I was still shook up after the whole incident with Sawyer. He freaked me out. I learned from Jack that they had had problems with him earlier when they had first gotten to the island. Sayid had tortured him in order to get some medicine for a girl in the camp. That's why he had left. When Jack returned, he avoided everyone. He caught me staring at him, but he quickly turned to look the other way. I peered at his hands and saw they were a dark shade of red. He rubbed at them fiercely. Blood, I thought. He had beat up Sawyer for my sake, and I felt terrible that I had put him through the trauma. I tried to talk to him later, but he just shook his head and then left. It started to get dark, the sun just starting to set. Sawyer wasn't in either of the camps, so we were told by a girl named Kate who came looking for him. I had to face him again. I had to. I needed to know that I was really stronger than he was.

"Becca, I'll be back before dark." I said leaning over to her.

"Where are you going?" She demanded.

"Just to think. I-maybe I'll go to the beach. I'll take Bosco okay?"

"Fine, just, don't get into trouble."

"You know who you're telling that to right?" I took off before she could answer. "Bosco!" Instantly he was at my side. We started off down the trail and a few feet in, I bent down to him, "Bosco, find the man. Sawyer. We need to talk." He started to whine. "You stay with. I know. Bite him if you want, by all means." Bosco perked up and took off into the brush.

It took a while, but I finally saw Sawyer. He had his hands tied behind him around a tree. It started to rain lightly, hard enough to get me wet though. I broke through the branches and stood in front of him. He was sleeping. I looked at Bosco, and he barked. Sawyer jumped awake. I don't think he knew who I was, since it was much darker now. My hair fell over my face as the rain continued.

"I'm going to kill that dog one of these days. He'd make a good dinner." Sawyer said to me. "What's his name...Vincent. Vincent a la Mode."

"Not Vincent. This one's worse. I call him Bosco. Like the cop. He's got the attitude and need for violence." Sawyer squinted to see who I was. "I could have him kill you, you know. He wants to. It's taking everything he's got right now to not rip out your throat. He's going against instinct. All it takes is the snap of my fingers and..." I snapped my fingers and Bosco lunged forward, snarling. Sawyer reeled back in fright. "Bosco, wait." He stopped instantly. I stepped into view.

Sawyer laid his head back against the tree. "I knew I knew that voice. Thought it was Kate at first, but then she didn't have a dog." He smiled, "Come back for my offer?"

I walked up to him and punched him in the nose.

"Ow! God damn it woman!"

"You know, I've had just about enough of you. Rude comments, violent acts, do you want to be beat up or something?" I asked him. He stayed silent, but hung his head. "What happened to you that makes you so nasty today, huh? No one's that mean."

Sawyer didn't say anything for a while. He closed his eyes as if to go to sleep, then looked he at me slowly. "That's none of your business. My past is of no importance to you. So, don't meddle in things that shouldn't be meddled in."

"Hey, we all have secrets. Pasts that are unexplainable. I won't tell you mine either. I'll get Jack to let you out, if I have your word that you'll never come near me again. You go by my friend and, well, she would give your ribs another visit. From now on, Bosco's not going anywhere, so if you take back your word, he'd love to have a new chew toy, since all of his other ones are back home."

Sawyer cringed at the thought. "Fine. I promise ya happy? Now get me out." I walked over behind him, but hesitated. Suddenly as I was starting to untie him a loud thundering rolled through the hills. I snapped my head up as Bosco growled into the woods.

"What was that?"

"Hurry and untie me if you want to stay alive long enough for me to tell you." Sawyer moved his hands against the tree and I got them free. "Come on." He took off towards the path. I followed, Bosco at my heels.

"What's going on?" The thundering sounded again, this time closer. I could feel the ground shake. Suddenly a loud, shrill, cry from a dinosaur-sounding creature sounded. I froze and turned around to see what was coming, if anything. The trees started to shake as I heard heavy feet, or paws hit the ground. A polar bear came barreling through the trees, straight at me. Bosco jumped up and clamped his jaws on the bear's throat. It howled in pain. I watched in horror as the bear swatted at him with its massive claws. Bosco didn't budge. "BOSCO!" I screamed in terror. I then felt someone grab my wrist and I was pulled away from my dying best friend. It was Sawyer.

"Hurry! Come on!" I tried to resist him and pulled the other way. He spun me around and took hold of my shoulders. "Do you want him dying for you to mean nothing?!" I shook my head. "Then please...trust me." I stared at him and then he pulled me once again to the trail. I could hear snarling behind me and tears started to flow. I ran as hard as I could, and finally we came to the camp.

"KRIS!" I heard Becca yell. She was so close, yet so far. I was drenched head to toe and was really cold, but that could've been from fear. The fear of losing my best buddy. Sawyer pulled me into the cave. He slicked his hair back and peered into my eyes. I knew he saw nothing, cause I didn't feel anything. Becca was shaking me, but I didn't want to respond. Jack came over and sat me down. He started to check my vitals and I think I caught him glare at Sawyer. I blinked slowly. It still felt to me that Bosco was still alive, though knowing how big that bear was, I had my doubts. Still though, I swear I could still hear his bark. Then it occurred to me that I wasn't dreaming it. I jumped up and ran into the pouring rain. The camp yelled after me. I looked hard towards the trees... then... Bosco. "BOSCO!" I yelled out in disbelief. I ran to him and fell to my knees on the ground. He limped as fast as he could over to me. I hugged him and then picked him up, the adrenaline pumping. He yelped out as I ran him into the cave. I set him down on the ground. Right away Jack came to me, I held out my hand and turned to him, "Not me, him."

"Kris you're-" he started.

"Fine. He's hurt badly. Please Jack. Help him, he can't die."

"I don't believe it." Sawyer said. All heads turned towards him. "He was attacked by a bear and is still alive. That's one dog I'll always remember."

I smiled. Maybe there was some hope for all of us yet. It just happened to come in the form of a dog.