Crash Course

Chapter Three

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Chap. 3
"Kay... Kaily-..." someone's voice keeps fading in and out. I can't even begin to try to figure out who it is. All I can think about is the splitting headache I have, and the serious pain I have in my right leg and lower back. I have no idea what's going on for a moment, until-
    "KAILYN" The voice finally broke through. It was Hotch. As I opened my eyes, I saw him standing over me, blood covering the left side of his face. Just as I saw the blood on Hotch's face, the events leading up to came rushing back.
    "Hotch..." I manage to squeak out, "Wh- what happened? You're... you're bleeding really bad- and the team. Oh my god, the team-- are they okay? We need to go find the-" I go to sit up, and it stopped by the blinding pain that takes over my entire body. I groan loudly in pain and Hotch gently pushes me back to the ground.
    "Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh, it's okay, just stay down. We'll find them somehow, okay? I'm sure they're on their way to us now. Just try to stay calm, and don't sit up. Can you do that for me?" Hotch says, very calm sounding, but it'd be evident to any other profiler that there was hidden fear in his voice. I decided to just cooperate with him, so I nodded my head and stopped trying to get up. I then began to wonder what the extent of my injuries were. I was able to feel my toes wiggling on my left leg, but not my right. I quickly ruled out paralysis, which I knew I shouldn't jump to that conclusion right away, but I was only trying to keep some kind of faith. I was also able to feel all of the pain in my back. Quite honestly, I wasn't able to figure out anything from just pain alone, Just as I began to ask Hotch how bad it was, they heard someone scream their names. Very faintly, but it was there.
    "Kailyn, stay here. Do not move. Just stay down. I'm gonna go find them," He states firmly, his former self slipping back.
    "Wait- Hotch, don't leave me here alone! HOTCH-" and just like that, he was gone. 'Don't worry, Kay. He's going to find them, and they're going to find you. There's no need to panic. You're going to be fine.' I kept repeating thoughts like a mantra for ten minutes. Then ten minutes became twenty minutes, twenty becoming thirty, and so on until the two hour mark rolled by. The only reason I was able to tell the time was by the cracked watch on my wrist. Somehow the hands still moved, so I kept my eyes on my wrist the whole time. Finally, after two and a half hours, Hotch came back, followed by JJ, Rossi, Spencer and Morgan. They all immediately surrounded me, Spencer and Hotch staying back. The fear in Spencer's eyes scared me a bit- actually it scared me a lot. Spencer read like a book, it was always so easy to tell what he was feeling. I was so lost in my thoughts, I hadn't even realized that JJ had asked me a question. Finally, JJ cuts into my thoughts.
    "Uh, sorry, what?"
    "I asked how you were feeling. Ya know, any pain?" she replies. The three of them all had the same looks on their faces- fear. But it was justified. But there was, however, an underlying emotion that my scattered brain couldn't quite figure out what it was.
    "Uh- actually, I felt a lot more earlier. I don't feel as much pain anymore now though- wait guys, where's Alex?" everyone fell silent. Even Hotch and Spencer. Rossi couldn't look me in the eye, his emotions beginning to take over.
    "Wh- no. No no no, where is she? Guys, we have to-" I tried to get up, and immediately began practically screaming in pain. The rest of the team tried to stop me, but I had such drive that there was no stopping me. As soon as I was fully standing, JJ and Morgan stood on both sides ready to catch me.
    "Kailyn, please sit back down. It's getting dark, we're not going to find her," Spencer says quietly.
    "You're right, it's getting dark. We can't leave her out there on her own. We just can't," I refused to believe Alex was dead. I can't bring myself to think that. "We need to go find-" I put pressure on her right leg, screaming as soon as I began to shift the weight over into a step. I went crumbling to the ground, but before I hit, Morgan wrapped his left arm around my lower back, swiftly bringing my right arm around his neck, and then slowly lowering me down, allowing me to straighten my leg back out in front of me.
    "Now will you listen to me and just stay down?" Hotch says after letting me get settled and regain my breath.
    "Alex... Alex is dead?" I say, almost in a whisper. For a second, no one had any intention of answering. I felt the tears stinging my eyes, as Spencer knelt down in front of me.
    "We found her not too far from you guys. When Hotch found us, he wanted to stay with Alex until she died. We wanted to come get you, but she told us not to. She didn't want you to see her so weak. We all stayed with her until she..." he trailed off for a second, not wanting to admit the obvious. He continued within seconds. "She wanted me to tell you something. She said that you reminded her a lot of her Ethan, and that she has been, and always will be, so proud of you and everything you've done," those words cut into her like a knife into butter. I always tried to hide my emotions from the rest of the team, but I couldn't help it anymore.
    "I... I didn't get to say goodbye..." those words broke her wall. I began to sob into Spencer's chest. The pain I felt, physically and emotionally, were all released in that moment.