" 'The lines stitched into highways; the never-ending seams, on roads that are less traveled, dividing you and me. I wish I could unravel, the fabric in-between, and tear away the distance, to bring you close to me.' Lang Leav." ~JJ
"Find anything, Reid?" Morgan asked into his black walky talky standing by the side of a dirt road. He placed a hand on his side before a pickup truck went racing by kicking up dust. Morgan coughed as it filled his lungs from the breath he took.
"Their not radioing back, it's just static." There was a pause on the other end of the connection. "Morgan are you okay?" Reid finally asked letting his voice ring through the silence.
"Do you know which section Aspen and Hotch were even covering?" Morgan asked his question taking in a deep sharp breath as he dusted himself off ignoring Reid's concern.
"Emily and JJ are at section 2, we're at 4, and Rossi is at at 1. That means they must have taken 3." Spencer went through his thought process out loud like he usually does.
"I will meet you there, I'm not that far. Take the car and see if you can locate theirs."
"Got it." Reid quickly disconnected from their conversation and found his way back to the car and began his search while Morgan walked into the woods, keeping an eye out for anything.
Morgan silently crept through the trees, but when he heard faint moaning he broke into a sprint. Running into a clearing he found Hotch on the ground bleeding from his shoulder. Morgan rushed to his boss without caring about Brittany laying about 30 feet away. Dropping to his knees, he applied pressure to Hotch's bullet wound to stop the, now, little bleeding. Seconds later Reid broke through the brush.
"Morgan! What happened?" He rushed over to the other agents quickly.
"I don't know. I just found him lying here. He hasn't said a word. We need to get him to a the ambulance, but first check the victim."
"Right." Reid ran over to Brittany's cold body trying to find a pulse, but there was none to be found. "She's gone." Spence spoke again, yet this time much softer.
"Okay, come on, help me carry him out of here." Morgan grabbed on arm and Reid grabbed the other. Together they carried Hotchner to where Reid had parked the car.
"You drive." Reid threw the keys at Morgan who caught them effortlessly. As Morgan sped to the hospital Spencer sat in the back keeping pressure on the wound. Stopping with a screech of the brakes both Morgan and Reid flew from the vehicle.
"We need a medic, a nurse, anyone!" Reid yelled as soon as they stepped foot into the emergency room.
"We have a shooting victim with a bullet in the right shoulder. He's going to have to go into surgery. Take him back and get the surgeon." Four nurses wheeled Hotch back leaving Morgan and Reid in the waiting room, where they called the rest of the team and the police, telling them where to find Brittany Madison's body.
"Did you locate Aspen in anyway?" Rossi's voice rung through the phone and into Morgan's ear.
"No." Derek paused for a moment. "We have to wait for Hotch to wake up to find out what happened in that clearing." Morgan answered quickly trying not to explode.
"I'm on my way." Rossi hung up the phone without even a simple goodbye. The whole team sat in the waiting room. Waiting for Hotch, the doctors, for time to move faster. Waiting for Aspen to walk through the doors, but she never did.