To be fair, neither you nor Spencer were built for this. You were BAU profilers — trained to chase monsters of the human kind, not to track them through a labyrinth of trees and shadows. Sure, you both could navigate almost any city, any alley, any case file. But the woods? The woods were something else entirely — unpredictable, deceptive.

You were geared up, vests snug, radios clipped, weapons holstered. Standard procedure. But when the unsub bolted into one of the densest forests you’d ever seen and Spencer took off after him, instincts overruled caution. You couldn’t just stand by the road and watch him vanish into the dark. You barely had time to radio Garcia — a frantic ping of your location — before plunging in after him, his voice cutting through the branches: “FBI! Stop!”

But you both knew the truth. You weren’t wilderness experts. Your sense of direction was solid, Spencer could quote you entire volumes on flora and edible berries, your GPS had always been reliable — and none of it mattered now. The trees swallowed the signal, the run had smothered the path, and you realized you were far, far deeper in than you should’ve gone.

Unlike you, the unsub belonged here. He knew the rhythm of the branches, the curves of the terrain, the way the forest breathed. You and Reid only knew the chase — and when he skidded to a halt, you followed, both of you staring into a wall of green where your suspect had disappeared without a trace.

“Jesus Christ, Spencer!” you snapped, lungs burning as you tried to catch your breath. “Why would you do that? Now we’re… we’re lost!”

“We’re not lost!” Reid spun on his boots to face you, hazel eyes wide with adrenaline even if he was worried about you, not the unsub. You. Always you. “I— I know how to get out, okay?!”

“Uh-huh. Sure,” you said, shoving your hair back from your face. “So where do we go now, clever boy? Lead us out of this horror-movie forest.”

“Just—” He gestured, exasperated, his voice cracking with frustration. “Follow the water, alright? That’s… that’s what we do.”

But the truth was written all over his face. Spencer Reid had no more idea how to escape this than you did. Two FBI agents, stranded in the woods, chasing a ghost.

And then — drop. Another. Five. Ten. Until the sky broke open above you.

Of course. It had to start raining.