Chapter 10
More excitement for you. Let me know what you think!
Even from a far, Jack could tell Sawyer was unconscious and there was blood on the ground. Without saying a word, without making sure Ben wasn't going to react, Jack ran over to the cage, not registering that the gate was still open. He heard running feet behind him, knowing Mike and Sayid were following him. He jumped over Sawyer's body and threw himself down at his face, Mike at the back of his head and Sayid next to Jack at his torso. They heard the gate shut but they didn't get up.
"Sawyer. Sawyer, can you hear me? Come on man, wake up." He took in the gash on the cheekbone, the gash on his lip and the blood trickling from his previous cut from when they were taken. He didn't want to think how long he had been lying like this. Jack pushed back Sawyer's hair in an attempt to make him comfortable. He looked up at Mike, "He's still breathing but it's too fast and his pulse is erratic. We need to remove his shirt, I need to check his injuries."
Together, the three of them removed Sawyer's shirt, revealing more bruising than before and blood smeared across his side. As they removed his arms, they flopped down to the ground. Jack was preoccupied with checking his ribs, the blood coming from his burn which had significant bruising around it, but Mike got his attention.
"Jack," he was looking at Sawyer's back, an odd expression on his face. Jack crawled around to see what was wrong. He saw scarring all over Sawyer's back. The scars were old but still vivid. Jack didn't know what to think, Sayid was now on Mike's other side.
"Put his shirt over him. Do not let them see," and he stood to look at Ben. Mike grabbed the shirt and placed it on top of him, as Jack crawled back to Sawyer's face. As he continued to try and wake him up, the guy from the boat emerged from the building. Jack stopped what he was doing and stood up, ready to fight, rage boiling inside him as he looks down at Sawyer. He stepped over him towards the gate.
"Did you do this? Huh?" He walked past Mike, who stood and turned to face the gate.
"Jack, relax..." Ben's voice was drowned out.
"Don't! Don't tell me to relax. He is half dead. You did this! Open this gate. Let's see how you fight with someone you didn't almost electrocute to death less than 24 hours ago!"
"Jack, please stop. You will be no good injured. Now I will give you a well-equipped first aid kit and some food. Then we can talk," Ben turned to the guy, Jack now noticing he had a black eye and split lip, "What happened to you?
"He wasn't quite as weak as we thought. Got a good right hook on him though, we could use it," he handed the first aid kit through the bars to Jack.
"Use it? Why? You took us, you won't let me see my son, now this. Why?"
"Well, I did tell you to keep digging. But you refused, didn't you?" Mike flinched at this, looking down at Sawyer's beaten body. Code three, it was ringing in his head.
"So, he gave you some trouble?" Ben had turned away from his captives, facing his man.
"At first, once he was down, he wasn't getting back up."
"You made the kid watch?" At this Jack, Mike and Sayid snapped their head to look at him.
"Walt? Walt was out here? You had my son here as you beat Sawyer? What the hell kind of person does that?" But Mike was ignored.
"Yeah. I'm not sure who that was harder on to be honest," he turned to look at the men in the cage, smirking, "You should have heard your friend," he nodded at Sawyer, his voice taking on a mocking, fake Southern twang, "Leave the kid alone, do what you want to me, just let him go, don't make him watch this, it's ok Walt close your eyes." He laughed. With this he and Ben turned their backs on the cage and began walking towards the building. Sayid watched them go as Mike sat down by the back of Sawyer's head, hand on his shaking shoulder, trying to process what he had just heard.
"How bad is it?"
"Bad. As well as the original two cracked ribs, three more. His left eye is blood shot, looks like a punch did some damage. I don't think it's permeant but we won't know unless he wakes up. Until... until he wakes up." Jack looked sickened by his mistake, looking at Mike.
"How did this happen? I mean what did they do..."
"It must have been savage. To inflict injuries like this. He would have been in pain, probably still is. To make Walt watch..."
"It is a form of torture," Sayid spoke, still looking at the building, his back to the three men, "it is a form of torture used to extract emotions of vulnerability. They used Walt to make Sawyer scared. To make him weak. It had nothing to do with Walt, with hurting him. You heard what Sawyer said... 'do what you want to me, but leave him alone' he cared about keeping Walt safe, more than he cared about himself. It is the unknown, what could happen to those around you. It is what they did by attacking him because we did not do as we were told. It is a form of torture."
