Alright, chapter nine! We hope you guys are still liking it, and feel free to leave reviews! Reviews are good! :)
JJ found herself on flat ground again, and she quickly wiped off her eyes. After a few more calming breaths she managed to start moving forward. She tried to move her mind back to the present, to Brandon. She had to find him. He existed. She had to get out of this infernal hospital and get back to him.
She looked around the darkness, waiting for her eyes to adjust and for her hands to stop shaking. She reached out and found one of the walls, slowly walking forward and using the wall to guide her. Her fingers ran into something jutting out of the wall, and she quickly identified it as a doorknob. She slowly turned it and opened the door, still seeing nothing but darkness inside. After a few very tentative steps, something very thin hit her forehead.
Her nerves being so strong at the moment, she immediately ducked and swung out at whatever it was. She grabbed onto it and slowly came to the realization that it was just a light cord. She let out a little sigh of relief, scolding herself for being so on edge. She had to treat this just like she was on a case; she had to stay cool and calm.
JJ gently pulled on the cord, harsh light hitting her eyes. She squinted against it for a few seconds, her still slightly damp eyes starting to water again. Once she was able to see a bit, she looked up and saw something very strange. The room looked like it was storage, with some old chairs stacked up against the walls. But someone had dragged one solitary table directly into the middle of the room.
And stranger yet, someone had laid things out on it, things that would certainly help her right at the moment. A flashlight, a granola bar, a bottle of water, a zip up sweatshirt, and even a small pocket knife. She slowly looked around the room again, wondering why the things she might need were all just there for her. She assumed it had to be some sort of trap for her or something. What were the odds they would just be there?
Her stomach gave a loud grumble, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since that morning. She delicately picked up the granola bar, examining it to make sure it wasn't poisoned or anything awful like that. Deeming it to be alright, she ripped the wrapper off and gave it one last sniff, before hungrily beginning to eat it. She examined the water, deeming it to be safe as well and taking a few sips. She moved over to the flashlight, flicking it on and off a few times to see it work. She inspected it, too before deciding that it was safe to use.
The sweater she looked over and then pulled on, as it was quite cold in the drafty basement. She then turned her attention to the pocket knife. What was she going to do with that? Why had someone left it there, assumingly for her to find? She fingered it where it lay on the table, pulling out the blade and looking at it. It was then that it hit her.
It wasn't just any pocket knife. It was Brandon's pocket knife. The one she had just bought him for their anniversary. The one that she had gotten engraved for him.
That was it. He must have been down here at some point; he had carried the knife with him ever since she had gotten it for him a few weeks ago. He had protested when she had given it to him, saying it was much too expensive and that she really didn't have to get him anything like that. But she had insisted that it was no problem, and he had agreed to carry it with him.
And yet here it is, sitting on a table all by itself, no Brandon in sight, she thought desperately. She fingered the small letters on the blade, tears almost threatening to overwhelm her again for a few seconds. But she took another deep breath and pocketed the knife, grabbing the flashlight and water bottle, setting back out into the hallway.
She switched the flashlight back on and began to make her way down the long hall, thinking. His pocket knife was in this basement. He had to be in this basement. For a few seconds she debated calling out, but she quickly realized that that would be an incredibly stupid move.
And then, very suddenly, she was falling. Something had tripped her, and she was pitched head first towards the ground. And somehow, out of nowhere, a bright shower of sparks was sent down towards her.
She managed to catch herself before she fell, though it was a close thing. She had thrown her hand out wildly, and she had managed to catch onto a doorknob off to her left. It had jerked at her shoulder slightly, and she winced as she dropped the flashlight and her other hand came in contact with the floor.
She quickly righted herself, rubbing at her now sore shoulder and grimacing. She suddenly smelled something burning, and with horror she realized that the sparks that had just flown down at her had ignited the leg of the scrubs she was dressed in. She started to feel the heat against her skin, and she froze for a fraction of a second before flinging herself down and wildly picking up the water bottle she had thankfully brought with her. She quickly screwed open the cap and poured the water over her leg, sighing in relief as the flame went out.
She lay against the wall for a few seconds, catching her breath, before she started checking her leg. She had a pretty large burn on her calf, though it wasn't very serious. She stood up again, testing her leg to see if she could stand on it. To her pleasure, it didn't bother her all that much, and she didn't even walk with a limp as she made her way over to the flashlight, which had rolled across the floor.
She made her way back to where she had tripped; shining the flashlight around to see if she could find out what she had tripped over. It quickly became clear to her that she had tripped over a trip wire. Which was rigged up to an electrical circuit hooked up near the ceiling, obviously able to shoot sparks down when activated.
So there were traps for her down here. She smiled grimly. That must mean that there was something down here that someone didn't want her to find. Brandon, perhaps? She decided to keep moving, but walked much more carefully now, checking the ground every few feet.
Up ahead a ways, she suddenly spotted a light shining out of one of the rooms. The door was open just a crack, enough for a sliver of light to escape. She carefully approached it, checking every inch of the floor and the walls in front of her as she went. Finally reaching the door, she felt her FBI training kick in. She pushed open the door quickly, looking inside and scanning the room. Finding it empty, she began to move inside, but her progress was quickly stopped by something swinging down towards her. It looked like… a knife? Taped to a single crutch?
Thankfully, her reflexes kicked in again and she was able to dodge it, though she ended up bumping into a large pile of what looked to be old medical equipment. It all went cascading to the floor with a loud bang, and she winced at the noise. She looked back to the crutch and nearly laughed at how absurd it looked, though she realized that had she not moved she most likely would have been stabbed in the chest. She was just turning back to the clutter now all over the floor, when she heard something that stopped her dead in her tracks.
"Hello? Is someone there?" a voice called through another door on the other side of the room. But not just any voice.
"Brandon?" she asked wildly, almost not daring to believe it.
"Jaye? Is that you?" he asked back, sounding relieved. JJ almost burst into happy tears right then. She kicked everything on the floor out of her way, running over and flinging that door open. He was sitting inside a small room, and he had been restrained. There were ropes around his arms, legs, and torso.
"Oh my god," she breathed out, immediately beginning to rush over to him. But she was suddenly stopped by something quite heavy smashing down on the back of her head. She fell again, though this time it was almost in slow motion. She wanted to turn around and see what had hit her, but blackness was starting to creep around the edges of her vision. She instead stared at Brandon, who was… still smiling? Before she knew anything else, the blackness totally obscured her vision and she fell into unconsciousness.
Uh oh... little cliffhanger. What did you guys think? Let us know! :D