Chapter six

Abby was somewhat aware as she was lowered to the cabin floor. She could feel her wrists taped up in front of her, but decided it would be for the best that she stayed still. It would give her much needed time to think. She could feel his eyes on her; he stood for what seemed like an eternity before leaving the room, shutting and locking the door behind him. She peeked through her lashes to observe the room, and strained to listen to the sounds just outside the door.

After ten minutes or so Abby heard the unmistakable sound of a car starting, followed by the sound of the engine fading away, as it drove down the rough dirt road. Pushing herself into a sitting position, Abby struggled against the duct tape around her wrists. At least he had been dumb enough to tape her hands in front of her rather than behind her. She eyed the window, it was high, but if she could get the tape off her wrists she could get through.

Her first job was to get the tape off her wrists. She needed something sharp if she was going to get out of it quickly. There were too many layers to bite through. She looked around, but the room was empty. She looked back at the window, if she broke the glass…. Abby tried to stand, but the shooting pain in her side reminded her that it wouldn't be easy. Leaning against the wall, Abby was able to move to her feet.

The window was high, but she was still able to get enough force behind her fisted hands to break the glass. It hurt like hell, but she was able to saw through the tape on the glass shards still in the window frame. With her hands free, Abby grabbed onto the window sill and pulled herself up. There was no graceful way to get through the small window, so she went head first, stifling a scream as the glass cut deep against her abdomen.

She tumbled to the ground and lay still, as she tried to catch her breath. She could feel her world start to darken at the intense pain, but she forced herself to stay awake by focusing on the shapes of the clouds above.

She gave herself a minute, maybe two, before she struggled to stand. The car was gone, but she had no idea how long before he returned. She wasn't going to waste any time. She limped a few hundred yards into the forest before coming to a steady flowing stream. She knew she was liable to get lost in among the thick trees, she would likely circle around and end up back where she started. Abby figured she'd be heading somewhere if she followed the stream, hopefully it would lead her towards a main road, or maybe a campground or a ranger station.

She was lucky she was wearing jeans; she knew if she didn't find someone to help quickly, she would be spending the night in the woods. It was summer time, she knew she wouldn't freeze to death, but it would still be chilly once the sun set. She rolled up the material and waded into the water. The cold water was refreshing and helped to clear her mind.

She moved as quickly as possible through the water, stopping every now and again to listen for the sounds of someone following her. Abby thought she heard the far-off, yet unmistakable sound of gun-fire. Jason was home and he wasn't happy. She hurried on. As the sky darkened she knew she had to keep moving. She allowed herself time to sit and look over her wounds, the cut to her abdomen was the worst. When she started walking again, she held a hand clamped over it to try and suppress the bleeding the best she could. She had decided that she wasn't going to give herself a longer time to rest until the sun came up. She would find someplace small to hide, and then wait and move through the darkness.

By sunrise she could hardly move her legs. Her steps we small and measured. She stepped out of the water and looked around for somewhere to curl up.

She tried to cover herself with ferns the best she could and let sleep claim her. When she woke again it was dark. The moon shone through the slight break in the trees, she had slept all day. Abby knew she was lucky. Now that her head was a bit clearer, she knew that allowing herself to go to sleep, especially with the amount of blood she had lost was risky. She knew she might not have woken up.

Listening to the sounds of the forest, Abby made her way slowly back to the waters' edge. She cupped her hands and brought water to her lips. She was sure she was hungry, but the angry wound across her belly distracted from the hunger pains.

In an attempt to ignore the situation, Abby thought about what she would normally be doing. If she was in the lab she would be bopping around to her music, chatting away to Bert or whoever happened to stop by. Gibbs would bring her a Caf-Pow. She would flirt with him; she knew all the buttons to press to make him smile. His smile lit up her world, it didn't matter what they were dealing with if she could get him to smile, she automatically had a smile on her face too.

Abby didn't realize that although she was trudging through the forest with a bloodied and broken body, she had a smile on her face.

She wondered what the team was doing, if they had found the cabin, if they were searching for her. She had contemplated leaving some sort of sign, but she figured that Jason knew the area well and would notice anything out of order. That's why she stuck to the water for the first several hours. No chance in leaving a trail, breaking branches, or leaving any other signs of where she headed.

-----

Twisting her name in a playful sing-song fashion, he started to push the door open. "Abby…"

"Abby?" Jason spun in a circle around the room, it was empty. He noticed the broken glass, and the blood against the wall. There were shredded bits of duct tape on the floor.

He ran out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. He flung open the front door and rushed around the cabin to look at the broken window from the outside. He saw no sign of Abby. He took off in the most obvious direction, until he hit the stream. He was about to continue into the forest, but he heard the far off sound of a car speeding down the small dirt road. No one ever drove this far down the road, there was only one person it could've been; Gibbs.

Jason hurried back to the cabin, locking the door behind him. He checked that his gun was still at his hip and waited. He heard the car skid to a stop. Without hesitation, he pushed open the window and began firing his weapon.

-----

TBC….