Disclaimer: I still don't own any of these characters. Surprise, surprise.

A/N: Sorry about lack of updates again!! Finally school is out and I can concentrate more on this. Hopefully story updating will be every other day. It is all dependent on how many reviews I get between days. Check out Next to Nothing, if you haven't already. For those who read both stories, I'm going to keep working on Next to Nothing until I have enough written on my new story to start posting. Thanks for being so patient with me, though, and here is yet another chapter of Drop to Zero.

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8:00-9:00AM

**8:00** Hunter and Steph edged along in the rush hour traffic. That's why he always liked planes better - not a whole lot of waiting to do. Hunter looked through his rearview mirror again. He sighed.

"I did it for his own good. You know that, don't you Stephanie?" he asked her. She was still in the backseat, but she remained silent and the tears continued to roll down her face. Hunter sighed again. He almost cracked a smile when he thought of the situation he was in. He was trying to patch things up with his wife, who probably, no - did, hate him for what he had done to her and a guy that she liked. It made him think of a saying.

"My how the mighty have fallen." He muttered.

**8:04** Fifteen feet off of the embankment, Chris Irvine drew in a sharp breath. He slowly opened his eyes, and winced at the pain that consciousness brought him. For the moment, he was content to just lie there in the little rays that the sun shone on him. He started to try and remember who he was and what he had done to get in this predicament. None of his questions went without answers. Slowly, he began to sit up, and was rewarded with a horrendous pain in his upper chest.

Chris looked down at the bullet wound and knew in an instant that he needed to get to a hospital to get it looked at. He could tell from moving that the bullet had not made an exit wound. Slowly, Chris made it to his feet. Although he simply wanted to lie back down, he wouldn't let himself do that. He had to find Stephanie now, and somehow warn Vince.

Chris sized up the embankment. He wasn't sure if he could make it to the top without falling flat on his ass, or breaking something. He supposed that he was going to have to try. He started to walk his way up the embankment, only using his hands when necessary because of his wound. He was reminded, while climbing, of one of Stephen King's characters from the book The Stand. One who fell down an embankment and broke his leg.

"I hope that this trip up doesn't end like Stu's." Chris mumbled to himself. Slowly and painfully, he made his way up to the top. When he got there, Chris collapsed on the ground next to a cell phone.

**8:12** "What the hell?" Chris questioned, picking up the phone. He accidentally hit the button to listen to the messages. He listened to both Bischoff's and the mystery woman's message. He shook his head and tried calling out on the phone.

"'No service'? Freaking cell phones not worth shit." Chris mumbled, standing up again. He stuck the phone in his pocket and began to walk in the general direction he thought the interstate was.

**8:17** "I'm so screwed," Chris thought as he saw the cars whizzing past him, then getting stopped from some kind of traffic jam just before an exit. He shook his head and felt so helpless. There was no way he was going to make it to the hospital without collapsing from exhaustion or blood loss unless someone stopped to help him.

**8:26** Vince strolled into his office at WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. He was followed by: three secretaries and a man he thought never would, Eric Bischoff. Vince sat behind his desk and motioned for all of them to sit. The secretaries told him all of his schedule and what he needed to do that day, and then they left. Eric and Vince sat in silence for a moment before speaking.

"I know what happened to you two years ago, and I also know that my daughter and a person from this company walked away from it," Vince started. "But, if there is any ill-will towards me, my daughter, or Chris Irvine considering what happened, I suggest that you figure out how to drop it quick."

"Trust me, Vince, I hold no ill-will towards you, or any other member of your family- for that matter. All of that is behind me. Even though it still hurts, it's behind me." Eric explained.

**8:34** Vince nodded.

"That's good. I'll see you later tonight then, right?" he asked. There was a twinkle in Eric's eyes for a slight moment.

"Of course you will, Vince. Do you think I'm stupid enough to accept a job title, and then not show up?" Vince said nothing. Eric nodded. "I'm trustworthy Vince, you'll see." He finished, and then walked out of the office.

**8:46** Chris sat on the side of the road and put his head in his hands. He quickly found out that was not the smartest thing to be doing. He winced and just sat there.

"What am I gonna do?" He mumbled to himself. The traffic still wasn't backed up past the one exit. Faintly, he heard a car pull up beside him. Chris tensed up and got ready to fight if he needed to.

"Chris?" A female voice asked from inside the car. Chris chanced a glance in that direction. He stood up slowly to see who had called his name.

**8:53** "Trish?" Chris asked in disbelief. He could believe his luck. "What are you doing here?" Trish shrugged.

"I had to get something before I headed off for the show tonight. What happened to you? Did you get shot?" Chris winced again.

"Yeah, it's a long story," Chris began.

"Do you need a ride to a hospital?" She asked him, then began clearing the things out of the front seat as if he'd said yes.

"If you don't mind." Chris said, opening the door.

"None at all, get in." She told him matter-of-factly. Chris forcefully sat down, while trying desperately to not wince. **8:59** "We need to get you to the nearest hospital ASAP." She told him. Chris nodded. He was beginning to get a headache from all of the blood loss, and everything else that had happened to him thus far. Trish's phone began to ring.

**9:00** "Hello?"

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Sorry that this chapter is so short. It wasn't this short when I wrote it, but some things had to be changed.

What to expect next chapter:

More about Trish's role in the plan

Vince calls in reinforcements

A doctor's visit

More about Stephanie and Hunter

And, YES!!!! Another cliffhanger!!