Picnic


I need to go back and get rid of the kid's body. They will dispose of Reid out there in the forest. The animals will finish off the remains. We will have to start again. Hotchner next time. We will get the information, but I don't think that skinny genius knew what we wanted to know.

Obviously I know immediately that there is a problem. An SUV is parked up not far from the warehouse so I turn the van around so it's pointing the way I just came and pull in close up behind it. I doubt it can be seen from the warehouse.

Now my problem is that I don't know who was in the SUV or how many. I pull my sidearm and check it and then as quietly as I can I leave the van and walk towards the warehouse. There is no cover here. The land is sparse and dry. No trees of even much along the lines of grass here so I walk with my gun pointing downwards and make my way as quietly as I can to the warehouse door which I can see is standing open.

There is something lying on the ground. A pile of something. I walk quietly towards it. A person. Curled up in the dirt. As I get closer it moves and rolls onto its front and starts to try to crawl away from me. I have no idea who it is. I don't really care who it is. I will never know. I place a round between his shoulder blades and watch as he slumps to the ground again but I can see his hands clawing at the dirt. The next round hits him on the back of the neck…and now the hands are just twitching a bit.

Then nothing.

I kick it.

Still nothing.

Now I am looking at the door again. If this was a rescue attempt then it failed.

But there might be someone else…and that someone else would have heard the two shots. There is no way in hell I am going to now walk through that door.

I have to move quickly. I glance at the body in the dirt again and then make my way around the exterior of the building towards the rear.

-o-o-o-

I hear them shout and I hear them following me and all I can do is keep running and hope I end up somewhere before…….

They fire a round but it comes no where near me…

….it is to scare me and it is working. I try running between the trees to shield myself and this time as I dart to the side a round slams into the tree by my shoulder. I need a weapon and I need to keep moving. I must not stop. I look around as I move quickly stumbling occasionally. I see two things at the same time; a sturdy branch on the forest floor and a big old tree. I run, duck and grab the branch and leap into cover.

Deep but ragged breaths are coming from me. I try to quieten them down but I am sure I can be heard so I stand with my weapon held tightly against my chest, holding it with both hands and listen. I listen carefully and I can hear them coming. I can hear their calls to each other. Maybe I will be lucky and they will run past me. I can then double back and make my way back to the track and out of here. Maybe.

But the crashing through the forest lets me know very clearly that they know where I am. I don't have much of a chance. I can start to run again or stand my ground and fight. Either way I am out gunned and out numbered. At least if I stay here I wont be winded too.

Everything suddenly happens at the same time. I see him appear around the edge of the tree and I step in and swing for his head. It makes a lovely cracking sound and temporarily slows him down. At the same time from behind me now comes the sound of gun fire and something hard smacks into my shoulder. It takes a second or two to realise that I've been shot. It just felt like a rock or a heavy punch. I look down and can see blood trickling down the right hand side of my upper chest, just below my collar bone.

I am being shouted at. They are shouting at me to do something but my body had decided to stop responding to anything now and as I drop the now cracked wooden branch to the floor my knees give way and I am falling face first into the leaves.

I don't know what they are going to do with me now. It seems rather obvious to me as I lay there bleeding that the questions have stopped. They kick me in my side until I turn over onto my back and I move my shaking hands to the bloody patch on the front of my clothing.

"That was really stupid." One of them says to me.

"We were going to just kill you quickly. You wouldn't have felt it. Like we did your lover boy."

"But now we will have some fun with you first."

It's a mess.

It is a confused mess in my head. They are pulling me by my arms over to a patch of grass and I kick out at them until someone holds a pistol to the side of my face and tells me to stop… "Stop it now pretty boy or I will fuck you with this pistol here."

The flashbacks are so vivid and terrifying that I stop. I stop kicking. I just lay there bleeding and let them pull my pants down to my knees and I let them turn me over in the grass and they whoop and they laugh and they tear into me the way Floyd has done more times than I can count but this time there are not any words to tell me they care. There are no mouths nibbling and tasting my skin – now it is just brutal and painful.

I screamed for a while and then I just lay and shook. I didn't fight it. There's nowhere to run to. Nowhere to crawl to. I can feel someone playing with me with the pistol. They must be able to …I am sure – they must see my terror. They play on it by pressing and pushing the barrel of the pistol into me…by removing the safety and then describing to me what happens as the bullet will pass through me. What agony it will be, how slowly I will die and I cant move. I cant talk. I can just lay there and listen and let them do this to me.

They don't need to tell me what happens. I know. I know what happens. I've seen the results of this and the bile from my stomach is trying to creep up into my mouth, but I need to keep still. I cant afford to move.

I know they will kill me.

But please not like this.

They push me back over onto my back again and I can see them looking down at me and grinning. "We thought FBI would have a bit more fight in him. Did you enjoy that? I think you enjoyed it didn't you?"

But I try not to react to them I move my hands down to pull my clothing back up and for a little while I think they are going to let me. At least let me die with my pants pulled up, but then the foot comes down on my hand. Not hard. Not enough to break my fingers, but enough to let me know to stop what I am doing. I don't know how but the pain in my shoulder seems to be fading. Probably shock. I know my brain isn't reacting to this abuse the way it should. I know I should be fighting it but my fight or flight response seems to be gone. I just want them to hurry up and finish this.

-o-o-o-

The only reason I'm not dead right now is because Sam is in there and Spencer is being hurt. I cant afford to be dead. I've bled a bit too much though which is a problem. I need to feed and there is nothing here. Not an animal in sight and yes there is the guy who just stuck the rounds in my back but he is likely to just keep filling me with lead until I'm too heavy to move. I know he's moved away and I know Hotchner has Sam. They will be fine. Spencer though – he's not doing so good.

'I'm coming for you babes. Just hold on there.'

I try to let him know but I don't know if he can hear me. I have to crawl. This is humiliating hands and knees stuff but slowly I make it to the van the bloke drove in and parked up. I can pull myself up at the driver's door and I let myself in. The keys still sit there hanging from the ignition. Oh it must be my lucky day. Something good for once. HA! Watch out you bastards …you hurt my Spence you will fucking pay with your lives. The van starts easily and I pull away slowly. There is blood dripping every fucking where now. I really need to sort this out before I try to help Spence, or I will just bleed out and be crap. I need to feed or at least rest to stop this oozing out of me so fast. I know though that I don't have time. I can feel it. I can feel that Spence has given up. I can feel what they have done to him. I can feel how much pain he is in.

And I can feel his fear. I can smell it. From right back here…it travels and I can pick it up.

Following the trail back to where the van was – to where Spencer is is easy. I can do that no problem. But now I am here. I am parked up in the forest and I can hear his screams. I can hear him…in my head screaming for me.

'Floyd where are you?!'

He did good getting them to bring him here. I feel better already just seeing the trees. Just being here. I push open the van door and fall out onto the floor. I squish leaves and grass between my fingers and then put my hands to my face and take in the sweet scent. It will be slow going but I know the further in I get the better I will feel. For now I have to stay on my hands and knees and crawl. That's cool…that's really not a problem when I am on this pathway…I can smell him…I can tell which way he went. I move as quickly as I can and I need Spencer to fight. I don't want him to give up. I'm so nearly there now. I can see where he left the path. He was running. He was escaping but they followed. I can see easily the broken leaves and trampled undergrowth.

Now. I need to let you know something. I am still bleeding. I have left a trail of it behind me. There is a puddle of blood on the van seat. I really don't know if once I get to Spencer I will be any good to him. I need to feed.

………….and so I am sitting now with my back to a tree and I am probing at my injuries and wondering how I can fix this properly. I chew on my bottom lip and I scratch at my neck and I am flummoxed. A woodland or forest animal would seem mostly likely but there doesn't seem to be anything around and so I have to wait. I cant fight these blokes if I cant even stand. I'm still growing by brain back for the love of the gods. I should be in hibernation. Not crawling my scrawny arse through this damned place.

'Hold on babes…just hold on. Keep fighting it…I'm on my way.'

-o-o-o-

"I'll see if the van is back yet."

One of them walks away…

The other three are still with me.

"Finish him off and catch up."

At last they are going to just put a round in my head and leave me alone. I really thought I had a small chance for a while, but as they bend over me and drag the rest of my clothing off I don't try to stop them. I don't assist, but I don't resist it either.

Keep fighting it. I've been told. A voice has told me to keep fighting it. That he is on his way, but he would have been here by now. And Sam. What of Sam. He is his spawn. He will be with him.

Keep fighting it though, is there a point?

He's on his way. He will be here soon.

"Why are you doing this?" I eventually manage to ask. "I don't know who you are. Why don't you just let me go?"

"Orders are orders." I am told.

"Turn over and get on your hands and knees. Lets make a nice clean job of this." And he pulls his gun and clicks off the safety and smiles at me lying there in the forest leaves with my clothing tossed to one side. I look up at the guy with the gun and then to someone moving to my things and carefully folding them.

"You can at least tell me why." I say. Trying to stall for as much time as I can, but time has run out.

"Hands and knees boy." He says again and the third man picks up a branch and stands holding it.

"No." I have no intention of making this easy for them. I might not be kicking and screaming, but I will be noncompliant.

They are the ones kicking and now I am reacting to them. Now I try to escape their feet and hands but I know there is really not a point. I can see the guy with my clothes walking off now. Taking my things with him. It's over.

Time to accept it.

The tree branch club takes me across the face. I feel my nose crack and I put my hand up to defend against this but the branch catches me across the back of my hands and I yell out in pain.

"Turn the fuck over and let me get this done."

"No."

"Fine. Have it your way freak." He fires the gun anyway. I really thought he would put a round between my eyes. It was what I expected, but this is in my stomach. A very well aimed shot. I am quietly and fatally impressed by it. "Die slowly then." He says to me as I put my hands over the hole in my stomach where the blood is pumping from. "Stay awake genius boy. I want you to feel this." So as the grey fogs my vision and I try to let it go and as the blood pumps happily out between my fingers they prod at me with boots and jab at me with the tree branch and tell me how long it takes a body to disappear in the forest. The rate I will rot down, the percentage of meat the animals will get from me. The chances that anything will ever be found. They tell me all of this, but I already knew. So in defiance I call out to Floyd in my mind.

'I'm sorry.'

But obviously they don't know I did that.

I can taste blood in my mouth and I can feel it filling my air ways now and I'm coughing and choking on my blood and trying to spit it out and they start to walk away from me.

"Sweet dreams Dr Reid." They call out.

And finally I am left to close my eyes and……………….

-o-o-o-

I hear him coming and so I pull back a bit and wait. Then I see him. I can smell he has been with Spence. I can smell Spencer's sweat and fear on him. I would love to have stood up and told him what I was going to do to him. I would love to have given him the details of how I actually do what I do…but I don't have the strength or time. I wait until he is level with me and then I stand and I rip his throat out. He didn't even whimper. Nothing. One minute alive. The next Floyd's lunch. Thank you. I pull him away from where I killed him and into some deep darkness. I rip him open and I tear out his liver and I suck on it and smile at the expression on his face.

I am feeling better already…so I turn him over and use his arse as I chew on him and it makes my heart fell happy. At last I have fed. Now I have screwed his dead posterior I turn him back over and remove the heart. I squish it between my fingers and drink from it before I begin to nibble upon it.

More footsteps. So I drop the remains of what I have and move quickly to see who it is and I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. This bloke I will talk to.

"Hey." I say as I step out.

It takes a few seconds but eventually what has happened sinks in. "What the fuck?" he says. Which is how I know it has sunk in.

"Why do you have Spencer's clothes?"

"What the hell?" he is dropping my lover's clothes to the floor and going for his gun when I snap his neck.

I watch as he falls to the floor and I was going to tear him open, but I kick him out of the way and pick up Spencer's things. "You'll need these babes." I say into the forest and I bury my face into the soft fabric and inhale the delicious scent of my Spencer and it is as I am doing this and finally feeling like I am nearly there that I hear a yelp of pain. Unmistakably Spencer. Followed shortly by a gunshot. A gunshot which echoes around the forest and tells me.

Too late Floyd. You're too late.