new_ophelia | For Jack and Duck

When Kate had set out on her run, she probably should have taken light debris into consideration. This is one of two thoughts that goes through her mind right at the moment a dinosaur crosses the path. The other is a strangled fuck. It is too late to slow down her body's momentum and as her foot hooks on a fallen branch, she goes skidding across the ground, pain shooting up from her scraped arms and legs. She claps a bloody hand across her mouth as a yell escapes and pushes up, scrambling to get off the open path. There are dinosaurs. There are dinosaurs and they shouldn't be here? They're supposed to have collars? What happened to the collars? And if they're here, they could be anywhere. She crouches behind a tree, far enough off the path to be partially covered by the thick foliage. Shit, shit, shit. She needs to get back. She needs to get back to Jack who could still be sleeping...

A hiss makes its way out as sweat runs into the long scrapes. Blinking hard, she tries to steady her breath which between the exercise and sheer panic is completely out of control. After a few long moments she starts to push herself up, ignoring the throbbing of her muscles before an almighty *crash* sends her flailing. All she sees before she starts running is that it's big, it has teeth, and it looks a lot quicker than the tree eating dinosaur. Her heart hammers in her chest as she crashes through the dense jungle, hoping to hell that the beach is in the direction she's heading. The dinosaurs on Jurassic Park didn't go to the beach and that's pretty much the only reference Kate has to go on. She keeps her eyes straight ahead, not wanting to see what is behind her. The distant crashing noises are plenty and that's part of the reason that she doesn't see the narrow, shallow ravine until her leg hits it with a sickening crunch and a searing flash of pain. Pressing her face into the damp ground she tries to breathe through the pain until she lifts her head only to see a bamboo shoot sticking a few inches out of her calf. She wrenches herself up, gagging when she tries to put pressure on the leg and begins to move as quickly as she can towards the bright sand. Only when she gets near enough to the water to feel the cold breeze does she sink onto her hands and good knee, panting. Her eyes screw shut as she fights down both an almighty freakout and the need to vomit and lie down.

[ooc: Tagging order: jack, duck, kate. This post is meant to piggy-back Jack's post. She looks worse than she actually is right now. Most of the blood is from the superficial scrapes. obviously slow-timed]

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"We are," Duck agrees in a voice louder than any he's used the entire trip. He can see the roof of the Compound through the gaps in the trees. "Just a few more minutes, Kate, tops."

Kate gives Duck a shaky thumbs-up, too tired and uncomfortable to do much more. At this point she wishes a dinosaur would just pop out and bite her leg off. It might hurt less.

Jack hates this, but there's not a lot he can do to help her. He's not a doctor, he doesn't even really know what's wrong with her, just that she looks like she's in a lot of pain and he's trying not to jostle her, but it doesn't seem to be working too well.

Duck has to force himself not to run the last stretch of path to the Compound, but he succeeds, Jack and Kate like an anchor at his back. Scanning the area reveals no dinosaurs or truant Geoffrey's, an encouraging sign, and before he knows it they're at the door, (mostly) unscatched. Duck heaves it open with more force than is necessary and holds it there.

A low roar begins to make it's way to Kate's ears as Duck forces the door open. She tries to sit up straighter to see what is happening as shouts of pain and confusion surround them. "Shit" she mutters, twisting around as her leg begins to throb again. "Shit."

"C'mon, it's okay," Jack murmurs as he climbs up the steps and turns sideways to get Kate through the door without hitting either of her legs on the doorframe. "Just relax, okay? We'll get you to the clinic and it'll be okay."

"You're gonna be fine," Duck murmurs, shutting the door firmly behind them. "I'm gonna come check in on you in a sec, but I need to find Geoffrey."

"Yeah," Kate breathes, still squirming a little. "Duck," she says, reaching out a hand. "Thank you."

Jack nods, meeting Duck's eyes and although he can't quite say it now, because his mind is still pounding with fear and worry, he's never been so glad to have someone with him on the island.

"I'll get her to the clinic," he says, then heads off in that direction.

Duck gives Kate's hand a gentle squeeze, Jack a nod, and begins ducking into rooms, searching for a head of long, unkempt hair.

Kate watches him go for a long moment, thankful even through all the pain that Duck is okay and that they found her. Because if they hadn't...

She shakes herself a little, trying to figure out where all the bleeding people are headed. "This is gonna suck, Jack," she mumbles. "When they pull it out."

"Hey, it's okay," he murmurs, taking her toward the clinic. "They're gonna take care of you and you're gonna be okay."

Kate takes a long breath and settles her head back against Jack's chest. "Hey," she murmurs, moving her face against his shirt. "You saved me. Very heroic."

Jack laughs at that because he feels anything but heroic at this point. He's scared and shaking and all he wants is to get Kate into the clinic so that someone can tell him she'll be okay.

Jack, Duck, Geoffrey, Sunny, Lionel, Kate thinks, wondering if anyone has seen Anne and Ariel yet. It could have been worse. She scratches softly against Jack's shirt, feeling the heat rising off his chest. "Someday," she mumbles, deciding paying attention to Jack was a better idea than paying attention to the blood in her socks and the shouting surrounding them. "You will be rewarded richly."

Jack swallows hard at that and nods, smiling down at Kate as he brings her into the clinic and he doesn't think he's ever been so scared as he has all this morning. "I expect forty virgins," he teases, his voice hoarse, then lifts his head.

"Hey," he shouts, keeping his mouth away from Kate's ear when he does. "I need some help here."

For Jack and Duck - Dated March 12th

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