First, Do No Harm

[AtomicWaffle†]

((Will and Christian continued from The Only Way Out))

"I'm fucked! Not just fucking fucked, fucking - ugh - proper fucking fucked!"

Christian cursed as he held his gut, the blood from his newest wound pooling around him. It wasn't enough the gunshot wound bled and was more painful than anything he'd experienced, next to the wounds he got from the bullets that grazed past him in the Storehouse. No, a fucked up rat... thing had to pop out of the thick bushes and start tearing the shit out of him, heading for that soft, blood-covered spot on his waist.

Will and he had retreated from the storehouse, Christian now seeming to come around. Perhaps it was something Will had done, he didn't know. The wound on his shoulder and the cuts from the bullets that grazed him had stopped bleeding, for the most part, and he applied another makeshift bandage to the wound. Will had completely destroyed his shirt in the process, and only had his dark blue jacket on at the moment. The rain chilled him to the bone, but he couldn't complain. Not while Christian had a hole in his gut. Besides, Will grew up in Iceland. This was nowhere even close to what it was like there. Too many days under the California sun had spoliled him.

For hours it seemed they had ran through the jungle, trying to find shelter. Will considered the tower that he had previously been in, but realized it would be probably the most obvious place people would take shelter. It was now probably the most dangerous place to try and take shelter in at this point. They were just coming to a clearing, when some kind of animal - he could only describe it as some distant relative of a rat - burst from the underbrush, knawing at Christian, and worst of all, at his wounds. They probably had scared it from it's shelter. Will didn't have time to contemplate why it attacked Christian. Hastily he grabbed it and, for lack of a better word, 'broke' it. Snapped it's small spine in his hands in one quick jerking motion.

Will was never happy with killing animals, even if he wasn't the one to do it; he was a vegetarian for this reason. But now, in this rush to get his friend to safety, despite everything Christian had said in the last few hours, he thought nothing of it. Without a second thought Will threw the dead animal aside, and kept moving into the clearing. Christian, in seconds, fell to the ground. It was cold rock. They had reached the Cliffs. The sea lay below them.

Once again the gunshot wound was open, bleeding. Christian lay in an indent in the rock, where the rain had created a small puddle. His blood spread through it, clouding it in a murky crimson. Will panicked. Christian cursed.

"C'mon man, you're going to be fine. Save all that shit for Danya. I'll make sure you'll get to say it to his face..."

"I'M FUCKING DYING HERE, MAN! I'M FUCKING DYING!"

"No, no you're NOT! For the last fucking time, YOU'RE NOT!"

"Are you a doctor?"

"Are you?!"

"I've been shot twice, cut up, and attacked by a fucking rat thing! YOU DON'T NEED TO BE A FUCKING DOCTOR TO TELL I'M GOING TO DIE!"

"Shut up! Okay?! Shut the fuck up! You'll be fine!"

Will's hands were covered in mud, and blood. To look at Christian... was painful to him. He shook. His hands, stained with his own blood, hung in the air, shaking. The pain was unbearable. Christian's eyes drew towards the gun inside Will's jacket.

End it all...

"Will... I know.... I know you tried your best, man. I know you tried to protect me, and I really... and I really appreciate it. You're my best friend, you don't.... I know you did everything you could, just, let it go..."

It can't be...

"Don't think that way, you're-"

"No, i'm not. There's no way. You don't understand... I tried to tell you, but you didn't listen to me... You, Will, you deserve to get out of this as much as I do. You didn't have to protect me. You've got as much a family as I do, you've got as much of a life..."

Will cradled Christian's head in his arms. Drenched he was in both blood and rain.

"I didn't have to, but I did. That's what friends do, we look out for each other, I couldn't just leave you!"

Those last words hung in Will's mind. It all started with Jason Foley. Will was helpless as he was dismembered only feet away. He swore he wouldn't let something like that happen to Christian. Too late. As much as Will had tried to keep his friend out of harm's way, it seemed to be that there was no way that was possible on this island. He was... he was dying. There was nothing Will could do to help him.


Was there?


"Christian... I keep thinking... was it me? Am I responsible for this?"



"No. But you know who are."



They lay in the puddle, the rain pouring all around them. Lightning crackled through the sky. The cliffs provided a perfect view of the storm's violent effects on the ocean. Waves crashed against the rock wall. The colossal drone of the wind, the din of the waves breaking apart on the rocks below, the thunder echoing for miles; all drowned out the quiet sobbing of the two friends.

A booming, thunderous gunshot echoed in the open air.


Now, only one sobbed.


B16 - CHRISTIAN RYDELL - DECEASED


((He left a short time afterwards. Will continued elsewhere.))