As the car sped off leaving behind tire tracks and only a cloud of dust, Catherine cursed under her breath. She sighed, lowering her head in defeat. She turned back to her coworker only in time to see her limp form crumble forward onto the ground. Catherine just watched for a moment, her brain not fully registering what had just happened in front of her, until she noticed that Sara was not moving. At all.
"Oh sh..." Catherine muttered under her breath as she ran towards her fallen coworker. Her mother instincts were on overload. She ran as fast as she could toward Sara and when she finally reached her, she collapsed onto her knees, shaking her gently. "Sara, come on, Sara..." Sara's eyes stayed closed and she remained motionless. "Oh god..." Catherine whispered, trying to figure out what to do.
Catherine looked around- there was no one in sight. Actually, there was nothing in sight- no buildings visible in the distance, no payphones. This meant that Catherine had absolutely no way to get fast help, and she clearly did not know what to do at the moment.
"Phone!" Catherine told herself. She felt around for her cell phone and sighed in relief when she found it clipped onto her belt. She flipped it open, ignoring the Barbie wallpaper Lindsey had loaded onto her phone and dialed 9-1-1. She got no dial tone and she cursed when she noticed the phone reading 'No Signal' on its screen.
She turned back to Sara, gently shaking her. "Come on, Sara- you've gotta wake up. Come on..." Sara moved slightly, making a weak groaning noise. "That's it, come on..."
"C-Cath?" she asked in a hoarse voice.
"Yeah, Sara?"
"I...don't feel good," she said, her arms looking around for something to cling onto. Catherine held out her hand and Sara grabbed it, holding onto it tightly.
"Okay..." Catherine said, more than a little panicked. She put a hand on Sara's forehead. "Shit..." Catherine muttered. She was burning up. She looked around frantically, trying to figure out what to do, when she spotted her kit lying feet away. "Hang on, Sara," Catherine told her, letting go of her hand for a moment as she ran off to get her kit.
"Cath..." Sara squeaked, opening one eye slightly only to shut it again tightly. Feet away, Catherine was kneeled down in front of her kit. She threw the lid open and searched around. "Come on..." Catherine sighed looking around. "Yes!" she said in triumph as she found what she was looking for. She grabbed the water bottle and slammed the kit shut, running back over to Sara.
Catherine fumbled with the cap, trying to unscrew it as quickly as she could. When she finally did, she held the nose of the bottle up to Sara's mouth. "Sara, it's water, come on, open your mouth."
Sara opened her mouth slowly and Catheirne held the bottle closer to her, tilting it back so that the water would enter her mouth. Sara's mouth quickly filled up with water and she sat up slightly, coughing and choking on the water.
"I'm sorry..." Catherine said, patting her on the back as she coughed.
"No...it's okay," Sara said in between coughs before falling back down on the ground. "Don't worry about it, just keep the water coming..." she whispered.
Catherine nodded and held the nose of the bottle between Sara's lips again and gave her the water as if she were a mother feeding an infant- a role Catherine had played once before. When the bottle was about half-empty, Catherine stopped giving her the water to drink. She put a hand on Sara's forehead, noting that she was still much too warm, and she poured the remaining water onto Sara's head. Sara opened her eyes and stared at Catherine, confused.
"You were still too hot," Catherine explained.
Sara just nodded, closing her eyes again, almost crying because she was still so thirsty.
"Sara...I don't have anymore water. We're going to have to find some help. You need to get up."
"I can't..." Sara said. "I can't..."
"Yes you can, Sara. I know you don't feel good, but I need you to--" Catherine was interrupted by the sound of Sara retching on the ground next to her. Sara had propped herself up on her elbows, body wracking violently with each time she retched.
"Oh god..." Catherine whispered, but not loud enough to where Sara could hear her. She ran to Sara's side, holding strands of hair out of her face. After a few moments, Sara collapsed onto Catherine, breathing heavily. "Sara, come on..." Catherine pleaded. "Sara..." The woman in her arms had lost consciousness once again and Catherine looked around the area again, as if someone would just magically appear and solve all of their problems.
Catherine stood up, picking Sara up with her. She threw Sara's arms around her neck and hoisted her onto her back and started walking.
"Damn...she's so light..." Catherine thought to herself. She walked off, leaving her kit and the crime scene behind. "I need to get her out of here...god only knows the last time she ate."
After walking for a few moments, Catherine looked back at the brunette on her back, searching for some sign that she was awake. Sara's head was lying on Catherine's shoulder, her eyes closed. "Come on, Sara..." Catherine said to her. "Come on..." Sure enough, Sara did not stir.
"God...what am I going to do?" Catherine asked, looking up in the sky. "We have no more water...Sara's sick...we have no cell phone reception to call for help...our car was stolen..." Catheirne's frown grew larger with each new addition to their list of worries.
And this was only the beginning of Catherine's worries, for she knew nothing of what may happen when night fell.
