To weak to care for I have failed (Parts 13 - 16)
Title: To weak to care for I have failed - Parts 13 - 16
Charaters: Charlie, Jack, kate, Locke, Ethan and many more
Genre: Angst/drama
Summary: An AU continuing off from 'All the best cowboy's have daddy issues' Angst and death ensues.
Warnings: Violence, blood and angst (full of it)
Status: incomplete.
Jack sat quietly on the dirt floor of the cave, he was spent and It wasn’t even midday. He had finished on Charlie about an hour ago and people had left to continue with there daily business. Jack was watching over Charlie, he had remained unconscious for the whole time and had showed no signs of waking.
"Jack get some sleep?" Kate entered the infirmary. Jack shook his head.
"No" he cried "I need to watch him" Kate came in and sat next to him. She looked tired. It had been a long night.
"I finally managed to get her to sleep" Kate smiled, "Claire that is" Jack nodded slightly. "Good" he said, "she needs rest" Jack was worried about Claire, he had been caught up so much in the action with Ethan and Charlie’s injuries that he had felt he had abandoned Claire. She had given birth without painkillers, trekked though the jungle with her child only to have it taken off her and Charlie shot for protecting her.
"Please Jack" Kate brought him out of his daydream, "Just rest for a bit"
The doctor sighed loudly, there was no doubt he was tired. "alright" he exclaimed. "But if he wakes, you get me right away" Jack stood and went out.
I’ll check on him later, thought Kate, knowing him, he wouldn’t sleep. She looked back at Charlie in his silent slumber, Jack had neatly cleaned and bandaged all of his wounds. The cleaner his skin was the more prominent the bruises seemed to look.
Kate sat for a while and suddenly Michael appeared near the entrance of the cave. Kate stood up immediately, seeing he had no aid to walk, not even sure that he should be walking at all.
"Michael go back to your bed" she held him steady as he was struggling with his footing. "Come on" she said. Kate lead him slowly back to his bed, Jack was sound asleep a metre or two away from Michael’s bed. Thank God he was finally asleep she thought. Michael lied down with no complaints.
"I have to find Walt" he cried. "I need to get him" Kate covered him with a couple of blankets.
"Soon" she said, "but not in your state at the moment" she looked at him. Although he seemed in pain, he was quiet with it, Jack had done a good job. "Just rest a bit, I’ll fetch you something to eat"
Michael nodded cautiously. "OK" he said. Kate smiled and left in search of food. It was when she reached the running water, she heard it, a scream, one she had heard a couple of times before. Claire.
"Claire" Kate shouted and ran to the area where she had left her sleeping. Claire was asleep, her hands were out in front of her as if defending herself.
"Claire!" Kate tried to wake her, she screamed as Kate touched her to shake her. "Claire it’s a dream" Claire’s eyes shot open in fear. "My baby" she cried, "I want my baby"
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Charlie woke with a sudden jolt and a dull pain in his head. He could hear screaming in the distance and he concentrated hard to listen. He had heard the scream before but he couldn’t place his finger on it. He sat up, a wave of nausea hit and he felt light headed.
"Right" Charlie tried to concentrate as hard as his throbbing head would allow. "You promised you’d protect her and her child and you will" Charlie was talking lightly to himself, though he didn’t know why. His head was spinning like the world around him, but he tried to his thoughts straight. He had to help Claire and get her baby back, even if it killed him this time he thought.
Charlie sat up, suddenly almost loosing consciousness as a thump of pain spread from his gunshot wound. But he didn’t care, he had to get up. He placed his hand against the cave wall for support and shuffled his feet under himself ready to stand. He struggled up, leaning on the cave, he began to breath heavily.
Bloody hell, he thought, I never thought It would be this hard. Charlie stood for a second, gaining back his thoughts and balance. Then he made his move, slowly out of the cave. To his surprise no one was in the main area of the caves and he managed to slip out. He had only got a couple of yards into the jungle when his head felt dizzy.
"I can do this" he whispered to himself, feeling his stomach in agony "I have to get them back, I promised!"
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"It’s ok" Kate had finally managed to calm Claire down with a little reassurance. "We’ll get your baby back" Kate sounded sure about it but really wasn’t. Claire nodded in agreement. She wanted to go out and search for her baby now, but she knew exactly what Jack and Kate would say to her.
"Good" Kate smiled handing Claire a bottle of water, Claire took the bottle and almost downed the lot. Kate smiled in delight. Ten seconds later Claire was fast asleep.
Works every time, thought Kate. She had slipped several sleeping tablets into Claire’s drink. Kate sat back and relaxed a little, it was getting to the middle of the day and even in the shady caves hit was hot. By 12 most people would retreat to the caves or tents away from the midday sun and heat.
Slowly Kate’s eyes drooped, it had been a long night and she was shattered, just a quick nap wouldn’t hurt she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and within minutes she was sound asleep. Completely unaware of Charlie’s awakening, and unaware of his little walkabout.
Jack woke slowly and opened his eyes. He could tell it was getting to late afternoon. Michael was sleeping peacefully next to him. The doctor stood and stretched. He wanted to go and check on Charlie, he had been asleep for a while. After a long drink of water he went back to the area where Charlie was. Suddenly he froze; the bed empty.
"Kate!" Jack shouted, "Kate?" he turned and looked to the rest of the cave to see the young girl running to her. She slowed as she noticed the empty bed.
"Oh my God" she stopped a yard to two from Jack. His face was red with anger. Kate had not seen him like this before.
"Where is he?" the doctor looked around the caves as Claire appeared and headed in there direction.
"What's going on?" she looked bleary eyed at Kate and then Jack.
"Charlie’s gone walkabout" Jack exhaled loudly. He walked past the two women and grabbed a nearby water bottle and began to prepare to leave.
"I’m coming" Kate cried following Jack as he picked up several items from the infirmary.
"I think you should" Jack said angrily, "I think you’ve caused enough problems already" Kate could feel Jack’s anger in his voice. She had really messed up this time.
"Tell Claire to go back to bed for a while" Jack turned to look at Kate in the eye, his brow was furrowed and his face stern. "hopefully he hasn’t got far"
Kate disappeared to see to Claire and Jack packed his items into a rucksack. Kate suddenly ran back in.
"Claire’s gone" she exclaimed. Jack looked up.
"It’s gets worse!" he shouted.
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Charlie stumbled slowly from tree to tree, trying to keep his balance, His head was sore but he ignored the pains he had and continued. He had to get Claire’s baby back. He stumbled over a tree root and fell into a tree trunk banging his head.
"Bollocks" he rubbed his head and pulled off the bandage Jack had put on it. It was stained red with fresh blood from his old wound.
"Damn it" he shouted as much as his voice would allow. He dropped the bandage to the floor and stumbled forward. He wasn’t going to let a drop of blood stop him from finding Claire’s baby. After a few minutes he began to suddenly tire, his head felt light and dizzy. He lent on a tree for support and almost fell. The ground was spinning and the plants around him felt like just a green mass. He continued forward only to trip. He tried to regain balance, but fell head first into the undergrowth letting out a small exhale as he felt the pain from his stomach spread.
Two hands suddenly grabbed his shoulders and spun him onto his back. "Hello Charlie Boy" the sinister voice met his ears. Charlie didn’t open his eyes to see who it was.
"Ethan’s told me about you!" the voice laughed, "It seems your some miracle boy" A hand clamped over his neck but Charlie didn’t struggle.
"Well no miracle is gunna happen today" the voice continued. Charlie heard a small click by his left ear and cold metal being pushed into his skull.
"Your hero doctor isn’t here to save you this time" the metal was pressed further into his skin, his head was thumping and the pain in his stomach was getting worse by the second.
Distantly he suddenly heard his name called, he could make out leaves being disturbed, someone running, and calling his name. A gun fired suddenly, Charlie coward to the ground there was silence, a second shot came and the figure on Charlie collapsed onto his frozen body. There was silence again. Charlie struggled to listen and tried to breath, the pain was worse than ever now. He tried to call out but failed. The pain was too much, he inhaled sharply and lost consciousness.
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"We’re close" Jack stooped low and retrieved the bandage Charlie had discarded not long before. Jack looked closely at the bandage to see fresh blood on it. Kate was behind him looking forward, there was a figure ahead. It was Claire.
"Charlie" she shouted and ran forward, she didn’t know Kate had spotted her as she disappeared off into the undergrowth. Kate sprinted in her direction with Jack in close pursuit. She had disappeared from view but Kate could still hear her in the distance. She was shouting Charlie’s name over and over.
"Claire" Jack called out as she came into view ahead.
There was a gunshot and Kate and Jack came to an abrupt stop. Claire had disappeared from view. Kate ran forward to find her body laying face down. Jack was by her side straight away, checking for a pulse, he found none.
Kate suddenly noticed a man a few yards ahead, he was bent over something on the ground, a pistol pointing towards it and finger tightly grasping the trigger, ready to fire.
Kate shouted, although Jack could not make out what. A gun fired and the man collapsed forward. Jack looked up to see Kate perfectly still, a silver pistol still calmly pointing in her hand.
"Kate?" Jack looked stunned but Kate ignored him and ran to the man she had shot pushing him to one side to revile Charlie, unconscious but alive.
"What?" Jack was speechless at the scene before him. Claire’s body lay in front of him, the doctor couldn’t do CPR, it was too late.
"Jack?" Kate beckoned the man over to her, "I think we found him" Jack looked over Kate’s shoulder to see Charlie’s unconscious form lying still in the leaves.
"I think we found both" Jack said soberly, "One’s just been more lucky than the other" Tears were welling in his eyes.
"If only I hadn’t gone to sleep" he cried, "None of this would have happened"
"Dude, is he ok?" Hurley noticed Kate and Jack return to the caves carrying Charlie. They went over to infirmary and placed him on soft blankets and wrapped him up.
"He’ll be ok" Jack came out of the side cave speaking to Hurley as he went. "Will you keep an eye on him" Jack looked Hurley in the eye.
"Sure, but I don’t think he’s going anywhere fast" Hurley cried as Jack refilled his bottle with fresh water from the stream.
"You’d be surprised" Kate said lightly, "Just make sure he doesn’t move an inch, we’ll be back soon" Hurley nodded in agreement and went to see his friend as the other two disappeared out of the caves, seemingly in deep discussion. Hurley tried to listen but didn’t catch anything.
Hurley hadn’t really seen much of his friend recently, the sight of him made him wonder what an earth had gone on in the past day or two. Charlie sure didn’t look that great, apart from the fact that he had many cuts and bruises his skin was sickly pale and unnatural.
"Dude if you don’t mind me saying, you look crap man" Hurley chuckled though he was greatly concerned for his friend.
"Thanks" he jumped as he heard Charlie answer, "Just what I wanted to hear."
Hurley smiled and looked at Charlie, his eyes half open now staring at him.
"How's Claire?" Charlie croaked. Hurley’s brow furrowed slightly, he hadn’t seen Claire in a while either. "I’ll go check if you like" Hurley was deep in thought.
"Good idea" Charlie’s voice perked up a little at the thought of maybe seeing Claire. Hurley stood up and left. Charlie smirked, it was no word of a lie, he did want to see Claire, but he wanted to find her baby first. Besides, he thought, its my fault her baby is gone. It was now or never, he thought, he had to take he chance.
Hurley searched the cave and nearby only to find Locke sitting on his own sharpening a couple of knifes.
"Have you seen Claire?" Hurley asked quickly. Locke was silent for a moment, he had received the news from Jack and Kate. If he told Hurley there was a chance that the news would be leaked to Charlie.
"No" Locke said eventually. Hurley looked at him quizzically, he was hiding something and he knew it. "You know don’t you" Hurley said suddenly surprising Locke. There was silence again and it was suddenly broken by a short moan and thud from the main cave area. Locke stood up immediately and he and Hurley returned to the main cave to find Charlie.
His body was sprawled on the floor, he was coughing uncontrollably, his limbs were twitching violently and his muscles involuntary contracting and relaxing.
"Damn it" Hurley cried in despair, "I promised Jack and Kate that I would make sure he didn’t move"
"Too late now" Locke discarded Hurley’s comment and fell on his knees next to Charlie. He grabbed the boy by the shoulders a shook him.
"Charlie" he shouted "Charlie, It’s Locke, wake up" Locke’s command didn’t seem to make a difference and Charlie continued to shake. His arms flailed about and he knocked Locke in the face, sending him backwards. Locke shook off the dizziness and looked back at Charlie who turned to his side and retched emptying the little contents of his stomach onto the cave floor. His shaking continued.
"Fetch me a blanket" Locke ordered. Hurley swiftly left and returned with a large blanket. Locke took it and rolled it into a pillow and placed it under Charlie’s head as support.
"What do we do?" Hurley was desperately watching his friends convulsions become worse.
"I guess we can’t do anything" Locke cried trying his best to stop Charlie from rolling around. "I suppose we wait till Jack gets back, he might tire himself out before then" Hurley placed his head in his hands and sighed, was this his bad luck again, was this his fault.
Minutes passed and Charlie did not change, nor did he regain consciousness. Locke sat next to him, there seemed nothing he could do except wait. The two waited for a while, quiet helpless. Suddenly Kate and Jack appeared carrying Claire’s pale a lifeless form in.
"Oh my God" Hurley knew at once what was going on. He fell to his knees as Kate and Jack passed him taking Claire away into a nearby smaller cave out of the way. Jack rushed back and headed to Locke and knelt next to him.
"Hurley you were supposed to be watching him" Jacks face tensed with concern.
"I only left him for a sec"
"How longs he been like this?" Jack asked.
"10 minutes" Locke said, "he was sick too" Jack sighed loudly and lent over his patient. He looked at Charlie’s eyes to find his pupils rolled back. Jack sat back for a second and watched, the twitching began to slow and finally stopped.
"Thank God for that!" Locke exhaled loudly. Jack checked Charlie’s pulse to find it racing. "I don’t want to move him" he said "I don’t want to risk him having another seizure. We build a fire nearby to keep him warm, it might be a while now before he wakes"
Locke nodded and stood up. "I’ll fetch some firewood" he said, "It won’t be long before the heat of the day will be dyeing down" And with that he was gone.
"I’m sorry man" Hurley exclaimed, "I didn’t think he would go anywhere"
"It’s ok" Kate sighed, "He’s a stubborn bugger" she laughed, "give him half a chance and he’ll be off. But he sure isn't gunna have a nice awaking this time" Kate sighed thinking of how close Charlie and Claire actually were.
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Charlie coughed weakly and twitched, Jack was by his side in seconds. It had been a couple of hours since the boy had been conscious. Kate and Hurley were still nearby but Locke had gone off in search of some food.
"Charlie?" Jack gently shook the musicians shoulders and he slowly opened his eyes, "talk to me?" Jack’s face filled with concern, "what’s your name? Where are we?" Jack fired a couple of questions.
"The island" Charlie muttered almost inaudible, "were on a bloody island" he sat up quickly without warning and a wave of nausea hit him.
"Whoa" Jack held him steady as he regained his balance to sit up straight, "No more running off" he warned, "you’ve lost a lot of blood, your not strong enough to be going anywhere, do you hear me"
"Where’s Claire?" Charlie butted in with the question Jack wished he wouldn’t ask. Charlie looked around to the camp fire to see Kate and Hurley, he looked slowly around the caves but his eyes couldn’t focus and he saw nothing.
"What?" Jack was somehow hoping that the boy had forgotten what he had just asked.
"Claire?" Charlie said, louder this time, "Where is she"
Jack looked to Kate and Hurley for a little support but found their heads bowed to the ground in silence, his eyes retreated to the floor and he sighed loudly. A moment of silence went by and he looked up at his friend, eyes locking with Charlie’s. "Jack?" he’s voice broke, waiting for the inevitable words which were about to be returned his way.
"I’m sorry" Jack started, finding it hard to form the words, "Claire was shot by one of the others" he paused "she died"
Jack watched closely as his words sunk into the boys system. Charlie began to shake, almost like he was going through withdrawal again, his eyes filled quickly with unfallen tears.
"Your lying" he cried unable to control himself. Jack shook his head slightly, wishing to himself that what he had just said was not true.
"No" he answered, his voice now breaking with grief "it’s true"
"I don’t believe you!" Charlie spat in anger. He tried to stand but Jack held him down.
"Charlie?" he saw the ex-junkie’s heart almost break, his face was contorted in utter despair.
"No" Charlie shouted, energy draining from him every second that went by, he struggled to stand again but this time failed and he collapsed back down. Jack grabbed his arms and pulled Charlie’s shuddering form towards his own. Charlie was spent every last ounce of energy drained from his already exhausted body, he shook in Jack’s arms, resting his head on the doctor’s shoulder he sobbed uncontrollably. Jack was now crying freely too. He knew the pain that was felt when a loved one or close friend had been taken, he could feel Charlie’s grief as the young rock star relaxed and shook in his arms. When everything had happened to the boy why had this come to happen, why now, Jack didn’t know. But what he did was that something was going to have to be done, this Ethan could not go on shooting and wounding the remaining 815 survivors. Jack had decided that he was going to take this into his own hands, something was going to be done, and Ethan sure would pay for it.
Charaters: Charlie, Jack, kate, Locke, Ethan and many more
Genre: Angst/drama
Summary: An AU continuing off from 'All the best cowboy's have daddy issues' Angst and death ensues.
Warnings: Violence, blood and angst (full of it)
Status: incomplete.
Jack sat quietly on the dirt floor of the cave, he was spent and It wasn’t even midday. He had finished on Charlie about an hour ago and people had left to continue with there daily business. Jack was watching over Charlie, he had remained unconscious for the whole time and had showed no signs of waking.
"Jack get some sleep?" Kate entered the infirmary. Jack shook his head.
"No" he cried "I need to watch him" Kate came in and sat next to him. She looked tired. It had been a long night.
"I finally managed to get her to sleep" Kate smiled, "Claire that is" Jack nodded slightly. "Good" he said, "she needs rest" Jack was worried about Claire, he had been caught up so much in the action with Ethan and Charlie’s injuries that he had felt he had abandoned Claire. She had given birth without painkillers, trekked though the jungle with her child only to have it taken off her and Charlie shot for protecting her.
"Please Jack" Kate brought him out of his daydream, "Just rest for a bit"
The doctor sighed loudly, there was no doubt he was tired. "alright" he exclaimed. "But if he wakes, you get me right away" Jack stood and went out.
I’ll check on him later, thought Kate, knowing him, he wouldn’t sleep. She looked back at Charlie in his silent slumber, Jack had neatly cleaned and bandaged all of his wounds. The cleaner his skin was the more prominent the bruises seemed to look.
Kate sat for a while and suddenly Michael appeared near the entrance of the cave. Kate stood up immediately, seeing he had no aid to walk, not even sure that he should be walking at all.
"Michael go back to your bed" she held him steady as he was struggling with his footing. "Come on" she said. Kate lead him slowly back to his bed, Jack was sound asleep a metre or two away from Michael’s bed. Thank God he was finally asleep she thought. Michael lied down with no complaints.
"I have to find Walt" he cried. "I need to get him" Kate covered him with a couple of blankets.
"Soon" she said, "but not in your state at the moment" she looked at him. Although he seemed in pain, he was quiet with it, Jack had done a good job. "Just rest a bit, I’ll fetch you something to eat"
Michael nodded cautiously. "OK" he said. Kate smiled and left in search of food. It was when she reached the running water, she heard it, a scream, one she had heard a couple of times before. Claire.
"Claire" Kate shouted and ran to the area where she had left her sleeping. Claire was asleep, her hands were out in front of her as if defending herself.
"Claire!" Kate tried to wake her, she screamed as Kate touched her to shake her. "Claire it’s a dream" Claire’s eyes shot open in fear. "My baby" she cried, "I want my baby"
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Charlie woke with a sudden jolt and a dull pain in his head. He could hear screaming in the distance and he concentrated hard to listen. He had heard the scream before but he couldn’t place his finger on it. He sat up, a wave of nausea hit and he felt light headed.
"Right" Charlie tried to concentrate as hard as his throbbing head would allow. "You promised you’d protect her and her child and you will" Charlie was talking lightly to himself, though he didn’t know why. His head was spinning like the world around him, but he tried to his thoughts straight. He had to help Claire and get her baby back, even if it killed him this time he thought.
Charlie sat up, suddenly almost loosing consciousness as a thump of pain spread from his gunshot wound. But he didn’t care, he had to get up. He placed his hand against the cave wall for support and shuffled his feet under himself ready to stand. He struggled up, leaning on the cave, he began to breath heavily.
Bloody hell, he thought, I never thought It would be this hard. Charlie stood for a second, gaining back his thoughts and balance. Then he made his move, slowly out of the cave. To his surprise no one was in the main area of the caves and he managed to slip out. He had only got a couple of yards into the jungle when his head felt dizzy.
"I can do this" he whispered to himself, feeling his stomach in agony "I have to get them back, I promised!"
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"It’s ok" Kate had finally managed to calm Claire down with a little reassurance. "We’ll get your baby back" Kate sounded sure about it but really wasn’t. Claire nodded in agreement. She wanted to go out and search for her baby now, but she knew exactly what Jack and Kate would say to her.
"Good" Kate smiled handing Claire a bottle of water, Claire took the bottle and almost downed the lot. Kate smiled in delight. Ten seconds later Claire was fast asleep.
Works every time, thought Kate. She had slipped several sleeping tablets into Claire’s drink. Kate sat back and relaxed a little, it was getting to the middle of the day and even in the shady caves hit was hot. By 12 most people would retreat to the caves or tents away from the midday sun and heat.
Slowly Kate’s eyes drooped, it had been a long night and she was shattered, just a quick nap wouldn’t hurt she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and within minutes she was sound asleep. Completely unaware of Charlie’s awakening, and unaware of his little walkabout.
Jack woke slowly and opened his eyes. He could tell it was getting to late afternoon. Michael was sleeping peacefully next to him. The doctor stood and stretched. He wanted to go and check on Charlie, he had been asleep for a while. After a long drink of water he went back to the area where Charlie was. Suddenly he froze; the bed empty.
"Kate!" Jack shouted, "Kate?" he turned and looked to the rest of the cave to see the young girl running to her. She slowed as she noticed the empty bed.
"Oh my God" she stopped a yard to two from Jack. His face was red with anger. Kate had not seen him like this before.
"Where is he?" the doctor looked around the caves as Claire appeared and headed in there direction.
"What's going on?" she looked bleary eyed at Kate and then Jack.
"Charlie’s gone walkabout" Jack exhaled loudly. He walked past the two women and grabbed a nearby water bottle and began to prepare to leave.
"I’m coming" Kate cried following Jack as he picked up several items from the infirmary.
"I think you should" Jack said angrily, "I think you’ve caused enough problems already" Kate could feel Jack’s anger in his voice. She had really messed up this time.
"Tell Claire to go back to bed for a while" Jack turned to look at Kate in the eye, his brow was furrowed and his face stern. "hopefully he hasn’t got far"
Kate disappeared to see to Claire and Jack packed his items into a rucksack. Kate suddenly ran back in.
"Claire’s gone" she exclaimed. Jack looked up.
"It’s gets worse!" he shouted.
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Charlie stumbled slowly from tree to tree, trying to keep his balance, His head was sore but he ignored the pains he had and continued. He had to get Claire’s baby back. He stumbled over a tree root and fell into a tree trunk banging his head.
"Bollocks" he rubbed his head and pulled off the bandage Jack had put on it. It was stained red with fresh blood from his old wound.
"Damn it" he shouted as much as his voice would allow. He dropped the bandage to the floor and stumbled forward. He wasn’t going to let a drop of blood stop him from finding Claire’s baby. After a few minutes he began to suddenly tire, his head felt light and dizzy. He lent on a tree for support and almost fell. The ground was spinning and the plants around him felt like just a green mass. He continued forward only to trip. He tried to regain balance, but fell head first into the undergrowth letting out a small exhale as he felt the pain from his stomach spread.
Two hands suddenly grabbed his shoulders and spun him onto his back. "Hello Charlie Boy" the sinister voice met his ears. Charlie didn’t open his eyes to see who it was.
"Ethan’s told me about you!" the voice laughed, "It seems your some miracle boy" A hand clamped over his neck but Charlie didn’t struggle.
"Well no miracle is gunna happen today" the voice continued. Charlie heard a small click by his left ear and cold metal being pushed into his skull.
"Your hero doctor isn’t here to save you this time" the metal was pressed further into his skin, his head was thumping and the pain in his stomach was getting worse by the second.
Distantly he suddenly heard his name called, he could make out leaves being disturbed, someone running, and calling his name. A gun fired suddenly, Charlie coward to the ground there was silence, a second shot came and the figure on Charlie collapsed onto his frozen body. There was silence again. Charlie struggled to listen and tried to breath, the pain was worse than ever now. He tried to call out but failed. The pain was too much, he inhaled sharply and lost consciousness.
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"We’re close" Jack stooped low and retrieved the bandage Charlie had discarded not long before. Jack looked closely at the bandage to see fresh blood on it. Kate was behind him looking forward, there was a figure ahead. It was Claire.
"Charlie" she shouted and ran forward, she didn’t know Kate had spotted her as she disappeared off into the undergrowth. Kate sprinted in her direction with Jack in close pursuit. She had disappeared from view but Kate could still hear her in the distance. She was shouting Charlie’s name over and over.
"Claire" Jack called out as she came into view ahead.
There was a gunshot and Kate and Jack came to an abrupt stop. Claire had disappeared from view. Kate ran forward to find her body laying face down. Jack was by her side straight away, checking for a pulse, he found none.
Kate suddenly noticed a man a few yards ahead, he was bent over something on the ground, a pistol pointing towards it and finger tightly grasping the trigger, ready to fire.
Kate shouted, although Jack could not make out what. A gun fired and the man collapsed forward. Jack looked up to see Kate perfectly still, a silver pistol still calmly pointing in her hand.
"Kate?" Jack looked stunned but Kate ignored him and ran to the man she had shot pushing him to one side to revile Charlie, unconscious but alive.
"What?" Jack was speechless at the scene before him. Claire’s body lay in front of him, the doctor couldn’t do CPR, it was too late.
"Jack?" Kate beckoned the man over to her, "I think we found him" Jack looked over Kate’s shoulder to see Charlie’s unconscious form lying still in the leaves.
"I think we found both" Jack said soberly, "One’s just been more lucky than the other" Tears were welling in his eyes.
"If only I hadn’t gone to sleep" he cried, "None of this would have happened"
"Dude, is he ok?" Hurley noticed Kate and Jack return to the caves carrying Charlie. They went over to infirmary and placed him on soft blankets and wrapped him up.
"He’ll be ok" Jack came out of the side cave speaking to Hurley as he went. "Will you keep an eye on him" Jack looked Hurley in the eye.
"Sure, but I don’t think he’s going anywhere fast" Hurley cried as Jack refilled his bottle with fresh water from the stream.
"You’d be surprised" Kate said lightly, "Just make sure he doesn’t move an inch, we’ll be back soon" Hurley nodded in agreement and went to see his friend as the other two disappeared out of the caves, seemingly in deep discussion. Hurley tried to listen but didn’t catch anything.
Hurley hadn’t really seen much of his friend recently, the sight of him made him wonder what an earth had gone on in the past day or two. Charlie sure didn’t look that great, apart from the fact that he had many cuts and bruises his skin was sickly pale and unnatural.
"Dude if you don’t mind me saying, you look crap man" Hurley chuckled though he was greatly concerned for his friend.
"Thanks" he jumped as he heard Charlie answer, "Just what I wanted to hear."
Hurley smiled and looked at Charlie, his eyes half open now staring at him.
"How's Claire?" Charlie croaked. Hurley’s brow furrowed slightly, he hadn’t seen Claire in a while either. "I’ll go check if you like" Hurley was deep in thought.
"Good idea" Charlie’s voice perked up a little at the thought of maybe seeing Claire. Hurley stood up and left. Charlie smirked, it was no word of a lie, he did want to see Claire, but he wanted to find her baby first. Besides, he thought, its my fault her baby is gone. It was now or never, he thought, he had to take he chance.
Hurley searched the cave and nearby only to find Locke sitting on his own sharpening a couple of knifes.
"Have you seen Claire?" Hurley asked quickly. Locke was silent for a moment, he had received the news from Jack and Kate. If he told Hurley there was a chance that the news would be leaked to Charlie.
"No" Locke said eventually. Hurley looked at him quizzically, he was hiding something and he knew it. "You know don’t you" Hurley said suddenly surprising Locke. There was silence again and it was suddenly broken by a short moan and thud from the main cave area. Locke stood up immediately and he and Hurley returned to the main cave to find Charlie.
His body was sprawled on the floor, he was coughing uncontrollably, his limbs were twitching violently and his muscles involuntary contracting and relaxing.
"Damn it" Hurley cried in despair, "I promised Jack and Kate that I would make sure he didn’t move"
"Too late now" Locke discarded Hurley’s comment and fell on his knees next to Charlie. He grabbed the boy by the shoulders a shook him.
"Charlie" he shouted "Charlie, It’s Locke, wake up" Locke’s command didn’t seem to make a difference and Charlie continued to shake. His arms flailed about and he knocked Locke in the face, sending him backwards. Locke shook off the dizziness and looked back at Charlie who turned to his side and retched emptying the little contents of his stomach onto the cave floor. His shaking continued.
"Fetch me a blanket" Locke ordered. Hurley swiftly left and returned with a large blanket. Locke took it and rolled it into a pillow and placed it under Charlie’s head as support.
"What do we do?" Hurley was desperately watching his friends convulsions become worse.
"I guess we can’t do anything" Locke cried trying his best to stop Charlie from rolling around. "I suppose we wait till Jack gets back, he might tire himself out before then" Hurley placed his head in his hands and sighed, was this his bad luck again, was this his fault.
Minutes passed and Charlie did not change, nor did he regain consciousness. Locke sat next to him, there seemed nothing he could do except wait. The two waited for a while, quiet helpless. Suddenly Kate and Jack appeared carrying Claire’s pale a lifeless form in.
"Oh my God" Hurley knew at once what was going on. He fell to his knees as Kate and Jack passed him taking Claire away into a nearby smaller cave out of the way. Jack rushed back and headed to Locke and knelt next to him.
"Hurley you were supposed to be watching him" Jacks face tensed with concern.
"I only left him for a sec"
"How longs he been like this?" Jack asked.
"10 minutes" Locke said, "he was sick too" Jack sighed loudly and lent over his patient. He looked at Charlie’s eyes to find his pupils rolled back. Jack sat back for a second and watched, the twitching began to slow and finally stopped.
"Thank God for that!" Locke exhaled loudly. Jack checked Charlie’s pulse to find it racing. "I don’t want to move him" he said "I don’t want to risk him having another seizure. We build a fire nearby to keep him warm, it might be a while now before he wakes"
Locke nodded and stood up. "I’ll fetch some firewood" he said, "It won’t be long before the heat of the day will be dyeing down" And with that he was gone.
"I’m sorry man" Hurley exclaimed, "I didn’t think he would go anywhere"
"It’s ok" Kate sighed, "He’s a stubborn bugger" she laughed, "give him half a chance and he’ll be off. But he sure isn't gunna have a nice awaking this time" Kate sighed thinking of how close Charlie and Claire actually were.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Charlie coughed weakly and twitched, Jack was by his side in seconds. It had been a couple of hours since the boy had been conscious. Kate and Hurley were still nearby but Locke had gone off in search of some food.
"Charlie?" Jack gently shook the musicians shoulders and he slowly opened his eyes, "talk to me?" Jack’s face filled with concern, "what’s your name? Where are we?" Jack fired a couple of questions.
"The island" Charlie muttered almost inaudible, "were on a bloody island" he sat up quickly without warning and a wave of nausea hit him.
"Whoa" Jack held him steady as he regained his balance to sit up straight, "No more running off" he warned, "you’ve lost a lot of blood, your not strong enough to be going anywhere, do you hear me"
"Where’s Claire?" Charlie butted in with the question Jack wished he wouldn’t ask. Charlie looked around to the camp fire to see Kate and Hurley, he looked slowly around the caves but his eyes couldn’t focus and he saw nothing.
"What?" Jack was somehow hoping that the boy had forgotten what he had just asked.
"Claire?" Charlie said, louder this time, "Where is she"
Jack looked to Kate and Hurley for a little support but found their heads bowed to the ground in silence, his eyes retreated to the floor and he sighed loudly. A moment of silence went by and he looked up at his friend, eyes locking with Charlie’s. "Jack?" he’s voice broke, waiting for the inevitable words which were about to be returned his way.
"I’m sorry" Jack started, finding it hard to form the words, "Claire was shot by one of the others" he paused "she died"
Jack watched closely as his words sunk into the boys system. Charlie began to shake, almost like he was going through withdrawal again, his eyes filled quickly with unfallen tears.
"Your lying" he cried unable to control himself. Jack shook his head slightly, wishing to himself that what he had just said was not true.
"No" he answered, his voice now breaking with grief "it’s true"
"I don’t believe you!" Charlie spat in anger. He tried to stand but Jack held him down.
"Charlie?" he saw the ex-junkie’s heart almost break, his face was contorted in utter despair.
"No" Charlie shouted, energy draining from him every second that went by, he struggled to stand again but this time failed and he collapsed back down. Jack grabbed his arms and pulled Charlie’s shuddering form towards his own. Charlie was spent every last ounce of energy drained from his already exhausted body, he shook in Jack’s arms, resting his head on the doctor’s shoulder he sobbed uncontrollably. Jack was now crying freely too. He knew the pain that was felt when a loved one or close friend had been taken, he could feel Charlie’s grief as the young rock star relaxed and shook in his arms. When everything had happened to the boy why had this come to happen, why now, Jack didn’t know. But what he did was that something was going to have to be done, this Ethan could not go on shooting and wounding the remaining 815 survivors. Jack had decided that he was going to take this into his own hands, something was going to be done, and Ethan sure would pay for it.