CHAPTER 13
As Jack set foot into the caves he was met with the overwhelming sourness of Sawyer's vomit, and – to his horror – the smell of blood. Sawyer lay choking, trying to sit up in the corner of the cave, and, hoping that it was too dark and Sawyer was too out of it to notice that he was probably bleeding internally, Jack made his way over to him. He was having trouble breathing and as Jack applied gentle pressure to his shoulders to try and encourage him to lie down again so that he could roll him over onto his side he noticed that his lips were tinged with grey.
"Sawyer this is anxiety." He tried to reassure him.
"No…" Sawyer choked, the effort causing him to shake and shiver triggering another coughing fit.
"Sawyer listen to me…listen to me." He demanded when he wasn't sure that Sawyer was really focusing on what he was telling him. "Are you listening?" He asked.
Sawyer nodded.
"Remember when Shannon had her asthma attack?" Jack asked.
"How could I forget?" Sawyer sneered before doubling over in pain.
"Don't try and talk, just nod your head."
Sawyer glared at him as if to say; 'I've answered the damn question already', before appearing to soften slightly as he looked up at Jack, and he nodded.
"She started to panic," Jack continued, "it's only natural, you think you're dyeing and you try to fight against it, but you're not going to die Sawyer, I won't let you!" Jack turned as he heard Kate enter. "Where were you?" He asked her.
"I…er…I needed to get my head together." She said. "Sorry."
He smiled at her sympathetically, in understanding. Sometimes he forgot that he was more accustomed to dealing with medical emergencies such as this than most. "Could you pass me the yellow pill bottle from inside my rucksack please?" He asked her.
"Sure." She replied and started sorting through an array of water bottles and medical supplies for the bottle.
"This it?" She asked, pulling out a yellow coloured pill bottle with a pitiful amount of pills rattling around in the bottom.
"Yeah, thanks." He nodded, taking it from her. "Sawyer I want you to take one of these." He said tipping a single small pill out onto the palm of his hand holding it out for Sawyer to see the medication that he was offering him. Sawyer gave it a dubious look. "It'll make you feel sleepy." Jack explained. "It'll make you feel better. That way I can take a closer look at you."
To their surprise Sawyer did as Jack said, swallowing the pill down in one gulp. Jack smiled encouragingly at Sawyer as he looked up at him, a glimmer of fear visible beneath the smarthy facade for a moment before his face hardened once more.
"It'll be OK Sawyer." Kate tried to reassure him, but Sawyer only offered her an angry glare in return. He was blaming her for this, she could see it written all over his face. He hated her… and Kate could quite understand why. It was her fault all this had happened – Sawyer was sick and she should have had the self-restraint to not retaliate, and realise that his words were not his own.
Tears began to well in her eyes and she turned quickly to prevent Jack from seeing them as they trickled down her pale cheeks. Suddenly the room began to spin… and would not stop! There was a buzzing sound inside her head, and for a moment she felt as though her heart was beating on the outside of her chest, the same pulse inside her head making her feel as though her skull was about to explode… then it stopped as abruptly as it has started and Kate tried to steady herself – stumbling loudly in the process.
"You OK?" She heard Jack's anxious voice ask her. He didn't turn around to look at her, and so didn't see her struggling to right herself.
"Yeah." She replied, quickly wiping away her tears before turning back round to face him. She saw his face, eyes full of concern for her – and in that moment she knew that she had chosen right in him. "I just tripped over something that's all. I can't see where I'm going in here." She offered Jack a false smile – which he returned – before forcing herself to look at Sawyer. The drugs had got to work quickly once inside his system, he was still obviously conscious, he's eyes were still slightly open, but now he reminded Kate more of a child who was too tired to keep their eyes open but really didn't want to go to sleep – either that or one of the incapacitated drunks that she used to see as she wondered the streets of Los Angeles every night on her way home from work…
"How is he?" She asked.
"It's not looking good." Jack told her.
"What do you mean?"
"I will know more once I've taken a look at him." Jack explained, obviously not prepared to commit himself to divulging the facts about Sawyer's condition until he was sure about what he was dealing with. He went over to his rucksack and removed something sharp from the front zip pocket, Kate recognised it as a sewing needle – maybe even the one that she herself had been forced to use on Jack during their first day on the island. She couldn't be sure but she was aware of the fact that Jack had been sterilising and reusing a lot of their supplies – he'd had to – otherwise they would have run out weeks ago. Grasping one of the fingers on Sawyer's right hand Jack started to insert the needle into the tip of the man's finger, obviously checking for a pain response. Sawyer's reaction was almost instantaneous as he tried to pull his finger away, and when that failed – as Jack was still holding it in place – he let out an involuntary whimper of pain, and Jack finally released his grip on the finger and Sawyer's hand dropped back limply to his side.
"We're going to have to be gentle with him." Jack said, turning to Kate. "The drugs I have just given him are just enough to take the edge off his pain, he's still feeling more than I would have liked, the sedative stops him objecting to anything I may do though."
"How bad will he feel it?" Kate asked.
"Pretty bad." Jack told her. "It's not going to be pleasant for him. He's going to need a lot of support…"
"And that's where I come in?" Kate cut in, suddenly realising the reason for her presence.
"Well I can't be his doctor and his nurse at the same time." Jack pointed out, a pleading note in his tone as he took Kate's statement as an objection.
"What do you need me to do?" She asked with a slight sigh.
"Just stop him from moving around too much, he's likely to become very agitated once I start to examine him but you should be able to keep a control of him. If it gets too much for him just try and comfort him, it shouldn't be too difficult."
Kate nodded as she took her place next to Sawyer.
"Ready?" Jack asked her.
"Ready." She replied.
"OK…I'm sorry Sawyer but this is going to hurt." Jack said as he lifted up his shirt and pressed down lightly on his stomach. Sawyer groaned and tried to turn over but Kate made sure that she placed herself firmly up against Sawyer, preventing him from moving. Jack continued to palpate Sawyer's stomach with his hands, taking precautions not to press too hard, but Sawyer eventually gave up trying to move himself away from Jack and let out a whimper in protest. At this Jack gave a grave sigh and sat back, his arms resting loosely over his knees. "He's bleeding internally." Jack looked up, concluding finally.
"Is it bad?" Kate asked.
"It's not good." Was Jack's response. "My guess is that the lining of his abdomen has been weakened, possibly by the virus, but more likely due to the vomiting, the coughing fit he had when you came to fetch me must have ruptured it."
"Is there nothing you can do?" She asked, scared.
"Well that's the thing… it's not a particularly heavy bleed. Back home it would certainly be enough to result in a trip down to surgery, but it would be fairly simple to fix. There's no way I could even contemplate the procedure here though… I think it's best if we leave him for the moment, keep him sedated… there's really nothing more that we can do." He explained. "If he makes it through the night then he should stand a better chance. I'll stay with him tonight.
You look tired Kate, why don't you try to get some sleep?" He asked her.
"I'm fine." She said.
"No Kate you're not, you're exhausted."
"How can I sleep knowing what I've done?" She asked.
"What do you mean?" Jack frowned.
"Don't you see? All this is my fault! The argument was my fault!" She exclaimed.
"Kate…" Jack said getting up and reaching out his arms to hold her – comfort her. "You cannot blame yourself for this. This virus is an unknown phenomenon to us all, nobody could have predicted that this was going happen. This is not your fault!
Ummmm… would you keep an eye on him for a moment?" He asked as an afterthought, indicating towards a sleeping Sawyer. "I'm just going pop out and get some water."
"Sure." She nodded. As he left the caves with two empty water bottles in hand he gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, she never noticed as he slipped something into his pocket.
…
Jack stood by the waterfall, a small yellow pill bottle resting in his hands as he looked down at it. There were only a few pills left, which didn't make his decision any easier.
He removed the lid of the pill bottle, tipping it up, and, taking one of the already filled water bottles dropped a single pill inside before replacing the lid and slipping the pill bottle back into his pocket. Twirling the water bottle around in mid-air until he was sure that the tablet had completely dissolved, he made his way back into the caves.
"How is he?" He asked Kate.
"No change." She told him.
"Here, I brought you some water." He said, offering her the laced bottle.
"Thanks." She responded gratefully, reaching out to accept it from him before taking a few large thirsty sips from its contents. Jack smiled, going over to check on Sawyer – but still he kept glancing back at Kate. After a few moments he attempted to resume the conversation.
"It's going to be a long night." He told her. He frowned as she suddenly put her hand to her head and stumbled. "I really think you should sit down Kate."
"What's going on?" She asked as she suddenly came over very faint. Jack started manoeuvring her over to another corner of the cave, and she felt herself being gently lowered to the ground.
"It's OK." He reassured her, his face swam in and out of focus as unconsciousness beckoned to her. "I'm sorry." He said. But any further words failed her as she fell into a deep and restful sleep.
Assured that Kate was as comfortable as he could make her Jack then turned his attentions back to Sawyer.
