Chapter Two

Healing

I woke up the next morning and went to find my luggage. I had to search through piles of suitcases that were stacked high close to over where the dead bodies were scattered. I held my breath as I walked past the bodies and tore through the luggage like there was no tomorrow. I wanted to get away from there as fast as I possibly could. I found my navy blue suitcase fairly quickly and ran away from the dead.

I went back to where I had slept the night before and placed my suitcase there. I changed my shirt into something lighter since it was going to get hot. Then I felt relatively clean. Jack was off doing something. I didn't want to bug him, so I sat down next to a bunch of people whose names I wasn't too sure about. But, since I saw Walt there, and Sayid and I knew them, I felt okay about it. Walt's dad's name was Michael. Sayid sat with us too. Then there was the screaming girl who wore the pink Jacket, Shannon and her brother Boone. They were very different, though. Shannon was tall and blonde while Boone had dark hair and was shorter than her. I had a feeling that they weren't actually related.

The last person was a British guy named Charlie. He had big ears and a really cool accent. I was surprised at all the people here that were gathered together. They started talking about the weird event of last night. "Whatever it was, it wasn't natural" said Michael, waving his hands in the air.

""Does anyone have any sun block?" Charlie asked way off topic, he poked himself in the arm. Shannon tossed hers over. A very big man with a head full of curly hair came over from the direction of the fuselage, looking disgusted.

"I was just looking inside the fuselage. It's pretty grim in there. Do you think we should do something about the – "he looked at me and Walt. "B-O-D-Y-S"

"What are you spelling, man?" asked Michael. "Bodies?"

"B-O-D-I-E-S" spelled Walt, not even looking up.

"Sounds like a good idea" said Sayid thinking.

"No," replied Shannon with disgust. "Let the rescue team deal with it when they get here." She wrinkled her nose.

Jack walked up to our group. "We're going to go out and look for the cockpit, see if we can find a transceiver to send a distress signal to help the rescue team." He said. He gave Boone directions on the wounded and went to walk away.

"I'll come with you" stated Charlie. "I want to help." He brushed the sand off his pants.

"I don't really need any help" said Jack, brushing him off.

"No, it's cool. I really don't feel like standing still" Charlie said still following. Jack nodded. "Excellent"

I went back to my stuff, suddenly exhausted. I hadn't slept at all after we heard the noises in the jungle. Who could sleep after that? I didn't dream at all like I usually did. I woke up later to hear screaming all around me. I crawled out from under the wreckage I was sleeping under and went to see what all the commotion was. There was a large circle of people all around two people. Sayid and some blonde guy I hadn't met yet. I must've been asleep for longer than I had thought since Jack was already back from his trek.

"Break it up!" yelled Jack coming into the middle of the circle.

"Tell everyone what you told me" yelled Sayid. They were pulled away from each other. "Tell them that I crashed the plane. Go on tell them-"

"The shoe fits buddy" yelled the other one. He was strong, you could tell from how he was struggling against the guys holding him back. He was pissed. They yelled back in forth so much that you could hardly tell what they were even saying. Michael came forward with a pair of handcuffs he said were found in the jungle. The man didn't care very much. "This guy was sitting in the back row of business class the whole flight; never got up. And for some reason, just pointing this out, the guy next to him didn't make it." The man said angrily

"Thank you so much for observing my behavior" Sayid stated sarcastically.

"You don't think I saw them pull you out of line before we boarded?" the man asked. Sayid struggled against the men holding him. The other man laughed. "Bring it"

"Stop, Sawyer" yelled Kate, the woman I met the other day. She went with Jack on the search for the cockpit. "We found the transceiver, but it's not working. Can anybody help?"

"Yes, I might be able to" Sayid panted, trying to catch his breath.

"Oh great, let's trust this guy" interjected Sawyer.

"Hey we're all in this together, man. Let's treat each other with a little respect" Hurley replied.

"Shut up, Lardo" Sawyer sneered.

"Hey give it a break" Jack called.

Sawyer grimaced. "Whatever you say doc, you're the hero."

"You guys found the cockpit?" Boone asked stepping towards Jack. "Any survivors?" Jack shook his head sadly. "Becca, Come here for a minute"

"Yeah?" I asked expectantly.

"I don't want you to go playing in the jungle alone or anything ok?" he said

"Why?"

"Just promise"

I nodded. He nodded and smiled then walked off.

I went to see how Sayid was doing with the transceiver. I was praying that he would at least have some luck. I wanted off this damn island. This had to work. I couldn't be stuck here forever. I watched him fiddle with some of the wires in the back of the thing. "Damn" he swore, then looked at me. "Sorry. It's just not going so well so far. I can't reconnect the wires without it short- circuiting. I need extra wires or a chip or something." He said putting it down and looking at me. "I need a cell phone or a-"

I reached into my pocket, smiled, and handed him mine.

"Yes, thank you" he smiled. He put it on the table he was using any hit it as hard as he could with a stick.

I winced. "That was a new phone"

He smiled. "If this works, I'll buy you a new one" Hurley, the big guy from before, walked up and sat down next to me.

"Tsss. Chain-smoking Jackass…" he sighed.

"Some people have problems" Sayid said, taking a quick glance at where Sawyer was sitting.

"Some people have problems? Us. Him." He shook his head. "You're okay. I like you"

"You're okay, too" Sayid smiled.

"Hurley" he said, reaching to shake hands with Sayid. Sayid had his hands on the receiver. Hurley put his down, but Sayid saw and stopped.

"Sayid" He said, shaking his hand.

"Hey" he smiled at me.

"Hey" I said, returning the smile. "I'm Becca"

"Hurley" he nodded. He turned back to Sayid. "How do you know to do all that?"

"I was a military communications officer" he replied.

"Oh yeah? You ever see battle?" Hurley asked.

"I fought in the Gulf War" Sayid said, now looking a little uneasy.

"No way! I got a buddy who fought over there. He was in the 104th airborne. What were you - Air Force … Army?"

Sayid sighed. "The Republican Guard"

Hurley was silent for a second. "Oh" he said. "Do you need anything?" he asked quickly. "I'm just gonna—"

"No" Sayid sighed. Hurley nodded and walked off. I looked at Sayid. "If you want to leave-"

"Why would I want to do that?" I asked, watching him with the transceiver.

"For the same reason Hurley just did" he said slowly, as though I was stupid.

"You mean because of the Republican Guard thing?" I asked. "No"

"Why not?" he asked, now looking at me.

I smiled. "Because I don't even know what that means"

He chuckled and smiled at me. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen" I responded. "I was born when the Gulf War was happening"

"Well then you wouldn't know would you" he thought aloud. "Why don't you go find Jack" he said suddenly. "I need to concentrate"

I nodded, and walked off, trying to find Jack. He was leaning over some guy with a piece of the plane sticking out of him.

He sighed. "Hey Becca, hand me that towel?"

I did so, watching him clear the blood. Kate came up behind me. "How is he? Can you do anything?" she asked.

"Pull out the shrapnel" Jack said.

"But you said yesterday that if you took it out…" Kate said helplessly.

"I know. But that was yesterday." He said. "I was hoping he'd be at a hospital by now. If I leave him like this, he'll be dead within a day. If I open him up … if I can control the bleeding and if he doesn't go into sepsis and if I can find some antibiotics … he might be all right"

Kate stared at the man for a second. "I'm going on a hike" she said.

Jack looked confused. "Sorry?"

"Sayid fixed the transceiver, but we can't use it" she said. "Not from here"

"Kate, wait a minute" Jack said.

"You're the one who said that we had to send out a signal" she sighed frustrated.

"Look, you saw…" he looked at me. "You saw what that thing did to the pilot" he whispered.

"Yeah, I did" Kate admonished. "What makes you think we're any safer here than we are in the jungle?"

"Wait for me. I don't know how long this will be …" Jack said. He looked at the man.

"Sayid said the batteries won't last" Kate said slowly.

Jack sighed. "All right. If you see, or hear, anything …" he stressed. "Anything. Run."

I sat down next to Jack, staring at him a little confused. "We found the cockpit and the pilot he was – he was alive" Jack said, noticing my face. "But then he got –mulled by something; something big." He paused. "He…died. We found him with his flesh completely torn apart in a tree." He said with a disgusted look on his face. He seemed to be picturing it in his head. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"Sorry," he laughed slightly. " I gotta get this out" he sighed. "Do you get squeamish around blood?" he asked. I thought for a second. I shook my head. "Wanna help?"

We gathered supplies like water, towels, strips, gauze, basically anything we could think of. Hurley was helping out too. We laid him flat on the sand, and Hurley was by his head.

"You sure he's out?" Hurley asked, looking at the man uneasily.

Jack nodded. "He's out"

"How do you know he won't wake up when you yank that thing out?" Hurley asked.

Jack shrugged. "I don't"

"Hey, guy, are you awake?" Hurley called into his face. He got no reaction. "Yo, there's a rescue plane! We're saved! Yaaay!" The man still didn't move. "Yeah, he's out. So—what do you want me…"

"Look, it's unlikely that he'll regain consciousness "Jack said. "But the pain might bring him around. And if it does, I need you to hold him down"

"Uh … I'm not so good around blood, man" Hurley looked squeamish.

Jack looked at me, then back at Hurley. "Then don't look."

"Yeah. But … I'm not so good around blood" he repeated.

"Just do the best you can. Okay?" he said. He looked at both of us now. "Don't look"

"Okay" Hurley said.

"Becca, move that way, so you can hand me towels" Jack instructed. I did so. He pulled the shrapnel out, and blood started pouring.

"Dude" Hurley grimaced.

"Hand me those strips" Jack asked Hurley.

"Dude" Hurley repeated, not moving.

"Just hand me the strips, I need to get this bleeding stopped" he said.

Hurley winced and wrinkled his nose. "I don't think I can"

I tried not to look at the wound. "Oh" Jack sighed. I looked, more blood was pouring out, and I thought I saw some guts or something. I looked away.

""Oh" what?" Hurley asked. "What, what's going on, something in there?" He looked down.

"The strips, just hand me the strips" Jack asked again. "Give it to me" Hurley looked sick. "Don't even think about it, Hurley. Don't even think a … Hurley! Hey!" Hurley passed out on top of the man. "Damn it!"

I looked to Jack for instruction. "Gimme the strips and then move Hurley if you can" Jack said. I stood up and tossed him the strips. Then I sort of rolled Hurley out of the way and moved back to Jack.

"Do you think you can hold this?" he asked, motioning at where his hands were.

I kneeled down and stared at the blood before I put my hands on the wound. I tried my best to not push too hard, but not let anymore blood pour out either. Jack grabbed a needle and some thread and went to work. By the time he was done, I was shaking. I had been so scared. Jack leaned back and sighed. "You can let go now" he told me.

I hesitated, but let go. He laughed and patted me on the back. "Okay" he smiled. I just sighed and closed my eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked. I nodded. "You don't say much do you?"

I smiled, and shook my head. We cleaned up and I changed my blood soaked shirt. I still had on a skirt though, I realized. I glanced around. I grabbed my new clothes and made my way to a more secluded spot on the beach. I undressed slowly, and left my bra and panties on. I didn't want to be caught naked. I dived into the water, letting it run over me. It was really cold, but at this point, I didn't really mind. It even felt nice really.

I rinsed my hair and just sort of waded for awhile. When I felt clean, I went back to shore and just stood, drying in the sun. I dressed in jeans and green t-shirt that hugged some non-existent curves. I went back to Jack and saw him with the man still. "How is he?" I asked.

"Alright" he said. The man suddenly woke up. "No" Jack chided, pushing him back down. If he moved too much he could rip his stitches.

"Where is she?" the man asked, ignoring Jack's protests.

Jack looked confused. "Who?" Then the man collapsed and went back into lala land.

I looked to Jack. I gave him a confused look.

"He has a fever" he remarked. "Probably hallucinating"

I sat down and so did Jack. We just stared at the ocean for awhile.

The man inside the tent moved around. "Don't trust her. She's dangerous" he mumbled. He was trying to move again.

"Hold still" Jack said, holding him down.

"No, she's dangerous" he fought. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him.

"Don't let her near you" he grumbled, looking right at me. "She'll kill you"

I gasped, and tried to pull away. He was strong for a guy who had shrapnel hanging out of his stomach a few seconds ago. He fell asleep again and I was able to slip my hand out of his fist. I rubbed my hurt hand. My heart was still beating a mile a minute. I calmed down and looked at Jack. "I'm okay" I said softly.

"Yeah" he said, staring at me. "Why don't you go get some water?"

"Okay" I said, still holding my wrist and walking off. I took a long gulp of water and walked around for about a twenty minutes before I went back. I needed some air. By the time I got back, he was up again.

"You should try not to move, man" Jack coaxed.

"Have to find her" he mumbled. "Have to bring her back" He tried to sit up again, but Jack just kept shoving him back down.

"Yeah, you keep saying that" Jack sighed, frustrated. "And every time I ask you who you have to bring back you pass out on me again. Since your fever's running pretty high, I'm guessing you have no idea who you're talking about." I smiled and handed him some water.

"My cuffs, my handcuffs" he said softly. "Where are my cuffs?"

"What?" Jack asked, looking to me, confused. I shrugged.

"My Jacket pocket" he said.

Jack shook his head. "I don't …"

The man pointed at his coat nearby. "Jacket pocket" he insisted.

"Okay" Jack said, trying to calm him down. He went to the coat and got out a folded piece of paper.

"Dangerous" he choked out. "She's dangerous" he said.

Jack looked down at the paper. His eyebrows shot up and I could tell it was someone he knew. I leaned over to see who it was. It took me a minute to figure out where I knew that face from. The face, with freckles and long dark hair, was Kate.