Chapter Two: Lights Out
Catherine had been glad about making the call to leave when she did. The rain had became heavy, the storm was causing havoc. She wasn't all that surprised to find the power out when she arrived at the lab. The back up generator had kicked in, supplying enough power for emergency lights, and cooling systems to keep much needed evidence intact.
The short walk from her car into the lab itself had left her soaked. Making a stop at trace she dropped what evidence she carried on the table, and proceeded to the break room, which is where she found Grissom and Archie carrying on a conversation.
Grissom nodded to her as she walked in. "Good to see you didn't need a boat to get here," he commented dryly. "Unfortunately there's not much going on here, if you couldn't tell."
"Any estimate on when we'll have power back?" Catherine asked, taking a seat next to Archie.
Grissom shrugged, leaning against the counter. The coffee he was drinking now was still warm, they had lost power only a few minutes ago. "No idea, with this storm, could be a few hours. Warrick's doing some document work, but it's hard to see anything really. Told him to give it a rest but he said he was handling it. Nick gave me a call, he's over at the Tropicana interviewing a suspect in question, said that he was going to wait out the storm before heading back."
Catherine agreed, "Smart man, Sara and Greg shouldn't be too much longer. They were right behind me."
"Well, let's hope they won't need a boat either," Archie laughed a little. "I really hate these storms."
The three agreed silently. "I'm going to see if Warrick needs any help," Catherine said, standing.
Archie nodded as well, "I may as well do some cleaning, while I have time."
The two watched Grissom, to see what he would say, but he just shrugged again. "I'm just going to hang out here till power comes back on."
He wasn't sure how long it had been, all he knew was that it was longer than he liked. Greg's fingers were going numb, and it was getting harder to hold on to the root. The storm was right over them now; lightning flashed above their heads, and thunder drowned out the attempted communication between the two.
Greg couldn't see Sara, not from where he was. She had called up to him a few times, he couldn't make out what she was trying to say, but from the location of her voice, it sounded as if she was right below him.
Greg shifted a little, the ground giving way beneath him. He held on to the root tightly, his arms taking most of his weight as he came to a stop again, swinging against the cliff face for a moment, before digging his feet back into the side.
The water was still cascading over the side, Greg doubted that he could get any wetter that he was at the present moment. Sputtering as he accidentally swallowed another mouthful of water he slowly managed to get his feet planted back into the side.
If he could feel his hands, he would have known that they were bruised, lined with cuts from holding onto the small root for so long. Still he held fast, knowing that it was the only thing holding him from falling down to the waters below.
Below, Sara had firmly wrapped her arms around the branch, able to pull herself up some, letting the branch do most of the work in supporting herself. She had reached up a few different times, feeling the wall of mud with her hands, looking for a way back up. But it was quite impossible. The cliff was practically flat, straight up and down.
The branch was bending under her weight, but effectively holding her. She was in fact, so cold and numb, that she didn't feel the rising water settling around her ankles until a sudden rush of water almost pulled her from her perch. Startled, she lost her balance, falling halfway off the branch into the waters.
Everything went silent for a moment, the only sound was that of the rushing water around her, then she came up sputtering, coughing up the water she had just swallowed. She still was holding the branch tightly and slowly worked her way back up. By the time she had gotten back up, the water was around her waist, and rising quickly.
"Greg!" she yelled out, only to be muffled by the fierce storm. The water was at her chest now, it would cover her in only a few minutes. She yelled again, this time seeing Greg move to look down, hearing her cry.
"Sara?" Greg responded, twisting as far as he could to look below him as the sky lit up. He saw her for the first time since her fall, the water was settling up around her shoulders, her fingers were white from gripping the branch so hard, in avoidance from being swept away.
She was slowly slipping, the rush of the water too much for her. It was around her neck now, as Greg looked for some way down to her. His initial fear turned into shock when the sky lit up again, and she was no longer there.
"Sara!" he screamed into the darkness, as if expecting an answer. Shaking, he drew in a ragged breath, before closing his eyes and letting himself drop into the violent waters below.
TBC
More coming soon!
