Chapter 9 to a LOST Love

Jack watched Sayid take off after Alex, and then turned his attentions back to that knife. The mere size of it was enough to scare him. It was like a carving knife for meat…we really aren't alone, Jack thought.

"Why would someone use that thing…for things other than hunting?" Charlie asked quietly.

Jack simply shook his head. Turning to Kate, he said, "I need you to show me where that place is. We need to get those knives so that the others can't use them against one of us again." Kate looked away from Jack, remembering the shack…

"I'll show you where it is, doc. We'll go tomorrow," Sawyer said, coming to Kate's rescue.

Jack said huffily, "I didn't ask you, Sawyer, I asked Kate."

"No, he knows where it is," Kate responded quickly. "He can show you. I…I don't want to go back there again," she said. Looking at Jack, she pleaded, "Please, Jack…don't make me go back there."

After a pause, he said, "Alright, Sawyer can show me tomorrow. We need to bring our packs and things to get those knives out. Michael, Hurley, Charlie…will you come with us? We need all the packs we can get."

The men nodded in agreement. "Okay, we leave first thing tomorrow morning," Jack said. "Hey…where did Boone and Locke go?" Everyone looked around for the two, but no one had even seen them leave.

Sayid and Alex…

Rocking Alexandra back and forth, Sayid simply held her there while she cried. He kept hushing her and whispering "It's okay…it's okay…" He felt like breaking down, too, but he knew he had to be strong…for her. Suddenly, he felt something wet on his hands…water? Sweat? He took his right hand away and looked at it….it was blood. He looked to see where it had come from and noticed that the back of Alex's shirt was ripped in many places and her wounds had broken open again. Blood was now soaking the back of her shirt, and still she cried.

Pulling herself upright suddenly, she asked Sayid, tears streaming down her face, "Why…why would someone do that? I didn't do anything wrong…I didn't do anything…wrong…" Sayid simply shook his head, his eyes filled with sadness. Seeing the blood on his hand again, he knew they had to get those wounds cleaned up.

"Come, we must get your injuries tended to. Let's go to the caves and find Jack's medicine bag." Sayid gently helped Alex up and together they walked back to the caves.

At the caves…

Sayid began rummaging around the other survivors' things to find Jack's bag. Where is that damn bag? Why does he always have to hide it? Sayid was beginning to get frustrated, when suddenly Alex gently said, "Sayid…"

He turned to look at her and saw that she had found the medicine bag. Breathing a sigh of relief, he asked, "Where did you find it?"

She pointed to a pile of clothes. "Underneath all of Jack's shirts. I wonder why he hides it…" she said. Sayid shrugged and put the bag down on the ground.

Opening it and shifting things around, he finally found some peroxide. When he looked up, Alexandra had turned her back to him and was peeling off her shirt carefully. She winced when it passed over a few of the nastier wounds, but she managed to get it over her head. She was wearing a black bra underneath that tattered shirt…looking down quickly, Sayid pretended to look around in the bag again for a bit.

When he looked up again, he saw that she was walking over to the pile of rocks that surrounded the fresh water pool. She sat down and saw him staring at her. She smiled sadly and then turned away to look at the pool.

Sayid made his way to the rocks, his heart beating a little faster now. Carefully, gently, he swept her hair over her shoulder and his touch lingered there for a few moments. Alex looked at where his hand was, and then slowly dropped her head again, not saying anything. Sayid unscrewed the peroxide bottle and then looked around for something to use as a cloth. As if reading his mind, Alex silently produced her shirt and gave it to him. He ripped the front part of it where there was no blood into strips and wet one of them with the peroxide.

As soon as he touched her open wound with the peroxide, she instantly hissed in pain and flinched away from it. Goosebumps instantly covered her arms from the coldness of the peroxide and the pain. "I know…I know it hurts," Sayid gently crooned to her. "This must be done for them to heal quickly."

Slowly, she brought her back towards him again and he resumed patting her injuries with the cloth. He felt like he was going to be sick…he hadn't seen wounds like these since he was first stationed at the prison hospital in Iraq. He had seen many an arm or leg blown off, or an eye completely gone, or severe burns…but only once had he seen marks like these.

FLASHBACK

Sayid was in the Iraqi prison hospital, making his rounds to different prisoners and soldiers alike. He comforted the prisoner who was dying from malaria, a man of about 20 years old, much like himself. He then moved on to give a soldier with a missing arm some water.

After he was done in one room, he walked down the hallway, past a few doctors, nurses, and guards, and suddenly saw a room he hadn't entered before. He had only been on the job for a month, and he had yet to see this room. Peeking in, he saw only a woman lying on her stomach on the hospital bed, the back of her shirt ripped open.

He walked in to take a closer look at her back and saw that she had huge slashes crisscrossing across it. They were bleeding profusely and she was starting to soak the bed sheets with her blood. No doctor had seen her, as she had no dressings or stitches. He also saw that her feet were handcuffed to the bed posts. Moving to her left shoulder, away from the door, he gently shook her awake. Her eyes fluttered open and she moaned from the pain.

In their native tongue, he asked her, "How long have you been here? Has a doctor seen you yet?"

She shook her head. "No," she muttered thickly. "I have been here for a few hours, I think. After my…punishment…the soldiers dragged me here and dropped me on the bed. I fell asleep shortly after."

So she is a prisoner here, Sayid thought. I wonder what she did to deserve this…collaborated perhaps? Gave information away? Who knows…

"I will be right back," he said to her. She nodded and closed her eyes again.

He briskly walked out of the room, his temper rising. He found a doctor that he knew who worked there and abruptly asked, "Why has no one seen that woman in that room over there? She has very serious wounds and no one has attended to her!"

"I do not know, Sayid. You can help her, you are qualified. I am very busy right now," said the doctor. "What kind of wounds does she have?"

"Um…whip marks, I believe. Some might need stitches, they are so deep. She is a prisoner here and has just been tortured for information, I think."

The doctor nodded. "Not uncommon here, unfortunately; put peroxide on a few cloths and clean them. Bind it with the long bandages in the closet."

Sayid nodded and quickly found what he needed. The "closet" was nothing more than a cabinet with a few bottles and bandage rolls in there, much like the army field medical closets.

Walking back to the room, he shook the woman awake again and told her that he was going to clean her back. Nodding again, she closed her eyes and braced herself for any pain. When the first drop of peroxide touched her back, she instantly cried out. Sayid flinched, too, not meaning to. He continued to clean her back and as he did, he looked at her face again.

She was lovely and couldn't have been more than 25 years old. A beauty like her in a prison was unthinkable. Sayid gently asked, "May I ask for your name?"

"Nadia," she replied quietly.

Gasp! We know her! Unfortunately we know what happens to her too……ah well, I shall update soon! I promise! I just HAD to put in a flashback cuz they always do it on the show anyways. Did you like or shall I never do that again?

A Bleeding Rose