"Come on! Come on!" Hotch yells as the unsub darts out the back door. Morgan, Hotch, and I follow through the back door while Reid, Rossi and a local officer head out the front in order to cut the unsub off if necessary.
The back door leads to a man made path through acres and acres of trees. "Split up!" Hotch directs which we do with ease as it's become a routine by now. Especially with on-foot pursuits. Hotch went straight ahead, Morgan branching off the the left as I went right.
I glide over lose tree branches, avoid obstructive rocks in my path, as well as ducking underneath low branches, the adrenaline steering me through each obstacle. I felt like I was flying through these woods all the while keeping a steady eye out ahead of me in search for the bright red t-shirt the unsub was wearing. The far-sounded snapping of twigs and crunching of leaves earned my full attention as it brought me to a sudden stop in the pursuit.
I peered my ears out for the sound once more. Just one more mistake and I'd have him. As I scan the surrounding area, adrenaline pumps through me like the constant state of pumping blood. Just ahead I saw a red t-shirt standing out against the forest color theme and moved towards it for further investigation.
It was caught on a tree branch as if he abandoned it. Of course he did. I continued to scan the area knowing that he couldn't have gone too far but I was immediately caught off guard at the sound of a gunshot. I processed the sound before the pain as I dropped to the dirt covered ground, the sound of leaves rustling as the unsub fled the scene. "Emily!" I heard Morgan shout not too far and within seconds he was kneeling at my side.
"He went that way." I managed through the pain in my leg. Stubbornly I try to sit up but the pain shot through me at any effort to move.
"Don't move, alright." Morgan encouraged while hesitating whether or not to leave me or pursue the unsub.
"Go, Morgan, go." I insist further, wincing at the pain as I continued to try and sit up.
"Emily, you just got shot. Stay still." He directed me more sternly than before. The sound of leaves crunching behind me momentarily paralyzed me before realizing it was Hotch.
"He's gonna get away." I inform the two of them as I tried to encourage my team to remain objective.
"It's okay, Morgan. I got her, you go get Drysdale." Hotch directed as he held his phone to his ear. "We need medics." He insisted as Morgan disappeared in the trees, I could hear Reid's slightly panicked tone on the other end of the call. "Emily's shot."
He ended the call and began to attend as well as he could to my wound, tying his tie just above the wound to reduce bleeding. "Go Hotch, I'll be okay. We can't let him get away." I keep objective despite my pain, I know that getting justice for the 5 lives lost is more important that some superficial gun shot on my end.
"Reid will be here with the medics soon. Just hang tight." He encouraged before following suit into the woods, disappearing in seconds. I manage to sit up enough to see the wound, grimacing at all the blood along with the pain.
Drysdale is smart. He used the bold color to distract me, catching me with my guard down and knew that he could distract the rest of the team by taking me down. But why? Why take that risk? I swear to god if he gets away I will hunt him down myself, as soon as the pain resides anyways.
As Hotch promised Reid and the medics appeared within minutes. Pinned down I had to belt out my location through a disgruntled "here!" Leading Reid right towards me.
"Over here!" He called out to the medics as they followed suit to my side. "Emily, are you okay? What happened?" Reid panicked as the medics began to lift me onto a stretcher.
