Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Wish they were, but they're not. Que Sera Sera.

Dedicated to my new friend; you know who you are. This is for you.

Into The Wild

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Stepping from her tiny little eco-friendly car, Sara Sidle stood and stretched her stiff muscles. She'd been driving for hours and now that she had reached her destination, she took a moment to take in the fresh air and beauteous flora. She walked round' to the back of her car and removed her pack from the boot. She shouldered her heavy internal frame pack and adjusted the straps to fit snugly. Once everything was right, she set out into the forest.

Sara had taken a week's leave due to the fact that the cases of late had been extraordinarily trying and she felt that she needed some "Me" time. There had been murders, rapes, people gone missing and general craziness. She needed time away from the lights, noise and debauchery of Vegas to clear her head and get herself centered.

She had driven to the Toiyabe National Forest to do a bit of roughing it. She had packed for a week. She had clothing, a tent and sleeping bag, vegetarian cuisine in the form of fruit, vegetables, some trail mix, Gatorade and water purification tablets. The last thing she needed was to get the trots in the middle of her little vacation. She remembered the incident when Grissom and Brass were stuck in the woods and made the mistake of drinking from a stream and they paid painfully for it. They had explosive diarrhea, poison ivy, broken bones and severely damaged egos. She didn't want to make the same mistakes as they had.

About an hour into her trek, she pulled out her camera and took a few pictures of a small family of deer that were grazing some distance away. She marveled at the beauty of her surroundings and remembered a quote from a film she had seen with Nick, because no one else would go with her. The voice in her head kept saying "Most people do not see the world as it is. They see it as they are." This stuck with her as she continued on her way, looking upward for a clearing in the trees so that she might sit down for a bit and rest. A couple hundred metres away, she saw a clearing and made for it. It was a large circle with nothing but grass and a nice sitting stone near the far end for her to rest on. She took off her pack, opened it up and pulled out a bottle of Gatorade. While sipping from the bottle, she heard a rustling in the distance and the faint sound of laughter. The sound was distinctly male,, and from the sound of it, there were more than one. She took her camera and aimed it in the direction of the noise and zoomed in. There were, indeed, more than one male and from the looks of them, they had been living in the woods. Their clothing was poor and they were very dirty, as if they had not bathed nor changed their clothes in quite some time. Immediately, she thought of "Deliverance", and quickly stood up, shouldered her pack and headed away from them. It was not the path she had intended, but the look of the men coupled with the fact that she was alone did not sit well with her at all.

Though she had a compass, she had obviously become displaced. She also had a map of the region of the park she was to be in and despite having both of these items, she still didn't know where the hell she was. She had been hiking for about four hours since she had left the rock and it was beginning to get dark out. She decided to try to find a place to bed for the night. Finding a small clearing, she set her pack down and removed her sleeping bag. She elected not to set up the tent, for reasons in the back of her mind that she tried not to think too hard on. She lay down and stared up at the stars for a while before drifting to sleep. The last thought that entered her mind before she fell off was how the night sky looked like a black sheet with tiny pinholes in it; pinholes in the curtain of night.

Sara woke in the early morning, before the sun had come up, to a God awful smell of dirt, urine and severe halitosis. Looking up, her vision was slightly blurred and as she focused, she recognized her unwanted visitors.

"Lookie what we got here, Pa." said the one

"Yeah, a fine specimen. Grab her up, Joe." said the elder of the two men

Sara struggled for her life as her ankles were bound with bungee cords and her wrists were bound in the same way. Once she was bound up, the younger of the two grabbed her pack and the elder tossed her over his shoulder and they all set off into the woods. Even though she was restrained, Sara struggled to free herself, but was only rewarded by a knock over the head with what felt like a 2x4. When she came to, she looked around and seemed to be in a ramshackle cabin of sorts. By the looks of it, the place would collapse if someone were to look at it the wrong way. Struggling to get up, Sara was no longer bound by the cords of earlier, but now by what appeared to be an iron shackle around her ankle that was anchored to a central support beam in the middle of the cabin. She was alone which was good, as it afforded her the opportunity to look around and see if there were any means to enable her to escape her confinement.

As she looked around, she could see many implements that could be used to sever her bond, but they were inconveniently out of reach. She struggled to reach the closest one. Just as she was reaching for it, the door to the cabin creaked open and in came the younger of the two men. Seeing her in mid stretch, he rushed toward her and backhanded her across the cheek.

"Try that again and you'll get more than just a smack."

Turning away from her, he spoke over his shoulder.

"My Pa wanted to have his way with you this morning, but I told him there's no pleasure in taking an unconscious woman; you've got to hear her scream. Remember that."

Sara backed up against the beam and sat silent, continuing to look around. It was about another hour before the elder of the two came in and glared at her.

"She wakes. That means it's fun time."

He approached her and just as he came within range, she kicked him in the groin with her free foot and he fell to the ground in a lump; cursing at her. The youngest came to the aid of his father and helped him to his feet. His hands covering his sore groin, the older man hobbled to her and kicked Sara in the stomach, following up by giving her a healthy punch to the forehead which sent the back of her head slamming against the beam, effectively knocking her out again.

Back in Vegas, Brass was sitting at his desk when a call came to him. He picked up his desk phone and only said "Brass". After a minute he jumped up from his desk and ran to his car, flying over to the lab. Running down the hall, he found Grissom and Nick in the break room discussing entomology.

"Someone called the police and reported a car fitting Sara's abandoned at Toiyabe National Forest. The tires had been slashed, the windows broken and the inside had been cannibalized for parts and personal effects." he said, out of breath

Grissom and Nick just looked at each other; neither saying a word.

"Has anyone heard from Sara?" Jim asked

Still speechless, Grissom and Nick quickly got up from their seats and went to Grissom's office. He pulled the vacation request form from his desk and skimmed it. Looking over to Nick, he grabbed his keys and, as though Nick knew what Grissom was thinking, he followed him out to the lot and jumped into the truck with Grissom. Brass followed in his own car while they all drove to the forest. It was a bit of a drive, but Grissom's mind was racing with the unpleasant possibilities of what may have happened to Sara. He floored it all the way to the park and it was all Brass could do to keep up with him.

Once they reached the park, the police were there and the car had been cordoned off. They all jumped from their vehicles and while Grissom and Nick began to process the car, Jim grabbed two officers and headed into the woods. His mind was awash with the horrors of what may have happened, as he had heard odd tales about happenings in this particular section of the park, most having to do with campers and hikers going missing and never being found. His heart raced at the prospect of Sara becoming the next in a long line of missing park patrons.

--TBC