Turbulence shook the jet, and the team paused in their conversation to comment on the storm raging outside their window.
"This is pretty bad." Said Emily, glancing toward her window.
"I hope we make it…" said JJ worriedly.
"We'll be fine." Said Morgan.
"Actually, over an eleven year period there have been about 5,000 aircraft accident caused by bad weather, only 1,700 of these resulted in deaths. It has been estimated that only one aircraft is struck by lightning each year. 48% of these were however, caused by winds. Snow and rain…" Dr. Reid began to recite.
"Reid. Not helping." Said Hotch.
"I'm sure we'll be fine." Said Rossi. "We should be focusing on the case."
Just then a flash of lightning ripped through the plane, and the team member were thrown across the length of the jet. Pieces of metal and glass flew through the air and the plane began to descend at an increasingly fast rate….
Moran was the first to wake up, followed almost immediately by Hotch. They took stock of everybody in the plane. At first, everybody looked fine. Nobody was even bleeding. But then his eyes landed on Reid, and Morgan let out a gasp.
There were pieces of glass sticking out in odd places all over his body. There was a large piece of metal sticking out of his leg, and he could see go through his leg and into the floor, his arm was bent in several places. Hotch ran towards him.
"He has a pulse."
At this point Emily woke up. "Morgan?" she asked, groggily. "Where are we?"
"Hey Em. The plane crashed."
"Is everyone okay?" she said.
"No. Reid is hurt."
She stood up, kind of shakily. When she saw Reid, her knees went weak and she began to fall, but Morgan caught her.
Then, JJ, waking up and being immediately able to see Reid, rushed passed them and towards him. She began helping Hotch quickly. Reid woke up just as they were about to pull the piece of metal pinning him down out of his leg.
"JJ?" he asked, his voice edged with pain.
"It's okay Reid. This is going to hurt a bit, but I need you to be strong? Okay?" JJ said. She motioned for Morgan to come help Hotch so that she could hold Reid's hand. Morgan walked over and he and Hotch began to it pull out. Reid let out a stifled scream and his hand gripped JJ's so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"Shh. Reid it's going to be okay." She comforted him, using her free hand to stroke his hair.
Rossi had woken up, and Emily was quietly explaining what had happened, at the same time trying to block out Reid's screams.
He was gasping desperately for air by the time they managed to get it out. Rossi went to check on the pilot. He returned saying that the windshield had shattered and the pilot had been hit in the neck with glass. He was dead.
"Emily, why don't you come with me we can see if the radio is working." Rossi knew she was not dealing well with Reid's pain.
"What happened?" Reid asked Hotch.
"There was a plane crash." Said Hotch.
"No. Not again…" Reid moaned.
Morgan raised his eyebrows. Again?
Hotch took off Reid's shirt so that they could patch up all the wounds on his chest from the glass. The amount of scars on the young man's body shocked Morgan.
There were rope marks from Tobias Henkel, circles from the boils that appeared when he had anthrax, but something he didn't expect. There were cuts all over his body.
"Where did… where did these come from?" he asked Reid.
"The first crash." Reid answered.
Hotch, who had been too busy to listen to this conversation said "Morgan, go find a First Aid kit."
Morgan returned quickly with one, and Hotch started working on Reid's leg, wrapping it up and slathering Neosporin on it. Reid groaned again.
JJ, who was also curious about what Reid had said about the 'first crash' began to talk to him. "What do you mean first crash?" she asked.
"When I was eleven. They sent me to this competition and the pilot had a heart attack." He said.
"What happened?" questioned Morgan.
"There was a lot of glass…" Reid was slurring now. Obviously exhausted.
Emily entered the room. "The radio is working. Help will be here, but it's going to take a while." She announced.
"Thanks Em." Said Morgan.
Reid eyes were closing. "Stay awake Reid. Please." Pleaded JJ.
"Why?" he asked.
"Help will be here soon. You'll be okay if you don't sleep."
"But it hurts…" he slurred.
"Please Reid. For me." Emily said, leaning beside him.
"Tell us more about the crash." Said Morgan, wanting to know more and to keep him awake.
"A lot of people were dead." He said. "And there was blood."
Emily was too focused on keeping him awake to wonder what he was talking about. He gripped JJ's hand tightly, and Emily stroked his hair.
"Emily! I need your help in here!" Rossi called out from the cock-pit. Reluctantly, she pulled away from Reid. "I'll be back. Promise me you won't go to sleep." She said.
"I promise." He said.
JJ and Morgan continued to press about the first crash.
"It was so… so… dark." Reid whispered.
"That's why you don't like the dark?" JJ asked.
"Yeah." He said.
"How long did it take for help to come?" Morgan asked.
"Three days." Reid's voice was barley audible.
"It's coming much faster this time, so you need to hold on." Said Morgan.
"It hurts…" he said through gritted teeth.
Meanwhile, in the cockpit, Emily and Rossi were desperately trying to keep the radio working. Emily pulled disconnected wires together, causing a slight spark and to Emily's satisfaction, the radio to turn back on.
"Why did it turn off?" she asked Rossi.
Rossi looked out the side window. "Shit." He said.
"What?"
"Were on the beach, and the tide is rising."
"We have to get out of here!" Emily cried.
She ran out the side. "Guys the tide is rising we have to get everything we can off this plane, now!"
The leaped into action. JJ, Rossi, and Emily started grabbing medical supplies, emergency food, and the team's go bags.
"Reid, listen to me. We have to move you" said Morgan.
Reid moaned in response. Hotch carefully took a hold of Reid's legs and Morgan gripped Reid's shoulders, being careful of his broken arm. Reid clenched his teeth, trying not to scream at the white hot pain burning through his entire body. At least his team was alive, at least this time everybody else wasn't dead. They lifted him, and he cried out in pain. The agony gripped his body, and he willed this to be over fast. A small scream escaped his lips, and through the black dots that danced in front of his eyes, he saw Emily, who was walking beside him, flinch. "Emily…" he whispered. She gently stroked his face. "I know Spencer. It's going to be fine. Help is on the way." She said.
Reid wished he could reply, but he was focusing on not passing out. Relief washed over him when he felt the hot sand touch his back. The pain lessened slightly, and the black dots began to slowly fade away. Reid wanted so bad to close his eyes. He fought and fought not to… but he couldn't push away the wall of blackness that was pushing at him.
"Reid! Keep your eyes open! Please!"
In the background he heard the familiar sounds of choppers coming to the rescue.
"I… can't." He managed to choke out. Still trying to hold on, he coughed and his mouth filled with the copper taste of blood.
"Reid!" he could vaguely feel his good shoulder being shaken.
"'m trying…" he said, coughing again with the effort of speaking.
"They're almost here, just a little longer." He recognized it as Emily's voice, and he reached toward it, sensing what he wanted, she put her hand in his, and he closed his hand clinging to it like it was life itself. He felt himself being lifted up, but Emily's grip stayed in with him. People all around him were yelling, help was here.
He would be okay.