His chest and his stomach hurt the most as he shifted uncomfortably from one leg to the other. He caught Kate staring at him and stopped moving, giving her a sarcastic smile that made her turn away again. They were standing by themselves, waiting for the rest of the rescue party to turn up.

Hearing a heavy sigh he saw Sayid join them, standing beside him, rubbing his temple and groaning. He considered asking what was wrong but stopped himself before the words got out of his mouth. Even if he did ask, Sayid would probably snap at him, and then Kate would laugh and he would be even more alienated. Sawyer didn't mind being alienated, but he preferred it when he was the one alienating himself, rather than other people doing it for him.

"Are you okay?" There, Kate had asked instead, now he didn't need to worry.

"I am fine. I just have a headache."

"You asked Jack about it?" Sayid turned to face him and Sawyer instantly wished he hadn't asked; now he would be retaliated against. His mind began to work quickly, forming comebacks to every attack he could think of. He was shocked by the answer he received.

"No."

That was it, a simple no. It hadn't been said with malice or with a smirk, it was just an answer, the same he would have given to anyone. It was questioning though, as though he didn't understand why he would have seen Jack. Sawyer decided to enlighten him.

"You were unconscious for a while."

Sayid shook his head, "I will be fine. It is just a headache, and Jack has enough to worry about without me adding to the pressure."

"Yeah Sawyer."

Sawyer growled under his breath at Kate's interruption. There had been no need for her to speak, and there was certainly no need for the smugness now plastered over her face.

He looked around the camp, it had calmed down quite a bit and the taste of fear had gone from the air. Most of the castaways had stopped moving and this made Locke stand out even more. He smiled at Sawyer who kept his face as still as possible, watching Locke's smile drop. He felt slightly guilty at it but he didn't feel the need to get close to Locke. Or any of the survivors really.

"Jack will be here soon." Locke didn't look happy at Kate's statement and Sawyer found himself remembering Jack's return to camp, repeatedly asking if it was Locke who had attacked him. He hadn't noticed how big the rift between them had become. Sawyer smirked to himself, there would be someway he could use that to his advantage, he would just have to wait until the right moment.

With a smile at Kate and a seething glance towards Locke, Jack arrived. "Right, we need to move quickly." He began to walk away, trekking into the jungle with Kate following straight behind, Sayid going a short way after them and Locke tagging along at the end.

Sawyer decided to keep pace with him, waiting a minute before speaking, "you seem to be in the Doc's bad books then."

Locke shook his head slightly, "I always am."

"And why's that then?"

"I convinced Jack to be leader," Locke sped up, causing Sawyer to clasp a hand across his ribs at the quickened pace. He was surprised, he'd never heard of it.

"You convinced him to…"

"Yep."

"How did you manage to do that then?"

"Told him that people were scared, needed guidance, someone to organize them. Jack decided to take on the role and now he blames me for it."

He stopped walking; looking at Sawyer's chest and Sawyer instantly removed his arm, aware that Locke was probably pausing to let him rest. He wasn't going to let himself become a charity case. It wasn't that he wanted to prove himself as a strong man; it was that he didn't want to be indebted to anyone. It was easier to struggle to care for yourself and deal with the consequences than to let people care for you only to find that they wanted something in return days, even years down the line. It was the reason he'd preferred to con alone, no matter how much harder it was to pull off and it was the reason that he now forced himself to keep his arms at his side as he continued to trudge through the jungle.

"I think that's the reason. Maybe he just has a problem with me," Locke chuckled and Sawyer recognised something. It was the same one that he used when Kate was fawning over Jack. It was the one that he used when he tried to mask his insecurities. Locke didn't seem to notice that Sawyer had figured it out so he decided not to tell him, there was no reason to upset him.

He almost wanted to hit himself though, when ten seconds later he was trying to work out how to use that flaw against him.

"John," Locke moved to the front of the group as Jack called him and Sawyer followed, standing next to Sayid who kept blinking, as though his eyes were finding it hard to focus.

"I lost the trail; we need you to take over."

"Yeah, you know, the reason you're actually here." Sawyer noticed the bite in Jack's tone even more than usual.

Locke looked down at the ground, searching a short way ahead as everyone else sat down, pulling out water bottles to drink from. Sayid being silent, Sawyer could hear snatches of Jack and Kate's conversation.

"We should have never let him come…" Sawyer felt his stomach clench in anger before he heard Kate's reply.

"…knows how to track…" Oh, they weren't talking about him. It felt strange; suddenly he wasn't Jack's nemesis anymore. He'd have to change that or he'd be risking his cherished position as most hated.

"…useless…"

Locke called over to them that he had picked up the trail and they followed him, Kate and Jack still deep in conversation. After thirty minutes Sawyer looked back to see that Sayid had stopped, rubbing his temple again. Sawyer whistled, getting the attention of Jack.

"Sayid, come on, we only just rested."

Sayid didn't move but stumbled slightly, still clutching at his head.

"Sayid! I said now!"

Sawyer wasn't sure why Jack had become so angry with Sayid when his gripe was with Locke and he was almost about to ask when he heard Sayid speaking.

"My head really hurts."

"Sayid!" Jack charged towards him, fury plastered on his face, "Sayid!"

Suddenly Sayid's hand fell away from his head as he collapsed in a heap on the floor, unconscious. Everyone froze until Jack's voice, the anger replaced by fear, was heard again.

"Sayid?"