Title: Fall to Earth

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or its characters. I'm just a fan

Author's note: Once again, a big 'thank you' goes out to all those who reviewed or added this story to their alert or favourite list.

To Bene (I had this unexplainable joy to see that you were the 'guest' who reviewed the previous chapter. I remembered you and your reviews from the other story I wrote (In Hell With Love). You always had something nice to say after I post a chapter. Sorry if I've disappointed you with the lack of updates. I'll do my best to keep writing for you. You inspire and motivate me with your review :) ), sydcasy (Haha. Yeah, it's a hard landing and a terrible fall for the CSIs, but they can take it. They're tough. Let's see what they'll do to survive this.), kr3ativ23 (Good observation with the radio. I'm going to play around with them in the later chapters. For all we know, the radio may play an important part in their survival *minor spoiler*. Hope you'll like this update.), AA – MamaBirdCat (I'm glad this story got you hooked, and I hope to make this story more exciting for you in the later chapters. Just to answer your question: Catherine had been with Warrick till the day he died and she had support and the rest of the CSIs around her during that time. Sara, on the other hand, was away and the last time she saw Warrick was on the day she left. She might have called or communicated in some other way, but it's definitely not the same as being with someone you care about in person. Guilt, regret, loss... you name it, Sara is probably feeling it. I'm not saying that Catherine is immune to the depression that death brings, but she is one step ahead of Sara in terms of dealing with the loss. Hope that clarifies things a little :) thank you for your awesome review.), RockWench (Thank you for your reviews. This story might get little more angsty, but I'll try not to go overboard. Thanks again).

An action-packed chapter awaits... keep calm and read on :)

Chapter 4

Wakey wakey, Ms Sidle. How are we doing today?

She never knew she could feel such pain. The wound on her leg hurts so bad, like someone had burned a hole through her jeans, skin, muscle and bone. She cried out.

My… you don't look so good. I got something that will perk you right up. How about a game? I'm sure you'll like that.

She felt dizzy and with the ringing in her ears, she watched the raindrops fall from the dark, grey skies. She couldn't feel the cool drops of water, like she wanted to. Her body felt like as if it was on fire.

Don't worry; it's an easy one. I'm sure someone as intelligent as you will catch on really quickly.

She could smell the odour of gasoline. From a distance, the black smoke merged into the clouds, becoming part of the sky. The green leaves swayed as if to avoid each drop of rain, as their brown branches moved with the wind.

There is only one rule for you to abide by, and that is to survive for as long as you can. I'll have my own rules to follow. The game ends when you get caught, and… as you already know Ms Sidle… I'm really good at this game…

He enunciated each word of his last phase, stretching each syllable in a mocking, annoying manner. She despised the way he said it. She could feel her tears forming, her emotions hung at the back of her throat, as she wondered how she's going to get out of this one.

Life is a game, Ms Sidle. So fight for your life…

And see if you're worth it.

Grissom was aimlessly pacing in front of the window that overlooked the city of Las Vegas. The lights that often reminded him of Christmas in the middle of the year had been reduced to a coloured blur, like a dream in which his eyes refused to open. His hands were wet from the constant rubbing of the glass, which within seconds fogged up again, as if mocking his attempts to see what's going on outside. He sighed. The rain had made it impossible to see anything. He could feel the chill of the heartless icy downpour, despite the fact that he was standing behind the double-paned glass window of their building. He could only wonder what it was like for them.

Grissom couldn't help but worry for the last hour or so as he watched the weather getting steadily worse. The helicopters carrying part of his CSI team were supposed to be back hours ago. Radioing them would prove useless, as the heavy downpour would interfere with the radio's frequencies. For now, the only thing he could do is to wait, hoping and praying that he's worrying for nothing.

"They're not back yet?"

He turned around to see Greg walking towards him, his shoes making a wet 'squishing' sound wherever he took a step across the polished floor. Vegas's so-called dry spell was officially over, Grissom thought. And it was just his luck to authorise a search on the day that turned out to be the biggest storm the city had seen in a long time. The younger CSI stood beside his boss, watching the shadows of rain from the glass roll down his face, as the non-existent sun set behind the grey clouds.

"…I thought I better check-in with you to see if you had heard from Sara and Nick." Greg explained nervously.

"Not yet." Grissom replied as he gently shook his head. "They could be held up somewhere. Hopefully they'll be able to find somewhere to land and seek shelter. The weather's getting worse."

Greg took a step forward and looked to the sky behind the safety of the window. The clouds loomed heavily above, an unnatural dull grey that changed its tone like the seconds on the clock. Lighting flashed from behind the veil of the canvas sky, adding to this nagging feeling that he was unable to shake off.

"Heard their suspect is a real jerk," he said, still fixated to the heavens. "Have you tried the radio?"

"Tried that, but the storm keeps getting in the way—" Grissom's words stopped abruptly, as he heard the sound of whirling blades over the pattering of the rain. Wiping another spot of the glass, he spotted the dark unsteady silhouette of a huge mechanical bird heading their direction.

"Looks like they're back." Greg heaved a sigh of relief as Grissom held his breath. "Grissom?"

Grissom moved from side to side within the radius of clear spot that was rapidly disappearing. An unexpected sense of dread crept up the back of his spine and stayed frozen at the back of his head.

"Something's wrong." He said, as Greg wiped his sleeve across the surface of the glass and stuck his nose to the window.

"There's only one… Where's the other chopper?"

Where on earth is that chopper? Nick thought to himself as he wandered around in the forest. He had been so hell bent on searching for Sara that he hadn't noticed where he was going. When he finally decided to head back to get his bearings straight, the weather had destroyed his trail and left him alone, with the darkness closing in. Irritation tingled in his body, all the way to his fingertips, as he couldn't comprehend how stupid he was. Rookie mistake. Hikers had lost their way and lives because of mistakes like these. His only hope was to find a road or a stream and pray—with all his might—that the team would be able to locate it on the map once the radio's back in working condition.

He looked at his watch. He had been searching for about 4 hours now. The victim they're looking for has only about one hour to live. Or less… he wasn't really sure. Sara would be pissed, He imagined. She would definitely blame him for looking for her instead of the victim. He's sure she'll understand—once he explained it to her—considering that he didn't really have much of a choice. He reached for his radio for the umpteenth time, one for each quarter of an hour, trying his luck from time to time. But this time, instead of calling Brass, he decided to challenge the weather and changed the frequency to the lab.

"Grissom. It's Nick." He said with a sense of dismay.

"I think we have a problem…" He laughed to himself. "I'm sure you've already figured that out. I'm fine, by the way… but Sara's nowhere to be found…"

The radio stared back at him, the speakers in his ears sat silently, attempting to comfort him with a short buzzing static at end of each transmission.

Nothing. He looked at the back of his radio, only to find a giant crack at the back, circuits exposed. His radio is broken and all this while, he has been talking to no one but himself.

Lose the radio, you'll only lose the long range communications...

Nick clenched his fist. All that energy that he had been conserving since the crash boiled within the pit of his stomach, and blended uncomfortably with the air he was sucking into his body. "No…" he said, not knowing what he was rejecting, exactly. "Damn it! No!"

His shout echoed around the dark forest and he slammed his fists against tree. Several layers of dead bark fell from its trunk that towered above the forest floor. In the distance he heard insects and frogs calling back to him in a complex battle cry. Either they were lost too, or fighting each other to the death. Nick didn't care which.

I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you. Great job hero... The feeling of self loathing came back as he remembered what he said to Sara a few hours ago. Before getting into the helicopter with him, she assured him that she had forgiven him, and forgotten the words he had said out of impulse that hurt her so badly. He knew she was lying for his sake.

"Do you think for a moment, if Warrick was still alive, he would have let you go?

Who could ever forget something like that?

He basically told her that her idea of saving someone was the worst thing ever by using name was a friend who passed away not too long ago and whom she misses with all her heart.

Words can kill. He did not know if he would have forgiven her if the tables were turned. Then again, he knew that Sara would never say something like that to him. He's failing not only as a CSI partner, but a friend too.

As he leaned against the tree, wondering what to do next, a pair of yellow eyes flickered into glowing life. The evening sun had retired for the day and whatever that was afraid of the light had come out of hiding to torment. Nick froze in his place, and the eyes closed and disappeared, like embers at the bottom of a dying campfire.

"No… Hell no…" he breathed. His sudden outburst must have caught the attention of predators lurking nearby. Slowly he turned in a circle, holding his breath, feeling watched.

Nick jumped as he heard a mournful howl, and another, and another, as thought they were talking amongst themselves and telling each other where to find him. He stooped down and quickly grabbed a few rocks, cramming them in his pockets. As his feet pushed the ground and propelled him forward, the foliage behind him vibrated with life and the owner of the glowing eyes leaped out and started to chase him.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Nick panted. The trees flashed by him, their roots trying to trip him. The soft ground wasn't cooperating and it seems as if nature had betted against him, hoping he would lose. He ran with his hands in front of him—as, at the speed he's going, even the light from the setting sun and the rising moon couldn't help him. It was just a matter of time before he collides into a tree and breaks his neck. He cursed at his second mistake for the day— Running was the worse thing he could do. But then again…. it was the only thing he could do.

What were they? How many of them? He couldn't tell. To his left, he saw the image of an animal flashing between the trees, keeping up with his pace. It wasn't even putting in any effort at all, obviously familiar to the rough land. To his right, he could hear a creature's deep and heavy panting. And he could have swore he felt a snout of a beast touching the back of his leg, attempting to get hold of him with its massive jaws. Nick didn't know how many were there but there was definitely more than one, each of them testing him. Seeing how fast he could run, waiting for him to fall.

Nick knew that it was only a matter of time before they catch him. He decided to take full advantage of the adrenaline that was pumping through his veins. Having two legs may not be able to beat four, but having hands will definitely work to his favour. From a distance, he spotted a tree that stood up from the leaning forest. Its thick limbs protruded from the trunk, just two meters off the ground. He dug deep within himself as he ran right at it, and grabbed the closest branch, shoving himself up the tree. Ripped bark and rain droplets fell onto the predators below and before he knew it, he was standing on a thick branch three meters from the ground, holding on to the tree trunk for support.

There were three wolves at the bottom of the tree, staring back at him with desperate eyes. Their eyes were angry and confused, as if wondering what to do. They paced around and attempted to climb the tree, barking as they failed miserably.

"Ha! How'd you like that?" Nick mocked. Down below, the animals raked at the tree with their claws, occasionally jumping up to bite him. Their tongues hung low as they reached higher and higher. Nick vibrated in his hiding place, knowing that if he didn't do anything, they would shake him out of the tree or waited till he died to eat him. He didn't have that much time. He had to look for Sara…

Grabbing a solid rock from his pocket, he looked out for the "alpha dog" before casting the first stone. Unfortunately, he missed, hitting the earth below. Instantly, the wolves froze and began looking from side to side. Their leader, a big shaggy animal, took a step forward to sniff the source of the sound, before looking up at the culprit. It growled and Nick threw another rock, hitting it between the eyes.

Nick continued to throw his stash of rocks. The wolves' tails went down and they glanced at each other, as if to ask if this was all worth it. It obviously wasn't. It took a few minutes before the animals beneath him scattered, disappearing within the dark trees like candles being snuffed out. That would be the last they see of their two-legged prey, as they decided unanimously that a smaller, less dangerous meal would be sufficient.

That'll teach them to mess with me, Nick thought, annoyed at the precious moments that had ticked away while the wolves drove him up a tree. He dumped the rocks that remained and started to climb down the tree.

Moving from one branch to another, he descended to the lowest limb of the tree with ease. Hanging from his arms, he let himself fall to earth, landing perfectly. However, with the surge of adrenaline leaving him, the harsh contact of the solid ground shook every pain receptor in his body. Nick cringed as he held his side. That sudden jolt of running for his life must have taken its toll on the injuries he sustained in the crash. He gritted his teeth as he waited for the pain to subside.

Nick never liked feeling weak. He would have forced himself to keep going, but the pain was too great. He dropped to his knees and lean against the tree that saved his life earlier. Just 5 minutes, he told himself, not more than 5 minutes. He sat uneasily on the carpet of musty pine needles and dead leaves, and anxiously wondered where Sara is. Wild imagination swirled in his head, as he pondered upon various scenarios, Sara's condition and the whereabouts of 'John the serial killer'.

He vowed to find Sara. He will find her. He has to. If encountering a group of animals left him in this state, he could only imagine what John would do to Sara.

Because even the wildest of animals behave better than human beings sometimes…

TBC