![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Fic: Trapped Inside The Chase
Fandom: Psych
Author: tunes84
Rating: M
Word count: 7,775 (whole fic)
Characters/Pairings: Shawn, Juliet
Genre: Horror, Suspense
Warnings: Graphic Violence
Complete: Yes
Summary: Another case closes too neatly and Shawn takes it upon himself to figure out the messy truth. What he doesn't realize is just how messy--or how bloody--the truth will be. (Not Shules)
(Part I)
Daylight slowed them.
The light from the sun was useful, and part of Shawn's mind recognized that; he knew they would be able to navigate better in the light. But his stomach twisted, fear bubbled acid in his throat because he and Juliet were no longer protected by the shadows. The sun was now a giant, burning spotlight that exposed them to unwanted eyes.
They were being followed, tailed, watched. Shawn couldn't shake the feeling.
"You're thinking it too, aren't you?" Juliet said quietly. Another twig snapped beneath her feet, the sound amplified and echoing for the entire forest to hear.
"I don't know, Jules," Shawn answered, a quick glance over his shoulder.
A few moments of silence passed before Juliet continued. "Maybe he's just waiting for the right time or something. Maybe it's just a sick game he's playing."
Shawn shook his head. "I don't think it's a game. Dude's a complete psychopath. The way he kept repeating that phrase-"
"Stop!" Juliet shouted so loudly that a few birds cried as they flew from their perches in the trees. She threw her hand in front of Shawn's face and closed her eyes tightly. "Just...don't say it."
Shawn licked his lips. "Jules," he said softly. "I won't."
They continued walking in silence with the threat of death still lurking somewhere behind them. He could feel Juliet’s fear as much as he could feel his own. Every brush of leaves against his skin, every twitch of a tree branch in the breeze, every squirrel that scurried past them was enough to make Shawn’s skin crawl.
It was enough to make them walk faster.
-ooo-
The hum of a generator somewhere near drowned out the clinking of Juliet’s hair pin as she picked away at Adam’s lock with a look of deep concentration etched into the frown lines on her face. Shawn tried not to hover, but he was anxious. Adam continued to sleep through the noise and it worried him; the young man’s face looked even more pale up close.
Seconds ticked away to minutes, and minutes were time they couldn’t spare.
“How’s it coming?” Shawn asked quietly, unnerved by the frustrated groans coming from Juliet’s mouth.
“This lock is different than ours was,” she answered, annoyed. “I can’t find the right spot.”
Shawn bit his lower lip. “Gus would be useful right about now,” he said through a small laugh. “He’s the master at this kinda thing.”
Another minute of silence mingled with the excessive jingling of the iron lock, making the room pulse with fear. Worry settled in Shawn’s stomach, so he decided to distract himself by heading across the floor to the work bench he had seen earlier. There were a few tools laid haphazardly along the top, though nothing that would help them break open the cage. Pacing seemed like a good idea now, but when Shawn turned to move, his foot tapped something hard. He bent down and lifted the wooden handle of a large shovel with dried blood speckled on the metal.
“I think I found the shovel,” Shawn muttered coldly, locking eyes with Juliet. She shivered.
Then Shawn got an idea. “Hey Jules, what about breaking the lock off with the shovel?” he asked excitedly. “If we hit it hard enough-”
Juliet cut him off. “If we hit it hard enough, it’ll attract attention,” she snapped. “So far whoever did this hasn’t come back and I’d like to keep it that way as long as possible.”
“Okay,” Shawn said dejectedly, but pressed on. “And how is the lock picking going?”
“Shawn, this isn’t the time to play games.”
“I’m not playing a game, Juliet, I know how serious this is!”
Juliet whirled around and pushed two fingers hard into Shawn’s chest, making him lose his footing and fall back a few steps. “We will open this lock without making a big production, and we’ll figure out where to go from there. Understood?”
Eyes burning, she stared hard into his face. Shawn knew it was the best plan but he couldn’t stop the uneasy feeling that boiled hot through the pit of his stomach.
“Did you guys hear that?”
The pair stopped their squabbling and noticed Adam had woken and was now listening intently to something with his ear pressed against the floor of his tiny prison.
“That noise, like a click. Something’s moving,” he added, his eyebrows now woven together in a thick line above his eyes.
Juliet stuck out her chin and shrugged. “I don’t hear it,” she said in confusion when Shawn grabbed her arm.
“Jules,” he whispered, eyes darting wildly back and forth. Something rumbled low beneath their feet and began to shake the room. A screwdriver rolled off the workbench and into the heel of Shawn’s sneaker as he tightened his hold on Juliet’s arm.
Suddenly there was a loud clunk and a shrill cry exploded from Adam’s mouth when the floor of his cage fell open and swallowed him whole. With a shocked gasp, Juliet lurched forward, but Shawn pulled her back hard and wrapped his free arm around her neck, clamping his hand over her mouth. A minute later, the shaking stopped. Besides their heavy breathing, they both stood silent.
A moment passed before Adam’s weak voice came up through the deep hole. “Guys?”
Juliet whimpered, but Shawn refused to loosen his grip.
“Guys, I don’t-” Adam said louder. “Hello?”
Light flooded in through the hole in the ground then, illuminating the dingy room where Shawn stood with Juliet’s back against his chest.
“Wha-whaddayou want?” Adam’s voice shook violently, twisting the inside of Shawn’s gut.
Juliet struggled against his hold on her but he shook his head, leaning closer until his lips brushed her ear. “Don’t make a sound,” he whispered, his voice hitching slightly as he tried to steady his hand over her mouth. He could feel her shaking and knew she wanted to pull away. “Please,” he added desperately. Juliet, still tense, nodded.
A new voice, harsh and grating, drifted up and flooded the room now. “Who sent you?” it growled. Shawn’s breathing quickened.
“Who sent-? What are you talking about?” Adam’s voice raised higher with each word.
With more force the man asked again, “Who sent you?”
Shawn felt Juliet take a deep breath and gulp fearfully. He didn’t let his grip waver.
“Dude, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but nobody sent me! I was hiking! I hike on my days off!” Adam cried. “Wait, what are you-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Juliet sucked in a sharp breath and wriggled violently while Shawn continued to hold on.
"Who sent you?” the low voice asked again in a venomous tone.
“Nobody! Nobody, I swear! STOP! NO! PLEASE! GOD PLEASE!”
Soon Adam’s voice was only a low gurgle and the light faded back into an orange glow as Shawn was left standing in the middle of the dark room with Juliet’s hot tears rolling down his fingers.
-ooo-
“Do you hear that?”
Hot rays of sunlight burned Shawn’s skin as he stood and listened to what he hoped was the gushing sound of freedom. Sweat dripped slowly down his back from the heat and the excitement of having possibly found their way home.
“Hear what?” Juliet scrunched her nose, wrinkling her forehead in confusion.
He took her uninjured hand and pulled her quickly along. “This way. I think I know where we are.”
They pushed past a few trees, angering a pair of squirrels who were fighting over a large acorn. The sound grew louder with each step. Shawn saw Juliet’s face light up when they reached their destination.
“Oh God, water,” she cried, falling to her knees beside a small flowing river. She dipped her shaky hands into the water and drank greedily. Shawn took a deep breath and did the same.
“My dad took me camping here years ago. I’m pretty sure I can get us to the land of normal,” Shawn said, hopeful. Juliet threw her arms around him.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
Shawn opened his mouth whisper reassurance when his blood turned to ice inside his veins.
“Who sent you?”
-ooo-
Two hours after Adam’s death, Shawn and Juliet still hadn’t said a word to each other. Shawn was counting each minute in silence, his head swimming with the loud buzz of the generator in his ears. Everything around them seemed to vibrate with that sound. Juliet sat over by the workbench with her knees drawn up to her chest, tear streaks visible on her face which made the lump in Shawn’s throat grow bigger.
Even with Adam’s death hanging over him, Shawn couldn’t help but try and piece together more of the puzzle. Their surroundings began to make him believe they were in some kind of bomb shelter, but he wasn’t sure why the walls were so bare. Small hooks in them where shelves used to be as well as empty crates stacked underneath the workbench fueled this theory. What Shawn couldn’t understand was why their captor had converted it into a death chamber. He obviously believed someone was out to get him, which made Shawn shudder as he recalled those haunting words the man had said. Whether he was scared for his life or simply a psychotic maniac, one thing was certain to Shawn: They had to get out of there.
Ideas started to take shape in his mind, each one growing bigger and more elaborate than the next. Trying to sort through them gave Shawn a headache, so he knew he had to get Juliet’s help with figuring out a way to break free from their prison.
“Jules, we need to do something,” he stated loudly, walking over to sit beside Juliet.
She was quiet, breathing heavily while Shawn stared closely at her grimy face. With a loud sniffle, she slowly lifted her head to look at him. “I know,” she said fiercely.
There was a spark in her eyes that gave Shawn hope. “What did you have in mind, Detective?”
-ooo-
Their plan was simple: Let the killer open the door, then bash his head in with the shovel. It made perfect sense to both captives because if they rendered the man unconscious, it was their best chance of escape. Once they made it out the door, they could find civilization or possibly figure out where they were.
So they hid behind the door and waited.
Time seemed to drag slowly as neither of them knew how long it would be before the killer came to find why they hadn’t fallen through his trap door. There were no clocks or watches; they just had to wait for the dreaded click.
“I’m never going to eat at a mid-western restaurant again,” Shawn said matter-of-factly, breaking the tense silence.
Juliet frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“This place has that mid-western-hillbilly feel to it, don’t you think? I’ll be reminded every time I bite into peppercorn-encrusted anything,” Shawn answered.
“Everything is food with you, do you know that?” Juliet said, smiling for the first time since they were captured.
Shawn returned her smile. “It’s the breath of life, Jules. When we get out of here, I’m taking you to a nice restaurant. You can order whatever you want, it’ll be my treat.”
Juliet snorted and shook her head. “Just a few days ago you stuck me with your lunch bill.”
“I was a few dollars short.”
“It was a drive through. Two dollars and some change.”
Shawn sighed. “Yes, but that was before I found one of Gus’ credit cards in his desk drawer.” He grinned again.
“The one he keeps locked at all times?” Juliet asked, raising her eyebrows. “With the sign that says ‘Do not touch. I will kill you, Shawn’?”
Shawn shrugged. “I find that to be more of a suggestion. Besides, I had duplicate keys made. How am I supposed to help Gus in an emergency if I don’t have all his keys?”
Juliet pursed her lips and closed her eyes, laughing a little and renewing Shawn’s hope that they would make it out of there alive. Before he could continue, they heard the quiet click they had been waiting for. The floor to their cage dropped down into a black hole and they both turned to each other, taking deep breaths.
“Time to get out of here,” Juliet whispered darkly. Shawn squeezed her arm and nodded.
Light flooded up through the hole in the ground like it had just before Adam’s death. It was eerily quiet for a moment before the door quickly slammed shut and returned the hole to darkness.
Tension built with each passing second. Shawn held his breath, feeling the sweat drip down the side of his head as they heard footsteps approaching on the other side of the door.
The rattle of a chain being undone.
The clang of a chain being dropped to the ground.
The slow turn of the lock on the cold metal door.
A man stepped into the room with a look of panic in his dirty, red-rimmed eyes, his tall frame shaking from head to toe. His heavy breathing hitched at the sight of the empty cage. Panicked, he ran a hand through his long, dark dirt-encrusted hair and mumbled, “Who sent them? Who sent them?” under his breath.
Juliet tip-toed behind their tall captor. With a deep breath, Shawn screamed “NOW!” The killer whirled around in wide-eyed shock at Shawn as Juliet swung back and bashed the shovel into the man’s head. He stumbled to the ground with a pained groan and fell face first into the dirt. Shawn tried to grab Juliet’s hand, but she cringed and dropped the shovel, grabbing him with her other hand.
“COME ON, JULES!” Shawn bellowed, pulling her through the door.
“The door!” Juliet yelled, but Shawn kept his hold on her.
“No time, we need to leave!” He pulled her up the long hallway, climbing through the last open door into the night air.
They ran, and neither of them looked back.
-ooo-
“Who sent you?” The bearded man wiped his hands on his dirt-encrusted overalls, licking his lips in a crazed sort of hunger as he took a few steps towards Shawn and Juliet. The pair slowly took steps back in an effort to keep the distance between them and the killer they were now face-to-face with. Shawn reached out to push Juliet behind him but the blond detective refused to leave his side. She stood stiffly, hunched slightly as if she were ready to pounce. “Look man,” Shawn began, looking the gruff mountaineer in the eye to hopefully show his sincerity. “We weren’t sent by anybody. We’re just two friends who went for a walk. Completely innocent.” The man put his hand into his pocket, cracking his neck in the process. Shawn flinched. “Who,” he snarled, pulling Juliet’s badge from his pocket and thrusting it in their faces, “sent you?” Juliet spoke up this time. “Yes, I’m a detective, but nobody sent us. Sir, nobody sent us.” Her voice was pleading. “We were just following some evidence in one of my investigations, neither of us was sent by anyone.” Every word seemed to aggravate their former captor to the point where his face finally turned a deep shade of red. “WHO. SENT. YOU?!” he screamed. He reached into his other pocket and ripped a knife out of it, tearing through his overalls in the process. Juliet pulled in a sharp breath as he started to walk faster towards them. “He’s nuts, Jules, RUN!” Shawn yelled, pushing Juliet in the direction of the trees. They took off in opposite directions, the killer looking quickly from one to the other, unsure of who to run after first. Shawn decided to make the choice easier for him. “Hey psycho, it was the United States government!” The man’s eyes suddenly bulged and the cry that erupted from his lips made Shawn’s heart pound even harder than it already was. He ran faster. The mountaineer chased after him, grunting and growling from behind. The knife was high above his head in anticipation of slashing down upon its intended victim. Shawn zig-zagged, trying to throw the bigger man off. In the dense forest, it wasn’t too much of a stretch. Shawn was leading the man in a circle; he didn’t want to lose sight of the river, his and Juliet’s only hope of salvation. With the water back in sight, he ducked behind a particularly large tree and crouched down behind the wall of raised roots and leaves. Armed with a heavy rock, Shawn waited. Slow footsteps and gasping breaths approached. Crunch. Crunch. Snap. Each sound sent a wave of panic through Shawn’s body, making him feel extremely lightheaded. Closer. Closer. He jumped up when the knife was in view and struck the man at the base of his neck, bringing him to his knees. But he lashed out, the knife catching on Shawn’s elbow. “Son of a bitch!” Shawn bellowed, stumbling back in to the clearing as he clutched his bloody arm. The killer didn’t miss a beat; he staggered right after Shawn, knife raised again. Shawn stepped back, almost losing his balance when his foot splashed in shallow water. His breath quickened as his fear grew. “Come on, man,” he tried to reason, though he knew it was pointless. The man grinned a terrifying grin and pulled the knife up higher. Shawn was about to close his eyes when Juliet came out of nowhere and, with a loud shriek, crammed a large shard of rock into the lunatic’s neck. He wailed, grasping his neck as the blood trickled down his fingers. Juliet ran forward to grab the knife off the ground, coming up fast and, with another cry, plunged it into his chest. The man looked at her, stunned, before falling gracefully forward into the river. Shawn blinked slowly at the red blood that flowed downstream. The killer’s eyes stared at him, still open, still wide. “Jules,” Shawn whispered. He couldn’t look away. Juliet was next to him, pulling him away and turning his head to look at her own face. “It’s over,” she said softly. “Okay? It’s over.” As police dogs barked in the distance, Shawn threw his good arm around Juliet and pulled her close. She wrapped her own around him, and the two stood silently in each other’s embrace while streams of red blood swirled around their feet. It’s over.
no subject
I'm glad you got this posted, and I'm sorry about your car accident. Hope you're doing well now.
no subject
Cool
Re: Cool