Chapter Three: Attack
Shannon arrived at the caves out of breath an half an hour. She didn't know why she had taken the cave route, maybe part of her just couldn't picture a monster, or whatever was out there, in the cave area. She figured Boone was right behind her, and had no idea differently. Not knowing what to do, she ran to the medicine cave where she thought she might find Jack. At least they could warn everyone.
Sure enough, Jack was in the cave, but he wasn't alone. Sayid was there too, and they seemed to be in deep conversation about a letter that Jack immediately hid when Shannon ran in.
"What?" Jack asked. "What is it?"
"Is someone in trouble?" Sayid added.
Jack caught her before she collapsed in exhaust, and handed her a bottle of water that was on one of the makeshift tables. He sat her down in one of the chairs from the wreckage, and both Jack and Sayid lowered themselves to her level.
"Breathe slowly," Jack advised, trying to get Shannon to catch her breath.
She finally did a few slow minutes later.
"You got it?" Jack asked.
Shannon nodded as she calmed down. Jack sighed in relief.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked again. "What were you running from?"
"What?" Shannon asked, looking at him. "You didn't hear it?"
Sayid and Jack glanced at each other, having no idea what she was talking about.
"Here what?" Jack asked.
"This loud.. roar," Shannon said.
Sayid and Jack just stared at her.
"We were down at the beach, by the wreckage-"
"We?" Sayid asked.
"Me and Boone," Shannon said quickly, "I found him down there. Anyway, we were talking and then we heard this loud road. Then there was this rustling in the trees. I was so freaked out, I didn't know what to do..so I just ran."
Shannon stopped short, catching her breath, feeling embarrased in the mist of Jack and Sayid, who she thought would've done anything but run away in the face of danger. Just another peeve for people to gossip about. The only helpful thing she had been able to do since the crash was translate French, which at first, she had been very crowd of. But no one put articles about translating French in the town newspaper.
"Where's Boone?" Jack asked, staring her straight in the eye.
Shannon looked around, realizing for the first time Boone wasn't with her.
"Boone didn't show up?" She asked, looking from one man to the other.
They all glanced at each other.
"Oh damn.." Shannon muttered.
The three of them were taring through the jungle back to where Shannon and Boone were on the beach. Each were screaming Boone's name at the top of their lungs in hopes of a reply. When they finally reached where the sand met the trees, the three stopped, and looked around. Shannon was the first to spot Boone lying in the sand next to the wreckage. Boone appeared injured, dead looking..
"Oh no.." she gasped, whispering under her breath, "God no.."
"Shannon.." Jack began, not wanting her to do anything stupid.
Ignoring him, Shannon took off towards where her brother lay, and Jack and Sayid took off after her within moments. Shannon collapsed by Boone's unmoving body, and Sayid and Jack stopped short above her at the sight. Sand was sprinkled over Boone's face where he had obviously rolled on the ground. Two large cuts crossed his face from his forehead down to his upper lip where something had clawed at him. His shirt was torn in numerous places where he had tried to get away, and his arm was bruised from rolling on the ground. Shannon had to hold back from breaking down at the sight.
"Oh God.." she kept repeating over and over again under her breath.
"Shannon.." Jack started again.
Shannon didn't say anything as she stared at her brother's unmoving form. Jack bent down next to her and put two fingers up to Boone's throat, praying for a pulse.
"Come on Boone.." Jack muttered under his breath.
He couldn't feel any. Sayid and Shannon watched as Jack put his head to Boone's chest, trying to feel even the slightest breath. None.
"Come on, Boone!" Jack said a little louder, as if the shouting would wake him up faster.
And maybe it did, because when Jack felt Boone's neck again, there was a beat. It was silent, and not strong, but a beat all together. He looked up at Shannon.
"There's a pulse," he said.
Shannon breathed a sigh of relief as she loosened the grip she had on Boone's hand. Sure he was a jerk, but after all the trouble Boone had gotten her out of, she realized that maybe he did really care for her, and to lose him would eat her alive.
"He'll be okay?" Shannon asked, eyes of hope boring down on Jack.
"We have to get him to wake up," Jack said, "or he might loose that breath."
Shannon stared desperately down at her brother as Jack began to slap him lightly on the cheek that was uninjured.
"Come on Boone.." Jack muttered again, "come on.. wake up."
The slaps grew gradually harder as Boone refused to respond.
"Come on Boone!" Jack shouted again as he slapped Boone harder, fearing failure, failure to Boone, to Shannon, and to himself. Beside him Shannon began trembling, and her fight to hold back tears began to fall. Sayid stiffened behind them, eyes set on Shannon in concern.
Boone finally let out a cough, and the other three let out a final sigh of relief, but no one's was as great as Shannon's. To Jack and Sayid's surprise, Shannon bent down, hugging Boone, despite his condition. Jack reluctantly pulled her back.
"Give him some space," he advised.
He looked back down at Boone, who was slowly coming out of unconsciousness.
"Can you understand me?" Jack asked Boone, praying for a 'yes'.
Boone nodded.
"Do you think you can sit up?"
From the looks of it, Jack concluded that Boone wasn't bleeding internally, and that he had luckily not broken any of his ribs. Boone nodded. Jack looked up at Sayid.
"Help me sit him up."
Sayid bent down and grabbed Boone under his right arm, and Jack did the same for his left. Together, they managed to sit Boone up against the wall of the wreckage. Jack held a finger in front of Boone's eyes and moved it left to right. Boone's eyes followed flawlessly. Jack looked at Shannon.
"He's good," he reassured.
At last Boone gained enough strength to speak.
"What happened?" He asked weakly.
Jack and Sayid exchanged a glance. Memory loss was never a good sign.
"You were attacked," Jack explained, and then stopped. "You don't remember..anything?"
"Not really," Boone moaned, tilting his head to the side, wincing in pain. He stared out at the nearby ocean, listening to the crashing waves that were threatening to lure him back into darkness. Closing his eyes, he turned away, trying to block out the sound, and trying to avoid the three pairs of eyes watching his every move.
Jack paused, thinking, then:
"We need to get him back to the caves," he said to Sayid, who nodded in response.
They made to help Boone stand, but Boone suddenly gasped as pain shot up the side of his head. Boone brought his hand to where the pain was, and brought back blood. Jack glanced at Sayid again.
"We need to hurry."
They bent down once more, but Boone stopped them.
"Wait," he said suddenly, "I remember something."
The other three looked at him.
"There was this girl," Boone said weakly, remembering, "she looked seven.. eight? Blonde. She was bleeding.. bad.. everywhere.."
A pause followed.
"That's not possible," Jack said finally, breaking the silence.
"Do you remember what happened next?" Sayid pushed, hoping to get an answer while Boone was still remembering.
But Boone shook his head again.
"I blacked out," he said.
It took longer than normal to make the trip to the caves, with Boone in tow, but with both Jack and Sayid's strength, they were able to hurry down most of the straight trails. They unintentionaly left Shannon behind to follow, but what they didn't realize was that the fast movement was causing Boone to fade in and out of consciousness. The castaways in the open cave stood immediatly at their entrance, confussed and worried, as the two ran in with the body they couldn't identify. Sayid turned to Shannon, who had only just caught up, not wanting any trouble to arise.
"Can you take him?" He asked her.
Shannon nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, I think.."
Sayid didn't give her time to finish as he lowered the half of Boone into her arms. Ignoring the heaviness, she helped Jack continue carrying Boone into the caves. When they finally arrived, Jack sat him down in the chair from the wreckage. Boone laid with his eyes closed, but Jack knew he wasn't unconscious.
"Deep breaths," he told Boone, "deep breaths."
When Boone caught his breath again, Jack began searching through the medical supplies he had gathered. Shannon was staring down at her weak brother.
"Is he going to be okay?" She asked, worried.
Jack glanced at her. From the way he had seen the two fight, he wouldn't of ever guessed that they cared about each other so much. It gave him an odd sense of relief, seeing Shannon's concern.
"Yeah," Jack assured, "don't worry."
Shannon looked doubtful, and Jack found himself beginning to feel sorry for her forcing himself to push the good feeling away. Jack rubbed his head, trying to remember where he put the medicine tape he had been looking for.
"Look, I need to go to the other cave," he said to Shannon, "I think I left something there."
Shannon nodded, not daring to take her eyes off of Boone, fearing that if she did, she'd miss his passing moment.
"Look at me," Jack said, needing to have her attention.
Shannon forced her fearful eyes away from Boone.
"If his breathing goes down or out of rhythm, come and get me," Jack said seriously.
Shannon nodded, but Jack could tell she wasn't listening to him.
"Do you know what that means?" Jack asked her.
This time Shannon didn't respond at all. Shannon was staring at her brother with hopeless guilt. Jack stopped before reaching the exit.
"He'll be okay," Jack reassured again, "don't worry about it."
Shannon didn't reply as Jack lingered a minute, then stepped out to where Sayid had been waiting the entire time. Both men glanced towards the caves where the stunned Shannon hadn't moved.
"They really care about each other, don't they?" Sayid said, who had also noticed.
Jack nodded.
"Yeah," he said, they really do."
"What do you think their story is?" Sayid wondered out loud.
Jack just shrugged, and walked the other way, leaving Sayid in his thoughts.