Chapter 12
Oops, two days late! Let me know what you think.
Once Sawyer was lying as comfortable as possible, Jack sat with his back against the bench, Mike with his back against the gate across from him. They were both out of breath from the effort.
"What do you think the guy said to him?"
"I don't know, but whatever it was, he didn't want to tell us."
They looked at each other. Sawyer's breathing had slowed, but a pained expression was still on his face. Mike watched him until the sun had truly set. As the temperature dropped, Sawyer began to shiver slightly.
"We should wake him," Jack turned and got onto his knees. He gripped Sawyer's left arm, leading to Sawyer's other hand coming up and grabbing Jack's wrist. It was the same reaction as before, his strength weaker but still there. Slowly he opened his eyes, squinting at the man leaning over him. He let out a sigh, his eyes sliding shut again. "Sorry, I need to check your head again. You don't need to sit," he quickly added as Sawyer made a move to get up, "I just need to look at your eye and ask you some questions."
Jack, again, put his hand over Sawyer's right eye, "What can you see?"
"Same as before."
"Ok. Don't worry about it. How's your head feeling?"
"Not the best."
"Ok, feel nauseous?"
"Bit. Not much though."
"Good. You can sleep again," Jack noticed he was shivering slightly. He took off his shirt, leaving just his t-shirt underneath, and draped it over Sawyer's front.
"I'm fine, don't..."
"It's fine. Just sleep."
The words were barely out of his mouth but Sawyer's breathing had slowed again.
"How is he?" Mike looked at Jack, seeing the exhausted look on his face.
"As good as we could hope. His eye is messed up, but it's only been a few hours. Concussion is bad but subsiding. He knows us, what happened, doesn't seem to be any memory lost. We have to watch him. Make sure nothing else happens to him. Anything else, he might not make it. We can't let that happen."
He sounded defeated. But determined to protect. He looked exhausted.
"You need to rest. Sleep, I will make sure he is ok," Sayid was looking at Mike and Jack, standing up and walking towards them. Without argument, they both stood and walked to separate corners, sat and tried to sleep. The activities of the day finally catching up to them.
Before Jack knew it, the sun was out and the heat was radiating off the metal bars. He felt his skin burn around his t-shirt. For a second, he didn't know where he was, then it all came back to him.
"He is still asleep. I last woke him 40 minutes ago," Sayid looked straight at Jack as he said this. Mike started to stir from sleep, looking first at Jack then Sayid.
"How's he been?" Jack crawled over to the bench to check on Sawyer.
"Fine. He is still in pain. Trying to hide it. But he is," he still looked at Jack, suggesting there was something else he was trying to say.
"What?"
"Look at his torso."
Jack moved down from Sawyer's head to his chest, carefully lifting up the shirt covering it. "What the...?" His entire torso was blue, the burn where the taser made contact was black. The left side of his rib cage looked deflated and his bruising travelled on to his back. "When did it get this bad?"
"Not long after you fell asleep," the look on Sayid's face made Jack think that 'still in pain' was an understatement. He moved back up to Sawyer's face, lightly pressing his neck to check for a pulse. As he anticipated, his wrist was grabbed by Sawyer's weakened strength. "He did that every time I woke him."
"Hey, Sawyer. You with us?"
"Yeah."
"How're you feeling?"
"Great."
Jack put his hand over Sawyer's right eye again. "See anything."
"No. Well, a bit more than before, but still nothing much."
"It'll take time. Don't worry about it. How's the head?"
"Better. Things are clearer."
"Good. You think you can sit up?"
"I can try."
Jack took hold of his arm, gently pulling him upright, pausing when he hissed out in pain. "What hurts?"
"Is that a trick question?"
"What hurts the most?"
"Chest. Between the taser and my ribs, feel like I can't breathe."
"Ok. Lean forward, I'll use a shirt to wrap your ribs, it should help."
"No. We need all the things we can get, don't waste them."
"It wouldn't be wasting them," Mike was standing with his back of the gate, watching this interaction. He watched as Sawyer lent his back against the bars behind him, closing his eyes. In pain. He was about to speak again when he heard the door of the building open.
