Katie woke up every now and then for a fraction of a second and looked around.
'So it wasn't a nightmare. It was real and she would die here,' she thought.
She didn't know what time it was but she had lost all feeling in her body. Her limbs were all numb. Her legs gave way but she couldn't fall because she was tied down. The pain in her wrists caused by the pull of the ropes she could hardly feel because of the numbness.
A look in the bucket showed her that there was already more than 1 litre of her blood there. It would not be long before it was over. But probably she would have frozen to death before that. Her heartbeat slowed down noticeably and she had difficulty staying awake.
She was about to close her eyes again when she suddenly heard dull footsteps from outside. It couldn't have been Peter, he was still sitting in the chair in front of her and sleeping.
Then she heard several voices. She wanted to scream but the cold took away all her strength to do anything. It only brought forth soft moans and whimpering.
This woke up Peter.
"Well, still alive? You are one tough bitch!"
Then he suddenly stopped when he heard the voices too. He took a quick step to the end of the room, placed himself next to the door, pulled a knife out of his pocket and then turned out the light.
Katie still tried to get words out of her mouth but failed.
A little later, the door was carefully pushed open and Detective Reid entered at gunpoint. Katie opened her eyes, mumbled softly but he could not hear her.
As he stood a few feet in the room, Jenkins suddenly surprised him and stabbed him. As it was dark, she couldn't see where he was hit. But she saw him fall to the ground. Now she made a louder sound and screamed, even though it hurt.
"No, David!"
Jenkins had left the room by now to seek out the others. Reid lay on the floor and said nothing. Then she fainted again.
She slowly woke up when she noticed a sudden jolt to her body and heard soft pleading of her name. She opened her eyes and saw Sherlock before her.
He put his cloak around her and finally freed her from her shackles. She did not fall as Sherlock held her down and now lifted her into his arms. She saw Greg taking care of David, who groaned in pain and held his shoulder. Oh good, so he was still alive.
"The ambulance is already waiting outside. And Peter Jenkins has just been taken away in handcuffs," Greg said to Sherlock, looking at Katie, who had fainted again.
Sherlock nodded and then left the room with her in his arms.
He took her to the nearby ambulance, where the rescuers immediately took care of her, not without a surprised look at her neck and then at Sherlock.
They cared for her to the point where she was stable enough for transport. When they had finished, they asked him if he would like to go with them. Greg just came out of the building with the injured Reid and took him to the second ambulance. He saw Sherlock and nodded at him.
Then Sherlock turned around and followed the paramedic to the place where he was supposed to sit.
The ride did not take long. They drove through the streets of London with the siren blaring. They took Katie to the operating theatre as quickly as they could. She was now on a ventilator as her breathing had stopped during the journey.
Sherlock followed her for as long as he could, but was then politely but firmly rejected by the paramedics when they reached the door, which was for staff only.
Sherlock sat there all day. John and Mary had joined them at some point after he had informed them. And Molly came along too. Again and again doctors ran in and out frantically. No-one said anything.
Greg came by at some point to check on her condition. Sherlock asked him about Detective Reid's injuries and Greg was a little surprised. He said that he was lucky and Jenkins had only injured his shoulder. He was stitched and bandaged. Otherwise he was fine. He was only supposed to stay one night for observation.
Sherlock nodded again and then turned his gaze back to the door.
Around 8pm a doctor finally came out.
"What about her?" all three asked anxiously and got up from their chairs. Greg had left in the meantime and apologised as he still had some paperwork to do.
He told the doctor that she was stable so far. She had lost a lot of blood. They had to help with transfusions. She had suffered a cardiac arrest during the operation, but they managed to bring her back. But they had to put her in an artificial coma because of the damage, as her brain was without oxygen for several minutes. But according to him, she would wake up on her own in a day or two.
John, Mary and also Sherlock breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that she was alive.
"Can we see her?" John asked now.
"She is in intensive care now. Please, one person at a time and just for a short time," the doctor replied and showed them the way.
When they arrived outside the room, they stopped.
John was the first to go in and froze at the sight of what he saw. Katie was lying there, connected to several hoses. She was not breathing on her own. A ventilator helped her. But the regular sinus rhythm of her heart calmed him down. He went over to her and took her hand in his. Then he spoke to her. He knew that people who were in a coma could still hear voices and touches and that it could help them wake up.
Sherlock and Mary still stood in front of it and waited. Sherlock walked up and down. Hands crossed behind him.
"I can't do this. I can't do this" he murmured.
He made Mary nervous and she stopped him as soon as she grabbed his arm.
"Can't do what, Sherlock?"
Sherlock looked first at her hand on her arm and then at her face. Then he took a deep breath.
"I can't go in there. I can't see her like this. Mary, I saw her there. She was freezing cold and her skin was blue. I thought she was dead. Then on the drive I witnessed them trying to save her life over and over again.
She had asked me for help and I turned her away. If I hadn't been so distant, she wouldn't be lying in there fighting for her life right now!"
Tears came to his face. He tried to blink them away.
Mary sighed and stroked his arm comfortingly.
"Sherlock, you heard the doctor. She is alive and will wake up in a day or two! She needs us now!"
Sherlock tried to listen to Mary but his thoughts kept going back to the one person lying there in a coma.
"No, I just can't!"
He turned around and walked quickly towards the exit. He could no longer hold back the tears.
"Sherlock!" Mary called out after him, but he was already gone.
With her head bowed, she now stood outside the room and waited. John came out a little later. His eyes seemed watery.
"Where is Sherlock?" he asked afterwards.
"He's gone. He said he couldn't!" sighed Mary.
John was horrified. He was filled with rage. He pulled Mary with him and was about to leave the building when she held him back and asked to see Katie first.
John understood and then loosened his grip on her arm.