Chapter 1

Water lapped at my face, I spluttered a little at the salty taste. My eyes felt weak, but I pried my eyelids open anyway. My face was half turned into the sand. Sand? I was on a plane, on my way to L.A, why was I lying on sand. This wasn't right.

A deep whirring, that was loud and frightening, blared through the air. What was that? It sounded like an engine. I was deafening. I could hear screams too, filled with pain and confusion and fear. What the hell was going on?

I was lying in an awkward position. My legs were twisted at odd angles, not enough to be broken but enough for shots of pain to flood them. One of my arms was under my body, while the other was tucked under my neck. I rolled onto my back and straightened out my legs, gritting my teeth against the pain. I pulled my arm out from under my body and forced myself into a sitting position. I blinked twice, just to make sure that I was really seeing what I saw.

It was much worse than I could have imagined. It was carnage. Not far from me was an engine, the plane's engine? No, it couldn't be. But what other explanation was there. It was wedged in the sand, and the fan propellers were still trying to spin, baking the sand. Parts of the plane, Oceanic flight 815, were scattered all around me. There were people, the other passengers from the plane I assumed, all around too. Some were running around trying to help those lying injured on the floor. While others, just stood there, shell shocked with blank expressions on their faces, like they were looking at something different than the rest of us.

A man, with short black hair and a torn, ragged black suit, thundered as best he could through the pale sand. He skidded to a stop in front of me.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"I…I think I'm ok" I mumbled.

He offered me his hand to pull me to my feet. I grasped his hand, and he yanked me up. My legs wobbled as soon as I was standing and I feel sideways. Pins and needles shot up my legs. The man grabbed me before I could fall over completely. He threw my arm over his shoulder and gripped my waist. He helped me hobble over to a big hunk of the plane. I rested against it; my head was hurting, pounding and throbbing repetitively. I closed my eyes to try and stop my head from hurting. My legs too were burning and numb all at the same time.

I forced my eyes to open and looked down at myself. My sun dress, that originally was pale pink and reached my knees, was dirty and scorched from fire, and was cut and torn so badly that in places it only reached my mid thigh. There was a large cut on my arm and I was sure I could feel blood on my face.

"I'm Jack Shepherd. I'm a doctor" Jack said.

"Ollie Biers" I mumbled "I'm a college student by day, a cleaner by night"

He laughed at my copying before sobering up.

"Ok, Ollie, stay with me ok" Jack said as my eyelids drooped, "I'm going to check you over, ok?"

I nodded my agreement vaguely. Jack held his finger in front of my face and made me follow it with my eyes; even I admit that I was a little fuzzy and slow in following him. The pain in my head was easing a little. He then knelt down and checked over my legs. I held myself up on the metal. My eyelids closed a little more.

"Ollie? Look at me" Jack said, snapping his fingers to get my attention. My eyes reluctantly opened. "You've got a concussion, and your legs are chewed up pretty bad".

Jack looked grim, I focused on his face to keep myself awake. His eyes seemed to be older than him, like they alone carried the weight of the world. They seemed to have some sort of wisdom in them. He ran his hand through his short hair.

"I'm sorry, Ollie, but there's not much I can do for you. Just be careful when you walk and don't fall asleep until I tell you its ok"

"Yes, Doc" I mumbled sleepily, giving him a quick salute.

"Don't fall asleep!" Jack repeated.

Jack glanced back along the beach amidst the wreckage and the smoke. People were stumbling around, cut and bleeding. Further down the beach, a girl with long blonde hair and a big, pregnant belly was bent over double. Jack's eyes whipped me and the girl. He was clearly torn between us, unsure of who needed him more. I forced myself to think properly and to form words.

"Go, Jack. She's pregnant, she needs you, go, Jack" I told him, squinting my eyes as the bright sunlight hurt my head more.

Jack nodded and rushed off down the beach. I pushed myself up so that I was standing on my own two feet without the support of the metal. I steadied myself before wobbling further along the beach, towards Jack and the pregnant girl. I was passing the failing engine again. There was a man standing in front of it, just standing. I wobbled towards him.

"Are you ok?" I called to him as I got closer to the engine and to the man.

Suddenly, the engine's noise got louder, more of a woofing sound as the fans moved faster and faster. Fire erupted from the engine and the propeller fans moved so fast that I couldn't differentiate between them.

"Ollie!" I heard Jack shout, I looked to see him racing back up the beach towards me, "move away from the engine! Move away from the engine, Ollie"

Out of nowhere, a man ran at me, knocking me backwards out of the way of the engine. We fell, my legs giving way beneath me, as the man who'd been standing in front of the engine was sucked into the fan. The fan whirred and cramped, moving back and forth but not managing to spin completely. But then with a squish and a series of awful, blood curdling crack, the fans moved again before finally stopping in an explosion of fire. There were screams all around me before a silence took over. I felt physically sick.

"Thank you" I said quietly to the man who was still looming over me.

I couldn't really move. My legs were beneath the man's and my arms were tucked against my chest. The man's hair fell over his face but I could still see his bright green eyes and tanned skin. He was good looking, I had to admit, but this really wasn't the time.

He stood back up, pulling me back up with him. His clothes were torn, just like everybody else's.

"Thank you" I repeated "I'm Ollie Biers"

He didn't smile exactly, it was more of a smirk, but my belly did that stupid flip flop thing that I hadn't felt in such a long time. It was stupid, I know that, but it made me a little self conscious; I could feel my cheeks flushing pink. I hated how easily I blushed sometimes.

"Sawyer" he replied.

"Ollie, are you ok?" Jack asked me as he reached us.

"Yeah I'm fine, Sawyer here knocked me out of the way" I smiled, although my head was still beating like a drum and my legs were still painful.

"How's the pregnant girl?" I asked. She must have been terrified.

"She's ok; I've left someone with her. I just hope rescue comes quickly" Jack sighed.

I looked around at the chaos that surrounded me: bodies on the ground, fire, water crashing against metal, people crying, people helping one another. I turned back to Sawyer and Jack, focusing my thoughts woozily.

"So do I, Jack" I murmured "so do we all"