Author's Note: Thanks everyone! I'm sorry, I would have had the next chapter up last weekend or so but Sunday my cat Sawyer died. I've been having him since Decemeber and I have no clue what happened because I had just got back from Houston from seeing a Lord of the Rings exhibit and my grandpa told me he died and then I went in my room and cried. So I dunno how he died and don't want to. Sooooo ... yeaaaaa.
Spork Princess: Haha, sorry I made you cringe. I've broken my wrist before when I was five from falling off the monkey bars, so I'll tell ya you don't want to break anything. That and I have sprained my ankle a couple of times. Poor torture.
Mony19: lol. More people have told me that they wished she had slapped Jack. I should have put that in there. Oh well, there's always another time, heehee
Lynn R: Welcome new reader! Hands you Sawyer and Kate plushies. Thank you very much for the review :)
Danni Rand: Another new reader! Hands Sawyer and Kate plushies to you as well. Ah, the Skater relationship, there wasn't much at the beginning because she was always pissed at him or he was always pissed at her and so forth, but now we're getting down to the campire talk )
Sooo here's the next chapter :)
Chapter Ten
Going-ons in the Jungle
Huh . . . imagine that. Must not like how you smell, the other voice commented.
Sawyer looked around, trying to make sure he really didn't see or hear anything. When he had confirmed that there was nothing around him, he turned his attention back to his ankle. He hitched his right pant's leg up to his knee to inspect the ankle further. It was swollen all right; it looked more than twice its normal size already. He knew he had to get his shoe off now or never. He tried to untie his shoe lace without moving his foot too much. He winced and grimaced, but finally managed to untie it completely and unlaced it a little.
'Son of a . . . BITCH! OW!' he cried out as he pulled the shoe off.
He slung the shoe in frustration as he bit his already busted lip.
That was smart, the voice said as the shoe landed in some bushes.
Would you go somewhere! Sawyer thought angrily.
Your wish is my command, the voice thought back sarcastically before it fell silent.
Sawyer let out a low whistle as he pulled his sock off as well. His foot was starting to become an ugly purplish color that started at his shin and went all the way down near his toes.
How the hell am I gonna walk on this damn thing? He thought, exasperated.
He looked around for something, anything that could help him in getting up. He found a feeble looking tree about 8 feet tall on his left and scooted over to it. He grabbed a hold of it and got up slowly, trying not to put pressure on his injured ankle as the tree shook under his weight. He finally hobbled upright and looked around.
Now what, slick? The other voice asked.
I thought I told you to shut up, Sawyer thought back.
Not a word, not a word, the voice promised before reducing to silence again.
Sawyer put his bare foot down lightly on the ground and applied a small amount of pressure to it. He immediately jerked it back up in the air as he let out a string of curses. He leaned back on the tree, forgetting to not put his whole weight on it. After a few seconds under his full weight, the tree snapped, sending him falling backwards.
'Dammit!' he shouted as he landed sprawled out on the jungle floor.
To add to his rage, the top part of the tree that had cracked landed on his chest with a thud.
'The trees hate me!' he howled as he grabbed the broken part of the tree and threw it as far as he could while he was on his back.
He heard it land a few feet away from him. He looked up at the trees and shrubs that surrounded him.
Why couldn't I had picked another tree? He thought, all his anger slowly draining out of him. He let out a sigh that turned into a groan as the pain in his ankle throbbed unpleasantly.
I'm gonna kill him, he thought, after a few moments of looking up at the trees.
You blame him for everything, do you know that? The voice asked, breaking its silence.
It's his fault that I'm out here! If they hadn't gotten my goddamn letter I would still be flirtin' with freckles! Sawyer thought defensively.
Well, it was your fault that you didn't explain the letter. You could have swallowed your pride and ignorance and told someone the truth for once, the other voice said.
Sawyer remained silent, sulking moodily while he lay on the ground.
You hate it when I'm right, don't you? The voice questioned.
Still silence.
Go ahead and sulk then. You'll need to try to do something with that ankle though and you'll need a fire before long; it's getting dark.
Sawyer looked around and saw that his conscience was right. The trees' shadows overhead were lengthening as the sun slowly set. Sawyer muttered a few good words and then looked around for the closest dead limb.
'C'mon, Sawyer, where are you?' Kate muttered to herself as she walked through the woods.
She had been on Sawyer's trail for 15 minutes before she almost lost the trail completely. She walked over a couple of fallen trees and then saw that the tracks went everywhere. She looked around and saw more trees that looked like they had been freshly uprooted. Kate knew what uprooted trees meant.
'Dammit, Sawyer,' she said aloud, trying to sound annoyed, but even she couldn't ignore the waver of fear in her voice.
She walked over another uprooted tree and tried to look for his tracks. She saw various tree limbs bent and broken along the way, but she couldn't tell if it was Sawyer or that thing. She felt her heart starting to beat rapidly and her breathing started to quicken as thinking about the thing brought horrible memories of the pilot to her mind. It had been nearly a month since they had found the pilot's mangled body in that tree, but the image of his body still woke her some nights. What if the monster was still around? She stopped and looked around wildly, knowing any minute she would hear the telltale sound of a tree being uprooted or an eerie shriek.
Get a grip . . . she thought after a few minutes of silence. There was nothing around her, at least, not something like what she feared. She willed herself to calm her breathing and heart. It won't do any good if I have a fit over nothing, she told herself.
She looked around once more and then decided to go on. Not having anything else to work with, she decided to follow the bent limbs and finally found some footprints mingled in with uprooted trees and other debris. It was her luck that Sawyer ran right through a mud puddle made from the previous night's rain a few minutes into his frantic running. She could make out some of his mud tracks among the broken trees. She continued following the uprooted trees and mud tracks when she could find them. After an hour of searching for Sawyer, the uprooted trees started to gradually thin out and she finally caught his trail again, this time veering off to the left. Relief flooded through her when she finally stopped seeing any uprooted trees.
That thing must have changed its mind about him . . . she thought hopefully.
She followed the trail with more confidence now.
He can't be far now, she told herself as she continued to walk.
She looked up, trying to see if he hadn't started a fire yet. The tree canopy made it darker than it was, but she could tell it was about 6:30 or 7:00 . In another 30 minutes or so it would be fully dark. She stayed looking up for a few more seconds and almost tripped over the same root Sawyer had earlier. She stumbled and quickly caught herself. She scolded herself for not paying attention better and looked down to see what had tripped her. She bent down and saw her footprints weren't the only ones that had stopped abruptly.
Sawyer fell. Looks like a bad fall too . . . Kate thought as she squinted her eyes against the growing darkness.
'Sawyer?' she called, knowing he had to be around here somewhere.
There was no answer, but she could make out some smoke to her left.
'Sawyer?' she called out again, walking over that way.
She walked through some bushes and stumbled over something else. She bent down and looked. She picked up a brown shoe that looked like a Doc Martens.
Yeah, this is him, all right, Kate thought, not being able to hide the smile that appeared on her face.
Kate continued walking to the fire. She finally saw him with his back against a tree a few feet away from the fire. He had found a pretty good sized limb and had placed his shirt on it to prop his foot up. She could see from the fire that his head was titled down to his chest. He was asleep. She was about to walk over and try to look at his foot when he began to stir. He titled his head up, but his eyes were still closed. She heard him mumbled something and then he shouted, 'NO!'
'Sawyer?' Kate asked, walking over to him.
He moved his head around again, clenching and unclenching his fists. He mumbled something else and then shouted 'Don't!'
He's having another nightmare.
