Trapped

Barry coughed again as he inhaled the musty air. "Ugh. This sucks."

"That's one way of putting it," Singh agreed.

Barry let out a weak chuckle and coughed again.

Something wasn't right.

He wiped his mouth, drew back his hand, and paled upon seeing blood.

He was starting to feel a burning pain in his side, instead of just a throb.

That's not good.

***** EARLIER *****

Barry swallowed thickly as he approached the cavern. He was eternally glad that he skipped his breakfast, because he would've lost it then and there.

There were lots and lots of guts splattered all over the walls, like an abstract painting of nightmares.

He stood at the mouth of the cave, way too grossed out to go in.

"I'm gonna give my best guess from here," Barry said, "And say that a bomb did this."

"Come on, Allen!" Singh shouted.

Barry took a calming breath and strode into the cavern.

"I will not be eating today," Barry muttered.

"I'm not sure anyone will," the Captain agreed.

Barry's hands shook ever so slightly as he swiped some gut samples off the wall.

He noticed something protruding from the wall.

"Huh," he said, and reached up to touch it. It was a sort of barb or pointy projectile. He noticed scratch marks along the walls. "I'm thinking, that if this was a bomb, it had some sort of shrapnel in it."

He pulled it out of the wall and nearly dropped it. The metal was cold to the touch, yet, at the same time, burning. He quickly put it in an evidence bag that he double bagged.

He glanced at his gloved hand and saw that the shard had nearly burned through the material.

He walked away from the wall and noticed a small scorch mark.

He turned to the captain, "It was an explosive for sure. The bomb exploded right here, sending shrapnel in all directions."

"Alright, do you see anything else?" Singh asked.

"Nothing that pops out..."

He heard a soft tink tink.

He looked down near their feet and his eyes widened. He jumped into action right as the bomb exploded.

Barry tackled the captain backwards, away from the flying shrapnel. He tripped and the men were sent tumbling down a small slope. Then the roof of the cavern collapsed, locking them in.

"Allen!" Singh shouted.

Barry coughed, "Yeah!"

"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked, making his way over to the CSI.

"I'm alright, what about you?" Barry asked, rubbing his head.

"I'm okay, thanks to you." Singh said, plopping down next to Barry.

"No problem." Barry winced.

"You aren't alright are you?" Singh asked with concern.

"I think I hit my head on the way down, but other than that I think I'm good." He thought, "Well... as good as one can be trapped in a cavern with limited oxygen."

"Someone will find us," Singh said.

"Yeah, I know." Barry sighed. "Doesn't mean this still won't suck."

Singh chuckled dryly, "At least we're not alone, that would be worse."

Barry nodded. "I'll be right back, I want to see if there's a back way out."

Singh stood up with him, "Well you aren't going alone."

After ten minutes of searching, they found zero other exits.

Barry groaned and coughed, "I guess we just have to wait."

Barry felt a throb in his side as his adrenaline wore off, 'I must've cracked a rib,' he thought.

"I guess," Singh said.

Barry coughed again as he inhaled the musty air. "Ugh. This sucks."

"That's one way of putting it," Singh agreed.

Barry let out a weak chuckle and coughed again.

Something wasn't right.

He wiped his mouth, drew back his hand, and paled upon seeing blood.

He was starting to feel a burning pain in his side, instead of just a throb.

That's not good.

Barry put his hand on his side and winced. He looked down and saw blood. Lots of it.

"You good Allen?"

"Yeah," Barry lied, "My head just hurts. I can't wait to get out of here."

"Mm hm." Singh said, only partially believing Barry.

Barry bit his lip, there was no way he could hide this for long, and it was clearly a very bad wound. He was just wondering why it hadn't started to heal yet.

Suddenly, the burning pain became an agonizing pain.

Barry gasped and cried out, clutching his hand to his side.

"Allen!" Singh said, alarmed.

Barry screwed his eyes shut, in an attempt to block out the pain. He pulled his hand back and saw more blood.

Singh cursed, "Allen, sit back. Let me take a look at that."

Barry tried, but moving hurt. A lot.

Singh gently tore away the shirt around the wound. When he saw it, he paled.

The wound was a fairly decent size, and it was bleeding heavily. But the worst part was the large, silver barb stuck inside of it.

Barry coughed up more blood, tears were streaming down his face.

Singh took a shaking breath, "Damn it Allen."

Barry glanced at his injury. He saw the shrapnel and realized that that is what was making it hurt so damn much, and why his wound hadn't started to heal at least a little. The metal was like when Barry had touched it, only a thousand times worse.

It seemed to be eating away at Barry's insides. That's certainly what it felt like to him.

"Hang in there Allen," Singh said.

"Need. The shrapnel. Out." Barry gritted.

He weakly gestured to his pocket that held some gloves.

Singh swallowed as he put them on.

"Fast." Barry said.

"Yeah, I'll be fast." Singh assured.

Barry shook his head, and tried to pull out his other gloves. Singh got them out. Barry pointed to the glove that had a burn line down the middle.

"You need to be fast."

Singh licked his lips, "This is going to hurt, Allen. A lot."

Then he yanked the barb out of Barry's side.

Barry let out a blood curdling scream that would haunt Singh's nightmares for the rest of his life.

"Almost done. Just hang in there Allen."

Once the shrapnel was out, blood started pouring out rapidly. Singh ripped off his jacket to slow the blood flow.

Barry was barely hanging onto consciousness. The pain was immense and the dark creeping into his vision was welcoming, and Barry wanted nothing more than to just let it take over.

Singh noticed Barry's eyes start to close. "Stay awake Allen. You've got to stay awake."

Barry nodded weakly, but his eyes still continued to close. Finally, Barry gave in to the dark and let it wash over him.

Singh's eyes widened, "Allen! Wake up. Barry!"

Singh looked at the wound in Barry's side and noticed that the blood had seeped through his jacket. Someone needed to get here. Fast.

Then, Barry stopped breathing.

"No no no no no no!" Singh shouted at the unconscious boy. "Don't do this Barry! Come on! Help! Someone!"

Singh couldn't apply pressure to Barry's wound and perform CPR at the same time. And if he did CPR, he would likely bleed out. But if he didn't do CPR, he would die.

The captain made a split second decision and started performing CPR.

"Come on Barry. Come on. Come on. Come on!"

Barry was bleeding out heavily, and Singh was very afraid that he wouldn't make it. Then, Barry started breathing again. Weak and irregular breaths, but breaths nonetheless. Singh let out a breath of relief and reapplied pressure to his wound.

"Damn it Barry." Singh said.

He heard rumbling from somewhere above them, and hoped that that was people finally coming to the rescue.

"David! Barry!" Someone called. It was Joe.

Singh's face lit up, "Down here!" he shouted.

A rope was thrown down. Singh bit his lip, he couldn't very well carry Barry up, but there was no way he could even think of letting up the pressure on his wound. Hell, Singh was afraid to even breathe too hard, afraid that that would somehow make Barry start to bleed out faster than he already was.

"Allen's hurt!" He called up, "I need help!"

Barry was looking worse each second. David was getting increasingly more worried.

Joe climbed down the rope, desperate to reach his son.

"Barry!" He cried, racing to the two mens' side.

Barry's eyes fluttered open when he heard his dad's voice, "Joe," he rasped.

"Barry," Joe said, tears running down his cheeks.

"'M sorry," Barry said.

"No." Singh said, "Don't say sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for."

He gasped in pain, his head tilting towards Joe, "I love you."

"I love you too Bar," Joe said, "Just hang on okay? Hang on, we'll get you help."

"Tell Cait, Cis'o, Iris, e'eryone. I love 'em."

Barry's eyes fluttered shut and he whispered one last sorry.

"I said don't say sorry," Singh choked.

Barry stopped breathing.

"Barry," Joe cried, "Barry! Son stay with me. Stay with me please. Please don't go. Please."

Singh's hand was shaking as he felt Barry's wrist, the tears he was trying to hold back falling when he felt nothing.

Barry couldn't die. He was so young. He had so much life.

Why did the world always take the best people?

Joe was sobbing over Barry's body, clutching his hand like a lifeline. He kept repeating his name, begging for him to come back.

"Joe," Singh whispered, "Joe! He's gone. He's gone, I'm sorry."

*********

A/N- So this was written for @MadTown523. Hope you liked it!

So... my very first death fic... what'd y'all think? I'll be updating this book (and my other books) more once November hits, since I'm spending most my time on my Whumptober book.

Love y'all so much! :)