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Sawyer gently lowered Kate's body onto the sand, placing her under the shade. Her light weight was perhaps the only reason why they had made it so quickly, any heavier and his arms would have rebelled ages ago, they ached as it was. Most of the blood on his chest was dry, her arm had stopped gushing a while back, a promising sign, the only good sign Sawyer could see at all, and the only reason Sawyer had hurried. But whilst Jack had made his way back into consciousness, Kate hadn't even stirred. Her eyelids had remained closed, suggesting a peaceful sleep that was only betrayed by her ragged breathing and the wound on her head.
"How is she?" Sawyer asked Jack, ignoring the idiot marshal who raised his gun at his voice. The marshal who'd hit Kate was conversing with some kind of official partway down the beach, leaving two more, both of whom were aiming their guns at Kate.
Jack had been examining Kate. The knock on her head would be painful, but it wasn't likely to cause any problems. The cut on her arm was something else entirely. It had mostly stopped bleeding, but unless it got treated soon, it would probably get infected. "If we get out of here soon, she'll be fine." Except she wouldn't be fine, she would be in custody, but 'she'll be fine' sounded better than 'she won't be dead'.
"What the hell do you mean we can't take her?" To say the marshal was extremely pissed would have been an understatement. He stepped closer to the slighter man, using his height to intimidate.
"Do you understand what would happen if the press found out about this place? About the research that has been done here? Those people on the boat we can bribe into silence, even the Rutherford girl accepted our money, and her brother died here. But that girl, you know what her silence would cost. You say she's a murderer, do you want to release her when we get back?" It would have been fine if she was ugly, the press wouldn't have batted an eyelid, there were plenty of kids who had been beat up by their parents who turned round and killed them. But she had to look like that, the press would be all over her. All she had to do was mention this place once, and she'd expose everything.
"We're taking her with us," the marshal hissed, setting his hand very obviously on his gun holster.
"Don't embarrass yourself. You can kill her if you want, but she's not coming back with us." Bored of the conversation, and aware that the marshal contained too much testosterone to possibly back down, the official walked towards the helicopter, eager to be out of this hellhole.
Swearing loudly, the marshal watched the official's back for a moment, then smiled crudely. If she wasn't going to jail, he could at least get some fun out of this. He walked back towards where they were, signalling to his men to back off a bit.
Sawyer and Jack were sat in the ground not far from Kate, saying nothing. They were so intent upon this that the marshal went unnoticed until his boot collided with Kate's stomach. Kate screamed loudly, her body forced back into consciousness as she instinctively rolled away from the source of her pain, taking up a defensive position. Instantly, Sawyer and Jack were on either side of her, ready to protect her.
"Sit down boys." The marshal pulled out his gun, "Otherwise Katie gets shot." The standoff only lasted a second, with Sawyer, then Jack, backing down without protest. "They're so obedient," the marshal leered at Kate as he came closer to her, his gun still trained at her. Pressing the gun into her stomach with enough force that she had to suppress a gasp of pain, he ran his other hand across her face. "With a face like this, you could almost get away with murder." He laughed, ignoring the disgust in her face, and whispered into her ear, "Almost."
Kate recoiled from his touch, the harsh bite of his breath against her neck, the reality of his words. She didn't get away quickly enough though, his free hand gripping her injured arm, forcing a scream from her mouth as her vision blurred and her body collapsed under her.
The marshal climbed on top of her, pressing his gun into her neck, the cold metal sending blood coursing about her head, her heartbeat almost deafening.
Seeing the marshal on top of Kate, and lacking Jack's belief that interference would only make the situation worse for her, Sawyer snapped. Every muscle in his body tensed as he pounced from where he had been sat onto the marshal, knocking the man off her and onto the sand. "You do not touch her." Sawyer had the man pinned underneath him, ready to pound all of today's frustration into him. Unfortunately, the gun being cocked just below his ear gave him pause for thought, and he relinquished the marshal, stepping back, noticing that Kate had crept back from where she had been, ready to bolt into the bushes.
The marshal shook himself down. As well as having her blood on his clothes, he now had sand encrusted into them as well, and that was going to be a pain to get out. He picked his gun up from the ground and eyed Sawyer with a sadistic look in his eyes. "If you want her that much, you should have said." Without even considering what he was doing, the marshal turned and shot Kate in the stomach, the ringing in the air and the shocked look on her face priceless to him. "You can keep her." Turning with a smile, he instructed his men to bring Jack, they were leaving. The shot in her stomach would kill her, but it would do so slowly and painfully. The cowboy could have her all he wanted until then.
Jack was dragged into the helicopter by the marshals who had been holding Sawyer back. Their job was rendered useless when Kate was shot, Sawyer had had a choice between helping Kate or taking revenge, and helping Kate had one easily. Jack could still see Sawyer cradling her in his arms as they took off. He hoped to hell she lived, too much guilt would be on him if she didn't. As the island disappeared into the horizon, Jack dwelt on Kate's earlier words to him, what should have been her last words to him. Silently, he resolved to keep his promise to her, he would live.