Jin, Sawyer, Michael and Walt sailed away from the coastline, waving goodbye to their friends they had come to know over the last few weeks. They might all not be close friends, willing to lay their lives down for one another, but they had all formed a bond, a friendship that existed but behind a layer of questions. Leaving the Island as hero's, in search of a ship, plane or any new sign of life to rescue them all from this nightmare was all they could do as a group. They may all of worked together as a team to build the raft, spending long hot hours building and rebuilding their only hope of rescue, but they all had their own personal reasons for getting off the Island that they wouldn't share with anyone.

It was turning to night quickly on the raft manned by the three men. They had made rather good progress over the few hours they had been sailing away from the Island. The sun was setting faster by the. The wind was getting a lot cooler but both Sawyer and Jin remained topless after enjoying the strong sun even though Sawyer, being the average white American, had forgot the suntan lotion he had won off Jack during a game of poker a couple of days earlier. Michael had made the joke that his "redneck" accent had a new meaning now after taking a look at his neck and back. Sawyer had returned the joke with a shake of his head. Jin, not understanding any of the joke or the reply, laughed along with Michael and continued with his job of keeping an eye on the radar and scanning the sky for any sign of planes.

It was currently complete darkness now and the waves had calmed to a gentle motion, rocking the boat almost dreamily. They were all still awake and keeping all eyes on either the horizon, the sky or the radar. Jin was singing in Korean softly, making the only other sound except for the waves. The two sounds seemed almost made for each other, and it made Sawyer feel sleepy and comforted. He didn't know what they were going to do if they eventually found a ship or a plane. He had the flare in his hand, and it had only one shot in it. One shot was enough to attract the attention of a plane but if they were missed by that then they really were in trouble. Suddenly Jin stopped singing and started to shout "Boat! Boat!". The one of the few words he had picked up over the weeks of listening to the survivors especially Michael and Sawyer was "boat". Both Sawyer and Walt jumped up and looked where Jin was pointing out to the horizon. Sure enough there was a light on a pole in the middle of the darkness, the light was flickering but it was strong enough to see from a distance. All four of them started screaming many different words to get the attention of whoever was on the sea craft heading towards them. Jin was screaming "Boat!" over and over again and Michael and Walt were shouting "Over here!" repeatedly, waving their arms around their heads. Sawyer joined in with the screams of attention and decided he didn't need the flare gun so put it in his belt. The light was getting nearer and there were screams coming from the direction of the light. A new scream joined the mix of attention seeking shouts. A female voice, Sawyer noticed. Within a few seconds the raft was level with the light source. The light revealed a raft with two people stood on it. Sawyer could see the two people on the boat, one a big black man, and a women, a black haired, quite small and, to Sawyer, a very pretty women. Sawyer jumped across onto the raft they had just discovered. "Sawyer! Get back you don't know who these people are!", shouted Michael, but Sawyer was already aiming the flare gun he had at the man. The tall man, who looked African, possibly Nigerian Michael judged, put both his hands up and said calmly to Sawyer, "Stop my friend. We pose no threat. We are survivors of Oceanic Flight 815." This piece of news shocked every one of the survivors. Michael, ignoring the warning he had given Sawyer, jumped across the water to the other raft and turned back and told Walt to stay where he was. Sawyer, still aiming the flare gun at the Nigerian, asked demandingly, "What are your names?". The Nigerian introduced both himself and the woman. "I am Eko, and this is Ana Lucia. We….". Sawyer interrupted the man called Eko. "We are the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. So who the hell are you really?" Sawyer gave Eko a stern stare and waited for an answer. "No, please listen. We are the tail end survivors of the plane. We crashed on the other side of the island we think. We have been on the beach for forty-three days. Me and six of our friends, other survivors, sailed out to navigate the coastline, hoping to find other survivors. A few hours ago, we got intercepted by a boat. They wanted to know where a Walt was. We didn't know any Walt but they didn't believe us so they shot two of our friends and kidnapped the two children." Michael stared at Eko and a look of horror ran over his face. Ana Lucia stepped forward and put her hand on Sawyer's gun and softly told him to lower it. "It's true. Now lower your gun." Ana Lucia seemed to have a kind of magic in her eyes that made Sawyer do whatever she said without a second thought. "Do any of you know a Walt?" Eko asked. Walt stood up and ran over to his dad. He then stared up at Eko and Eko looked back at him and he could see the horror and confusion in the boy's eyes. Eko looked at Michael, after working out he must be Walt's dad. "I'm sorry but they said he was special and without him they would keep killing more and more of us." Michael was getting more confused and scared and didn't know what to say. "Who are they?" Michael shouted finally. Ana Lucia stared at Michael and told them all who the people were. "The Others." she said.