Happy Halloween, guys!

This isn't exactly a Halloween-themed story, but I guess this chapter is gory enough ;) Enjoy!

"Would you mind shutting your cakehole for once?" Greg walked up to Hodges annoyed.

"What? ...Oh, that. He asked about incidences in the lab, what else was I supposed to tell him?"

"How about all the times you screwed up?"

The lab tech rolled his eyes. "I was cleared every time. What's the big deal, anyway?"

"Russell told me not to scare the guy off and you go and tell him about an explosion inside the lab?"

"...Well, if that's the case, we should probably find Henry."

"...Why? Is there some kind of competition going on? Who'll scare the new guy the most?"

"Would you shut up for a moment and let me explain? Him and Ackles were here ten minutes ago and he started asking questions again. I'm not too sure on any details but... I think the word Minitiature Killer was dropped once or twice..."

"...What?!" Greg stormed off angrily.

When Greg walked into the break room, Henry and Ackles were laughing and chatting quite relaxed. The angry look on Greg's face was fading. "...Hey." He walked in, trying not to draw too much attention to himself and grabbed a cup. While he poured some coffee in his cup, both Henry and Ackles bursted out in laughter. Greg turned around to them smiling. "What's going on?"

"Oh nothing, I'm just telling him some funny stories that happened inside these walls."

Greg nodded relieved. He walked out with his coffee, giving them some more time to bond.

Greg was asked to work with Ackles again. Russell had talked to the aspiring CSI in hopes of taking the fear from him. So far, it seemed to have worked. As the days went by, Ackles seemed to be getting a little more confident at the crime scenes, as well as with the criminals they had to work with. He got along with his colleagues quite well and him and Greg slowly started to become friends.

The two were walking back to the crime lab from a coffee run to a new diner that opened three weeks ago, a few blocks away. All the police officers at the station were raving about the diner's coffee, claiming it was better than any other coffee they ever drank. While Ackles and Greg liked the coffee, they were a bit let down after having high expectations. "I don't know what all the fuss is about, I can brew better coffee than that." Greg laughed. "But I guess for inexpensive coffee it's good."

"Yeah, I guess so." Ackles wasn't that much of a coffee drinker, anyway, but ever since working the graveyard shift he became addicted to that stuff just like anybody else. He still didn't really enjoy drinking it, though. "Hey, I was thinking about hitting some casinos next weekend. I figured I'm long enough in Vegas to try the whole experience, you know? Wanna come with?"

Greg chuckled. "I can join you but I won't gamble. It's a waste of money."

"But not if you're having fun doing it, don't you think?" Ackles patted his back.

"There's no fun in losing money, believe me." As Greg finished that sentence, a group of people walked up behind them. While his paranoia, stemming from the Neil Novak incidences, had been getting better for months now, he was still very alert of his surroundings. A few glances around his shoulder, he figured this group of people was not paying any attention to him and Ackles. But it still made him uncomfortable, so he decided to let them pass, gently pushing Ackles to the side a little to make room for the group. But instead of passing them by, two of them pushed Greg to the ground, while the other three pushed Ackles against a building. The men now all gathered around Ackles.

Greg was getting up from the floor as quick as he could, looking around confused and concerned. "...Ackles." he whispered as his eyes caught the group of people standing around his colleague. While he looked around for something to defend himself and Ackles with, he put his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Drop it," one of the men from the group said as he walked over to Greg. Another one followed and together, they pushed the CSI to the ground again and started to beat him.

Greg tried to get the two assailants off him, but they were quite violent and hesistant. The moment he realized he couldn't fight them off, he tried his best to protect his head. "I got him," one of the two men on top of Greg said as he grabbed the CSIs wallet, so the other one walked over to Ackles to join the rest of the group.

He stopped beating him, but the assailant was still on top of Greg, restraining him. The CSI could see over to Ackles, who was being surrounded by the four men. He could not quite see what was going on, but it was awfully quiet. Because the group was in the way, he couldn't see Ackles anymore and was very worried. "...Ackles?"

The two men standing directly in front of Ackles both took a step to the side, the CSIs were now able to look at each other.

Greg was relieved, but only for a moment. One of the men pointed at him with a grin on his face.

"...No...," Ackles whispered with desperation in his face. "...Please, no..." he said under his breath as the man on top of Greg whipped out a knife, slowly putting it near the CSIs face.

Ackles watched Greg struggle for a short second followed by an excruciating and terror-filled scream. The men were laughing as one of them knocked Ackles unconscious.

The five men left the two CSIs bleeding and hurting, laughing on as they passed them by.

When Ackles regained consciousness a minute later, he couldn't remember what happened a few minutes before he was knocked down. He looked around confused to find Greg still lying where the men had left him, not moving. He remembered what happened. "...Greg!" He wanted to run over to him, but was too weak yet, so he slowly tumbled towards his colleague. "...Greg, please be okay!" he exclaimed desperately as he came closer.

"...Ackles, are you okay?" Greg covered the left side of his face with his right hand as he sat up.

Ackles nodded. "You're bleeding. What did they do to you?"

Greg slightly shook his head as his eyes watered. "They took my phone. Do you have yours?"

"...Yeah," he replied. "I'll call an ambulance..."

Greg nodded as he laid down again.

"...Greg?"

"I'm a little dizzy and nauseaus, I don't want to faint, so..."

"I'm so sorry, can I do anything to help you?"

"Just call an ambulance..." he replied exhausted.

After getting stitched up at the hospital, Greg was allowed to go home. He wanted to check on Ackles, but didn't know what room he was in. "Excuse me." He stood in front of the reception. "I'm looking for CSI Ackles, we were admitted together."

The nurse at the desk nodded. "Yeah, I remember him," he said, looking at a computer screen. "Just what I thought, he left an hour ago."

"...What? What do you mean, he left?"

"He was released from the hospital, his wounds were only superficial. He's fine." The nurse smiled at him.

"...But..." Greg looked at him quite confused and lost for words.

"Oh, wait. You're Greg Sanders, right? There's someone here for you in the waiting area."

"Thank you..." Greg walked to the waiting area to find Nick sitting there, nervoulsy tapping his feet on the floor.

"...Hey you," Nick said with a smile on his face, walking over to Greg to hug him.

"Nick... What are you doing here?"

"Russell couldn't get away from his scene so he asked me to pick you up." A short pause followed. "Alright, I made him let me pick you up." He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. He could feel Greg was quite tensed up, which didn't surprise him.

Greg faintly smiled back, but it hurt him. His assailant had cut his left cheek, resolving in a two inch long wound. There was a band-aid covering it.

"So what exactly happened? I didn't get a chance to talk to the officers yet." He looked him up and down.

Greg was wearing the clothes he wore when they got attacked, his shirt was blood-trenched and his jeans dirty from the ground. "I-I'm not really sure... This group just jumped us, they took my wallet and phone and... They were so... brutal."

"You know it's better not to fight them off, they..."

Greg interrupted him. "I didn't. Well, at first... Your instinct kicks in. You fight back when you're being attacked. But I had long stopped before he pulled out a knife. It was so... unnecessary."

"...A knife?" Nick replied a bit shocked.

Greg pointed at his cheek. "He cut me without any reason. He already had my wallet, he already took my phone, I didn't fight him anymore... He did it, anyway."

"Oh man, that's... horrible."

Greg nodded. "Have you seen Ackles?"

"No, I haven't. Maybe he's still being treated?"

"I asked at the desk, he went home."

"...What?" Nick frowned. "He didn't wait for you or at least tell you he left?"

Greg shrugged. "It's okay, he's probably under shock and didn't think straight..."

"And you?" Nick asked, "Are you alright?"

"A little shaken up, but... I'll be okay. But... I really appreciate you coming to pick me up." He smiled at his friend.

Nick smiled back. "Here." He handed him some clothes.

"What's that?" Greg grabbed it.

Nick held a paper bag in his hand. "I asked the CSI who processed you earlier to wait with this... I need to take your clothes, they're evidence now. Plus, I'm sure you appreciate some clean clothes. I got them out of your locker."

"Thanks." Greg's smile turned into quite a strained one. Once again, his clothes were evidence. It wasn't a good feeling.