Battlecry | Criminal Minds (gxg)

Chapter 28

~Present Day, June, 2010~

Elle's POV

"I... will always..."

She gasps for breath, the words slipping away.

I wait for her to finish, swallowing my sobs.

She doesn't finish.

"Carli?" I choke out.

No answer.

"Carli, please," I beg.

There's nothing. Not even the sound of her breathing.

Morgan urges the car faster, wiping away his own tears.

"Carli!" I scream into the phone. "Please, please answer me."

"I'm sorry, Elle," Derek whispers.

I shake my head. "How much longer?"

"A few minutes."

"Hurry." The phone trembles in my hand. "We're coming, Carli. Hang on."

I don't hang up the call.

A few minutes later the SUV pulls up at the gates to a warehouse. An ambulance is already here, sent as soon as we discovered her location.

I jump out of the car before it stops moving, unsteady on my feet. Morgan on my heels, I sprint into the building, following voices up ahead.

Please be alive. Please be alive.

I slam to a halt as soon as I see them.

First, my eyes land on the body bag.

The phone falls to the floor.

Morgan stops behind me, a hand grabbing my shoulder. I turn towards the four paramedics surrounding something.

Someone.

I run, violently knocking aside one of them. And I see her.

She looks dead. There's blood everywhere—her arms, her chest, her face. Her eyes are closed, her body still. Bloody bandages are wrapped around her, obscuring her wounds. She's lying in a puddle of blood.

Two pads are on her chest. One medic holds up the paddles.

"Charge to 200," he says. "Clear."

I stand there, frozen in horror as her body jerks off the floor. All eyes go to the heart monitor sitting next to her.

She's flatlining.

"Charge to 240... Clear."

Nothing.

"Come on, D'angelo. Fight it," Derek mutters behind me.

"280. Clear."

I hold back a sob. "Please, Carli," I whisper.

"320. Clear."

"How long has she been under?" someone asks. Hotch.

"Seven minutes."

Too long. That's too long.

The room holds its breath as we watch the monitor, the horizontal line cutting across the screen.

The medics don't use the paddles again.

"Please, Carli," I breathe. "Please, come back to me."

Derek holds me tighter, burying his face in my hair.

Reid appears beside me and grabs my hand.

But all I want is to hold her again.

I turn into Spencer, burying my head in his chest as I lose control of my sobs.