Chapter 15

Kate whipped around looking for James, she hadn't realized they were no longer behind her because she had been too focused on making sure the children were okay, and holding up under the grueling pace.

"Sawyer!" She breathed in consternation.

"He's gone another way. About an hour ago." Eko told her without stopping or turning around.

"How do you know?"

"I know. It makes sense and will help confuse any would-be pursuers. He knows what he's doing Kate. Have faith as hard as it must be for you to believe, he really does."

Kate was upset, 'Why does it seem that other people on this damn rock know him better than I do? When did this happen?' It was also slightly disconcerting to hear people speaking of him like he was an equal or even an authority on something good.

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James was fighting hard to stay focused on keeping an eye on Walt, covering their tracks and keeping an eye on Zeke. He'd realized too late that he hadn't bound Alex and by now she must have freed the Others. 'Rookie mistake James! How couldya let yourself be so distracted by Freckles and those damn doe eyes she was makin' at you!'

It didn't matter now all that mattered was damage control. Zeke must have realized the same thing too, and that would explain his meek behaviour. It irked James to no end that he couldn't stop and question the man but time was running out. He had to get them back onto the survivors' side of the Island as fast as possible. He had thought about tying Zeke up and hiding Walt somewhere and going back but he knew that was a foolish plan. He would have to plow ahead and hope that his luck didn't run out on him.

"You tired, Shortround?" James asked in a concerned voice.

"No, Mr… I mean, Sawyer. I am fine, we have to get back to the beach, I can rest when we get there."

"Thank God you're talkin' again, you had me worried there little man, I thought they'd done somethin' to you."

"I held on until you got here. I knew you were coming for me."

"What's that now?"

"I knew you were coming for me Sawyer, she told me I had to wait and you would come to rescue us."

"Who told you what now?"

"Catalina, she told me you were coming."

James froze in shock, grabbing the boy's shoulders, he kneeled on the ground, shaking him forcefully. "You saw her?"

"Yeah, she stayed with me most of the time, and she didn't say much, but she had a beautiful voice when she sang to me at night."

James looked at the child with dismay, 'I'm losin' ma damn mind, that's what's happenin' here.'

Releasing the child, he looked up at Zeke who was watching the exchange with keen interest. His eyes showed he'd heard everything and was trying to figure out what it all meant.

James stood threateningly, "Move it Zeke, I don't recall tellin' you to stop walkin'."

The man shrugged nonchalantly before he started walking again, in silence James brought up the rear looking behind him to see if anyone was following.

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They stopped to rest at the same spot they had rested on their way to the Others' camp the day before. The children slept in the tree, Kate at the trunk, while Eko stood on guard. After some argument, Kate had conceded to this arrangement because quite frankly she was far too exhausted.

Eko watched her as she slept and wondered at her relationship with the Southerner. 'Those two love and hate each other so much I wonder when they will ever pick an emotion and stick with it.' He mused to himself.

Eko knew if they even had a chance to make it as a couple, it was a long and rocky road ahead of them. Kate was fighting her feelings for the Southerner that was glaringly obvious to Eko, the one he couldn't figure out was James. The man was a mystery, he obviously had some military training but there was so much more to the man it wasn't surprising that no one else seemed to have picked up on it. And now Ana-Lucia complicated the picture, because she had some power over Kate with knowledge of James' past, but also it was starting to look like she cared about the man as more than just a friend. Something that made emotions Eko did not want to study too closely rise to the surface.

Looking at Kate's wristwatch he had to fight the urge to groan in frustration, two more hours to let them rest! 'I need to sleep too! But I won't because our lives depend on it. Sometimes I really wish I had died.'

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An owl hooted somewhere in the distance, making the hairs on James' neck stand of their own accord. Owls were a bad omen and he did not like to think what the connotations of that were going to be for him. At midday he had let Zeke and Walt rest for a few hours, the man's leg had bled through his makeshift bandage so James had rinsed it in water and slapped some of Sun's herbal remedy on it before retying it. His pack had scorch marks on it but thankfully everything else including his boots,was still in there.

When they had resumed their trek, Zeke had mumbled through his gag, so James had lowered it briefly. "Why did you re-dress my wound?"

Replacing the gag, James had responded truthfully, "Blood leaves a trail, 'sides I have no intentions of carryin' you Zeke."

Now it was around nine o'clock, and James and Walt were supporting the injured man as they climbed a steep hill. When they got to the top James looked behind them and saw the torches glowing in the dark behind them. 'Shit! They must be 2 hours behind! They'll make it over the hill a lot faster than we did. Damn it!' Hustling Zeke down the hill before he could notice how close his people were, James set an even more grueling pace than before. They were still a good three hours from the CommieCaves and even there the chances of him defending them from attack and succeeding were slim. 'Come on Cat, help me out here!' He thought to himself desperately.

This time he did not bother to hide their tracks as they were running out of time, and half running, he dragged both Zeke and Walt into the heart of the jungle with him. To James' everlasting gratitude they stumbled into a small stream that was flowing in the direction he wanted them to go. 'To hell with it, wherever this stream goes so do we. I can't risk being on dry land right now. At least in here we have a chance.'

Turning to Walt he said, 'I hope you can swim son, 'cause we're gonna be in here for a while and it may get real deep and the current real strong in some places.'

Walt looked up at James with the trusting innocence only children can have in an adult, "Yeah I can swim. I'm not a strong swimmer but I know you won't let anything bad happen to me." The child spoke with such unwavering conviction that James was blown away.

"Yeah well, don't be too sure kid, try real hard to make it on your own. If all else fails I'll be here."

With that he dragged Zeke with one arm and Walt with the other downstream, cursing under his breath at the frigid coldness of the water.

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Kate felt her breath catching in her throat, they were running so fast her vision was blurry. Eko had told them all to run after he'd heard an owl hooting somewhere behind them a half hour ago. The children were amazingly resilient; they hadn't complained once and had been able to help scrounge for food like seasoned veterans. Now they were running alongside Kate but they didn't seem to be having as much trouble keeping up with Eko as she was.

'I can't run like this for much longer! I just can't!' Suddenly Eko stopped, holding his hand up. The children shuddered to halt like well trained horses but Kate ended up barreling into Eko's solid form and would have fallen if he hadn't caught her. Sinking to her knees she vomited violently, unable to stop the humiliating display of herself she was making.

When she was done Eko gave her some water to rinse her mouth with, then a few sips before taking the water away.

"Gently now. Take small sips only."

Kate wanted to cry she could feel all the children were watching her and she just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

After a few minutes, Eko helped her up to her feet, "The caves are only a few minutes away, come let us rest there." Weakly she followed him and the children to the caves, silently giving thanks they wouldn't have to run again just yet.

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James felt like he was dying, his lungs were bursting and everything was in a red haze as he swam desperately for the surface. Gasping for air as his broke the surface he choked on some water before he managed to start swimming towards the rocks. Looking around him he realized he was at the waterfall! The stream had led them into the waterfall, and he'd been fine when they had landed in the water at the bottom, except he'd had to let go of Zeke in order to make sure Walt survived the fall. After placing Walt on a rock he'd gone back in the water with his flashlight to find Zeke. The injured man was unconscious and more than half drowned because he'd hit his head on the rocks on the descent. While swimming to the bottom of the pool in order to drag the man up he'd been hit by a fallingrock in the back of his head and that had made him a little disorientated. Combining the injury with the pressure as he swam and the strain of dragging the unconscious man, James himself had almost drowned.

Walt was looking at him withsaucer-like eyes as he dragged Zeke onto the rock with him. Kneeling at the man's chest, James ripped the gag off and started to give him CPR, a few minutes later Zeke choked up water and James turned him over onto his side so he could spit the water out.

"Is that what it took ta get ya to ungag me, James?" The man spoke without rancor, but it still managed to sound like criticism.

"Unfortunately, it seems that's the only way to get ya to shut up Zeke." Having said that, James gagged the man again, then falling backwards to catch his breath, he leaned on a boulder, his legs sprawled in front of him.

"You okay, lil man?"

Walt nodded, "That was kinda cool."

James laughed slightly, "Yeah, I guess it was."

Dragging himself to his feet he looked at his pack in surprise, "It was in the water I fished it out for you." Walt said.

"Thanks, now come on let's get goin'."

Yanking Zeke roughly to his feet James pulled some rope out of his pack and tied it to the man's bound wrists. Checking his rifle and then the pistol he'd tied to his ankle, James stood up and led the way, once again hiding their tracks as they went.

They arrived on the beach around 1 a.m., Sayid was keeping watch and he dropped his gun in surprise as he saw Walt running down towards the beach. "Michael! Michael!" The Iraqi yelled excitedly, as Vincent barking excitedly came running to greet his master.

People started to come out of their tents wondering what the commotion was, "Jack! Walt's back!" Yelled Charlie as he shook the sleeping surgeon awake, Jack got up groggily, running out of his tent with the elated Charlie behind them.

"Dad!" Exclaimed Walt, as his father ran up to hug him. Everyone was exclaiming and talking excitedly. Only Jack and Sayid noticed the man that James had tied to a rope behind him.

"Who's this?" Enquired Sayid.

"This is the Hillbilly Pirate that shot me on the raft, took Walt, an' kidnapped Kate to name a few of his crimes." James spoke like a tradesman advertising his wares.

"Is he the leader of the Others?"

"No, the leader of the Others is dead, this man was his second in command. Now how 'bout we take him to that hatch of yours Jacko, so Ali here can interrogate him real nice an' friendly like?"

Nodding his assent to the suggestion, Jack said, "Let's go, you know the way."

As the three men started to march to the hatch, James asked, "Where's Kate an' Eko?"

"Funny I was going to ask you the same thing, Sawyer." At that response, James stopped and looked at Jack in mounting fear.

"You mean they ain't back yet?"

"No. They ran off in the middle of the night two nights ago to look for you."

Untying the rope from his wrist, James handed Jack the rope with a look of dismay on his face. Turning away from the two men he ran into the jungle, with the ironclad grip of fear on his heart.

"Sawyer!" Jack yelled, as he started to run after him. Sayid held him back, "I'll go after him, in the meantime get the prisoner to the hatch. I will meet you there when I get back."

Jack shook his head in disagreement, but Sayid had already taken off after Sawyer, to follow them with the injured Other would be folly so he just took the man to the hatch instead.