Gilligan's Anatomy

Chapter 23

Arizona’s eyes went wide with fear as the pirate raised the gun and pulled the trigger.

***

Arizona hit the ground hard, her breath expelled from her chest with force. Panic and pain shot through her as she desperately tried to suck air into her lungs. Her life flashed before her eyes, she thought of everyone one back home, and her friends here on the island, before settling on her love. Callie’s face hovered over her telling her to get up, that she was fine.

Get up.

Calm down.

Get up, we need your help.

Just breathe, dammit. You are fine.

Finally able to pull some air into her screaming lungs, she opened her eyes. Callie’s face had been replaced by April’s and she was yelling something.

“Sit up, Professor,” she said. “You just got the wind knocked out of you, you’ll be fine, but Alex…”

Addison’s face now appeared directly above her. The two redhead’s faces were etched with fear, “Alex pushed you down. He saved you, but he’s hit.”

Arizona’s fog immediately cleared and she could suddenly hear and see the commotion around her. To her left, Alex was screaming in pain; Derek and Cristina applying pressure to his wound. To her right, Owen and Mark had once again subdued the pirate, who was unconscious for real this time.

Addison and April helped Arizona sit up, her breathing quickly returning to normal as her diaphragm stopped spasming. When the pain had subsided, she crawled to Alex’s side.

“I’m shot, I’m shot,” Alex said, as he looked up and her and groaned. “He fucking shot me.”

“Alex,” Arizona touched his face, gently wiping a smudge of ash and sweat from his brow. “You saved me.”

“Yeah,” he grimaced. “And I’m going to be so pissed at you if I die.”

“You aren’t going to die,” Derek assured. “I can feel the exit wound. I think it just ran along your ribcage and exited out the back.”

“Are you sure it didn’t go through his ribcage?” Cristina asked.

Derek looked at Cristina, then Arizona, “I hope not.”

“Either way, it fucking hurts,” Alex groaned through clenched teeth.

***

The two pirates were having a very tense, but whispered, private conversation by the mouth of the cave.

Callie and Lexie quietly exchanged glances. A silent conversation ensued. Callie pointed to her pack, which held the gun. Lexie shook her head no. Callie’s face hardened, and she nodded her intent to ignore Lexie’s denial. Lexie emphatically expressed her disapproval. Callie ignored her and scooted toward the pack.

***

With Alex injured, plans had changed. Derek stayed behind, as Alex was in desperate need of medical attention. Now, it was Arizona, Mark, and Owen, who swiftly made their way through the island’s jungle terrain.

The well worn and familiar path made for easy going for the two island inhabitants, but Mark struggled to keep up with determined duo. He didn’t know the area, and traveling in the dark made it hard for him to match the other’s pace. He sighed in relief, when they broke through the jungle tree line and into the clearing just north of the lagoon.

Arizona and Owen looked fondly at the place that had been their home these last eight months. It’d only been a week since they’d abandoned the small huts for the safety of the caves, but it felt like longer. Much longer. Their days spent laughing, loving, and living in the huts seemed a lifetime ago.