On the walk back to the beach, Riley spent the time trying to make anything happen on the transceiver. The transceiver itself would turn on but fail to do much more. The signal was non-existent while the force of impact had damaged parts of the shell. Apart from the small talk with Kate, Jack and Charlie, Riley was for the most part, silent. She was trying to make the transceiver do at least one thing.

"Anything?" Charlie asked as Kate stopped Riley from walking into a tree. She had been so caught up in the transceiver that she had not bothered to look where she was going. Riley glanced up at Charlie before sighing and fiddling with the transceiver once more.

"You keep asking if there's anything." Riley mumbled.

"Pardon me for appearing desperate," Charlie began. "But before the pilot was ripped from the cockpit, he did say that no one's going to find us unless we get that transceiver working... So... Is there anything?"

"Do you think I'd still be fiddling with this thing if there was!" Riley grumbled. "Maybe someone on the beach know's someth-"

"Hang on..." Charlie began causing Riley to roll her eyes and look at him. "Don't you work for the army? You should know things about thi-"

"I stick with using the guns." Riley stated, with narrowed eyes. "I don't work in communications."

"Right..."

"Anyway..." Riley began, forgetting about the transceiver for a moment. "What were you doing in the bathroom?"

"What bathroom?" Kate asked.

"When we were on the plane... We couldn't find him... He was in the bathroom."

"Thought you could tell..." Charlie informed the pair as they twisted around a few trees following Jack. "I was getting sick. Puking... My one tangible contribution to the trek."

"We're glad you came." Kate informed him.

"Every trek needs a coward." Charlie smiled.

"You're not a coward."

"We're back." Jack called as the four of them broke through the trees. Almost instantly, Riley knew something was up. A small crowd of people had circled around two men who were fighting over who knows what. Riley raised a brow at the scene as they walked towards it.

She glanced at Jake, Kate and Charlie who didn't seem to notice anything wrong. "Guys..." Riley muttered, pointing towards the scene. Jack glanced at her before following her finger and examining the scene. Kate and Charlie's eyebrows furrowed as Riley sighed and began to move forward. "Excuse me, sorry..." Riley mumbled as she pushed through the crowd of people. Riley watched the fight for a few moments wondering what on earth could have started it. She saw Sayid and a man she had not met rolling around the sand, throwing punches whenever they could get one in.

"Break it up! Get off!" Jack came rushing through the crowd, crabbing the man Riley didn't know by the shoulders. Seeing Jack trying to stop the situation, Michael moved forward and pulled Sayid off the ground and away from Jack's man.

"Stop it! It's over!" Jack exclaimed, loudly. Seeing Michael have trouble with holding Sayid, Riley moved forward and stood in front of him, hoping he would respect that she was trying to help and didn't go for her instead.

"Stop it, Sayid!" Riley demanded.

"I'm sick of this redneck!" Sayid exclaimed.

"Want some more?"

"No he don't!" Riley exclaimed as she blew some hairs out of her face.

"Tell everyone what you told me! Tell them I made the plane crash!" Sayid shouted as Riley winced from her ear being close to his mouth.

"What's going on?" Jack demanded as the two men continued throwing insults at each other. "What is going on!"

"SHUT UP!" Riley shouted. She was surprised to hear silence as she glanced around the group with a pleased expression.

"What's going on?" Jack asked once more.

"My kid found these in the jungle." Michael exclaimed, passing Jack something.

Riley glanced at the object in his hands before her eyes shot towards Kate. Jack was examining a pair of handcuffs which Riley knew were once on Kate's hands. "This guy," The man Jack had held pointed at Sayid. "Was in the back of business class the whole flight. Never got up. Hands folded underneath the blanket. And for some reason, just pointing this out, the guy next to him didn't make it."

"Thank you so much for observing my behaviour." Sayid said.

"Don't think I saw them pull you out of line before we boarded?"

"STOP!" Kate demanded as the two men went for each other once more.

"The cuffs were on no one!" Riley exclaimed. She saw Kate glance at her with slightly widened eyes as the two men glanced at her. She sighed deeply as she pointed at the cuffs in Jacks hands. "An undercover officer was on the plane. Sat a few seats away. We spoke for a few minutes while the plane was boarding... He had cuffs strapped to a belt he wore. So, no one was in the cuffs."

"How do we know you ain't lying?"

Riley glared at the man. "Take it or leave it!" She threw her hands in the air, transceiver in the left. "I'm telling you what I saw. So, stop picking fights... We found the transceiver, but... It's not working..."

"Can anybody help?" Kate added as Riley nodded. A few moments of silence went around and Riley feared the worst. No one seemed to know anything about it. Just as she was about to sigh, Sayid beat her too it. He sighed deeply and moved towards Kate and Riley.

"Yes... I might be able to help."

"Oh, great! Perfect. Let's trust this guy." Riley rolled her eyes as she turned back to the man she didn't know the name of and glared at him.

"You know anything about this?" He didn't say anything but glare at her. "Then shut up!" Riley handed Sayid the Transceiver. She told him what she had tried and what she had not and then left him to give it a try. She rubbed a hand down her face as she saw some of the people go back to wherever they had planted there things.

"You guys found the cockpit?" Shannon's brother, Boone asked.

"Yes..." Riley mumbled.

"Any survivors?"

Riley shared a look with Jack before she glanced to Charlie whose eyes widened, remembering the ordeal that went down. "No." Jack replied.

"It's dual-band. Military spec." Sayid stated, causing most heads to turn towards him.

"Military!" Charlie exclaimed. "Riley can wo-"

"I told you on the way back, Charlie!" Riley interrupted him, rolling her eyes at the blatant fact that he had not been listening. "Wrong line of work."

"Chances are the battery is good, but the radio is dead." Sayid added.

"Can you fix it?"

"I need some time."

"Rose!" Riley grinned as she saw the women move forward. "How are you?"

"I'm very well, thanks to you." Rose smiled kindly before she looked at Jack. "Doctor, that man with the shrapnel, I think you should take a look at him..."

"Alright." Jack nodded and left the group.

Riley followed Kate as she too, left the group in the opposite direction. "Kate!" Kate stopped walking and turned around. She smiled at Riley and raised a brow. "The man Jacks gone to see... Is he the officer?"

Riley watched Kate nod. Kate sighed as she glanced at the ocean before looking back at Riley. "Why did you lie for me?"

"The cuffs?" Kate nodded. "Well, I couldn't just let that wack-job beat Sayid up because he decided he had cuffs on... And I promised I would not say anything so I told a tiny lie... No one will ever know."

"Thank you..."

⁂

Riley spent the next two hours cleaning the blood and dirt from her body. She sat on a rock in the water and gently cleaned around the stitches she had put in the day before. She had decided that her clothes were not wearable any more due to all the trauma they had been through the day previously so she changed and left them on a rock. The clothes she had changed into were basically the same as what she had discarded.

Riley didn't feel comfortable raiding the clothes that belonged to the dead, so she wore her uniform, minus the jacket. Once she felt content with how clean she was, Riley hopped off the rock and made her way back towards the beach where Sayid was still fixing the Transceiver.

She spotted him making his way towards her with the Transceiver. She smiled as she stopped in front of her. "Fixed?"

"It's seems to be, except we're not picking up a signal."

"We want to send one though?" Riley raised a brow. "Why do we need to receive one?"

"We don't have the bars. The bars would show it's getting reception."

"We need the bars?"

"We could broadcast blind, hope that someone, maybe a ship somewhere picks up our distress call. But that would be a waste of the battery, which might not last for long." Riley sighed as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "There is one thing we could try." Sayid informed her.

"What?" Riley asked almost instantly.

"Seeing if we can get the signal from high ground."

"How high?" Sayid looked off to somewhere behind her. He nodded up and Riley turned and glanced to where he was looking.

The land went up considerably further in the island. Riley glanced at the highest point she could see which looked to be the highest mountain she had seen. She squeezed her eyes shut before reopening them, hoping it was a dream. "Bloody hell..." Riley mumbled. "Alright."

"Sorry?" Sayid asked.

"I'll go." Riley nodded.

"I will join you." Sayid stated.

"Let me just go and get my things... I'll tell Jack where we're going too."

"I shall meet you over by the wreckage." Sayid nodded. Riley walked in the opposite direction from where Sayid was walking. She knew Jack would be over where they had decided to keep the man with the piece of wreckage sticking out of his torso.

She spotted Jack using a half empty bottle of water to wash the sand of his hands as he examined the wound. "Hey." She greeted him as Jack glanced up at her. "How is he?"

"Not good." Jack muttered.

"Can you do anything?"

"I can pull out the shrapnel."

"But, Kate told me if you took it ou-"

"I know." Jack interrupted her. "But that was yesterday. I was hoping he'd be at a hospital by now... If I leave him like this he'll be dead within a day."

"So what happens if you try to take it out?" Riley asked, glancing at the wound.

"If I open him up... If I can control the bleeding, and if he doesn't go into sepsis, and if I can find some antibiotics, he might be all right."

"Well... I have a first aid kit in my rucksack... It's not much but it's something. You can use it if you like. Just don't loose anything. And make sure no one takes anything. People seem to think they can just have anything around here." Riley scoffed.

"Thanks... I'll take it you didn't come here to ask how he was?"

"No, I didn't..." Riley nodded. "I'm gonna go on a hike."

Jack turned almost instantly and stared at Riley. His eyes examined her before his brows furrowed. "Sorry?"

"Sayid fixed the transceiver, but we can't use it, not from here."

"No, Wait a minu-"

"You're the one who said we had to send a signal."

"Look, you saw what that thing did to the pilot, Riley."

"Yeah, I did. Kate and Charlie too..." Riley sighed with a nod. "What makes you think we're any safer here than we are in the jungle?"

"Kate said the same thing..." Jack replied, glancing at the man again. "Wait for me. I don't know how lon-"

"Sayid said the battery won't last... I'll be fine. It's not like I haven't faced wors-"

"We don't know what that thing is!" Jack hissed.

"I'll be careful... I'm used to being quiet."

"All right... If you see or hear anything... Anything... Run."

Riley nodded slowly. She glanced back at the man on the ground before telling Jack her rucksack was with Claire and leaving. She walked the small distance to where Sayid was packing some water into a backpack. Kate was stood beside him as she looked up and gave Riley a smile. Riley returned the smile as she came to a stop beside the pair.

"Kate has offered to join us." Sayid said.

Riley nodded with another smile at Kate. "You ready then?" Riley asked. The pair nodded. Riley walked towards the tree line, Kate to her left, Sayid to her right. Riley felt the presence behind them before she heard it.

"I'd like to come with you." The trio turned around. Shannon was looking from each of the three with red eyes. Riley glanced at her brother who followed close behind her.

"She's not going." Boone declared.

"The hell I'm not!" Kate and Riley shared a look as Sayid looked from pair to pair. "I'm coming with you." Shannon stated, fiercely.

"Look, Shannon..." Riley began. "I don't think it's a good ide-"

"What are you, the same age as me?" Charlie came up from behind the pair grinning. Shannon looked at him with a look Riley would describe with disgust. "You're going?" She asked him.

"Yup." Charlie smiled. "Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm definitely going."

Riley rolled her eyes as she looked around. "I don't care who's coming." Riley began. "But we're going now."