(AN: sorry this is honestly terrible the next chapter will hopefully be better but I'm getting my wisdom teeth done tomorrow so I might not be able to update in the next week. Your support means so much to me tho honestly its amazing so thank you to everyone that commented and liked. I hope this chapter makes sense)

Jack cursed as he slung the strap of his machine gun over his shoulder, leaving both his arms free to help Mac walk back to the ruined van.

"We can't leave her, she's hurt."

Jack sat the kid down for a second so that he could search the wreckage for a cell phone. "I know, but you're hurt too and we don't know where in that forest she is. More of those gang members could come back and finish us off so we need to call for an exfil, we aren't making it to the airport like this."

Mac tried to get up, despite his broken arm and the glassy look in his eyes, and Jack placed a hand on his knee to stop him.

"Hey, we aren't leaving her. I promise, I'm just going to call for back up and get you somewhere hidden so I can go get her."

Mac seemed okay with this plan for now, and settled back to the ground, carefully cradling his sore arm as Jack shifted through broken glass and bullet casings for his phone. He found it, though scratched up at it was, and quickly dialled Matty's number.

"Hey, we're gonna need some assistance here, Mac's hurt and Riley's missing… They flipped the van Matty, and Riley got pulled out. Marco got her… Yeah, I'll get Mac somewhere safe and go find her, but she's hurt too so we're gonna need some medic's. Yeah, I'll keep you updated."

Mac was rubbing at his eyes to try and clear his blurry vision, which Jack noticed and was not happy about. He gently took hold of Mac's chin to peer into his eyes as the kid tried to push him away.

"Mac, stop it. I think you have a concussion, so just sit still until back up arrives. We need to find Riley before Marco sends more guys in to finish us off."

Mac finally got him to release is chin, and looked around the dusty road at the bodies on the ground.

"He could've already taken her to the compound. We should go in and get her." His words were slightly slurred, which just caused Jack more worry.

Jack squinted at the old warehouse Marco's men were working out of. There were more gang members inside, all heavily armed. Marco would have already sent back up if he'd made it there, which means he was still in the woods, and so was Riley.

"Nah, I don't think she's in there. We'll get the tac team to search it and arrest Marco's guys, but I'm gonna go find our girl." He picked up a gun and pushed it into Mac's good hand, trying again when he almost immediately dropped it.

"Take this and stay here, if any of Marco's guys comes near you, just shoot 'em."

Mac shook his head, making him a little nauseous.

"No, I wanna help."

Jack crouched down a little lower when he saw movement by the warehouse.

"Mac, we're not negotiating. Just do as I say, for once. Shit, get down."

Three huge guys came out of the warehouse, looking around, confused. One had a walkie talkie and didn't seem to get a response from it. Jack pointed.

"They're probably looking for their boss, and if he's not answering…"

Mac watched Jack's grim face. "He's either busy or he's dead."

Jack nodded, not liking what either of those options meant for Riley.

….

Riley clenched her teeth as she tried to pull herself up from the ground. She needed to get away from Marco, from the body. She shuddered and swallowed her nausea at the images in her mind. The way the knife had felt as it sunk into his neck, the blood as it poured from him and drilled her arm, splattering her shirt with it.

The smell was making her stomach twist unpleasantly and she had to pause for a moment, to try and wait for it to settle.

It only got worse once she looked down at her hands, painted red with the slick blood of the life she took. It was in self-defence, she knew that, but it did nothing to stop the horror that overtook her as she tried to desperately wipe the blood on the leaves around her.

She was still laying on the ground, only a few meters from the body, and god the sounds he'd made as he choked and drowned. She didn't think she'd ever get those to leave her head.

That, and the sight of Jack walking away. Logically, she knew that he wouldn't leave her. He was probably getting help or having trouble finding her; but that didn't stop the panic rising in her at the thought of being left alone in the woods.

When Riley first met Jack, she hadn't liked him at all. He talked funny and she didn't know him at all, so why should he be allowed to spend so much time with her mom? He'd been kind though, and paid more attention to her than her dad had.

Her dad had done some awful things, and he always acted so sweet afterwards. Which only meant Riley couldn't trust him, no matter what mood he was in.

So, she hadn't been exactly eager to play nice with her mom's new boyfriend. But one day, she'd come home from school after getting into a fight with some idiot kid. She'd only been standing up for herself but received a black eye and a suspension for her trouble. Her mom had been so worried about her but Jack helped her ice her eye and taught her how to throw a proper punch.

"Now, don't tell your mom about this cause she's worried about you enough as it is. But if you're gonna go up against some asshole that's bigger than you, I want to know you can handle yourself."

He taught her how to throw a punch and how to dodge one, and then he'd gotten her hooked on wrestling shows, which they'd watch together every Saturday afternoon. She had started to feel safe again, like she could really trust him. And then he left.

One night she'd been asleep but woke to hear her dad shouting and Jack shouting back. She crept down to see Jack knock her dad out, with the same punch he'd taught her. She remembered screaming and Jack turning towards her, and the look on his face was one of absolute terror and shame.

She'd come home from school, the next day, to see her mom crying on the couch.

"Riley, honey. Jack's not coming over anymore. It just didn't…it didn't work out."

So, she'd closed herself off again. She didn't talk to people at school, and she got into trouble more often. She missed Jack, but she hated him for leaving her. It was a lot for a kid to go through.

And now she was lying on the forest floor, crying into the damp leaves, and hating him again. He couldn't have just left her, could he? Marco had told them that they could go free if they let him take her. And she didn't want to believe it but what other explanation was there?

She was on her stomach on the ground, gripping leaves in her blood slick hands, and she couldn't breathe. It was as if she were that kid again, watching the closest thing she had to a father, walk away from her and her mom. He couldn't leave her again. She couldn't lose him.

A sob tore its way up her already sore throat, and she did her best to drag air in as her head spun. She didn't know if she could do this. Her leg was broken, her head hurt so bad it was hard to even open her eyes, and she'd just killed someone with her bare hands.

Jack had told her that he'd always be there for her, and Mac had promised to protect her. But they were gone and all she could do was sob into the dirt.

No. She could do this because she had to. She'd dealt with some heavy crap before. She'd handled prison for two years, she could get herself out of a freaking forest.

She heaved in a deep breath, ignoring the pain that flared all over at the small movement, and focused. She needed a plan. If she could just get to the wrecked van and find her phone or coms, she could call for help. But getting there would be no easy feat.

Taking a few more breaths, she rolled onto her back and sat up, squeezing her eyes shut at the way her stomach flipped. Now she just had to get to her feet.

There was a rock nearby and she used it to push herself up, biting down a yell at how much her body protested. Next was the really hard part, because walking generally involved using two feet and she only had one. She made a conscious decision not to look down at the broken appendage, deciding that seeing it in a strange, unnatural angle, would do nothing for her already unsettled stomach, and barely contained panic.

What would MacGyver do in this situation? He'd probably build a phone or helicopter or something ridiculous out of leaves, or find some way to signal the team. But Marco's guys were also out there, and any signal she put up would lead them straight to their boss's killer.

She groaned in frustration before remembering the way Jack complained about how MacGyver wrote mission reports and debriefs.

"You always get so specific, Mac. Who cares about the science behind what you're doing? And I really don't think Matty gives a crap about what exactly you used to make a splint for Cynthia's leg. You're making me look bad, all I had in mine was "Mac fixed it". It's a mission report not a decertation."

Well there was her first solution. She needed to make a splint. She didn't even want to think about touching her leg, but if she wanted to get out of the forest, she'd have to.

Riley gingerly sat herself on the rock, looking around for any usable branches and anything to tie them with. It seemed her luck was turning, because laying a few feet away, were a couple of broken branches, hanging limply from their tree from where Marco had dragged her.

She snapped them off and slipped her belt from her jeans as she grit her teeth; this was going to hurt. A lot.

She'd learnt some basic first aid at school, and heard Mac talk about it enough times to know that the purpose of a splint was to stabilise the broken bone so that it wouldn't move and cause more damage.

Her boot came up past her ankle and she could feel the tightness becoming uncomfortable as her limb began to swell, but it would be helpful for the splint at least.

Slipping the ends of the sticks into her boots, she placed them on either side of her broken leg, and used her belt to tie the tops of them around her. She pressed her lips tightly together but couldn't stop a sob that tore through at the pain. She took a moment to wipe her eyes before unlacing the shoe on her bad foot and using the laces to tie the splint more securely.

It wasn't pretty and probably wasn't the best splint ever but it was something. The next thing she needed was a crutch but that would be harder to make than a splint.

Riley looked around, blinking slowly as her thoughts drifted. What was she looking for again? God, she was so tired and something was running down her neck.

She lifted a lazy hand to try and figure out what that warm wet feeling was. When she took her fingers back, it took her a few moments to work out what she was looking at. It was blood, but it seemed to be hers. She had been hit in the head a few times, actually more than a few times.

She cursed quietly. The blood loss and concussion would explain why she was so tired and confused, as well as the nausea, but it didn't make her odds of getting out alone any better. Her hands were shaking and her vision was blurred, and although she would rather do anything than move, that was what she had to do. She had been taking care of herself since she was sixteen, she could do this.

She was about to get up from her rock seat when she heard something; that annoying, cowboy drawl. It was Jack!

His voice was faint and she couldn't pick up every word, but he was there, he hadn't left! Riley strained to hear what was being said.

"-boss said we could go free if we let him take the girl, so just let us go."

Those words were flung so dismissively, that Riley sucked in a breath. They couldn't really be leaving her?

Panic swelled in her chest at the thought, and she quickly grabbed a branch to stand. Jacks voice faded, giving way to another that she didn't recognize, before she flinched at the sound of gunshots. The red covered image of her friends hurt or dead, filled her vision and she almost forgot about her injured leg as she tried to go towards them.

She may have been determined to find her friends but her broken leg wanted nothing to do with her little escapade, and she nearly crumpled to the ground as soon as her boot touched the soil.

She gripped a tree nearby to keep her standing and tried to breathe through the pain. Her friends could be in danger and she needed to get out of the damn forest.

Shouts came from the direction of the compound and more shots fired, before Riley heard Jacks voice come again.

"Mac, we'd better get out of here before this turns ugly."

Riley's heart raced as she heard engines rumble and tires squeal. No! They couldn't leave her! Not again!

She bit down a sob as she tried to take another step, ignoring the choked sounds of pain coming from her own mouth. It hurt so much and she was already so tired, that she only managed a few steps before she couldn't take it anymore. Her bad leg gave way and she felt herself sway as she grew dizzy from the pain and her own halted breaths.

She let out a whimper as she fell, sobbing as she struck the ground.

"Jack, I'm here. Please don't leave me. Mac, come back, please."

The trees swirled above, and there was too much noise for her to understand anymore. But she was alone and she couldn't make it to help by herself. She was so, so tired and she didn't want to hurt anymore. Sleep sounded so nice right at that moment, so with no other options, she let the dark take her.