Disclaimer: Person of Interest is not mine. I'm just borrowing the concepts and characters for a little while.

Spoilers: Blink-and-miss-it references to multiple episodes all the way through to the end of the second season.

A/N: Thanks to ncismom for the beta! All remaining mistakes are my fault.

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Chapter Two: Wrong Time

Reese opened his eyes, or at least he thought he did.

At first, he could see nothing but darkness, but after some indeterminate amount of time, he began to see flickers of light all around him. No, not flickers of light, but small wisps of flame licking at the pieces of rubble that were surrounding him.

With an effort, he tried to move and realized that not only was he in pain, but that there was some debris on top of him as well. The brief clarity the jump in adrenaline brought him allowed him to realize that one of the tendrils of flame was closer than he originally thought, and that it was slowly, painfully burning away at the sleeve of his overcoat and likely eating away at the layers beneath.

Suddenly, the pain increased exponentially, and Reese was certain that the fire had finished with his clothes as the first course of its meal and was now devouring his arm for the main meal. He'd had a healthy fear of burning to death ever since he'd seen several comrades-in-arms perish that way and wanted to avoid that fate if he could. Reaching deep, he used the adrenaline the fear was causing and channeled it into making his injured body respond.

With an effort he knew he wouldn't be able to sustain, he pushed himself off the ground, trying and failing to ignore all the pain signals his body was broadcasting to his mind and dislodging the majority of the debris covering him. Immediately, he felt a difference in the temperature surrounding him and guessed that some of what had been on top of him had been on fire as well.

All John wanted to do right then was to just lie down and stop moving, to stop feeling pain that was leaking through despite his best efforts to block it, but he forced himself to keep going. Despite the increased discomfort, he sluggishly lifted his right hand and swatted at the small flame on his left forearm. Every movement caused him to hurt, but he managed to put the fire out. He wanted to check the damage, but knew that he needed to retreat from the premises as soon as he could get his body moving.

He had no idea how long he had been unconscious or even why he was wherever he was, but he remembered Mark saying that he was behind enemy lines and that he needed to be careful. Apparently, he hadn't managed to be careful enough.

Somehow he made it up off the ground, the right side of his body and especially his head protesting loudly. Leaning against the wall, and taking slow, careful breaths, he forced himself to start moving towards the door, ignoring his body's need to stop.

The exit door, which was only a few feet away, had been bowed outward by the blast before it had been forced open. He reached the exit, and forcing it to open up further, he stepped out into the night. After a couple of steps, he could tell the night was somehow wrong, but he didn't have time to mull over that thought at the moment.

What he needed right now was to get away from the area and regroup with Mark and Kara. What happened with their package? Had they all been compromised?

But first things first, he needed to figure out where he was.

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To be continued…

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A/N: I know this chapter is short, but eventually they will get and stay longer.

Thanks for reading!