Chapter 38

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"Kate! Slow down!"

But she was off. Storming through the jungle, not looking back. She felt the emotion bubble up inside her. The joy of seeing them, the sudden worry of seeing Sawyer's hand dangle from that stretcher. Seeing his face, the bruising. Being told to leave. Being told Rose would stay. Two weeks. She had been dealing with no one caring for two weeks. And now... she didn't know what to think. What to do. She was angry. At Jack, and Rose, and the situation. At Them. She was angry at herself, for not saying goodbye... She felt the tears well in her eyes. She didn't say anything to him. For two weeks she had thought about what she would say to him, and she said nothing.

"Kate! Stop!" So she did. Sayid's voice had that effect. More so than Hurley's. She turned, stood and waited on them to catch her up. She was breathing hard.

"Are you alright?" Sayid reached her first. She looked at him. He looked fine, nothing compared to Sawyer.

"Yeah. I'm great. You?" Her reply was snappy and she knew it. Sayid just looked at here.

"Believe it or not, I am not feeling my best. Something about carrying a dying man through the jungle on a stretcher." They just looked at each other.

"Sorry."

"It is ok. How are you feeling?" Hurley, Mike and Walt appeared behind him. She ignored his question.

"What happened?" The two men looked at each other. They were tired, Mike felt Walt lean more against him. They didn't want to get into it. They didn't want to tell everyone what happened to Sawyer, without him having a say of what gets told. They had agreed to say as little as possible.

"It was the Others. They... they took us... look, we know you want answers, but we haven't slept. Can't we do this later?" Mike looked down at Walt, who was looking at the ground.

"Of course man. Of course. This way, not far now. People'll want to talk to you, but you can get some rest first. Come on." They all followed Hurley in silence. Kate wanted to know, but she didn't ask.

When they made it to the caves, they were swarmed. People everywhere. Asking question after question. So much so that everything blended together. Mike didn't know what was happening. He kept his eyes on Sayid, who walked through the crowd, ignoring everyone, sitting near the water edge, having a drink. Kate walked away, sitting as far away as possible. There was the sound of thunder outside the cave.

"Guys, guys. Back up. Give them room."

"Where's Jack?" Someone shouted from the back of the group, more people asking the question after them.

"He's in the hatch. We know you have questions, but we... we're tired. And we have hardly eaten. Or had much to drink. So..."

"You heard Mike, back off. Let them breathe." Hurley almost shooed them away, people slowly retreating to different areas.

Mike took Walt by the hand, going over to get some food and water. They sat next to Sayid. Mike wasn't sure why, but they were sitting next to him before he realised. He didn't look up, but Mike could tell he knew they were there.

"Are you both ok?"

"Yeah, once we sleep, we'll be great. You know, all in a days work..."

"You should sleep. This storm will pass and we will get back to the beach. But..." Sayid looked at Mike for the first time since reaching the hatch, "we cannot tell them about Sawyer. We must wait. Until he is well enough to tell them himself." Mike just nodded.

"Yeah, I thought the same. Hurley and Kate... they won't say anything."

"They did not see anything. I made sure..." Sayid stopped talking, focusing on eating the food he had gathered.

"Do you think he's ok?" Walt's voice was quiet and small.

"Yeah man. He's with Jack... he'll be fine," Mike hugged Walt closer, watching as he looked around the cave. His voice dropped even lower.

"No one asked..."

"What?"

"No one asked. About Sawyer. They... they asked about Jack but... not him."

Mike just looked at Walt. He hadn't noticed, but now he thought about it, no one had asked about Sawyer. He looked at Sayid, he was looking at Walt.

"We should get some sleep. Come on son, over here, get some sleep. Things will be better tomorrow." He stood with Walt, leading him to a corner.

"Can I see Sawyer tomorrow?"

"We'll see. We'll see."