Chapter Five: Fog
The stream water was cool and refreshing against her cheeks and when she closed her eyes, she could feel the tracks of droplets rinsing away all the sweat and grime from the past twenty-four hours. With the back of her hand, she pressed away the excess water clinging to her eyelashes and tried to ignore the feeling of eyes boring into her. Even when she had made it known she intended to relieve herself, Alex had only restated she was under orders to keep her eyes on her captive at all times. Kate had wanted to argue, but she wasn't the one with the authorative weight of a rifle by her side.
"Hurry, we don't have much time."
Kate rocked back on the balls of her feet, wiping more water along her arms before shaking off her hands. Barely rotating on her toes, she looked at Alex, who glanced at her and then to the path they had just walked. No sign or sound of company could be seen or heard; only the still whispers of pre-dawn surrounded them.
"You wanted to know about Claire," Kate said, trying to sound as uninterested as possible. If there was ever a time to dig for clues, this was it.
"Did she have the baby?"
Kate regarded the other girl for a moment, noticing the way her eyes seemed to light up in a desperate search for answers and the way she inclined her body forward with eagerness.
"Yes," she answered, slowly.
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
"Boy."
What could only be described as relief flooded Alex's face. She beamed at Kate as if the two of them were best friends sharing secrets at a slumber party. Well, Kate thought, weren't they?
"Alex," Kate called, retrieving the teenager's wayward attention. "Why were we brought here?"
The tension returned almost immediately and the area around them seemed more hostile and targeting than a few minutes before.
"I…" Alex frowned, throwing another paranoid look over her shoulder. "I think they want you for tests. But I don't know."
"You think?" Kate knew the frustration was apparent in her voice, but this whole situation was trying even to her patient nerves.
"They don't really talk about their plans in front of me," Alex explained. She was grasping desperately for that familiarity she had managed to find in Kate.
Kate huffed a sigh. All right, dead end. Try a different angle. "What kind of tests?"
There was a snap that seemed ridiculously loud and they both turned towards the path where it came from. A silhouette was approaching.
"I'm sorry. I can't say," Alex whispered. She moved and grabbed Kate's elbow, pulling her up. Her expression was panicked and her voice urgent. "We have to go back now."
The figure still approached them at its steady rate. Kate felt her feet moving before she nodded her understanding. As they walked, the figure lost its ghostly appearance and the characteristic ragged clothes and scraggly beard of an Other morphed through the morning mist. All Kate knew was that the man before her was not the one named Tom.
"What took you so long?" he growled at Alex, eyeing Kate suspiciously.
"I lost track of time," the girl responded. It was a good cover, but years of learning to make excuses on her toes told Kate that that's exactly what it was—a cover. If he knew it too, he didn't say anything. Instead, he spun on his heel, barking a gruff order to follow him and to hurry.
For someone who talked so much, Jack thought, it was amazing how fast Sawyer could close his rambling mouth. The instant the shadow had reappeared at the door, the Southerner had instantly ceased all attempt at communication and took to fixing a cold blue stare at the man who walked in. Jack forced his eyes to see their visitor and saw the reason for the hatred in the other man's eyes. It was Tom and Sawyer hadn't forgotten the grudge he intended to fulfill.
Tom smiled a friendly greeting and in his loud voice offered, "Morning, boys." He shifted to look at both of them and that's when Jack got a good long look at two syringes stuck in his belt. He stared, fixated and felt his heart jump to his throat. Needles were never good.
"You gonna bring us some breakfast, Zeke?" Sawyer snapped. "Or did you just fry your own outside our hut for your own entertainment?"
"Don't worry James. You'll get your food soon enough," Tom replied, seeming unfazed by his captive's goading comments. He reached to his belt for one of the syringes and casually attached a needle to its end as he walked slowly towards Sawyer. "All right. Say ow."
"Sonofa…" Sawyer yelled, tensing against the injection and watching with a mixture of horror and rage as the syringe filled with his blood. His thrashing did little good against his secure bonds. "What the hell is that for?"
"Well I can't tell you that James," he grinned. He broke the needle off, marked an "F" on its side and tucked the syringe back into his belt. He pulled the other syringe out, set it up much the same way and turned to face Jack. "Your turn."
Jack stared straight ahead, mainly in defiance but also because he knew there was no point in fighting. He barely flinched as the needle pierced his skin and forced himself to relax his muscle to ease the pain. He let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding when the sharp sting receded from his arm. Only then did he allow himself a glare at Tom.
"You're awfully quiet today Jack," the man said, standing above him. The superior and inferior reminder was not lost on Jack; he just choose to pretend it didn't exist. "It's not like you."
The snap of the needle breaking off, the scrape of a knife marking "S" and Sawyer's movements was all that could be heard before Jack found his tongue.
"Where's Kate?"
Tom laughed that same condescending laugh after Jack had tried to call him on his bluff in the clearing.
"She's fine." His tone was slow and not reassuring in the slightest. "You'll be seein' her soon."
Jack felt his steely gaze melt into a look of pure confusion and out of the corner of his eye, saw Sawyer cock his head and set his jaw at the remark. But Tom wasn't giving them anymore hints and said, "See ya later boys." Without a second look back, he exited the hut.
Something was out of sorts. She knew she wasn't dreaming but she felt like she was stuck in the middle of a sleepy fog. The edges of her sight were fuzzy but she could still hear everything going on around her. Her arms felt numb and heavy, and for once in her life, Kate thanked the bonds that held her. If they weren't there she was sure she would have fallen in a heap to the ground. Whatever that man had injected her with had hit her fast and had hit her hard.
But it wasn't a sedative. That had knocked her out efficiently before she even had time to comprehend being injected. With this, everything around her felt like it was on a delay. Her brain seemed to want to command but her arms and legs were like insubordinate troops with cotton in their ears. She felt like she had no control. That's when she felt the panic set in.
"Kate, you're fine."
She could hear Alex's voice and felt a hand on her left arm, but her neck wouldn't cooperate to let her focus on the girl. It seemed to have joined the strike too.
She watched the man approach her with a different needle and syringe, this one larger and empty compared to the last one. He pulled her shirt sleeve up and rubbed her skin vigorously in a half-hearted attempt to loosen her muscle. It wasn't necessary. Kate was certain she had never been this relaxed in her life.
The needle still pinched and she winced at the temporary pain in her arm and watched horrified as he drew back the plunger, filling the syringe with her blood. Her mind screamed for her to fight back, that this wasn't good, to find help, yell for someone, do something, but her body refused to cooperate.
Instead all she could focus on was Alex's comfortless attempts to reassure her she was fine, that they weren't going to hurt her, that this was necessary if she wanted to see her friends…
Jack? Sawyer? When was the last time she had seen them? Where were they? What was going on?
She couldn't even struggle when she felt two sets of hands hoist her from the ground and drag her, one arm each slung over a set of sturdy shoulders, out into the morning light. Suddenly the sedative seemed much nicer compared to this.