Lost belongs to JJ Abrams and crew, borrowing for some non-profit fun. Danielle runs into some unexpected company. Enjoy!
Lost – Dog Gone
By Mystic
June 2nd 2005
She'd figured out the sounds of the jungle a long time ago. It was a necessity of living on the island. So when she heard the jingle off in the distance, she raised her rifle in confusion. Danielle couldn't place the sound. She thought she recognized it, from somewhere deep in her memory, but the more she thought on it, the more convinced she became that it was one of their games to lure her out into the open. They'd love to capture her, she thought, to complete their collection of her crew. Danielle would rather put a bullet in her own head than be taken by the others.
She carried that bullet in her pocket, separate from the rest.
The jingling grew louder and then became silent as she crouched behind a tree, taking aim at the jungle ahead of her. If they were coming, she'd be ready, she knew. The grass rustled about in a spot a few yards from where she was and she stood, trying to get a better look. Her light eyes squinted and she blew air into her bangs, lifting them for just a moment before they fell back on her eyebrows, sticking to her forehead in the heat.
It was too small to be one of the bears, she told herself. Then it dawned on her that the bears could have mated, producing rabid cubs and she gripped her rifle, waiting. It wasn't in her nature to shoot first and ask questions later, so she made her way behind the tree, shielding herself from whatever was there, laying in the grass. She picked up a rock and tossed it into the distance and watched the floppy haired dog jump up out of the grass and run towards the rock, sniffing it and then it returned to where it had been, laying comfortably in the grass staring up at her.
Danielle smiled. It'd been a very long time since she'd seen a dog. Longer still since she'd seen one golden and overexcited like this one seemed to be. She dropped her rifle and let it hang on her shoulder, watching the animal stand and approach her. She glanced at the rifle it had been afraid of and shifted its band over her head, so it could hang loosely on her back, out of her way.
"Come," she whispered, holding out her hand.
The dog obeyed, trotting towards her and smelling her hand, then gave it a lick. He looked up into her face and panted, then approached her quickly, hopping on its hind legs to lick her face several times. Danielle held its paws, tempted to laugh, before pushing him gently to the ground.
"Where did you come from?" She asked the dog quietly, reaching out a hand to pet its coat and feel the pulse of its tail pounding into her fingers. Its head shot towards the bushes and he took off, glancing back just before breaking through. Danielle followed only to the edge of the bushes before she heard a sound. She watched the dog crouch down as a man in a suite awoke in a panic. Danielle had never seen this man before; she pulled her gun off her back and retreated slowly. The dog jumped up and ran past the man and back into the bushes.
"Dog?" She whispered. "Where did you go?"
The fur brushed her leg, frightening her, but she saw his brown eyes staring up at her, his tongue flapping at the side of its mouth. Danielle touched its head and then went into the jungle, waving an arm for it to follow. She was surprised when she glanced back ten minutes later to find the dog still following her. Going into her dwelling, she found a coconut and sliced it in half easily with a machete, bringing a half full of coconut water up to the panting animal.
"Drink," she instructed, when the animal stared at the bowl in her hand. It lowered its head slowly and licked at the water inside, then took a step forward and finished the contents, licking her face in a thank you she hadn't expected. And then it ran off into the jungle.
Danielle was tempted to run after it, to make it come back and curl up next to her while she read from old books and drew on old maps. She could talk to the dog, even if the dog could not respond, and she could watch as it panted while she sang a song she hadn't sung in years. Instead she shined her gun and thumbed the bullet in her pocket and hoped this new man in the jungle didn't come looking for trouble.
Finis