The usual disclaimer applies. This work is for entertainment only, and I do not own the characters.

CHAPTER 2

"What was that!" Hutch bellowed as he stood on the brakes. The boat of metal squealed and protested the sudden stop. Starsky threw his hands out in front of him hoping to God he did not go through the windshield. He saw her too. A woman had run across the road right in front of the car and was now scrambling up the side of an embankment. Her clothes were torn and stained. She looked so young. The car skidded to the other side of the road and came to a stop another 150 yards down the road.

Starsky was out of the car in a flash, running towards the woman. This obviously was the wrong thing to do as she looked at him in panic and started climbing even harder. Faintly he could hear her crying and a soft "no" every now and then. He stopped running and tried to put on his best "it's ok to trust me" face. He had seen this before with rape victims.

She stumbled over a log or something up ahead. Starsky could see she was weeping. "Please, don't follow me! Don't hurt me anymore!" She screamed, crying uncontrollably.

"It's ok. We are police officers. We can help." Starsky held back, concerned that if he approached too quickly he could in some way hurt her further. She was close to hysteria. Clearly she was afraid of him and Hutch. "We are not going to hurt you…" He gave his best smile, cocked his head a little bit and held out his hand.

"Noooo!" She screamed. She clutched at her torn clothing and scrambled to her feet. She began to back away.

Starsky heard his partner off to his right. He did not want to break eye contact with the young woman. If he could just keep her talking, she might calm down. He sure as heck wasn't going to touch her.

"Starsk, I'm going to go call this in. We're going to need backup."

"Sure. I'm OK. I just hope you can get a response. The mountains are probably going to block the signal." His eyes never left the victim.

"I'll try and then come right back."

"Yeah, go." Turning his attention back to the girl he said, "Hey, it's going to be alright. You're among friends. We can help you. Hey, my name's David. What's yours?" Starsky kept his voice soft and his tone even. His face reflected the concern and honesty in his voice. He took a slow step forward, noting how she flinched and continued sobbing. Suddenly she was off again. He had to climb up the embankment to get to some level ground. He lost sight of her, but could hear her sobs and her footsteps.

He thought what might have happened to her. Rape most probably. These mountains were isolated, and probably more than one victim's cries for help went unheeded up here with no one around to hear them. Well, this one was lucky she had stumbled across their path. There was no way in hell he would let the perpetrator get a hold of her again. She sure could run though. He was in good form, but he still could not see her. She was leading him farther into the woods. Starsky hoped Hutch could find them. Nature Boy would be teased unmercifully by his partner if he couldn't track these footprints.

Starsky stopped and looked around. Where was she? A cliff rose sharply to his right. To his left, there was a meadow thick with tall grasses and a few strapling trees. He was on what looked to be an old path.

"Well, I guess I know which way she went…" he thought to himself. He pushed on. He could hear water running up ahead. A small stream of water flowed down off of the cliff and fell just past the rise up ahead. Good, there might be a creek that flowed down the other side. It was a place that she might have stopped to drink and bath her wounds. Maybe that is why he did not hear her. He slowed his step so as not to startle her. He slowly approached the ridge and peeked over. Nothing. Wait. There she was. The meadow gave way to a new set of cliffs. One cliff dropped down to the path and one fell away from the path. The path now was only a ledge really, with about 15 to 20 feet between cliffs. She was standing near the drop about 500 yards ahead of him.

God. Don't let her jump.

"Hi there. I promise you, I am not going to hurt you. I just want to help. You can trust me." She looked at him with such pain and pity in her eyes. This was the first chance he had to look at her. Her red hair fell to her shoulders, limp and lifeless. It was tangled with bits of leaves and twigs. She looked to be in good shape, although her clothes were in tatters. Rusty stains and sweat marred the simple tee shirt and skirt she wore. She wore hiking boots and looked like she had been attacked while on a hiking trip. Her lip was swollen and her cheek bruised. What had happened to her and the rest of her group? Did she come with a group or on her own? There was no way to tell until she started talking, and she did not look ready to talk.

"My partner and I were just heading home. That's my friend's car you ran in front of. I don't know if you can really call it a car though. It looks like a hunk of junk. Belongs in a junkyard. You think so to don't you. I don't blame you for feeling afraid. I get afraid every time I come close to it too. But it's ok. Even though he drives that disaster of a car, Hutch, that's my partner, he's a good guy. We are not going to hurt you. We just want to help."

She turned her sad eyes away from him and looked out over the cliff. She took a shuddering breath, but she did not move away. Good. Progress. He took a slow, tentative step followed by another.

"Hutch should be coming along any minute now. That was quite a long run. You must be tired. I'm just going to come a little bit closer, don't be afraid."

That got her attention. She began backing away from him and turned to run.

"Wait!" Crap. Here we go again.

He set a slow steady pace behind her. He wasn't going to let her out of his sight again, but he did not want to scare her into doing something drastic. He followed the path and it led around the side of the mountain into a little valley of maybe a couple of miles.

"Wow!" Starsky took in a deep breath. The walls went straight up on every side of the valley. It was an isolated paradise, with waterfalls and boulders and some huge old trees. It was gorgeous!

He could hear Hutch coming down the path. "I couldn't get a signal so I left a note in the car and followed." He yelled. He had just crossed the narrowest part of the path and was coming towards that valley when a deep rumbling sounded just behind him. Holy shit, the mountain was caving in!

"Run Hutch!" Starsky cried.

"Run yourself!" Hutch replied as he sprinted off the ledge and into the valley. They both ran for safety while rocks slid down the cliff taking the path with them. Chips and flakes of stone showered down around them, but the heavy portion of the slide seemed to have struck some ways behind them.

"You OK?" Starsk asked, panting and rubbing his eyes. The dust was horrible.

"Yeah, you?" Hutch grabbed Starsky's shoulder and pointed the way down into the valley. The air was clearer there.

"Dandy. What in the world was that?"

"A rock slide"

"Gee, thanks."

"Anytime."

"I thought I heard an explosion before it started." Starsky stated. He turned to look at the devastation the rockslide had left behind.

"Sometimes rotten rock will crack like that before it falls, but I heard it too."

"You are lucky it didn't bury you."

"Yep, you can just call me Mr. Lucky."

"Ain't neither of us getting lucky this weekend pal. That landslide took the path!" All hopes of salvaging his weekend with Crissy died when he looked at the sheer face of cliff. "It will take forever to get out of here now." He sat down on a log that had once been a very tall tree, but now was a rotting shell.

Hutch got a far away look. "Well, maybe Abby will wait for me…hey, where's that girl?"

Starsky looked around. "She's gone."

"Thank you, Sherlock." Hutch quipped at his partner.

"Anytime Watson." Starsky replied. "Well, she's why we are here in the first place. Let's go find her."

Starsky stood up and then jumped, grabbing at his back.

"I just got bit by a bee! Where are they! Do you see where they are?" He looked around and then turned to look at the log. "I don't see 'em."

Hutch looked at the spot Starsk had grabbed at, and went pale.

"Starsk, stand still a minute." He walked over towards his friend and looked at his back. High on his left buttock a small dart protruded through his jeans.

"What? Is the bee still there! Get it off of me!" He started jumping up and down.

"OK, just hold still there buddy." Hutch reached down and pulled the tiny dart out.

"Ow! That little bugger has quite a bite." Starsky said while rubbing his posterior. "Let's see him."

"It, Starsk, not him." He held up the dart. Starsky stared at it for a second, his face losing all of its animation, and then his eyes met Hutch's. His face went hard.

Hutch pulled his gun and quickly looked around. Seeing nothing, he grabbed a handful of leather and jerked on the arm of his friend's jacket. "Let's get out of the open." Hutch said while guiding his friend deeper into the woods in the valley. Starsky followed without question. There would be time for questions when they reached cover. They were in danger and so far Hutch had not been hit. They had to move quickly.

They had not gotten far when he felt the first flush. His skin tingled. His senses seemed heightened.

Hutch took them on a straight course, opting for speed over cautiousness. He doubted he had much time to find cover before Starsky succumbed to whatever he had been injected with. With his partner depending on him, Hutch didn't want to get hit himself. There wasn't much nearby. He headed towards the trees and was reassured by Starsky's steady gait behind him.

"Here." Hutch took off towards a rock formation. With a large clump of trees on one side, and the rocks on the other, it afforded them some protection on three sides.

Starsky wasn't ready for the quick change in course and he stumbled. His senses were getting screwy. He stopped for a moment, and the world continued to move on him. He felt drunk, but he was beginning not to care. He felt his partner pulling him up. Hutch guided him the rest of the way.

"Do you still have it Hutch?" Starsky asked. He was afraid, but he wasn't. He was beginning to feel so good. He held his hand out.

Hutch looked at his friend. Starsky's arm swayed as he held it out. He knelt down and held out the dart. It was a tranquilizerdart cartridge. Empty. That meant his buddy had taken the full dose of whatever it had contained. It worked fast. He could see the changes in his partner. The running probably helped speed up the effects of whatever the drug was. Hutch was alarmed, but his adrenaline was high and he was firmly in cop mode.

"Well, I guess I'll be sleeping soon." Starsky said, slightly slurring his words. "I feel good though, no pain, good…"

"They didn't get me. Don't worry, I'll look out for you." Hutch steadied his friend while he scanned the cliffs. The sun had passed its zenith, and was on the way down. Darkness would be their friend, however he didn't know the lay of the land, and whoever fired the shot probably did. He needed to find a better place to hole up in and let Starsky ride out whatever he had been shot up with. He studied his friend. Starsky's eyes were glassy, but he was still awake.

"Hey buddy, you still with me?"

"Why?

"Just checking."

"Hey Hutch? I'm hungry. Thirsty too. Send out for beer and pizza."

Hutch snorted. "Sure thing. Give me a minute." He went back to scanning the cliffs. Nothing.

"I'm going for a walk Hutch." Starsky stated, and promptly got up and walked out.

"No, you aren't." Hutch grabbed his friend by the collar and jerked him back towards safety. "You are going to stay right here for now. Understand?"

"Sure." Starsky smiled and sat down. Ten seconds later he was up again. "I'm going for a walk Hutch. It's so pretty here…umph."

Hutch tackled his partner this time. "What are you doing? Trying to get us killed!"

Starsky looked like he could care less. His eyes were dilated and his breathing slow and shallow. He looked like he was in his own little world…oh shit! Hutch looked closer at his friend and was beginning to flash back to a time he would have much rather forgotten.

He hoped to God he was not dealing with what he thought it might be.

But he knew he was.