A/N;Thanks for the great reviews! Here's the final part as promised! Enjoy!
Garcia walked in soon after she was called, clutching her bag of supplies. The team minus Reid was around the table trying to figure out the meaning of a piece of paper. Reid's absence had not yet been noticed. "Ugh this is hopeless!" Emily groaned in frustration. "We need Reid in here."
"Hey, where is Reid?" J.J. asked frowning,
"Reid!" Rossi shouted.
When no one answered Morgan jumped up calling out for Dr. Reid and walking in and out of room, when suddenly, he stopped. "Hey guys! Get in here!" he yelled, his voice uncharacteristically cracking. Everyone rushed into where Morgan was and stopped short at what they saw. A heavy bat spattered wwith blood, and a crimson trail leading to the front door, disappearing in freshly made tire tracks. And next to the bat, laid Reid's gun and FBI vest. For a moment nobody spoke. Then as if snapped out of a trance, Hotch said, "Garcia, get onto that computer now." And everyone was in motion.
When Reid opened his eyes he was immediately greeted by the overpowering smell of an odd mix of rotting flesh, burning wood, and the unmistakable stench of blood…his blood. It stained the floor joining others older dried blood in a sort of red and brown painting.
But where was the artist?
Reid looked around the small room. It was lit only by a small fire and a dim yellow light hanging from the ceiling. On the mantle off the fireplace was a mix of torture weapons, knives, guns, whips, which seemed fitting under the large head of an angry black bear. The only chair in the room was the one the was sitting on. A simple wooden chair with two arms and restraints crudly nailed on, keeping him from going anywhere, as if he could even try lifting his sore legs. In the corner was a table with computers and cameras which seemed out of place in the small rustic cabin. Sddenly out of the shadows walked the figure from before. "I see you're up." It growled.
Morgan watched Garcia log onto to Tom's computer. As soon as she got on, cluttered windows flooded the screen. "whoa." She said, before getting to work.
"You gonna be all right in here by yourself?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah I think so." Said Garcia.
"Alright well call us if anything comes up ok sweetheart." He said exiting.
"You got it sugar daddy." She said winking before going back to her work.
The man that stood in front of Reid was big. About 7 foot, Reid judged. He had huge dark blood shot eyes, and a long, thin, twisted nose. His eyebrows were fixed in a scowl, while his mouth curled upward in a seemingly everlasting smirk. What was left of his teeth showed through his thin, stretched lips, yellow and rotting. His face was dotter with rubble and confused whiskers. He had matter black hair that travled to his back, pulled back in a greasy ponytail. E wore a stained white t-shirt and filthy hole-filled jeans.
"So you and your friends think you can just come into my home and go through my stuff. Get up in my business?" Tom snarled.
"No please," Reid said, trying to keep his voice from shaking, "You don't have to do this. I know what its like to grow up with an….unstable parent. But you have to believe me when I saw it can get better. You can let me go and turn this around." He begged.
For a second Tom looked to be thinking, than snarled," You don't know nothing 'bout being me!" he shouted, then grabbed a knife and a video camera. "I want all your little friends to see this, so they can suffer too!" he snapped as Reid whimpered.
Garcia sipped her coffee nervously as she tried sorting through the mess of information on the computer. All of a sudden Reid popped up on the screen, looking terrified. "Spencer." Garcia whispered, equally terrified. "Guys get in here!" she shouted. Everyone rushed in and held onto each other as they watched the events on the screen unfold
Everyone watched in horror as Tom walked on screen and shouted half at Reid, half at them, "This is what happens when you trespass!" He tore off Reid's socks and shoes and pulled out a long narrow knife. Reid screamed in agony as Tom's blade tore through the bottom of his foot and extended out the top. Tom smiled as he repeated the process in the other foot.
"Turn it off!" J.J. screamed finally.
"Believe me, if I could I would!" Garcia yelled back.
The watched petrified as Tom's cut Reid's arms and legs until the screen finally went black along with Reid's vision.
"Garcia can't you track it?" Hotch said.
"No!" Garcia said, clicking furiously. "This guy's good."
"So are you!" said Emily.
"Yeah, but he's on offence." Garcia replied grimly.
"Well keep on it." Hotch said stiffly. "Let's keep looking through those papers."
After Reid woke up from his unintentional sleep, he was cut, beat, and drowned beyond, reorganization. He was now starving as he opened his hazy eye, to see Tom standing over him. He groaned, fearing what would come next. He saw the camera set up and tried to put on his bravest face as he watched Tom walk over to him with a bucket full of glowing embers fresh from the fire. His bravery quickly diminished though as tom ripped off his shirt revealing his purple and red torso. Bruised and spattered with dried and fresh blood. His horror increased as Tom forcefully shoved Reid's head back and the chair reclined. When he was on his back, Tom poured the buck of scorching rocks slowly onto his stomach. Reid screamed out in pain, but choked on his own voice, sending him into a fit of a mixture of screams and coughs. He twisted around trying to throw off the hot embers with little success. Back with the team, the reactions were worse than before. Emily, J.J. , and Morgan were shaking, Rossi and Hotch's mouths were agape and Garcia had tear running down her face. After what seemed like forever, Tom scraped the embers of Reid's stomach and flipped him over, getting his leather belt. He let blow after blow on Reid's back, until the screen went black again.
After that everyone went into full action. They knew from the other victims that the whipping was the last video before the tombstone picture.
Morgan was in the room Reid had been taken from, trying to stay focused, though he was crazy with anxiety and fear. Then something caught his eye. It had a dirty handprint on it and specks of blood. It was the poem Reid was holding when he was taken, and Morgan knew as soon as he saw it. He tried looking at it with Reid's eyes, tried making sense of it like Reid's mind would. But he couldn't figure it out. Just then it hit him. The memory. He and Reid were having a coffee before the day started. Reid was going on about some old poem spies would use in medieval times. It had every letter in the alphabet five times. You capitalized certain letters and that told you the river you were on. From the spot you left the poem, you were 50 miles north on that river. Morgan thought now of Reid reciting the whole poem from memory, and realized the one he was holding was the same poem. He quickly looked at the capital letters. Y-O-U-G-H-I-O-G-H-E-N-Y. "I know where he is! He shouted suddenly. He rushed to where everyone was gathered in the computer room. "He's 50 miles north of here on the Youghiogheny River." Morgan breathed.
"Garcia what's up there?" Hotch said.
Garcia zoomed into the digital map, "umm…nothing but some abandoned fishing houses."
"Let's go everyone." Hotch said running outside with everyone on his tail.
Tom stormed in carrying a heavy blank tombstone. He threw it down in front of Reid on the floor, throwing Reid back into the real world as he drifted in out of a sort of dream state induced by his heavy loss of blood, lack of food, and overall pain. He handed Reid carving tools and unchained him, confident he wasn't going anywhere.
"There's your tombstone then. Go ahead an' make it pretty. Go on carve your name." Reid tried to get out of the chair but barley moved an inch before crumpling to the floor with a whimper of pain. "Go ahead now!" Tom prompted impatiently. Reid slowly etched the letter "S" into the large stone tablet. "Faster!" Tom growled, losing his patience and bring the belt down on Reid, sending a wave of pain through his body and forcing the stored up tears out of his eyes. He gritted his teeth and quickly carved "Spencer Re-" before there was a knock at the door. Suddenly the team burst through the door. Tom quickly pulled out his gun. "You move I shoot the boy!" he said turning the gun on Reid, who lay helpless on the ground.
"Tom, if you don't put your gun down I'll have to shoot!" Emily shouted. Spencer looked around. His eyes met Morgan's, who looked like he was trying to keep it in, but had tears welling up in his eyes and the sight of his friend. "Tom you have until the count of five!" Emily yelled, sounding on the verge of tears herself. "1…" she began. Tom just laughed crazily in repose.
"2…3…4…" she paused looking at him hard before shouting, "5!"
At that moment, Reid heard 2 gun shots. 1 was fired at Tom, from Emily's gun. And one a split second before that. It came from Tom's gun and pierced Reid's side, pulling him into the darkness for the last time.
When Reid opened his eyes 5 days later he was in a hospital bed. A room filled with flower, balloons, and stuffed animals welcomed him, along with Morgan, sitting there with 2 coffee's in his hand. He looked from the cast on his leg to the scars and burns that covered his body, to the steady IV drip into his pale, skinny arm.
"How long was I out?" He asked Morgan finally.
"5 days." Morgan responded.
"How long until I'm up and walking again?" he asked next.
Morgan chuckled. "Don't worry party boy, we'll have you back up in the clubs soon enough."
Reid smiled weakly before asking cautiously, "Did Tom live?"
"No." Morgan said, "Dropped dead as soon as Prentiss fired that bullet."
Reid nodded. "You ok?" Morgan asked him.
"I mean I guess I will be, though statistically speaking, 92% of people who are hostages do end up showing signs of post traumatic stress disorder later on in life." Reid answered.
Morgan smiled; yeah he'd be all right. "See, you're already starting to sound like your old self again."
"I may sound like it…but I know I never will be." Reid sighed.
"You know, life isn't all about statistics Reid." Morgan said to him.
"Yeah, I know that now." Reid said. And as the two silently shared their coffee, Reid knew his life would never just be about statistics again.
The End! What do you think? Yay or nay? Should I do more or stick to fluffy romantics. Please Please Pleas review!