Author's Note: H'anyway, rented season one last weekend and immersed myself in Bones-y goodness, which inspired this. A lot of the general plot idea I got from the story the quote is from because it's one of my favorite short stories of all time and I thought it'd make for an interesting case. ; )

Anyhow, please read/review and make me feel special (even negative reviews- so long as they're constructive- are love). As I actually have plottage for this one, I think it'll be updated fairly frequently, too.

Also, the setting is after the episode "The Headless Witch in the Woods".

"Great sport, hunting."

"The best sport in the world." agreed Rainsford.

"For the hunter," amended Whitney. "Not for the jaguar."

"Don't talk rot, Whitney," said Rainsford. "You're a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?"

"Perhaps the jaguar does."

-The Most Dangerous Game, Richard Connell

----------

"I don't understand..."

"I am not the sort of man who enjoys repeating himself, Doctor Brennan... Regardless, there is nothing more I can tell you."

Groaning, Temperance stirred slightly and tried to roll from her stomach onto her side. A flash of pain hit her in the ribs and she stopped mid-movement, gasping in surprise. However, the throbbing sensation had jump-started her senses and she was now scanning every rock, tree and leaf from the hard dirt she was sprawled on.

Taking a deep breath, she stood more slowly this time, preparing herself with every shift, and found that the pain had mostly subsided and her thoughts were slowly starting to collect themselves.

"You have one day to prepare. Good luck."

A chill crept through Brennan's spine as she remembered the words. He would kill her, she'd known it from the moment their eyes had met, and now she only had twenty-four hours to escape. She had to be able to walk somewhere in that amount of time, right? A gas station, a highway, any form of civilization that had a phone.

And if not, well, then the most she could do was hope and run, and she didn't like those odds.

----------

Three Days Ago

"Knock, knock."

Angela's head peeked in around the doorway to Temperance's office and she smiled warmly as soon as she met eyes with her friend.

"Busy?"

Brennan glanced up from her paperwork and smiled back, "Not really. I'm just finishing the last of the paperwork from the Indonesian skull."

Stepping inside, she took a seat on the couch and leaned back, taking a glance outside before turning back to Brennan and giving her a sly smile. Brennan knew that smile. That was Angela's 'I really think you should be more social, so guess what we're doing tonight...' look.

"Great," Angela began, excitedly, "Because this new club- you know, that one on sixth?- just opened yesterday and yours truly has successfully secured us a place there tonight."

Brennan paused and shifted uncomfortably before answering, "Ange, that really sounds great, but I don't know..."

Angela sighed and rolled her eyes upwards as though that was exactly the answer she'd been expecting which sent a pang of guilt through Brennan. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with her friend, one of her only friends, but she just wasn't ready to 'hit the town' again after what had happened last weekend. Dating a psychotic killer had pretty much put a damper on her mood and, as silly as she knew it was, she just wasn't sure she could trust herself much at the moment.

"Look, sweetie, I know things have been rough lately, but you've got to keep pushing yourself out there or you'll just be stuck here all the time and what kind of life is that?" Angela persisted firmly, but after a moment finished gently, "Alright, alright, so no clubbing. How about getting some Chinese and a movie? You know, a girls night in."

Brennan was about to open her mouth to decline the second invitation when there was a knock at the door. Honestly, why had her office suddenly become such a point of interest to everyone? All she wanted was some time alone, but that seemed to be impossible.

"Good afternoon, ladies." Booth greeted, chipper as ever with that cheeky smile of his. After seeing the expressions on the two women in the room, however, he let out a low whistle.

"Am I, uh, interrupting something?" He asked, glancing first from Brennan's glum expression to Angela's.

"No, of course not." Brennan replied quickly, clearing her throat and putting away the last of the file papers neatly while casting Angela one more apologetic glance. She smiled half-heartedly back in understanding, but it was obvious she was not too happy about the situation.

Booth adjusted his tie slightly and ventured one more puzzled look between the two as he started speaking, "We've got a new case. It's not in our district, but seeing as I'm the only nearby FBI agent with a forensic anthropologist for a partner, it got bumped back to me. So pack your bags, we're driving to Annapolis a-sap."

Angela stood as Booth finished and leaned across the desk to given Brennan a quick hug, "I guess no plans for tonight then, huh? Just remember my advice, alright?"

Brennan nodded and smiled, feeling better knowing that she wasn't angry at her and glad for the case to give her an excuse to get out of doing anything. Saying goodbye to the two, she left the office to go and gather her supplies and avoid any awkward questions. It was a relief to be away from all of the... pity and just be alone. That's what she was good at after all- keeping to herself.

"What's up with her?" Booth asked Angela as soon as Brennan was far enough away that she couldn't hear them anymore, "Is she still upset about Hastings?"

"Wouldn't you be?" She asked incredulously, crossing her arms.

"Seriously?" Booth asked, one of his eyebrows raising slightly, "I mean come on, he fooled everyone, not just her. She needs to stop taking it so personally and forget about the bastard..."

Angela looked at him for a moment before shaking her head with a deep breath, "That 'bastard' gave her a lot of hope, Booth, so you'd better take it easy on her, alright?"

With that, she exited the office and headed off towards the platform to join Hodgins and Zach, leaving Booth alone and frowning in the office. He knew that when Angela was worried, there had to be something wrong. She knew Brennan better than most anyone else- not that that was saying much- and he'd always been rather jealous. Maybe if she'd just let him in for once, he could help, but as it now stood the only thing he could think to do was beat the living crap out of Hastings which certainly was not going to help matters.

Grumbling, he headed out the door to contact headquarters and gather the rest of their supplies while making a mental note to watch Brennan like a hawk during the trip. He was not about to let his partner be hurt again.