A/N rating has been bumped up due to naughty words – thank you everyone who is reviewing, you are all such awesome people!
The sound of gunshots filled the otherwise silent forest and Grissom and Sara instinctively dove to the ground mid-stride.
"Holy shit!" Sara whispered frantically, looking around wildly, trying to figure out where the shots had come from.
"They were close," Grissom breathed, also looking around, "too close."
At that moment a shriek of joy sounded from seemingly nowhere, followed by more shots. The ground around them began to bubble and Sara realized that the bullets from Henderson's rifle were the reason.
She glanced at Grissom, "we have to get out of here – we have to get away from him!"
The gunfire stopped momentarily and Grissom risked pulling his head up and looking around them again. He saw Henderson, crouched down next to a tree, reloading his rifle.
"Quickly now!" he said, grabbed Sara by the arm and began hauling her up.
"Hey!" Henderson shouted, "Where do you think you're going!?" He dropped the rifle next to him and picked up his sling-shot, aiming for Grissom.
Grissom and Sara paid no attention - sprinting out of there, over rocks and fallen trees, as fast as they could. Grissom cried out in pain as the first metal ball came in contact with his right shoulder. He stumbled slightly but kept running.
"What? What's wrong Grissom!" Sara panted, slightly in front of him.
"Nothing," he yelled back before another metal ball struck, this time in his calf muscle, making him unconsciously gurgle an incoherent cry.
Sara had no idea what was going on and turned her head slightly to look back at Grissom.
"Keep going!" he yelled at her and reached out, pushing her forward.
She tripped, but gained her balance again, her long legs carrying her forward as fast as they would go. She could hear Grissom's breathing behind her, a constant reassurance that he was still there with her.
Henderson's screams still echoed off the trees and after them. More shots from his rifle rang out, hitting the trees next to them and the ground in front of them. Then it was Sara's turn to scream out in pain as a bullet found its way into her left thigh. She stumbled and slowed down, too quickly for Grissom to realize what was going on, causing him to crash into her and fling them over the side of a cliff that had suddenly sneaked up on them.
~~
Nick sighed and sat down on a fallen log. He took a swig from his bottle of water and looked around him. Numerous men and women in uniform littered the forest, searching their surroundings for any sign of Henderson or Sara and Grissom. Warrick walked towards him and sat down beside him. Nick offered him his water and Warrick took it gratefully.
"What do you think Warrick? Are we even close?"
Warrick sighed, "I dunno Nick, I hope so." He looked up as a helicopter flew by and unclipped his radio from his belt, holding it to his mouth, "Ground unit 4 to air unit 1."
The radio crackled back at him, "Go ahead Warrick," Catherine's voice sounded.
"How are you guys going up there, you seen anything?" Warrick asked hopefully.
"No, we're going to widen the search area out of Kyle Canyon and into Carpenter – you guys should get a team out that way too, I'll keep you posted."
"Okay we'll get onto that, ground unit 4 out."
Warrick clipped his radio onto his belt again and looked at Nick who was already standing up and ready to start searching again.
"Lets go!"
~~
"Oh God Grissom," Sara groaned quietly at the bottom of the cliff, struggling to sit up.
"Shhh," Grissom said glancing up the cliff to see if there were any signs of Henderson. He looked back over at Sara and felt a sharp pang in his chest; she looked terrible. "Sara," he whispered on the verge of panic, "tell me you're okay!"
Sara closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, "I'll be okay," she said, unaware of the tears streaking down her face. She winced as she managed to sit up, looking down at her leg. There wasn't a lot of blood, but there was enough to make her heart to skip a beat. "I got shot," she said without emotion, glancing up at Grissom who was now inspecting her leg.
Grissom exhaled shakily, "Okay," he said calmly, trying desperately to ignore the panic stricken voices that filled his mind. "Okay," he said again and looked up at her face.
"You'll need to tie something around it Grissom, to stop the bleeding," Sara ordered softly.
He looked around them and grabbed at the backpack that had fallen down next to them. Then he ripped off one of the arms of his shirt and began tying up the wound, trying desperately not to hear Sara's short cry of pain. He brought the duct-tape out of the bag and taped it securely over the shirtsleeve. "I knew this would come in handy," he said to himself. Sara, meanwhile, was trying desperately to keep her composure.
"Can you move? I don't think it will be long before Henderson finds a way down here," Grissom said once he had finished.
Sara nodded, "I'll need help," she confessed.
Grissom simply nodded, "Here, hold on to me," he held her hands and leaned towards her, pulling her hands around his neck.
"Okay," she breathed and held on to Grissom as he slowly stood up, using her right leg to help them reach a vertical position. Once standing she shifted her weight completely onto her right leg and kept her left arm around his shoulders. Grissom put his right arm around her waist and turned his head to look at her.
"Okay?" he asked, noticing her face was screwed up in a painful expression.
"Oh God," she whimpered and then exhaled sharply, "lets just go Grissom, oh wait! The gun, I dropped it, where is it?"
Grissom scanned the base of the cliff with bleary eyes and finally spotted the gun. He helped Sara walk over to it and, making sure she was okay just resting on him, bent down to pick it up.
"Okay," he said, "we should go now."
And so they began hobbling slowly away from the base of the cliff – with no real destination in mind, except for away from the lunatic somewhere above them.