"Jack knows." Riley sighed with a small nod as Kate sat on the sand beside her. She had finished searching the plane hours ago and after giving Jack the bag of medicine, she started a small fire and spent the remaining sunlight sat in front of it.
"I know." Riley muttered. "Hugo too."
Riley winced as the cop cried out once more. He had been groaning and shouting for the last few hours causing Riley to want to be as far away from him as possible. "Jack says he'll feel it." Kate said.
"Do you want him to?" Riley asked with a raised brow. "To feel it?"
"He followed me for months... No."
"What you've got to realise, Kate," Riley began. "Is that not everyone is worth saving. I learnt that the hard way."
"She's right Freckles."
Riley rolled her eyes as Sawyer made his was over to the pair. He took a seat facing them on the opposite side of the fire. All he could do was grin at the pair as glanced from Kate to Riley. "What do you want, Sawyer." Kate demanded rather than asked.
"Came by to thank you." He smirked.
Riley stared off into the ocean as she watched the stars twinkle down upon the waves. She had never seen the stars so bright in the sky the way they were currently shining. She had seen them bright during her time in Afghanistan, but never the way they were currently shining. "You gonna ask what for?"
"What for?" Riley rolled her eyes.
"Taking that gun away from me."
"I didn't take the gun away from you." Riley stated, looking at him. "It was never yours to begin with. Besides, Kate has it now so you can forget about it."
"Exactly, Freckles has it!" Sawyer grinned once more. "Sure wouldn't want to be the one with that gun right now."
"Why not?" Riley asked, genially interested.
"Everyone sitting out here listening to the poor man scream all night, knows what's got to be done... Only one that can do it is the one with that gun."
"No one's thinking that." Riley scowled.
"That's what your new best friend thinks..." Sawyer spoke, nodding at Kate. "I heard her tell the hero the same thing."
Riley's eyes shot to Kate who glanced into the fire. She surveyed her with caution before sighing and rubbing a hand over her face. Why did she always have to be a part of these conversations?
"Hell, there's only one bullet left." Sawyer shrugged. "Be damn near poetic."
"She's not going to just go into that tent and kill that man, Sawyer!" Riley hissed, quietly.
"Maybe not her... But you know where the best place to shoot is."
"What?"
"You can make it quick, painless." Sawyer shrugged slightly.
"I took an oath for queen and country. I'm not about to go in that tent and kill a man in cold blood." Riley hissed at him.
"Alright... Then how 'bout you teach us the spot's that will kill someone instantly, if shot?" Sawyer said, raising a brow at Riley. "You wouldn't be killing no one."
"I'll be assisting." Riley sighed.
"You can't sit there and tell me that he's not better off dead."
Riley thought long and hard about what Sawyer was asking. She glanced at Kate who was staring into the fire. Although she didn't say anything, Riley could tell she thought Sawyer was right.
"Well?" Saywer raised a brow. Before Riley could even reply Jack was seen walking towards them. He looked as though whatever he was about to do, he really didn't want to do it. He continued walking until he stopped a few feet from the fire. "How's it going, Doc?" Sawyer grinned.
Jack ignored him as he smiled at Riley before looking at Kate, blankly. "He want's to talk to you." Kate wasted no time in standing up and brushing the unwanted sand off herself. Riley stared at her back as she noticed the gun still sticking out of her jeans. Sawyer noticed to as he raised his brows at Riley before dropping them.
Jack merely stared before walking back down the beach where everyone had taken refuge. The pair sat in silence, waiting for the gunshot they knew was bound to come. Riley wasn't sure why she wasn't rushing over to stop Kate... She knew, however, that the man was going to die. Jack was kidding himself, there was no saving him on this island.
"You do it." Riley whispered.
"What?" Sawyer asked.
"I'll tell you where to shoot... If you go in and do it. Not Kate." Riley muttered, insuring no one was around.
Riley stood and brushed sand of her legs before looking down at Sawyer with a raised brow. Ever so slightly he nodded. He stood up as both of them made there way to the tent. "Your best bet is the head." Riley sighed, deeply. "It's more humane, however, he's awake. He'll probably ask you to do it if he's in as much pain as we know he is. The heart would be better as he wouldn't have to stare at a gun. Look at me." Riley stopped and waited for Sawyer to turn towards her. Once he was looking at her she raised a hand to her chest and motioned under her left breasts. "Your hearts he-"
"I ain't dum-"
"No, you listen." Riley hissed. "People mistake it for being further up, it's not. The rib cage is protecting it... It's between the fifth and sixth left rib's..."
Riley didn't wait for his reply as she walked in the opposite direction from where she knew a gunshot and a dead man was about to lay.
"Riley!" Her eyes shot up as Jack and Hugo came running up the beach. Riley panicked ever so slightly as Jack came to a stop in front of her.
"Kate has a-" Jack cut himself off as he let out a breath. "Kate!"
Riley turned around and saw Kate leaving the tarp from the opposite side. She looked around and gave Riley a small nod before turning and continuing to wherever she was off to. Jack breathed deeply as Riley couldn't help but feel guilty she closed her eyes and waited. Waited for the gunshot that was moments away.
When it did come she didn't jump like Jack and Hugo did. She merely opened her eyes and sighed. The only good that had come out of this was knowing a man was no longer in pain. "What did you do?" Jack demanded. Riley looked to see Sawyer had come into view looking solemn while holding the gun in his hand. She brushed some hairs out of her face before glancing at Jack who looked livid.
"What you couldn't." Sawyer said. "Look, I get where you're coming from, being a doctor and all... But he wanted it. Hell, he even asked me!"
Riley moved forward as Jack did. She shook her head slightly at Sawyer who looked ready to pick on of his infamous fights. "I don't like it any more than you do... But something had to be done." Sawyer whispered, harshly.
Riley thought she had imagined it as she heard a quite cough. It wasn't until she heard another on that her eyes widened as she looked at Sawyer. "Oh, no way..." Hugo exclaimed from a few feet away.
"You idiot..." Riley whispered as Jack darted through the tarp. She followed him quickly as she looked down at the man. His mouth was gushing blood as well as his chest. Without even examining it, Riley knew Sawyer had missed. He had missed his heart.
"You shot him in the chest?" Jack asked, desperately as he grabbed some cloths and tried to contain the bleeding.
"I was aiming for his heart!" Sawyer replied, entering through the tarp.
Despite the current situation, Riley was thankful he didn't mention her. "You missed." Jack declared as Riley knelt down to help.
She grabbed some on the shirts littering the ground and balled them up, placing them upon the mans chest and putting slight pressure on them.
"Man... Is he still breathing?" Riley heard Hugo's monotone voice.
"You perforated his lung." Jack exclaimed, frantically. "It'll take hours to bleed out."
"There was... I only had one bullet."
"Get out." Jack whispered. "GET OUT!" Riley watched Sawyer who looked at her as though he realised what he did had cost him. She shook her head ever so slightly as him and nodded out the tarp. He left with no complaint.
"Jack..." Riley trailed off as the noises began to quieten. In a matter of seconds the sounds of him coughing on his own blood quietened into nothing. The noise filling her ears was non-existent. His body moved no more as she moved the soaked T-shirts away from his womb. He continued to bleed but not move.
"He's dead." Jack stated, standing up and leaving quickly. Riley sighed down at him before standing up, her hands covered in blood. She wiped them on a nearby towel before leaving the tarp. Sawyer was stood a few feet away, watching Jack walk towards the others.
"He's dead." Riley repeated the same words Jack had told her moments previously.
"You said the hear-"
"And you missed." Riley interrupted in a whisper. "How did you miss? I told you exactly where... Doesn't matter... I shouldn't have said you should kill him. I'm as much to blame... I'm sorry... Nothing we can do now."