Abducting Avery ( completed )

.Found

One excruciatingly long hour later, Strife finally enters the house with Gonzales and Heather and Gregory who had been separated on different sides of the house came together at the front door, barely aware of each other's presence as they awaited an answer to their questioning expressions.

Heather had spent that hour cleaning as Rourke suggested she do something to keep her mind off Avery for now and the house had gotten 'dirty' from all the people that were coming in and out of it.  Gregory spent it pacing around the living room and desperately trying to keep his composure. Neither spoke another word to the other, even went out of their way to avoid each other when their paths crossed within the house. 

But now they could care less about each other and stood side by side with hopeful eyes.

"He wasn't there. We couldn't find anyth-" Strife began, turning to look at an interrupting police officer with a sense of urgency about him.

"We need you both back at Beckett's house." He reported, glancing at Gregory and Heather with his own pair of hopeful eyes.

"Why?" Strife asked, sounding annoyed. 

"Well sir, we found a basement. Out back... a basement. Two, actually. One behind the house... It was hidden in the bushes. Then there's another in the shed."

Before either agents could leave the house, Heather reached out and grabbed Gonzales' arm, squeezing it gently. 

"Let me go. She's my daughter. Please. I need to be the first one she sees. If she's down there... I need to be there." She begged. Both agents shook their heads.

"Miss Hayden you know that isn't safe. Besides, I need you to stay here just in case Bruno tries to contact you again. He won't speak to the agents." Strife told her with a sigh, turning to leave again.

"I'll stay. Let her go." Gregory piped up suddenly, giving each of the investigators a careful glance. Rourke watched the group from a distance.

Strife turned back around reluctantly.

"Fine. But you have to stay in the car. If he's there and he sees you there is no telling what he'll do."

-

The ride there was short and it killed Heather to know how close this man lived to her and her daughter. They arrived at the house, instructing Heather to remain in the squad car until they called for her. After the made sure Bruno was absent from the scene, she'd been able to talk them into letting her look for Avery.

Minutes later they beckoned her over. She got out quickly, racing for the man's backyard. The held her back before she got the chance to check the basements, and she soon realized why.

Out of the basement in the shed emerged one of the other agents holding a young, curly, blonde haired girl in his arms. She was dirty and bloody, looking to be around six or seven years old. Relief and grief attacked Heather at once as her eyes played over to the other basement opening. From there came two more girls, both in bad condition with features painfully similar to Avery's. One seemed to be about nine, the second about five. Neither were her baby girl and she fell to her knees at this realization. 

Gonzales caught her, holding her up and whispering comforting things that Heather didn't bother to listen to.

'She's dead! Oh no.. Avery is dead, Heather! She's dead! She's dead!' The voices sang with a hint of teasing.

"No! No, you're wrong. She's not dead, my baby isn't dead!" She yelled back, almost unaware of how loud she was and how much attention she was attracting.

Heather let out sobs that shook her entire body, doubling over onto the grass as she cried.

"Get her back in the car! Now!" Strife yelled. Gonzales ushered her up and onto her feet. The tears continued to pour down her face as the both of them entered the car.

"Miss Hayden please calm down! It's likely he's holding your daughter somewhere else, along with another girl. I promise you as soon as we can we're going to question these girls and find out where, but we have to get them back to their families."

"Do they know their parents are dead?" Heather whispered through her tears.

"They'll be given to relatives... Miss Hayden, are you alright?"

"Do I look alright?" She shouted, letting out more and more sobs before throwing herself into Gonzales' arms, who hugged her comfortingly.

"We'll find her. Don't worry."

----

Avery shook and cried, her cries becoming more audible with each tear. Eventually she re-emerged from the bushes, unable to take laying there in the cramped hiding place any longer.

Without any sense of direction, Avery waded through the trees, hoping for her near deafening cries to be heard. The voices in the distance faded in and out, and while she tried getting their attention even she knew they were too far to hear her.

Finally however, she found herself getting closer and closer to them as her cries got louder.

"Mommy! Mommy!" She shouted, her tiny voice carrying out as far as it would go. The voices got louder and still she screamed.

Unfortunately, the shouts brought on some of the wrong attention, as well.

"Avery?" yelled an angry, hoarse voice.

Avery spun around to face the source only to see Bruno standing there, blood on his hands and shirt. Strands of Charlotte's hair stuck to his fingertips. He stared at her with a dangerous smirk spread across his lips.

"You've been a very bad girl, Avery." He whispered, closing the distance between them. Avery backed away, falling backwards down onto her rump.

He bent down and yanked at her arm, readying his fist. Before it could plummet down onto the terrified young girl, though, it paused mid-air and he released his grip on her.

"Avery! Avery!" Shouted the voices.

"Mommy!" Avery yelled back, not knowing any better. She expected her mother to be there with them.

"Hey! That's the guy! Call the police!" One of the female voices replied. Bruno grunted angrily, drawing a knife from his back pocket. He turned to Avery, putting a finger to his lips as he he made his way through the trees to greet the intruders. 

"Get away!" He screamed at them, grabbing one of the people closest to him. His knife dove into their flesh, the warm blood littering the forest floor. Avery called out again, getting up and running toward the rest of the people, all who began to run in the opposite direction as Bruno grabbed as many as he could, stabbing them with his knife. She tripped down in front of one of them, and, rather hesitantly, the man picked her up and started to run again with Bruno close on his tail.

He pulled out his phone, dialing a number quickly and putting it to his ear as he ran.

"Hello? I got the girl! We're in the woods, we need help! He's got a knife-"

The man let out a blood-curdling scream, dropping Avery to the ground before falling to the floor himself, a knife sticking out of his back. The blood spread down his back and Avery continued to cry. When she looked up, she saw Bruno, heading in her direction. He'd thrown the knife and was now racing toward the small girl.

Avery crawled away from the bleeding man, hurriedly concealing herself behind a nearby tree. She took quick, hushed breaths, listening to the man's cries of agony. But all of a sudden, the sound of footsteps crept closer and with one final blow from Bruno's knife, the man's last cry for help escaped his lips and the life slowly left his body.

Avery hugged her knees to her chest, squeezing her eyes closed tightly as she waited for Bruno to either pass her by or discover her hiding place.

"Avery, come out come out wherever you are."