Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and I am not affiliated in any way, shape or form with anyone who does.
"Jack, please stop! He's dead!" Jack was barely able to hear what Kate was saying, not wanting to believe that it was true. But Charlie had been breathless for too long and Jack was unable to fix that.
He leaned back onto his haunches, feeling a hard lump forming in his throat as Kate sobbed uncontrollably near him. They stayed there for a couple of minutes, Jack trying to clear the fog that was infecting his mind. When it had cleared he tore his gaze from Charlie to focus upon Kate. "I'm going to kill him."
"Jack…" Kate's voice was childish, filled with a need for comfort Jack knew he could not fulfil. There was bigger things to focus on now, getting revenge for Charlie, getting revenge against Ethan.
Walking back to the caves Jack tried to ignore Kate. She trudged along behind him, occasionally sniffling or wiping at her eyes to halt the tears that threatened to spring forward again. They turned the final corner to see the majority of the camp staring at them. He didn't know how to react to them and ducked his head, trying to avoid the questioning glances and walked back over to Sayid, crouching down and attempting to busy himself with patching up his leg.
"What happened? Where are Charlie and Claire?" Sayid voice was blunt but to Jack's ears it felt brutal. He shook his head as a reply. "You could not find them?" He shook his head again. "Jack! Answer my questions!" There was a hint of fear in Sayid's voice now and Jack knew he had to say something about what had happened.
He put his professional voice on, the 'sympathetic yet detached' one that he had used in the hospital to tell someone that their loved one had died on the table. "Claire's still missing. We found Charlie but he was dead when I got there. I couldn't save him." Jack saw fear and shock flicker through Sayid's eyes before being replaced with rage and he watched as he tried to stand up. "You need to sit back down; your leg is too sore."
"No!" Sayid's voice was loud enough that the other castaways stopped to stare at them. "I am not going to sit down and let what happened to Charlie happen to Claire!"
Jack heard the whispers starting, people trying to get answers out of each other. He tenderly laid a hand onto Sayid's shoulder, forcing him to sit down before walking over to Kate, lowering his head to her level to speak quietly.
"I need you to go down to the beach, tell everyone what has happened."
"Jack…"
"Kate! Go." She left and Jack stood to full height again, instantly commanding the attention of the crowd. "Out in the jungle we came across two trails. Boone and Locke followed one, while me and Kate went down the other." He paused for a moment, trying to decide whether or not he should tell them that he ran into Ethan, say that he ignored the warning and that Charlie paid the price for it. But he couldn't say it, everyone would blame him and he couldn't deal with that right now. "We found Charlie hung from a tree, we tried to revive him but it was too late. He died. Ethan killed him."
The crowd took a collective gasp of shock before a ripple of panic spread through them.
"Don't panic. We're safe. He isn't going to hurt anyone else, I promise. And we are going to find him and make him pay for what he has done."
Jack felt the anger start to burn inside him. He was going to find Ethan, he was going to hurt him and he was going to kill him and nobody was going to stop him from doing it.