Following, Part Twenty-Three [R] [Jack/Juliet] [WIP]
He broke into a run, the force of the blast against his back seeming to push him even faster through the trees, which turned almost skeletal as the light passed through them, long red flames spreading out over the branches in place of the leaves they had destroyed. The explosion was stronger this time, closer, but he didn’t stop to turn around. He could hear Charlotte panting behind him, cursing under her breath, and that sound was enough for him to confirm that she hadn’t been hurt and was still following him as he stumbled toward the dark rock, frantically scanning the space around it.
“Jack,” Charlotte heaved when she caught up to him, pointing to the ground just beyond him.
“Juliet?” He moved in the direction that Charlotte had gestured, dropping to his knees, and he was touching Juliet almost before he was able to distinguish her body from the burned leaves in which she was lying. Almost every part of her-her hair and skin and clothes-had been blackened by the smoke. When he slid his hand from her face to her throat to feel for her pulse, he left a smeared, grey palm-print against her cheek.
He wasn’t at all aware, at first, of what he was doing: her carotid artery throbbed against the tips of his fingers, strong and regular and reassuring, and for a long moment, he was conscious of little but the gentle pulsing and a thick, tight feeling in his chest. He knew he should be timing the pulses, counting the seconds between, but he didn’t think he would have been able to count to five now if he tried.
“She’s alright, isn’t she?” Charlotte asked from behind him, jolting him back into awareness. Her voice became more subdued, as if she was aware of how ridiculous it sounded when she added, “I mean-she’s breathing, right?”
“Just a second,” he answered, a little dismissively, trying to stop his hands from shaking.
“Right,” Charlotte returned, her tone a perfect blend of sarcasm and anxiety, “I’ll just-let you know if there’s another explosion.”
He couldn’t bring himself to respond, his mind still slightly too fuzzy to come up with the right words. Yet he could feel his hands begin to move over Juliet automatically, more out of habit than conscious thought, years of muscle memory taking over, making thinking almost unnecessary.
He cupped the back of her head in his hand, his fingers moving carefully through her hair to feel along her skull. In a moment, he had located a small lump near the base. It felt smooth, and when he pulled the hand away, there was no blood.
“She’s got a little swelling back there,” he reported to Charlotte, not quite sure why he was doing it. “It’s probably why she’s unconscious. It doesn’t feel like it’s serious, but there’s no way I can be sure without equipment.” He swallowed, lowering Juliet’s head gently to the ground, still looking her over as if he was trying to reassure himself of her presence, “I just-I wish I knew what happened. If I knew what caused this, maybe I could-”
A loud crash interrupted him. When he turned toward the sound, he saw Charlotte looking in the direction of a large, flaming tree that had collapsed across the path about a meter behind her.
“Maybe we can work out the 'cause' bit later?” she suggested, raising her eyebrow at him. Then she gestured toward Juliet’s body, her expression growing serious. “Do you think we can move her?”
“Uh-Yeah,” Jack answered, his mind shifting back into place, “Just let me check-” He found himself suddenly remembering the useless afterthought he’d had about Juliet’s breathing after the Others had taken her out of his cell, and he reached out quickly to pull her tank top over her ribs.
“Jesus,” Charlotte winced, “And I thought I looked bad.”
Jack’s hand hovered over Juliet’s abdomen, ghostlike, tracing the mess of black and blue. As his eyes flicked down the rest of her body for a moment, rebelling at the sight of the bruises, he noticed suddenly that one of her feet was turned much too far outward.
“What the hell-?” he protested, knowing before he even touched her what was wrong, “Her ankle-” He trailed off, trying to tamp down on the feeling that surged through him, halfway between frustration and indignation. He knew that a broken ankle would be the least of the damage: unlike her ribs and her head, there was no possibility that it could be life-threatening. And yet the fact that he hadn’t expected it made it almost more unsettling than the other injuries. With the exception of her ribs, none of what was wrong with Juliet made sense, and his inability to come up with a coherent explanation for what had happened to her grated on his already strained nerves.
“Jack, we have to stay focused, yeah?” Charlotte’s voice reminded from behind him, “Can you carry her?”
“Carry her?” he echoed, something about the idea seeming vaguely absurd.
“Because of her ribs, I mean,” Charlotte explained, “We don’t exactly have a stretcher this time.”
He tugged Juliet’s shirt back down over her middle, looking at her for a long moment as if he could will her into waking up. When nothing happened, he huffed out an anxious sigh, slipping his handcuffed arm under her knees and the free one against her back. He rose to stand, his hold awkward, both because he was trying not to hurt her and because he was still getting used to the odd feeling of her body in his arms like this, her hands hanging lax at her sides, her head resting listlessly against his shoulder.
“Come on: let’s get the hell out of here,” Charlotte directed, almost before he had righted himself, looking at him with a forced kind of energy, as if she was worried that he might suddenly change his mind. As they began moving back through the fire, Charlotte walked at his side instead of clambering ahead, periodically turning her gaze away from the trees to glance at Juliet.
It was only as they made their way past the site of the explosion that Jack understood what had felt so strange, almost ludicrous, about the idea of carrying Juliet through the jungle, or carrying her anywhere else, for that matter: he had never imagined the possibility that she would be in a position to need it.
~~
“I can set her ankle without equipment, if I have to,” Jack was explaining to Charlotte, “but all the rest of it-her head and her ribs-it’s hard to have any idea of how serious her injuries are without x-rays.” He sighed, looking briefly down at Juliet where her cheek rested against his chest. “There was an x-ray machine in the medical building in the Others’ camp, but-” he paused, “If we’re really in a time before even the Temple was built-then I’m guessing we’re not going to be able to find x-ray machines anywhere.”
“The last flash-it only lasted for a few minutes,” Charlotte reminded him, her sharp blue eyes meeting his, “I know Daniel said their duration was random, but it’s possible-”
He nodded at her, his fingers curling nervously against Juliet’s thigh.
“All we can do is head toward the Others’ camp and hope for another flash,” he agreed, “I just-I just wish she was conscious-”
Charlotte touched his shoulder suddenly, interrupting him.
“Jack- I know that it’s a terrible time, but-” she sighed, “I’ve got to go.”
“What?” he turned to face her in confusion, shifting Juliet in his arms.
“I don’t want to leave you like this, but I’ve got to find Daniel,” Charlotte explained, drawing a gun from the front of her jeans.
“Is that-is that my gun?” he asked, staring at the weapon, shocked that he hadn’t noticed it before, “How did you-?”
“I’d say ‘finders keepers,’ but I have to admit that I didn’t exactly find this,” she smiled bitterly, touching a bruise at the corner of her mouth as if to indicate in shorthand a longer story she was less willing to tell.
“Charlotte,” Jack ignored the joke, returning her gaze earnestly, “Are you going back to-” His mind flashed briefly, disconcertedly, to the devices he’d left in the cave.
“Yeah,” she finished as though she was reading his mind, “I don’t know where else he’d be. You heard him say how important he thinks that test is.”
He nodded at her.
“When I find him,” Charlotte said so confidently that he couldn’t tell whether or not she was feigning it, “I’m going to help him do it. You were right: we’ve got to get to the center of energy before Linus does-” Her gaze flickered, turned slightly grey. “In the Temple-it was all he was interested in.” She shook her head suddenly, as if she was trying to rid herself of the memory.
“I guess I don’t need to tell you this,” he began cautiously, “but if you see him-If you see Ben-”
“Believe me, Jack," her face turned to stone, "my willingness to shoot Benjamin Linus is the last thing you need to worry about.”
He only exhaled in relief as she stepped forward slowly, still holding the gun at her side.
“If Dan-” she turned back toward him, her voice breaking slightly on the words, “When Dan and I finish taking the reading, we’ll head back toward the camp: we’ll look for you-try to meet you there,” she said simply, turning off the safety on her gun.
He moved toward her impulsively.
“Charlotte- Thanks-” he said, feeling the words come out of him suddenly, his eyes dropping to Juliet, “Thanks for getting us out of the jungle.”
When he looked back up at Charlotte, he was surprised by the emotion in her expression. She had followed his gaze to Juliet and was watching her almost compassionately.
“It’s nothing,” Charlotte said, “Not after what she did for Dan.” Then, as if she only just become aware of her slip, she righted herself instantly, meeting Jack’s eyes. “When she wakes up, tell her-tell her I said, ‘thank you,’ okay?”
“Of course,” he nodded, looking Charlotte over, his eyes falling on the sickly bruises beneath the smoke that was beginning to dust her cheeks. “Charlotte, can I-” he offered, “Before you go-Are you hurt? I know we don’t have medical supplies right now, but if I can do anything-”
She was shaking her head at him before he could finish.
“I appreciate the gesture, but you’ve got your hands full at the moment,” she returned, pressing her lips together, “Besides-if I sat down now, I probably wouldn’t be able to get up again. I’d better keep moving while I can.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“Okay,” he conceded, “Be careful out there.”
“You too,” she assented, her eyes bright as she returned his gaze. Then she turned quickly on her heel. But before she had even taken a few steps, he felt a strong, indescribable impulse take possession of him.
“Charlotte-” he called abruptly. He waited until she turned around to continue, not sure what he was going to say until the words were already in the air, “If you see a girl-with Ben-or-the Others-small, Australian, long blonde curly hair-her name’s Claire-” he broke off, “I don’t know what to tell you: just-she’s my sister.”
Charlotte turned back to him, her eyebrows raised in confusion, but nodded at him after a moment anyway.
“We’ll see you back at camp,” she said.
A few seconds later, she was gone, and he stood at the edge of the fire, looking out at the island ahead of him, alone with Juliet.
~~
Chapter Twenty-Four