~~~ Obviously, I don't own Criminal Minds. It'd be awesome if I did, 'cause I could meet the actors and have all this money and what's more, this script would be an actual episode. But I don't own Criminal Minds. So sad...

Sorry the chapter is kind of short, and sorry if I didn't capture the mood of the show or the way the character would act correctly. I tried my best, and all criticism is appreciated (even anonymous criticism).

And Rhianna, you owe me BIG time! :D ~~~


Chapter One

Rhianna Hale was flanked by her three best-friends as they walked across the field, giggling and rolling their eyes at one another's bad jokes. She'd known her friends - Jamie Felton, Mackenzie Chesney, and Morgan McCartney - since she was seven. Jamie was the only redhead in their grade. Mackenzie was the shortest girl in their grade. Morgan spoke with a stutter. And Rhianna herself had been an outcast for as long as she could remember, and didn't really know why.

When she was younger, she and her brother had often played in this field together. Now she and her friends walked through it, knowing that it was a good short cut to get to the ice-cream shop where they were heading. The summer day was hot, school would start up again in three days. Having barely made it past ninth grade with any sense of dignity left in tact, Rhianna - and, unbeknownst to her - Morgan, Jamie, and Mackenzie worried about what sophomore year would bring. Morgan housed more than just a fear for the upcoming year and her classmates, though. She had a more serious problem.

Mackenzie look back and shook her head in disgust, her curls bobbing on her head. She made a tsk-ing noise twice before saying, "Now why would someone do that? Why would someone drive up here and kill off all this wildlife?" Her friends looked back to see a red pickup truck driving towards them, smashing and squashing all the grass, flowers, and so forth. They understood Mackenzie's upset. She was big on the environment. "Do they not understand -" Mackenzie continued.

But the truck was beginning to speed up. Morgan's heart beat fasted. She told herself not to be stupid, not to lose her sense…but she recognized the truck.

"RUN!" she yelped, taking off at a breakneck speed. Her friends sprinted after her, confused but also terrified. The driver of the truck, noticing that the girls were fleeing, sped up even more.

Rhianna, breath panting, saw a familiar landmark. The field, which was part of some sort of nature reserve, was sloped and hilly. The sight she saw before her could easily be mistaken for yet another tiny hill, but Rhianna knew better. It was actually a tiny cave, with grass growing over top of it. When she was little and played hide-and-seek with her brother, it had always been the perfect hiding spot.

She ran there now, and didn't see what occurred within the next few minutes.

Rhianna, due to some unknown luck, missed having to see the massacre which unfolded and, indeed, avoided being part of it. For while she ran and hid behind the hill, Mackenzie Chesney fell over her shoe-lace, which had become untied. The driver of the truck promptly ran over her, with no real concern for whether she lived or died. Her then got out of his truck and in three quick steps he managed to corner Jamie Felton, stabbing her thrice with the knife he wielded in his right hand.

Morgan was stopped in her tracks. Where to run? What to do? Where had Rhianna gone? Was Mackenzie dead? Did he just stab Jamie?

By the time the thought had entered Morgan's head to flee, it was too late, and she was doomed. The driver of the truck, masked in a navy blue balaclava despite the heat, grinned at her maliciously before throwing her to the ground. She uttered one last plea: "N-n-no, p-p-p-please. You d-don't want t-t-to d-do th-th-this."

"Quite the contrary, Miss McCartney," he replied. Then he pinned her down, lifted his knife -

And with one hearty slice, he had cut off her head.

Morgan McCartney was decapitated and the killer, quite pleased and feeling all had been made right, returned to his truck. He revved the engine and back up, retreating from the field.

Rhianna Hale slowly emerged from the cave. She had heard the truck go…but she had also heard the screams from her friends. Cautiously, for she wasn't altogether positive that no bad guy lay in wait for her, Rhianna rounded the cave/hill and greeted the nasty scene that lay before her.

There lay Mackenzie, smushed, her legs at odd angles, her eyes shut.

There lay Jamie, blood spread across her shirt like a stain, and spread across her lips like lipstick much too bright.

Lastly, there lay Morgan, blood leaking from her neck and her hair spraying out behind her. It didn't take Rhianna even a second to realize her friend was headless.

She gave a petrified scream and returned to the cave, tucking her knees to her chest, tears coming down her cheeks as she hyperventilated.

And she stayed that way for fourteen hours, eyes wide open, breath frantic, face wet with tears. Until finally, after a long search involving all of Buffalo's police and a lot of volunteers from the community, two women, three men, and one cop stumbled across the field. They found the bodies first, bloody, already with flies near them…

And then they found Rhianna Hale, shocked into silence.

Theme Song

Garcia (voiceover) "Lieutenant Coningsby Dawson once said, 'The war will not last forever; but the memory of it, the suffering of it, the incalculable waste of it, will last for all that remains of our lives.'"

JJ stood in front of the BAU team in the meeting room where she'd time and time again explained a case. This one was different than most had been recently - not a typical serial killer, but the brutal murder of three high-school girls was enough to get her attention. Especially since there was one left, and now…JJ shuddered and turned her attention to the screen where the picture that had been sent to her from the Buffalo PD - the one with the four girls at their eighth grade graduation, all dressed up and grinning - was on display.

"Two weeks ago in Buffalo four girls were walking to their local ice-cream parlour when they decided to take a short cut through a nearby field. It was then that a man in a truck drove up behind them."

She paused and flicked the picture so that four individual shots of the girls appeared.

"Mackenzie Chesney was run over by the truck. Jamie Felton was stabbed three times in the chest. Morgan McCartney was decapitated."

"What about the other girl?" Reid inquired, as JJ switched the screen to show pictures from the crime scene. Garcia winced as blood, guts, and gore appeared in front of them.

"She was the only survivor. Her name is Rhianna Hale and she hid inside a cave. The UnSub didn't seem to notice her, however when she saw her friends Rhianna went into a state of shock. It took authorities fourteen hours to find her."

Morgan's eyebrows shot up. "Fourteen hours with her three dead friends lying around her?" he asked in disbelief. Then: "Why weren't we called in sooner?" He was often sceptical about taking cases where it seemed unlikely the UnSub would strike again, but cases with kids involved really got to him. He knew what it was like to be a child surrounded by violence.

JJ made the screen change to a picture of a man's mugshot. "They police were sure they'd found their killer based on the description Rhianna gave. She said he was about six feet tall with light brown hair, and that he drove a red truck that was old. They couldn't get much else out of her." JJ sighed sadly and ran a tired hand absentmindedly through her hair.

"So," said Prentiss, "They police arrest a tall guy with a red truck? Seems like a long shot to me."

"It was," JJ agreed, "Rodney Cliff was a teacher at the girls' school. His alibi didn't check out, however due to the fact that the UnSub was masked it's impossible for Rhianna to determine whether he is or is not the man who murdered her friends." JJ's eyes blazed. She, like Morgan, hated the idea that there were kids out there having to put up with this. High school was already hard enough.

Garcia, more comfortable now that the screen showed only the picture of a disgruntled-looking man, took the opportunity to ask, "I'm sorry JJ, but if they've already got their suspect…?"

JJ nodded, "Two days ago Rhianna Hale received a letter in the mail," JJ paused and pressed the buttons so the screen showed the final picture, the one of the envelope which in capital letters read Rhianna, "It's from the UnSub." she finished.

"So Rodney Cliff isn't really their guy," Rossi muttered.

Hotch's face, which was nearly always set in a grim frown, grew even more serious. "Wheels up in twenty," he decided, "The Buffalo PD needs our help - and we're going to catch this monster."


~~~ Ok so...I hope that wasn't too painful to read! :-) Review as you see fit! ~~~