Chapter 4

Charlie and Jack had been hiking in the dark for a good forty-five minutes before Charlie spoke up. "Jack, I want to find her too, but don't you think we should wait for morning? It's too dark." Charlie really did want to find Kate, he liked her a lot. She and Claire had slowly been becoming really close, and he could see how much Claire appreciated the support of another female on the island.

Jack nodded, knowing Charlie was right. They would never be able to find Kate this late at night. "This looks like a good enough place to stay the night. We'll search first thing in the morning." Despite his anger towards Kate, he didn't want her to get hurt. They silently set up their things for the night and fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning, the two men were awoken to a downpour of rain suddenly soaking them to the bone. Jack swore. "We'll never find her trail in this!"

"Don't worry, man," Charlie tried to reassure him. "We'll find her. Let's just keep looking around for fruit trees, maybe we'll have more luck."

Dejected, Jack could only nod. The chances of finding her now were quickly decreasing, and he had no idea where any fruit trees would be. But they had to keep some sort of hope, so he gave Charlie a tight smile. "Yeah, maybe."

They hadn't even walked for a half hour before Jack saw what could only be described as an orchard of fruit trees. Squinting, he thought he could make out some bags near one of the tree trunks. "There!" he yelled, running over. He dropped to his knees in the mud, the rain pouring down his face, and opened the bags, only to find mangos. "It's Kate's," he declared. She had obviously been there, but where was she? Charlie walked around the area a bit, noticing it looked a bit destroyed.

"Jack, either there was a really bad storm that we slept through, or something's been through here." Jack looked up towards Charlie, immediately noticing what the ex-rock star was talking about. His heart dropped and he immediately thought of what they had been chased by the first day on the island.

"Let's keep looking, she can't be too far behind," Charlie suggested. Jack grabbed Kate's things as they continued their search, each one lost in their own thoughts of what they would find if they found Kate.

Kate slowly opened her eyes only to have to close them to prevent water from going in them. She took a shallow breath in, quickly realizing that it hurt to breathe. She tried to lift her head, immediately regretting that attempt as pain shot through her entire head. Slowly, she raised her right hand up, hissing in agony as she did so. Trying to take a deeper breath, she tried to push through the pain. She brought her hand to her head and drew it back, noticing the blood running down her arm.

It's okay, Kate, head wounds always bleed a lot, she reminded herself. The pain all over her body was excruciating and she could barely keep her eyes open. She remembered all too well what had caused her this pain. Maybe it thought it killed me, she thought almost hopefully. She tried to sit up to figure out where she ended up and the moment she did so, she cried out in pain. "Oh God," she managed to get out. She looked down at her torso and gasped. Her right side had been badly torn by the monster and she was bleeding profusely. "Oh, God," she whispered. What the hell was she going to do now?

The moment Charlie and Jack heard the cry, they looked at each other before taking off running to their left. They stopped short and looked down the ditch below them. It wasn't extremely deep, maybe only twenty feet below them, but it was filled with jagged rocks. At the very bottom of the ditch was bleeding and torn Kate.

"Kate!" Jack screamed. She lifted her eyes upwards, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Jack?" she whispered. No, she was definitely imaging things. Jack could barely stand her, he wouldn't be here looking for her. She must have hit her head pretty hard if she was imagining Jack rescuing her.

"Kate, don't move, we'll be down in a minute!" He started climbing down, Charlie quickly following, towards where Kate was. Luckily for them, the sides of the ditch weren't steep, but rain wasn't helping them in the least. The moment Jack touched ground, he darted to Kate's side, Charlie following seconds later.

"Jack," she said softly, almost whispering. He put his hand on the side of her face, caressing her cheek. "Shh, don't talk. I'm just going to take a look at you and see how bad you're hurt." She nodded her head slightly, thankful he was there and was real. His eyes quickly glanced over her injuries. He quickly noted a concussion, a deep laceration on the back of her head, many cuts and bruises over her arms, which was the only skin visible to him, and the most noticeable, deep gauges in her side. Her once orange shirt was soaked with deep red blood, and the pool of it was quickly spreading. He unbuttoned his over- shirt and took it off, leaving only his fitted dark t-shirt on. He pressed it to her side, attempting to stop the bleeding. She gasped in pain, tears welling up in her eyes. Kate tried to blink them back, wanting to be strong and not wanting him to see her fall apart, but it was useless. His heart broke, seeing her in so much pain.

"It's okay Kate," he said evenly, "you're going to be okay." He looked down at her, avoiding her eyes. He didn't want her to see how worried he was, how scared he was of losing her. He didn't want her to see how much he cared. With no real medical supplies, he was hoping he wasn't lying to her. He raked his extra hand over his dark hair, closed his eyes, and silently counted to five.

Jack opened his eyes and looked at Kate. There was a very good chance he could lose her if he didn't act fast. Between her wounds getting infected, her blood loss, and the risk of that thing coming back, he knew he had to get her back to camp as quickly as possible. He stomach churned at the thought of having to move her all the way back to their camp, but knowing it was necessary. "Kate," he started, "we need to get you back. I'm going to have to carry you, so hold on to my neck." She whimpered in response, not moving closer to him, but also not backing away. "We need to do this. If we don't go now, you… We need to go," he pushed. He turned to Charlie. "I need you to carry our stuff while I carry her." The younger man nodded in response, having stayed silent ever since they found Kate. He had never seen to much blood, and the thought of it coming from his friend made him sick to his stomach.

Jack stood and tentatively bent down to pick Kate up. She immediately stiffened in his arms and neither was sure if it was from her injuries or because of their close proximity. As Jack started to hike back up, Kate faded in and out of consciousness, eventually losing her fight to stay awake.

The hike back to the camp had been tiresome and quiet. No one spoke unless it was necessary and they arrived by midday. Jack brought Kate to a small, private cave he has designated his new home and laid her down on some blankets. She shivered slightly at the loss of his warmth and slowly opened her eyes, grimacing as the pain returned.

"I'm going to get you some pain killers, try not to move too much." He walked over to the back of his cave and dug through some luggage until he found what he was looking for. Retrieving a bottle of water from his back pack, he put the pills up to her mouth and followed them with water. She took a sip and swallowed, then looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm going to have to sew your side up once the medicine starts to kick in. It's going to hurt…" He knew it would because he remembered what it was like for him when she stitched up his side the first time they met, and she would never forget what it was like to fix him. Kate nodded, knowing it was necessary, and completely unwilling to show him her fear. The space between them was tense and bitter, neither wanting to do anything overly civil.

He gathered his supplies swiftly, as they were always within reach in case of emergencies. He attempted to sterilize the needle to the best of his ability, and threaded it. He knew why doctors were never supposed to treat family or friends, and what he was feeling was the exact reason for it. It took all of his effort for him to distance himself from the situation at hand and to keep all emotion out of his voice. "You'll have to take your shirt off. Do you need help?" She shook her head negatively in response and he stood staring at his hands while she undressed and lay back down. He knelt by her side and told her calmly, "No matter how much this hurts, you need to stay as still as possible. Do you want someone in here with you to help keep you calm?" Once again, she shook her head no, just wanting to get it over with. "Okay. I'm going to start now."

Nothing could have prepared Kate for what she was about to experience. She felt everything as the needle pierced her skin in and out, as the thread was dragged through her, closing the wound. She bit her lip to keep from calling out but it did nothing to muffle her cries of pain. Hot salty tears streamed down her red face and her fists clenched the edges of the blanket beneath her. She tried to think of anything calming- the ocean, soft sand under her toes, even how much better she would feel once Jack was finished- but nothing worked. She squeezed her eyes shut and just waited for it to be over.