Chapter 7

"… and forty people eat a lot of fruits. Now I have to come here if I want to find any," Kate explained.

"Okay," Eko just said before adding: "I hear a waterfall."

A strange sadness washed over Kate. She and Sawyer had had such a good time there. Suddenly, she realised she had never even thanked Eko for bringing Sawyer back.

"Thanks for bringing Sawyer back to us. You saved his life," she said gratefully.

"I did what was right."

"Many people would have left him behind," she said, thinking about Ana-Lucia and probably half of the survivors. Hell, even she would leave him behind right now. "He isn't exactly the most loved person around," she added.

Eko had a knowing smile. But his gaze was serious when he replied:

"He is not as bad as he thinks he is."

It was Kate's turn to grin.

"If only he could realise that."

She paused, but there was something she needed to ask Eko. The Sawyer she thought she knew, the real him, wouldn't have let Michael go find Walt without trying to stop him. Even if he was hurt. Had things really gone on the way he had implied they had?

"He says he left Michael behind, back there. Is it true?"

Eko's intense gaze lingered on her for a moment before he answered.

"Sawyer did not join me and Jin when we went to look for Michael. But… he had a choice to make."

"He was wounded and his only chance was to keep going. I know," she said pensively.

"I do not think that it is exactly the choice he had to make, Kate."

Kate stared at him, puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"Letting Michael go was very upsetting for him. He would not let it show, but I saw it. As much as he wanted to save his friend, there was something more important to him. Something he needed to do, even if it was the last thing he ever did. He was hurt pretty badly and he knew he had to choose."

Kate was stunned. Could she have been the reason Sawyer had to come back? Did he want to tell her why he had left? The thought shook her up a little. So maybe Eko and Sun were right: Sawyer cared for her and wanted to make things right. He had, in a way, when he had told her he hadn't meant to say she wasn't worth staying for. But he had pushed her away again and now she needed to hear him say that he cared.

Stopping her train of thoughts, Eko asked:

"John told me you have found the cockpit."

Kate nodded.

"Yes. Do you want me to take you there? It isn't that far from here," she suggested. Anything to avoid going back to camp.

A twinkle in Eko's eyes told her that he suspected her offer wasn't totally out of generosity, but he agreed nevertheless.

"I would like that."

Locke, Jack and Sawyer had been walking through the jungle for quite a while now, following Michael's trail.

"Hey, Doc, you want to slow down… take a break a minute?" Sawyer asked, stepping on his pride.

His arm was throbbing and his strength was wearing off quickly, reminding him a little too much of the situation he had been in a few days ago.

Locke stopped.

"Good idea."

Sawyer let out a relieved sigh and sat down on a nearby rock. He took out his water bottle and drank a little. His thoughts wandered to Kate; what was she doing right now? Waiting for him? Or maybe wishing the Others could get their way with him?

"Is he still heading north?" Jack suddenly wondered, staring at Locke.

John nodded.

"Yep."

"Do you think he's lost?"

"Doesn't seem to be. The trail is as straight as the interstate. The path of a man who knows where he's going."

Locke stared at Jack for a moment then quietly asked:

"Where are you going, Jack?"

"What?"

"Well, let's say we catch up with him, Michael. What are you going to do?"

Sawyer watched with interest as Jack gave his answer.

"I'm going to bring him back."

'What an arrogant SOB', Sawyer thought. Of course he wasn't really impartial when it came to Jackass, but he found that the guy was starting to take himself a little too seriously. Hiding a smile, he wished Kate could have been there to hear that. Perhaps her liking of the good doctor would have decreased a little?

"What if he doesn't want to come back?" Locke continued.

"I'll talk him into coming back," Jack said firmly, not even going to contemplate the possibility that it might not work.

"This is the second time he's gone after Walt," Locke stated calmly. "He knocked me out; he locked us both up. Something tells me he might be past listening to reason."

Jack was getting a bit irritated at John's disbelief.

"What? You think we should just let him go? Write him off?" he replied coldly.

"Who are we to tell anyone what they can or can't do?" Locke countered.

Jack was silent for a short moment, during which he stared at John with disdain.

"Let's move on," he just said.

Sawyer put his bottle back in his pack, got up and, without a word, they continued their journey.

Kate was getting tired. They had been walking in the heat for several hours now and she was starting to think longingly about her bed. She hadn't had much sleep the previous night. In fact, she hadn't had much rest since Sawyer's return, she realised. She sighed. Could she ever think about something that wouldn't remind her of Sawyer?

"It shouldn't be very far from-" Kate began, but all of a sudden the ground exploded a little way off from them. Kate knew all too well what it meant.

"Eko, run! Run!" she yelled as she began climbing a nearby tree as fast as she could. When she was up high enough, she looked down. To her horror, Eko hadn't moved an inch.

She gasped. It was too late to do anything: the black smoky cloud was right in front of Eko. From her point of view, Kate could see flashes of light inside it. The whole thing barely lasted ten seconds before the 'monster' gathered itself and flew off and into the jungle floor.

Her heart beating like crazy, Kate made her way back to the ground.

"Are you okay?" she asked an immobile Eko.

He smiled.

"Yes, I am."

"Why didn't you run?" she wondered, still in shock.

"I was not afraid of it."

She stared at him. Who was this guy? He eerily reminded her of Locke.

"What was it? Those flashes?" she asked.

But Eko shook his head.

"You will learn in time, Kate."

Before she had time to add anything, they heard something in the distance.

Gunshots.

Sawyer let out a curse as he gathered his strength to take another step. Using some vines to pull themselves up, the hunting party was trying to climb a steep slope.

"Are you sure Mike went this way?" Sawyer asked Locke, panting.

"Why do you ask?"

John replied, giving his hand out to Sawyer to pull him up on flat ground.

"Oh, I don't know, Mr. Clean, I probably would have gone around Mt. Vesuvius."

Locke's answer was another question.

"Why did you pick that name?"

"Ain't it obvious? All you need's an earring and a mop."

Locke chuckled for a few seconds before sobering up.

"No, your name. Why did you pick Sawyer?"

Sawyer heart stopped for a split second. Was Locke saying what he thought he was saying?

"What do you mean, pick?" he countered.

"After the census Hurley gave me the flight manifest. Your name is James, right? James Ford."

Sawyer froze, unused to hearing the name anymore.

"What's it to you?" he replied defensively.

"Just an interesting name to choose, that's all. Who did you get it from?"

Now Sawyer was getting annoyed. Why was Locke suddenly so interested in knowing that?

"Who says I got it from anybody?" he growled, desperate to end the conversation.

His salvation suddenly came in the form of gunfire.

"Michael!" Jack immediately yelled, running towards the location of the noise.

Locke and Sawyer followed until Jack stopped.

"Michael!" he yelled once more.

Locke waved to Jack to be quiet, pointing at something on a tree. A bullet graze mark.

"He's close," Jack stated.

"Yeah, and if he was shooting at someone you'd want them coming back?" John retorted.

"Personally, hell yeah," Sawyer couldn't help but say. Revenge wasn't his primary reason for being part of this expedition, but he couldn't say that he wouldn't like to have a little meeting with the guy who had almost killed him. Plus Jack and Locke didn't have to know he felt guilty about not trying to get Michael back the first time, did they?

"You said these people were two days across the island," Jack intervened.

"Yeah, and they took Cindy less than a mile from our camp."

Locke interrupted them.

"Over here," he said, looking at something on the ground.

"Shell casings. How many?" Jack asked.

"Three. Michael's."

Something didn't add up for Sawyer.

"You boys deaf? I heard at least seven shots. You heard, Daniel Boone, what's your count?"

"Yeah, seven sounds about right."

Sawyer sighed internally. Something had happened to Michael, he knew it. Filled with a sense of urgency, he asked:

"It's getting dark. Which way did Mike go?"

Locke looked down for the trail while Jack stared at Sawyer.

"What?" he wondered, irritated. If Jacko ever left on his own to find something, he swore he'd never try to get him back. Hell, he'd shoot whoever would try to get him back.

"You out here for Michael, or is this pay back for getting shot?

Sawyer took his time before replying. For years, his ability to read people had allowed him to make a living. Right now, he sensed that Jack's motives weren't as selfless as he'd like them to think.

"Why are you out here, Doc?" he growled, taking a step further towards Jack.

The two angrily stared at one another for a moment until they heard a feminine voice ask:

"What are you doing out here, Sawyer?"