Donald and Reddington were stuck walking along the polluted river again. Red tried to figure out how he could escape. They'd been walking for hours. It couldn't be much longer until they were back on the highway, could it. Either way, when they got there, he figured that his ass would get thrown in prison.
He studied Ressler who was still dragging him along by these retched handcuffs which were starting to dig into his wrists. Donald was a head taller than him and a bit more muscular as well. That meant that Raymond wouldn't be able to out run him and would have little to no chance in beating him in a fight.
Reddington chewed on the inside of his jaw. He thought about flinging the handcuffs around Donald's throat and choking him but didn't want a repeat of earlier. He could feel the bruise forming on the side of his head. He huffed in irritation and looked back at the water.
Ressler stopped dead in his tracks causing Red to nearly walk into him. The criminal furrowed his brow as Donald swore under his breath. Reddington leaned to look around him and saw what the agent was upset about. Half of him hated it while the other half saw this as an opportunity. The river was flowing from four different paths.
"Which one did we come down?" Red asked wanting to see how badly lost Ressler truly was.
"I have no idea. We'll just have to take the first one and see where that leads us. If it's wrong, we'll just come back down here and try the next one." Ressler stated causing Reddington to roll his eyes at the younger man's optimism.
"You do know what's more likely to happen than us finding our way out, don't know?" Red asked slightly tugging at Ressler's grip on the chain. He thought about pulling away, shoving the man in the water, and running like a bat out of hell but knew it wouldn't end well.
"What's that?" Ressler asked. He tightened his grip and glared at the criminal. He wasn't going to take any chances on him getting away. He'd put too much time into this chase and wouldn't lose it this close to his goal.
"It's sad really. If we keep following the river, we're sure to meet those hicks in the pick up truck and get shot or gutted like fish. Then, they'll just fling us in the water and be done with it." Reddington stated calmly and pursed his lips. Ressler glared at him but also wanted to know where he was going with this.
"And if we don't follow the river?"
"Panthers," Red answered as if that summed everything up.
"Then, I guess that we're screwed either way. We might as well just keep going this way." Ressler stated before yanking on the chain to get Raymond to move faster. Red stumbled slightly causing Ressler to smirk at him over his shoulder. Reddington huffed and glared at him.
After hours of walking, the sun had started to set, and it was evident that they had taken the wrong path. Red was silent because he was torn between the thought of mocking Ressler's mistake and just how tired he was. It didn't help any that they were both soaked in sweat from baking under the summer sun.
Ressler was torn between turning back and just sitting down to take a break. He decided that they would go around this curve up ahead before they turned back. He wouldn't want to miss the interstate by one curve. His feet ached, but he wanted to get Reddington into custody as soon as possible. He went around the corner and froze.
"Damn it, Ressler!" Reddington barked after walking into the younger man. He glanced around him and felt like his heart had stopped. The two men were standing there staring at them. The murderers had their trash bags in hand and looked as though they wouldn't mind filling a few more.
"Will, you want to take care of these two?" Asked one of them. Will just nodded and pulled out a pocket knife. Ressler took off dragging Reddington behind him. Red swore when he heard the knife plunge into the tree behind him. That had been thrown at him and had only missed by a few inches. "Get the rifle!"
Neither of them thought they would ever be in this situation. They were unarmed and were running through the woods in the dark. Branches and briers were slapping at their faces and tugging and ripping their clothes.
Reddington pulled out of Ressler grip. The younger man was going too fast for him. If he hadn't pulled away, he would have tripped. Then both of them would have been caught and killed. This way, they both had a shot at out running Will.
Donald had gotten out of view, and Reddington wondered how long he could keep this up. His ribs and lungs were aching, and he felt close to exhaustion. He held up his arms to block his face from the branches ahead of him. He nearly screamed when something reached out and jerked him into the bushes.
A hand was clamped down over his mouth, and the other held on tightly to his handcuff chain. He stopped trying to squirm away when he saw it was Donald. Both froze in fear when they heard Will walking past them. They couldn't see him and hoped that he couldn't see them.
Adrenaline pumped through both of their veins. Their hearts were pounding so hard that they were worried the other man could hear them. Will turned towards them nearly making Ressler yelp in terror. The end of the rifle was pushed through the leaves of the bush.
Without thinking, Red grabbed the barrel and yanked it forward. Will yelped, and Red shoved the gun back to where it caught the man in the throat. He fell to the ground gasping for air that he couldn't get. Red stood before Donald could stop him and fired a shot into Will's head.
He searched the man for more ammunition. He found one bullet. He loaded it while Ressler got over the shock of what had happened. Red fired the bullet at the ground so the other murderer would think for the moment that Red and Donald had been killed. He mentally cursed at himself afterwards for not thinking about shooting Ressler instead. Oh well, at least they'd be safe until the man at the river realized that his friend wasn't coming back.
He dropped the gun and turned to the agent who looked like he was going to be sick. Reddington rolled his eyes. How had he been caught by this guy anyway?