Pushing some large leaves to one side, Jane punched the air in celebration.

"Get in." she instructed, pushing Tag in ahead of Maura. The cave was dark but dry and free of wildlife. As the three settled into the gloom they were glad from the respite in shooting.

"So, what do we know?" Jane asked as she pulled a jumper from her bag to sit on.

"Well, it seemed there were two shooters." Tag offered. "I didn't see them or the weapons."

"What are they doing here?" Jane turned her query to Maura who only shrugged.

"OK, we need to gather up some firewood or something we can burn." Tag began, "We also need some fresh water."

"Oh." Maura's eyes lit up with pride. "I found a bucket in the surf; I set it out on the beach to collect rain water."

Jane gazed lovingly at her girlfriend. Even in a crisis, she was always one step ahead of everyone else.

"We probably shouldn't be out in the open though." Tag admitted. He didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but he also didn't want anyone else to die. "They were good shooters." Tag explained. "I couldn't see them but they didn't seem to miss. Not a single shot."

"So, at least two sharp shooters with decent rifles and scopes." Jane surmised. "We have some food and water, but we'll need to find more."

"They seemed to take shelter in the rain. The shots only started once the rain stopped." Maura observed, "If it starts raining again, we can go and get the bucket and move it, then we'll have some source of fresh water."

Tag got to his feet. "The trees seem to get thicker towards the middle of the island, I should be able to find some dry kindling or logs to make a fire, I remember seeing it on TV."

Jane smiled, "Cast Away?" she asked softly.

"Bear Grylls!" Tag hit back with a warm laugh. "You two stay here." He sounded almost authoritative but his eyes pleaded with Jane. "Please? I want to help."

Jane nodded. "Stay in the trees, keep low to the ground and be careful!"

Tag nodded as Jane squeezed his hand in support.

As he left, Maura sighed. Her legs hurt. Rubbing at the wounds absently, she felt the warm blood seeping into the material. Jane watched her in silence, her eyes following her fingers.

"Come on." She said eventually. "Get those off." Her voice had dropped to a gravelly rasp, more through lack of water than anything else.

"Really Jane, here?" Maura was surprised that Jane would even ask, given their situation.

"Not like that. You need those wounds dressed." She pulled the shorts from Maura's legs and grimaced at the marks that had tainted her otherwise flawless skin. Maura considered resisting, but as Jane's long fingers tended to the burning cuts, she couldn't find the words.

"Some vacation." Maura whispered as Jane worked carefully, cleaning each cut gently before wrapping the worst and moving to the next. Jane paused and looked up, holding Maura's gaze with her own warm one.

"Oh yeah." She agreed. "How about next year, we stay in bed for a week?"

-/-

Steve crept through the jungle slowly, each step precise and meaningful. He had to stop this carnage; had to make them see sense. He had to find Walter. He knew his chances were remote, he had no passion for hunting and even less for hunting humans but if he were to stop the unabashed murders, he had to try. Despite the hour that had passed, he was determined to find Walter and put a stop to the madness.

"What are you doing?" Walter's voice made Steve turn quickly. "You're stomping around like an elephant version of Riverdance. Not very stealthy Bro."

Steve grinned at him. "Walt, we have a problem." The relief in his tone was evident.

"What? You ran out of ammo?" Walter laughed heartily at his own bad joke.

"This is serious!" Steve snapped suddenly.

Walter huffed loudly. "OK Grandma, what's wrong?" He sat on a felled tree and pulled at the surrounding greenery as he waited for Steve to speak.

"There are people." Steve began, "On the south side, not criminals though, innocent people."

Walter looked up at him quizzically. "Yeah, I know."

The world fell away and Steve stood in silent amazement.

"You know?" he asked incredulously. "And you're not doing anything about it?"

Walter got up, a demonic grin dancing over his face. "Now I didn't say that!" Walter chuckled, "I popped a couple of them myself."

Steve backed away slowly. "This needs to stop, Walt. This isn't why we're here."

Walter closed the gap quickly, his gnarled and calloused hand closing around Steve's throat. "You need to get on board." he snarled, watching with childlike glee as Steve's face turned from pink, to red to near purple as he writhed in his vice-like grip. "If they find out what happens here, do you really think we'll all be able to just walk away?"

Steve struggled; fought with everything he was to try and get free but it was no use, Walter was just too strong.
As black dots danced in front of his eyes, Steve felt around in his pocket, his fingers closing around cold metal salvation. He flicked the knife open and with every ounce of strength left in him, he plunged the blade into Walters throat.

-/-

"Help." Tag called as loudly as he dare. "Jane?" he growled. The bundle of dry twigs and small logs stabbed and poked at him. He'd found some vine that served nicely as rope and had tied the branches together. He'd tried dragging the bundle behind him but the sound had been the only reason he'd stopped. In the solitude, it sounded to his ears as though he were felling trees.

"Dammit Jane!" he shouted. He was tired and hungry. The backs of his legs hurt where the firewood had bounced into them when he mislaid the path back and ended up climbing over large rocks.

"Tag?" A tangle of dark hair appeared from behind a large fern as Jane ventured from the cave.

"A little help?" Tag dropped the wood at her feet, resting his scraped and bloodied hands on equally damaged knees as he breathed hard.

Inside the cave, Maura had organised the space in preparation. A large dip would make a great fire pit; it was near enough to the mouth of the cave to prevent them all being smoked like kippers but, hopefully, not so near as to be seen.

Maura busied herself making the fire as Jane cleaned up Tag's scrapes.

"Isn't this your job?" Jane asked when Tag flinched yet again.

"It's not an autopsy, Jane." Maura smiled as she rooted through the bags for some light kindling to start the fire. "It's just some scratches."
She pulled the wrappers from the bandages Jane had applied to her injuries and shredded them carefully.
Striking a match, Maura grinned as the fire licked around the paper before engulfing the kindling and dancing over the smaller sticks.

"Et voilĂ !" she sat back and rubbed her hands together as the twigs and sticks started to crackle.

Both Jane and Tag smiled warmly. In all the excitement, none of them had realised how cold they had gotten until the heat started to seep into their bodies.

"You did well baby." Jane wrapped Maura in a hug, kissing her head fondly. Maura nuzzled back into Jane's embrace, feeling safer in that moment than she had since they'd set foot on the lifeboat. As Jane's long arms enveloped her in love, Maura sighed happily.

The small group sat in comfortable silence for many minutes, content to watch the flames dancing over the wood. The branches filled the cave with a warm, sweet smell.

"I'm hungry." Tag announced suddenly.

Jane sighed. She didn't want to move despite the rough rock that dug painfully into her rear. "There's food in my bag." she nodded to where Maura had stashed their packs.

As Tag pulled a zip-lock bag from the pack, his face lit up with all the excitement of a small child on Christmas morning. He removed the simple cheese roll and inhaled deeply before sinking his teeth into the bread.
Jane looked at him expectantly. "Oh, yeah. Sorry." he mumbled through his mouthful before handing another bag to Jane before searching for another.

Jane took the bag slowly, removing the simple meal and tearing it carefully in half. She handed the larger half to Maura and took a bite, careful not to drop crumbs in the doctors hair.

That smell. It was familiar, warm. It was fire.

John Ford stumbled blindly through the rapidly encroaching darkness. In all the chaos he'd completely lost his way. The capsizing of the lifeboat had both scared and relieved him. People bobbed around him like buoys and he'd swum desperately to as many as he could, praying that one of them would be Elaine. As he found himself swept towards the island, he felt his chest tighten. Elaine hadn't been there, not that he could see. There were no visible bodies, no debris, nothing to show for the trauma they had survived.

Pushing past large ferns and assorted foliage, John literally followed his nose towards the smell of the camp-fire.

"Hello?" he called into the darkness. "Is anyone there?"

Both Maura and Jane sat up quickly, turning towards the mouth of the cave as one. Jane pushed Maura unceremoniously towards the back as she inched slowly forwards. 'What I wouldn't do to have my gun.' she thought as she peered through the leaves that hide the entrance to the cave.

Just feet away, a large man strode past her. Jane's breath caught in her throat. She held out her hand, reaching for something that wasn't there. In place of either a gun or the warm hand she so often expected, she felt the cold sting of metal. Turning slowly, she smiled as a knife nestled in her scarred palm. It was a Swiss army knife but it was better than nothing at all.

Tipping Maura a wink, Jane crept slowly from the cave, following in the man's footsteps. She might not have a real weapon but she had two things in her favour; the element of surprise and the power of love behind her. In her line of work, she'd seen more people killed in the name of love than she'd ever thought possible and many with weapons blunter than the knife she now brandished.
'Could she kill someone like this?' The thought flitted through her mind on the slightest of breezes. 'Would she kill to protect Maura?'

She flicked the largest blade open and, steeling herself against the possible task at hand, she nodded to herself.

'In a heartbeat' she thought.

She mirrored his steps, careful not to make any more noise. He was making enough for the pair of them. He had to be one of the shooters, who else would be here stomping around and yelling? He paused and Jane froze; three steps. That's all that stood between them. Holding her breath, Jane covered the area slowly, almost as if time had slowed by half. Her long arm wrapped around his shoulders as she pressed the pitiful blade firmly into the soft flesh of his throat.

Against the blade, she felt him try and swallow.

"Please don't kill me." he choked against the metal.

Jane spun him, pushing him hard to the ground. The stunned face of John Ford stared up at her.

"What are you doing?" Jane hissed, pulling him roughly to his feet.

"You pulled a damn knife on me?" John hollered.

"You need to shut the hell up!" Jane growled, dragging him towards the relative safety of the cave and shoving him inside.

John crumpled to his knees, warming his hands against the fire as he studied the surprised faces that met him.

"We need to talk." Jane sighed as she ran her hands through her hair.