Chapter 6

It was early morning when they got back to camp. A few people went straight back to the beach while the rest headed for the hatch. As Eko stepped into the hatch John caught the sight of a limp Ana-Lucia in his arms. Sayid and Sawyer followed close on his heels with an unconscious Jack being carried by the two men.

"What happened" John asked as he moved out of the way leading the way into the bedroom. He glanced back to see Eko laying Ana-Lucia down on the couch shaking his head at Rose and Bernard who'd been sitting in the living area..

He didn't have to ask to know things went horribly wrong.

"She's dead" was all he could say. Rose and Bernard looked at each other.

"What happened?" Claire who had been in the bedroom with Aaron came rushing out as Sayid carried Jack inside. Sawyer hung back as Jin, Sun, Charlie, Michael and Walt came into the hatch.

Sun immediately followed Sayid into the bedroom to tend to Jack, they'd managed to control some of the bleeding on the way back but she knew he had to regain consciousness before they'd know if he'd be ok.

John walked up to where Eko, Sawyer and Charlie were now talking anxiously.

"What happened out there" Locke asked to no one in particular.

"They started shooting, Ana's dead, Jack's shot…" Sawyer began

"And they took Kate" Charlie finished the sentence.

Locke frowned "why? It was supposed to just be a trade"

"No kidding, guess we can't trust the Neanderthals after all" Sawyer said angrily. "We need to get back out there. Find Kate"

"We will" Sayid stepped into the room; there was a dangerous light in his eyes. He had just about enough of them.

Sun came out in a hurry. "Sawyer I need you to get all the medicine" Jack's gonna need antibiotics and we need to find a way to get the bullet out of his leg"

Michael who had been quiet until now turned to Sawyer. "Tell me where the medicine is I'll go get it" Sawyer was about to object when Michael stopped him. "You can take the bullet out man."

"Me?" Sawyer asked incredulously "What drugs'd they give you Mike?"

"You took a bullet out your own shoulder; you can do this too, Where's the medicine?"

Sawyer stood for a moment, not sure what to do then letting out a long breath he told Michael where to get the medicine as a last thought he yelled out the name of the antibiotics Jack gave him when he was shot. "Ofloxacin. Make sure you bring that"

Michael was already on his way out when he yelled back to Walt to stay there. Rose and Bernard went over to the boy, leading him away from the immediate chaos.

Sawyer went towards the bedroom followed by Sayid and Sun. Eko was kneeling next to the bed applying pressure to Jack's leg that'd started bleeding again.

He was still unconscious as Sawyer stepped forward. Oh hell okay, was he really going to do this? He shook his head clearing away the doubts; he owed his life to Jack twice so he supposed it was time to return the favour. At least he was unconscious he thought as he reached for the tweezers Sun had sterilised and held out to him.

After some minutes Sawyer let out a breath and held up the incriminating bullet and stepped aside as Sun began stitching up the wound as best she could.

Nearly an hour later Jack started stirring and opened his eyes looking around. Confusion in his eyes. He tried to sit up but winced at the pain as he tried to move his leg.

"Lie still Jack" Sun spoke softly next to him. "Your in the hatch, you were shot, we fixed you up as good as we could"

Michael peered into the crowded bedroom. "I got it" He handed Sun the pills and a glass of water. "There was only a few of the antibiotics left though" He said out of breath.

Sayid, Eko and Michael went out into the hallway giving Sun and Michael some more room to work. "It'll have to do for now" Sun said as she turned back to Jack.

Jack was already drifting away again as Sun touched his shoulder. " Jack you need to try and stay awake, you need to drink this" She put one of the antibiotics and two painkillers in Jack's mouth and held the glass to his lips.

Sawyer suddenly had a flash of a memory of himself only half conscious with Kate whispering into his ear to swallow the meds.

He turned to Sayid "we have to go find her, get a search party going, the longer we wait the more difficult it's going to be"

"I know. I'll go talk to some people, get a search party together. Might be difficult after what happened though."

Sayid was right most of the people that had gone with the day before were too afraid to head back. It was nearly 2 hours later when Sawyer, Sayid, Charlie and Eko headed back the way they came.

It was several hours later when Sun and Locke were sitting next to Jack waiting for him to wake up; he'd barely swallowed the pills when he'd passed out again.

He'd lost a lot of blood but there was nothing she could do about that now.

Sun looked up when she heard a groan from the bed. Jack's eyes were open staring at the ceiling.

He tried to sit up again but as his head started spinning he laid back down holding his head as if trying to make the room stop spinning.

Sun got up and leaned over him. "It's ok Jack, just lie down."

Jack shook his head slightly to try and clear the cobwebs from his head. He grimaced as he tried to move his leg.

"I can give you more painkillers if you're in a lot of pain." Sun offered.

He nodded and Sun got up to get the pills. Jack scanned the room. Saw John watching him.

Suddenly it all hit him like a train wreck, they were in the jungle, shooting, Ana falling, himself getting shot…Kate, where was Kate…

"Where is she?" He swallowed the pills Sun gave him

John and Sun gave each other a look. "I'm sorry Jack Ana-Lucia's dead." Locke answered softly and looked back to Sun who nodded, he'd find out sooner or later anyway.

Jack closed his eyes. It was his fault, he led them there. He should've gone by himself. But where was Kate? He was about to ask when Sun interrupted.

"Jack there's something else…" Sun started to say she felt partially responsible, if she hadn't been walking alone in the jungle she wouldn't have been taken than they wouldn't all have came out there and Kate wouldn't now be missing and Ana wouldn't be dead and Jack wouldn't lie here with a bullet wound to his leg. "It's Kate…"

Jack immediately opened his eyes when he heard her name but when he saw the look on Sun's face he wished he hadn't.

Something was wrong, something happened to her. Oh God if she's… No he forced himself to not even think that.

"What is it, Sun, where is she? Where's Kate?" He ignored the dizziness and sat up on the bed.

"She's gone" She said barely louder than a whisper "they took her; I'm sorry"

"No! dammit! Those bastards" Jack's mouth pulled to a fine line, his eyes becoming dark with rage. "We have to find her" He tried to sit up but pulled in a sharp breath.

"You need to lie down Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, Eko and Charlie left hours ago to look for her" Locke said from where he was standing.

Jack laid back pressing his hands to his eyes, "I didn't want her to go, it's my fault I shouldn't have let her go with" He said slowly

"It's not your fault Jack" Sun said quietly.

Jack tried to swing his injured leg over the side of the bed, his face one hard determined line. When his legs buckled under him as he tried to stand, he cursed and swung a fist to the bedside table that made the wood splinter. Sun drew in a breath at the sudden act of violence. Locke moving forward.

"Jack, getting angry isn't going to help get her back. You need to get your strength back, there's nothing you can do right now" Locke tried to calm him down

Jack leaned back holding his now bleeding right hand with the left.

"Let me take a look at that" Sun tentatively came forward.

"No, it's nothing; please I want to be alone"

Locke nodded to Sun and they both left the room, leaving Jack alone in the small room.

It was late afternoon when the 4 men finally stopped to eat something; they'd made good time but knew it would be dark again soon. None of them had any sleep for over 30 hours and it was starting to catch up to them but they refused to give up.

They packed up the remaining food in the backpacks and without saying a word to each other headed even further into the jungle.

Sawyer kicked a rock, cursing. They've been walking for hours. It was already dark again, they had reached the clearing where they'd been the night before hours ago. Sayid managed to get a track of what seemed to be people moving away to the other side of the clearing. They'd been following the trail ever since but then got to a rocky cliff where all tracks just ended. There was no way to tell in which direction they went from that point.

"We might as well make camp for the night we can't go further in the dark" Eko said as he took his backpack off.

Charlie stood around nervously. "Here? You want to make camp here? They could grab us while we're sleeping"

"We'll take turns keeping watch, but we're stopping now" Eko insisted.

Sayid scanned the area as best he could in the little bit of light they had from the torches.

"We might as well it's too dark to go further tonight, and we need some rest."

"I'll take the first shift" Sawyer offered as he sat down on the big rock he just kicked. "I won't be able to sleep anyway"