Chapter 20

Kate trudged along following the trail. It was fairly easy to follow, as if the person who made it didn't know anything about hiding their own trail, but something seemed odd about it too. But Kate just couldn't put her finger on it. She frowned as she walked, concentrating on the nagging feeling that something about the trail wasn't right. Sayid stayed right at her side, eagerly following. Every few minutes he would ask her something about the trail. He was trying to learn a little bit about tracking.

But Sawyer followed from a short distance behind, constantly watching her back. Every once in a while he would stop while Kate and Sayid continued ahead and take a deep breath, concentrating on the surroundings. He would survey what he could see, and quite his breathing straining his ears for anything that might give him a heads up if some one was approaching.

All of this done within a few seconds, he would then jog forward and catch up to his previous position behind the other two. He kept his eyes open and his hand on the knife John had given him. Sawyer wanted to be prepared if anyone attacked. Jack had said that Eithan had attacked him when he and Kate were following the trail, so Sawyer wanted to be ready as Jack hadn't been.

Every once in a while his eyes would stray to Kate's back. He loved the way she moved. She wasn't exactly graceful moving throught the forest, but her body was lithe and supple. And the rhythm of her step spoke of a confidence that Sawyer didn't think even she knew that she had.

At one point she stopped in the middle of the path they'd been making. A worried look came over her face and she looked around at the ground. She squatted down and brushed her fingers lightly over the ground where a soft imprint had been made. This position was just perfect for Sawyer who was still standing behind her, admiring the view. Kate sat back on her heels and looked around her at the ground. This motion made Sawyer grin. When she did it, it pulled her pants that much further down her back and now he could see a bit of her soft skin peeking out from between her pants and shirt.

Kate looked at him, "Sawyer. Come here." She didn't even notice that he'd been checking her out. "Look at this." She pointed to a footprint in the dirt as he walked up and squatted beside her.

"Yeah. It's a footprint. Don't that mean we're going the right direction?" Sawyer asked with a sarcastic hint to his voice.

Kate glanced at him and then pointed to another footprint. "You see this one?" Sawyer nodded. "It's deeper, more defined than the first one. That means the person who made it was heavier than the other. And the print made by the first person doesn't have nearly any markings on it. It's like the tread has been worn off of the shoes, or it wasn't even there to begin with. Do you remember what kind of shoes Shannon wore?"

Sawyer looked at her like she was crazy, "Sure I know what kind of shoes she wore. They were little pink fluffly slippers with bunny rabits on 'em. How the hell am I supposed to know?"

Kate opened her mouth to make a reply, but decided to hold her tongue. Instead she explained what she was thinking. "No. Shannon wore flat-soled shoes. Those off-white ones with almost no tread. Don't you remember? That was why she kept falling when we were climbing to higher ground to listen to the transciever. She couldn't get any traction."

Sawyer's eyes opened a bit wider in understanding. "You think she made these tracks?"

Kate nodded. "And some one was with her. These tracks are too much like someone walking side by side. Not at all like one person chasing another."

Sayid had been listening intently to Kate and now stood up like a shot and his eyes searched the woods around them. He turned in circles, looking. "Shannon! Shannon!"

Kate lept forward and grabbed Sayid, pinning him against a tree and covering his mouth at the same moment. Sawyer almost fell over in shock. He'd never seen Kate move so fast before.

Kate leaned her weight against Sayid to keep him from pushing her off. "Sayid. Get a grip." Her voice was calm...too calm. She sounded like some one on the brink of panic who makes one last desperate attempt to collect themselves. It seemed to be working. She took a deep breath. Sawyer hadn't realised until that moment just how worried about Shannon Kate was. Still looking into Sayids eyes Kate continued, "Where ever Shannon is. Whomever she is with. She went of her own free will. These are not the footsteps of someone forced. And she certainly wasn't being chased. So we have to assume that she's ok." She nodded her head and looked at Sayid to make sure he understood. Finally he nodded to and Kate slowly let go of him and stepped away.

Kate walked back to Sawyer and leaned her head against his chest. She sighed deeply. Sawyer put his chin on top of her head, and his hand on her waist protectively. He glanced at Sayid who was not even paying them any mind anymore. He seemed to be praying, but Sawyer couldn't be sure. He looked down at Kate, "We should keep going."

She sighed again, "Yeah."

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By the time the sun began to set, the three of them hadn't found anything new. They stopped for a break, and Sawyer sat down heavily. Kate passed him the water after taking a drink herself, and then she dug in her bag for some fruit. She found a passion fruit and a coconut. She held the coconut out to Sawyer as if offering it to him. "Uh-uh," he said shaking his head. "I had enough of those things this morning. Don't need you to humiliate me again."

Kate rolled her eyes and tossed it at him anyway. It hit his chest before he caught it and he narrowed his eyes at her in a glare. Kate giggled a little and then used her knife to cut a slice out of the passion fruit. She handed the slice to Sawyer who just glanced at her.

He ate it without a word and then put the coconut between his feet.

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After they'd all eaten, Kate took a deep breath and looked around. "Well, it looks like we're not going to find anymore today. We should head ba-." But just at that moment all three of them heard men's voices through some tall grass.

Sawyer jumped to his feet and Sayid spun to face the sound. All of them had their knives in hand and stood ready of anything. The voices grew louder and Sawyer inched closer to Kate. Kate glanced at him and then swallowed. IWhy does he have to look so damn hott when he's being protective/I she wondered silently.

Kate shook her head a little to clear her mind of that. She had to stay focused. She couldn't lose her nerve. If she had to kill aga-

Before she could finish the thought, Locke stepped through the grass and stopped in front of them. He looked confused. Next came Jack and then Boone. Jack looked at the three standing in the small clearing that now seemed to be crouded, and then looked at Locke, "I thought you said we were moving North East?"

"We were."

Jack looked around himself again. "Then how did we run into them?"

Locke looked a little disturbed. "Maybe their path veered away from the west." But before he had finished, Kate was shaking her head.

"No. I'm sure we were moving due west."

Locke just looked at her, and then their surroundings, "Huh," was all he said.

After a moment of silence Jack asked, "Well, did you find anything?"

Kate, still looking at Locke, shook her head, "No. Did you?" But Jack just shook his head. "I'm pretty sure she came this way though."

"What makes you think that?"

"Really?"

Jack and Boone both spoke at the same moment. Kate paused, not sure what to say. Then she seemed to collect her thoughts. "Yeah, we-."

"Found her footprints." Locke finished the sentance for her.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

He glanced at her, "I have eyes," he said, pointing to the ground.

During all of this Sawyer had stood silently, still gripping the knife firmly in his right hand. "Ok... So are we gonna keep goin' or are we just gonna stand here for the rest of the night and chat? Cuz if it's all the same to you, we can do that while we walk."

Kate looked at Sawyer in mild surprise. She hadn't thought he'd cared at all about whether they found Shannon. And in fact, he didn't...not really. At least, he wouldn't have admitted it. But he knew that Kate did, and besides, he wanted to find the damn girl and get back to the beach...to the tent. Kate smiled at him a little and started walking down the trail, not waiting to see if anyone would follow.

Sawyer caught up to her after a short ways, and walked beside her, quietly thinking to himself. They walked close enough together that sometimes their arms would brush together. Every time this happened Kate shivered. It made her scalp tingle just thinking of him, but every time they touched it was electrifying.

She was lost in thoughts of Sawyer when suddenly he grabbed her arm and she jerked to a halt. She looked up and there directly in front of her, not ten feet away, was a wall of rock. A sheer climb, straight up for about 50 feet. And Shannon's trail stopped, right at the base.