Hello again :)

God, I missed writing so much, it's unreal. And for some reason I'm so pumped about this story it's actually hilarious. I'm ecstatic to see, how many of you are still interested in this story and continue to read it and support me. It's so humbling. Thank you so so much.

charmlily: Thank you so much! I'm really happy you liked it so much :)

cheetahreader1213: Thank you so much :)

Ianteaddicted1: Thank you!

larutanrepus89: Thank you for the compliment and for supporting my made up desert :) Seeing more of you would like to see a hurt Will, I'll definitely try to reverse the roles of worried brothers in one of the next stories.

Sasa Camilla: You are more than welcome. Thank you for reading and reviewing :)

Trisha06: Aww, that's so sweet. I think we all have our favorites, that make our heart jump and squeal in excitement. I just never dared to hope this story would be one of them (and I don't mean this in a cocky way). Thank you so much!

Extraordinarygirl116: Aww, thank you, that's so awsome :) I'm glad it made you so happy. Thank you for your encouragement about college. I definitely need it sometimes. Colleges in my country usually take at least five years to complete and mine is no different, so I'm not even halfway done. But I guess it will be worth it in the end. I'm really happy it worked out for you, the way it was supposed to and you're able to do something you enjoy now. It takes a lot of will to switch majors and even more will to keep going, so I applaud you :) And don't worry, apparently I'm a horrible person too :D

Shall we continue?

Almost Like A Walk On The Beach

Part 2

Jay's P.O.V.

Fifty-eight, fifty-nine, three hundred seventy five minutes.

That makes it 6 hours and fifteen minutes, which makes it approximately a quarter of a day. And that's just the hours I've actually been able to count. I have no clue how many hours I spent either unconscious or in too much pain to focus.

It's been at least 6 hours since I've had any water, though I'm guessing it's been much longer than that, since my throat is on fire and I haven't puked yet, despite feeling horribly nauseous. I'm happy about that though, because the thing in my mouth would make that very awkward if not bad.

It's been at least 6 hours since I was left here. Wherever 'here' is. It's definitely somewhere hot and outdoors, because I can feel the boiling hot sun burning the life out of me. Quite literally. I'm also guessing that 'here' is in the middle of nowhere, since I haven't actually heard anything except for my own breathing and groans. Not even birds. Not even wind. Certainly no people. I've tried screaming for help anyway, but the only thing I achieved was making myself gag on what I'm pretty sure is a piece of cloth. I also can't see anything, because I'm either blind, or this bag that's stuck over my head is thick and black. I'm really hoping it's the second option.

It's been at least 6 hours since since I've woken up from a slumber, that was most likely induced by whatever this sweet tasting wetness soaking the cloth in my mouth is. The sweetness isn't actually all that sweet, because it gave me the worst migraine of my life and caused severe nausea and fuzziness. I'm not kidding. For a while, remembering my own name and how to breathe was a process. Moving is also impossible, because my muscles refuse to listen to commands. But the part of my brain that causes fear is working just fine, so there's that.

For the past 6 hours, I've been trying to occupy myself by counting the seconds and combining them into minutes and hours, because it seems to put my mind at ease. Or at least hides all the unanswered questions of how I got here and how am I getting out of this alive, since I can't focus on more than one thing at the same time anyway.

For the past 6 hours, I also haven't been able to remember anything for the life of me. The last thing I remember is being at work, so unless I was snatched straight from my office, there's a blank space that needs to be filled out.

Speaking of work, I've been really looking forward to seeing my team, although the nerves are starting to get to me. You see, everybody on the team always carries a hidden GPS tracker on them at all times, just in case we were to get kidnapped whenever we're not on the job. The GPS isn't constantly on. Nope. After getting ourselves in trouble, we have to actually be able to move enough to turn it on.

See the problem?

I can't move. My hands are tied behind my back and even though my legs are free, they refuse to move even an inch for whatever reason. And the freaking GPS thing is on the inside of my pants. The lower part, of course. Now that I think about it, that's probably not the most practical spot I could've picked. Learn from mistakes, I guess. If you live long enough to do that.

Unless I can press the damn button, the chances of my team finding me are very slim.

I don't even know if they've figured out I'm missing yet.

I can't even remember what day it is.

It could be Monday, it could be Wednesday... or it could be the weekend. And if I didn't make plans for the weekend, that would be bad, because nobody would miss me. And I wouldn't last till Monday with my current predicament.

Oh god. I'm never getting out of here.

I feel a tear slip down my cheek.

It's soon followed by another one. And another one. Until whatever my head's wrapped in is damp. And even then, the tears just keep coming.

No one's coming.

I realize that I'm making myself even more dehydrated by crying, but does it really matter? It's not like it's gonna make any difference.

These 6 hours could be defined as a lot of things. Hot, thirsty, uncomfortable, painful, fuzzy, fearful, a big question mark...

These 6 hours could also be defined as the beginning of the end.

I can't breathe. I mean, I can, but I know it's not efficient. A stuffy nose and the cloth in my mouth taped over with something very much like duct tape, cut the amount of oxygen I get down by a lot.

I can feel my head getting fuzzier and fuzzier and it scares me.

At first.

And then I remember that being unconscious isn't actually that unpleasant. Not at all, to be honest. It's the waking up part that sucks.

My two options are dying while being unconscious and not feeling a thing, or staying awake and getting to experience all the pain and torture of it while being stuck in the dark of the unknown.

I can clearly pick a favorite.

And I'm sobbing again.

I'm sorry, Will.

There's a difference though. This time, I try to inhale as much of the sweet substance in my mouth as possible.

The fuzziness grows stronger immediately, but so does my fear. Breathing gets harder and harder.

My will to fight is suddenly stronger than ever.

But the sweet thing is stronger.

I realize I'm no longer in control of my own life.

And it's my fault.

The sweet thing's winning.

The button!

I have to press the damn button. If I can do that before I pass out, I might still have a chance.

I gather up all the strength I have left (which is not a lot) and blindly reach for my pants. My wrists are raw from all the previous attempts of getting my arms free, but that can be fixed.

Dying can't be.

I'm almost there. Almost. I can feel the edge of the button with my fingers. I almost have it.

Before the sweetness takes over.

No.

Al's P.O.V.

"Jesus, can you drive?!" Will yells at Hank, clearly very annoyed and probably fueled by fear and anger.

We've been driving for over three hours now, and there's still no sign of either the desert nor Jay. And it's getting scary.

"Do you wanna drive?!" Voight yells back, clearly just as close to the edge as the older Halstead.

"Hank" I deadpan, warning him that a furious Will Halstead driving is most definitely not something we should do if we wanna get to wherever Jay is in one piece. Hank presses his lips together but keeps quiet. So does Antonio, who's currently occupying the passenger seat. I can hear the sound of somebody breathing in the I'm-not-an-angry-lion-who's-about-to-eat-you-alive-but-I-sure-sound-like-one kind of way. "Kid, you need to relax. We're gonna find him, okay?" I try to offer him some support, before Hank gets his head bitten off. Maybe sitting Will behind Hank wasn't the smartest idea.

He just glares at me, so I back off.

You only mess with an angry Halstead once. I learned that lesson from a punch in the face, preformed by no other than Halstead junior.

"How much further is it?!" Will growls in a nasty tone and I'm honestly surprised Hank hasn't stopped the car and thrown Will into the bushes yet. He normally doesn't put up with annoying Halsteads.

"Do you see the desert?" Hank asks sarcastically.

"I would if you weren't driving like my grandma" Will snaps back, making sure to yell the last part.

And that's when Hank slams the breaks, making Will (who isn't wearing a seat belt) hit his face on the back of the front seat. The next second consists of Will being dazed and rubbing his forehead with his hand and Hank flipping around on the chair until he is an inch away from Will's face.

"You wanna walk there?" he hisses, making me roll my eyes as Will stares in pure shock. What are we, five?

Everything stays quiet for a good minute.

"Don't. Ever. Question. My driving. Again. Got it?" Hank continues his talk, that sounds a lot like bullying to a normal person. "I'm gonna get you there as fast as humanly possible and I'm gonna make sure you get there in one piece. Now be quiet and like it or I leave you here and pick you up on the way back."

Well that went well.

I glance at the navigation, showing me that Jay's last known location is another twenty eight minutes away. I just hope he's still there. The GPS only connected for a few seconds, before disconnecting again. Maybe Jay managed to press it on his own, and the battery died. Maybe he didn't press it hard enough for the button to actually click, which would explain it getting disconnected again. Or maybe somebody's there with him. And saw him press the button. And didn't like it very much.

In that case, who knows where Jay could be by now. Three hours is a long time.

God, I hope that's not the case.

We're almost there, kid. Hang in there.

You might be surprised, but we actually made it twenty minutes without any more talking and cursing. I know, it's a miracle.

I've been watching Will like a hawk and I can see him getting more and more restless by the minute. He's like a timer on a bomb, waiting to explode. But then again, so am I.

It's almost one o'clock.

The thermometer on the car says it's 110 degrees outside. We have the air conditioning on full blast and I'm still too hot.

I don't dare to hope that Jay's in the shadow. It's a desert, for god's sake. Trees are rare, especially ones with actual leaves. Shadows even more rare.

"Keep an eye out" Voight states, slowing the car down a bit. "We're getting close."

All of our eyes desperately start searching the sand for any sign of life.

I immediately realize three things.

One: This particular part of the desert was chosen very strategically, because it's made of small hills, which unable you to see over them, meaning you have to climb over every single one of them in order to see what's on the other side.

Two: It's constantly windy, so we wouldn't be able to spot any tire marks, especially ones from over 24 hours ago.

Three: It's almost impossible to spot a person.

"Stop the car!" I yell, already unbuckling my seat belt and darting out of the door even before we stop. I fall in the sand, immediately noticing how much I hate this place.

Once everyone's out of the car, I explain myself. "He should be near. We need to spread out and go on foot or we're never going to find him."

I see Will wince at the word 'never', but it's the truth.

Jay's in serious trouble and we all know it.

"Alright. Don't go too far out. We don't need anyone else getting lost" Voight says. "Call out if you find anything."

And with that, we walk our separate ways.

It hasn't even been five minutes and I'm already sweating like a pig, starting to get a headache from the heat. Thirty hours of this...

He's okay, he's okay, he's okay.

"JAY!" Will shouts, from a hill nearby, giving me false hope, that he's found him. His continuous screams tell me otherwise. "Where are you, Jay?! Say something if you can hear me!" I know what he's doing. By screaming he's making himself feel like he's doing something efficient, hoping that his brother can hear him and will respond. It keeps him from going insane.

Just as I'm about to join him, I reach the top of the next hill.

And then I see him.

"Oh kid."

To be continued…

Another cliffhanger. You're welcome. I'm so mean. I'm an adrenaline junkie (if you can't tell) and leaving stories in the worst possible spots gives me an even greater boost to keep writing that much faster (because not even I know how any of my stories are going to end, until I actually finish writing them), so I'm really sorry you're forced to be in the same boat as me.

This was originally supposed to be a one-shot, and then I accidentally made it a two-shot, which is now turning out to be a multiple chapter story. Oh well...

I hope you liked it, please leave a review if you can, because I feed off of them, just like a vampire feeds on blood (except a bit less dramatically). Thank you for reading and I will see you soon.

Love, N