Chapter 7
The Dash
Aaron knelt by Spencer and turned him onto his back. He cupped Spencer's face in his hands.
"Spence! What the hell happened?"
Spencer was breathing rapidly and harshly. Aaron felt his pulse, which was too fast. He took Spencer's hands.
"Spence!"
Then he saw the holes in his hand.
There was no time. He had to hurry.
He lifted Spencer and carried him into the living room and laid him on the floor, his bitten hand resting on a chair. He ran back to the bathroom and collected his tie, which he wrapped around Spencer's wrist and up his arm, to slow the spread of the toxin. He quickly got dressed. This was urgent. He had to get help for Spence. There was no time for an ambulance. He would have to drive.
He pulled a blanket off the bed and wrapped it tightly around Spence's body.
Spencer moaned faintly, tried to hold his hand up to Aaron, but his body wouldn't obey his brain. He was hurting, trying to speak, but the sounds he made were sounds of pain and confusion. He felt Aaron touching him, speaking to him. He needed to warn Aaron. Tell him about the snake, but he couldn't. He felt cold and he felt the blanket Aaron was wrapping him in.
Please Aaron. I need to speak to you. Aaron, listen. You are in danger. Please listen…..
He felt Aaron holding his hurt hand.
Leave me Aaron. I am going to die. Just get out of here, My Aaron, you are in such danger. Please, Aaron. Get away! Why won't you listen! Just get away!
Aaron picked Spencer up off the desk. He carefully carried him out of the apartment, holding him close to his chest, his arms wrapped protectively around him.
He looked for the snake as he ran down the hall to the apartment door.
He had seen how Spencer's hand was already showing necrosis. He had to get him help straight away.
Spencer was trying to speak. Aaron kissed his lips as he carried him to the car.
"Spence, don't try to speak. I'm getting you help. You will be ok."
Aaron was shaking. He didn't know if Spence would be ok; he was so under weight, he was so vulnerable.
He opened the back of his car and laid Spencer across the back seat, making sure his bitten hand was higher than his heart. The hand was blackening, swelling. He had to hurry.
Spencer moaned and flung his arms out as Aaron moved away from him.
"Spence lay quietly. I'm taking you to get help. Keep breathing, Spence. It won't be long, you will be ok."
Aaron got in the driver's seat and started the engine, all the time, talking to Spencer, keeping him awake.
Spencer moaned and whimpered on the back seat. He couldn't feel his arm now, except for burning sensation, tingling, as if thousands of needles were sticking in him. He felt his heart beating; it seemed to shake his body with every beat. The pain was getting bad. He wanted Aaron to hold him as he died. He tried to call him, to come back. He didn't want to be alone.
He tried to speak, but could only groan in agony.
Aaron, where are you? I need you so now. Please hold me while I die. Please hold me…..
Aaron drove frantically, madly. He had to get Spence help, although in the back of his mind, he was terribly afraid it was already too late. He could hear Spence in the back, he was still alive. He wanted Spence to not cry out in pain, but if he stopped, Aaron knew it could be because he had died.
Aaron was crying, so frightened that he was losing Spencer, and not holding him. His instinct told him to stop the car and love him while he died in his arms, but there was still a chance that he would get help in time.
"Oh Spence! Hang on, hang on! Please, if you can hear me, just keep breathing. Remember I love you, just keep breathing for me!"
Spencer could hear Aaron's voice a long way off. Why wasn't he with him? Spencer felt his stomach twist. He couldn't move his head. He vomited and coughed, his chest tightening, breathing difficult. He let out a cry of pain, his body seized; he stiffened, and rolled into the foot well.
Aaron stopped the car.
"Sweetheart, Spencey!" Aaron so gently held him until the convulsion ended, buried his face in Spencer's damp hair.
"Just hold on, please, Love." Aaron cried. "You're going to make it!"
Spencer was hot and fevered. Aaron took the blanket and put it under Spencer's head. He checked the bitten hand, the blackness and necrosis was spreading. He ensured that the hand was held up, and started driving again. Spencer was quiet now. Aaron was frightened.
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Morgan had spent the night at the BAU. He was on early in the morning, and he hadn't finished until late.
As soon as he woke, called Hotch's mobile. There was no answer, so he called Reid's. Both phones rang, but neither was answered.
He felt a tightening in his stomach. He was uneasy they were not answering their phones, and both phones were just ringing.
He half expected them to come into the BAU today, to look at the results he had found. He wanted to check what they were going to do.
He had written it up in an official report, because, although this was something he was doing in his own time, this was very likely to become official.
He tried the mobiles again.
Still nothing.
Morgan came to a decision.
He picked up the report and left the building.
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Aaron was driving too fast. He knew that. But these roads were usually pretty empty. Spencer's place was outside of Quantico, and even at this time of day, the roads were quiet.
Aaron swung the car around the bends in the road. The road was narrow here, the river on one side, and the rocky wall on the other.
"Spence, Sweetheart, not long now. Just hold on, Spencey. Keep breathing."
Aaron tapped the brake as he swung around a right hand bend. The car didn't slow.
He pressed the brake hard.
Still nothing.
Aaron gripped the wheel. He felt suddenly very afraid. A horrible sick feeling overwhelmed him. He had no brakes. He needed to get to into Quantico; he needed to get Spence some help.
He swerved around the next corner, the tyres squealing on the tarmac. Aaron swung the wheel the other way, as the car picked up speed on the short downhill stretch.
"We're going to make it, Spence." He said the words, but he didn't believe them
It had been too late for Spence before they even left the apartment, of that he was sure.
"We're going to make it!"
Desperately trying to keep the car on the road, Aaron slewed the car sideways around the next curve.
He saw the car coming the other way too late to do anything. It was coming straight towards him. Aaron pressed his foot on the useless brakes, turning the wheel to the right, trying to get onto his side of the road, out of the path of the oncoming car.
Aaron lost his fragile control of the vehicle. As the car left the road, Aaron looked into the eyes of the other driver.
Morgan.
He tried to swerve his car out of Aaron's path.
Aaron's car bounced over the verge, and plunged forward into the fast flowing river. Aaron's head hit the steering wheel, and he lost consciousness
Someone was watching as the car slowly filled with water, and sank beneath the murky surface.