The clinic was silent. Elli, the nurse, lay half-sleeping at the counter. She'd been watching her patient all day, and most of the night. Last night she worked a double shift, and not an hour after she closed the clinic was Kai brought in. She wasn't able to go to the meeting, though she'd heard the gist of what happened to the man in the hospital bed a few feet from her. Elli had no love for Kai. Even before she knew he was a bandit, she was well aware he was perverse, crude and possibly even a little sadistic. But deep down inside, she felt pity for him. His arm was lightly fractured, shoulder nearly torn out of its socket and his left floater ribs had been all but shattered. No matter what the circumstances, no man should ever be forced to go through that. The petite brown haired girl looked up from her desk.
He was an extremely handsome man, with a young, pretty face and long, thick locks of hair. She glowed red, remembering how embarrassed she was to find herself looking over his body much more thoroughly than necessary when changing him. But now that he was in bed, chest labored with the painful task of breathing, the feeling of attraction was replaced with a distant sadness. A slow, unhappy sigh escaped from her lips. The door to the clinic slowly creaked open, allowing a flow of moonlight into the darkened building. As if her thoughts would be displayed to any person unlucky enough to enter, Elli jerked upright and out of her chair. "Excuse me, uhh…why are you here?"
It was Jack, Karen and Cliff. Jack and Cliff continued walking towards Kai's bed, conversing about something she couldn't hear. Karen broke off from the group and bent down to Elli, speaking in a soothing voice. "Come on El, let's give them a minute." She gently put her arm around the nurse and moved her towards the door. Elli squeaked as the she saw over the taller girl's shoulder. Cliff had propped Kai up uncomfortably and Jack was rolling up his sleeves. "Stop! What are you doing!" She yelped. Karen managed to hold Elli down as she fought to make it to Kai. As the two finally moved out the door, Karen closed it behind them and embraced Elli, trying to calm her. "It's ok, El. It's gonna be fine." Elli returned them embrace and planted her head on Karen's shoulder, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Trust us, Elli." Karen said, hushing her.
The nurse was sobbing too hard to reply.
Inside, Kai weakly growled at the two men who'd forcibly entered the clinic. He wasn't sure what made him angrier, the fact that they planned to beat the information out of him, or because he could do nothing to stop them. Cliff stood behind him, without speaking. Jack pulled up a folding chair and crossed his arms, resting them on the table next to Kai's hospital bed. "You have friends," said Jack, "and I want to know where they are."
Kai simply glared.
About half an hour later, the two interrogators emerged from the clinic. Elli, who'd been silently waiting on the bench with Karen, jumped up and pushed by them into the building. The door slammed shut. Karen stood and joined the two men. "What happened?" Cliff gave her thumbs up. "We got him to talk," said Jack, "and now we know exactly what we're dealing with. The girl flinched as they walked by her. "Did you… did you really hurt him?" Jack was brief. "There's no time for that now. The bandits are camping northwest of town, just off the road. Kai was supposed to report back this evening, so they'll be making their move any minute now. Come on." Karen had so many questions, but she was too nervous to ask them. The three defenders marched into the night, away from the friendly glow of the village they knew.
The night that had set in was dark. Not the dim nighttime that comes by with each passing day, but a thick, seeping tone that illuminated the world in black. The substantial canopy of the heavy forest only added to the depth of the shade, making the few moonbeams that found their way regretful they'd come. To a normal person, in normal times, it'd be terrifying. But Jack knew that in creeping blackness, he was as well hidden as any make-believe monster you could imagine. This road the group followed was the main path to Flowerbud, if you could call it that. It led back to the mainland, back to civilization. It was rarely used. A faint smolder made the presence of others well known. Jack and Cliff reached for their weaponry. Karen fingered the hilt of her knife nervously, thick beads of sweat dripping down her forehead. The three stopped. Voices.
"I'm tired of this shit. Kai's late by three hours," said a man in a deep German accent, "and Kai is never late."
"Calm down." Answered an American. "He'll get here when he's good and damn ready. Crying like babies about it won't get us anywhere. Sayid, boss contacted us yet?"
There was no reply, but an annoyed grunt from the American signified no. "What a damn joke. Can't say I'm too excited to hear from him though, least not until we get that Ledge guy." The Middle-Eastern man spoke up. "Cliff. His name is Cliff."
"Cliff, Ledge, same damned thing. We had him without even knowing it, and let the bastard go."
"And we only need him to get to Karen. Who we only need to get the key from. After that this whole town can burn for all that matters." Karen paled. Jack seemed worried, almost as much as Cliff, but did not waste time wondering. His questions had been answered. These were the men they were looking for, and they were after Cliff and Karen. He began to formulate a plan to take all three men out at once when suddenly Cliff, growing careless and anxious after hearing his name mentioned, stepped on a branch. It snapped cleanly, and all three men stirred. 'No use planning now…' thought Jack. He motioned to his friends and charged towards the fire and clearing.
A very surprised group of men managed only angry yells before they were engaged in combat. Jack studied them quickly. The German was the largest, a husky mercenary type with a painful scar extending from eye to chin. The American was a rugged, handsome and lean fighter, and Sayid, the Middle-Easterner, looking as dangerous as he did intelligent. Jack, Cliff and Karen quickly chose targets and attacked.
Jack found himself up against the German. Using the few seconds he had an advantage in, the farmer hefted his pole high in the air and brought it smashing down across the man's shoulder. He roared in pain, and tackled Jack right over the campfire. Close by, Cliff and the American traded brutal blows, neither giving an inch. Karen had unsheathed her knife and slashed it viciously at Sayid, who took several glancing cuts as he evaded. Jack kneed the German in the stomach, grappled on to both his arms and rolled backwards, coming down heavily on the scarred man's chest, then smashed a fist right between where his ribs formed to make his sternum. A deep, pained breath suggested he wouldn't be lasting much longer, so Jack threw him into a tree and picked up a sturdy end of the pole he'd broken before. As the German charged him one last time, he received the stick to his left temple baseball-bat style, and sunk to the ground, making strange noises. Jack wasn't sure if he'd killed him or not. Cliff and his opponent were grunting as they locked arms and rolled around on the ground. Cliff managed to get under the American, and tossed him upwards, landing in the campfire. He screamed, and pulled himself out, rubbing all over the grass to put out the flames. When he finally regained his senses and turned to face his enemy, Cliff's foot was only inches from his face.
Sayid had taken the upper hand against Karen, but she fought with everything she has. He wrenched the knife out of her, hands, but dropped it as the girl pounded him in the kidneys with her fists. The other two men had beaten his comrades; soon they'd be coming to finish him off. With a yell he tossed the girl into the canopy they'd set up, and dashed to the desk where his laptop was. The man's deep olive complexion was glossed over by sweat. He picked up a small caliber pistol, weak but enough to get the job done. Sayid turned and fired two shots, causing Jack and Cliff to drop to the ground out of sight. The Middle Easterner then ran off through the woods. Towards the village.
Towards Kai.
Dark here. Another night, another chapter. And an even bigger cliff-hanger? How can 'dis be? Will Sayid reach Kai? What about Elli? And what is this key? Find out next time, in No Looking Back, Chapter 8: Shot Through the Heart!