The next morning I've found a large jumble of guavas on the ground. Boone is with me and we sort through them, picking out the good ones from the spoiled.
"So, you know I was in the army. You know I'm a medic. What about you? What did you do?" I ask, ignoring the fact that I used the past tense.
"I run a business,"
"Really? What kind? A lifeguard training company?" I joke.
He laughs. "No, it's a wedding company. My mom's, actually."
"Does Shannon work at the company too?"
"No. Shannon is actually my step-sister. Her dad married my mom when we were little. She and my mom don't really get along."
"Oh, that sucks. I don't—," I'm cut off by a distant cry.
"Help! Somebody help!"
We're both on our feet and out in the ocean, we see a woman struggling against the tide. Boone immediately kicks off his shoes and throws me his tee shirt and the next thing I know, he's in the water swimming after her. I drop his shirt and run to the shore watching him swim to the woman. Soon, though, I can't see him and not long after her cries stop and she disappears as well. I can see another person swimming out to their rescue. It's Jack and he dives under water and comes back up with Boone. He starts swimming him back, and I run the length of the shore, just in time to meet them there. Charlie helps me grab Boone, but as soon as we have him, Jack is making his way back into the ocean.
"Jack?" Kate yells.
"There's someone else still out there," and he dives back into the water.
Charlie and I set Boone on the ground. He's coughing up water, but otherwise he seems okay. I watch as Jack gets deeper and deeper into the ocean. The woman has disappeared completely. Jack keeps diving and resurfacing. Eventually he makes his way back to the shore. He's exhausted. He lands on his knees in the wet sand and says "She's gone."
I go grab one of the guavas and my water bottle. Boone is sitting in the sand, staring into the ocean. I sit down beside him. "It's not your fault," I say in my most comforting voice. I'm really bad at this kind of stuff, but Boone is the only true friend I've made since the crash. "You should drink some water. You swallowed a lot of the ocean." He grabs the bottle from me, but doesn't drink any. I pull out the knife I got from Locke yesterday and start slicing up the guava. I offer him a piece, but he doesn't take it. Eventually though, he drinks the water, finishing the bottle.
He sets the bottle down beside me, stands and says, "I'm gonna go grab a tee shirt," and walks off, leaving me with my guava.
Charlie is here and he asks "Is there any water in that?" he points to my bottle.
I grab it and shake. "Nope, all gone."
"Great," and he starts heading up the beach. I get up and follow him.
"What's up?"
"Umm, can you keep a secret?"
"Yeah, sure I guess."
He takes me over to Jack's infirmary. Behind it, Jack and Hurley are looking at a suitcase full of water bottles. "That's it?" Jack asks.
"That's it," confirms Charlie.
"Wait," I say. "This is all the water we have left at camp? How many bottles is that?"
Charlie answers with "Eighteen."
Hurley enters the conversation and says "People just kind of took what they needed because we were supposed to be rescued, but we weren't"
"Even if we divvied it up, split the bottles in half it wouldn't be enough for forty-seven people." Charlie says.
"Forty-six," Jack says solemnly. "There's forty-six of us now."
"People will freak out if they find out this is all we have left," I say.
"The boar's running low until we can catch another one," says Charlie. "What should we tell them?"
"I don't know," says Jack.
Hurley and Charlie follow Jack as he starts to walk away. Hurley makes suggestion on how to find water. Charlie asks what he should do with the remaining water. Jack just responds with, "I don't know."
"Don't tell the others we're running low," Charlie says. "That way you can ration it. Then you can decide what-," Jack cuts him off.
"I'm not deciding anything!" he says, frustrated, looking at something in the distance.
He's walking off and I can see Boone walking up to him. He look furious and I run over. "Why didn't you leave me? Hey, I'm talking to you." He yells at Jack.
"Not now, man," Jack says, trying to shove him off, still looking in the distance.
"I could have made it back," Boone says to him. "What? Not going to answer me? I told you to leave me!"
"You were drowning."
"You should've saved her."
"But I didn't save her," says Jack. "And neither did you." He starts walking out to where he's looking, but Boone follow him.
"You think you're all noble and heroic for coming after me?" Boone yells. "I was fine! You're not the only one who knows what to do around here, you know that? I run a business! Who appointed you our savior, huh? What gives you the right—look at me. Hey, I'm talking to you.
Jack starts running out into the jungle. Whatever he saw out there I didn't see, but Boone is pissed that Jack basically ignored him.
"What the hell was that?" I say.
"I don't know, he just ignored me!"
"No, I meant with you! You weren't fine, Boone. You almost drowned! You're lucky Jack was there!"
"Of course, you'd take his side!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Everyone knows you're Jack's little lapdog, doing whatever he tells you—," I slapped him across the face. I am not Jack's lapdog, and saying that was one step too far. He stands there, dumbfounded holding his cheek. I storm off back to my tent.
I need to blow off some steam. Everybody has started to notice the lack of water. I grab a handful of rocks and start chucking them into the ocean. Stupid ocean. That woman must have gotten caught in a riptide. I throw another rock as hard as I can. A few minutes later Walt runs up to me, looking scared.
"Hey, Tia! That pregnant lady fell down!"
He's pointing to Charlie and Michael carrying Claire, whose hand was being held by Kate. Her eyes were closed. I ran in their direction.
"What happened?" I ask when I reach them.
"She just dropped," said Charlie, who was in a panic.
"It must be the heat," Kate says.
"Is she breathing?" I ask.
"Yeah, I think," answers Michael.
"Come on. Let's get her inside," and I hold open the flap of the infirmary.
Charlie and Kate start prompting her to wake up. When she stirs I get down by her side.
"Claire, its Tia. We met the other day. Can you hear me?"
"What?" she stirs.
"You passed out. Just take it easy, okay?" I turn to Charlie. "She needs water."
He gets up and goes for the hidden suitcase.
"Claire, you're dehydrated. We're getting you some water. Don't worry its coming," I touch her stomach. I can feel the baby move, which is a good sign.
"What the—," Charlie exclaims. "The water's gone. Someone stole it."
I'm with Kate, Sayid, and Locke on the beach. Kate and I filled the two men in on what happened. Kate trusts Sayid completely and Locke seems to be our best chance at finding fresh water in the jungle.
"Where is the doctor?" Locke asks.
"I don't know," I say. "He ran into the jungle about an hour ago. No one can find him."
"Is this the last of the camp's water supply?" asks Sayid, referring to the missing bottles.
"Yeah," I answer.
"Keeping it all in one place, foolish," he criticizes.
"I can go into the jungle," Kate offers. "Try to find some fresh water."
"You're not going alone," Sayid says.
Locke cuts in, "When the others find out the water's gone it's going to get ugly. And when they find out that someone pinched it, it's going to get uglier. I'll go. Camp needs you three here, especially you, Tia, with the doctor gone. And besides, I know where to look."
Locke goes to get ready to leave. Sayid, Kate, and I stand there, silently agreeing with his plan. Just as we're about to disperse Hurley runs up to us.
"Uh, the Chinese people have water," he says, pointing back to camp with his thumb.
We follow Hurley to the couple. They're a husband and wife, and they're Korean, not Chinese. They don't speak English, but that doesn't stop Sayid from trying.
"Where did you get this?" he asks, pausing for the wife to answer. When she doesn't he repeats the question, "Where did you get this?" Impatient, he starts to yell "Where! Did! You!—,"
Kate cuts him off "She doesn't understand you."
"She understands me," he insists. "Did you steal this water?"
She answers in Korean but before she can finish her sentence, her husband is there. He starts yelling at her and Kate tries to calm him down.
"Just take it easy, alright. We just want to talk, alright? This had water in it. Is it yours? Who gave you this?"
The Korean man points up the beach. His finger targets Sawyer, who's sitting, smoking a cigarette. Kate makes a move to approach him but Sayid holds him back. So Sawyer stole the water. Fine, that makes sense. But I decide to let Kate and Sayid deal with it.
An hour later. I decide to go check on Claire. Charlie gave her the last of the water earlier, but it wasn't a lot. As I make my way to the infirmary, I see Boone laying on the ground, his face in the sand with Charlie standing above him. I run up the hill.
"Here's your thief," he says to me. I'm stunned. No words come out. Why would Boone take the water? Was he trying to stick it to Jack? He couldn't possibly be so stupid.
"Where'd he hide it?" Michael asks.
"I don't know," Charlie continues. "This wanker had three bottles on him. Why'd you do it, pretty boy, eh?"
Boone answers "It was just sitting in—it was just sitting in the tent, and Jack just took off."
"Claire could've died!" Charlie yells.
"I tried to give her some sooner, but it just got out of hand. No one would have understood."
"No, you're right," I say. "I don't understand."
"Someone had to take responsibility for it. It would have never lasted!" he says to me. "Please, Tia, you have to believe me. I was just trying to help!"
"Oh shut up!" Charlie says, and pushes him. Sayid steps in and holds him back. It's about to turn into a brawl, when…
"Leave him alone!" Everyone turns to the voice. It's Jack. He's pale and looks exhausted. "It's been six days," he continues. "And we're all still waiting. Waiting for someone to come. But what if they don't? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning just going for a swim and he tried to save her, and now you're about to crucify him? We can't do this. Everyman for himself is not going to work. It's time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we're going to survive here. Now, I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley. I'll take a group in at first light. If you don't want to go come then find another way to contribute. Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now. And god knows how long we're going to be here. But if we can't live together, we're going to die alone."
Everyone calms down because they realize Jack's right. Everyone disperses as they hand out the last of the water Boone took and the few bottles Jack and Locke brought back with them. I walk over to Boone.
"Why'd you do it? Why'd you take the water?"
"Jack left. Without someone in charge I thought I could take what was left and try to give it out evenly without a fight breaking loose. But then Claire got sick and it all got out of hand. After that thing in the water this morning I just felt useless. I wanted to help,"
I understand what he's saying and what he wanted to do, despite his awful approach. I look at him and say, "I'm going to get some water," and I make my way over to Locke.
"I'm sorry for what I said earlier," he calls to me. I keep walking.
Dusk is falling as I grab my bottle share from Locke, who smiles as he hands it over. I look over my shoulder and see Boone, staring out into the ocean again. I walk back to him.
Just before I get there Sawyer walks up to him and asks "How does it feel?"
"How does what feel?"
"Taking my place at the top of everyone's Most Hated list? Sucks, don't it?" and he walks away.
I sit down next to Boone. "I don't hate you," I say. He grins and we share the last of my water as we watch the sun set.
