Time-Line Setting: Sometime in season two, after Collision but before The Hunting Party.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. I am not affiliated in any way, shape or form with anyone who does.
Sawyer moaned angrily in his sleep. He had been happy enough, dreaming about getting off the island, having a million dollar contract for a book deal. Happy enough, he thought, until that stupid mongrel started barking. He flicked his eyes open and crawled to the flap of his tent. He stumbled outside and found himself face-to-face with a man he didn't recognise. The man was bedraggled, with messed hair and a gaunt face. Still half asleep, Sawyer only managed a "who the hell are you" before he heard Claire's ear-piercing shriek.
It was a loud enough sound to wake the rest of the beach and the man in front of Sawyer ran off. Sawyer stood still, nobody else had moved. Claire screamed again and Sawyer, against his instincts, raced towards her tent.
He was almost there when an older man turned around to face him. Sawyer's mind flashed back to the raft, back to being shot, back to being helpless, carried through the jungle. Sawyer disliked many things, but the worst by far was feeling helpless. It reminded him of all those years ago, hiding under his bed, hearing his mother screaming.
"Son of a bitch!" He yelled, launching himself at Zeek. For an older man he was remarkably strong. He instantly flipped Sawyer over and leant on top of him, punching him around his face. Sawyer felt unaware to almost everything, except for Claire screaming "my baby, they stole my baby." He felt the taste of copper fill his mouth from the blows and struggled to command his flailing arms and kicking legs. They may as well have been made of jelly for the good they were doing him. He closed his eyes to try and block the pain out but suddenly he felt Zeek thrust off him. He opened his eyes again to see Sayid throwing punches against Zeek. It gave Sawyer time to stand up, swaying from the blood loss and the pain but seconds later Sayid was thrown to the ground, hitting it hard.
Sawyer barely registered that Sayid had stopped moving; all he wanted to do was get revenge on those who had shot him. He began to go back to Zeek but he disappeared. Settling for his second choice, he went after the one nearest to him, but was again bested. Sawyer lay on the sand, this time refusing to get up. It wasn't worth it to get even more injured.
He could see people start to pour from the cave onto the beach. Half went to see the injured castaways, the others tried to fight against the Others. He saw one of them circling Locke, only to get knifed in the stomach. It howled in pain and instantly all of them left and ran into the jungle.
There was a moment of eerie silence as everyone froze, unsure whether or not to expect another attack. Then people started to dash around the beach. Sawyer twisted his head back to being straight, and grunted with pain from the exertion. He was listening to Charlie and Kate trying to console a hysterical Claire when he felt a shadow above him. He blinked and saw Locke's concerned face looking him up and down, taking in his injuries. Sawyer opened his mouth to come up with an insult but couldn't be bothered to think of one.
"Kate, over here." Kate's shadow joined Locke's as she stood over him, not moving, just staring at him. "Kate," Locke repeated, "we need to get him to the hatch, the medicine's there."
Sawyer felt them try and pick him up by his arms but lashed out, using up most of his remaining strength, "you ain't taking me nowhere."
"Oh my god." Sawyer saw Locke leave and move a few feet away.
"John? John!" Kate's voice was getting high-pitched and Sawyer chuckled, it was the way she always sounded when she didn't get things to go exactly as she wanted them to.
Sawyer managed to twist his head again and saw Locke crouched over Sayid's body. Locke tried to move his head to rouse him but it was to no avail. He leant his hands against his neck and wrist and Sawyer could hear him heave a sigh of relief. "He's alive," he called to Kate, "but we need to get them to Jack."
Kate scanned the beach, "I can't see him."
"He's got to be here, he wasn't at the caves and he wasn't in the hatch."
"He's not here John."
Locke paused for a minute before stalking back to Sawyer. Looking at Kate, he commanded, "go and get Sun, she might be able to help." Kate sped off and Locke ripped open Sawyer's shirt, taking off his own to clean away the blood that covered Sawyer's chest to see the extent of his injuries. Sawyer shifted uncomfortably before feeling darkness encroach on him. As he closed his eyes to stop the world from spinning, the last thought in his head was that he was once again helpless.