Sacrifice

This is a rewrite of the last episode. (Sacrifice) Max is currently (probably) my favorite character, and so I wasn't very pleased with how the episode went. This is my take on it, it is obviously more brutal/violent. This will probably just be a one-shot. Spoilers for the episode, you don't have to have seen the episode to read this, but it will help, A LOT. So enjoy, let me know what you think. This is my first "The Following" fic, so...yeahh.

Also, I did not transfer the script exactly, I have rearranged the order and what is said, basically its the same meaning, but not the same script, if that makes sense...Anyway, don't own the characters.

Warnings-

-Hints at/Minor, MINOR sexual assault, but no rape or even close to anything.

-Violence.

Enjoy!

"Hunt me." Max said through gritted teeth.

"I have a job to do." The Huntsman replied with a dirty glance at Max.

Max squeezed her eyes shut, the pain from being strung up was beginning to take its toll. Her shoulders burned with an unseen fire that kept Max breathing hard and attempting to anticipate his next move.

"Come on, that's not how you work." Max pressed.

"My orders were to kill you. That's it."

"From who?"

"A friend."

"A friend that is probably Lily, you don't have to listen to her."

"Well aren't you a smarty pants?" Kurt replied rhetorically.

"Hunt me. I know you want the challenge!"

"It's not my call."

"I can run a mile under six minutes, I'm an officer, I'm the exact challenge you ne-" Kurt cut her off with a backhand to her cheek.

Max bit her lip as her head fell to her shoulder level. She slowly looked back up. Kurt hadn't moved, he was staring deeply into her eyes with a sense of lust beckoning in his dark sadistic eyes.

"Tell me, where are your other tattoos? I know you have more." Kurt said, he knew how to get under her skin. A small half smile played on his lips as he fingered the one exposed on her stomach.

"Don't touch me." Max growled.

"What? Like this?" Kurt grinned widely as his hands slipped completely under her shirt and around her waist.

"I said stop." Max tried again.

"Who says we can't have a little fun first?"

"Me, I say no!" Max tried to wriggle out of his rough grasp, but it only further egged him on. She grimaced and grunted as his hands began traveling her body. She moved every which way possible.

Kurt grabbed on to the button of her pants, Max kicked her legs up and wrapped them around his neck, this broke her button off completely and it dinged against the opposite wall. Max pulled herself off the hook on the ceiling and fell to the ground on top of Kurt.

Kurt swirmed under her until he was able to regain his freedom. He rolled his large body until he was on top of Max.

"Now where were we?"

Max let out a deafening scream, if nothing else, maybe someone would hear her and come to her rescue. She was not given the pleasantry of help, but she did she her window of opportunity as Kurt cringed. He was momentarily distracted and it was enough to give Max the chance to win back the upper hand.

Max sent a knee into his manhood, releasing a grunt of pain from Kurt as he rolled off her body grasping the hurt area. She rolled onto her stomach and crawled away from the volatile man, but it wasn't long until Kurt recovered and grabbed her ankles, pulling her back into his disgusting arms.

"No!" Max involuntarily cried.

Her pant caught on the back end of a protruding nail and ripped her jeans from the ankle up to the near inches of her pelvis, as she slid back across the ground into Kurt's waiting hands. The cool draft of the nights air invaded her now exposed leg as her jean flopped open.

Max let Kurt slide her all they back until she was close enough to kick him in the face, once she did, and she had effectively stunned him, Max stumbled to her feet and ran out of the small cabin Kurt was holding her.

Her open jeaned leg swished between her legs irritatingly. Yet Max ran until she was thoroughly hidden behind a tree, she ripped off the bottom part of her jeans at the knee and threw them away from her body. He leg immediately chilled as even more of her white skin was exposed. While hidden, Max cut off the duct tape around her wrists on a nearby log. Once free, Max sprinted off. Adrenaline was carrying her now, Max didn't fight it, she ran until she came to a wired fence.

Max climbed beneath and hid in the foliage of the earth. She slowed her breathing to the best of her abilities, but adrenaline and fear still had their lasting effect on Max. She laid her head down and closed her eyes, praying to an unseen God for help out of this terrible situation.

Max let out a gasp of fright as a bullet whizzed past her flat body. She obviously had been spotted, but if she tried to get up and run he would just shoot her, or she could stay where she was and wait for him to hit his mark or come find her himself, either way she was a dead woman. Another shot whizzed past, except this time it skimmed its mark at Max's torso. Max grabbed the stinging area and felt the warm blood seep through her fingers. Max closed her eyes in a painful muster as a grunt escaped her lips.

When she opened her eyes Kurt was right in front of her. A small scream echoed through the night as she felt his weight pounce on her body, the wind left her lungs and the two rolled down the mini hill. They stopped rolling a few feet later with Kurt on top of her straddling her waist. Her flesh wound burned more and more by the second, but there was no time to worry about the blooding seeping through her stomach. The first punch landed on Max's left cheekbone with a dizzying effect.

"Ohh." Max muttered as her head fell to her side.

The punches didn't ease, a few seconds later Max was clinging to consciousness as Kurt continued his brutal attack. The next one was her nose, then her eye, and her jaw until out of the corner of her eye she saw a figure in the woods. Max did everything she could to focus on the figure between violent punches, finally she recognized the figure.

"Mike!" Max screamed as loud as her tired lungs would allow. When she saw he hadn't heard her, Max gave it another try, this time it was loud enough to grab Mikes attention. Her calling out for Mike was enough to stop Kurt from hitting her again, he looked over at the figure she was calling to and began searching for his gun. Max gathered the strength to attack, but all she could do was lift her head up from the ground under her. Kurt found his gun and aimed it at the running figure.

"Mike, look out!" Max tried to warn. Her head began to swim with each thought, the world began turning as she struggled to remember where she was. Her vision blurred and her head fell back to the ground. A gun shot into the night released a scream from Max, she believed Mike had been shot, but as the heavy weight of a dead body collapsed on her bruised and bleeding body she realized Kurt had been the one shot. She was immediately relieved and closed her eyes in exhaustion.

"Max!" Ryan cried. He ran to her side and pulled Kurt off her body, Max realized Ryan had shot Kurt and saved her life once again. He pulled her eye lids open for her and said her name again. "Max, I need you to stay awake. The ambulance is on it's way."

"But I'm so tired." Max muttered as her eyes fluttered closed again.

"I know you are, but you gotta stay with me." Ryan said earnestly.

Max weakly nodded.

Ryan began examining her body, he made note of all of her injuries and couldn't help but notice her broken button jeans and the ripped open leg of her jeans. His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach as he made terrifying assumptions.

He easily laid his hand on Max's exposed thigh.

"God, Max. Did he-?"

Max immediately cut him off with a firm denial.

"No, no he didn't."

Max tried as hard as she could, but darkness made its mark and took Max with it into a restless slumber.

"Where are the medics?!" Ryan screamed as Max fell into unconsciousness. "Max, Max, come on. Please wake up for me." Ryan lightly slapped her cheek in quick repetitive motions in an effort to awake Max.

There was no response and Ryan was further worried.

"Here they are." Mike said quickly, he moved out of the way as the medics ran to Max's side. Ryan grudgingly moved out of their way and stood up to watch them move her on a gurney.

"I've got a flesh wound on the lower torso, trauma to the face, but nothing extensive or permanent, get an IV started." One paramedic began to say. A woman paramedic turned to Ryan and the began following them out of the woods.

"Should I order a SEA?" The woman asked Ryan.

"A what?"

"Sexual Assault Exam?" The woman paramedic asked lightly.

"No, she wasn't raped." Ryan growled.

The woman noticed Ryan's connection and let it go. They finally made it out of the woods and to the ambulance. Ryan hopped in behind the medics not waiting for an invitation. Soon enough they were speeding to the nearest hospital.

Ryan's head fell into his hands in distress. His head immediately bounced up as he heard the all too familiar sound of someone flatlining.

"NO!" Ryan screamed.

"Sir, I need you to calm down." The woman medic said as the other two paramedics began performing CPR, one horrifying minute later Ryan heard the reassuring sound of the monitor tracking her heart beats.

"We got her." One paramedic said.

Ryan collapsed back onto his seat as the warm tears in his eyes threatened to pool over. As they arrived at the hospital, Max was rushed back while Ryan was forced to wait in the waiting room.

Anxiety took over and Ryan stormed out of the hospital. He was ready to run away, to anywhere but the dreadful place he was at. He was stopped at the corner by Mike. Mike put both his hands on Ryan's chest and stopped him from going anywhere else. Ryan realized they had followed the ambulance to the hospital.

"You're going to leave her?"

"No, I just - I need to get away." Ryan breathed heavy.

"She needs you Ryan. The second they let you see her, you'll be the first person she wants to see."

Ryan hesitantly nodded his head and let Mike lead him back into the waiting room of the hospital.

It wasn't long until they were allowed to see her. Ryan let the doctor lead him to Max's room. The doctor was explaining all Max's injuries on the way, but Ryan was too worried to really listen. He heard certain things like "minor gunshot", and "broken nose", but he couldn't concentrate on anything but seeing his niece.

"This is her room, she's pretty high on pain killers." The doctor explained.

Ryan nodded his thanks and entered Max's room. The sight before him was not only unsettling, but extremely guilt encouraging.

Max was connected to several different machines, a breathing cannula draped beneath her nose, her nose that was bandaged with bruising surrounding it completely. He could see the white cloth wrapped around her waist beneath her gown. There was other bruising accenting her face, but nothing else to serious. Minor scratches covered the entirety of her body as Ryan realized she had been hunted just like all of "The Huntsman's" other victims.

Ryan realized just how close he was to losing the only family he had left. The tears he had been holding back poured down his face as Max opened her eyes.

"Ryan." Max mumbled weakly. A small smile lit up her face as Ryan sat down on the side of her hospital bed.

He grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles while looking deeply into her eyes, he squeezed her hand, and closed his eyes.

"God, Max."

"It's okay. I'm here."

Ryan bent to give her a half awkward hug. Max wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly. Her eyes filled with tears and spilled over her bruised face, Max began to sob, soaking Ryan's shoulder in tears. Ryan lifted her back and pulled her to a sitting position. He wrapped his arms completely behind her back and squeezed back with just as much power.

Max felt the pain in the stretching of her stitches, but she didn't care. She needed Ryan's warming touch. His hug was soothing and gave Max the security she craved.

"I won't let anyone ever touch you again." Ryan promised.

"I'll hold you to it, Ryan Hardy." Max replied with a weak chuckle.

The promise was comforting even though the both knew it was a lie. No one could promise something like that, especially in their respective careers. But Max believed him, it was enough to hold on to for the time being.

Ryan groaned as he pulled out his phone and saw the newest video message.

"Oh God."

Hope you liked it, please let me know with a review!