LATE
"Hello there."
Ethan is torpidly expressionless as he stares at Charlie and Claire across the clearing. Charlie remembers that he had asked him to fetch Jack, but the doctor is nowhere in sight. What the hell is he playing at? Charlie wonders.
"Ethan! Where's Jack?" he asks, sharply.
He gets no response. It is only now that Charlie notices that Claire is trembling by his side, her eyes widening with fear. On instinct he wraps a protective arm around her shoulder. He looks back at Ethan and realises his eyes are fixed on Claire's stomach.
"It's him, Charlie…" Claire whispers. "He's the one who…"
Her voice trails off, but Charlie understands what she is saying. He glares at Ethan as he strides up the path towards them. As he draws nearer, Charlie notes that Ethan is good deal taller than himself, but he doesn't let this daunt him. He is not going to let this creep lay a finger on Claire.
He charges at Ethan, using all his fury to force him back. He turns his head to Claire and yells for her to run. This glance over his shoulder is all that Ethan needs to take the advantage. He punches Charlie on the back of his neck, stunning him momentarily and dropping him to his knees. He then wrenches one of Charlie's arms behind his back, twisting it savagely. Ethan locks his other arm around his throat and hauls him to his feet again. Charlie feels frustrated to have been overpowered so easily, but there is nothing he can do to escape his iron grip.
"Claire," Ethan says, tonelessly. "Stop where you are."
Claire has backed away from the fight, but she has not fled as Charlie told her to. She is watching in horror, clutching her belly…but she has not left him.
"Claire, I want you to come with me," Ethan continues. "If you don't then I am going to kill your friend. I can snap his neck in a second."
Ethan's forearm is pressed down hard against Charlie's windpipe, so that he cannot speak. If Charlie could speak, he feels sure that even now he would tell Claire to run and save herself. Instead Claire walks towards them. Charlie's mind is screaming for her NOT to do this. Not for him…
"Let him go!" Claire cries. "What do you want with me?"
"No time for questions," Ethan shoots back. "If you want him to live, then you will
come with me. Now!"
Claire flinches, wrinkling up her face in anger and disgust. She begins to walk at Ethan's side as he forces Charlie along the path. Charlie cannot believe that Claire is following Ethan for his sake. He cannot let her sacrifice herself for a worthless junkie like him. She needs to think of the baby. Unable to protest, Charlie digs his heels into the soil and writhes in Ethan's hold in an attempt to slow his progress. Ethan simply yanks Charlie's arm further up his back and squeezes his wrist so tight he begins to feel faint. Charlie growls in pain.
"Charlie, you have to stop!" Claire whimpers. "You can't fight him! You're only making it worse. Charlie please!"
"Listen to her," says Ethan, his mouth close to his ear. "You're upsetting her. You mustn't upset her, Charlie. Think of her condition."
Charlie is filled with indignation. How dare the evil git act like he is concerned for Claire's wellbeing when he has been attacking her in the night and is now forcing her across the jungle against her will! Then Charlie glances across at Claire and sees the pleading look in her eyes. Though his mind is against it, he ceases to struggle and allows himself to be marched along by Ethan.
They have been walking in silence for about an hour, weaving a path through the trees, when suddenly they hear a voice calling from a distance.
"Claire!" A pause. "Charlie!"
Though the voice is far off, Charlie recognises it instantly as Jack. Before he can call back Ethan slaps a hand over his mouth and drags him behind a tree.
"Get down!" he instructs Claire. "Don't make a sound."
Claire stares at him for a moment then hides behind a tree. Charlie thinks he sees a smile flicker over her lips. He almost feels like smiling too. Jack is following them! Jack is coming to their rescue! Good old Jack.
Charlie strains to listen, but the cries have stopped. He can't hear any footfalls either. He is shaking all over with anticipation. The sweat from his palms is loosening the tape around his fingers. This gives him an idea. If Jack is coming then Charlie can help him by leaving him a trail.
In quiet movements Charlie scraps the tape from his finger with his thumbnail. It lands on the ground where he quickly covers it with his foot. Ethan shows no signs of having noticed. He has been concentrating on the shouts in the distance. Now they have fallen silent, he orders Charlie and Claire to carry on through the jungle.
After hearing Jack's cries, Ethan is urging them both to go faster. Charlie is finding it hard enough to keep up the pace with the throbbing pain in his arm and neck, but he is far more worried for Claire. She is still wincing and clutching her stomach. Her eyes are glazed with shock and terror.
"Look at what you're doing to her, you animal!" he hisses, his anger overtaking his caution. "She's going to collapse at this rate. I told you she was having contractions. Let her go back. She needs a sodding doctor!"
Ethan doesn't answer Charlie but he doesn't silence him either. Charlie turns his head to see Ethan staring at something ahead of them. Claire halts in her tracks, gasping at what lies before her. Charlie blinks at the sight of five strangers emerging from the bushes – two men, two women and a young girl. His head is spinning as he realises none of these people were on the plane.
One of the women approaches Claire, offering her a bottle of water and gesturing for her to sit down on a nearby stone. However it seems seeing all these new faces has thrown Claire into a panic. She screams, waving her arms in front of her and backing away from the woman. Charlie is shoved forward.
"She has to calm down!" Ethan snarls.
The woman hands the water bottle to Charlie. The strangers have formed a tight circle around him and Claire. Some are carrying guns in holsters on their hips. There seems no point in trying to run or fight them. So Charlie goes to Claire and very gently takes her by the shoulders and sits her down on the stone. She does not resist him, but sits rocking back and forth, muttering to herself.
The strangers begin to talk over their heads in frantic whispers. Charlie pays them little attention as he strokes Claire's hair, struggling to reassure her and pressing her to drink. Claire manages a few mouthfuls. She is wheezing too much. Charlie reverts to telling her to take 'big deep breaths' as he did when they were on the path and she experienced her false labour. He doesn't really know if this is the correct way to treat a frightened pregnant girl but it's all he can think of.
"What's happening, Charlie?" she whimpers. "What's happening to us?"
With that, Claire bursts into tears. Charlie doesn't know how to comfort her. He wants to take her in his arms, but he worries that the close contact might be too much for her. He rubs her hands in attempt to still her trembling.
"I don't know, Claire…I'm so sorry."
It isn't until Charlie hears his own voice that he realises he is crying too. His tears are mingling with the trails of sweat that line his face. This is my fault, he tells himself. It was he who led Ethan to her on that path far from help. It was he who Ethan used as a hostage to force Claire to obey him. Charlie feels a hot ball of shame swelling up inside him. He has brought her nothing but trouble.
For a few moments Charlie and Claire simply stare at each other and sob. Then the woman who had approached Claire earlier with the water comes to sit beside them. This time she is holding a needle. Charlie tries to intervene but he is dragged back by Ethan. Claire is held still as the needle is injected into her arm. She does not struggle. There is a terrible look of defeat in her face now. After a moment her eyelids begin to droop. She does not pass out but she needs two people at her side in order to help her stand and guide her footsteps.
Charlie is running out of hope. Then he remembers Jack. It could be that Jack is still following close behind them. It could be that he has brought a large search party with him that could overcome their captors. Charlie hurriedly scratches another piece of tape from his finger and flicks it to the ground.
"Hey! What's your game?"
A bearded man steps towards Charlie and Ethan and crouches down to retrieve the tape. He smiles patronisingly at them both.
"Well, it's no wonder you've got the doctor on your tail!" the bearded man tells Ethan. "It seems like this one's been leaving him little clues to follow. I guess that he isn't as dumb as he looks!"
The bearded man laughs. It isn't the insult that gets to Charlie. It is the fact that this man can stand there and laugh while they are frightening the life out of Claire. Charlie tears himself from Ethan's hold and launches himself at the stranger, pummelling him frantically. Before he can do any real damage Charlie is seized by strong hands that force him to the ground and pin him down. The fall knocks the wind out of him, leaving him too breathless even for insults.
"Easy there, Tiger!" says the bearded man, still laughing.
The next thing Charlie feels is a needle being plunged into his arm. They are drugging him – just what he needs a few days into his withdrawal! This is starting to feel like a sick joke, he thinks He raises his face from the ground in time to see Claire being lead docilely on the path to the right of the clearing. He calls to her, but she does not reply or even turn her head. That is the last thing Charlie sees before he is blindfolded. His hands are tied behind him and he is raised to his feet.
"Take him off in the other direction," he hears the bearded man telling Ethan. "Keep leaving the trail of tape from his fingers. We need to draw the doctor away from the girl. Do whatever is necessary to stop him following. Give him a shock if you must. After all…we don't need this one."
The sedative is beginning to take effect, making Charlie feel weak and woozy, but even with his mind clouding he is aware of the implications of these words. These people – whoever they are – are only interested in Claire. Now that they have got what they wanted he is of no further use to them. He can be dispensed with if needs be. Charlie tries to hold onto his senses and come to terms with the fact that he is probably going to die today.
After that he loses almost all sense of time and motion. He is vaguely aware that he is being hurried along over a rocky terrain with two people holding him on either side, guiding him and supporting him that so he doesn't fall. After a while he feels rain battering against his cheeks. They halt briefly and Charlie feels another piece of tape being torn from his fingers. Then he is rushed forward at an even more relentless pace. Soon he can feel the ground sloping upwards. He is being dragged up a steep incline. His feet slide about in the mud and his knees keep buckling beneath him. When the ground begins to even out under his tread, Charlie is pushed down into a puddle where he lies panting and shuddering. Nobody offers him any water. What would be the point? he reasons to himself.
Then he hears an argument breaking out around him. Ethan is saying that the doctor is still following them – that they are already at the foot of the slope. Another voice says that they will have to do it now. With that, Charlie is hauled to his feet and dragged a short distance. He hears a girl's voice protesting that they don't have to do this – that they could take him back with them. Charlie is numbly aware of something slippery being coiled around his throat.
The girl is screaming now. Charlie can hear a scuffle going on. Voices are cursing the girl for making so much noise and drawing the doctor towards them. Ethan silences the bickering voices and tells them that he is going to give the doctor a warning. He says they are to do nothing until he gets back.
Charlie can hear the girl crying now. While they wait for Ethan to return, a voice hisses into Charlie's ear – "Listen. If the doctor saves you then you're not to tell them anything, got it? You didn't see anything. You didn't hear anything. Understand? If you get out of this alive you're not to tell them anything."
The voice is strangely hypnotic. Charlie finds himself nodding.
A moment later he hears Ethan returning. Voices ask him if he is alright. He doesn't answer, but he tells them that it is no good. The doctor won't turn back. They have to carry out his threat. The girl is pleading that they should at least untie his hands – at least give him a fighting chance. The men give into her request and Charlie feels the cord being cut from his wrists. But before he can do anything with his free hands, he feels his feet being lifted off the ground.
Charlie instantly feels the slippery things tightening around his neck. He kicks his legs wildly and reaches up to claw at whatever it is that's strangling him, trying to loosen it from his throat so he can breathe. But it's no good. The drugs have numbed his limbs and he has lost the will to fight. His arms fall at his sides. He stares into the blackness of his blindfold and lets its darkness fill his mind.
It is too late now. He has failed her.