dimples, james "sawyer" ford

fourty nine

the evening air was thick with tension. sawyer had been growing more and more agitated, his nerves fraying as the group's situation worsened. frogurt, with his constant complaints and pessimism, wasn't making things any easier. every word out of his mouth was like a match to sawyer's short fuse, and it wasn't long before their argument began to escalate.

"why don't you shut your trap, frogurt?" sawyer growled, his fists clenched as he glared at the man. "we're all stuck here, ain't no point whining about it."

frogurt shot back, "i'm just saying what everyone's thinking! we're all gonna die out here, man, and you act like you got everything figured out!"

just as sawyer was about to retort, the sharp whistling sound of something cutting through the air hit them. frogurt froze for a moment, his eyes wide with shock, before collapsing, a flaming arrow lodged in his chest.

the jungle erupted into chaos. arrows rained down from the trees, lighting up the night in streaks of fire. the survivors scattered, everyone scrambling for cover as the attackers moved unseen in the shadows. sawyer ducked as an arrow barely missed his head, embedding itself into a tree just inches away. he looked around, heart racing, searching for lana.

"lana!" he shouted over the commotion.

she had stopped, her attention focused on a man who had been hit. without thinking, she crouched beside him, trying to help him move. sawyer cursed under his breath and rushed back to her, narrowly avoiding another arrow. he grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

"we gotta go!" he urged, his voice thick with urgency.

they darted into the thick jungle, their feet pounding against the undergrowth as they ran for cover. the sounds of the attack began to fade behind them, but they didn't stop until they reached the creek. sawyer, out of breath, glanced behind them to make sure they weren't being followed.

as they slowed down, he stepped onto a piece of bamboo hidden under the brush. a sharp pain shot up through his leg, and he cursed, falling to one knee. lana rushed to his side, concern etched on her face.

"oh, my god." she knelt down, carefully lifting his foot to examine the wound. the bamboo had skewered through his shoe, piercing his foot. blood seeped from the injury, but sawyer gritted his teeth, determined not to let it slow them down.

"i'm fine," he muttered, pulling his foot away. "we gotta keep movin'."

lana tore a strip of cloth from her shirt and quickly wrapped it around his foot, creating a makeshift bandage. "you're not fine, but we'll deal with it later. come on."

they continued toward the creek, moving as quickly as they could despite sawyer's injury. as they neared the water, they heard voices. sawyer signalled for lana to stop, and they both crouched low, hiding behind a dense thicket of ferns.

through the leaves, they saw a group of men, all armed with rifles, walking slowly through the jungle, scanning the area as if looking for something—or someone.

sawyer and lana exchanged a glance, silently agreeing to stay hidden, but just as they began to back away, one of the men spotted them.

"hey! over here!" the man shouted, raising his rifle.

in an instant, they were surrounded. guns were pointed at them from all sides. sawyer cursed under his breath as he held his hands up in surrender, his mind racing for a way out of this situation. lana stood beside him, her eyes wide but steady.

one of the men, a grim-faced leader with a cold stare, stepped forward and demanded, "who are you? what are you doing here?"

sawyer, trying to stay calm, responded, "we're just survivors, man. crashed on this damn island like everybody else."

the leader wasn't satisfied with that answer. he stepped closer, his eyes narrowing as he looked at lana. "we don't have time for games. tell us what we need to know, or she loses her arm."

the threat sent a chill down sawyer's spine. he looked at lana, his heart hammering in his chest. he couldn't let this happen. "alright, alright," he said quickly, his voice shaking with frustration. "i'll tell you whatever you want, just don't—"

before he could finish, one of the men grabbed lana, pulling her arm out as they prepared to slice through it. panic surged in sawyer's chest, his mind racing for a way to stop them, but just as it seemed too late, a figure emerged from the shadows.

it was locke.

in an instant, locke took down two of the men with swift, precise moves, disarming them before they could react. sawyer seized the opportunity, launching himself at one of their captors, knocking him to the ground. the rest of the group quickly fell into disarray, their ranks overwhelmed by locke's unexpected attack.

sawyer managed to wrestle the knife from the man's hand just as locke subdued the last of them. breathing heavily, sawyer looked at lana, relieved beyond words that they were safe, for now.

"you alright, baby?" sawyer asked, his voice softer now, the adrenaline wearing off.

lana nodded, still catching her breath. "yeah, i'm okay."

locke, wiping his brow, looked at both of them. "we need to move. more of them will be coming."

sawyer nodded in agreement, still shaken by how close they'd come to losing everything. he glanced at lana again, his protective instincts kicking in harder than ever.

locke held his gun out at two of the men who remained, turning back to lana and sawyer and sending them an unnerving smile.