Hey all! This is a relatively short chapter, by my standards, but I couldn't resist ending it where I did. Lol. You'll see. I do plan another update sometime this week, providing all of my plans go as they're supposed to.
My wonderful beta/awesome fanfic goddess is still not around to proofread, so consider this another opportunity to see how horrible my writing is without any outside suggestions. Lol.
Please let me know what you think. I'm a total reply whore.
Jenny
Chapter Two:
"Make one move, and I"ll blow your brains out."
Sara instinctively squeezed her eyes shut, taking a deep breath. The cold object dug further into her neck, pointing upward towards her skull and she could distinctly feel the barrel of the gun digging into her skin. A shot from this range would leave only trace amounts of powder on her neck, the bullet hole outlined by bruising of the barrel. Her head, on the other end of the blast, would be a disaster. The force of the shot would push everything up towards the exit point, and more likely than not, half of her skull would be splattered throughout the room.
It would, however, be painless. Her brain stem would be blown to pieces, and without it, she would die instantly. As she shivered with the thought, the gun was pressed harder against her skin.
"I want you to slowly walk with me into the basement. Do you understand? Do not make a sound, or I will shoot you."
Sara nodded, her body shaking despite her attempts to appear calm. Taking a steadying breath, she made small steps towards the basement door, gasping as he roughly pushed her down the stairs. She landed on the cold cement floor with a whimper, shakily rising to her feet as the door at the top of the stairs slammed shut, the distinct clicking of a lock following it.
Her mind was racing as she tried to come up with some sort of plan. She quickly pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, dialing Grissom's number, but getting no answer. She dialed Brass's next, getting no answer on his as well. She was about to give up and just dial 911 when she heard footsteps approaching the door. Quickly turning the phone to 'silent' she hid it beneath the stairs. She had just sat back down on the cold floor when Victor Michelli entered, dragging Greg behind him.
He tossed a limp Greg to the floor and stood over Sara, anger blazing in his eyes, "You nosy CSIs, always digging around into everything. One wrong move, Sidle, and both you and the kid get it." He said coldly, motioning to Greg.
"If we don't return to the lab, cops will be swarming this place." Sara said defiantly, crossing her arms, "You're taking a huge risk."
"Leave that for me to worry about, sweetheart." Victor said softly, running her hand along her cheek, "And don't you worry, I'll take good care of you."
Before either realized it was happening, Sara took a swing at Victor, sending him to the floor with the first hit. He quickly retaliated, grabbing her legs and sending her toppling to the floor beside him. They both exchanged blows for a few minutes until Sara couldn't go on any further.
She curled into a ball, coughing and crying as he kicked her several times in the ribs. He turned to walk towards the stairs, but stopped when he heard her pull herself into a sitting position. He lunged on top of her once more, releasing his fury on her already frail body, Once she slipped out of consciousness, he stood, wiping her blood onto his shirt as he angrily walked to the door, slamming it shut behind him.
As the lock clicked in place, Greg started to come to. The first thing he saw was blood smeared on the pavement. Almost immediately, he turned to see Sara's beaten body carelessly left on the floor, bruises already starting to form on her pale, bloody skin.
Almost afraid to touch her, Greg bit back his tears, gently caressing her cheek, "Sara, baby?"
She remained still and silent, and with shaking hands, he felt her neck for a pulse, sighing audibly with relief once he found one. He rolled her onto her side, placing a kiss gently on her forehead before digging through his pockets to see what he had available to him. He cursed softly as he realized that Victor must have emptied his pockets. Keeping a close eye on Sara, Greg began to search the room with trembling hands, looking for something that could be used as either a weapon or a tool for escape.
Just as he was about to give up, he heard a slight buzz coming from beneath the staircase. He spotted the cell phone, and flooded with relief, he quickly answered the call, barely looking at the caller id.
"Grissom? It's Greg. Can you hear me? Grissom?" The line was too fuzzy for Greg to understand what Grissom was saying, and before he was able to try to move for better reception, the line went dead. With a quiet curse, Greg clenched his fists, pacing the room nervously.
He heard footsteps overhead just as he got an idea. He quickly typed in a text message to Grissom, 'Help. Suspect on location. Basement. -GS' He pressed send as the lock began to turn, and quickly dove to his prior position on the floor, shutting his eyes as the door opened.
Greg held his breath as footsteps descended the stairs, praying that he hadn't left something out of place that would indicate he had awakened. He let out a relieved breath as the footsteps ascended the stairs once more, the door shutting and locking behind him. A few seconds later, a buzzing sound could be heard from beneath the stairs once more.
Scrambling to the phone, he saw Grissom's response, 'Help on the way. Anyone hurt?'
Suddenly weak and exhausted, Greg wanted to do nothing more than go home, curl up in bed with his girlfriend, and sleep for a week. Forcing himself to remain coherent, he replied, 'Sara. Send medics. -GS'
Sliding the phone into his pocket, Greg moved back to Sara, once again feeling her pulse. Laying closely to her, Greg whispered, "Help is on the way, I won't let him hurt you again."
--
Greg opened his eyes, his head throbbing. He brought a hand to the back of his head, where a definite knot was forming from where Victor had hit him earlier. His stomach turned and he found himself taking deep breaths, hoping to keep his nausea at bay. He glanced down at his watch, seeing that nearly three hours had passed since the last time Victor had come downstairs.
Soon the nausea was too much to handle and he rolled onto his side, weakly bringing up his previous meal, tears filling his eyes. After he was finished, he rolled back onto his back, whimpering softly. He liked to think of himself as strong, but as emotions surged through him, he found himself wishing someone was around to hold his hand and tell him things would be okay.
The throbbing in his head intensified as he slowly sat up, and through waves of pain, he came to the realization that he probably had a concussion. Digging the phone out of his pocket, he looked to see if any new messages had arrived. His eyes widened as he saw he had missed 27.
He checked Sara's pulse again, relieved to find it still stable, and crawled to the wall, sitting against it as he began to read through the messages. All were of concern and support, from all of the team members, reassuring them that they were on their way and they had a plan. What it failed to mention, however, was when that plan would occur.
Woozily typing a message to Grissom reading only 'when?', Greg let his head rest against the wall while he tried to listen for any outside sounds.
The house was silent, except for the hum of the cell phone as a new text message came through. Opening it, he could only groan. 'Soon' came Grissom's response, followed by a message from Nick, which read 'Hang in there'.
As Greg was tiredly making his way back to Sara, the lights flickered. He took her hand into his, squeezing it gently, "Sara, baby, wake up."
Tears filled his eyes as he brought her hand to his face, sobbing, "Sara, please, wake up. You have to be okay. Please, wake up!"
She remained still as the overhead light flickered again, this time sending them both into a still, quiet, darkness. Cradling his girlfriend in his arms, he couldn't help but wonder where the hell everyone was, and when they were going to come to their rescue.
His thoughts, however, were interrupted as a loud blast filled the air around them. The house shook with the force, and in an act of desperation, Greg through his already wounded body on top of Sara's, screaming loudly as debris began to drop around them.
The basement filled with dust and dirt as support beams and flooring from the rest of the house began to collapse. Greg's screams and prayers were the only sound as he tried as best as he could to protect himself and his girlfriend. As the chaos ended, only silence filled the air.
TBC