A/N: Well, I was bored in camp, so I wrote this. Enjoy it's, as it'll only be 3-5 chapters long.
Capture The Flag
Summary: Who knew that such a simple game could bring out the deepest competitive sides in the survivors?
Status: WiP
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Capture the Flag – Chapter 1 – Start Your Engines
"Dude, we gotta do something." Hurley said, burying his face in his beefy hands, "It's too friggin' boring here."
"I know, man. I know. Bloody Island." Charlie sighed, wiping away a bead of sweat from his brow.
Hurley twirled the worn bandana around his fingers, wringing it out every so often. "I've got an idea." He quietly stated, grinning.
"Name it." Charlie insisted, "I'll do just about anything."
A while later, after Hurley had quickly explained some rules of the game, the British man looked stunned. "Capture the what?" He asked.
"Flag." Hurley answered quickly, "You know, that game I just tried to explain to you?" He joked.
Charlie laughed, "Summarize them up, then."
"You know, hide the flag, or in this case the bandana, then you hide yourself, then when the dude comes near, jump out and scream at them. It scares them completely shitless." He beamed.
The rock star looked amused, "You loons of Americans. That is the most shockingly stupidest game I've ever heard. …Let's try it."
Hurley crowed, "Go get the beach people! Tell them to come here!" He motioned around his cave.
(Space)
Almost an hour later, every single survivor (save the ones who died) was crammed inside the dingy hole in the rock.
"What the hell is going on here, fatso?" The Southern accent was unmistakable, along with the nickname.
"Dudes and ladies, calm down for a freakin' second, will you! Jeez, it's not like we have anything better to do." Hurley shouted across the chattering crowd.
"That could be debatable." A voice called out, but the people around him quieted the man. They all wanted to hear why they were here, thus they were interested in what Charlie and Hurley had to say.
"You all familiar with the game of Capture the Flag?" Hurley started, grinning from ear to ear.
(Space)
"I declare Jack the captain of the cave people," Hurley finished forty-five minutes later, "And Sawyer the captain of the beachers."
'This would be an interesting game,' most of the assembly thought at those words. But Jack and Sawyer just nodded, accepting their positions without any fuss.
"Remember, green, black, camoflouge, anything that blends in equals for a good and long game. Loud and bright is a recipe for a quick game." Charlie mentioned, his British accent as noticeable as ever.
"Can we boot out Sawyer?" Another cry came out from the crowd.
Hurley raised his eyebrows, and many heads turned to look for the source of the voice. "Why?" His own eyes were examining the throng of people too.
"Well, you said loud was bad…" Many people chuckled, and Sawyer's face tinged a bit. Finally recognizing the voice, he knew it was Kate's. Even Jack cracked a smile at the comment.
"You little…" Sawyer stormed over, and for a couple seconds the general public of the Island thought that he was going to hit the woman. But Sawyer being Sawyer, he just stopped inches from her face, "I declare you," he poked her abdomen, "the jail guard for our side."
"Awww, come on, Sawyer, I was just kidding around." Kate mumbled, slightly embarrassed that the fugitive of the clan would have to be the one to watch over the people who got caught.
"I ain't, Freckles." Sawyer's eyes held that mischievous glint.
"Come on you lot, break it up." Charlie became in between the two, "Cave people, stay here. Beach people, go with Sawyer. Remember what Hurley said, no peeking, no cheating, no becoming a traitor."
Steve snapped his fingers, swinging his right arm over to his left side, "You found out our master plan!" He smiled jokingly.
The cave people chortled, and started to force the beach-dwellers out. "Go on. Be gone with you!" Charlie pushed the last one out, and brushed off his hands as if he had just achieved the hardest goal in the world.
(Space)
Locke, Boone, and Hurley went off with a ball of string to go set the boundaries that would be required.
Charlie loaned out his only black Sharpie so people could draw the word "Cave" on their shirts. This was the only way that they could be separated from the other team. Then he joked around with Scott, "Hey, wanna join the PEN 15 club?"
Scott nodded, unaware of what the man would do next. The man grabbed his arm and scrawled out PEN15 on it with his marker.
Scott looked at it in horror, and tried to scrub it off. This only resulted in his arm turning bright red and hurting from the raw skin. "That is not cool!" He groaned when he found a shadow of the writing.
Charlie was beside himself in laughter, "Welcome to the club," he choked out, "Benefits not included."
Everyone had let down his or her guard for this game, not knowing how big of an issue it'd be in the coming days.
(Space)
Jack and the rest of the cave people had laughed at the crude boundaries Hurley had managed to put up. A measly worn piece of yawn wove it's way between the trees, and where it ended, you could see Locke's handwriting on notebook paper that was half-burnt from the fire, saying "Outer Limits," and Boone's writing beneath it, '(Not to be confused with the TV show)'. The three had returned to the group, laughing quietly to themselves.
Jack had tried to remember the instruction Hurley had given him as well as he could, "If they go near the flag, leave your posts and chase them away. If they come back, still untagged, then go after them again. But try not to be too obvious to let them know the flag is there. Let them sneak around for a while, then let the demons out." He gave them a half-smile.
"And if the bloody loon comes back with more, then for the love of God, band up with a couple of your teammates and take them down! Enemies don't matter in this game, not unless they're on the other team." Charlie added, excited.
Murmurs started up through the crowd, groups getting together, and ways to get on the other side sneakily.
In this small frenzy, no one noticed Jack and Charlie disappearing off to hide the flag.
"We should hide it in the trees. I mean, the only really good tree-climber is Kate, and she's the jail guard." Charlie stated, throwing his arms up towards the canopies of leaves and branches.
"Do you really think she'll be the guard the whole time?" Jack responded, "As soon as Sawyer lets her off the hook, she'll be up in them faster then you can say 'Island'."
"Island." Charlie countered under his breath, "Then where we gonna hide it?" He wondered aloud.
"…Found it." Jack paused in front of an old, forlorn looking tree stump, looking as if time had taken its toll on it. Taking the black handkerchief out his pocket, the doctor cautiously jammed it in the hollowed out middle, leaving only a tiny corner of the fabric hanging out.
"Hurley said part of it had to show." Charlie replied to this, motioning that he couldn't see any of it.
"Did he say how much?" Jack grinned a boyish grin, and Charlie smiled.
"Ooo, a loophole." He laughed, "Good one. But we should get back to those nutters before they start without us."
(Sapce)
As the duo reappeared at the entrance of the caves, they looked at the scraggly group of survivors dressed in greens and browns, and couldn't help but crack up. How many times would they see a huge assembly of human beings, ages ranging from seven to fifty, get a big kick out of play such a childish game? Not many, that they knew. And the kicker was that all these people took it as seriously as their jobs in real life. Jack and Charlie just shook their heads and entered the throng of people.
"You guys!" Jack yelled out, throwing his arms up in the air, "Quiet down!"
The persons quickly silenced, it was obvious that they were just as excited as they looked, and stared at the appointed leader.
"Follow us." Jack waved over his shoulder and started to make his way down the path. Stopping at the yarn line, he looked around, "Who can really belt it out?" The man asked everyone.
Charlie raised his hand, "I can." He answered.
Most the crowd just laughed, but Jack nodded and smiled, "Tell Sawyer to get down here."
"OY! SAWYER! GET YOUR BLOODY ASS DOWN HERE!" Charlie boomed out, his voice ricocheting off the tree trunks.
The crowd sat in stunned silence for a second, and then equaled the noise, even drowning out Charlie.
Before long, the sound of footsteps could be heard amid the shouts and screams.
"Whatcha up to, Jackass?" Sawyer asked, stopping right before the other side of the string.
"Ready to begin." Jack answered.
Sawyer's eyes narrowed, "You're going down, doc. You and then rest of them damn people at them caves of yours."
"That's what you say now," Jack replied, "By the time today is over, you'll be begging to know where the flag is."
"Damn Yankee. Ev'ryone knows that us southern folk never beg." He spat.
Jack took this comment very personally, being from Boston himself, and the smile faded, replaced by his glaring eyes. "We'll see about that." His voice dropped down to a dangerously low level.
"Boys, are we ever going to start? Or are we just going to have ourselves a staring contest?" Locke asked, his tone sounding as grandfatherly as ever.
Jack growled, "Start?"
Sawyer echoed back, "Start."
The game was on then.
-LOST-
A/N: So, how do you like it? Who do you think will win? Who do you want to win?
Next on Capture the Flag: Once the fight to find each other's flag begins, some unfair play is already found. People start to abuse each other, and the game becomes something more then just a simple thing to do.