have drank it; it wasn't of the caffeine free persuasion. He shrugged. ''I'm alright, Sarah. No harm done. I didn't actually have a vision of Elizabeth getting stabbed, just of her kissing, and then later fighting with, her girlfriend.''

Sarah replied, ''Yeah, Walt told me about your visions. I just don't understand it, Johnny. You didn't save Elizabeth from being stabbed. She died. I don't get it. What are you supposed to be doing, exactly?'' She wondered aloud.

Johnny shrugged again, remembering that Sarah couldn't see him. ''Well, I don't know yet, Sarah. I guess I'll figure it out. I just wanted to let you know that I was fine. I'll see you later, OK?'' He said goodbye and hung up, without telling Sarah what he really wanted to tell her, that he was still in love with her.

The next morning, Sarah got up, to a beautiful day. Walt had stayed at the station overnight, working on the new case, trying to find LeAnn. Sarah knew that Johnny didn't believe that LeAnn had done it. Sarah didn't want anyone else to get hurt, and she knew Johnny and Walt would work to make sure that it didn't happen. She loved both of them with her whole heart. Johnny had 3/4ths of it, and Walt had the other 1/4. She knew it wasn't fair to him, but she couldn't help it. She and Johnny had never gotten to have all the dreams that they'd dreamed. She was supposed to have been Mrs. Johnny Smith, not Mrs. Walt Bannerman.

JJ, (short for Johnny Jr.) was already awake and bouncing around the living room, watching old Batman cartoons. He grinned when he saw her. ''Morning, Mom.'' He said, as she came into the room.

Sarah smiled at her child and gave him a kiss. She was more preoccupied with something she saw outside the window. She peered outside. She saw a girl, hiding in the bushes. Sarah knew it must be LeAnn, and called out the window to her. ''Can I help you?''

The girl looked up in a hurry. ''I wanted to talk to Sherriff Bannerman. This is his house, right?'' She asked nervously.

Sarah nodded. ''Yeah, I'm Sherriff Bannerman's wife. You've found the right house. What's wrong? Is there anything I can help you with? Walt's not here right now.''

The girl said, ''Well, I really wanted to talk to the sherriff. Is he at the station right now? It's really very important. It's related to the murder that happened yesterday.''

Sarah's suspicisions were confirmed. She figured it was LeAnn, and she was still pretty sure she was right. ''He's at the police station. Are you sure I can't help you with anything?''

LeAnn didn't answer as she turned and whirled around and hurried to the car that was parked in the driveway. As she drove away, she felt tears fall down her face. She had only thought about hurting Elizabeth. She hadn't actually done it. Liz had been her girlfriend. LeAnn had loved her. She wanted to make sure that the police knew that, and that weird guy, Johnny Smith, she didn't know why, but she thought that she should tell him, too.

When she got to the police station, she found the Sherriff and the Smith guy outside, drinking coffee and talking. She got out of the car and hurried up to them. ''Mr. Smith, Sherriff! I need to talk to you.'' She called out on approaching them.

Sherriff Bannerman looked at the girl in front of them. It had to be LeAnn. ''Hi, may we be of assistance, young lady?'' Walt didn't like the way he sounded. He sounded way too professional. He was too young to sound that old.

LeAnn said, ''I have to tell you something. I didn't kill Elizabeth. I know that you think that I did, but I really and truly didn't. I'll work with you to prove it. Lizzie actually had some enemies, and I can work with you to question them.''

Johnny said, ''Well, I don't know about Sherriff Bannerman, but I will help you. We'll get started right now. Walt, is there an APB out on her or anything?''

Walt said, ''No, there isn't. I'll keep everybody off your backs for as long as I can, but don't take too long, John. I can't do it forever.''

Johnny said, "Don't worry, Walt, I won't need that much time.''

He and LeAnn walked out to her car, which she'd parked a little ways down the street, so as not to be noticed. Johnny asked her, ''Do you know where we're going first?''

LeAnn nodded. ''Yeah, I do. There was this girl, she's on the fringes of the popular crowd. She has some friends, but not really a lot. She's kind of an outsider, but not totally, because she's a friend of Lizzie's best friend.''

Johnny asked, ''I don't want to pry, but are you a part of the popular crowd? Or did you just want to hang with them?''

LeAnn concentrated very hard on driving before she answered him. ''I wasn't popular because of my sexual orientation. I'm out and proud about it. The other kids in school don't think it's something to be proud of.''

Johnny said, ''Well, how'd you find Elizabeth if she was in the popular crowd?'' He was trying to figure all this mess out.

LeAnn replied, ''I met her in a gay bar. I had broken up with my girlfriend, and I wanted to find another girlfriend. She was sitting at some little table, looking around, nursing Bacardi Silver, and looking like she wanted to talk. I sat down across from her after saying hello to some friends, and we just started talking. We really hit it off.''

Johnny said, ''So you guys met in a gay bar. Is it here in town, or is it in Castle Rock?'' Castle Rock was

the city that wasn't far from Cleaves Mills.

LeAnn replied, ''Castle Rock. I don't think that there's a gay bar around here in Cleaves Mills.''

Johnny nodded his head as they arrived at the girl's home.