The Flight

Time to Find

Hotch opens his eyes with a gaze and he is immediately hit with a pain in his body.

No matter how much bad it hurts, he manages to sit up and takes a look at his surroundings.

The plane is scattered in pieces around the rocky terrain and shards of metal lay everywhere.

He carefully glares around to see if he can spot a member of his team, but has no luck.

Within a few minutes, and with excruciating pain, Hotch is able to get on his feet for a better look at everything.

He stubbles around the wreckage, trying not to injure himself any more than he already is.

With a quick examination of his body, he finds that he has broken his left arm, twisted his right ankle bad enough for it to swell, a severe concussion, and a back issue.

The ground is hard enough to walk on, but being hurt, slows down Hotch even more.

It is still daylight, so that helps, but only knowing when the plane went up, not knowing how long he had been out, made it unsure of how much daylight he had left to find his friends.

In just a few minutes, he is able to use his suit coat to make a sling for his arm; which makes it much more easier to move around.

After determining if he would be able to walk around without falling, he heads for the main part of the wreckage.

He is able to navigate himself around the plane easily due to having worked multiple cases involving crashed planes.

Hotch finds himself at the wreckage of the cockpit, where the already two dead pilots lay.

Not being able to examine them earlier, he moves over to them and takes a look.

He finds nothing noticeable wrong with the bodies, but that the steering wheel of the plane has been jammed.

What had been used to destroy the control panel, Hotch could not determine, but it was something very effective, as he couldn't read anything on the panel.

Without being able to find anything else without his team, and in needing to find his team, Hotch travels out of the cockpit and into the area where he had last seen his team.

It was in pieces, and gathering on how far he himself was thrown, his team could be anywhere.

He turns to travel west, in hope to find someone. He walks through the mountainous terrain, stepping over, or simply walking across parts of the plane and gets about 25 yards from the plane when he notices something moving.

With the best of his ability, Hotch moves quickly to the moving object.

When he reaches the area, he smiles when he finds the familiar face of JJ stirring on the ground.

"Hotch," JJ is able to say in a whisper as she turns again, in pain.

"JJ. JJ, it's me. What hurts?" Hotch asks to his female coworker and friend.

He grabs her and leans her up, when he notices the blood on the back of her head and down her neck.

"JJ can you hear me?" he asks, trying to keep her awake.

"Mmm," is all she is able to reply. Hotch rips off a piece of his suit-sling and does his best to tie it around her head, trying to stop the bleeding.

"It's okay JJ, you'll be okay," Hotch says as he carefully leans her against a flat, sturdy, piece of metal.

He stands and looks to see if anyone else is around; but no one is.
He moves back over to JJ, who is still moving in pain, and sits down beside her.

"Hotch," JJ is able to say again.

"JJ, you remember what happened?"

She nods in pain, "yes, the jet went down."

Hotch, glad she can recall that, nods and speaks again. "Well, we need to find the rest of the team before it gets dark. You think you can walk?"

"I... I can try," JJ stutters as she reaches out for Hotch to help her up.

She gets to her feet and wobbles, leaning on Hotch's shoulder. "Good, good," Hotch says, putting his arm around JJ's waist to stabilize her, "let's walk a few feet."

It starts off rough but after they walk for a few minutes, JJ is able to move faster.

"You doing okay?" Hotch asks.

"Been better, but I'm doing okay," JJ states, showing a weak smirk as she looks at Hotch.

"Can you keep going?"

"Yeah, let's find our friends," JJ says as they both stumble over torn pieces of metal, looking for their friends.