Trials, Tribulations and Triangles 2. - Chicago PD/Fire

Emily

Monday February 4th - Morning

Lexi jogged at a steady pace, the flow of cold air in her lungs felt good, the crisp air stinging her face was oddly pleasant. Kelly kept pace beside her, neither of them talking, just enjoying the bright morning winter sun.

They had been jogging for about forty minutes. Running by the river side had been something they regularly did with Shay. They would all set their alarms to wake early and jog by the river before eating breakfast together in a diner not far from the water front. It had been a while since Lexi had been there, it held too many memories of Shay. But she had forgotten how beautiful it was, especially with the low sun shimmering off the water.

Lexi ran to the red railings of the river and stopped, she had done enough, she was quite breathless, she didn't want to overdo it. "You okay?" Kelly asked jogging on the spot beside her to keep his heartrate up.

Lexi nodded holding her injured side. "Yeah it just aches a little"

Kelly nodded "okay, I'm gonna do a couple more circuits" he told her reaching in to his pocket and taking out his car keys. He had picked Lexi up and drove them there. "I'll meet you at the car" he told her handing her the keys before taking off running.

Lexi admired the view as she watched Kelly jog away and pick up his pace, she had obviously been going too slow for him. Kelly turned and jogged backwards, grinning at her "Stop looking at my ass."

Lexi shrugged shamelessly laughing at the fact he had known she had been checking him out without even looking at her. She focused back on the water as Kelly turned to continue his jog. She stood admiring the slow-moving water for a few minutes, catching her breath.

When her breathing had returned to normal, she took a slow walk toward where Kelly's car was parked.

Lexi passed an old, rusted iron gate that she guessed was something to do with the river maintenance and the bridge above her. The gate was slightly ajar. She and Kelly had passed by it three times on the circuit they had ran and she hadn't noticed it being open before. Maybe she just hadn't been paying that close attention before, maybe a homeless person had gone in there to shelter from the cold. Her gut told her something was off.

She pulled it open a bit more and the rusted metal squeaked loudly, echoing in the space beyond it. Lexi stepped over the threshold and instinctively put her hand to her hip, a force of habit, reaching for her weapon. She realised she didn't have her gun.

"Hello" she called in to the dark space. She didn't want to go in there, not without a gun or back-up, but she swore she heard a small whimper. "Chicago PD." Lexi called loudly "I'm going to need you to come out slowly" her echo was the only response.

Lexi entered slowly, a 15-foot dark, slim tunnel awaited her, Lexi could see the splashes of daylight after the thin tunnel. The daylight being interrupted and kept disappearing as the cars passed over above it. She walked slowly allowing her eyes to adjust to the dark, she kept her back to the wall. One foot over the other "Chicago PD" she announced again.

She heard movement ahead, it sounded like two people in a struggle, muffled angry voices. Lexi walked faster as she heard the small, meek, female voice call out "Help."

She reached the daylight lit opening, a metal staircase leading up to the road to her left. A pair of naked female legs, lay on the cold concrete floor under the stairs, wearing a pair of pink running shoes. The top half of the body shrouded in the darkness of the stairs.

Lexi took a step towards the stairs and was instantly pulled back by hands around her throat. The hands squeezed hard, constricting her air way, black spots appeared in her vision immediately as she felt her blood pulsating in her temples.