Chapter 11

They walked this way for almost half the day, stopping twice only, once when Sawyer's stomach pain struck and once when his injured foot gave way beneath him and Kate fell onto the ground with him.

Sawyer knew his condition was not getting better, if not worse. His whole body ached with the fever and every step was pure agony as it sent stabbing pains through the injured ankle. On top of that, the massive headache remained, though the pain in his shoulder has reduced to a dull throb. His vision was getting dizzier too, and he was sure he would have collapsed right onto the ground had Kate not support him.

"Why don't we stop to eat something?" Kate suggested. She was hungry, yes, but the main reason was she wants to check Sawyer's condition. He should be resting now, not trotting through a forest in his state.

Sawyer nodded his head wearily and Kate helped him limp towards a tree, where she lowered him to lean against the trunk. She took out a mango and some chocolates from the backpack, offering them to Sawyer.

"No, Freckles, I'm not in a picnic mood right now." Sawyer attempted to lighten the mood. Kate sighed and started to munch the chocolates. She didn't realise how tired she herself was until now. "Why aren't you eating?" she asked.

"Thought I just told you the reason?" Sawyer said, leaning his head against the trunk and closing his eyes. "You need to eat to regain your energy! " Kate hissed at him fiercely. She still remembered how he used his own body to shield her from the bullets flying above them. Oh, does he really think he is made of steel? That he can deflect bullets and go without food?

"Nay, prefer to sleep.." Sawyer replied without opening his eyes, his voice barely audible. Kate could see that the walk has almost depleted what little energy he had left and he was clearly in much pain. "But…" Kate's sentence was cut in mid-air when sounds of rustling leaves were heard coming from some bushes in front of them.

Sawyer opened his eyes as he had apparently heard the noise too. He pushed his good hand against the tree behind him and stood up gingerly, taking care to let the uninjured foot take most of his body weight. The world span dizzily around him once again and Kate was quick to put an arm around his waist to stop him from falling.

To their great surprise and relief, it was Jack and Sayid who emerged from the bushes. "Kate! Sawyer!" Jack exclaimed as he saw them, clearly rejoiced at his finding.

"Woo-hoo, goody Doc and Ali to the rescue ……." Sawyer started to say before his world suddenly turned black and he collapsed into a heap. Kate didn't have the strength to stop his fall but she managed to somehow slow down the speed of it and lessen the damage he would have done to himself.

"Sawyer! What's wrong with him?" Jack asked Kate as he bent to examine Sawyer.

"He's got shot by a bullet in his shoulder, the bullet's out but he had lost a lot of blood. I think he is having a fever too and he's hurt his foot from the fall from the tree".

Jack looked as if he couldn't believe what he heard. How come this guy seem to get himself injured all the time? And what was he doing on top of a tree? He lifted Sawyer's head up a little and felt his forehead, shaking his head at the fever. Then he examined the shoulder wound and found that it had stopped bleeding, so he didn't remove the bandage Kate had tied earlier. Next he removed Sawyer's left boot. The ankle was red and has swollen to almost twice its size, no doubt aggravated by the walk through the jungle.

Jack worked to bandage Sawyer's ankle with some bandages which he carried in his backpack. "How did you escape?" he asked Kate. "Did the Others shoot him?"

Kate sighed. "It's a long story, think we better get as far away from this place first, we aren't far enough from their place".

Sayid spoke for the first time. "I believe she is right. We are in their territory. Let's get back to our side of the island first." He bent down and looped the unconscious Sawyer's arm around his shoulder. Jack quickly took Sawyer's other arm and did the same. Together they managed to hold the Southerner between them and walked from where they came from. Kate followed silently behind.

They walked until it turned dark and all exhausted, they stopped to rest under a tree. Sayid offered to take the first watch. Sawyer still remained unconscious when they laid him down.

In the middle of the night, Jack was awakened by Sayid's frantic voice. "What happened?" he asked.

"It's Sawyer, he seemed to be in pain" Sayid said. Jack turned and true enough, Sawyer was awake and doubled up and gasping in pain, clutching at his stomach in agony. But there was no injury to his stomach when Jack examined earlier! 'Oh… the Others" Jack suddenly recalled that Others had injected Sawyer with something as part of their 'tests' and he was in pain when he left them.

"Yes but you don't have to worry about that" Kate's voice came from behind him. Apparently she had also awakened. "One of them who helped us to escape gave me something to inject him every 24 hours for 7 days. I had already given him 2 doses. The next one is due tomorrow morning. The pain should lessen after the 3rd day or so".

Jack turned to examine Sawyer again. Although he was still in the curled up position, his breathing seemed to be more regular now, indicating the pain has lessened. But the fever remained. They had to get back to their hatch as soon as possible.

"Don't worry about me, I'm not dying yet" Sawyer growled at them, though his voice was very weak.

As it was already near daybreak, Sayid decided to scout ahead for any dangers. Kate followed him, leaving Jack to care for Sawyer.

Jack sat in silence overwatching Sawyer lying with his eyes closed on the ground, not sure whether the latter was sleeping or unconscious. There was nothing much he could do now and he hoped Sawyer would pull through the ordeal.

Suddenly a loud rumbling was heard in the forest, followed by a woman's scream. Thinking that it sounded like Kate's, Jack immediately stood up and ran into the forest towards the source of the voice. Sawyer's eyes opened and he got up too and followed Jack, though his action was slower due to his injured shoulder and ankle.

Sawyer limped painfully into the forest after Jack, and stopped when he saw Jack standing at what looked like the edge of a cliff, looking downwards and shouting for Kate's name. At this moment, the rumbling noise came again and the ground shook. Jack lost his footing and fell over the cliff face.