Disclaimer: See chapter one

A/N I hope this turned out all right. I'm not sure I'm happy with this chapter, but I thought I would post it anyway. Again thank you so much for all your reviews.
EDITED: 7/2019
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Chapter Twelve

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12:07 P.M. Wednesday

Location: Unknown

After hiking for more than five hours Jodee insisted that they stop and rest for more than just a few short minutes. Though they did have to stop several times in the past five hours so Brennan could catch her breath, they would only rest for two or three minutes at a time before moving on again.

Brennan was less than pleased with the lack of progress they were making because of her inability to keep up. Even with the terrain not being all that easy to navigate at times, they should've already been at least three or four miles along, but they were only around two miles from where they had started.

Jodee pulled out some breakfast bars from the overnight bag she had taken from the cabin and handed them out to Linda and Temperance before getting one for herself.

"We should get going," Temperance said after they had all finished eating.

"No. Let's stay here a few more minutes," Jodee protested.

"Yes let's stay. You still look so pale," added Linda as she patted Temperance's arm with a pleading look.

"If we stay in one place very long, we run the risk of being found by our abductor," at hearing that last part Linda and Jodee both gave an inadvertent shiver of fear.

"I don't think two or three more minutes will make a difference," Jodee insisted.

"I'm feeling a lot better now that I have eaten and rested," and surprisingly enough she was feeling better.

Temperance then reached out and rested her hand on Linda's shoulder and looked at Jodee, "I know you're worried about me and I really appreciate that, but you shouldn't be worrying about me. I'll be fine. What you need to keep your energy focused on is getting out of this forest and finding help. As long as you keep going then I will keep going," Temperance said hoping her little pep talk would convince them that they should move on. She wasn't very good at pep talks, but she had picked up a thing or two from Booth over the coarse of their partnership. She didn't think she did too badly.

Temperance stood up and started to grab for her old bag when Linda snatched it up, "I'll carry this. You don't need to."

Slowly Jodee stood up and grabbed the overnight bag, she heaved a defeated sigh, "Ok, so which way do we go now?"

Brennan pulled out her handmade map and studied it for a minute then pointed ahead of them and a little to the left, "I think that is the way we should go."

After walking in silence for fifteen minutes Temperance thought she heard something, she stopped and tried to see if she could hear it again. Jodee rushed to her side clearly thinking that Brennan required some kind of help. She waved her hand at Jodee indicating that she was fine, then she signaled for Jodee and Linda to listen.

They all heard it then, and whatever it was, it was moving fast toward them. All three women rushed to find cover.

They were crouched down in some nearby bushes. Temperance was looking out through the leaves of a bush when she caught a glimpse of a tall man in a dark-blue windbreaker with bold yellow letters on the back run by. She thought she saw FBI on the back of the jacket, but she didn't see it clearly enough to be sure. Then Brennan's heart began to race as she recognized the way the man ran and carried himself, "Booth," she whispered to herself.

She stood up and was going to call out to him when Linda grabbed her arm, "What are you doing?" She urgently whispered and looked at Temperance as if she were crazy or at least too sick to know what she was doing. She pulled her arm away, "I know that man he's a friend of mine, he's with the FBI," she explained in a rush, as her eyes darted back and forth trying to find him, but he was gone. Temperance tried to run but her body would not allow her to move any faster than an uneven jog. She headed off in the same direction that Booth had gone just moments earlier.

After a few minutes of not seeing Booth, Brennan started to cry a little, feeling a bit panicked that she would not be able to catch up with him. If she couldn't find him she and her two companions would have to spend yet another night out in this forest while being hunted by some psycho.

Temperance almost fell as the ground beneath her feet started to slant down. As soon as she regained her balance, she looked up from the ground just in time to see her abductor hit Booth over the head with the butt of his gun. The man then pointed his gun at Booth. Blinding terror gripped her when she saw this, 'I need to do something. There has to be some . . . '

Suddenly an idea came to her, she deepened her voice, so it would sound as masculine as possible, "This is the FBI put your weapon down and step away from the agent," The man's head snapped up and his gaze darted back and forth trying to locate where the voice was coming from but was unable to.

Temperance and her two companions were well hidden behind the trees and bushes. When the man didn't make a move to do either of the things she had ordered him to do, she continued, but this time a little more forcefully, "Put your weapon down and step away from the man. If you do not put down your weapon, we will be forced to shoot. Now put your weapon down and step away!"

The man seemed to listen this time he slowly lowered his gun, but at the last second, he spun around and ran away. Temperance was about to sigh in relief when she heard a loud pop behind her. She spun around ready to defend herself against whatever threat was behind her and to see where the noise was coming from.

What Temperance saw was Jodee throwing little round balls with gunpowder in them up against a rock. They would explode when they hit the heard surface. She glanced back to where Booth and the man were, but only Booth was there the man was nowhere to be seen.

Tempe held her hand to her chest, trying to calm herself and slow her heart rate. She looked back to Jodee and gave her a weird little smile. Jodee slowly made her way to Brennan nervously babbling with Linda close behind her, "Ithoughtifwedidn't,youknow . . . followthrough," Jodee was talking so fast that she was running her words together, and Temperance was only able to understand every other word.

"What . . . " Temperance was cut off.

Jodee again was talking very fast."Theyweremyson' .He' ..." Jodee continued to babble.

Temperance stepped forward and gently grabbed her arm, "It's ok. That was a smart thing you did. I'm glad you thought of it."

Jodee instantly stopped talking. Temperance was anxious to get down to where Booth was and see if he's ok or not, but at the same time, she didn't want to leave Jodee while she was so unsettled.

"I have to go see if he is hurt. Will you be Ok?" Temperance asked. Jodee nodded her head. She hardly waited for Jodee to reply before she bolted down the hill to Booth. She was running on adrenalin so when she fell to her knees next to Booth she hardly felt the pain ripping through her side.

"Booth? Booth, can you hear me?" Temperance called to him, but he didn't move. She shook him gently, still nothing, then she shook him a little harder, but he just wouldn't respond. That scared her more then she'd like to admit.

Temperance gently moved Booth's head so she could see where the man had hit him. There was a huge gash on the side of his head and it was bleeding heavily, she quickly checked the rest of him for any other injuries, but didn't find any. While she was checking him, she noted that he still had both his weapons. She took his back up Piece from his ankle holster and put it in the waistband of her pants then pulled her shirt down over it.

Soon Linda and Jodee had made it to where she and Booth were. Linda lightly tapped Brennan's shoulder, Temperance looked up at her, "I need something to stop the bleeding."

Linda dropped the bag she was holding and rummaged through it to find something. She came out with a pocket knife she then grabbed a blanket from the overnight bag and cut off one of the corners. Linda handed Temperance the piece of cloth. She pressed the cloth firmly to the gash on Booth's head, "Booth? Seeley? Wake up we . . . "all three women's heads shot up when they heard something move close by. Thankfully it was just an animal.

"We need to get out of here. He still might come back," Jodee stated as she scanned the area cautiously.

Temperance nodded her head, "Your right, but I need to find something to keep this cloth secure while we are moving him. Linda, can you hand me the little blue box out of my bag?" Linda handed her the now mostly depleted first-aid kit from the bag. Brennan looked through the kit and found an ace bandage. Linda cut another piece off the blanket, Booth had already bled through the other cloth. They put the fresh cloth on the wound before wrapping up his head with the ace bandage. She wanted to clean the wound out, but they didn't have the time or enough water to do it with.

Temperance hooked her arms under Booth's shoulders, "Ok let's go."

Linda rushed forward and pulled Temperance away from Booth, "You can't lift him."

Jodee then stepped forward and put her arm under one of Booth's shoulders as she got ready to lift him, "She's right you'll just hurt yourself worse. Just let Linda and I move him. OK?"

Temperance gave in, "Ok, but I'll carry the bags then." she picked up the bag Linda had dropped.

She then tried to take the other one bag from Jodee, but Jodee wouldn't let her take it, "This bag is too heavy I'll carry it."

Temperance still held onto the bag, "No, you can't drag him and carry the bag. You will hurt yourself and then we will have three people down. We need to be able to defend ourselves properly if that man finds us before we can get help. I'll be fine, so please just give me the bag." Jodee reluctantly let go of the bag.

Linda and Jodee struggled with dragging Booth for more than two hours before they found a suitable hiding place. As so as they put Booth down Jodee run back over their path and covered their tracks.

Temperance had long since run out of steam her legs felt like jell-O, her side was on fire, she was woozy, and her vision was graying a little around the edges. She wobbled a little on her feet before she fell to her knees. Linda quickly made her way over to her. Brennan was swaying and there was very little color in her face at all. Linda lightly pushed Temperance so she would lie down, then touched her hand to Temperance's forehead, "Your fever has gotten worse. How are you feeling?"

She shifted to get more comfortable, and gave Linda a wobbly half-smile, "Like I've been shot."

Linda was about to say something when they heard Booth groan. Temperance tried to sit up so she could go to him, but Linda pushed her back down, "No. You just lie down. I'll take care of him," Relucktently she relaxed and laid back down. Linda smiled at her, "He means a lot to you doesn't he?"

"He's my partner," Temperance replied then closed her eyes. Linda went and sat down by Booth and started to clean out the wound on his head.

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So was that chapter Ok, tell me what you think.