Sink Or Swim

Disclaimer: I don't own Lost, or the characters. I am merely borrowing them. Mackenzie Grayson is an OC and a Taily. Shannon is not shot, but is not with Sayid. Nathan survives. Sayid/OC eventually

The water filled the lungs of Lt. Commander Mackenzie Grayson as she fought to push herself up. She quickly swam to shore, seeing others already on the beach, or swimming to the beach, or unfortunately, floating in the water, dead. Her mind quickly took in the situation, screaming plane crash. She ran over to where a man was lying in pain.

"Easy," she said bending down next to the man.

""OW! Ow, my leg, is it bad?" the man questioned.

Mac didn't have a chance to respond before a blonde woman came up to her and the man.

"What's your name?""Donald," he answered.

"No, it's not that bad. I broke my leg skiing up at Stowe in Vermont. I was on this run - going pretty fast - I was racing this cute ski patrol guy. I went off this mogul, lost my edge and, bam!" she said, snapping his leg. "I snapped my left leg. Now that - that was bad."

Mac looked at the man, Donald, who passed out.

"You a doctor?" she asked the other woman.

"A year of med school before I dropped out. I'm a clinical psychologist," she answered.

"Well, that was impressive," Mac answered, turning her head seeing a man running out of the jungle yelling for help. She started to get up, but felt the other woman's hand on her arm.

"You're bleeding," she said. "I'm Libby," she said getting up, pushing the hair aside. "That's pretty deep," she told her.

"Mackenzie," she answered, flinching as she looked around.

"We need to stop the bleeding," Libby informed her.

"Here," she said ripping a sleeve of her long sleeve shirt handing it to her. "Please don't start telling me a story on how you bumped your head and then snap my neck," Mac told her.

Libby laughed. "I wouldn't dare, Mackenzie," she said dipping it into the water.

"Mac," she answered.

"So Mac, what do you do in the real world?" Libby asked.

"I'm a Lt. Commander in the United States Army," Mac answered.

"Impressive, you should be able to handle yourself out here," Libby said. "This is going to hurt," Libby told her, bringing the cloth to the other woman's head.

"Ouch," Mac responded, flinching.

"I warned you," Libby said.

"Yeah, you did, but it didn't make it hurt less," she answered, laughing a little.

"We need to wrap this cloth around your head, hope it stops bleeding by itself," she said, doing it.

"Thanks," Mac said standing up looking around, taking a breath. "I'll be fine, go see how the others are," she instructed.

As Libby walked away, she looked out into the ocean, taking a breath.

Mac sat by herself for a little while, turning her head at the sight of the man, who'd run out into the jungle asking for help and the woman, who'd ran to help him, trying, unsuccessfully, to start a fire with sticks. She took a breath, "Don't get involved," she told herself, but her army survival mood kicked in.

Standing up, she walked over. "Maybe I can help?" she offered.

The other woman looked up. "You a grown up Girl Scout?" she asked.

"In a way, Lt. Commander in the United States army," she said, bending down. "May I?" she asked the man.

"Be my guest," he said, handing the sticks to her. "Goodwin," he said introducing himself to her.

"Mackenzie, Mac please," she said, putting one stick down, grabbing another dryer one.

"Ana Lucia," the other woman introduced. "So do you do that a lot in the Army?"

"Survival training, once a year," she said, getting sparks.

"Glad you were on the plane," Goodwin said, watching.

"Well, thanks, I guess I just have the same bad luck as the rest of you," Mac answered. "There," she said standing up, getting dizzy.

Ana Lucia stood grabbing her arm. "You lost a lot of blood due to that head wound, sit," she instructed helping her. "You need to drink some water and rest for a bit."

Mac nodded. "Thanks," she said, taking a breath, watching the water.

Mac had just drifted off to sleep when she heard noises, and sat up.

"What was that?" Anna asked.

"Over here," Goodwin said.

"Libby watch the kids," Ana instructed, as she took after Goodwin, with Mac following her.

Mac stopped seeing two dead bodies. "What happened?" she asked looking up at Eco, who picked up a big rock and proceeded to show them how they were killed. Mac saw the guilt in his eyes, and she took a breath.

"No wallet, no cell phone, no keys. Nothing." Ana said bending down examining the bodies.''

A young man came to them. "Three people are missing," he said.

"It's Nathan, correct?" Mac asked. When she saw him nod, she asked, "Who?"

"The blonde guy, the curly haired guy, and the German guy helping with the injured," he responded.

"Did you see anything?" Ana asked.

"No, I didn't," Nathan answered.

"Where did they come from? How many of them were they?" Ana asked.

"Ana, he said he didn't see anything," Mac said.

"Who are these people?" Nathan asked, looking down at the dead bodies.

"I don't know, there out here in the jungle with no shoes and no wallets, nothing in their pockets and no labels on their clothing. They were here before us," Ana answered. "We need to get off the beach, find a safer place."

"I agree, we're too vulnerable," Mac said, her army training coming in.

"We've got kids and people that are seriously hurt. Where are we going to go? How are we going to move them? What about the signal fire? How are we going to get rescued if we're off the beach?" Nathan asked.

"Nathan's right," Goodwin said.

"They have satellites - the black box - we don't need a fire for them to find us," Ana responded.

"Yes, we do. Before the crash, the pilot said we'd lost communication; we were turning back. We were flying for two hours in the wrong direction. They don't know where to look," Cindy said.

Ana and Mac looked at each other, knowing everyone had good points but Mac still couldn't get that bad feeling out of her stomach.

Day 12:

Mac felt something slip around her neck, her hand grabbing at a rock, hitting the person on the head.

"Help us," Emma screamed.

"They took the kids!" Libby screamed. They took Jim! And Eli! Nancy's gone! They're gone!"

Ana ran over to the one that Mac had subdued grabbing her. "Wake up! Which way did they go? Tell me!"

"She's dead," Goodwin said, as she starts going through her pockets. "What are you doing?"

"Is this a knife?" Ana asked, taking the knife out of the woman's pocket.

"A Swiss Army Knife," Mac said, taking it.

Ana took a piece of paper off the body opening it.

"What is it?" Mac asked.

"It's a list of names, nine of us," Ana said.

Ana looked at Eko. "Nothing? They drag 9 people into the jungle - the kids - and there's no sign of them? Now's not a good time to talk? What needs to happen to make you say something?"

"Ana, calm down, let's figure this out." Mac said

"Calm down? Let's figure this out? Here are the names of every single person they took - all 9 of them - what they were wearing - what they look like - one of them had a list of us. You were on that list, Mac," Ana told her.

"They could have gotten our names from the people they already took," Goodwin said.

"Nobody knew anybody's names the first night," Ana responded.

"Maybe they're watching us?"

"You were gone for 2 hours yesterday," Ana said.

"What?" Nathan asked

"Where were you?" she demanded.

"I was going to the bathroom," Nathan responded.

"Hey, stop! We're all scared. Let's not get paranoid here. We don't know anything," Goodwin said.

"He's right. Why would they try to infiltrate us - that's crazy," Bernard said

"Not really crazy as it may sound," Mac answered. "Spies infiltrate into groups all the time. That first day, it was insane, someone could have snuck into the group, we wouldn't have known."

"Well, whoever they are they know we are here. We need to leave this beach," Libby said.

"Goodwin, you said we needed to keep the signal fire burning," Ana said.

"I think it's time we let it go out," Goodwin responded.

Day 15:

"Five minutes," Ana said, stopping at a stream.

"We've been walking for 3 days straight, Ana," Bernard said.

"And you're still here. 5 minutes," she repeated.

"Ana, this is perfect cover. We have rocks to our back, fresh water, and lots of fruit trees," Mac said.

Ana looked at her, "Fine, okay. This'll work."

Day 19

"What are you doing?" Nathan asked

"You and I are going to have little talk, Nathan," Ana told him

"You, let me out of here right now. You let me out. You let me out!" Nathan screamed.

"What are you doing?" Mac asked, coming over.

"He wasn't on the plane," Ana said.

"What?" Bernard asked.

"We were in the air for 2 hours - I didn't see him once - not once," Ana said.

"Ana, you can't possibly remember everyone on the plane," Mac said.

"No, I didn't see him either. I'm pretty good with faces, you know, with the passengers," Cindy said.

"You're not all serious," Goodwin said.

"He never talks about himself, Nathan. Every time I ask him anything, he just dodges," Libby said.

"I don't talk about myself either, and that sure the hell doesn't make me one of them," Mac said.

"No, if he really were one of them why would he still be here?" Bernard asked

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Ana responded.

"Will you let me out, Ana?" Nathan asked.

"You got a problem with this?" Ana asked Eko.

"I do," Mac said.

"I wasn't asking you," Ana told her.

"What are you doing? Let me out," Nathan said.

Day 23:

"Where are the kids, Nathan? Where are the kids? Not talking to me anymore? What's that behind you? Get up!" Anna said. "I said get up!" she asked spotting banana peels. "Who gave him food?" she demanded.

"What happened?" Cindy asked.

"I'm trying to find out what they did to us. And you're taking care of him?" She asked Bernard.

"I didn't do anything. And what if you're wrong, Ana? We don't even know if there is a spy," he said.

"Whose idea was it to stay at the beach where they could pick us off one by one - his - Nathan's," Ana said.

"Well, they haven't come since you put him in there," Libby said.

Mac shot Libby a glare. "They haven't come since we moved," she said standing up. "I gave him the banana's," she said. Mac walked down to the river taking a drink, hearing someone come up behind her. "Ana," she said, not turning around.

"What the hell were you thinking? I'm trying to save our lives and you're giving food to the enemy," Ana said.

Mac turned around and looked at her. "It's not Nathan."

"How do you know?" Ana questioned in a demanding voice.

"I know," Mac responded.

"I want to know how you know! Is it because you're the one?"

Mac shook her head. "Yeah Ana, I knocked myself in the head with a rock, jumped into the ocean and hoped to God I wouldn't bleed to death," she said. "And I even went to the trouble of making dog tags for myself, just to be authentic," Mac said pulling them out of her shirt.

"You said yourself you don't speak about yourself," Ana said.

"You know why I don't Ana? Fourteen years of military intelligence training. I learn more by watching and listening then I do talking," she said. "Nathan isn't the infiltrator," Mac informed her.

"You know who it is though," Ana said.

"I'm pretty sure I do," she responded.

"No, I'm not going to tell you that," Mac responded. "I need you trust me, and do what I say, just this once. If we let this cause tension and stress, then they win."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Get Nathan out of the pit, later this evening. Don't tell anyone you're doing it, and I'm not saying to let him go, I know better," Mac instructed.

"And what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to be waiting," Mac simply said. Mac went back to the others, and waited until it was near dark before making her way to the pit. She let her eyes adjust to the dark hearing someone approaching the pit, then heard Goodwin's voice saying grab the rope. "Goodwin," she said coming closer.

"Mac, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I think the better question is what are you doing here and why you are here?" Mac asked.

"I was just going to let Nathan go, you know Ana's wrong about him," he said.

"Yeah, I know that's why I convinced her to let him out earlier today," Mac said.

"Well that's good," Goodwin said starting to leave.

"I know who the infiltrator is, though. It's you," Mac said.

"What? You're as crazy as Ana," Goodwin said.

"Oh really? That day you came out of the woods, you were dry as a bone. The rest of us, except for Bernard who was in a tree, were soaked to the bone. The only way you could have come from the woods were if you weren't on that plane. Where are the kids?" she asked.

Goodwin looked at her, the rope in his hands, charging at her. "You should have become one of us; you would have had a better life."

"No thanks, I'm ok with who I am," she said, tripping him. "Where are the kids?"

"In a better place," Goodwin answered, getting up charging at her again.

"Are they dead?" she asked.

"No," he answered, hitting her, making her fall backwards. Mac kicked him square into the chest, kicking him into the pit.

"Now that's what I call impressive," Libby said, coming out of the woods with the rest of them.

Mac climbed down into the pit, bending down. "His neck is broken," she said.

"How did you know?" Ana asked as she climbed up.

"Like I told you, I knew," she said. "We need to move. And you owe Nathan apologies."

"Right, sorry Nathan," Ana said, untying him.

"It's ok, you were trying to protect us," he answered.

Day 27

Mac stops at a door, looking at it.

"What is it?" Cindy asks.

"I don't know - some sort of bunker," Ana responded.

"Do you think it's theirs?" Libby asked.

Eko goes toward the door.

"What are you doing?" Ana asks.

They watch as Eko opens the door.

"What is this place?" Libby asks.

"It looks like some sort of storage facility," Mac answered, turning on the lights.

"Hey, come over here," Ana said, finding a chest and opening it as something falls out. "What was that?" she asked pulling out a bible and blankets.

"What else in here?" Bernard asks.

"It's a glass eye," Libby said, holding up the thing that fell.

"Look at this. It's a radio," Bernard said. "Hello, can anybody here me?"

"We'll need to go to higher ground or at least outside," Mac says.

Day 41:

Bernard goes outside trying the radio again. "Is anyone there?"

"Why are you wasting your time with that thing? There's no signal," Ana said.

" I only turn it on a couple minutes a day. It really doesn't..." Bernard said.

"Hello. Hello, anybody out there? Mayday. Mayday," a voice said from the radio

"Is there someone there?" Bernard asked.

"Hello! Hello!" came the other voice again.

"Who is that? Oh my god!" Cindy exclaimed.

"Can you hear me?" the voice asked again.

Mac reaches for the radio. "Repeat transmission again."

"Hello. We're survivors of the crash of Oceanic flight 815! Please copy!" the voice said.

"We're the survivors of flight 815," Mac responded.

Ana takes the radio.

"Hey," Mac said.

"No, wait a minute. What are you doing?" Bernard asked.

"It's them. It's them. They're trying to draw us out - trying to find us," Ana said turning off the radio.

"No, he said 815; he said flight 815," Bernard said.

"They know our flight number because Goodwin knew our flight number," Ana said.

"What if there really are other survivors out there?" Bernard said.

"There are no survivors," Ana said.

"How can you be so certain? If we survived, it's possible others did too," Mac responded.

"There are no survivors, this is our life now. Get used to it," Ana said leaving.

Day 45:

Cindy runs into camp yelling for Ana and Mac to come with her that they found someone on the beach. Everyone runs following them.

Ana blindfolds him and ties him to a tree.

"Who are you? Where are you from?" Eko demands

The man starts speaking Korean.

"He doesn't even speak English," Bernard says.

"That doesn't mean anything," Ana said.

"Ana, we found him in the water," Cindy said.

"He has a broken hand cuff on his wrist," Ana said, watching Mac go over to him. "What are you doing?"

"Talking to him," Mac responded.

"He doesn't speak English," Libby said.

"Good thing I speak Korean, then," Mac said. "Who are you?" she asked in Korean.

The man looks at her. "How do you know Korean?" he asked.

"I spent three years there, one of my first assignments in the Army," she responded. "Who are you?"

"Survivor, Flight 815," he responded.

Mac stood up going back to the group. "He says he's a survivor from our flight."

"He's lying," Ana said.

"I don't think he's a threat," Eko said.

"He's running!" Ana Lucia said.

"Michael, Sawyer!" the man yells.

"Jin!" The blond says

"Others! Others! Others!" Jin said pointing.

Mac shook her head as she watched them capture them and put them in the pit.

"Ana, wait, what if you're wrong, what if they are survivors," Mac said.

"Hit me," Ana said.

"Hit you?" Mac said, looking at Eko.

"You think they're okay? Let's find out. Hit me," Ana said, as Eko hit her.

Day 47:

Mac walked with the group going to the other camp. "Stop," she said as Sawyer dropped.

"Leave him," Ana instructed.

"We're not leaving him," Mac said. "Get me something to make a stretcher for him, I'll help you carry him," she said to Michael.

Mac had been helping carry him on the stretcher, when they heard the whispers. "Cindy! She's gone," Mac said.

"We need to keep moving," Eko said as they walked.

"Our camp," Jin said, pointing as everyone turned.