As Jim approached the clearing he was dead tired and groaned when he noticed that the clearing was indeed clear, but the grass was very high and there were shrubberies scattered about. The grass and other flora was so high in fact, he could be kneeling and no one would see him. This meant that he'd have to be standing for anyone to find him. Trouble was, he didn't much have the energy to stand for however long it would take for rescue to come for him. Almost immediately he collapsed in the tall grass, his face in the dirt.
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Sara, Greg and the sheriff continued their search pattern with Sara keeping her eyes on the ground, looking for foot traffic. Given Jim's weight he left some nice indentations in the dirt, some of which was moist. They were still a day or so behind Jim in their trek, but Sara and Greg wouldn't let the other give up. The real problem area was the sheriff; he wanted to turn back and call for back-up, but Sara and Greg were two very determined souls. She tried to think of what Jim would do in her place. She knew he was a smart man and that he was probably a boy scout, so she looked around and had an epiphany. She looked to the sky and thought about looking for a break in the trees. However, she didn't see one, but she figured that's what Jim would do. He would look for a place where he could be seen in plain sight. She told her theory to Greg who took off running. No one knew it, but Greg ran track in high school and as she watched Greg barreling down the path she had a new sense of hope that he would find Jim and come running back. But to look at the trees there was no break in the treetops an any direction. All she knew was that Jim was sticking to the path and she'd follow it wherever it went.
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Back at the lab Grissom was wondering what was taking so long in finding Jim. He knew that Jim was an accomplished woodsman and that he would be found with no trouble at all, but this was why he was worried. He would be out looking for Jim himself, but there was so much catching up that needed to be done. There was a stack of old and current cases on his desk that he couldn't see over them.
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Still face down in the grass, Jim was in and out of consciousness. The sun beat down on him and he had already stripped off everything he could to minimize the heat factor. He was shirtless and had used a sharp stone to cut the fabric of his 1,0000 suit pants and turn them into a pair of shorts. He was vaguely aware of the mosquitoes and ants that were beginning to feast on his exposed flesh. In all truth, he was far too exhausted and delirious to swat them away. Within an hour or two, a small collection of bugs and no-see-ums had began to eat away at him. There were even some snakes that were headed in his direction. When one of the snakes brushed up against his hand, he swept it away and got a bite in the hand for it. Some of the other snakes became agitated and struck him on various parts of the body.
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Overhead a chopper was flying over Sara's position and radioed that they had spotted what looked like a body about a mile and a half from her current position. She took off like a shot and within 20 minutes she had made his position and saw the bug bites and snake bites. She radioed to the chopper that Jim was in bad shape with several snake bites of unknown origin. She couldn't tell exactly what sort of snake bites he had.
When Jim had been found, Sara accompanied him in the chopper along with Greg and the officer. They were dropped back at the house where Greg got out and jumped in the truck. Sara stayed in the chopper, holding Jim's hand.
They flew like mad to the local hospital and on the way Jim was being treated. Within minutes he was hooked up to IV and his snake bites were being tended to with anti-venom.
Jim was taken to the local hospital where he was given antibiotics and a saline drip to hydrate him. He wasn't in the best shape. He had a bad sunburn on his exposed flesh, countless bug bites and other injuries. As for the snakebites, they didn't know what kind of snakes bit him and Jim was little help in that arena. He didn't hear a rattle, so that would most likely rule out any form of rattle snake. Since Jim's bites hadn't become enflamed or swollen, the doctors figured they were not poisonous; that they were probably just garden snakes. Nonetheless, Jim was also given a rabies vaccination as a precaution. In the end he would wind up in hospital for a week and when it was time for him to be discharged Sara was awaiting him with the car parked out front curbside so he could just jump in.
Sara drove Jim to his place, all the while wondering if she should stay, but in the end she would up staying at her place. Granted Jim had been through quite an ordeal and then the week in hospital, she wanted to give him some alone time in the comfort of his own home, where he could relax and recuperate in his own time, without the pressure of a deadline to be back at work. He had taken two weeks vacation time and planned to use every minute of it.
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It was nighttime and the new shift had begun with everyone working the same case. It was a very large house with multiple murders and a lot of ground to cover. Sara and Greg took the upstairs, Catherine and Warrick took the downstairs and Grissom and Nick took the outside.
The upstairs was a mess with blood al over the walls, floor and just about every other surface you could think of. It looked like the bodies and blood had been dragged from room to room, leaving a big bloody trail from room to room; even the guest rooms. Curious thing, though, all the mirrors had been smashed and there was glass everywhere. In the master bedroom the husband and wife were on the floor, laying in pools of blood. In one of the children's room the boy was also on the floor with his head split open and grey matter on the floor. Things had been overturned as if the perp was looking for something. In another bedroom the child was in bed with a large kitchen knife embedded in the back of the neck of the boy. In the girl's room she was still in bed, but had been restrained with her arms and legs tied to the bedposts. She was naked from the waist down and there were obvious signs that she had been raped and sodomized and then killed, but they couldn't tell in which order. In another kid's room there was a set of bunk beds with two boys in bed; both dead. One had been eviscerated and the other had nearly been decapitated.
Downstairs there was a bedroom that was occupied by an elderly woman; most likely a grandmother. Her head had been caved in, most likely with some sort of blunt object. There was blood all over the pillow and bed sheets. The family had three dogs, all of which were dead as well. Whoever killed these people wanted them dead in a big, BIG way; they even killed the house pets.
While Grissom and Nick were outside taking a look and taking lots of fun photos and everyone else was inside the house processing the scene, the hours were ticking by quickly and before anyone knew it it was nearly sun up. They had been processing all night and were more than ready to go back to the lab and take a look at what evidence they'd collected.
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Sitting in his recliner, Jim was listening to the police scanner with a nice tumbler and two fingers of single malt. He wanted to call Sara and chat for a bit, but he knew that she'd have to be busy in the layout room. Truth be told, he missed her voice and wanted her to come over after shift. He picked up his cell phone and dialed hers. He hoped it was turned off so he could just leave a message, but he smiled when she picked up. They spoke briefly and he asked her if she'd come over after shift and she said that she would, which brought a smile to his face. See, he wasn't as happy about the sex that would probably happen; he was more happy that she was coming over and that they could just be close. Maybe they could snuggle up on the couch or sleep for company. He just wanted to have her around.