Chapter 12

Sawyer immediately ran towards the cliff, dropped to lie on his stomach in an amazing speed, and managed to grab hold of Jack's wrist tightly before he fall from reach. Jack gripped Sawyer's wrist in return and moved his legs frantically to try to find a foothold to stand upon.

Sawyer discovered to his dismay that in his haste, he had stretched out his right injured hand, which was now screaming in pain. Jack's weight had pulled at the shoulder wound and Sawyer could feel it open and the warm blood flowing out. He was afraid he won't able to hold the grip for long. His other hand had managed to grab hold of a rock protruding from the ground, the only thing stopping the 2 of them from plunging down the cliff.

"Sawyer! What happened?" Kate came running to where he was lying. She looked down the cliff and saw Jack hanging on for his life. Turning to look at Sawyer, she saw that the muscles in his arms were stretched taut with effort and his face showing obvious pain.

"Get….. Sayid…." Sawyer grinded his teeth against the pain. He knew that even if Kate helped, she won't have the strength to haul Jack up.

Kate froze for a moment before she quickly took off running. After a short while, Sawyer was relieved to hear Sayid's voice. His shoulder felt to be on fire and he could feel the grip weakening. The hand holding on to the rock was also now bleeding from cuts on the rough rock face.

Sayid took an overall look before quickly taking out a sturdy rope from his backpack and he tied one end round his waist. He tied the other end to a tree nearby and instructed Kate to hold on to the slack in between. Then he ran over and laid face down next to Sawyer, stretched out one of his hands to grab Jack's other hand, the other hand holding on firmly to the rope tied to the tree.

"OK, pull!" Sayid shouted and both he and Sawyer pulled Jack slowly up the cliff. Kate held tight to the rope as she watched Jack emerge over the top.

When they finally got Jack over the cliff, Sawyer collapsed onto the ground rolling onto his left side immediately. Kate rushed over to him and found him shaking with pain, his eyes tightly shut and his previously pale face was now almost deathly white.

"Are you alright?" Sayid asked Jack. Jack nodded, taking a while to normalise his breathing before running over to where Sawyer laid. As expected the shoulder wound has reopened and is now bleeding profusely, soaking through the old bandages. Jack put a hand on his forehead and found that his temperature has risen even further.

"How did you fall down the cliff?" Sayid asked.

"I thought I heard Kate screaming from below, I stood at the edge looking for her, the ground shook and I went over" Jack replied. Now thinking back, maybe it was not Kate's voice that he heard.

"Think we better get out of this place fast. Not a good sign to hear women screaming and the ground shaking" Sayid said. "Can you walk?" he asked Sawyer.

Sawyer opened his eyes and decided not to use his limited energy to reply. He attempted to sit up, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in the shoulder. Halfway up, a sudden pain that felt like a stab shot up from his shoulder all the way down his legs and he nearly collapsed back onto the ground had Kate not been supporting him. Finally when he managed to sit up, his whole body was covered in sweat and his breaths were coming in short gasps.

Sayid bent and helped Sawyer get to his feet, Kate at the other side. After the initial dizziness has passed, Sawyer managed to walk with the two of them supporting him at each side, his injured ankle threatening to give way with every step. Jack walked slightly ahead of them.

The four of them went back to retrieve Jack's backpack where he took out the bandages and rebandaged Sawyer's shoulder. Then they continued to walk as fast as Sawyer could manage, only resting when Sawyer's stomach pain strikes or when it gets too dark. Jack gave Sawyer the daily dose of injection, checking that his condition though did not improve much, at least did not get worse. And the stomach pains did indeed lessened after the third jab as the woman promised.

After walking for about 2 days, the four of them finally reached the beach, since the hatch had been destroyed. By then Sawyer was nearly delirious with the fever and blood loss, limping in whatever direction that Sayid and Kate led him. The pains in his shoulder, stomach, head, ankle have all merged to a point where he couldn't differentiate any of them. They brought him to lie down on the plane seat in his tent where Jack cleaned and rebandaged his wounds properly, giving him some medicine for the fever and infection. Kate insisted on staying next to him throughout though she herself was pretty much tired.

"Looks like I need the doctor to save my life again uh?" Sawyer said to Jack, his eyes almost shut with exhaustion.

"Actually this time you saved my life first, from the cliff." Jack replied. "Thanks". Sawyer raised one eyebrow at that, not used to being thanked. For the first time, he doesn't have a smart retort to that, so he decided to close his eyes and have the much delayed rest that he needed.

"I'll stay with him…" Kate told Jack, her eyes not leaving Sawyer. She gently placed a hand on his forehead, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. "…forever"

END.

Big thanks to all my reviewers who kept me going especially to Freckles101, shirik, Jimmy-barnes-13, speckled girl, Piper chris fan, and everybody else! This is my first fanfic, and maybe my last? Anybody, hope everyone enjoyed the story, thanks for reading and reviewing !