A/N: Oooookay, that was a long wait! I've been very deep down in the slash-gutter lately, but don't worry - ain't nothing of that here. 22 days without an update, wow. That's really bad. Bad AA! BAD AA!! -slaps self over fingers- Aaaanyway, let's get it on! Let's see how our heroes are doing in the Alabama woods! Beta read by the wonderful editor frog and approved by the lovely LT!

-o-o-o-

Morgan held on to Hotch's shoulders and arm for dear life as they half-ran, half-stumbled along the partially trampled trail. Every step was a nightmare for the younger agent, with jolts of white pain shooting up his leg with every step, but he refused to stop. Setting his jaw firmly, he tried desperately to speed up. There wasn't a chance in hell that these insane men were going to have an easy hunt.

Hotch had lost feeling in his fingers a long time ago, tightly holding on to his subordinate's clothes and arms to make him stand up, walk, and now run. The cold water streamed down his brow and into his eyes, making it almost impossible to see anything at all in the already dusky forest.

The deafening roll of thunder almost covered the blast from the double-barreled shotgun firing some 100 feet behind them.

The bullet his the trunk of a tree only inches away from Hotch's head, sending bark and pieces of wood flying in every which direction, and forced the two agents to duck away from further bullets.

Morgan felt his foot slipping; and slipping far away.

"Hotch!"

But it was too late. The agents were involuntarily sent on a slippery slide down a hillside, crashing mercilessly into trees and stumps, rocks and shrubs.

The grip Hotch had on his younger colleague wasn't strong enough, and after a few bumps into trees and such, he felt the struggling body of the other agent slip away from him.

"No! Morgan!"

"Hotch!"

A mouthful of mud silenced the slipping agent, who felt as if his leg was going to fall off at any moment. The bleeding had stopped some time ago, but the pain was static. He crashed back first into a large aspen tree at the bottom of the hillside, letting a high cry of pain escape him in the process. Losing his breath, Morgan struggled to get up, but all his efforts were completely in vain. He couldn't rise without help, and there was none.

The rain poured down, nearly blinding him as he tried desperately to steady himself on the tree while fighting the agony to rise.

"Hotch!"

The older agent was nowhere to be seen. It was like the earth had opened up and swallowed him whole. Morgan looked around through the massive rain.

"Hotch!!"

Between the rolling thunder and the sound of his own heartbeats, Morgan heard an all too familiar sound only a few feet behind him. It was the unmistakable sound of a double gauge shotgun being cocked. His eyes went wide as he froze, still holding on to the tree.

"Hold it right there, boy."

Slumping back down onto the ground, Morgan turned his massacred body around to face the menace behind him. It was Cooter, standing only a few feet away, shotgun aimed straight at him.

The thunder was moving further away now and the roars became more and more distant. Morgan could practically hear his own panic scream inside him, but not a trace of it could be seen on the outside. He kept his eyes fixed on those staring back at him, refusing to back down, despite his incapacitated condition.

Cooter smiled a partially toothless smile.

"I's gots ya now."

Raising the shotgun to his shoulder, Cooter prepared to take the final shot at the already wounded agent lying before him.

There was nothing Morgan could do. He couldn't move from his place on the ground. Searching frantically on the ground around him with his hands, he tried to get a hold of a rock, or a stick – anything to throw at the deranged man pointing a lethal weapon at him. He found nothing. Looking back up at Cooter and the two barrels aimed straight into his face, he finally gave in. His body refused to cooperate, and knowing full well there was no point in trying to verbally reason with this insane man, he surrendered to what he knew was going to happen.

Closing his eyes, he drew a breath and tried to keep his happiest memory in mind as he prepared himself for the end.

A single shot echoed through the forest. Then there was nothing but silence, and the dull rumbling of the departing thunder.

-o-o-o-

Reid sharply turned his head as they all heard the very distinct sound of a weapon firing nearby.

"What was that?"

Rossi frowned.

"Sounded like a rifle." He looked very confounded. "But the hunting season isn't open until early September."

"Maybe they can help us." Prentiss began feeling slightly lightheaded, and her stomach throbbed. Every step was pure agony as she clung to Reid like a bad cold. But refusing to show her suffering to the men around her, she blinked the tears away and was thankful for the rain, which was beginning to slow.

"Maybe. Reid, do you have the map?" Rossi sat Brad down on a rock as he reached into the younger agent's back pack, pulling out the map. Eyeing it, he ran his dirty fingers through the tousled curls that were once a decent haircut. "We're here." He pointed to a location on the map.

"And here's the rendezvous point." Reid pointed to a location about an inch away from the place where Rossi had placed his finger.

Rossi nodded, and smiled to himself. Despite the horror of the whole situation, the young man before him had learned how to read a map – something he couldn't before the hike begun. A small feeling of pride rose inside the older agent as he looked at his junior colleague.

"That's right. And with the speed we're holding right now, we should reach it within the next four hours."

"Should we just ignore the hunters?"

"I think it's for the best. There's no big game hunt right now, so we're in no danger of being mistaken for any animal they may be hunting."

"Like it would matter if we got mistaken for deer..." Brad mumbled, sitting on the rock, holding his groin. "Like this could get any worse."

"Believe me", Rossi growled as he turned towards the whining man. "This could easily get a lot worse for you, just give me a reason. And didn't I tell you to shut up?"

Brad let his eyes return to the ground as Rossi forcefully pulled him from his sitting place and continued to drag him along, followed by Prentiss, leaning heavily on Reid, clutching her stomach.

-o-o-o-

Morgan heard the shot ring through the forest.

But then there was nothing. No pain. No impact. Nothing.

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw Cooter sprawled over the forest floor, his head covered in blood. The rifle lay unfired in the grass beside him, one of his hands still on the butt.

As Morgan could finally draw a breath, he saw Hotch coming at him through the bushes, face covered in mud, holding a smoking rifle in his hand.

"Morgan! Are you okay?!"

Shaking off the shock, Morgan nodded and looked at Cooter once again. It had been a clean headshot. Half his skull had been blown out over the tree, pieces of grey matter still clung to the branches. Feeling Hotch's hands on him, he instinctively grabbed onto them and pulled himself up to a standing position. His injured leg had gone completely numb and simply hung from his body like a loose piece of flesh. There was no way he could walk on his own, and absolutely no way he could run.

"We have to go. The other one must have heard the shot, he'll be coming soon."

Morgan nodded and winced. "My leg..."

"Lean on me. We have to go. Now." Grabbing the rifle from Cooter's dead hand, Hotch discarded the recently fired one he already held. The one bullet it carried had come to good use. Hanging it over his back, Hotch took Morgan's arm and pulled it over his shoulders, taking almost all weight off his colleague's feet. All Morgan had to do was bend his knee as Hotch did the lifting, and they were on their way, aiming for the next landmark on their invisible route.

The rain had ceased, but the ground was still slippery and treacherous and the men had to walk with caution not to loose their footing.

The thunder was disappearing in the distance, and the sky was finally cracking up and began to let rays of sun slip through the thick blanket of dusky gray covering the forest.

-o-o-o-

"Wait...wait..."

Prentiss clutched her stomach as she could no longer keep from letting her face contort in agonizing grimaces of pain. Her abdomen was shooting fire into the rest of her body. Hanging onto Reid for dear life, she bent over and threw up on the already soggy forest floor.

Reid held the woman by the shoulders and arms as she heaved onto the ground.

"Rossi!"

The other two men had made it a bit further than their younger colleagues and Rossi turned, hearing his name called.

"Wait! Emily isn't feeling well!"

"I'm okay..." Emily mumbled, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I just needed to...ow..." Holding her stomach tightly, she doubled over, falling to her knees. She felt like she was going to explode from the inside.

"Rossi!" Reid cried out as he tried to steady the woman in his arms, but just ended up loosing his own balance and falling along with her.

Dropping Brad onto the ground with a groan, Rossi ran back to his colleagues, and took Emily's shoulders as he kneeled before her. "Emily?"

"I'm fine...I'm just...just..." Shaking her head, she still tried to give the impression that everything was fine, that it was simply a cramp. But she knew she couldn't fool Rossi. "My stomach. It hurts so bad..."

Rossi lifted the gauze wrapped around her waist to examine the wound. There was no blood seeping through the cloth, but as he felt the abdomen, it was rigid. He knew what that meant. She was bleeding internally. If they didn't get her to a hospital soon...

Emily looked at her senior colleague. She wasn't stupid. She knew just as well as he did what was going on. The stick which had been jammed into her stomach had punctured something or torn off a vein, and now she was bleeding out from the inside.

"Can you walk?"

Emily nodded. "I have to."

Reluctantly, Rossi nodded as well, and helped Emily to her feet and let Reid put his arm around her for support. He would much rather have been supporting the woman and keep a steady eye on her condition, but there was no way Reid could support Brad.

Rising with the two other agents, Rossi made sure Reid had a good grip on the injured woman before returning to the man sitting grunting on the ground.

But before he could reach the wounded man, there was a huge noise in the bushes about 20 feet away. Rossi froze.

"Nobody move!" he hissed. Knowing his forest fauna, the older agent recognized the sound to be well loud enough to be a bear approaching. And if it was, they would be in trouble.

The four agents stared at the bushes, not being able to do anything more than wait for whatever it was to appear.

But none of them could have predicted what came through the leaves.

"What the hell...?"

A/N 2: Yeah, what came out of the bushes!? We're closing in on the end now, people!! But the end for WHO? -evil grin-