"Should we go after him, I think we should go and find him." Tag fidgeted nervously as he spoke. "He's out there alone, it's not safe, he's not safe."
The nervous ramblings had started almost as soon as John had left the cave. He had taken the news of Elaine's death hard, harder then Jane had imagined. He'd looked so small, so broken, not even the shell of the man she had encountered.
"Maybe we should try and find him." Maura whispered as Tag continued to babble on in the background.
Jane shook her head. Johns reaction was understandable, to her at least. He needed this time alone to deal with everything he'd just heard.
"He'll come back." Jane said as she hugged Maura tighter, suddenly acutely aware of the precariousness of life. In the chaos, none of them had really stopped to process the events. Elaine had been good to them both, a kind soul with a gentle heart; a good woman now lost to the world.
A huge crack of thunder made all three jump.
"That's a good thing." Maura sighed as the rain began another torrential session. "They don't seem to like the rain."
The eerie silence that filled the cave was strangely comforting to Tag. Listening to the rain crashing through the canopy, he sighed. Maura was right, the shooting had only started when the rain had stopped. With that and the cover of night, John should be OK. Tag said a silent prayer that the older man would at least survive the night.
Another hour passed, the rain drumming a lullaby that soothed Jane.
"OK." she sighed, shifting from under the warmth of her lover. "I think we're as safe as we're going to be." Both Tag and Maura looked at her expectantly. "Maur, we need to get that bucket." Maura nodded and slipped back into her fire warmed shoes. "We'll try and find John too." She she smiled weakly at Tag.
As they gathered together their shoes and a few other bits, including jumpers to try and protect themselves from the elements, Jane's stomach dropped into her boots. Nothing about this was right. To leave the relative safety of the cave, even under cover of night, felt like a suicide mission.
"You stay close to me, Maura." Jane whispered into the doctors ear. "I can't lose you." She melted into the delicate warmth of Maura's body.
"I'm not going anywhere." Maura squeezed Jane's hands, "I promise."
-/-
Steve sat next to the lifeless body of Walter Sykes. The gurgling and silent gasps had subsided quickly, leaving Walter staring up at the canopy.
Steve stared at the blood on his hands, he'd always expected it to be bright red, like in the movies but it wasn't. As it dried with time, it became a darker and darker brown, like sauce, or mud.
Tears fell freely from his eyes. Walter had left him no choice, that's what he told himself but still he wept for the waste of life. The sharp blade had sliced effortlessly through skin, flesh and veins, spilling Walter's life carelessly over the ground.
Walter had fought, the hole in his windpipe made it impossible for him to take a breath as his heart pumped his lifeblood haphazardly out of his neck. Wild, wide eyes fixed on Steve as Walter had collapsed, his hands reaching for his throat in a desperate attempt to save his own life.
Steve rubbed at the dried blood on his hands, trying to remove the evidence of his murderous participation. He hadn't expected Walter to be so cold. Sure, he was the mastermind behind the trip but he had never shown the desire to kill innocent people, or children. Bear or Chip would kill you as soon as look at you, that much Steve was sure of, but he always thought that somewhere inside of Walter was a good man.
Getting to his feet, Steve brushed himself down and looked around. Walter had been carrying a pack of supplies, food, water and most importantly, a satellite phone. Or he had when he was on the plane.
Steve began a frantic search of the area, ripping ferns and other plants up as he hunted for the bag. Coming up with only handfuls of plants, Steve reached into his bag, pulling out the crudely drawn map of the island. There were few places to hide, little shelter that didn't fill with water, which meant few places where Walter could have been camping out.
Steve fetched some large palm leaves and covered Walter's body carefully before crossing himself and offering a weak prayer. Steeling himself once again, Steve headed back towards the south end of the island.
-/-
"Why would you put it there?" Tag growled, "That's practically in the damn ocean!"
The small group huddled in the tree line, staring out across the beach to the bucket that sat dangerously exposed in the sand.
"Well I'm sorry!" Maura snapped back, "If I'd known we would be used for target practice, I'd have moved it closer. In fact, I'd have just not come on the bloody cruise to start with!"
"Shh!" Jane hissed. She looked around her, searching for something that would help in her rapidly forming plan. "Tag, you and me are going fetch the bucket." She held up a hand to silence Maura ho had already begun her complaint. "Maura, I need you to pull that sapling over here, get the fluff off of it." Jane pointed to a thicker sapling that had fallen over a few feet away. "That bucket's gonna be heavy."
Maura nodded and crept into the tiny clearing to begin work on the tree.
"Ready?" Jane nudged Tag firmly. "Come on."
When Maura had said bucket, she'd been some what understated. What Jane and tag were struggling to move into the trees was more akin to a small barrel. The rough rope handles had bitten into their skin, drawing blood and leaving fibres in the wounds. They struggled to lift the vessel even though it was only half full.
"Here." Maura appeared at Jane's side, the long tree stripped of shoots in her hands.
"Thanks Maur." Jane smiled weakly. "Please baby, get back into the trees?"
Maura studied Jane's eyes in the moonlight, the desperation she saw there made her heart clench. She knew Jane was the protective type, it had been one of the qualities that first attracted her to Jane in the first place. What she saw there now was a gentle mix of love and fear.
Maura nodded and scurried back to the trees, forcing her eyes to search for danger.
Jane relaxed as Maura disappeared into the trees. Grabbing the branch, she forced it through the rope handles of the bucket. Peeling off her sweater, she folded it and gestured for Tag to do the same.
"We need to get this up on our shoulders." Jane explained as she wrapped her top around the branch. Tag stared, wide eyed before following her lead.
"On my count?" he said, bracing himself. "1...2...3.." they grunted with the strain but slowly, the bucket rose, slopping water as Jane stumbled.
"I got it." she paused, allowing her body to adjust to the weight. Already her shoulder screamed in pain, it felt like someone had drilled a hole into the joint and poured lava in the wound.
Tag steadied the bucket, its frantic and painful swinging slowed, then ceased.
"Let's go." Jane moved slowly, leading the way.
It took almost an hour but eventually the bedraggled group returned to the cave.
"Shouldn't we try and hide it?" Maura asked softly. Of the group, she was the only one not bloodied and aching. She had tried, of course she had, tried to lift the ever increasing weight but the height difference between herself and both Jane and Tag had sent the bucket flying towards her, spilling its valuable contents.
"I'll just get some palm leaves." Maura blushed deeply as Jane's tired gaze settled on her.
The brunette was tired, sore and more than a little pissed. She was still no closer to finding a way off this, albeit beautiful corner of hell.
"Can you believe her?" Tag was also sore, his tone clipped and sharp. "Carry this thing back here and now she wants us to build a cover?" More than anything else, he was scared.
Jane glared at him. "She's trying to keep us alive!" she snapped, "Which is more than you've done."
Tag opened his mouth to argue but the words abandoned him. Slinking back into the cave, he curled up in the farthest corner, welcoming the shame that crept into his being. She was right, he'd done nothing that could be considered useful. Yes, he'd collected some wood but anyone could do that, he'd not come to the table with anything that could keep them alive.
"Maura?"
Her head bobbed up from a group of ferns
"I'm going to try and find John." Jane smiled warmly. "I'll be back before it gets light."
Maura pushed through the scrub and wrapped Jane in a hug. "Please be careful." she pleaded softly, her warm breath tickling Jane's earlobe.
Jane pulled back slowly, running the pad of her thumb gently over the contours of the doctors face, memorising every line, freckle and dimple. Jane pulled her closer, meeting her lips in a sensual kiss.
"I love you, Maura." she whispered breathlessly. Her rogue grin playing over her face as Jane pulled away and headed off into the night.
"I love you too." Maura choked out to Jane's departing form. A single tear slipped down her cheek. She couldn't place why but it felt too much like goodbye.
The pounding of the rain overhead calmed Jane, providing a backing track to the frantic beat of her heart. She wondered idly if she should have just killed John when she'd found him the first time. No good could come from traipsing around in a hunters jungle in the middle of the night. She didn't even know where he would go, what he had found before he'd reached their cave. He could be anywhere at all.
Pushing through the trees, Jane found herself in a large clearing. Moonlight flooded in from the space in the canopy and bathed the area in an other worldly glow. In any other circumstance, she would have considered bringing Maura here for a midnight picnic. A pile of palm leaves caught her attention and Jane crept cautiously towards the mound aware that, should a hunter be hiding underneath, she would be done for.
'I'm sorry Maura.' she thought as she edged closer to the pile, poking at it with a stick. Her nerves and muscles were all on high alert, ready to react at the first sign of movement, when none came, Jane pulled the leaves back. Cold, dead eyes stared back at her and she stumbled backwards.
"Mother fucker!" she spat under her breath.
Nudging the lifeless form before her, Jane dropped to her knees. Blood soaked the front of his clothes from the gash across his throat. He didn't look familiar but Jane had no way of telling if he'd been on the cruise or not, she didn't think so, he looked prepared for the environment. Feeling carefully but quickly around his body, her hands came to rest on a holster on his hip. Jane pulled his jacket back and pulled a 9mm from the leather casing, grinning madly as she held it up in the moonlight.
"Please be loaded." she repeated over and over as she released the magazine. To her delight, it was full. Snapping the magazine home, Jane removed his holster and belt, slipping into them and returning the gun to its home.
She continued her search and found a large hunting blade and another full magazine. Taking everything that could be of any use, Jane scurried back into the cover of the trees, feeling suddenly vulnerable in the open. The shrubbery had been crushed, plants oozing sap. Someone had been through here recently. She pulled the gun from its holster, checking the safety and following the barrel through the greenery.
She walked for almost an hour, taking care to leave marks in trees so she might find her way back, a Hansel and Gretel trail of initials that would be unmistakable.
The smell of the ocean grew stronger as the muddy ground softened into golden sand under her feet. Jane peered cautiously around a tree as sand dunes rose before her. Seeing nothing, she dropped to her stomach and crawled slowly, silently to the top of the nearest dune.
The sight took her breath away. A full moon reflected in the ocean as gentle waves caressed the golden sand like a lover. Littered over the sand were bodies, large, small, male and female.
"Oh god." she whispered into the sand. "Why?"
Using the long grass of the dunes for some cover, Jane inched her way closer. The giant stains around the bodies told her there was nothing she could do. "Cassie!" she cried into the ocean breeze, her body betraying her as she rose and raced forwards.
That sweet young girl lay in the sand, her head a mangled mess from a single gunshot. Jane fell in the dune, still metres away from the small girl. Tears racked her body as she recalled the girls arms around her neck, the warm tears that spilled into her clothes. Cassie's body lay with her mother, of that Jane was thankful. She hadn't had to die alone, that she had to die at all made Jane queasy.
To her left, Jane saw the obvious form of Lana, her knee blown out and numerous gunshot wounds were clear, even in the eerie light. There was nothing she could do here. To stay would be almost certain death and she had a good two hour trek back to the cave. If she was fast, she could make it in time, before the sunrise.
-/-
"It's me."
The timid voice proceeded the hulking shape of John Ford as he entered the cave to questioning expressions.
"Where's Jane?" Maura demanded as he crawled towards the fire slowly.
"I don't know." his reply was small, weak, the life having been drained from him with the news of Elaine's death.
"She didn't find you?" Tag demanded, overriding whatever Maura was about to say.
John shook his head, staring into the flames.
Tag and Maura sat, agape, staring at the man who was warming his toes on the open fire, his head hung forlornly.
"Did she go looking for me or something?" he asked eventually. It was the final straw for Maura, her fury bubbling as she threw handfuls of moss and firewood at the bereaved man.
"Of course she went to look for you!" Maura exploded, causing both men to recoil to the back of the cave. "She's a good person but you just don't care, you've been perfectly vile to both of us for the entire cruise but she still went out there, risking her own life to find you."
John held up his hands, trying to find words that bubbled as incoherent sounds.
"What happened to your wife is a tragedy, it really is." Maura continued. "She was a wonderful woman. Jane has gone off in the middle of nowhere, risking her life to save you and you just don't give a shit!" She threw a large log into the fire, sending orange embers dancing into the air. "You should go out there and find her!"
John growled, Maura's words, while true to some extent, cut at him deeply.
"Why should I put my ass on the line for you, or for her?" he snapped. Both Tag and Maura stared at him, neither one would have been more surprised had he sprouted a second head.
"Oh, your ass is already on the line." Maura replied eventually. "And let me tell you, I am the chief medical examiner for Massachusetts, if anything and I do mean anything happens to Jane, I will kill you and no one will ever find you."
A stunned silence filled the cave once more as Tag and John looked back and forth between themselves and the doctor.
"Damn Maur!" The unmistakeable rasp rang through the cave and John breathed a huge sign of relief as Jane swaggered into the cave only to be ambushed by Maura.
Jane laughed as the doctor wrapped herself around her, kissing her face carelessly.
Jane set Maura back on her feet. "Who knew you were so badass?" she asked, hugging the honey blonde fiercely.
Surveying the cave quickly, Jane grinned over the top of Maura's head at the two men huddle in the back, both wide eyed and in shock.
As Maura pulled away, Jane offered a beaming grin.
"I got presents!" she cheered, revealing the weapons she had found.
-/-
Bear kicked at the fire and growled. He was bored. The prey he'd anticipated all year had been a disappointment at best, each one dropping and giving up with the first shot. They hadn't even tried to escape but had begged him to make it end.
He heard a soft crunch behind him and turned to see Chip relieving himself against a tree.
"Man, put that shit away!" he snarled.
Chip turned, laughing as he tried to urinate on Bear's back, causing the larger man to reach for his handgun.
"You filthy fuck! I should blow that pointless excuse for a cock off!"
Chip continued to laugh as he put himself away and wiped his hands on his trousers.
"Chill man, you're too fucking tense." Chip took a swig from his hip flask and offered it to Bear, who took it and drank deeply.
"We got what, one left?" he asked as he took the flask back from Bear and took another swig.
Bear nodded. "That kid you saw from the wreck."
"It'll be fun." Chip yawned as he settled down next to the fire. The clearing had been 'their place' since the first trip. Nestled away on the Northwest side of the island, the clearing was covered by a large overhang. It afforded them both shelter and air flow; both of which were exceptionally important when two men shared any time together whilst camping.
"He's going to be up this end." Chip told him, "This is where the shelter is."
"So we head out early, try and catch him at first light?" Bear asked.
Chip nodded. "Man, I'm gonna hang here, you got til noon to bag him, then go and do the job proper!"
Bear laughed at his arrogance. "I got 2k that says he's dead in an hour."
Chip brayed laughter as he rolled to face Bear. "Make it 5 and I'll bring you back his head!"
Over the smouldering remnants of their fire, the men shook hands before settling down to sleep.