Chapter 21: Alter The Ending

(2x05)

Mia never thought she'd actually miss being in that dugout; but being inside this weird bunker wasn't exactly that much better. In some aspects, it was worse. There was no sunlight, no fresh air, instead of dirt underneath her there was cold, hard cement, and there was very limited food – not that that was anything new.

Stifling a yawn, Mia turned her attention to Sawyer, who hadn't taken his hand off of his shoulder since they'd been shepherded into this hatch. "Lemme look." She demanded, not in the mood to play coy.

"I don't need you telling me how bad it is." Sawyer grumbled, shifting slightly so she could reach his arm.

"Then I won't say anything." Mia replied sternly, tentatively peeling away a layer of the makeshift bandage. She felt a sickening feeling in her stomach at what she saw, and was glad it was so dim in this bunker that Sawyer couldn't see it. His wound was turning purple. And not from bruising; from infection. That meant the infection could spread into his bloodstream, and if that happened he would be in serious, serious trouble. Letting out a very quiet breath, she placed the bandage back in position.

"What's my prognosis, Doc?" He smirked at her.

"Basic case of Jack-assery." She said in her normal voice. "Unfortunately; no cure for that."

"So I've heard." Sawyer mumbled. "Hey," He nodded up to where Ana, Eko, Libby and Bernard were clustered together in deep conversation, glancing at their prisoners every few moments. "What do you think they're talking 'bout?"

Mia shrugged. "Beats me."

"I think they're going to eat us." Sawyer deadpanned.

Ana-Lucia parted from the group and approached Sawyer, Michael, Jin and Mia. "All right, all of you get the hell up. We're moving out."

"Moving out where?" Michael asked.

"You're going to help us get food and water." Ana replied matter-of-factly.

"It is killing him to just sit there," Mia said; pointing to Sawyer and rising to her feet. "He'll be no help searching for anything."

Ana really did not like being challenged. "Look, lady," She said through gritted teeth. "I dunno how your people do things, but over here, we do things together."

"So do we." Mia countered. "But we also have the sense to recognize when someone injured needs to rest."

Ana didn't seem concerned. "He's going to have to do it because we have a long walk ahead of us?"

Michael positioned himself beside Mia. "A long walk where?"

Ana gave him what could almost pass for a hopeful look. "Back to where you came from." She pointed towards the entrance which apparently doubled as an exit. "Move. Now."

Michael helped Mia get Sawyer to his feet, and Jin kept close to his friends as they all followed Ana and her crew out of her bunker into the sunlight. Ana's cry of "all clear!" could be heard ahead of them and soon they were all back in the shade and fresh air of the jungle.

"Hey M," Sawyer whispered gruffly into Mia's ear. "I think we ought to stage a prison break here."

"Are you crazy?" Mia whispered back. "You can't move."

"Yeah, and I want to figure out what the hell's going on," Michael added quietly. "Before I make any decisions about anything."

Mia nodded in agreement with him. "I'm with Michael; we gotta figure out what's going on here before we stage any sort of breakout."

"Okay people, listen up!" Ana commanded from the head of the group. "We need to gather as much food and water as we can. You travel in pairs. You move as fast as you can. Don't make any noise."

Michael broke out in front of the group. "Maybe you could just take a minute to explain us what the hell is going on over here that's got you all so on edge."

"You know what?" Ana gave him a cold smile. "That's a great idea; maybe we can swap stories on the road."

"I'm going to go scout before we move." Eko volunteered; to which Ana nodded and told Cindy to go with him. "Libby, go see what fruit you can gather." She jutted her chin towards Michael. "Take him with you."

"His name is Michael." Libby said politely.

Ana's face seemed to soften, after all Libby was one of her people. "Yeah, right, Michael."

"Wait," Mia grabbed his forearm and held him back.

"I'll be okay," He assured her. "Don't worry."

"Bernard and I will gather the fish." Ana continued.

Jin, thrilled to hear a word he understood pointed to himself. "Fish." He said firmly.

"The man knows how to fish." Sawyer informed Ana. "I'd take him with you if I were you."

Ana seemed annoyed, but didn't want to appear a foolish leader when she had good resources at her disposal. "Fine," She waved at Jin to follow her. "He comes with us, too."

"What about me?" Mia asked.

Ana slowly turned around to her, "You're so concerned about your boyfriend there," She pointed to Sawyer. "You just volunteered to play nursemaid. You wait here 'til we get back," She swivelled to make sure Mia could see her gun sticking out of her jeans.

Huffing a rude insult under her breath, Mia plonked herself down next to Sawyer and just stared after Ana as she retreated into the jungle.

"She needs to be slapped." Sawyer grumbled, leaning back awkwardly against a tree trunk.

"Yeah, maybe," Mia was glancing around the space out the front of the bunker entrance. There were some limited supplies sitting around, including a canteen of water. "Here, I have to redress your arm."

Sawyer groaned loudly. "M, you don't have to play nursemaid." He whined.

"Shut up and give me your arm." Mia didn't have any extra clothing in her shoulder bag, or anything to bandage up the wound, and she certainly wasn't going to ask Ana for any. Hoping that maybe Libby would come back first, Mia decided that maybe some fresh air might help Sawyer's wound. "Do you want something to bite down on?" She asked him as she reached for his bandage.

Sawyer smirked. "What are you offering?"

"I'll take that as a 'no'." She smiled and carefully untied her t-shirt-made-bandage. Even though he didn't make a sound, Sawyer's pain was written all over his face. He bit his lip, his face pinched in and tightened as Mia tried to touch him as little as possible. When the bandage was off, she unscrewed the lid of the canteen (giving it a sniff to make sure it was just water, it smelled like sea-water), and then poured it over Sawyer's gunshot wound.

"DAMMIT!" Sawyer growled loudly through gritted teeth. "Sonuvabitch!"

"Sorry," Mia said, carefully pouring more water onto the wound. "It's sea water, it's got salt in it so it'll sting a little; but that's good. Stinging means its killing the infection."

"God, just knock me out, why don't you?" Sawyer heaved huge, heavy breaths and tried to deal with the pain.

"If it comes to that, I will." She smiled, tossing the germy, damp bandage aside. It could just rot in the jungle for all she cared.

"Are you ok?"

"Fine." Mia answered quickly, thinking he was just trying to take his mind of the agony he was experiencing.

"No, I mean your leg," He said. "And your head, your side..."

"Superficial wounds, baby," She said with a wink. "It'll take more than that to take me down."

A gentle rustling through the nearby shrubs alerted Mia and made her jump to her feet; but she needn't have worried. It was just Eko, returning from his scouting mission. "Did you find anything?" She asked.

"No." He replied. "It should be safe for us to travel when the others return."

If it wasn't Libby, Eko might be the next best person to ask. Mia still wasn't sure what to make of him; but he'd apologized for hitting Sawyer, so maybe she would be open to helping her. "Hey, ah, do you have anything I could use to bandage his arm?" She nodded back at Sawyer. "Doesn't matter what as long as its relatively clean..."

Eko didn't say anything; he just retreated into the bunker.

"...or do nothing." Mia finished, sighing, looking back at a pathetic and miserable looking Sawyer. "Is there anything I can do?" She muttered uselessly, ambling back over to him and kneeling before him.

Sawyer laughed dryly and shook his head. "You're doin' just fine, Mayday." He panted.

"Wanna look down my top?" She asked with a cheeky grin.

Sawyer laughed, but it turned into a heavy cough. "Maybe later." He wheezed, closing his eyes and leaning back against the tree trunk behind him.

The creaking of the bunker door opening made Mia turn around. Eko was approaching her with a bottle in one hand and a crisp, white cotton cloth in the other. "Will these do? It's all we have left of medical supplies. Since we are leaving; you should use them."

Mia found herself smiling as she took the cloth and bottle, which she noticed was labelled peroxide. "Thank you." She nodded. "Very much."

Eko just nodded and left her alone with Sawyer, taking his large walking stick and sitting on a flat rock across the clearing, scribbling something onto the branch with the sharp edge of a rock.

"Now I can play nursemaid." Mia said to Sawyer, whose eyes were still closed. "Hey," She reached out and grabbed his shoulder, shaking him awake. "You ok?"

"Can't a man sleep?" He said groggily.

"No, not you. Not when you're hurt." Mia scowled, uncapping the bottle of peroxide. "Now this? This is going to hurt. A lot." She tipped the liquid over his skin. His whole body tensed up as he unsuccessfully tried to stifle a scream of pain through a clenched jaw. Mia then poured the last few drops of peroxide over her hands and ripped the cotton cloth into two shreds. The first she tied firmly around the wound, and the second she lengthened so it covered the wound and also more of his bicep, to keep the skin from tearing. She apologized when she was finished, cleaning her hands with what remained for the sea-water in the canteen.

"It's all good, Mia," Sawyer said through ragged, short breaths. "Thanks."

Mia sighed and leant back on her arms, stretching in the warm sun. "Why don't they head inland to look for fruit?" She wondered aloud; remembering Michael and Libby had head the way of the coast. "That's where we found food."

"We do not go that way." Eko spoke up suddenly, not taking his eyes from his scribing into his walking stick.

"How come?" Mia asked.

"Because that is where They come from." He said darkly.

"They?" Mia repeated. "The Others?"

"Others?" Eko looked up at her and narrowed his eyes.

"There was a guy who pretended to be one of us at our camp," Mia informed him. "His name was Ethan. He was one of Them. He kidnapped a pregnant friend of mine and almost killed the man who was with her."

"Are they alright?"

"Yes, now they are." Mia said. "But Ethan's dead. He was sent to take Claire away, sent by The Others."

"These... Others." Eko repeated. "They are the ones your friend believes took his son?"

Mia nodded.

"We had two children with us." Eko suddenly revealed. "A brother and sister." He stared at a spot on the ground for a few seconds, and then went back to scratching into his stick. "They were taken as well."

Mia didn't push the conversation; she'd gotten more out of him than she'd intended to. Kidnapping a pregnant girl, children... was there a connection?"

"What's all this talk?" Ana's voice cut in sharply through the jungle as she, Bernard, Cindy and Jin arrived with armfuls of fish.

"We can talk if we want." Mia said gruffly. "You can't control us all the time."

Ana just sneered and dumped the fish she was carrying on the ground, Bernard, Cindy and Jin followed suit, and then Jin knelt down and began to sort through them. Bernard seemed to think this was a good idea, and knelt down to help him.

Ana noticed the empty peroxide bottle and Sawyer's freshly bandaged arm. "Where'd you get that stuff?" She accused Mia. "You stealing from us?"

Mia climbed up to her feet. "Yes, I stole it. My whole mission was to come over here, steal a half-empty bottle of cheap peroxide and an old rag to try and fix my husband's arm. Arrest me."

"I gave them to her, Ana." Eko admitted. "We were going to leave them behind."

Ana didn't seem to want to bother arguing; but she obviously did not like the way Mia had spoken to her. "Next time; you ask, alright?"

Not bothering to tell the woman that she had asked Eko, Mia just nodded and turned her back on her. She'd dealt with tough chicks like Ana before; the only way to get through it was to play along; let them think they were in control, even if it infuriated Mia to do so.

Eko seemed to be more level headed than Ana, and when she went to oversee the fish sorting, he came over to Mia and handed her a gruff looking hunting knife. "For your protection when we travel." He said, offering the handle to her first.

Mia smiled. "Thank you." She said, taking the knife and sliding it into the side of her belt. She was about to ask him if he had any other weaponry when Libby came running into the clearing looking bewildered.

Ana was first on her feet. "Libby, what's wrong?"

"It's Michael," Libby panted. "He just left."

Overhearing, Mia strode over to her. "What?"

Libby looked frantic. "He just said something and he went into the jungle." Her eyes were round and apologetic. "He's gone."

Ana looked down at Bernard and Cindy. "Pack up what you can; we're leaving now."

"What do you mean, we're leaving?"

"Your buddy ran off into the jungle." Ana reminded her.

"Yeah, I know, but we stay together. That's what you said; we stick together as a group." Mia said smugly. "We're not going anywhere without Michael."

"Mia!" Jin suddenly grabbed her hands, and spoke to her in frantic Korean, gesturing the jungle with both of his hands.

"What's he trying to say?" Bernard asked, gently pulling on Mia's elbow. "What's he saying?"

"Walt!" Jin cried. "Walt!"

Mia sighed in realization. Of course… "He went after his boy." Mia said, turning to Libby. "Did you say anything to him that would make him run off?"

"I told him why we don't go further into the island; because that's where the other people come from; the ones who took our group…"

"They're the ones who took Michael's son – Walt." Mia told her suddenly worried. Michael was out there alone, without a weapon, more than likely running into enemy territory. Her army instincts began to kick in. She was a reconnaissance expert; bring people back safely. And right now 'people' meant 'Michael'. "We have to go after him."

"We're moving out now." Ana spoke as if she hadn't heard Mia. "Cindy, get the water. Libby, can you carry the radio?"

Sawyer had managed to heave himself up to his feet. "Wait, you have a radio? Does it work? Can you use it?"

"Wow, what a great idea!" Ana snapped in heavy sarcasm. She eyed him up and down; focusing on his wound. "You going to slow us down?"

"No!" Jin bellowed. "Michael."

"We're leaving before he can tell Them where we are."

"No, we're not going anywhere without Michael." Mia stood beside Jin. "It's too dangerous. You might be okay with losing people, but I'm not.

"M," Sawyer called to her, making her turn around. "What are we supposed to do, wait for him? He ain't coming back without his kid." His voice was almost desperate. "We gotta get back to our people… with or without Mike."

"If you say it's 'every man for himself', Sawyer, I am going to kick you." Mia hissed.

"It's the truth, sweetheart," Sawyer said gravely. "Mike's gotta worry about Mike, and I've gotta worry about me." he gestured to his injured arm.

"Well, I'm worrying about you, too." Mia countered. "And now I'm worried about Mike. But the difference is, Mike's alone. You're not."

Sawyer narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't want you out there, we don't know who's waiting for-"

"Exactly." Mia felt like they were on the same page; but still arguing. "We don't know who's out there. Which is why I have to find Mike and bring him back."

"You have to find him?" Sawyer repeated. "Why you?"

"Because Jin can't speak English, and I know how to track, I can keep us from getting lost."

"I'm coming with you."

"You can't." Mia turned to Libby. "He should be fine, just don't let him run or slip or do anything to pull at his wound." Libby nodded, ignoring the sneer Ana was giving Mia.

"I don't need no baby-sitter!" Sawyer snapped, grabbing Mia by the elbow.

Mia pressed her lips together in a firm line. "I know that." She said tersely. "I just don't wanna see you on Death's door when I get back."

"If you're going, go!" Ana suddenly snapped. "We're leaving. Now!"

Jin moved to go into the jungle, but Eko stopped him. "Wait, please," The large man said, but he was stopped short when Jin's anger seemed to boil over and he just snapped; socking a fist into Eko's jaw. Eko retaliated by headbutting Jin, sending him straight into the dirt.

"Hey!" Mia cried, helping Jin to his feet.

"You are going the wrong way." Eko said to Mia pointing to the East, opposite to the direction Jin was headed. "That's where your friend was going. Towards Them." He handed Jin a stick, about half the size of the one he was cutting into earlier, and told him it was a weapon.

"What are you doing?" For the first time, Ana looked worried. Something wasn't going to her plan, and she didn't like it.

"I'm going to help them find their friend." Eko said calmly.

Ana-Lucia's face grew stony and blank. "We can't wait for you." She said in a low tone of voice.

"I don't expect you to." Eko said, almost apologetically. Then he turned, and headed into the jungle. Jin nodded at Sawyer, and then followed Eko, and Mia was right behind him.

"Wait, Mia, wait," Sawyer pulled her back again. "I… this ain't a good idea."

Mia sighed. He was worried about her, like she was about him. And he'd never say how worried he was; just like she never would, either. Communication was not a strength of their former relationship, and evidently they still struggled with it. "I'll be back." She smiled. "I promise."

Without another word, she followed Jin and Eko into the jungle, suddenly terrified at what might happen to Sawyer if she wasn't there to look after him.

xxx