I hope there are people reading this, would love to know if you are! Thank you if you did leave a review. Sorry this chapter is a little short, the next chapter is a much longer - I will try to post it either tomorrow night or Monday. :)

Chapter Three

Sweat dripped down my skin as the sun beat down on us; I had left my leather jacket and rucksack behind an hour or so ago, unable to take the weight any longer. Catherine still had a hold on my hand, the contact of comfort to us both as we silently made our away towards Spring Valley State Park in the hope we would either find someone on the way, or that people would be at the park if we ever reached it.

I tried to calculate how many miles we had walked but numbers didn't seem to make sense in my head anymore. I knew my watch read 11 but I could no longer work out what that even meant. The hottest part of the day was fast approaching, I knew that much, as my skin was beginning to redden. Catherine had tried to roll up her white shirt sleeves in attempt to get some air to her skin but I had rolled them back down, at least the white of her shirt would reflect the sun's heat.

I brushed my thumb across the back of Catherine's hand and she looked at me.

"If it wasn't for you I would be dead by now." she whispered.

"No. You're a fighter." I told her.

"I don't feel like it." Tears filled her eyes; she was starting to give up.

I stopped walking and turned to face to. "You are strong and together we're going to get through this." The tears in her eyes spilled down her cheeks and I wiped them away with my thumbs. "Don't you dare give up on me, Catherine. Don't you dare give up on Lindsey."

"I want to go home." she cried.

"Then we need to keep walking. I'm sure Grissom will have realized we're in trouble by now and sent someone out to find us. It won't be long now," I placed a kiss on her forehead and pulled away to look at her, hoping she could see the hope in my eyes and it may encourage her to keep going.

She slid her fingers into my hair and placed a soft, lingering kiss on my lips. Our mouths were so dry I could barely feel her kiss, but it made my heart surge and when she pulled away I slipped my arm around her waist and we carried on walking.

My eyes struggled to remain open as I pulled one foot in front of the other, only being able to focus now on remaining upright. My breathing was heavy and I had no idea where Catherine was, only that I could feel her next to me. The walk was now an endless trek and I felt desperately sad that this would be the end for us both, that I hadn't saved her. I felt Catherine's body give way next to mine and I crouched down next to her in the sand to help her to her feet.

"Catherine, wake up. Don't do this to me." I was sobbing but no tears came from my eyes, I was too dehydrated. "Don't leave me."

She didn't stir and with every bit of energy I could muster I slipped my arms under her body and rose to my feet with her in my arms. My legs buckled slightly at the increased weight but I soon regained control and carried on walking.

Every step I took was agony but I knew I couldn't stop. If I stopped then we would both die here and I wasn't going to let that happen. I tried counting to take my mind off the burning pain that was shooting through my feet from the open wounds that had developed on the soles of my feet from the rough tarmac, but I had no sense of numbers or time or space anymore. All I could see was the yellow of the desert and the black of the road ahead.

"Come on... come on..." I urged myself to keep going, over and over again, between heavy breaths as my body struggled to maintain the physical effort I was placing it under.

Soon, although I had no idea how soon it was from when Catherine had collapsed, I saw a flicker of light in the distance and I tried to focus my eyesight to work out what it was. It was coming towards us.A car.

We were saved.

I felt my knees collapse and placed Catherine down next to me as the world span and darkness descended.