Chapter 8

They'd been walking across the island for nearly 4 days now. The day before they had reached the area where the tail section of the plane had crashed, and Eko had suggested they stop by the old abandoned hatch to get some rest. The other 3 were too tired to argue. They were starting to lose hope of finding her.

Jack laid flat on his back on the little bunk bed staring up into nothing. He was so frustrated being immobile like this; he wanted to get up and go find Kate. He needed to do something instead of just lying here. Claire had music playing almost constantly since she'd pretty much taken residence down in the hatch, she and Sun had taken turns staying down here to keep an eye on Jack. The words of a song came drifting in through the speakers and partly open door of the bedroom.

Never wonder what I'll feel as living shuffles by
You don't have to ask me and I need not reply
Every moment of my life from now until I die
I will think or dream of you and fail to understand
How a perfect love can be confounded out of hand
Is it written in the stars
Are we paying for some crime
Is that all that we are good for
Just a stretch of mortal time
Is this God's experiment
In which we have no say
In which we're given paradise
But only for a day
Nothing can be altered, there is nothing to decide
No escape, no change of heart, no anyplace to hide
You are all I'll ever want, but this I am denied
Sometimes in my darkest thoughts, I wish I'd never learned
What it is to be in love and have that love returned

Sun came in bringing Jack some food, he'd hardly eaten the last few days. She saw him lying there eyes open but not really focused on anything in particular.

"Jack? I bought you some food, you need to eat something"

"I'm not hungry"

"Jack, you not eating isn't going to help bring her back; you need to get your strength back"

Jack didn't answer, they'd been through this before several times he knew she was right of coarse but he just couldn't bear thinking about food while Kate was god knows where, he didn't even know if she was ok, though he tried his best to avoid thinking about that. He just had to believe that she was ok but everyday that went by that neither a sign of Kate nor the 4 men that went looking for her went by he just started sinking deeper in this deep dark pit of misery.

Sawyer, Eko, Charlie and Sayid had been making camp at the hatch for over two days, they'd left at day break every morning scouting the area as far as they could before returning to the hatch at sunset tired hungry and growing more weary and doubtful. They hadn't so much as picked up a trail of anything or anyone except themselves and some boar tracks two days ago.

On night 6 as they were sitting in the hatch eating some mangos and bananas, Eko broke the silence. "We need to head back, we searched everywhere we could."

"No, there must be some trace of them, contrary to what it looks like they couldn't have just vanished into thin air" Sawyer quipped not wanting to admit defeat.

"I think Eko's right, there's nothing and no one out here. We need to go back." Charlie said slowly

"Fine then you go" Sawyer replied

"Look man I want to find her too but it's been a week" Charlie said looking beat.

Sayid looked at Sawyer, "they're right, we've searched this area as thoroughly as we could"

"Then I'll search another area, this island is huge" Sawyer wasn't about to agree.

"Exactly. Its too big for the 4 of us to try and find her" Eko said again.

"Who knows maybe she had already found her own way back to camp while we're trudging through the jungle here. If Claire could find her own way back then its possible Kate did too" Sayid had a valid point.

"We'll head back in the morning" Eko said looking at Sawyer.

Sawyer sighed he was obviously outnumbered and as much as he hated having to return without her he knew deep don they wont find her out here. It was foolish to think so in the first place. He just had to hold on to the hope that Sayid was right that she somehow did manage to get back to their camp.

Jack had a blinding headache when he opened his eyes. He felt like shit. His leg was throbbing and he was hot and sweaty. He had a fever he realised as he reached for the glass of water next to the bed. He had inspected the wound in his leg a few days ago and wasn't happy with what he found. The wound was red and swollen and it was getting progressively worse. He had taken the last of the antibiotics two days ago, the last of the strong ones anyway. They had finally run out of the strong stuff now all that was left was the weak stuff prescribed for flu. These weren't going to prevent the wound from getting infected but it was already infected he thought. He'd tried to hide it from the others but knew Sun, Locke, Rose and Claire who had been clucking around him like mother hens suspected something was wrong.

He knew if he didn't get medical attention soon he'd have a big problem but who was he kidding he did already have a big problem as there was no medical attention to be got.

Sawyer, Sayid, Charlie and Eko started walking back early the next morning. They'd made good time and as Eko led the way out the jungle to an open rocky beach area.

Charlie and Eko were in a deep discussion about religion when Sayid suddenly held up a hand putting a finger over his mouth and sshhing them. All of them instantly on guard. Listening to what it was Sayid had heard. At first it was a low droning noise that steadily got louder it wasn't coming from the jungle side as they had first thought but from the ocean and it was coming from the air. Sayid pointed to a small grey spot that got bigger as they watched.

"A plane" The 4 of them said as one.

"It's really a plane!" Charlie yelled excitedly. Starting to jump up and down, waving his arms.

That got the other 3 men going they all ran further down the beach we're they'd be spotted easier swinging their arms and yelling as they went.

The plane got bigger and louder as it came closer to the island. The four men standing on the beach waving wasn't sure if their eyes were playing tricks on them at first, was this plane real, were they really rescued?