Riley couldn't help but keep to herself as the six of them walked through the trees. She was angry with herself for allowing this many people to tag along. If they knew what was out here they would be running back to the beach in a flash. She had no clue as to why Shannon wanted to come. All Riley had seen her do was sit around on the beach, laying on her towel. She had no other motive but to look after herself.
Boone had obviously tagged along to keep an eye on his sister. The thought of this made Riley feel slightly sorry for Shannon. The poor girl couldn't do anything without her brother having a say.
Riley didn't much mind Sayid, Kate and Charlie being with her. She knew Sayid was much better than her at using the transmitter and she knew Kate and Charlie understood the risks out here and would take things seriously.
"You decided to join us." Riley looked around at Kate who spoke. She saw that another person had decided to tag along taking there group up to seven. Riley noticed it was the man who had declared Sayid had something to do with the plane crash. She still didn't know his name and she didn't really care.
She squeezed her eyes shut before throwing her hands up slightly and scoffing. "What is this, a school trip?" Riley asked. "Got any others behind you we should know about?"
"I'm a complex guy!" He declared, walking off in front.
"What does that even mean." Riley muttered under her breath. The next forty five minutes went past with very little talk. No one bothered to start up a conversation so everyone walked in silence. The only time the seven helped each other was when they had to climb up the earth to reach higher ground.
When they were climbing, Riley could hear Shannon and Boone arguing over who knows what. She couldn't help but wish they'd've stayed on the beach. "Ok, wide open space!" Riley rolled her eyes as she heard his voice from the back of the single file line they had created. "Check the radio, see if we're good."
"We're not gonna have any reception." Sayid informed him.
"Just try it."
"I don't want to waste the batteries."
"I'm not asking you to keep it on all day."
"We're still blocked by the mountain." Sayid calmly said.
"Check the damn radio!"
"IF I JUST CHECK," Riley sighed deeply as she turned around, ready for whatever was about to go down. "WE MIGHT NOT HAVE ANY JUICE LEFT WHEN WE GET T-" Sayid was cut off by a loud, familiar noise. Riley jumped slightly as her eye's widened. She wasn't scared of much, however, being on the island for a mere day and coming into close contact with whatever lived in the jungle, scared her.
"No, no, no.." She mumbled frantically.
"What, what is it?" Shannon demanded.
"What the hell is that?" To the left of them, the grass was moving as branches could be heard snapping. Riley tried hard not to blink in fear of missing any movement.
"Something's coming." Kate whispered. Riley froze. She realised she was frightened of whatever lived in the jungle. However, the sound filling her ears wasn't anything like the noise she had heard before.
"It's coming towards us, I think." Charlie mumbled.
"Let's move." Riley declared, turning backwards and beginning to run.
"I shouldn't have come on this hike!" She heard Shannon cry.
"Sawyer!" Riley saw Kate stop and turn around. Riley grabbed her arm to stop her from running back the other way.
"Stop, KATE! Who's Sawyer?" Riley spoke before feeling dumb. He was obviously the only person in there small group she didn't know the name off. She also noticed that he wasn't with them. He hadn't bothered to run. "I'll go!" Riley exclaimed as Kate nodded frantically.
Riley turned and ran back the way they had come. She passed Boone and Shannon who was screaming her poor soul out. She didn't have to run far. Just as she was about to call out she stopped in her tracks. Sawyer had a gun. A gun. And was pointing it in front of him, waiting for whatever was going to come out of the trees. "Are you crazy!" Riley demanded. "Let's go-"
Nine gunshots cut her off. Nine gunshots coming from the gun in his hand. Riley almost gave up and went to run after Kate and the others before her brows furrowed. A huge white animal fell to the ground after one last growl. She slowly moved forwards as her eyes took in the animal. It was hanging onto life by a small thread. It's breathing was long and shallow.
"That's a big bear..." Riley noticed the others had also came back. Riley could hear the bears breathing pick up. Her eyes didn't leave it as she found something odd about the bear.
"You think that's what killed the pilot?"
"No." Charlie began, panting. "No, that's a tiny, teeny version compared to that."
"Guys..." Riley whispered.
"What?" Kate asked.
"This isn't just a bear... It's a polar bear." The seven of them moved slightly closer to the bear as it took it's last breaths. Riley examined the bear with a cautious look.
"That can't be a polar bear." Boone muttered.
"It's a polar bear." Riley stated.
"Wait a minute..." Shannon began, looking at the bear in disgust. "Polar bears don't usually live in the jungle."
"Spot-on." Charlie nodded.
"No, Polar bears don't live this far south." Riley corrected.
"This one does."
"Did. It did." Sawyer corrected Boone.
"Where did that come from?" Kate asked him.
"Probably bear village. How the hell do I know?"
"Not the bear you idiot, the gun." Riley scoffed, standing beside Kate who was watching the gun wearily.
"I got it off one of the bodies."
"One of the bodies?"
"Yeah, one of the bodies." Sawyer, nodded sarcastically at Sayid.
"People don't carry guns on planes." Shannon butted in.
"They do if they're a U.S. marshal. There was one on the plane." Riley felt Kate stiffen beside her. She glanced at her to see her eyes on the ground.
"How do you know that?" Riley demanded.
"I saw a guy lying there with an ankle holster, so I took the gun, thought it might come in handy. Guess what, I just shot a bear."
"So, why do you think he's a marshal?" Kate spoke up.
"Because he had a clip on badge. I took that too. Thought it was cool."
"I know who you are." Sayid spoke up. "You're the prisoner."
"I'm the what?" Sawyer demanded.
"You found a gun on a U.S marshal? Yes, I believe you knew where it was because he was bringing you back to the States. The handcuffs were on you. That's how you knew."
"Piss off!"
"That's who you are, you son-of-a-b-"
"You're just as suspicious of me as I am of you."
"You're the prisoner." Sayid declared.
"Fine, I'm the criminal. You're the terrorist. We can all play a part." Riley was about to speak up before she thought better of it and waited for Sawyer to turn more towards Sayid. Once she was content with how far he had turned, she lunged forward. Riley nudged him forward as her left palm made contact with the gun in the back of his jeans.
Pulling it out, she took three steps back before pointing the gun at him. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he didn't once glance away from her face. Riley almost faultered. She never, ever pointed a gun at an innocent civilian. However, she knew how dangerous people could be when they had a simple gun on them. Deadly.
Moments went past as Riley stared at Sawyer who glared at her. She didn't understand what she was doing, she knew she couldn't give him the gun back now. "Don't use the gun." Sayid muttered, trying not to startle her..
"I... I'm going to take it apart." Riley said, more to Sawyer than Sayid.
Riley tilted the gun ever so slightly, before she pushed the small button on the grip of the gun. The magazine full off bullets hit the ground with a small thud. She kept the gun pointed at Sawyer as she knelt down and picked the magazine up from the soft ground. Riley slid the magazine into her pocket before she held the grip of the gun once more and pulled the top part of the gun off. She slid this part into her pocket too before twisting the gun in her hand and holding it out to Sawyer.
He didn't move for a moment. He merely stared at Riley with a look she couldn't make out. It wasn't until she shook her hand slightly that he moved forward.
Expecting him to grab the gun from her, Riley almost gasped when his hand grasped her wrist and tugged her harshly towards him. She grimaced slightly as his knee hit her leg wound which was only just starting to close over. Before he had a chance to say anything, Riley was grabbing his hand with her other and pushing it away from her. "You don't touch me, ever." She whispered up at him being a considerable amount shorter than him. "I mean it."
"C'mon, Sweet-cheeks... Ain't everyday a guy like me comes across a girl like you." He grinned down at her causing her to scowl.
"You don't know me." Riley muttered. "And you never will."
"We'll see about that."
"We should keep moving." Sayid broke the silence.
⁂
"Oh, now's a good time to check the radio!" Sawyer exclaimed. "Not before, but now!"
Riley almost lost her cool with him. He had been making remarks ever since she had dismantled the gun and she was fed up with it. They had been walking for a further forty minutes and had covered much more ground. They were higher and there was no trees surrounding them. Riley listened to the static of the radio as Sayid messed with a few buttons. "Bar." Sayid muttered.
"What?"
"We've got a bar!"
"What is that?" Kate asked referring to the noise coming from the radio.
"Feedback... Mayday, mayday!" Sayid called.
"Feedback from what, what would do that?"
"I don't know!" Sayid said, in shock.
"I'll tell you what." Sawyer said as Riley saw a hand go past her face while he pointed at Sayid. "This guy not fixing the radio. The thing doesn't even work."
"No. No, no, no, it's not broken." Sayid declared, fiddling with the dials.
"Wait." Riley mumbled.
"What?" Kate asked.
"The noise... We can't transmit anything because something else is already transmitting..." Riley trailed off.
"Transmitting from where?" Charlie asked, looking around at the lower ground.
"Somewhere close..." Riley muttered. "The signal's strong."
"Somewhere close? You mean on the island? That's great!"
"Maybe its other survivors." Boone put in.
"From our plane? How..."
"What kind of transmission is it?" Sawyer demanded.
"Could be a sat phone," Sayid began. "Radio signal-"
"Can we listen to it?"
"Let me get the frequency. Hold on." Sayid spoke frantically. Riley watched him slowly turn the small dial, looking for the right frequency. It took no longer than a minute for Sayid to locate the frequency. Everyone perked up considerably as Riley frowned. She was listening to what the woman was saying.
Everyone around her was celebrating while her heart began to sink lower and lower. She heard the number of iterations and the French voice again before sighing deeply. "Guys... GUYS!"
"Iteration 7-2-9-4-5-3-1." The radio spat out.
"What's that?" Charlie demanded.
"Does anybody speak French?" Sayid desperately asked. "The batteries are dyi-"
"You don't want to know what it says." Riley muttered.
"You speak French!" Charlie exclaimed. "We're gonna be saved by the Frenc-"
"We're not!" Evelynn stated. "It's repeating..."
"Repeating? Repeating, what?"
"Iteration... It's a loop." Riley sighed. "I told you... You wouldn't want to kno-"
"What is she saying?" Kate asked, forcefully.
"'I'm alone now. I'm... On the island alone. Please, someone come." Riley spoke seconds after the French woman. "'The others, they're... They're dead. It killed them... It killed them all'"
"What're the numbers?" Charlie whispered. "Inter..."
"Iteration is a counter. The number is how many times it's been played." Riley sighed. "It's roughly thirty seconds long so..." Riley began to do the math in her head. "Sixteen years." Riley whispered.
"What?" Boone asked.
"Sixteen years... And five months..."
"What are you talking about?" Boone demanded.
"IT'S A DISTRESS CALL!" Riley shouted. "A PLEA FOR HELP!" Riley could almost hear everyone's spirits dropping. "If I counted right... It's been playing over and over... For sixteen years." Riley whispered.
"Someone else was stranded here?" Shannon asked.
"Maybe they came for them..." Kate shrugged slightly.
"If someone came, why is it still playing?"
"Guys..." Charlie muttered, looking around. "Where are we?"