Chapter 23
Here's the next one... let me know what you think!
Mike walked back to Sayid and Jack.
"He's asleep," he sat beside them, running a hand over his face.
"He's going to be ok."
"Yeah, not if Sawyer isn't."
"I know," Jack looked over at Sawyer, sighing.
"How bad are his injuries?" Sayid looked at Sawyer too.
"Bad. I'm not sure..."
"What?" Mike looked at Jack, scared at his answer.
"I'm not sure how he'll be. If he wakes – if – I don't know if he'll be able to... I don't know, recognise us, know where he is, know who he is. He wasn't breathing for a few minutes, which would be bad enough, but the seizure shows the electricity effected his brain – to an extent. I need to keep an eye on it, if he wakes and he isn't... I don't know what we'll do. He won't be able to walk for a long time, the pain he'll be feeling... I don't want to imagine. Injuries like that, they're horrific. Horrific. The fact he is alive... burns like he has... most burn units would struggle to help, to treat them," Jack looked pained as he thought about it, "But you guys need to -"
"No, we're not splitting up. We needed to be together, us and Walt, and now we are. As long as no one finds us, we can stay here until he's ready," Mike sounded determined.
"If he's ever ready."
"Look, he saved my son's life on that boat. He threw himself in the path of that charge, threw himself in front of Walt. Didn't think twice. He knew what it was, what it felt like, what it would do, but he did it anyway. For Walt. I'm not leaving him, not now we have everyone together."
Jack just looked at Mike, nodding slightly. "You guys should get some rest here. I'm going over to sit with him. We can't leave him for too long." He stood up, grabbing a bottle of water and walked across the cave. He sat beside Sawyer, checking his pulse, finding his breathing too fast, sounding painful. He rested his hand next to Sawyer's new star burn, seeing the darker bruise where he had administered CPR. As he touched his skin, Sawyer's body spasmed and his eyes screwed up in pain. Jack snatched his hand back, seeing Sawyer settle again. He covered his torso with a blanket, lay down beside him, slowly closing his eyes.
"How is he?" Jack opened his eyes, seeing Walt sitting on the other side of Sawyer, his hand in Sawyer's, looking at Jack. It was suddenly morning
"Emm, I don't know. How long have you been sitting there?"
"Not that long. Sayid and my dad went to try and find fruit," Walt spoke as Jack checked Sawyer. He was still breathing fast, but his pulse had slowed slightly. As he removed the blanket, he heard Walt inhale sharply. Looking up, he saw Walt stare at Sawyer's battered and burned torso.
"It's ok."
"They did that too him? Because of me? And my dad?"
"No. No it isn't you fault. Or your dad's. Why would you say that?"
"That's what Frank said, when he took me to see Sawyer, the first time, when he... when he hurt him."
"What did he say exactly?"
"That dad wasn't co-operating, so he was going to use Sawyer to make sure he did. And that..."
"And what?"
"That it would have been better if it was someone else, 'cause you don't really care about Sawyer." Walt looked at Jack as he said this, sadness on his face.
"Well, that's not true Walt. It isn't. We want him to be ok, and we'll make sure he is."
"He called him James. James Ford. I didn't know who he was talking about until we went outside."
Jack was about to respond when Walt looked down at his hand, Sawyer had squeezed it. Jack crawled up to Sawyer's head, seeing his eyes were open, putting his hands on either side of his face.
"Sawyer? Can you hear me?" Jack watched as Sawyer's eyes slid shut, "James?" Sawyer's eyes opened again, not focussing on anything in particular. "James? Can you hear me?" Jack watched as Sawyer tried to focus his eyes on him. "James? Look at me. There was an incident, you were hurt, but you're ok. We have you, ok?" Jack watched as Sawyer closed his eyes, swallowed and opened them again, looking like he wanted to say something. Jack leant his ear closer to Sawyer's mouth.
"Walt?" Sawyer began drawing in breath painfully, his voice barely audible. But Jack understood him.
"Walt is fine. He's here," Jack looked over at Walt, motioning for him to come beside him. He felt Walt slam into his side, putting his face near Sawyer's.
"I'm here, I'm here. I'm ok, I'm ok." Walt grabbed Sawyer's hand. They watched as Sawyer smiled slightly. He grimaced in pain and gasped for air before closing his eyes again, falling back into pained sleep. Jack smiled.
"Why are you smiling?"
"He knew who you were, partially remembered what had happened. He's going to be ok." He looked at Walt, who smiled back. They heard Sayid and Mike return, talking about something they had found. When they saw Jack and Walt next to Sawyer they stopped.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Mike dropped what he was holding and went over, closely followed by Sayid. They crouched down on the other side of Sawyer.
"He woke up. He was in pain, but he knew what had happened. He asked for Walt, knew who he was. We just have to wait for him to wake again. But his brain function is looking as good as we could expect."
"We found fruit and wood for a fire," Sayid looked at Jack as he spoke.
"We should light one, keep him warm." Jack re-covered Sawyer with the blanket as he said it.
"Ok, Walt, will you help me?" Sayid walked away and began setting up a fire, Walt looking at Mike, then following when his dad nodded. Mike turned to Jack.
"Is he ok?"
"I wouldn't go that far, but it looks to be as good as we could hope for. He stirred when Walt spoke, then asked for him. That suggests he knows what is happening but..."
"But what?"
"But, he only responded to James. Not Sawyer."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know. His memory seems to be ok about everything else." Mike looked at Jack, something obviously worrying him.
"What else? Something's wrong."
"You mean besides the obvious? Something Walt said."
"What?"
"You remember, when Sawyer had been beaten and he said that Frank had said things to him, but didn't say what?"
"Yeah. He didn't want to tell us. So?"
"Walt told me Frank told Sawyer you weren't co-operating, that's why he had to hurt him. And, and that it would have been better if it had been someone else, because we don't care enough about him for it to make an impact."
"What? He said that to him?"
"Yeah, make no wonder Sawyer didn't want to tell us."
"He knew it wasn't true. I mean... we weren't his biggest fans, but we wouldn't want him like this. He had to have known it wasn't true."
"I hope so."
