A/N: Some credits for this chap must go to hottietom. (Search for her pen name, she writes great Smallville TC!) She guest stars in this chapter as Amanda, who shows up in the second sector. Claps for hottietom! Woo! Anyway… clears throat let's have a look in the mail bag and see what we've got!
shirik1: Thanks! Hope you like this chapter as much!
hottietom: Ah, so you don't like the doc either, huh? And who said anything about Boone dying? He's sick, that's all, and whether he dies or not, well… you'll have to read on…
Orlando-crazy: Thank you
Pen Lidden: Well you'll find out soon! And thanks, I was worried that I might be overdoing the twists and whatnot, but I guess not! And as per request, this chapter does actually include a lot of Charlie!
Here's the next chapter, so enjoy, and make sure you don't forget to review, and I'll reply!
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It was dark, and Sawyer had been writing in his journal for a good three hours, stopping only to build and light the small camp fire that was now his only light source. He had been surprised at how much he actually had to write about. He'd never realized how much had happened since landing here until he put it down in words.
The light was growing dim, and Sawyer lowered his book to check on the fire. He jumped a little, startled. He didn't see the fire. What he did see was Jack's face, so close that it filled his entire vision. Sawyer blinked, and pulled back a little. Jack didn't move.
"Do we need to have that 'personal space' talk, JackO?" Sawyer said, placing his journal and pen on his side table. Jack didn't back off, but instead tried to push even closer. His face collided with Sawyer's palm, pushing him away. "Look, I'm flattered, really I am, but you just ain't my type."
Sawyer waited for him to leave, but still he didn't. He studied Jack. Something in his eyes unsettled him. They looked glazed, like he wasn't all there. But Sawyer had never been one to get unnerved, especially by such a minor detail. It just wasn't something that happened to him. Instead, Sawyer lost his temper.
"What the hell are you still doing here?" He yelled. "Either tell me what you want or get -"
Sawyer ended his sentence in a shout as Jack launched himself at him with a roar. He tackled him off his chair, and both men landed heavily on the ground. Jack pinned Sawyer to the ground, who screamed as he felt the other man's teeth sink into his shoulder. He managed to kick Jack off, scrambling to the entrance of his tent, holding his hand over the wound.
Jack was back on his feet almost immediately, Sawyer's blood painting his mouth. He ran at him again, pushing him to the ground.
"What the hell is your problem, you crazy son of a bitch?" Sawyer shouted at Jack. He looked around wildly for something, anything he could use as a weapon. Finally, his eyes landed on the pen on his table, and he seized it, plunging it into the other man's neck.
Jack's screams echoed around the entire beach.
Sawyer had an advantage, and he used it, scrambling through the sand as fast as he could, considering his weakened state. The blood was beginning to seep through his fingers and he was starting to feel a little lightheaded. He was not doctor, but he guessed that wasn't a good sign.
Meanwhile, Jack had wrenched the pen out of his neck and was advancing once again. Sawyer had just made it outside his tent when he felt a pair of strong hands close around his throat. Shit. He thought. He was already feeling faint, and cutting off his air supply didn't help. He tried to gasp for air, but it was no good. He couldn't kick Jack off either. He was about to pass out, and he was sure he wouldn't wake up this time.
"Jack!" Sawyer heard a voice scream. "What are you doing? Get off him!"
A second later, Jack was tackled off him and thrown onto the sand as though he'd been hit with a wrecking ball. Sawyer gasped and pulled in huge, grateful breaths of air.
He looked over to where Jack had been thrown. Sayid was on top of the thrashing man, wrestling with him until he was on his front in the sand. Sayid pulled Jack's hands behind his back and fought to keep him still until re-enforcements arrived. He bore a striking resemblance to a rodeo clown attempting to stay on top of a disgruntled bull, and Sawyer would have laughed, had his bleeding shoulder not been giving him so much pain, or the colored spots in front of his eyes making him dizzy.
"Oh God…" Sawyer heard a female voice say beside him. "Oh no…" He flinched as he felt cold fingers touch his wound. After a minute, he realized that the fingers and the voice belonged to Kate. She must have also been the one who screamed before.
Sawyer could hear voices, screams, could see people rushing past to restrain Jack through the colored spots dancing in front of his eyes, could smell salt, the sea, his own blood…
Then it all stopped, and everything was black.
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Charlie sat by the fire, working on a new song. He strummed a few chords.
"Hmm..." He changed frets, and tried it there. "That's better." He said, writing something down in notebook. He heard someone approaching, and turned to see a teenage girl walking towards him. She had reddish-brown hair, and big green eyes.
"Mind if I sit down?" She said, gesturing to the log he was currently using as a seat. Charlie looked up at the girl
"I don't see why not." He said, sporting a friendly smile, and turned back to his guitar, strumming a few more chords. "I'm Charlie."
"I'm Amanda. That's a nice guitar." She commented, sitting down. "I brought one on the flight too, but I never found it." She trailed off, sounding sad. "It was a great guitar, too. Schecter Diamond Series. It was black, had upside down pink flames. It went from a light pink to almost purple in this sunburst effect. There was even this awesome vine inlay on the neck." She smiled. "It cost about $650. Took forever to save up the money."
Charlie looked up from his guitar in sudden interest.
"You play?" He asked her, placing his notebook down on his other side.
"Have been about a year now." She replied, her southern accent coming out. "My dad was teaching me. Gosh, I always wanted to play like him. You know that song Eruption by Van Halen?"
"Are you kidding?" Charlie asked, turning to face the girl, forgetting that she was about ten years younger than him. "I practically worship it! That's the song that got me into playing the guitar in the first place!"
"I know! It's unbelievable. Anyways, my dad can play that. I can sit there and watch him play all day." She said, staring at the flames in front of her. "By the way, you aren't bad yourself. I've heard some of your songs. And no, not the ones you wrote on this island. I mean Drive Shaft."
"Oh yes?" He said, unable to keep the grin off his face that often showed up when meeting a fan. "You like us?"
"Well, I have to admit, you aren't my favorite." Amanda confessed. "That title goes to Green Day, Black Sabbath, and Motley Crue. But, you are good."
Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Black Sabbath and Motley Crue? Aren't you a bit young to know about those bands?" He said. 70's and 80's music is a teenager's favorite? I have to say, she has taste.
"Well, just because I'm young doesn't mean I'm a rock illiterate dork. Besides, -" She was cut off when someone walked over.
"Mandy, there you are!" The newcomer said, kneeling in the sand in front of her friend, so far oblivious to Charlie's presence. "Have you-"
"For the last time! Don't call me 'Mandy'!" Amanda blurted out. "Sara, how many times do I have to tell you?"
"Uh, sorry." Sara said in a rush, obviously preoccupied. "But did you see what just happened down the other end of the beach?"
"No, Sara. I haven't." She replied, obviously not very interested. She turned to Charlie, "By the way, this is Sara. She sat next to me on the flight, and we're kinda staying together." She turned back to the other girl. "What happened?"
"You know that... doctor guy?" She asked. "The one who had some sorta crazy spaz thing?"
"That would be Jack." Charlie corrected her, frowning.
"Yeah, what about him? Did he spaz out again?" She asked, now interested.
"Well, yeah. Sort of." Sara said, putting her gossip-face on, although this was much more serious. "He fully attacked that southern guy… you know, the pack rat? Bit like, a chunk out of his shoulder!" Charlie and Amanda's jaws dropped.
"Wait, let me get this straight." He said. "Jack, our Jack, out right attacked Sawyer?" He asked in disbelief.
"Are you sure that's what happened? Absolutely positive?" Amanda asked, eyeing Sara.
"Well, I don't know about a chunk..." She admitted. "But he sure did bite him, and it was enough to cover a lot of the sand in blood." Sara shuddered. "Had him by the throat, too. Damn near killed him, from what I heard." Charlie started to look worried.
"Would you girls excuse me? I think I better go check in with Kate." He said hurriedly, before picking up his guitar to leave.
"Well, I might see you later, Charlie?" Amanda asked tentatively.
"Yeah, sure." Charlie replied. Even though she only looked about fourteen years old, Charlie had realized in those few short minutes that she was actually pretty cool.
Amanda smiled in satisfaction as Charlie walked away.
"Wait… did you say Charlie?" Sara asked, turning to her friend as the truth slowly dawned on her. "That's Charlie Pace from Drive Shaft, isn't it? I thought I'd seen him somewhere!"
Amanda nodded, smiling. She knew how much Sara loved Drive Shaft.
"Oh my God! I've gotta find a pen!" Sara squealed in excitement, and scurried off to the tent she shared with her friend, leaving Amanda smiling after her, and shaking her head.
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"Kate..?" Charlie called out cautiously, approaching Sawyer's tent. There was a soft glow coming from inside, outlining the vague silhouettes of the people moving around within. Voices could be heard too, but Charlie couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
He spotted something out of the corner of his eye, and looked down. There was something on the sand just outside the door to Sawyer's tent. In the light (or lack thereof) he could only make out dark patches, but he had a fair idea of what they were. He shivered and hurried past.
"Kate?" Charlie asked again, pushing back the tent flap which had been let down and poked his head in. His face fell when he realized that Kate and Sawyer weren't the only occupants of the tent.
"Hello again." He was greeted cheerfully by the British doctor, which seemed a little out of place after such a grim ordeal. "Charlie, wasn't it?"
"Yeah…" Charlie replied less-than enthusiastically. His eyes flitted over to Sawyer, who was sitting in his airline seat, allowing Richard to bandage his arm. Apart from the blood-soaked rags lying around him, and the faint shadow of Jack's hands around his neck, Sawyer didn't look too bad for what he'd been through.
"Is everyone ok?" Charlie asked, not wanting to specifically ask about the southern man, considering their history.
"Sawyer's fine." Kate said, and Charlie blushed. "He's lost a lot of blood, but he'll be fine so long as he rests."
"Well yeah." Sawyer said, scowling. "I'm just peachy, apart from the chunk missing from my shoulder!"
Kate shot a pitying look at Sawyer before turning to Charlie.
"It's gonna take a while to heal…" She told him; lowering her voice so only Charlie could hear.
"Where is Jack?" Charlie asked, suddenly remembering the other competitor in the fight.
Charlie's question seemed to have caught Kate off-guard, and she stared at him for a few seconds before answering.
"He's, um…" Kate tried to get her tongue around the words that just didn't want to come out. "He's with Sayid." She turned away from Charlie to go back over to Sawyer, who was waiting patiently while his minor wounds were being tended to. It was obvious that there was so much more to it than what she was saying, but Charlie didn't press any further. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.