I am so so sorry this is so late. It has been a crazy month and my dog died at the beginning of it, so things have been difficult. But, I finally got this written so I hope you enjoy it! As always thank you for reading.
Guest: Thank you! I am glad you enjoy reading and look forward to more, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
AsukaHyuga: Lol, Boone will definitely not be happy by the time Sam and Sawyer return. This part of season three is definitely so emotional and difficult, but also very well written. Sawyer's scam with the rabbit killed me because almost any other character would have known it was a lie, but Sawyer believing it is believable and so frustrating. I am glad you enjoy reading and I always love reading your reviews, so thank you for leaving them. I have a feeling you will enjoy this chapter. ;)
Queen24824: Thank you for reading and reviewing!
The first thing I notice when I wake up is the music playing from Sawyer's cage. The second thing is that my head still hurts. I close my eyes, as if that simple action can stop it from being morning. There's no logic in attributing the pain in my head to the drugs anymore. They should have faded by last night, but they would definitely be out of my system by now. I've always been the type to deny that I'm sick for as long as possible. Patrick used to make fun of me for having bouts of "food poisoning" that would last for days, and I wonder what he would think now.
I hear footsteps marching towards the cages, then Sawyer calls out to me. "Rise and shine, sweetheart. Do you want half a fish biscuit?"
I shake my head, force myself to stand, and face the others. The thought of food right now makes me nauseous. Maybe it's nothing serious, I tell myself. I've always had a strong immune system, I can handle a little cold. And I often skip breakfast, so I brush the nausea off. Two guards escort Sawyer from his cage, and another two remove me from mine. One woman grabs my arm while a man stands on my other side, flanking me as they walk me down the dirt path.
They lead us through some paths covered by thin metal roofs. It reminds me of middle school. Everything seems a bit old. Like an under-funded project that's been long forgotten. Still, more developed structures than we have back at camp. I wonder how long these people have been here.
"Danny, hold up!" One of the others calls out. Our little group immediately comes to a stop. I turn my head towards the voice and see one of Sawyer's guards leave through my peripheral. He and the women are talking in hushed voices now, and I can only make out a few snippets of their conversation. Something about a boat and Ben. I am about to turn back around when Danny kisses the woman on the cheek. The gesture seems familiar to the couple. I glance at Sawyer and make eye contact for a moment, raising my eyebrow, before looking back forward.
Danny yells at Sawyer, then pushes him forward, and we keep walking. They led us through some more winding paths before we reach our destination. It is a small quarry on the sandy ground. People mill around, some working, some seem to be just standing there. Our guards leave us, and only Danny remains with us now.
"All right, here's the jig. See these rocks here? That's where you two come in. You're going to chop them loose," he points to me. "And you're going to haul them out of here," he points to Sawyer. "If you need anything, you raise your hand. You get 10 minutes for lunch-"
"I got a question, boss," Sawyer cuts him off.
"No questions," Danny tells him. "If you try to run off, you will be shot."
My mouth almost drops open with surprise at this.
"Shot? Don't we even get a warning?" Sawyer protests.
"Shocked, I said shocked," Danny clarifies, pulling out a taser. "If you talk to each other, you're going to get shocked. If you touch each other, you're going to get shocked. If you're slacking, you're going to get shocked. Matter of fact, if you do anything that pisses me off, you're going to get shocked, okay? Let's get to work."
"Where are Jack and Kate?" I ask. "Shouldn't they join our little dream team here?" I know it is stupid to ask. It is not like they will answer us. But I can't help but to show a little defiance, just to piss them off a bit. They deserve so much worse.
Danny doesn't respond, he just steps forward with the taser. I brace myself for a shock, but he instead shocks Sawyer. I wince as Sawyer convulses and hits the ground. My checks heat with anger and I grit my teeth to resit the urge to shout.
Danny smiles at me, and it makes my skin crawl. "Now that was a quarter charge. You got any more questions?"
When I don't respond, he nods. "That's what I thought. Now get to work."
I glance at Sawyer apologetically, and I can see him scheming already. Our eyes meet, and I know that we both know that for now, the only choice we have is to cooperate. And if they won't bring Kate and Jack out with us, we can at get the lay of the land. Until we get the hell away from here.
Working in the heat is awful, but I push through. I work at a purposefully slow pace and put on my best "helpless little woman act" when the others glare at me for moving slowly. This task seems meaningless anyway, so thankfully they don't push me. The nausea has faded, but the sun only makes my headache worse. And my struggle with loosening the rocks is not completely fake. My muscles feel weak and the pickaxe feels abnormally heavy in my hands. As the sun rises higher and higher in the sky, I am more and more anxious for it to be lunchtime. Getting to a halfway point of this day is all that motivates me.
I have a sort of listless focus on my work when a small rock skips across the rocks I'm breaking and someone whispers from the trees beside me. I look up, glancing around for the source. For a moment, I wonder if I've gone crazy and I'm hearing things.
Then I hear another whisper from the jungle. "Hey." I look over and see a young woman with long, curly, black hair. She looks to be in her teens, high school aged. "Careful," she warns. "Don't let them see you talking to me." I face forward again, to keep my eyes away from her.
"Are they keeping you in the cages?"
I nod my head.
"Did you see another guy in there with you? About my age, named Karl?"
"No, there used to be, I think," I tell her. "But they took him somewhere else when they put me with Sawyer."
"You're not even supposed to be in that cage," she laments. I look at her now, look at her face. She looks close to crying with frustration and sadness.
"What do you mean?"
She glances at me, then looks anxiously behind her shoulder. "I have to go."
She is gone before I can call after her. I bite my lip in frustration and run my hand over my braided hair, combing across the loose strands.
Sawyer walks over to me with the wheelbarrow. "Having fun yet, grey eyes?"
"I'm alright," I respond without thinking. I realize I didn't answer his question and blink. "Wait-"
Concern flashes across Sawyer's face, but he is quick to hide it. "Me personally, I'm having a blast. I could do both jobs, no sweat."
I realize what he's saying and I can't help but smile. When he acts like this, I don't know how I ever hated him for so long. I'm exhausted, afraid, and sick and I know he is too, but he is still trying to find ways things better for me. I can't help but love that about him. The realization of what I'm thinking, that emotion, love, terrifies me. Now of all times is not the time for me to be figuring out how I feel about Sawyer, not while we are here, of all places. But the terror doesn't make the realization go away.
"Hey!" Danny shouts at us. "Shut up!"
"Yes sir, boss," Sawyer shouts back, the sarcasm dripping in his tone.
I step away from Sawyer, my thoughts still swimming in my head, and return to my work.
By lunchtime, I am so tired that working another half day seems impossible. They give us sandwiches and water, and I devour the food. Skipping breakfast has definitely caught up to me and I hope that the food will help me power through the rest of the day. There is nowhere to sit, so after I finish my sandwich, I lean against Sawyer and sip my water. His body is firm against mine, and it stabilizes me.
Sawyer slings his arm across my shoulder and brushes the hair out of my face. "How you holding up, sweetheart?"
"I'll be fine," I tell him. "Why do you figure they are having us do this for? It just feels like busywork."
"Who knows with these people? It's all just a game to them."
"Hey!" Danny shouts, walking towards us. "Do I have to review the rules again? Don't touch each other."
I scramble to pull away from Sawyer, but his arm tightens around me. "What hotshot. Your girl's not around, so the rest of us have to be punished. We're just standing here."
"You don't make the rules, smart-ass," Danny retorts, and then he tears me away from Sawyer. As soon as I am jolted away, he stabs the taser into my side. The shock pulses through me painfully and I double over. Sawyer is shouting but I barely hear him because as I recover from the pain of the shock, a wave of nausea hits me and I vomit. I stumble and crouch down to grab my water and rinse the taste of vomit from my mouth.
I still feel weak from throwing up my lunch when I stand, and Sawyer looks furious.
"You," Danny points at me, "have five minutes, then you need to get back to work. And you," he looks at Sawyer, "can start now."
I don't say anything, I just jut my chin out and try to look composed, even though I've never felt so hopeless as I do now.
Sawyer's POV
As the sun sunk in the sky, Sawer continued to assess the situation. Since the jackass who's been overseeing them shocked Sam, all he has been thinking about is getting them out of there. He hated them, the others. He's always hated them, but now that feeling is stronger than ever. Now it's affecting him, affecting Sam, and his selfish self-preservation is awake.
A blond woman was standing across from him, and when the man she was talking to walked away, she looked at Sawyer. He shrugged his shoulders, spreading his arms, daring one of them to challenge him again. He'd love to kick their asses.
She didn't say anything to him. She didn't shock him or do any of the other twisted things that Sawyer had come to expect from these people. Instead, she simply tossed him the canteen of water she was holding. Something about this action, and the smug smile she offered him, ignited even more rage in him. She was happy to act like this was so helpful to him, as if she wasn't one of the people keeping him here. He wasn't even the one who needed water. Sam looked like she was ready to collapse, but they were still happy to punish her to get to him. He didn't mind admitting this, to himself at least. Now that she was in his life again, he wasn't going to let her get away. He couldn't let them destroy her. He didn't know when he started thinking of her as his, he just knew that he had to get her out of this place. Then they could figure things out.
He held the water for only a second before he slowly unscrewed the cap. He would give it to Sam, but he didn't know who they would punish for that. So instead, he slowly poured the water out, staring directly at Blondie while he did. Fuck their charity. He didn't need it. He tossed the container on the ground and went back to hauling rocks.
When Sawyer turned towards Sam, he knew it was time to act. She was resting the best she could out here, leaning on her pickaxe. Sweat was dripping down her face, and she looked pale. But she was still gorgeous. The sun made her hair look different colors, light brown and almost blond in some places. Little strands of hair had escaped her braid and framed her face. Her tank top stuck to her skin with sweat, and he wanted to tear it off and kiss every inch of her.
Sawyer didn't think about much else when he dropped his wheelbarrow and walked boldly over to Sam. She looked at him, but before she could speak, he pulled her face towards him, placed both of his hands on the back of her neck, and kissed her. Whatever she thought of him now, however she felt about him, she didn't hesitate before kissing him back. She grabbed his shoulders and pressed her body close to his. He could feel the desperation in her kiss, and he knew it matched what he felt right now. There was something mad and hot that burned in him as he kissed her. Not just sex, they'd had that connection before. There was something else as their lips moved against each other, and her body pressed into his.
He was smiling when they broke apart, even as he heard Pickett behind him, shouting at them. Pickett hit him in the back of the head with a rifle. It was a solid blow, but Sawyer was ready for it and he was up and swinging before Pickett could hit him again. He grabbed the rifle and turned to the guy on his other side and knocked him out with the butt of the rifle. A third guy came at him with one of those shocker things, but he disarmed him. When another tried to, Sawyer swung the rifle around and pointed at them. "Back off!" he shouts.
"James." A voice called behind him, dead calm. He turned to see the blond woman again, and she had Sam held at gunpoint. It only took one look for Sawyer to know she was serious. She would shoot Sam without hesitation. "Put the gun down right now," she said.
Sam shook her head, and she looked calm, like she would be alright no matter what Sawyer decided right now.
"Put the gun down."
He threw the gun down. It wasn't a decision anyway, they would get out together. Still, Sawyer felt a certain victory in seeing Pickett's bloody face, even as he shocked him.
Sam's POV
The others deposit us in our cages. Across from me, Sawyer leans against the far wall of his cage, coughing.
I sink to the ground, relieved to finally be sitting. "Are you alright?"
He nods, "Never better. You?"
"I'm-"
Sawyer cuts me off before I can speak. "And don't you dare say you're fine, because we both know that's bullshit! What's wrong with you?"
"I think I'm just getting sick, I don't know. It should pass, and I'll be fine in 24-48 hours."
"You sound like such a doctor," Sawyer sighs. "How do you feel, grey eyes?"
"Not great, but I'll live. There is just too much going on to think about it. I just wish I had DayQuil or something. Is that an acceptable answer?"
"Alright, I'll take it, grey eyes," Sawyer accepts.
"Then it's your turn to answer a question. What did you do that for?" I don't have to specify for him to know what I am talking about.
"I couldn't help myself," Sawyer remarks. "You just looked so damn cute swinging that pickax."
"Sawyer," I say, seriously.
He leans forward, closer to the bars of his cage now. "Two of those guards got some real fight in them, rest of 'em, I ain't that worried about. That heavyset guy punches a hell of a punch. Shaggy-haired kid's got some sort of martial arts training, but I think I could take him if I had to. Oh, and F.Y.I., those zapper things got a safety on 'em."
I can't help but grin at him as he talks. "Did you see the looks on their faces when you got a hold of that rifle?"
"I'm guessin' most of these boys never seen any real action. But that blond who had a gun to your head- she would have shot you, no problem."
"I wish you had run anyway," I say, and it's true. I know it's not what he wants to hear, but I need to tell him. That he should run, with or without me, I'd rather him get away.
"I wouldn't let them kill you," Sawyer says, his tone resolute and final. I know there is no arguing with him when he gets like this, so I drop the topic. But I know if it comes down to me or him, and I am making the decision, I'd save him. If only one of us can get out, it should be him. Really, it should be Jack, but I would save Sawyer over him in a heartbeat. I'd save him over Kate, save him over myself. I just hope it never comes down to that.
"And I noticed something else. You still like kissing me," Sawyer says with a taunting smile on his face. "Miss me, grey eyes?"
My face heats and a natural smile lights my face. Usually I would tease him and lie, never admit to the truth, but it's been a long day and I'm tired of doing that, so when I answer, it is truthful. "I missed you a lot. Even if that was one of the stupidest things you've ever done."
Sawyer chuckles. "Only one of the stupidest things… I'll take it. I missed you too, grey eyes."
"So, what do we do now?"
"Well sweetheart, now we wait for these bastards to make a mistake. Sooner or later, they're gonna let their guard down. And when they do, we're going to put them in their place."
End of chapter. So, what did you think? Regarding Danny in this chapter, I am not sure when/if we learn Danny Pickett's full name by this point, but I wanted to clearly distinguish him from other characters and that was the easiest way, but I am sorry if that is inaccurate. Anyways, I would love to read your reviews with any thoughts you have! - K