Title: Flicker
Author: willowwood
Rating: G
Word Count: 494
Disclaimer: The Staff at the Jeffersonian don't belong to me, although I am considering moving into Goodman's old office.
Authors Notes: Firstly, this story has been written for the seventh bones-flashfic challenge over on for which the prompt was: In The Dark. Secondly, it is dedicated to Callieach, for just being who she is (and because I feel as though I've been a sucky friend just lately hugs)
Summary: Trapped inside the car Brennan and Hodgins are running out of air, out of time and out of light.
Flicker
Brennan is busily working, pulling off the dashboard and sorting through wires when it happens the first time. So he doesn't say anything, unsure if it's something to do with the wires that Brennan is messing with that's causing the interior light to suddenly flicker or if he's just imagining it, the lack of oxygen causing him to hallucinate worse case scenarios. Especially as the carbon dioxide scrubber he put together has, long since run out and he can already feel the air growing thick around him once more.
When the lights flicker for a second, longer time he finds himself trying to estimate the battery life of the car, comparing it to all those times when one of them had accidentally left their headlights on in the parking lot and their batteries had gone flat. It doesn't work, his brain is still fried from whatever drugs the Gravedigger pumped him full of, and the lack of oxygen isn't helping. All he knows for certain is that it didn't take 10 hours and that he's thankful interior lights don't use up as much energy.
The light blinks for a 3rd and 4th time, and it's more erratic and longer than before. On the fifth time, it goes out completely casting them into a cold eerie darkness and he can hear Brennan cursing under her breath, until it suddenly snaps back on again.
He doesn't know how much longer they've got left - doesn't know how much longer it'll take Brennan to rig up the explosives and doesn't want to ask for fear of distracting her.
When the lights aren't flickering they're growing dimmer, either that or he's slowly beginning to pass out again, and although he's never suffered from claustrophobia he feels as though the car is getting smaller, it's walls closing in. He can also feel the pain in his legs slowly returning, his joints becoming stiff from sitting in the same position for too long.
Sitting there doing nothing, there are too many thoughts passing through his mind; Angela, Zach, The Gravedigger and yet above it all he's painfully aware that if Brennan doesn't set up the explosives soon they're going to be out of light, out of air, and out of time.
It's when the light begins to flicker a sixth time, quicker and more erratic than ever before, mimicking the beating of his own heart, that Brennan finally turns to face him, a nervous although triumphant smile on her face "I think I've got it" she declares. Any other time he would have made fun of her for using the term "I think" but today thinking she has something, is better than not having anything at all.
It's not long after she's passing him the two connecting wires and is scrambling to sit in the seat besides him that the light finally gives up it's fight and goes out, leaving the two of them in the dark with only one option left.
The End
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