(Disclaimer:I do not own Criminal minds or the characters from criminal minds)
Please RR, much appreciated!
Emily rushed from the front door, inhuman yells erupted from the house behind her. She prayed that her team wouldn't be hurt for what she'd done. Gunshots flitted around her, none of which found their target.
The house stood alone in a desolate wasteland, fields killed by drought surrounded the house, and a narrow county road wrapped around a wooded area ahead of her.
Emily whipped her head back at the house as she ran, Callen had given up on the gun, throwing it down in the dust.
She willed her legs to run faster, already burning with strain after having been sat in the basement for days.
The sun disappeared as she followed the road into the woods. From there she buried herself within the shield of the trees and kept running.
As she'd expected, the roar of an engine erupted in the distance. She quickened her pace.
She veered left, deeper into the woods.
In the corner of her eye a red pickup truck sped by. She glanced over watching it pull over ahead of her on the road.
Suddenly her foot connected with a root and she felt herself falling. She rolled down the sloping hill, rocks digging into her back. When she stopped rolling, she ducked beneath some a jutting stone. She held her hand over her mouth to ease her regard breath.
In the distance she heard the unmistakable tone of Callen.
"Keep driving along the road. She can't have gotten far. Darrell you look in that section I'll go down here."
They were far enough away not to hear the branches crack beneath her feet.
She continued to jog, desperate to put distance between her and the unsubs.
Her pace much slower, having developed a slight limp from the tumble. She ducked and jumped, crawled and climbed, further and further away.
Occasionally she'd hear a "shit..." or "where the hell is she?..."
She kept going. Even after the voices died. After the sunset. And as night began to fall she stumbled through branch after branch. All she knew was that she had to keep going, for the team.
For her team.
Basement
As soon as the door shut behind Emily, a fight was heard from above. Grunts, the charging of feet running against floorboards, gunshots and the yell of aggravation from Callen.
Morgan smiled at Hotch, knowing Emily was out.
"Wh..hat the h..hell was that!?" Rossi grappled with his words, they felt thick on his tongue.
"Emily's getting us outta here that's what." JJ beamed triumphantly.
Rossi looked at each of the agents in confusion, realising this was part of a plan they'd made.
The floor shook, sending dust down onto the agents. Thuds and yells and the slamming of a door. After a minute of straining their ears, the sound of an engine bursting into life fell upon them. The squeal of tyres followed, drowning out as they sped away.
"Jesus, Rossi!" Alex hissed seeing his severed finger.
"What did they do?" Hotch asked sternly.
Rossi bent his head back, his eyes closed, clutching his finger to stem the blood dripping from it.
He laughed gruffly.
"You know, Aaron, I can't quite put my finger on it" he joked feebly, inducing a smile from JJ, Morgan and Garcia. Hotch's mask remained in place, Alex frowned coldly at the Italian.
"That reminds me." Rossi reached a shaky and extremely bloody hand into his jacket pocket, retrieving what was left of his smallest finger.
JJ and Garcia turned their heads in disgust. Alex gagged, and rushed to the corner of the room to release the sandwichs they'd eaten earlier from her stomach.
Rossi suddenly looked very guilty, and slipped the finger back into his pocket.
"Sorry, Blake ..I.."
"How could you be so insensitive and vulgar. Two of our agents lives are hanging in the balance and all you can do is laugh and j...joke!" Alex sent daggers at Rossi's crumpled body, and for a split second she wished it was him who was chained up in the garage. That thought sailed straight from her mind, and she felt disgusted for even having it.
"This wasn't fun for me. You come back down here, p...practically CATATONIC, and from what? A slap? That sicko tasered and cut me." He held up his hand with the missing pinky. "You think I enjoyed this?!"
"Stop flaunting it around! Reid and Emily might be dead and all you care about is losing a finger. Big deal, you'll recover and..."
"ALEX, I DID THIS TO PROTECT THE KID! If I hadn't Callen would've hurt him even more. Don't ever make me out to be an arrogant, self centered Italian man. I don't care what happens to me. But, quite frankly I'm terrified for Reid ... I had to watch them stab Reid..he..he's too young t...to..."
"Rossi. Dave... I'm sorry." Blake blinked back the tears. "I want Ethan back as well..."
"What?" Rossi frowned confused.
"Who's Ethan?" Garcia whispered, hoping she wouldn't be pulled into their argument.
"What..." Alex spun around to Garcia. "W..what did you say?"
"Uh..it...uh you said Ethan."
"Oh sorry...sorry. I uh.. meant Reid."She turned back towards the wall, unable to stop the waterfall of tears falling from her eyes.
"Alex, we're going to get out of here. Emily and Reid will be fine. I...I'm sorry.." he trailed off stubbornly, not liking to apologise.
Alex stood moving tentatively from foot to foot, Rossi looked down at his his own feet and an awkward silence lingered over their heads. Hotch cleared his threat after around 20 seconds.
"Rossi, what happened up there? What did they make you play?" Aaron pressed, having ignored the argument.
"Uh... well, he called the game "Would you rather". He gave me 2 choices and I had to pick one over another. He did it 4 times, not including the 'demonstration'" Rossi growled bitterly.
"Demonstration?" Hotch furrowed his brow at Rossi.
"He wanted to show me an example, so...so he asked the big man...uh.. James? He asked him if he would rather himself or Spencer be tasered. And you know what he picked." He shock his head in anger and hatred.
"Then he started playing. Each time he'd give me the choice between me and Reid, I chose myself each time. First was a taser, second was this cut." He pointed to the deep slice running down his cheek. "And the third time-" he lifted his hand raising his eyebrows.
"What about the 4th?" JJ asked.
"Bear in mind I had just lost a finger. I...I tried to answer. I told them to cut me not Reid. He asked if I'd rather lose another finger or he stab Reid. I told them...me.. but they... they pretended not to hear me a..and-"
"HOTCH!" A shout from upstairs cut Rossi off. It was unmistakably Reid's cry.
Hotch sprang to his feet, his head swivelling upwards. He placed his hands over his mouth and called out to his agent. "Reid! SPENCER! Can you hear us?"
"Hotch! T...They're gone! I can't move up here, b-but they might not have l..locked the basement door."
Hotch peered up at the door, the door was shut, but it could be unlocked. They could escape.
He pushed on the cage doors, smacking his shoulder against it, praying it would fall open.
"Hotch, stop." Morgan sighed.
Hotch smashed his body against the bars again, groaning from the brute force.
"HOTCH! It ain't gonna work!" Morgan scolded pulling Hotch away.
"Reid? Reid, it's Morgan. Can you get out and unlock the door?"
"Morgan,he's chained up..." Alex bit back a retort
"When's that ever stopped him? I thought he was a magician?" Garcia smiled wryly.
Garage
Reid could feel his shoulder muscles squeeze tighter when he lost his footing and hung momentarily. Clumsily he caught himself, using his toes to balance his swaying body. The blood stemming from his abdomen had slowed, but not stopped. He felt woozy and dazed and listened to the suppressed argument in the basement.
"HOTCH!" He called, sending volts of pain down his spine.
"Reid!..."
A small conversation ensued, which Reid zoned out of, until he heard his name being called again.
"Reid? Reid, it's Morgan. Can you get out and unlock the door?"
He looked up at the shackles that held him and almost laughed. How could he get out?
"M..m..Morgan? I don't think-"
"Reid, I thought you were a magician." Morgan's muted voice yelled back.
"You have my permission to do your...uh... physics magic!" Shouted Hotch.
Reid smiled despite himself, last time he'd tried that, Hotch had taken away his equipment.
He looked up at the shackles chained loosely to his wrists. He knew what he had to do, but it wouldn't be pleasant.
He managed to wrap his wrists together, getting a firm grip of his left with his right.He then pushed his wrist as far right as possible, he held he breath until he heard a pop. He surpressed a moan, trying to get his breath back under control.
Reid gritted his teeth tightly and grunted in pain as he twisted his numb wrist out of the shackle. He pulled his hand up to his face, it flopped lifelessly. He looked at it in astonishent and laughed.
"Reid?"
He didn't answer, his body too weak to speak.
He began trying to pull out his second hand, not wanting to dislocate his other wrist. His thoughts raced, desperately pulling at straws to figure this one out. He needed a lubricant to slip of of the shackle, his wrists were almost small enough to pull out on their own. He looked around wildly. A sudden realisation hit him, he felt sick at the thought. He looked down at the blood staining his shirt, nausea passing over him.. He squeezed his eyes shut, understanding what he must do.
He placed his trembling, uncoordinated and dislocated hand over his stab wound. He pushed his fingers into his flesh, he gasped in shock as pain grasped his lower body. He pulled his fingers out and wiped the blood over his right wrist. He yanked his hand again, and it slid out an inch further.
With a final cry he freed his wrist, and fell to his knees.
Basement
A sudden bang rocketed through the floorboards, wood chip showering down on the team.
JJ looked over at Hotch, fear spreading over her face.
"REID!" She screamed. No answer.
The floorboards began to creak.
Garcia's breath hitched as she began to panic.
"SPENCER!" Alex cried at the top of her lungs.
Still nothing.
"D...D'you think he got out?" Morgan muttered.
Alex started biting her fingernails.
"KID!" Rossi hollered.
The door to the basement flew open, and in stumbled Dr Spencer Reid.
(Sorry, I took a day off. I have two more chapters planned. So get ready for the finale. I will be doing a sequel to this, but I have some exams coming up, so don't expect it for a few weeks. Thanks for reading!)