Part 334: Day 80

McKay rested on the back of the boat staring out at the water. Taylor was by his side, staring out with him. The ocean seemed to stretch into the horizon, almost as if it was four months in every direction. The Australian massaged the bridge of his nose; wondering why they hadn’t seen a ship in two weeks. They were well into the shipping lanes by now, they would have to be. His thoughts were interrupted by the soft hand touching his shoulder. “You okay?” Taylor asked him.

“I’m fine,” he smiled, “I’m just tired.”

“Tired of the ocean? Tired of this boat? Tired of not being on land?” she smiled.

“All of the above.” He playfully replied.

“That’s the McKay, I know. Don’t lose your hope, honey. You’ve always been the optimistic one among us.”

“I’m thankful I have you by my side.”

“Every good man needs a good woman at his back.”

The two lovers leaned forward for a little kiss. McKay felt much better than he did a few minutes ago. He continued to stare at the ocean until Mandy walked up behind them. She had her arms crossed, staring into the massive ocean water. “How long has it been?” she asked.

McKay looked at his watch. “Ten minutes.” He whispered.

“I hate it when he does this.” She groaned.

“He’s good at doing it, Mandy. Besides, he’s mostly doing it for you.”

“I know that, but I just . . .” Mandy tried not to weep.

Taylor then stood up and walked toward her friend, embracing her. Mandy wept on her friend’s shoulder. McKay stood up walked toward the two ladies in his life. The blonde slowly parted, wiping her tears. “Please . .if he brings enough . . promise me you guys will eat something.” She sniffed.

“Mandy, we all agreed,” the Australian told her, “If he’s only to bring back a small amount, then the majority of it goes to you and Seth.”

“No, please . . .I can’t . .not while you guys are . . .”

“Mandy, look at me!” Taylor grabbed her by the shoulders, “If you are pregnant, we’re going to give this baby every chance, you hear me?”

Mandy said nothing. She embraced Taylor again. The blonde Californian held her friend, trying for her to not get too upset. McKay appreciated how she felt but they all agreed, for her and Boone’s sake, they were going to give this baby every chance to live and that meant for Mandy to be well nourished. John then came up from below the cabin and saw his friends huddled together. It wasn’t hard to miss the sad looks on their faces either. “Is everything all right?” he asked.

“Everything is fine, John. Mandy was just a little upset in regards to our decision about her eating.” McKay pointed out.

“Don’t be upset, girl,” the archer looked at her, “ We’ve all made this decision. That baby is going to live, comprende?”

Mandy smiled, shaking her head in agreement through her tears. “Good girl,” John smiled.

Then out in the distance of the water, Alexander burst up for air. The group then turned around, looking at the boy when his blonde hair slicked back across his head. He then held up a sharp spear he made and sticking through that spear was four fish. He then began to swim toward them. John stared in disbelief. “How long was he down?” he asked.

McKay looked at his watch. “Twelve minutes.” He smirked.

“Hell, that is amazing.” The archer said in disbelief.

Alexander held up his stabbed fish, which McKay took immediately. The lost boy then stood up, getting on the boat in nothing but his swimming trunks. He grunted as he hoisted up the backpack he brought with him. The water was spewing out of it rapidly from it’s pouches. When he dumped it out onto the boat, it sounded like it was full of rocks. “What the hell did you find, Alexander?” McKay asked.

“Found big rock.” The young man panted, “Lots of rocky fish there. Bring them back for friends.”

McKay unzipped the bag and looked inside. He smiled with a certain glee he hadn’t had in days. “Mussels.” The Australian smiled, “He found a reef and he brought back mussels.”

The group laughed as they need Jin could boil them and make them edible. McKay and John began to walk down to the cabin to get the food ready. Taylor kissed Alexander on the cheek for his brave dive. Mandy looked at them as they walked away down toward the cabin to get Jin and Sun to begin cooking. The blonde then turned toward the boy who was dripping wet, drying himself off. “You made sure . .to get everybody something?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, taking a deep breath.

“Alexander, you could have drowned. Why . .why would you . . “

“Mandy sad,” he said, making sure he found the right words, “Mandy sad cause everybody no eat. Wanted . ..to make sure Mandy sad no more.”

Mandy felt her heart blooming. Taylor was right; he was doing it for her health and at that moment, her piece of mind. She then walked over to the young man and touched him on both cheeks, kissing him. Alexander closed his eyes, relishing her touch; a touch he had only dreamed about. She parted from him and then left to go back down the cabin. Alexander stood there for a few second, then held his chest and sat down. He didn’t want to talk to anybody at the moment. The lost boy just wanted to dwell on Mandy’s kiss for a few minutes.

John walked past the others that were lounging inside the cabin and walked into the bedroom. Inside Seth was laying on the bed, with his pillow showing a massive sweat soaked stain. Mia was toward his left and Shanna was by his right, placing cold water rags on his forehead. The Lakota then took notice of her boyfriend, lighting up at his presence. “Good news,” John smiled, “ Alexander came back with enough food for everybody.”

Mia smiled. “That’s wonderful, John,” she nearly cried.

“Jin going to be cooking them shortly so do you best to rouse him so he can eat.”

The Archer walked out of the room, leaving his love and their friends together. Mia looked at her friend as he laid unconscious on the bed. Kellye and Kate were feeling better, so let Seth have the entire bed. It was better since it didn’t do too good for him to be crowded with more heat. “Mia,” Seth whispered.

Mia stopped reading her book and leaned forward, taking her friends hand. “Yeah, Seth, I am here.” She assured him.

“Too much.. . . drama . . .on the Island . . .never got the chance . . . “ he coughed briefly.

“Never got the chance to do what, Seth?” she asked him.

“Never got the . .chance . . .to tell you why . . .I was in Australia.”

Mia smiled, then looked to Shanna, who massaged his arm. “Why were you in Australia, Seth?” asked the redhead.

“Scouting . . .places for Tanya . . .she loves to surf. But she . .hates to fly . .” Seth laughed but then started coughing.

Mia just held onto his hand.

“Never knew . ..where that would take me . . .survive a plane crash . . and meet three . . extraordinary people . . “

“Don’t try to talk, Seth.” Mia replied, when she saw what a struggle it was causing him.

“No, I want . .to say . . .I love you both . . “

Shanna slowly leaned down, touching her head on his arm. Seth leaned up and placed his hand on her hand. “You got to promise me . . .you got to tell Tanya . . .that I never . . .once stopped thinking about her.”

“Seth . .” the Lakota girl sniffed.

“Promise, Mia . . .promise me you’ll tell her.”

Mia leaned forward, squeezing his hand. “You gonna tell her yourself, you hear me?” She wept, “I am not going to let you give up. You’re going to make it, Seth.”

“You don’t know that.” He coughed.

“YES, I DO!!” she insisted, “Because do you know what would happen if you die?”

“What?” the musician coughed.

“Brendon will kick your butt from here to eternity for leaving me and Shanna.”

Seth stared at her blankly for a few seconds, then proceeded to laugh. Shanna even started laughing too at Mia’s joke. The musician coughed for a second but still chuckled. The Lakota girl grinned at him, rubbing his sweat forehead. “No more talk about giving up, okay?” she asked.

“Okay,” he whispered.

Mia kissed him on the cheek and then slowly got up out of the room. She decided she was going to get some fresh air. The majority of the group was inside the living room, getting ready for the boiled mussels and fish that Alexander secured. The young woman walked up the stairs and then proceeded to scoot along the side to the front of the boat. Sawyer was off to the side with his shirt off, taking the opportunity to work on his tan. Chance was with his wife Arizona, as she laid on his lap; completely devoid of energy. “Chance, Ari, we got food now,” Mia told them, “ Alexander was successful in his fishing trip.”

“Oh, thank, God,” Arizona cried.

“Thank you, Mia.” Chance shook her hand.

“Kudos to the Tarzan Boy.” Sawyer smiled, under his sunglasses.

Mia slowly walked over to him and sat down next to him. The redneck smirked at her, and then stared back up at sky. “How you doing, Sawyer?” she asked.

“Just chillin like a villain on penicillin, darlin, “ he chuckled.

“You are a piece of work.” She said, tucking her hands in her pockets.

“Glad of you to notice.”

Mia then paused when she felt something in her pocket. She then slowly pulled it out and looked at. It all the ruckus of what had happened on the Island, she had completely forgotten about Cecil’s wallet. She slowly opened it up and looked at the photo of his son, back when the boy was a kid and Cecil was much younger. Sawyer slowly removed his sunglasses and looked the object. “Oh, yeah,” he whispered, “I had forgotten you took his wallet.”

“He asked it of me. He knew he was dying of lung cancer.”

“Is that right?” the redneck mused, “I did not know that.”

“We’ve never talked about that day, Sawyer.”

“Saw no reason to, Pocahontas.” He leaned back, closing his eyes.

“Then can you tell me how he got that gun?”

“He took it from me . . .when I was coming to kill him.”

Mia turned to face him. She knew that Cecil and Sawyer had a bad history; she could just tell. However, she wasn’t aware it was bad enough to force the southern man to kill the older man. “Why would you want to kill him?” she asked.

“Cause he forced my daddy to kill my mama and then my dad killed himself.” Sawyer said coldly.

“You know that for sure?”

“The old man confessed it to me before he shot himself.” Sawyer then leaned up, wiping his sweat, “It’s funny.”

“What’s funny?” Mia asked.

“He could have shot. Was prepared to but . . he didn’t. He said, I had a chance to turn my life around. Then . .boom.”

“Cecil said that?”

“Yeah. . . .funny, ain’t it?”

“Well, are you gonna?” the Lakota girl nudged.

“Am I gonna what?”

“Turn your life around?”

Sawyer looked at her and smiled his famous smile. It made most ladies swoon but all it did for Mia was make her giggle. “I have started to turn my life around, little chiefette, “he grinned, “The moment I fought with ya’ll against the Liberation . . .I turned my life around. Hell, Jack telling me that me and him weren’t friends but we weren’t enemies . . .I kinda felt . . .”

“Proud?” Mia smiled.

Sawyer looked at her and grinned again. “Yeah.” He whispered.

Mia smiled, putting the wallet back into her shorts. Then she saw Tony stumbling onto the front deck with them. He had the look on his face that he might have been crazy from the heat. He was stumbling around with his bandana loosely on his head. “Tony?” Mia asked to get his attention.

“SHHHH!!!” he immediately responded.

“Hey, Cochise, what is your problem?” Sawyer asked him.

“Sawyer, Mia, get up!” the blind doctor motioned for them.

Mia got to her feet and rushed to her blind friend. Sawyer got up with a grumble cause he was comfortable. He walked over to his friend, wondering what was up with him. Mia touched his arm, looking at him. He looked like he was going to break down crying at any moment. “Do you hear that?” he whispered.

“Tony, I’m not sure-“ Mia tried to say.

“Oh, God,” the blind man cried, “Please, God . . .please don’t make this be a hallucination.”

“Cochise, maybe you should get back out of the heat.” Sawyer mentioned.

“DO ANY OF YOU HEAR THAT???” Tony bellowed at the top of his lungs.

Sawyer folded his arms and closed his eyes, concentration. “I don’t hear squat, man,” he sighed.

“No . .” Tony whimpered.

Mia then blinked. “Wait ,. . “ she said.

Sawyer then opened his eyes. The sound was distance and it was faint. Mia looked out into the horizon. Tony slowly leaned up. He could feel Mia’s hand started to squeeze his arm profusely. He ignored the pain cause that told him she could hear it do. As the minutes went back, the sound started to fill the air above so that Chance and Arizona could hear it.

The sound of helicopter blades.