Do You Fear The Reaper?

e i g h t

Thumps and thuds echoed above Maine, and she lifted her head up as if to peer at the ceiling, holding her breath as her heart started to beat erratically in his chest. Though her situation looked bleak, the probability of dying always lurking in the confines of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder what was happening above her.

"Looks like we've got company," the deep dark voice of Beau said breathlessly. She heard him rummage through a box of tools behind him and listened as he paced behind her. "He thought that he was being slick. Taking you from me without knowing but I saw him. I saw his car."

Maine chewed on the inside of her cheek, refusing to speak and indulge the man who accompanied her in this living hell hole. She yelped at the force by which he grabbed her face, and felt her back stiffen as his fingers dug deeper. Even with a blindfold on, she knew that the cool metal he dragged across her face was from the tip of his favorite knife.

"Don't move," he whispered as he let go of her chin.

The sound of heavy feet coming down the creaking stairs of the basement put her on edge, causing her to shiver for something else other than the ever present fear she had for Beau. She lifted her heavy head, glancing around and trying, yet again, to see something.

Nothing.

The steps were coming in closer and Maine cried quietly as braced herself for Beau's final blow. Never had she felt so low in all her life, so helpless, so depressed. Had she any more tears to cry, she would have. She closed her eyes as tightly as she could and mumbled a prayer in the off chance that He was listening. This is it, she thought to herself, her shoulders shaking as sobs began to wrack her body. This is how I'm going die.

And that's when she felt it, a touch that was as familiar as it was different. She gasped and moved away, not wanting to be hit anymore, not wanting to be yelled at or hurt. She's had enough of that to last her a lifetime and she wasn't sure she could handle anymore. The ever present feeling that she was going to die kept creeping in her mind, causing her body to slowly succumb to the pain that scourged through it like a wildfire. Everything hurt-- her face, her wrists, her neck, her head.

"Meng?"

Her heart raced and she wasn't sure how it was still going, how it hadn't somehow stopped working. However, the moment she heard the familiar voice of her partner call out to her again, everything seemed to melt away, all the pain, the suffering and the sadness. She felt her body grow warm and, for a split second, she had a glimmer of hope that she was going to be alright.

"Meng, where is he?"

"I don't-- I don't know," she answered quietly, her throat scratching from how dry it had become. "RJ?"

"Y-yeah, its me. I'm so sorry it took me this long, Meng, " he said as he pulled the blindfold off her, cupping her face and meeting her eyes with a softness she never realized she missed. "You're going to be okay, you hear me? Everything is going to be okay. I won't let him hurt you anymore, I promise."

She wanted desperately to believe him, but the warmth she had felt earlier quickly faded when she saw Beau tower behind RJ with a knife coming straight for his shoulder. Her eyes grew wide in panic and just as she was about to give her all and tell RJ to move, he was already on the floor, clutching on his shoulder tightly as he scrambled to get his gun before Beau did.

She struggled against her restraints and froze when Beau pointed the gun at her and cut the ropes away in one swift movement. "RJ!"

Beau pulled Maine's body that was too weak to stand by itself and was quick to press the barrel of the gun against her throat. "I wouldn't do anything stupid if I were you, Agent Faulkerson."

Maine stumbled over her own two feet and found her back pressed against his chest, the barrel still against her throat that pulsated from her rapid heartbeat. "I have no problems killing Tanya again. I'd rather her die than have you take her away from me."

"Beau please," RJ said lowly, his voice measured as he raised his hands above his head and took a small step towards them. "Let her go."

"I told you not to do anything stupid!" Beau yelled as he pulled the gun away from Maine's throat and shot her point blank on her foot without even so much as a second thought. Maine's screams reverberated off the four walls of the basement, and all RJ could do was watch on the sides helplessly as she struggled to keep whatever she had left together.

RJ pursed his lips into a straight line and stared Beau down, his chest heaving as anger coursed through his body. Maine was in pain, he knows that, he can hear it ringing in his ears, he can feel it taunting him, pushing him to inch in just enough for him to grab Beau and yank him off of her. But he had to settle himself down, he had to think.

"Have you thought of finding another Tanya, Beau?" He asked as he let his eyes wander the basement of something, anything, to use against him. "I've seen the ones you had before and Doctor Mendoza is a far cry from any one of them."

RJ's words fell on deaf ears as Beau struggled to keep Maine up, muttering for his Tanya to stay up as beads of sweat started to form and fall on the side of his face. When RJ saw Beau loosen his grip and stumble forward with Maine, he took it as his chance to make his move. He grabbed Beau by the arm and pulled him violently away from Maine, throwing him on the ground with a loud thud before straddling Beau's waist to keep him from going anywhere near her. 

"You son of a bitch," RJ said through clenched teeth as he brought a fist straight down his face. "Her name isn't Tanya! Maine, isn't Tanya! Tanya is fucking dead!"

In one swift move, he pulled Beau up by his collar, ignoring the pain that seared from the wound on his shoulder and kneed him in the stomach. He watched as he fell down on the ground and stood over him. "What's her name?!"

"Tanya."

Crouching down, he took Beau by his face and glared at him. "Wrong answer," he said. "What's her name?"

"Tanya!" Beau said with a sneer spreading across his lips. He reached behind him and grabbed his knife, gripping it tightly with his good hand before lunging forward and stabbing RJ right on his gut.

RJ fell on his knees and cursed, the adrenaline coursing through him enabling him to ignore the fire that licked at his side long enough as he punched Beau once again and kneed him on his face for good measure. He reached for Beau's feet as he crawled towards his unconscious partner, yanking him back as hard as he could until he fell face first on the concrete.

Propping himself up, he crawled on his hands and knees, fingertips brushing with cool steel. RJ turned around to see Beau standing over him, covered in blood and sweat with his knife held above him. He caught Maine start to move on the corner of his eyes and it only fueled his desire to end the man that caused her this much pain. Quickly rolling to his side to avoid Beau stabbing him again, he pushed himself back up to his feet and pulled the crowbar out from underneath the shelves. A crowbar. Perfect, he thought, as he bounced it in his hands and swung it from side to side. Pulling his arms back, RJ stared at Beau for a moment, wanting him to see the anger and the disdain he felt towards him, the hate and overwhelming sense of vengeance for all the lives he took even before Maine had to come into the picture.

RJ swung his arm forward and watched the black steel collide with Beau's jaw, whipping his head sickeningly to the side and spattering blood all over the walls before he, finally, fell limp on the floor.