Chapter Text
There were only five hours left until Tim and Lucy would run out of breathable air inside the underground storage container.
The symptoms had already started to appear. Lucy could barely keep her eyes open anymore and every breath felt heavier than the last. She hadn’t moved from the corner of the container in almost twenty four hours, her right leg stretched awkwardly in front of her. What had started as swelling around her knee had spread down her entire leg, the skin now an angry mix of deep purple and black. Every tiny shift sent another wave of pain through her body until eventually she had stopped trying to move altogether.
Tim sat beside her with his back against the cold steel wall, fighting through his own injuries. Blood had dried along the side of his face from a cut above his eyebrow and fresh bruises covered most of his torso. His wrists had swollen so badly he could barely make a fist after spending hours trying to pry open the container door. Every failed attempt had only made the pain worse, but giving up had never crossed his mind.
Their abductors had come and gone throughout the last two days, always hidden behind black masks and never saying more than a few words. They wanted Tim and Lucy scared, exhausted, and completely helpless. Whoever they were working for wanted them alive just long enough to suffer.
Tim already knew who was behind it.
He hadn’t seen Heath Everett since the day they were taken, but this was exactly the kind of revenge Everett would orchestrate. It was calculated, cruel, and personal.
Lucy shifted slightly before letting out a quiet gasp.
Tim looked over immediately.
“Easy,” he said softly. “Don’t move if you don’t have to.”
“I’m trying not to.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “My leg feels... wrong.”
He didn’t know how to answer that because she was right.
The moment her foot had twisted underneath her while one of their captors dragged her across the concrete floor, Tim had heard the loud pop echo through the container. Lucy’s scream still hadn’t left his head. Since then, the swelling had gotten worse by the hour and she could no longer feel parts of her lower leg.
He hated how powerless he felt.
The small security camera mounted near the ceiling blinked with its familiar red light.
Tim stared at it for several seconds before speaking loud enough for whoever was watching to hear.
“Are you enjoying the show?”
Lucy looked up at the camera too.
“If you’re waiting for us to beg, you’re wasting your time.”
Neither of them expected a response.
Instead, they kept talking.
They insulted whoever was watching, mocked the elaborate setup, even started making jokes they barely had the energy to laugh at. It wasn’t because they thought their captors would care. It was because if someone else happened to be monitoring the camera feed, someone outside of this operation, maybe they would realize something wasn’t right.
It was a long shot.
It was also the only one they had left.
Minutes passed in silence before Tim frowned.
“You hear that?”
Lucy listened carefully.
At first there was nothing except the sound of both of them struggling to breathe.
Then came a faint metallic scrape somewhere outside the container.
Tim slowly pushed himself upright despite the sharp pain shooting through both wrists.
“I heard it.”
The noise came again, this time followed by muffled voices.
His heart started racing.
Lucy looked at him, afraid to hope. “Tim…”
He didn’t answer. He was already pounding the side of the container with what little strength he had left.
“Help!” he shouted, his voice cracking. “Police! We’re in here!”
Lucy forced herself to yell too.
“Please!”
For one horrible second everything went quiet again.
Then footsteps.
Lots of them.
Someone shouted from outside. “I hear them!”
Another voice yelled for cutting equipment.
Tim closed his eyes for just a second, relief washing over him so suddenly it almost made him collapse.
“They found us.”
The first cut into the steel door sent sparks flying through the container. Bright white light spilled through the growing gap as officers worked frantically to force the heavy door open.
The final lock gave way with a loud crash.
Fresh air rushed inside.
Both Tim and Lucy instinctively gasped for breath, neither of them realizing just how little oxygen had been left until that moment.
“Oh my God,” one of the officers said as they climbed inside. “Get EMS in here now!”
Several paramedics rushed in behind them. One immediately knelt beside Lucy while another moved toward Tim, but Tim barely acknowledged him.
“Her first,” he said quickly. “Please.”
The medic examining Lucy carefully cut away the fabric around her knee. His expression changed almost instantly.
“Check for a pulse.”
Another paramedic reached for her ankle.
“I’ve got one... barely.”
“We’re losing circulation.”
Tim’s stomach dropped.
“What does that mean?”
The paramedic looked up briefly while continuing his assessment.
“It means we need to move. Right now.”
Lucy cried out as they transferred her onto a backboard and secured her to the stretcher. Before they could wheel her away, she reached for Tim’s hand.
He grabbed it immediately.
Neither of them wanted to let go.
“You need treatment too,” another medic told Tim as they noticed the blood covering his shirt and the swelling in both wrists.
“I’ll get treated later.”
“Sir, you have multiple injuries.”
“I said later.”
The medic looked at Lucy, then back at Tim, finally giving a small nod.
Tim stayed beside her stretcher all the way to the ambulance, refusing to leave even as dozens of familiar faces came running across the scene.
Angela stopped in her tracks the moment she saw them. Nolan looked completely frozen. Nyla’s expression hardened as she took in Lucy’s leg, while Celina turned her head away in shock, not wanting to remember this moment.
No one tried to speak.
There weren’t any words that could make what they were seeing better.
Inside the ambulance, the atmosphere changed almost immediately.
Lucy looked at him through half closed eyes.
“Tim…”
He squeezed her hand tighter.
“Don’t talk.”
“I’m scared.” She managed to choke out in between coughs.
His voice cracked. “I know.”
Two paramedics worked on Lucy while another finally started assessing Tim. Oxygen was placed over Lucy’s face as monitors beeped steadily beside her.
One of the paramedics frowned as he checked her foot again.
“I still can’t find a strong pulse.”
The other looked over.
“We’re calling ahead.”
“For trauma?” Tim asked as they took his blood pressure.
“For trauma and vascular surgery.”
Tim felt every muscle in his body tense.
“Why vascular?”
The paramedic hesitated before answering.
“We’re concerned the damage to her knee has cut off blood flow to the lower part of her leg. If we can’t restore circulation quickly…”
He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t have to.
The ambulance backed into the emergency bay, and the doors flew open before it had completely stopped.
Doctors were already waiting.
They rushed Lucy through the doors without slowing down. A trauma surgeon took one look at her leg before turning toward the rest of the team.
“Cancel imaging. She’s going straight to the OR. Call vascular surgery now.”
Tim watched helplessly as Lucy disappeared down the hallway.
Just before the operating room doors closed, he heard one doctor say the words he had been dreading.
“If we don’t restore blood flow soon, she’s going to lose the leg.”