The Hunt

The first shots just missed; in fact, Jim heard the crack of the bullets passage past his ear. Finding himself out in the open when all this happened was especially disconcerting to him. But the supersonic lead whizzing past did encourage him to move faster.

Seeing his goal just in front of him, Jim went against the conventional wisdom of hitting the ground and rolling when under fire and instead picked up speed, running as fast as he could, since he was quite literally running for his life.

The move saved him. Walsh had expected him to hit the ground too and had fired on the spot he expected Jim to be in. His shots landed in the dirt well behind Stillman's fast moving form, and by the time Eli was able to adjust, his target had dove through the dugout entrance to safety.

Scowling at the golden opportunity that had slipped through his fingers, Walsh was reminded that he had other problems now too, since Jen by this time knew where he was and had opened fire herself. With her shots now thudding into the ground and trees dangerously close to him, Eli needed to move.

Jennifer had been surprised as well by the sudden turn of events and had frozen in indecision for a moment. Not sure what to do, even with Jim earlier admonishment to be ready to shoot, she still hesitated.

Her hesitation could have been attributed to self-preservation. If she shot at Walsh, he would, of course, try to kill her too, and who would want that? Her brief delay only lasted for a few seconds, but by the time she had snapped out of it and had shifted herself around to shoot back, Jim had already made it to safety.

With her cheek pressed into the cool metal of her rifle's stock, she pulled the trigger over and over again. Jen sincerely hoped her partner was all right as she shot back in the direction it sounded like the other shots were coming from; after all, it increased her odds of survival if he was.

Not hearing anything beyond the ringing in her ears, Jen stopped shooting for a moment, stuck her head up to take a better look, and damn nearly got her brains blown out for her trouble. Walsh had just moved a few yards to his left, sighted in on her, then just waited for her to move.

When he saw some movement, he fired a burst. The bullets smashed themselves into the tree just in front of her face, splintering it. The bits of bark and wood, acting like shrapnel, sliced into her neck and cheek. The wounds weren't life-threatening, but they did bring home the fact that this was a serious business she was involved in -- as if she really needed to be reminded of it.

Jen ducked her head back down, and as if to emphasize the seriousness of the situation, she could feel the warm stickiness of her life's blood warming the outside of her body rather than the inside. She briefly panicked, but with more of Walsh's bullets thudding into the tree which had been her sanctuary, she knew that she had to get moving and started crawling to a new hiding place.

From where Eli was, he couldn't be sure whether he'd hit her or not, but he knew that if he had missed he sure had been close. He was about to go after her when Stillman started shooting at him from the entrance of the dugout.

Part 6

After landing in a heap inside the dark interior of his destination, Jim took a moment to make sure that he was all right. Other than some bumps and bruises and an intense need to urinate, he found (almost to his own surprise) that he was fine.

Hearing Jen and Walsh trading shots outside, he got back to his feet and peeked out. Jim could see Walsh's hiding place, though he couldn't see Walsh himself. Switching to semi-automatic to give him more control, Jim opened up, laying down fire on Walsh's position.

After being forced to quickly move again, Eli started firing back at the dugout, causing Jim to duck back further inside. Jen, meanwhile, had changed magazines. After quickly checking her injuries, she confirmed that she wasn't indeed going to die from them, but they might leave some scars -- well, she'd worry about that later.

Hiding behind a crate inside the dugout, Jim knew that he was in trouble. Walsh's position indicated that he could shoot almost directly into Jim's hiding place. If Eli moved again to his left, then other than this packing crate, Jim wouldn't have any place left to hide. Cursing his own bad luck -- or rather, stupidity at getting caught in here like this -- Jim knew his only chance was in making a break for it. In an effort to try to minimize the risk he would be running, he pulled out the two smoke grenades he'd liberated earlier and decided that now was an excellent time to use them.

Unfortunately being unable to communicate what he was planning with his partner, all Jim could do was hope for the best. He waited for her to start shooting again to get Walsh's attention. When she finally did, he went to the entrance of the dugout. After judging what little wind there was, he took a deep calming breath, pulled the pins, and tossed the grenades out so that the smoke they generated would cover as much of the clearing as possible, giving him a chance to get out and back into the relative safety of the trees.

Hearing the popping whoosh of the smoke grenades going off, Eli quickly realized what Stillman was up to. He'd been trading shots with Jennifer but hadn't been able to get the advantage yet.

He certainly didn't want to let Stillman out of the dugout just yet, not till he'd finished with the women first. With the two of them currently separated, it was just too good of an opportunity to finish one of them off while he had the chance. But seeing the blue and red smoke filling the clearing, Eli knew that he didn't have much time to act. Firing off the last of his clip at Jennifer to keep her head down for a moment, he quickly changed both the magazine in his submachine gun and his location so he could have a clear shot at Stillman when he came out of the dugout.

Jen had heard the smoke grenades going off too. But she didn't understand what Jim was doing at first. At the last moment, it dawned on her: He was going to make a run for it. Knowing it was in her own best interest to do everything she could to keep Jim alive, Jen quickly opened up on where Walsh had been. Unlike before, though, this time he didn't shoot back. What was he up to? Could she have hit him without knowing, she wondered? No way, she concluded as she changed magazines. He must have moved again, she decided, but she didn't have a lot of time to find him; the smoke in the clearing was getting thicker, and Jim was going to make his move any second.

Knowing all that, Jennifer made her decision and did her best by shooting at places that Walsh might be hiding in.

Hearing the amount of gun fire outside slacking off, Jim wasn't sure what to feel about it. He'd hoped Jen was all right, but one way or another, he had to go. Checking his rifle one last time to make sure it was ready, he gripped it tightly in his sweaty palms and rushed out into the smoke-filled afternoon light in a zigzag, heading for the nearest trees.

He hadn't made it more than a few paces when a swarm of bullets like angry bees went buzzing past him. Immediately throwing himself to the ground this time, he rolled and started crawling for his life, desperate to get out of this damn clearing and back under some kind of cover.

From where she was hiding, Jen -- in between her own shots -- had been watching carefully. She had seen a muzzle flash coming from under a log and knew instantly the she hadn't been even close to Walsh with her earlier tries.

Quickly taking aim at her new target, she opened up on him, shooting as fast as she could pull the trigger and saw, with some satisfaction, his shooting stop as the log he was using for cover began to disintegrate under the hail of bullets she was putting out.

Walsh had waited patiently for his shot. When he saw a shadowy movement inside the smoke cloud, he fired off a burst and saw the shadow disappear. Not knowing whether he'd actually killed him or not, Walsh kept up his fire, trying to blanket the area with lead.

Unfortunately he'd run out of time. That bitch Ryan must have finally gotten a bead on him, since her shooting suddenly got a whole lot closer to him. The thick old log he was hiding under stopped the bullets all right, but it was paying the price. Listening to the bullets smacking into it, Walsh had bits of wood and bark raining down on him from where Jennifer was kicking them up with her efforts to protect her partner.

After a few more moments, it once again just got too hot for him. Eli was forced to hold his fire and start crawling to another position. He doubted that he had actually hit Stillman; if he hadn't, then he'd missed his best opportunity to end this thing, he thought with a sigh.

Lying on her belly while changing magazines again, Jen thought smugly that she was getting pretty good at this stuff. But even with the ringing in her ears from all the gunfire, she still heard the brush rustling behind her. Turning quickly with her heart suddenly lodged in her throat, she relaxed as Jim come up to her.

"You OK?" he asked, looking concerned about the blood on her face and neck.

"Yeah, how about you?"

"About shit myself back there, but otherwise I'm OK, he told her matter-of-factly."

The onetime high-powered executive couldn't help but grin hearing that, crude remark and all. She actually found herself starting to really like this guy, whom the day before yesterday she wouldn't have given the time of day to. How about that, she wondered? Nothing like a life-and-death situation to bring people together.

"What are we going to do now?" she asked him, bringing her mind back to the point.

"Let's start moving forward, covering each other as we go," he told her. "Walsh is out there, and he's still close by; I think it's time we get him," Jim said with a note of finality in his voice.

"What about after that?"

"What do you mean?"

"How do we get off this island if Walsh is dead?" she asked him. "If there is a radio here, he's the only one that knows where it is."

Jim hadn't thought about that. But having used the smoke grenades in the clearing now gave him the beginning of an idea. "After we take care of Walsh, we'll search him and see if he has anything like a radio on him. If not, we'll move down to the shoreline, get a fire started, and wait for a passing boat or ship. Then we can toss some wet leaves or moss on the fire -- something that'll make lots of smoke. Someone will see it and either pick us up themselves or else call the coast guard who'll come eventually to check it out". It made sense to her.

"Let's move out," he told her with his rifle at the ready as he started moving at a crouch to a nearby tree and waved her forward. Taking a deep steadying breath, she started forward.

Having already moved off to a safe distance, Eli took a moment to consider his options. It almost made him sad in a way, since Eli knew that right now he was having the most exhilarating hunt of his life. Bagging his kill this time, which he had no doubt he could and would do, would certainly be something that he would remember for the rest of his days. Eli even wondered for a moment if he should stop these hunts after this, since he found it hard to believe that he was ever going to top it.

It was too bad, really, that he couldn't take his prey back and have them mounted in his trophy case at home, he mused with a smirk, though he really doubted that he ever could pay his household staff enough to look the other way about something like that. Oh well, he thought with a shrug, he'd just have to settle for collecting his regular trophies. He was thinking about their ears this time. Sometimes he went for fingers as well; it sort of depended on him mood at the time.

But now hearing his quarry on the move, Eli snapped back to the here-and-now; after all, the fun wasn't over yet.

Keeping each other covered, the pair going from tree to tree had each moved several times, and Jim was starting to wonder if Walsh had taken off on them. Jen had just completed her move, and he was just about to start his, when Jim caught sight of something out of the corner of him eye. He didn't even consciously know what he'd seen -- a shape, maybe -- but with all of his senses on overdrive at the moment, he just simply reacted and threw himself to the ground without even thinking about it. The instinctive move saved his life. The bullets meant for his chest instead hit the tree he had just been leaning against. Landing flat on his face, he rolled for cover while hearing Jen shoot into the forest.

Eli just couldn't believe this guy's luck. Then that bitch had to start shooting at him on top of it. Eli, in response, had shifted his fire to his new target, and after getting her back into hiding, he made his exit.

Getting his heart stuffed back down in his chest where it belonged instead of its current home lodged in his throat after his latest narrow escape, Jim had to wonder just how many more lives he had to spend here. Hopefully just one more than Walsh, he thought grimly.

But at least he knew they were on the right track, Jim thought to himself, attempting to look on the bright side of things while he listened to the silence descending back over the forest after the last shots rang out.

Finally not seeing or hearing anything for a few moments, Jim eased up. After getting an ok from Jen that she was all right, he moved out again, being more careful this time.

Eli decided to change tactics; he had been going after Stillman for the most part, since he judged the other man the more dangerous of the two. But now Eli thought that maybe he should get Jennifer out of the way first. After all without her backing Stillman up it should be easier to bring the unexpectedly resourceful janitor down. So after getting to a safe distance he set up his next ambush and waited.

Jim was becoming more and more impressed with Jen's abilities as the day went along. She'd said that she had never been in the military or really ever even handled a gun before, but now, moving quietly through the forest, she was working it like a pro.

The two of them had each moved several times again with no sign of Walsh, but Jim knew he was out there somewhere. Just getting himself set to cover Jen, Jim saw him. The older man moved, which was the only reason that Jim spotted him. Walsh had to reposition slightly to get a better angle on Jen, who apparently was going to be the target this time, and when he did, he gave himself away.

Jim, knowing he had to beat Walsh to the punch if he was going to save her life, quickly halfway aimed and fired off a burst, having already switched back to full auto.

Of the five rounds he fired, the first three flew passed Walsh harmlessly into the forest. But the last two connected; the first went through his abdomen, and the second went through his right bi-sep. The sudden unexpected impact of the bullets caused Eli's own shot to go wide, and he was immediately knocked to the ground.

From where she was lying on the forest floor, Jen wasn't sure what had just happened. As soon as she'd heard shots, she'd hit the ground, not having taken the time to check first. She now looked up in time to see Jim running forward, answering her harried question by telling her that he'd gotten Walsh. Hearing this surprising news, Jen quickly got back to her feet and followed.

Jim was sure that he'd hit Walsh; he could feel it. He slowed down slightly with his rifle raised and ready as he approached the spot where Walsh had been. To his disappointment, there wasn't a body to be found, but he did discover a blood trail. This, as far as Jim was concerned, was almost as good. He also found what at first glance he took to be a pistol. Thinking that Walsh must have dropped it, Jim picked it up, only then realizing that in fact it was a tranquilizer gun.

Not understanding what Walsh was up to, Jim wondered. Why would Walsh bother with a tranq gun? Not having time to worry about it now as Jennifer came up behind him, Jim dropped the gun back to the forest floor, and after pointing out his discovery of the blood trail to Jen, he set off in pursuit. If he'd waited an extra moment, he could have seen the odd expression on Jen's face as she stood looking down at the dropped tranquilizer gun that she knew had been meant for her.

Part 7

Eli knew that he was in serious trouble; he could feel the warmth of the blood flowing out of him. He figured that he could handle the arm wound, but the hole in his abdomen was beyond his ability to treat out here. He had to either eliminate his pursuers or lose them quickly while he called in his chopper to extract him. He just hoped he had the time.

Moving quickly through the undergrowth, Jim followed the blood trail, more determined than ever to finish this. He wasn't about to let this sick son of a bitch get away now. He quickly checked over his shoulder to see Jen, a determined look on her face, still following in his wake.

Walsh could feel that he was weakening. Stumbling along the path, he tripped over an exposed tree root and fell, losing his MP-5 in the process. He'd just turned himself over, gasping for breath when he saw his pursuer, standing there over him like some kind of green-clad avenging angel.

Still following in pursuit, Jim knew that he was right behind his target now. He could hear the other man stumbling through the brush and heard what could only have been a body hitting the ground with a grunt.

Moving more cautiously forward now, Jim saw him finally, lying there half propped up against a decaying branch. The old man didn't look so scary now.

Walsh was trying to pull out his sidearm. Jim couldn't allow that, since he still wanted to talk to this guy before he died and shooting him again would make that conversation a lot more difficult. Jim quickly stepped forward and none to gently pinned Walsh's gun hand to the ground with his foot. "I don't think that you're going to need this," Jim told Walsh before calmly and quickly taking the gun away and tossing it to Jen, who had quietly come up behind him and was now looking the scene over for herself.

Seeing that Walsh was hit pretty badly, Jim decided it was best to keep first things first and asked, "All right, Walsh, how do we get off this island?"

Feeling the blood wetting the right side of his body, Eli decided to play along for the moment. "There's a satellite phone in my pack," he told Jim, watching them both but paying particular attention to Jennifer.

After making sure Jen was covering him, Jim roughly pulled Walsh's pack off. Jim ignored the older man's pain-filled grunts at the rough handling, figuring that it was the least this asshole had coming to him right now.

Digging into Walsh's pack, Jim found a padded leather case; this had to be it. Pulling the phone out, he looked it over for a moment. Jim had never tried to run one of these things before, but he was sure that he could figure it out.

Jen had taken the opportunity to move closer while still holding onto the pistol that Jim had tossed to her. "Is it all right?" she asked, looking at the phone he was holding and calmly leaning over next to Walsh who was still watching her closely, much more closely than Jim was at that moment.

"I think so," he said getting ready to switch it on. "Just give me a minute."

"No problem; take your time," she told him calmly as she clicked the safety off the pistol she was holding and aimed it at his back.

Hearing the click, Jim looked up from his work to remind her to be careful when he saw that not only was she aiming the gun at him but both she and Walsh had identical little smirks on their faces. In a profound if belated flash of insight, Jim realized now that he'd been played by these two all along. That gangbanger had been right; these two were working together, and he'd fallen for it!