Jack was awoken to the sound of sirens. His eyelids opened wide and he sat up. Glancing around suspiciously he jabbed at Locke, who was lying prone next to him, deep in a sleep in which he could not awake without a major disturbance.
"Locke, wake up. Sirens. Do you hear them?" Jack quizzed, but it was no use. Locke had drifted off to sleep and they were the only two in the area. Their duty was to protect the other survivors by keeping watch the entire night and guarding the camp on the beach.
The camp had been set up for some forty days now, at least. It had been so long that Jack could no longer remember what day it was.
Jack stood up. Sweat poured from the sprouts of his hair and dribbled down his stressed face.
"I can't believe that I fell asleep," he whispered. He slapped his open palm against his forehead and began to walk towards the direction of the beach, leaving a sleeping Locke alone.
Jack flung the strap of his rifle around his left shoulder as he brushed through the bushes and branches.
Jack came to an open and saw that the camp was as usual. Tents were set up perfectly, a camp fire to provide warmth for the survivors had flames that were surprisingly still crackling in the cold night sky.
"This is awkward." Jack approached the camp closer, ignoring the sounds of alarming sirens as he was more concerned about his fellow companions.
"Jack. What are you doing here?" A voice asked from behind him. Jack spun around and looked at the figure whose appearance was concealed by the shadows of the night.
"It's me, Sawyer. But what the hell are you doing back here? Aren't you supposed to be guarding this camp or somethin'?"
"Yeah," Jack replied," but what are you doing out here?"
Sawyer drew a deep breath before replying, "Look a man needs to take a leak sometimes okay. Could you give me a break?"
Jack nodded silently and walked back into the jungle, holding the strap of his rifle tightly in case of any encounters with an unwelcome visitor.
Jack suddenly turned back to look at Sawyer who was now heading towards the camp fire. Sawyer grabbed a bucket full of water and lunged the bucket at the logs.
The fire extinguished and Jack called out to Sawyer, "Hey Sawyer! Can you hear those sirens?" Jack asked.
Sawyer stared at Jack awkwardly before dropping the bucket and heading back to his own tent.
"He must think that I am going crazy," Jack mumbled to himself. But he could still hear the sirens. It sounded as if a prisoner had escaped a high-alert prison facility. The sirens kept sounding, as if it were repeating itself over and over in Jack's mind and his mind only.
Chasing the sirens would be crazy, but not searching for them could be a serious risk towards the group camping on the beach, waiting for that special boat or helicopter to emerge from the thick mist upon the shining horizon that would come and rescue them, come and save them all.
Jack sneaked past Locke, trying to wake him. Jack bent down and scooped up his backpack and flung the straps over his shoulders, he held his rifle in both hands close to his chest.
As he marched out further into the jungle to pursue these mysterious and strange noises he thought of what life would be like after the island. After they had all been rescued.
--FLASH-FORWARD--
"Phone cal for Mr. Shepard, phone call for Mr. Shepard," a voice announced over the P.A speakers at the hospital Jack worked at.
"Okay the, I am getting there." Jack placed his photographs of the spinal cord of his patient which had been severely damaged and exited his examination room to answer the call.
It had been somewhat one month since the rescue on the island. And now Jack was back home in the United States, still mourning the loss of many of his dear friends.
He had not communicated with Kate since the freighter that escorted them back to America landed and after the conference regarding the story of Oceanic flight 815.
Jack would never forget the courage that Sawyer had shown to protect them all and sacrifice his chance of leaving the island while several others made it back to their home, much like Jack himself.
Jack arrived at the desk where his phone call await. The receptionist handed him the phone. "It's a man called Benjamin," she whispered quietly before leaving Jack with his phone call.
"Jack quickly put his mouth to the recorder and his ear to the receiver.
"What the hell do you want form me?" Jack asked. Tears filling his eyes as he spoke these words.
"I want you to return to the island Jack, and finish the bidding that you started. Sawyer isn't dead Jack, he is fine. He is right here with me."
Jack shuddered as he heard gunshots and screams of pain in the background.
"So Jack. Are you coming? Because we are waiting." The reception dropped and the conversation ended. Jack blinked tears out of his eyes.
"After all Sawyer had done for us, I can't just leave him for dead," Jack whispered as he hung up the phone and returned to his duty.
--CURRENT TIME --
Jack still followed the distant noise of the sirens. The noise seemed to grow fainter with each step he took. It sounded as if the sirens were running from, him. But that was just crazy talk.
"These sirens are driving me mad!" Jack yelled. The yell echoed through the jungle, which was not good. Anyone could have heard that comment that was wondering the jungle.
Especially Ben's men. Ben had become a problem, a serious problem to the survivors several days ago. It was a debate that transformed into an act of deception and ransom.
--FLASHBACK--
Jack stood, bent over the firepot outside of Benjamin's hut, clutching his hip in pain.
"I see that your hip has become a problem, Mr. Jack Shepard." Ben emerged form the darkness of his tropical straw hut.
"This is just of my people's camps. There are four scattered across the island Mr. Shepard and you are in the most beautiful one of them all. Now aren't you just so lucky?"
Jack glanced up at Ben and looked him in the eyes. Behind him were Kate and Sayid were held captive. Arms wielding hunting knives gripped them around the neck.
Michael also stood behind Ben, but he was not a prisoner to the others, he was an associate.
He helped Ben in capturing the three but they failed to successfully capture Sawyer and Hurley who retaliated with extreme violence towards the others.
Jack had watched in terror at the fight, and Hurley was not one to use or approve of violence.
But that was in the past. Now was the present and Jack needed to find a way of escaping despite having an excruciatingly painful hip.
"So Jack. Here we are, man to man. The leaders of both the major "tribes" I guess you could say that actually inhabit this island.
"What are you going to do to us?" Jack asked as he struggled to his feet again.
"I'm going to make you and offer that you can't refuse, Jack."
Ben turned around and walked back into the hut, leaving five of his people to guard the three captives. Michael followed Benjamin, his head held high and his son by his side.
Jack was enraged to witness Michael and his son to betray them like this, all to ensure the safety of his seed and finally leave the island, allowing whatever horrible things that this strange tribe of perhaps native people to maybe even kill the rest of the survivors on the island after finding their location.
Jack also wondered how Ben knew his name. This was their first meeting. Jack had only overheard the name being used by one of the followers of this man, to reference their leader, Benjamin.
"You can't do this, Michael. You just can't do this to us!" Jack screamed in rage and frustration.
He had promised each and every other person on the island that he would make sure that they were saved, that they were rescued and that everyone would return home. But now, it seemed as if he had failed.
--CURRENT TIME--
Jack continued to stride through the jungle, listening intently and carefully to estimate the location of the sirens.
The noise now grew deeper and deeper. He was probably in the middle of the jungle now; far form the beach and the rest of the survivors.
It was only midnight and everyone had remained sound asleep. Even Locke was enjoying some shut-eye, even though that neither of them were supposed to fall asleep as they were keeping watch of the camp.
The sirens now died down once again. A rustle came form the bushes to Jack's left and he flung the strap of his rifle from his shoulder and held the weapon in both hands, his index finger resting on the trigger, he aimed silently where the noise was coming from.
"Who's there?" Jack aimed more steadily at the tress now, the rustle grew louder.
Jack toke deep breaths and tried hard to maintain his composure and not lose his focus.
The birds in the night air cheeped and the rustling came to a halt as a massive figure emerged form the bushes.
"Wow!" The man fell over, landing on his backside in the bush.
"Hurley?"