Oxygen Trapped.

I do not own any of the characters blah blah blah. You know what I'm trying to say.

I

Sawyer was annoyed. More than usual, anyway. He had, in his mind, been forced to help move camp over to the caves. The only upside was that Kate was there too so he had something interesting to look at. The path to the caves was unbearable. It wound in all directions and it seemed to take forever.

"You coming?" Jack called back. Sawyer just grunted and lifted the heavy box up again and trudged forward. When they reached the caves, Sawyer dropped the box with a thud and had a real look around. It was nice and the running water did seem a bonus, but he'd rather stay on the beach. He wasn't sure why. Was it because Kate was staying? He shook that thought out of his mind and decided to go explore a cave.

He walked in and made it pretty far inside when he heard someone call his name.

"WHAT?!" he yelled. Little did he know that Kate was actually calling him to tell him that that cave was collapsible and that he should get out. It was too late, for the cave began to rumble and rocks began to pour from the ceiling.

"Oh, shit. . . " Sawyer grumbled and tried to get out but he couldn't and then something hard, a rock no doubt, hit him on the head and the last thing he heard was someone calling his name and then everything went black.

"Oh, god. . ." gasped Kate. Where was Jack when you needed him? Kate spun in all directions, finally catching him as he was just about to leave. "JACK!" she screamed even though he would have heard her if she had just called out.

" What is it?" Jack came running quickly over. " Are you okay?" He put a hand on her shoulder.

" Yeah. But . . . the cave collapsed and Sawyer's stuck inside. I don't know if he's alive or not. We have to get him out." Kate paused. " I'm worried." She spoke truthfully. Jack told her to stay there and try to find out if Sawyer's alive, Jack was going to go get help. Kate nodded solemnly and looked at the entranceway to the cave, which was now a pile of rubble.

Kate marched over to it and found a small hole, just big enough to peep in.

" Sawyer? Can you hear me? Are you okay?" Meanwhile, inside, Sawyer had just regained consciousness. He felt wet on the back of his head and when he tried to move, he couldn't because he was stuck under piles of rock. He coughed dust up and tried to spit it out of his mouth. That's when he heard Kate calling him.

"hello?" he called weakly back. Happy, for once, to hear his voice, Kate called back:

" Are you okay? Can you move? Jack's gone to get help!" Sawyer just heard her and coughed again.

" I can't move." Was all he said. At least he would have liked to say more if he hadn't started coughing. The dust was stuck in his throat and it was beginning to get sore. Kate impatiently waited for Jack to return and then out of the clearing the sound of running feet approached. Jack was leading the way and a bunch of others were tagging along. Even Sayid was there, which Kate was a little surprised about. They were all about to begin digging until one of the survivors, who had construction expertise, had a look at the cave and announced that they would have to dig somewhere else. When asked why, he replied that there was a possibility, that if they dug there, the cave would collapse again. Everyone moved to a better, stable spot and began to pull at rocks.

II

It had been 30 minutes since Sawyer had gotten stuck inside and it seemed as if they were getting nowhere. Kate had become increasingly more worried when she heard Jack tell someone that Sawyer would run out of oxygen soon and only be breathing what was left in his lungs and when she heard somebody else say that he could also die (die!) of dehydration, that's when she started to panick. I mean, she didn't like him, but not enough for him to die.

Truthfully, Sawyer was getting thirsty and it was getting harder to breathe. He had barely any light to see by.

" Hello? Anyone out there?" he yelled, hoping to get a response. Kate heard and went over to the peep -hole.

" Yes? I can hear you! What is it? Everyone, well not everyone, is trying to get you out. Hang on okay?" She waited and got no response. " Sawyer? You okay?" She waited and didn't realize she was holding her breath. No response. Again. Kate rushed over to Jack.

" Jack? Jack! Sawyer called out to me but when I answered, I waited but got no response. I think something's wrong."

" Okay," Jack answered. " you help dig, I'll see if I can find out what's wrong." Jack walked away and Kate reluctantly began to haul rocks. Jack found the hole Kate had been using. He looked through but he knew he wouldn't be able to see anything.

" Hey, Sawyer! Can you hear me? You in there?" Jack silently laughed at what he said. Of course he's in there, Jack thought, where else could he go? But he stopped when he heard a faint answer to his call.

" Sawyer! I hear you! What is it?" Sawyer was having trouble talking. His throat was dry from no water and piles of dust. His chest heaved up and down as he choked from the lack of oxygen.

" . . . can't . . . breath. . . so thirsty. . . " Sawyer eventually managed to get out, gasping in air as he finished. Jack winced in a way as he heard Sawyer respond. It was hard for him to hear this, as a doctor. He needed to help but he couldn't. All of a sudden, he heard what probably everyone had been waiting to hear:

" We made it through!"

" We're coming!" Jack yelled to Sawyer but he didn't hear him. For Sawyer had just blacked out again slipping slowly away.

" I'm here!" yelled Jack. " I'll go in." Jack began to roll up his sleeves. " Give me a flashlight." Jack turned it on and began to crawl in. He shined it around and finally rested it on Sawyer's face.

" Hey!" Jack yelled and after receiving no answer and no movement, crawled closer. " Damn!" Jack cursed as he saw Sawyer was unconscious. He felt for a pulse and cursed someone after not feeling one. He pulled at rocks extremely fast and eventually got enough so that he could pull Sawyer out. Jack began to pull and made it out with a little help. Jack coughed from the dust but didn't relax for long and focused his attention on Sawyer.

" Alright. Someone's going to have to give him mouth to mouth. My, well, mouth, is all full of dust. I need some water." Kate, shocking everyone, volunteered to do it.

" You know how to, right?"

" Of course." Sighed Kate, bending down taking in a deep breath and putting her lips to Sawyer's mouth. She breathed in, took her mouth away and pushed on his chest. Nothing. She did it three more times but nothing happened. Tears began to well up in her eyes and everyone stared on, not knowing what to do. She breathed into his mouth again and pushed on his chest.

" Wake-up you bastard! Wake-up!" Nothing happened again and Kate's arms grew weak as she collapsed onto his chest and for some reason, she didn't know why, began to sob. Then, as if her crying had done the trick, Sawyer gasped at the sudden rush of oxygen and began to breath again. Kate felt Sawyer's chest heaving up and down, his lungs welcoming the air, and sat up. She was about to call for Jack but he was already at her side. Sawyer was breathing, but he wasn't awake yet.

" Alright, I need some people to help and go back to camp and get my bag. It's in the fourth tent down. The black on with the red cross on it." Charlie ran off, faster than lightning. Kate wiped her tears away and new ones formed, this time of joy.