A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews!
Catherine hesitantly took a bowl from the small stack on the wooden table and filled it with the murky red liquid. She shot everyone a weak smile as she walked over to a table and sat down, dipping her spoon into the liquid and stirring it a little, wondering if she should really eat it or not. Not wanting to do anything that would anger anyone, Catherine slowly lifted her spoon to her lips and sipped up some of the liquid. She grimaced as it slid down her throat and tried to keep her composure. She was hungry though, so she suffered through the horrific taste and smell and finally finished the entire bowl.
"There's more in there," the truck driver from before told her, pointing to the black pot of doom.
Catherine cringed. "Um...no thanks, I'm going to go check on my friend. Thank you for the food," Catherine said shooting them all a small smile and walking past them all to the room Sara was in. She approached the doorframe and found that the door was open. Walking inside, she found Sara lying sound asleep on a mattress with no pillow or blanket. The room was dark, making it hard to see anything, and it looked to be relatively dirty. Catherine slowly made her way to the mattress and kneeled down beside the sleeping brunette, shaking her gently.
"Sara," Catherine whispered. "Sara, wake up," Catherine whispered again, nudging her softly.
Sara groaned a little. "What is it, Catherine?" she mumbled.
"Sara, sit up and look outside this room."
Sara cracked an eye open as she said this. She slowly sat up, rubbing the remaining sleep from her eyes and standing up. Stretching and yawning, she walked over to the doorframe, she poked her head around to see a glimpse of the women sitting in the other room. Poking her head back inside the room, she turned to Catherine, turning pale.
"Where the hell are we?" Sara whispered.
"I have no idea," Catherine answered.
"Well...um..." Sara started pacing back and forth slowly. "My stomach was feeling better...but...now that might change," Sara said, looking up at Catherine.
"What are we going to do?" Catherine asked.
"I don't know."
"Well...we could just try and calmly tell them that we're leaving and thank them for everything."
"Um...okay."
"Okay...let's both go out at the same time," Catherine told her. They both nodded and walked into the hallway, closing the door to the room behind and them. They slowly moved into view of the other women, Catherine with her arms to her sides and Sara with her arms behind her back.
"Um...hello," Sara said nervously, shooting everyone a weak smile.
"Um..." Catherine started. "Listen...we both really appreciate your hospitality...but um...seeing how my friend has gotten...relatively better...we should be off. We wouldn't want to burden you," Catherine said, hands moving with body language. "So...um...goodbye everyone. It was nice to meet you all," Catherine said, raising her hand up in a weak wave and heading slowly towards the front door with Sara trailing behind her.
"Where're you going?" the truck driver asked.
"Um...home," Catherine answered. She wasn't sure how they would get home, perhaps they could steal the truck and drive to town, but at the moment, both her and Sara just wanted to get the hell out of there.
"This is home," the woman said.
Catherine turned to Sara and shot her a confused look. Sara returned it, and stepped forward, trying to reason with them. "You see...this is your home. We're with the Las Vegas Crime Lab...we were trying to process a crime scene, but...our car got stolen. We're just trying to get back to town."
The truck driver paused and took a step forward. "Crime...lab?"
Sara nodded weakly, wondering if she should have said that. "...Yes."
"So...you two are cops."
"No, no...we're crime scene investigators. We collect the evidence at the scene of a crime and take it to a lab to be processed."
"But you're with the police department."
"...Yes," Sara said, backing up a little bit. "But we're not cops."
The truck driver looked at Catherine and Sara for a moment and then turned to the group of women behind her. They all huddled together like a team at a baseball game discussing their stratedgy. The truck driver turned around and spit to the left of her, crossing her arms across her chest.
Catherine, not wanting to find out what they had planned, walked in front of Sara and folded her hands over one another, backing up towards the door. "Um...again, thank you all. The food was um..." She didn't want to admit that it literally tasted like crap. "Delicious," she said cringing. "We both appreciate everything you've done..." Catherine said. "Really..." Catherine was now moving backwards towards the door more quickly than before as she noticed one of the women making a move.
"Let's go!" Catherine told Sara and they ran out of the building. It took only a moment for the other women in the building to spring into action and chase after them, following them outside. Catherine and Sara ran toward the 18-wheeler. "I'll drive!" Catherine told Sara and jumped into the driver's side seat, slamming the door behind her. Sara nodded and quickly ran to the passenger's side door, throwing it open and trying to get inside.
The women were on her tail, though, and one of them caught her ankle, trying to pull her out. "Damn it!" Sara cursed, holding onto the door frame.
"Shit," Catherine muttered. She crawled across the seats and held her hand out. "Grab my hand and I'll pull you in!" Catherine called to her.
Sara tried her hardest to reach Catherine's hand and finally reached it, holding onto it tightly. "Pull!" Sara yelled to her. Catherine pulled as hard as she could, but she could feel her grip slipping.
"My hand's slipping!" Catherine said.
On top of their grip getting loose, another one of the women had grabbed Sara's other ankle also trying to pull her out. Catherine knowing that she was safe, held her other hand out which Sara grabbed. Now it was like a game of tug-a-war, only Sara was the rope.
Sara felt like she could split in two at any moment. "Cath, this isn't going to work!" Sara yelled.
Catherine shook her head. "No! I'm going to get you inside! Don't you dare let go of my hand, Sara!" Catherine said in a firm tone. "I mean it!"
"Catherine, I can't hold on!" Sara yelled.
"Don't let go!"
"I'm sorry, Catherine!" Sara called before she let go of Catherine's hand and was propelled backwards. Catherine flew backwards into the driver's side door and watched in terror as the women outside carried Sara off.
"Damn it!" Catherine yelled. "Let her go!" Catherine called.
"Get the hell out of here, Catherine!" Sara yelled to her. "Floor it!"
"I'm sure as hell not leaving you here!"
"JUST GO!" Sara yelled, kicking the passenger side door closed. Catherine sighed- there was nothing she could really do, and she was not about to run the risk of trying to run them over seeing as how they were all holding Sara.
"I'm coming back!" Catherine called, her voice muffled from inside the truck. She turned the truck on and slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, truck speeding off. Adjusting the rear-view mirror, she watched as the women carried a thrashing Sara into the building. "Damn," Catherine cursed again. "Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn..."
She had to get Sara back.
One way or another.
