The Long, Lonely Road Ahead

The following events take place after Hotch’s divorce but prior to JJ’s giving birth.

Hopefully this story is still entertaining you all. I know there aren’t many of us out there who read and write Criminal Minds Fanfic, but I enjoyed writing this story and I still enjoy reading it (while I edit it, mind you), so I guess that’s okay.
I’d love feedback, but I know that most people who read don’t bother to review or even rate the stories they read. I now try and review whenever I read a story, just to “pay it forward” and hope it will bounce back to me someday.
In the meantime, I hope this entertains!

The Long, Lonely Road Ahead

Chapter Twenty-Three

I think I fell asleep on the couch in Josiah’s house. The house was quiet and dark, and I was just so damn tired. When I woke up, it was dark out and darker inside the house. There was a bit of light from the compound coming in through the thick drapes and blinds. I looked around for a clock and found one on the wall of the kitchen. It had kittens on it. I blinked in surprise, and then focused on the time: 10 pm. I’d been asleep for a lot longer than I’d thought. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, though. Curfew was 9, which meant that Matt and Frank would be inside their apartments in the men’s quarters. They wouldn’t suspect anything. I snuck out the back door of the house, and around the back way to the entrance to the men’s quarters. There was a young man on duty, but he wasn’t very interested in it. He was lounging at the side of the fence, smoking. I stuck to the shadows and waited for his head to turn away from me, then I slipped inside and headed towards the lieutenants’ apartments.

The lights were on in almost all of the apartments, which made it easier to look inside from where I stood. The first three were men I’d never seen before. No problem. The fourth apartment was dark. The next one was a hit, though—Matt Shaum was sitting in his couch, watching something on TV. As I watched him, he finished his beer, put the bottle on the table in front of him, and then unzipped his fly and pulled his dick out. Oh my god. He was masturbating to whatever was on the TV in front of him! I moved around the window, trying to get a glimpse of what was on the screen. My heart began to race. It was some kind of movie of Matt and Frank with a couple of young girls; the girls were maybe ten at the most. The sound was off on the TV, but I could see that the girls were clearly terrified, screaming and crying while the men did unspeakable things to them. And Matt sat there, getting off on it. I couldn’t let this continue. I had to get into the building and kill him. I moved on to the sixth and last apartment in the row. There was only one story to the building, six apartments altogether, so if Frank wasn’t in this last one, I didn’t know where he was. It was brightly lit, but the man inside wasn’t Frank. Shit. Well, Matt was better than nothing. I walked quietly around to the rear door of the building and looked around. No one in sight. Good. I pulled open the door and walked inside.

(“Okay. This side of the compound is the men’s quarters. The women and men live separately, even if they’re married, just like Terra said. Josiah’s house is, we think, this one over here.” Reid tapped on the map as the other team members looked on. “The last building closest to the woods is a series of apartments which house the more senior men in the Militia. They don’t have to live in dorms like the rest of the men and women. If Matthew Shaum and Franklin Rosewell were anywhere, they would most likely be here.”
“We’ve got movement around the back of the building,” Morgan said, holding a pair of infrared binoculars up to his eyes. “It’s too far away to tell who it is, though.”
“At this point in the evening, curfew would have already fallen. Everyone should either be on guard duty for their shift, or in their houses,” Reid said.
“According to the DEA on the east, they can see the kid who’s on duty outside the men’s quarters. There’s only on guard at the front of each of the quarters, and then four people armed with automatic rifles patrolling the perimeter of the compound.”
“So that could very easily be Terra,” Hotch said, shaking his head.
“Yes, it could,” Rossi agreed.
“When are we going in?” Hotch asked, and Rossi checked his watch.
“We’ve got another hour at least,” Reid said before Rossi could say anything. “Although I don’t think midnight is actually the best time to stage the raid. It seems to me from what I’ve read that 11 would be better, simply because the guards change at that point.”
“Taylor should know that,” Morgan said. He looked curiously at Rossi and Hotch.
“Yes, he should know that,” Hotch said, pulling out his cell phone.
“You think they’re trying to cut us out of this?” Prentiss asked Rossi.
“I’m not sure what to think,” Rossi replied.
“Taylor’s not answering his phone,” Hotch said. “Morgan, take one car and drive to the east. See if the DEA can tell us when the raid’s scheduled for. Prentiss, you take the other side and the ATF.” Prentiss and Morgan left, heading into the darkness. “If they won’t give us a satisfactory answer, we’re going in on our own.”
“Can we do that?” Reid asked.
“We can and we will,” Hotch said, sliding his phone back onto his belt.)

I couldn’t hide in the bright light of the hallway, so I just walked down two doors and tried the knob. It was unlocked, of course. No one inside the compound locked their front doors. I stepped inside and quietly shut the door behind me. I could hear the slap, slap as Matt masturbated on the couch. I drew one of my guns and stepped into the living room.


“Hello pervert,” I said, pointing the gun at him. He looked at me and came, a long stream of semen spurting from his cock and on to the table. “Oh gross, Matt.”
“Terra!” he exclaimed, his hand still on his cock. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I’m here to kill you, Matt,” I said, pointing the gun at him.
“Really?”
“Why is it no one believes me?” I complained. “I have a gun. I know how to use it. Why does it seem so damn hard to believe I want to kill you?”
“Uh… I don’t know. You’re my wife,” he said, reaching for a box of Kleenex.
“That would be even more of a reason to kill you,” I said. “What the fuck are you watching?”
“Uh… just something Frankie and I made last week,” he muttered. “Can I at least clean up before you shoot me?”
“No. I want you dead with your cock out for the world to see. I mean, why not, eh? It’s how you spent most of your life.”
“Terra…”
“What I want you to do is write me a confession first.”
“A confession? What the fuck do you want me to confess?”
“What you did to me! What you do to little girls! It’s sick, Matt. It’s just totally sick.”
“You were my wife! You are my wife! ‘Til death to us part, remember?” He stood up and tucked his dick into his pants. “It’s legal. The bible says I have the right to do what I want with you. I own you.”
“You don’t own me. And I’m not your wife. And who gives a flying fuck about the bible? This place isn’t about the bible. It’s about guns, and sex, and drugs, and anything you and Josiah and Frank want to do! This place is so bloody full of sin… don’t give me any shit about what the bible says. And Josiah wasn’t the messiah! You know that. Of all people, you know that.”
“Look, Terra, you shouldn’t be here. If Josiah finds out you’re here, you’re dead. You know that, right?”
“I’m not going to worry about Josiah and neither are you,” I said. “He’s no longer any of our concern.”
“What did you do?” Matt suddenly went white. “Did you kill him? Oh God, Terra, tell me you didn’t kill him!”
“I didn’t kill him,” I answered truthfully. “Nonetheless, he’s no longer a problem for me.”
“What did you do?”
“You should be more concerned about what I’m going to do to you!”
“Let me just find out if he’s okay,” Matt said, heading for the phone.
“Don’t move!”
“I just want to call…”
I shot him in the knee.
“Oh shit! You fucking bitch! You shot me!”
“Yes, I did. I want a confession and I want you to stay here and give it me. So you’ll stay put or I’ll shoot your other knee.”
“All right, all right. I’m not moving,” he said. The front door to his apartment slammed open suddenly behind me and Franklin Rosewell appeared, a shotgun cocked and ready in his hands.
“What the fuck is going on in here, Matt?” he demanded. He saw me. I reached into my jacket as soon as I saw him and had both guns trained on both of the men.
“Put down the shotgun, Frank,” I said, “or I’m going to shoot both of you.”

(“Morgan and Prentiss have called in. The raid is scheduled for 11 pm, not midnight. Taylor was going to cut us out, but we’re in on it now,” Hotch told Rossi and JJ. “Suit up. As soon as they get back, we’re going to get into position.” The SUVs drove up at almost the same time, lights off. Morgan flew out of the door.
“We’ve got shots fired, Hotch! Inside the men’s apartments.”
“There’s no way to know what’s going on unless we go in,” Rossi said.
“It could be Terra, though,” Prentiss said, strapping on the Kevlar vest Reid passed to her.
“It could, but we can’t go in until 11,” Hotch said.
“The DEA and ATF will give us the signal when they’re about to go in,” Morgan said, strapping on his vest. “We’re just about ready here.”
“Everyone’s got a vest and infrared goggles,” Hotch confirmed. “JJ, you and Reid would be best to stay here.”
“Hotch, I’ve passed my arms test. I can do this,” Reid protested.
“He’ll be fine, Hotch,” Rossi said.
“He can come with me,” Morgan added.
“All right. But if it gets too hot, get out of there. Clear?” Hotch said.
“Understood,” Reid said, unholstering his gun.
“All right. Let’s move into position and wait for the signal,” Hotch said. And they fanned out into the woods around the north side of the compound. The other FBI agents who had joined them from the Redding office slid around in front of them and cut silently through the fencing behind the men’s quarters. Then they moved off and prepared for the signal.)