Ressler and Reddington both huffed deep breaths as they sat down. They were both exhausted from running. Luckily, they hadn't heard anyone coming their way. Maybe, they were safe for the time being.

"We need sleep." Reddington commented as he laid flat on his back. The ground was hard and uncomfortable but he didn't care.

"No, we're gonna keep going." Donald stated breathlessly despite the fact that he was already leaning up against a tree.

"Ressler, I admire your resilience, but I highly suggest that we stop. The last time I tried something like that, I started hallucinating."

"I don't think that's normal." Ressler commented.

"When you get to a certain point, your dreams start trying to invade reality. At the time, I was traveling with a man who had shoulder length blond hair. By the third day, I was in such a state that I believed he was Marilyn Monroe." Reddington said and chuckled. "He bitch slapped me when I asked what JFK was like in the sack."

"I'll probably regret this," Ressler stated as he furrowed his brow. The older man leaned his head up to look at him. "But why did you want to know?"

"Just curious I guess," Reddington said before laying his head back down. Donald stood, but Red stayed where he was. Until he was told to move, he wasn't going to budge an inch. Donald grabbed a branch and bent it to test if it would do for what he wanted. He pulled it off the tree and walked over to Reddington.

He wound the flexible but sturdy branch around the chain of the handcuffs causing Red to furrow his brow. Donald pulled on the branch causing Reddington to have to scoot back towards one of the trees. The branch was wrapped around the trunk of the tree and tied.

"What are you doing?" Reddington asked as the agent finished his knot.

"You don't think I'm going to trust you to not run off, do you?" Ressler asked causing Reddington to roll his eyes. He couldn't have ran if he had wanted to. That would have required energy that he didn't have.

Ressler laid down a good ten feet from Reddington before closing his eyes. He was so tired that he could have fallen asleep laying on a rock. Actually he was pretty sure that he was laying on a rock but didn't care.

Reddington laid still and listened to Ressler breathing. Soon, the young agent was snoring. This was Reddington's chance. He certainly couldn't run away, but he could sure as hell sneak away. He tugged at the thin branch that had him hooked to the tree. It wouldn't break or come untied.

He tried to reach around but the branch moved with his hand. Reddington sneered. So that was why Ressler had wound it around the chain instead of just looping it. He looked around for something that he could get to cut through the branch. His eyes settled on a rock that had a sharp edge to it.

He reached for the stone but found that it was just out of his reach. The tip of his finger just barley grazed it causing him to groan in frustration. Pushing a little harder, making the metal threaten to cut into his wrist, he could maybe rock it over to him. He froze when he heard the last thing he wanted to hear. It sounded like a woman screaming, but he knew what it really was.

Ressler was up in a second. Red could see him trying to locate the sound. Another scream came causing the agent to start running. Red stared where he had disappeared with wide eyes. Ressler had just left him here. He had thought that it was someone in trouble when really he was running towards certain death. Reddington obviously didn't mind that part, but why had the bastard had to have left him tied to this tree?

He turned his head back to look at the stone. He reached for it and froze. He felt like his heart stopped as his throat went dry. Bright green eyes were staring at him. The beast seemed to be grinning at him with its teeth bared.

"Oh shit." Red muttered. The panther moved closer to him as if studding this new prey that he hadn't seen before. Red struggled to get the to sharp rock. It was his only hope of surviving. It was a small hope, but it was all he had. Finally, he got the stone to roll over to where he could pick it up.

He nearly dropped it when he felt a large paw on his belly. He looked up to see amusement in the creatures eyes. It knew he was trapped here. Reddington felt his heart pounding in his chest. Why did Ressler have to leave him with his stomach exposed. If it had been his back, the panther would have at least had to do more work to kill him.

He moved slowly and started to cut at the branch. He stared at the large cat, afraid that if he looked away for even a second, it would rip him apart. He winced when the panther pressed its claws into his stomach, lightly breaking the skin. Red swore at the beast mentally. How dare it tease him when he knew that if he didn't do something quick, he would die?

Finally, the branch was cut through. Reddington slashed at the panther's throat with the sharp end of the rock. It jumped back with a startled growl. Blood dripped from its neck, but the wound wasn't deep enough to kill it.

Red let out a scream when it jumped at him. He held his arms out in front of him causing the cat's jaw to lock around the chain of his handcuffs. The metal dug into the sides of his wrists, drawing blood. He screamed again when claws dug into his sides. The cat growled loudly as drool dripped from its teeth onto the front of Reddington's vest.

Red brought his feet up under it to its chest. He shoved it backwards causing large scratches to appear on either side of his stomach, and the majority of his vest ripped off with the panther. Red moved to get up, but the cat was back on him with a deafening scream.

Red screamed just as loud when fangs dug into his leg like long metal nails. He started slashing at the beast's neck with the rock in a final attempt to get out of this alive. The panther pulled back and lashed out at Red's hand. The stone was knocked away from him along with his last hope of survival.

Red never saw Donald come back. All he knew was that the young agent had bashed the large creature in the head with a big stone. The cat lunged for him, coming up on its hind legs. It slashed out and cut into his chest.

Ressler swung the stone again and clocked the panther in the side of the head. It fell back and staggered slightly. It growled again before slinking off in the darkness. Donald huffed before dropping the large stone. He turned and saw that Reddington was leaned up against the tree, and his leg and sides were bleeding. It would have shocked him more if it weren't for the fact his own chest was bleeding.

Donald went and dropped down next to the criminal. They each used bits of their tattered clothing to make bandages. It wasn't much, but it would be better than them bleeding to death.

They leaned against each other, and Ressler held onto the damaged, but still intact, chain of the handcuffs. It wasn't to keep him from running. It was obvious that he wouldn't be running for a while. It was to remind them both that they weren't alone in this. Someone else was stuck in the same mess as they were. Even with this, Ressler was close to breaking.

"I-I don't want to die out here." Ressler muttered. Reddington glanced over at him and saw that he looked terrible. He was covered in dirt and was bloody. Reddington didn't think that he looked any better.

"If you that's what you want, you only have to do one thing." Reddington stated causing Donald to look over at him.

"What's that?" Donald asked, his voice weak and strained like he was about to cry.

"Don't die."