Pain ~ Criminal Minds Shorts

Spencer Reid - Better Place

{first person POV}

My head was throbbing, but I was forcing myself to fight back the pain. 

The case wasn't supposed to turn out this way. The team had been sent in for a killer that was replicating torture methods from the movie SAW, and after creating a profile for the unsub and locating his warehouse where he had recorded everything, we had assumed this would be an easy job. The unsub hadn't even tried to cover his tracks for Garcia. Everything had seemed easy. Too easy, to be exact. 

I had expressed my unease to Spencer Reid, the only member of the BAU profiling team I considered my friend. He understood what it was like to be different. He also understood the importance of listening to gut feelings, and he tried to keep my worries to a minimum. Even as we had waltzed into the unsubs warehouse, he had sensed my unease and kept assuring me that nothing was going to happen to us. 

That didn't last long. As soon as we had entered the warehouse, a noxious gas was immediately pumped into the large room we were in. Somehow, the doors locked behind us, and I passed out, the blurry image of Spencer crawling towards me was the last thing I saw before I was plunged into nightmares. 

I woke up on a cold, metal table with an exposed bub dangling over my head. My hands flew to my hips, where I expected to find my gun and radio, but they were gone. My vest was missing too. There was only one door in the room, so I tried it. After a moments struggle, I was able to pry it open. 

I found myself in a hallway. Peeling white walls and rusted metal doors met grubby concrete floors and ceilings. The ceiling was lined with bright fluorescents that burned my eyes and made my head spin. 

"Agent. We have been expecting you and your little... gang." A voice came from the ceiling, piercing my brain like someone poking a tender bruise. I covered my ears, cringing. 

"What? What do you mean?" I groaned. I looked around as the voice came through the crackling speaker. There were no windows, only buzzing fluorescents overhead. I seemed to be in the middle of a hallway lined with rusty metal doors. 

"We have been watching you as well, Agent. Watching you and your... friends." The voice scratched. Friends? Gang? What were we? Scooby Doo and Friends? 

"Whats that mean?" I turned in circles, hoping to gain an idea of where I was, but the hallway turned off at each end. 

"So many questions for such a smart person. Agent, tell me, are you afraid?"  The voice ended with static. I weighed my options for answers. The disembodied voice of our, assumed, unsub had said they had been watching us. If I said I wasn't afraid, the voice may do something terrible to the others. If I said I was, I may have something terrible done to me. I had been through hell, I could take this. 

"Yes. I am. Please, tell me where my friends are so I wont be as afraid." I yelled. Without warning, hot tears welled in my eyes. I willed them away. I wasn't about to cry no matter how much I was panicking. 

Off in the distance, I heard a buzzing noise. The same buzzing of a door being unlocked. 

"Go on then, little Agent. Fetch. The others will be running this rat race as well." The voice crackled off into static and then silence. From my position, I saw a door swing open at the end of the hallway. A moments beat, and Spencers head peeked from around the door. 

"Spencer?"

"I-Is someone else out there?" His voice was strained, high and worried. His hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat. I ran towards him. 

"Spencer!" I quickly approached him. As soon as his eyes met mine, he met me halfway and swept me into an uncharacteristic hug that encompassed me in his long arms. I welcomed the hug, happy to know that he was alive.