Chapter 3
Kate cried until she had no tears left, never letting go of Jack's backpack.
"Kate, we have to go back to camp," Sawyer said softy." We've got only a couple of hours left until it's getting dark and I don't want to call the attention of that thing or the others by using a torch."
Kate didn't react. Sawyer slowly let go of her and turned her face, so that she had to look at him.
"Did you understand me? We have to go back, before it's getting dark," Sawyer saw in her eyes hat she had understood, but didn't care if she got captured by the others or killed by the monster. He used the only argument he had left.
"He would want us to be safe." Kate tensed and then slowly nodded. Sawyer helped her to get up.
"I'm so sorry, Kate," Hurley said. There was nothing he could do to make her feel better, but he wanted her to know that he felt with her.
The small group headed back to the camp. Kate clung to Jack's backpack the whole way, not willing to let go the only thing she had left from him.
Jack awoke feeling a hammering pain in his head. He slowly opened the eyes and sat up, jerking when he realized where he was. He was sitting on a small rock spur.
Jack looked up. He had fallen about two meters deep. When the throbbing in his head decreased a bit, Jack tried to hear any noises from above. Nothing. There wasn't the roaring sound of the monster, so it had probably disappeared. But what had happened to Kate? Had she monster followed her after he had fallen? This thought made Jack feel sick. He had to get up there as soon as possible.
Kate was in a trance the whole time they needed to get back to the camp. She didn't speak a word.
She neither noticed her surroundings nor did she know how long they had walked. All she knew was that she was suddenly standing on the beach.
Hurley did his best to get rid of the crowd surrounding them, speaking simultaneously.
"We'll explain everything later. Just give Kate some time to rest," Sawyer told them.
"You should really go back to your tent and rest," Sawyer told Kate, expecting that she would let him lead her passively like she had all the way back. So he was really surprised, when Kate looked him in the eyes and spoke for the first time since they had found her.
"No. I have to be at the caves," Kate argued.
"I thought you hate that place," Sawyer said.
"I just need to be there," Kate insisted.
"Alright. I'll go with you." Sawyer had no idea what was going on, but he wasn't going to let her go by herself. And if it made her feel better to be at the caves it was all right with him.
When Jack got up he noticed a sharp pain in his ankle.
"Damn," Jack cursed and sat down again to examine his foot. It wasn't broken, but it felt as if he had sprained his ankle. But there was no other way. He had to climb that cliff anyhow.
Jack found a piece of wood next to him. That had to work as a splint. He took his shirt of and ripped it apart and after a few minutes he had an acceptable splint. Slowly, Jack placed his foot on the ground again and stood up. It still hurt, but it would go. Reaching above, Jack managed to get a hold on the cliff and pulled himself up.
There was no sign of Kate. He went into the direction where he had last seen her, calling her name again and again. Finally, he went back to the cliff. On the one hand, he told himself that he would have found her body somewhere near if the monster had gotten her. But on the other hand not knowing where she was made him feel sick with worry.
Then he noticed that his backpack wasn't where he had left it. The only possibility was that Kate had taken it. That meant she was probably all right and on her way back to the beach. Relief filled Jack, but then he realized how the scene must have looked like for Kate. The abandoned backpack, him missing, the cliff. She must think I'm dead, Jack realized.
Jack wasn't sure how Kate felt for him. He doubted that she reciprocated his feelings for her. If she would, she hadn't run away from him and back to Sawyer right after that incredible kiss. But Jack knew that she cared about him and that she would suffer thinking he were dead.
And not only Kate. Every one of the survivors relied on him. How would they react to the news that their only doctor was probably dead?
Jack made his way back as fast as his hurt ankle and his still throbbing head allowed. But after he had walked for about an hour, he felt that he had no energy left. The pain in his ankle got worse with each step and he started feeling really dizzy because of his injured head and the lack of water. He was a lot slower than normally and it started to get dark. When he heard the sound of a river not far away, he decided to drink something and make camp for the night. He would leave by sunrise.