Chapter 4: Bloody Flashes, Flash 8-14
We stayed on the beach until the sun came up, and I managed a short nap. It was better than nothing and at this point, I would take whatever I could get. I learned three things during our short rest on the beach. One: Sawyer snored, two: Locke was restless and three: the beach was quieter than normal. Even the waves seemed to be subdued after the storm last night, breaking quietly against the sand.
"All right, let's head on out," Locke said sometime after the sun had risen.
I stood up, pulled my tee shirt over my head and my purse over my shoulder. At least now I had my journal. I could reread about happier times and write about whatever else we experience. During the next rest stop, I needed to write about being in the 1950's. Now that was an experience.
Our parade walked through the tree line and back into the jungle. I could only assume Locke knew which direction we needed to go in order to find the Orchid. I was lucky if I could find my way back to our old beach camp, especially being on this side of the island. Besides, who knew if the Orchid had even been built yet? How would we know when we reached it? And furthermore, what would happen if and when we did?
We had been walking for nearly two hours when the sky lit up once again. I clutched my head and fell to the ground, squeezing my eyes shut. "Damnit," I exclaimed, sitting up and holding my head.
Scanning our group, I caught Juliet, Charlotte and Miles wiping away bloody noses. How long until Sawyer, Locke and I were bleeding? Would it be long after that we started acting like Charlotte? She had taken to rambling, talking about things a child might. Daniel looked worried and I wondered if he knew more about what was going on than he was letting us know.
I stood up and stood next to Juliet. James was already standing, his rifle cocked and pointed down into a ditch. "Turn around slowly," he said and I followed the rifle point down. A man was standing in the ditch, his shirt covered with sweat stains.
"Oh goodness," I whispered when he had turned to face us.
"Jin?"
"Sawyer?" The two embraced and we walked closer. I ran up to him and gave him a quick hug. Man, I was happy to see someone else from our group.
"I thought you were on that boat! I thought you were dead."
"No," Jin said, pulling back from our hug. "Water."
I took a step back and glanced back at Locke. He looked impatient, more than ready to keep moving. When were we now?
"Where is Sun?"
Sawyer glanced back at Locke, who took over the explaining. "She's been rescued. I'm certain their home now."
Miles, Daniel and Charlotte moved away from our group and knelt by a nearby creek, filling their canteens and water bottles. I stood next to Locke as Sawyer struggled to explain the time flashes to Jin. He understood more English than when we crashed, but not nearly enough to understand our predicament. "Every time the sky lights up, we move through time." Sawyer tapped his watch to accentuate his point, but only succeeded in frustrating Jin.
He babbled something in Korean and stormed off towards the Science group. "Translate, please. Translate."
"You heard the man, translate." I followed Sawyer and Juliet over to the creek and knelt down, filling up my own water bottle. I could only assume he was speaking to Miles, but did Miles speak Korean? I thought he was Chinese.
"Uh, he's Korean. I'm from Encino."
Jin said something else, now his eyes fixed on Charlotte. She stood up to my complete surprise, "he wants to know how you're sure his wife is off the island."
"You speak Korean, Red?"
"Obviously," Miles responded, even though his comments weren't needed. We were all standing now, staring at her.
"Tell him I'm sure. But none of it will matter unless we make it to the Orchid." Locke was so certain all this would be fixed if we could just make it to the greenhouse. What if it didn't? What if we were travelling through time until we all died?
Charlotte told him, or so we hoped and they conversed for nearly a minute while the rest of us looked on in awkward silence. "Bring Sun back?" Jin asked, looking at Locke. "Why you bring her back?"
"Because she never should have left. Now we need to get moving. If we can get there before the next flash it'll be even better." Locke started walking and once again, we all fell in behind him.
I was getting awfully tired of trekking through the jungle, and I began to wish I had stayed behind on the beach. Wherever Rose and Bernard were, it had to be better than this place. Or even Claire. Where had she gone?
I followed behind Miles, listening to Daniel and Charlotte chat back and forth. Sawyer brushed passed me and walked up with Juliet, leaving me in the back with the Science Nerds. I really should stop calling them that, they weren't that bad.
"Oh no," Charlotte moaned from behind me and I glanced around as a shrill hum penetrated the atmosphere.
Clutching my head, I bent over and squeezed my eyes shut. When the hum stopped, I opened my eyes to pitch blackness. It was quiet for a moment and then another shrill hum. "Come on," Sawyer yelled as we grabbed our heads again.
Charlotte moaned and I fell to the ground, holding tightly to my head. It was pounding, and even the slightest movement sent me reeling. This time, the sun was shining, a small consolation. I stood up, still holding onto my head with one hand.
A thump behind me accompanied by a gasp caused me to turn around quickly. "Charlotte!" Charlotte had collapsed into the bushes.
We all rushed over, Juliet and Sawyer kneeling next to Daniel in the dirt. How long until we were all collapsing? "Hey, you might want to check your nose," Miles said, and I reached up quickly, finding a small trickle of blood. Headaches and a bloody nose, what was next?
"Charlotte? Can you hear me? Charlotte? It's Daniel."
Sitting up quickly, she began babbling in what I assumed was Korean. She was looking up at Jin and his eyes grew wide as she talked. "What? What's she saying?"
"Don't let them bring her back. No matter what, don't let them bring her back. This place is death." Daniel and Juliet managed to get her calmed down, resting her head on the ground once again.
I sat nearby, listening as Charlotte rambled. She was acting like a child, babbling about her daddy. "What the hell is she talking about?"
"I have no idea," Daniel replied. I glanced over at her, hoping Locke could fix this before we all ended up like that. The only thing I could compare it to was my Grandma in the nursing home. She had Alzheimer's and didn't remember any of us. At times, she talked normally and at others she babbled. Charlotte was babbling.
"All right, we need to get moving." Locke walked up to us and I stood, stretching out my legs.
"Someone help me with Charlotte, we'll have to carry her."
Locke shook his head, "no, she's gonna hold us up."
"We can't just leave her."
"Flashes are getting closer; your nose starts bleeding, you'll realize too that we need to get the heck out of dodge. We'll come back for her just as soon as we can." I actually agreed with Sawyer on that one. We needed to go now and carrying Charlotte would slow us down. The sooner we got to the Orchid, the sooner we could *hopefully* stop these flashes.
"No way, I'm not going to leave her behind."
"Its okay, go on without me," Charlotte said clearly from her place on the ground.
Daniel knelt next to her, holding her face in his hands. "No, we're not leaving you."
He really did love her; it was clear in his eyes and the way he looked at her. A hum sounded through the air and I squeezed my eyes shut once again. Charlotte screamed and the rest of us groaned as the sky lit up.
"We have to move, now," Locke said when the hum stopped. I sat on the ground, holding my head in my hands as Daniel and Charlotte talked.
"Go," he said after a minute. "I'm gonna stay with her."
Sawyer crossed in front of me, standing next to Locke. "Let me ask you something, John. If we don't even know when the hell we are, what happens if the Orchid ain't around no more?"
Locke paused for a moment. Obviously he hadn't thought about that. "Look for the well," Charlotte interjected from her place in the dirt. "You'll find it at the well."
"Yeah, sure, we'll do that." Sawyer said, holding out a hand to me and I took it, letting him pull me to my feet. I fell in line after Juliet and glanced back at Daniel just as we disappeared into the trees. I felt bad leaving him there, but what else were we supposed to do? We needed to stop this flashing before we all went crazy.
We trekked through the jungle and I promptly tripped over upturned roots and large rocks. Miles helped me up the first two times, but after that let me struggle by myself.
"We're here," Locke said and I stepped around a tree, looking up at a large building. A smile crossed my face as I glanced at Juliet. We made it, and it was actually here.
"Oh gosh," Juliet said, "what are the odds we'd end up in the same time as this thing?"
Another hum pierced the sky with the bright light. This was getting old; it was already old. When I opened my eyes, the Orchid was gone. "You just had to say something…"
Locke turned and brushed by us, knocking me aside. "Where are you going?" I asked, following James and Juliet after him. It was like he knew exactly where to go. We came to a small clearing and right in front of us was a largewell.
"How the hell did Charlotte know this was here?" Miles asked as we stared down at it.
A well, right near where the Orchid would be built. How did Charlotte know? I leaned on the edge and looked down into the pitch blackness. "You're going down there? What exactly are you hoping to find?"
"A way off the island," Locke answered.
"Expecting a subway?"
"Good-bye, James. Miles, I'll see you when I get back." Locke moved to climb over the wall, looking down as he grabbed at the rope.
"No, stop." I snapped my head up, looking at Jin. He rarely spoke, and certainly not English. "Don't bring Sun back."
Locke shook his head, "I have to bring them all back. That's how it works."
"How you know?"
"I just do," he said with a shrug.
Jin shook his head and grabbed at the rope, holding his knife to it. "I'll cut this." Gasping, my hand flew up to my mouth.
"No, you'll kill us all."
"This island is bad. You don't bring Sun back. You promise. You promise you don't bring my baby."
"All right," Locke agreed. "You have my word. I promise. I won't go to Sun, Jin, but she might come to me. Then what do I tell her?"
Jin paused for a moment before pulling at his wedding ring. "You tell her I'm dead. You give her this."
"I'll be back as soon as I can," Locke said, taking the ring and stuffing it in his pocket.
Locke climbed over the edge and grabbed the rope tightly. "Are you sure you don't want us to lower you down?"
"Where would be the fun in that?"
"John, if whatever you're attempting to do actually works, thank you," Juliet said and I nodded in agreement.
Maybe he would succeed and we would get off this island once and for all. Although, after hoping for this so many times, it had become empty hope. Maybe it would happen, maybe it wouldn't. At this point, all I really cared about was stopping the flashes.
"You're welcome," he said with a small smile. He looked at the rope for a moment before starting to climb down.
We leaned over, watching as he disappeared into the black depths. "Uh oh," Miles said as the loud hum started again. This time, the light wasn't flashing from the sky, but from the well hole.
"John, damnit, hold on," Sawyer yelled, grabbing at the rope. I shut my eyes and held tightly to the well with my hands.
I fell to the ground and opened my eyes. The well was gone but Sawyer was still holding tightly to the rope. "I think you can let go of that now."
"No!" He pulled tightly, as if hoping to pull the rope through the dirt. "No, no." Dropping to the ground, he began digging into the dirt.
"James! James, stop," Juliet knelt next to him, trying to stop him from digging.
The three of us looked on and I pulled my legs to my chest. What would we do now? What could we do? Sawyer finally stopped digging and resigned to sitting, staring at the rope with Juliet next to him.
I closed my eyes and rested my head on my knees, silently wishing the throbbing pain in my head would go away. Now what?
AN: I'm sorry this took so long to post. If you read any of my other stories/oneshots, you already know I've got a lot of RL stress. If you really want to know, check out my LJ (homepage link). The next one won't take as long to post, I promise.
Thanks to Hailey Henz, the_werewolf_gal, PaperBooksInk, Celestial Pendent, pani zagloba, hodhod2011danger, CaptJessicaSparrow and Jac Danvers for reviewing the last chapter. You're all awesome! Please leave a review on your way out! Thanks!