I.

Michael stopped running for long enough to have a quick breath and then quickly began to run again. He was exhausted and drained. His calves were cramping up like fucking crazy and he couldn't seem to get any air in his lungs. Still, he kept running and running.

He felt a hand pull hard on his shoulder and he almost screamed, but didn't. The knowledge that the touch was made by a very obviously human, non-clawed and scaly hand, came late into his mind. His thoughts seemed to still be playing catch-up with his body, running far, far away from whatever that thing had been. Michael never saw the creature, just flashes and impressions of great speed and gigantic size, and then the body. Michael saw the body. It fell on him and he stared into what was left of one eye looking back at him. Then Michael had scrambled out from under the torn limbs and massive blood spill and ran as far as he could get. Until now.

Michael turned. Sayid was standing there. Close behind him was Charlie, hands on his knees, breathing deeply. "I think it is safe now," Sayid said between breaths. "That. . ..thing seems to have disappeared."

"As long as it stays disappeared," Charlie muttered to himself, and Michael probably would have smiled if he couldn't still feel the weight of that bloody carcass pressed against his body.

"Did anyone see it?" Sayid demanded. "Did anyone see the creature?"

Michael shook his head. "No," Charlie said. "All I saw was that bloody gi---I mean, ah, um. . .Steve's body afterwards."

"I think that one was Scott," Michael said. "Maybe." It had never seemed really important before. Now that the man was nearly decimated miles them, it seemed to be a very significant fact.

Sayid didn't seem to agree. "It doesn't matter," he said impatiently, and then had a better look at Michael, who was covered in blood. "Were you hurt?"

"It's Sc---that guy's blood," Michael said. "So, what do we do now?"

"

I don't know," Sayid said. "This was a foolish idea."

"Hey, man, no one forced you to come along."

"I know that," Sayid said, his frustration looking great. "I admire the sentiment but now one of us is dead for a girl that might already be gone."

"Or she might not," Charlie said. "There's no way of knowing and we couldn't just leave her out here."

"We could have," Sayid said solemnly. "We could have."

The three were silent for a minute. Then Charlie, as of course it would have been Charlie, broke the silence by saying, "So, again, WHAT are we going to do now?"

Michael stayed silent. Sayid shook his head. The three became silent again.

II.

The second Hurley got a glance at Claire in full labor, he passed out.

Sawyer ignored him. "Does anybody, anybody on this stupid, wretched, pathetic piece of island have any medical experience besides Jack?" he yelled out at the people who huddled nearby to watch. Nobody moved forward.

"Fuckin' figures," Sawyer muttered and then looked at Claire, who's eyes were wide. She looked terrified. "Well, that's okay, darlin', don't you worry. Women have been having babies without fancy doctors and hospitals for a whole lot of years now, and they've been just fine. You hear that? You're going to be just fine."

Claire shook her head frantically, her eyes too wide for her face. "The baby---I'm only seven months---"her voice cut off as her face scrunched up and she howled in pain. She tried to look at Sawyer, to make him understand. "I'm not. . .not ready. . ."

Sawyer tried not to let the look of panic show on his face. "Don't you fret," he said as he secretly fretted and worried and tried not to have a panic attack. "Okay, you're just going to have to not be shy today. I'm going to be Doctor Sawyer, and you're gonna push that baby out, and I'm gonna catch it. Okay? Everything's gonna be just fine, Claire. I'm gonna help you through it."

He kept the ending of his thought, 'god knows how', silent. Jack was supposed to be this great leader, the savior of all their miserable little souls, but when the pregnant chick was giving birth, where was he? Running around in a jungle, probably getting his stupid, self-righteous ass eaten, and sticking Sawyer with this. Sawyer wasn't prepared for something like this. He never went to no fancy doctor school. He specifically chose a career that didn't involve altruistic measures like delivering premie babies on deserted islands where polar bears randomly popped up. But he couldn't just leave her here, alone. SOMEBODY had to be a man and help her.

Claire started to scream again and Sawyer focused back on her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Jap woman stand up from her place near the caves. Her husband's arm was on hers in an instant. She shook it off impatiently and an over to where Sawyer was kneeling in front of Claire. In her hand was a wet piece of cloth.

She said something in another language to Claire but her voice was soothing, calm. The woman put the cloth down on Claire's forehead and with one hand smoothed Claire's hair back, while the other took the pregnant girl's hand and let it be squeezed. Her eyes met Sawyer's. She was afraid but determined to help.

Sawyer felt himself nodding. "Okay, Claire," he said, "I need you to breathe, okay? Just keep breathing for me, deep, deep breaths." What else had he seen on TV with pregnant women giving birth? Breaths were important, deep breathing, and---

"Now you've got to push, Claire. Keep breathing and push."

III.

"Now where was THAT screaming coming from?"

"The first screams seemed to be from the western direction, where the other group went," Locke said. "The second set of screams were further back. I can't be positive, but they sounded like they were coming from the caves."

"We have to get back there," Kate said immediately. "We have to see what's going on."

"We can't leave my sister!" Boone immediately responded.

"He's right," Locke said. "To leave now would accomplish nothing. We would have left our fellow comrades in vain. If something has happened back at camp, we should have at least left them for a reason. We'll find the girl. Then the others, if there's anything of them left to be found. And then we'll head back to camp."

"Since when do you make all the decisions?" Kate asked angrily.

"I don't know," Locke said. "Since you appointed yourself righter of wrongs, I suppose."

Kate opened her mouth to reply but Jack cut her off. "All right, enough," he said. "Look, I think Locke's got a point. We should find Shannon. Then we can go back."

"We don't even know where to look," Kate said angrily.

"What about right there?' said a familiar voice. Jack whirled around. Charlie, Sayid, and Michael were walking up to them. They looked exhausted. Plus, Michael was drenched in blood.

Jack immediately went to him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm cool," Michael said in a would-be-casual tone that failed to sound casual.

"It's not my blood."

"The other man?" Locke asked.

"Diced and sliced, my friend," Charlie said. "There's not enough left of him to. . .do whatever you would do with a dead body, I'd suppose."

Jack smiled. "So, where were you suggesting we look for Shannon?"

"Well, right there," Charlie said and pointed. "I mean, that is Shannon, isn't it? She's sort of hard to forget."

Jack turned to where Charlie was pointing. "Shannon!" Boone yelled, and ran over to where a girl lay, unconscious, by a tree nearby. The girl stirred and sat up. "Boone?"

Jack and the others walked over to where the siblings were sitting. "What the hell were you doing out here, Shannon?" Boone asked. "Are you hurt?"

"I sprained my ankle," Shannon said, and Jack tried not to think of it as whining, but that's how the girl sounded, like a little child crying about spilt milk. "I was just walking, you know, and I thought I could maybe find some berries or something, prove that I could take care of myself without anyone's help, and then I got lost and I tripped and I thought, well, hug a tree right?"

Boone closed his eyes. "You thought hug a tree. . .in the middle of a jungle where polar bears spring out of nowhere and creatures tear people apart?"

"Well, yeah," Shannon said. "I mean, what else was I supposed to do?'

"Oh, I don't know," her brother said sarcastically. "Try to get back to camp, maybe, where there AREN'T polar bears and homicidal creatures?"

"That's a really long walk," Shannon said, "and besides, I knew somebody would rescue me eventually."

Jack stared at her a minute and then began to walk away back to camp. Charlie and Boone were right. Shannon was unforgettable, all right. . .for all the wrong reasons.

IV.

The very first thing Kate noticed when they got back to the caves was Sawyer. His nose definitely looked broken and Kate felt a hint of satisfaction at that. Then she noticed everybody else. They all looked terrible, like something awful had happened.

"What did you do?" she asked angrily. Sawyer must have done something, must have hurt or endangered someone, for everyone to be looking this low. "What did you do?"

Sawyer glared at her. "I didn't do nothin', Freckles," he spat out. "Just like you would have expected. I didn't know how to." He stalked off.

Kate felt Jack step up beside her. His eyes sought out a familiar face and landed on Hurley. "Hurley, man, what's going on?"

Hurley looked up and then down at the ground. "It was that pregnant lady, Claire."

"Claire?" Charlie asked quickly. "What happened? Is she okay?"

Hurley looked briefly at Charlie and then back to the ground again. "She went into labor early. She was only seven months, I guess. Sawyer, he tried to help her deliver it. No one knew what to do. I. . . .I. . .anyway." He didn't go on.

"Where is she, Hurley?" Jack asked. When he didn't answer, "Hurley!"

Hurley pointed towards one of the caves and Kate was startled to see two tears running down his cheeks. Instantly she felt herself running, with Jack and Charlie close on her heels, towards the cave.

Inside the cave it felt damp and cool. Claire was sitting, huddled over, holding something In her arms. Kate knew what it was and felt a lump rise in her throat.

"Claire," she said, and her voice sounded strange.

Claire looked up. There were no tears on her face. Somehow, that was worse. Her eyes were wide and almost horror-struck, like too much had happened too fast, and now she was trying to retreat into her own, inner world. She held the baby in her arms protectively towards her chest.

"Claire," Kate said again, "Claire. I need you to give me the baby."

Immediately, Claire's head began to shake. She held the baby even closer to her chest, rocking it ever so slightly. It was so small.

"Claire, you've got to let go. Give me the baby. I'll. . . I'll take care of him."

Claire looked down at the infant in her arm. Someone had bundled him in a shirt. Tears began to fall down her face as she stared at him.

"Claire," Kate said. She held out her arms. "Give me the baby."

Slowly, hesitatingly, Claire did. Kate held the baby in her arms and stared at it's blue, dead face.

The sun began to rise outside and as Kate held the dead infant, Claire began to sob.