ROSEMARY - spencer reid

T W E N T Y - O N E

CHAPTER 21: RUN

Rosemary Cooper's POV

[October 11th, 2009]

Spencer and I both jump when the car comes to a stop, breathing heavily and trying to calm down as Ramón circles around to the back.

"We'll be alright." Spencer whispers, squeezing my hand tightly.

"Get out," Ramón instructs after opening the back. "We're home."

Spencer and I say nothing, scooting towards the end of the tailgate. Spencer hops down first, turning around and helping me down as well. Ramón looks at us with an uncharacteristically pleased expression, holding his gun loosely in his hand. I turn around, looking at the small, brown cabin.

"This is the first house that I was kept at." I tell Spencer, who seemed to already know.

"Well, let's not just stand around!" Ramón cheers, his easy-going attitude putting both of us on edge. "Let's go inside!"

The three of us trudge into the house, Ramón unlocking it with a key he found under the doormat. The first thing I notice when we enter is the overwhelming stench of death clinging to the furniture.

"Jesus!" I choke out, pulling my coat up over my mouth and nose. "Where is that smell coming from?" I ask, my eyes watering up at the intensity of the odor.

"How should I know?" Ramón questions, walking further into the house, the curiosity of where the smell was coming from getting the better of him.

I peek into the living room, seeing that there is what appears to be either a very large dead rat or a dead squirrel in the floor. Ramón covers his mouth with his shirt, thinking about how to get the carcass out of the long-abandoned home. I back up closer to Spencer, near the front door that we came into.

"Spencer, the truck!" I whisper, and he nods.

While Ramón's guard is down, we slip through the door, sprinting towards the truck when we hear him shout after us. We dive into the cab, Spencer behind the driver's seat. His hand flies to turn the key in the ignition, only to find that there is no key. We look to each other in desperation, both of us flying out of our seats when Ramón bursts from the house. We don't bother closing the truck doors behind us, running behind the truck and meeting up.

He grabs onto my hand tightly, the two of us sprinting as quickly as we can away from Ramón.

"This way!" Spencer shouts to me, veering off to the left. "I saw a gas station on our way here!"

"How far?" I ask, looking over my shoulder to see Ramón giving up running after us.

"Maybe a mile or two!" Spencer replies, looking over his shoulder as well.

We both see Ramón climb into his truck, starting the engine. Spencer curses loudly, pulling me off of the road and into the woods. We cut through them quickly, the fading daylight helping us find our way through the underbrush. I don't know how, but by what must be the grace of God, we break through the tree line and see a small service station a few hundred yards away.

We run even faster than before, but both of us hear the roar of an engine from the road. We see the familiar red truck driving alongside us; Ramón pointing his gun at us through the open window. The truck screeches into the gas station parking lot, making Spencer and I stop dead in our tracks.

He curses again, running a hand over his face in exasperation, but never letting his other leave my own.

"If I were you two," Ramón shouts across the distance between us. "I'd get in the truck before I go into this gas station and blow the poor little employee away."

"He's bluffing." Spencer says, and I look up at him.

"So what do we do?" I ask. "We don't have anywhere else to go... Do we?"

"Yes. Let's go back to the house with him. The team will find us there. I know they will."

"I'm trusting you." I say, and he looks at me as if those words meant the world to him.

"Then I won't give you a reason not to." He replies before beginning to walk towards the truck.

I tighten my grip on his hand, my feet hesitant to follow him. He turns and nods at me, the look in his eyes showing me that everything will be okay.