The sky had barely begun to lighten with dawn. Kate led the way back through the jungle, her torch beginning to burn low. Sayid walked behind her, occasionally glancing back at the strange procession that followed him. Jack padded along at the head of the pack, followed by Sawyer, who'd fallen in behind him without comment or argument. Jin came third, and Locke followed some distance behind, head and tail low.

The wolves filed into the clearing behind Sayid and Kate. Charlie and Hurley, looking like they'd spent an uncomfortable night under the dubious shelter of the canopy, stood up and watched them in silence.

Sayid nodded once. "We're ready."

He moved behind the Dharma station, and Kate stood off to one side, wrapping her arms around herself with a worried expression. The wolves sat down on the platform, keeping some distance from each other. Hurley watched as Sayid flipped several switches. Then Hurley observed in a low voice, "Guess it'd be kinda stupid to ask if you're sure this'll work, huh."

Sayid looked at him. "Right," Hurley said, moving slightly away. "No worries."

Charlie looked at the wolves with some concern. "Guys, has it occurred to anyone that they kind of lost their clothes when they went..." He paused. "You know, wolfy?"

"Yes?" Sayid asked, not looking up from his work.

"So, if--uh--when they get turned back, they're kind of going to be, um, y'know, in the nuddy?"

The four wolves looked at one another, then surreptitiously moved further apart. Kate gave a slightly choked noise and hid her face behind her hand, looking as if she was trying to suppress a grin. Everyone looked at her. "I'll just..." She coughed slightly, then went on, "I'll just head back towards camp." With a last glance at the wolves, she said, "Good luck," then turned and walked out of sight.

The Dharma computer beeped, the sound loud in the quiet of the jungle dawn. A series of green zeros followed by a four appeared on the computer screen. "Dude," Hurley breathed quietly, squinting his eyes shut and crossing his fingers. "Please let this work."

Seated in the center of the pack on the metal platform, Jack looked around him. He felt as if he ought to remember this moment, and his experiences, out of scientific curiosity if nothing else. Of course, he reminded himself wryly, if this didn't work, that wouldn't really be a problem.

So, Jack heard Sawyer's voice say, as the golden wolf shifted position nervously, ears twitching back and forth. This is it then, huh?

Jack shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. Guess so.

Yeah. Sawyer turned his gaze back to the Dharma station, and shivered slightly. DAMN, this better work.

From behind the bank of equipment, Sayid looked up to face them. "Countdown commencing," he announced. "Five."

Jack took a deep breath, then looked over at Jin, who returned his gaze. Jack nodded towards him, and said, Well. It's been good...talking with you, Jin.

Jin nodded graciously in reply. Thank you. He paused, then gave the barest suggestion of a smile. We will again, someday.

"Four."

Jack glanced over at Locke, sitting a few feet apart from the rest of them. But Locke turned away in silence, and wouldn't meet his gaze.

"Three."

Finally, Sawyer looked back at him. Hey...Jack, Sawyer grudgingly began. Just in case we don't, y'know, make it through this...there's somethin' you oughtta know.

"Two."

Oh yeah? Jack put his head slightly to one side. What's that?

"One."

Sawyer paused.

You're an asshole.

"Now!"

And then, there was nothing left to say.

--

"Have you seen Jin?"

Sun tried to tell herself not to worry, even though the answer was no, as it had been with every person she'd asked. She wandered away from the camp, heading towards her garden, hoping against reason that she'd find him there.

No one seemed able to find Jack, either, or Kate, or several others. They were probably all together somewhere, Sun told herself, crouching down to aimlessly scoop some dirt around a wilting seedling. Most likely Jin and some of the others had made camp somewhere during the night, and were headed back towards the beach even now. Her expression grew tight and pained. Perhaps if she kept telling herself that, she would actually come to believe it.

Suddenly, her head shot up at a sound of footsteps crashing through the jungle, approaching fast. Sun scrambled to her feet with a gasp of shock. Someone was running, coming straight towards her.

Jin burst out of the jungle and stumbled to a halt, bent nearly double with exhaustion. His chest heaved with each breath as he turned to face her, placing his hand against a tree to hold himself upright. Too breathless to speak, he tried to smile at her, his face dripping with sweat.

As were his shoulders.

And his chest.

And his legs.

And...

Sun's mouth opened and closed in shock. She wanted to ask him a million things at once, such as "What happened to your clothes?" and "Where have you been?" and "Do you know how worried I was?" and "What happened to your clothes?!" But she found herself unable to say a word as Jin grinned fiercely, made a sound that was very much like a growl, and ran towards her, grabbing her up and sweeping her off her feet.

Sun laughed and tried to protest, but was prevented from doing so as Jin pressed his mouth against hers. And Sun prudently decided that all things considered...her questions could wait for a while.

--

Sayid coughed deeply as a choking stink of dirt and electrical smoke filled his lungs. He lay flat on his back with a blurry green-and-brown mesh pressed against his face, and something heavy and metallic holding down his right leg.

He kicked out and struggled to tear the canopy mesh off, but his struggles only got him progressively more entangled. Apparently the whole station had collapsed on top of him when the device had gone off. And judging by the thrashings and muffled curses that surrounded him, Charlie and Hurley were stuck underneath it, too.

Sayid opened his mouth to try and order the two of them to stop their strugglings, that they were only making things worse. But before he could speak, a distressingly familiar voice drawled, "Well, well. Looks like Mr. Fix-it could use a hand there himself."

He felt a strong hand grip his forearm and haul him unceremoniously to his feet. Regaining his balance, Sayid coughed again, and pulled the mesh off his head. He grimaced slightly as he found himself face-to-face with an angelically grinning Sawyer, who seemed completely unperturbed by being utterly stark naked.

Sayid gave a long-suffering sigh. "Good morning, Sawyer." Wearily, he rubbed at his eyes. "Clearly you're back to normal." He paused. "Or what passes for normal with you, at any rate."

Sawyer's grin grew even wider as his eyes crinkled with mirth. "Damn straight." Then his smile grew slightly less friendly. "'Course, if this don't take, you'll be the first one to know about it, trust me."

Sayid responded to the halfhearted threat with nothing more than a calm smile. It didn't surprise him that Sawyer was handling the situation with bluster and bravado. If he'd indicated any lingering trauma over what he'd been through, or expressed any honest emotion at all, Sayid would have been genuinely worried.

Sawyer glanced downwards. "Won't be needin' that, will you?" Without waiting for an answer, he crouched down and grabbed up a large section of the destroyed canopy, wrapping the mesh around himself in an impromptu kilt.

"Very nice," Sayid observed, deadpan. There was a crashing noise and a muffled curse from the wreckage behind him. "I'm sure all the ladies at camp will be coming to you for fashion advice."

Sawyer finished tying the knot around his waist, and turned an arch look to Sayid. "Now, now," he chided, wagging an admonishing finger. "Can't have you boys droppin' dead from sheer jealousy."

Sayid looked around. Gouts of smoke were pouring from beneath the platform, and the rest of the Dharma equipment was either in pieces, on fire, or utterly inert. "Where are the rest of them?" Sayid asked with some concern, as Charlie and Hurley finally managed to drag themselves free of the wreckage, coughing and sputtering. "Jack and the others..."

Sawyer shrugged. "Chromedome grabbed his backpack and went thataway," he said, pointing towards the recently-demolished station. "Chewie took off like a bat outta hell, and Jacko..." He shrugged again. "Guess he wandered off. Ain't seen him." He looked around at the surrounding jungle, and his expression became pensive, as if he'd been hoping to see someone else, someone who didn't seem to be there. Then his face grew hard, and Sayid turned to see Charlie and Hurley approaching with obvious trepidation.

"Er," Charlie began. He coughed once, ran a hand through his spiky, dirt-coated hair, shifted position uncomfortably, and finally asked, "Hey, mate, you all right, then?"

Sawyer snorted. "Should be, Calvin." He aimed a glare at him and Hurley. "Long as you and Hobbes can quit playin' with the damn transmogrifier from now on."

"Um..." Hurley blinked and rubbed his eyes, and gave a guilty wince as Sawyer began to turn as if to leave. "Would it help if we said we're sorry?"

Sawyer paused, and glanced back over his shoulder with a cool, impassive look.

"Yeah," Charlie added, nodding urgently. "We're really, really..."

Suddenly, Sawyer whirled around and lunged at them with his teeth bared in a snarl. "RAAAAAAAARRR!!"

Leaves flew and branches crunched as both Charlie and Hurley fled the clearing with a speed that would have put Olympic sprinters to shame. Sawyer chuckled wickedly as Sayid sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You never change, do you, Sawyer?"

Instantly, Sayid regretted his choice of words as Sawyer turned an amused gaze towards him. "I try not to, boy."

With that, Sawyer made a gracious nod of farewell, and gave the knot at his hip an extra tightening pull. Then he turned and strolled away, whistling a tune as he vanished from sight.

--

Not far away, Jack stood with his bare back pressed against the rough bark of a tree, wondering how in the world he was going to get out of this situation.

He wasn't sure how he'd gotten this far from the Dharma station; his best guess was that he'd wandered off course in the dust and confusion following the detonation. Still, at least he was standing on two legs instead of four. But, he told himself with a grimace, that didn't change the fact that his only two options at the moment were to stand around hoping for a miracle, or walk all the way back to the beach camp au naturel.

A crunching noise of footsteps met his ears, and he blinked in surprise. Craning his neck to look around the wide tree that was his only current shelter, he saw who was approaching, bit back a curse, and immediately ducked back again.

"John," he observed, his voice neutral, yet faintly exasperated.

"Jack," the other replied evenly, making no move to approach him.

Then Jack's expression turned puzzled. Wait a second... He peered back around the tree. Locke was fully dressed, right down to his shoes and backpack. "Where'd you get the clothes?" Jack asked, trying not to sound accusatory.

Locke shrugged. "Had 'em in my pack." He turned away as if to keep walking.

"Um..." Jack leaned forward as best as he could without exposing himself further. "I don't suppose you've got any extra..."

Locke shook his head. "Sorry, Jack." He didn't sound particularly sorry, however. "But don't worry. I'm sure you'll figure something out."

Jack grimaced. "Right."

He watched in silence as Locke shouldered his pack and turned to leave. However, something about his tense posture, his flat tone of voice, made Jack feel a flicker of concern. He called out: "John. Seriously...are you OK?"

Locke stopped, and didn't reply for a long time. Finally, his voice clipped and emotionless, he said, "Yes, I'm fine." Then he started forward again, and didn't look back.

Jack was left alone in the jungle. Not for long, however, as he heard light, quick footsteps approaching from the other direction. He groaned inwardly, and called out, "Who's there?"

"It's me," Kate's voice replied. Even without seeing her, he could hear the amusement in her voice.

"Ah." He wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or worried. "OK," he began. "Listen, Kate, I need you to do something for me. If you could head back to the beach and go to my tent, there's a blue suitcase next to the medical supplies. If you could just bring me..."

He cut himself off as a pair of pants sailed out of the jungle and plopped into the dirt at his feet. They were followed in rapid succession by a dark red shirt, two socks, some slightly beat-up sneakers, and, after a slight but significant pause, a pair of boxer shorts.

Jack looked at the pile of clothes. "Ah," he said, fighting down an embarrassed smile. "OK."

He could feel Kate's smirk radiating through the tree from the other side as he began to dress himself. Trying to distract her from the business at hand, he called out, "Is everyone else OK?"

"As far as I know," her voice called back. "While I was tracking you, I saw a couple more sets of footprints heading back towards the beach." She paused, then continued in mischievous tones, "Not sure how they got around the whole clothes thing."

Jack shook his head with a self-deprecating grimace. He might have known she wouldn't be so easily distracted. He pulled the shirt over his head, then tugged out the key-cord that still hung around his neck, the familiar weight of the key settling against his chest. As he sat down to pull on his socks and shoes, he felt an itch behind his right ear, and experienced a moment's mental paralysis as he worked out how to scratch it. "Is Sayid with you?"

"He's back at the station, dismantling the machine," she replied. "Salvaging anything useful, breaking apart the rest. Said he didn't want to run the risk of it ever being used again."

"Somehow?" Jack observed dryly, tying up his shoes, "I can't argue with that."

Fully dressed, he rose to his feet, and paused for a moment to regain his composure. Then he stepped around the tree and smiled at Kate, who smiled back. She raised her right hand as if taking an oath, and teased, "Honest, I didn't look."

Jack shrugged. "We should get back to camp," he said, then yawned widely, dragging his hand across his face. "'Scuse me."

Kate looked at him askance. "Maybe you should rest first."

He shook his head. "I'm all right," he insisted, but another yawn made a liar of him. "OK, fine," he grudgingly admitted. He sat down against the tree and made a great show of leaning back and closing his eyes. "There. Happy now?"

She nodded. "Yes." She sat down beside him, resting her back against the rough bark of the trunk.

They sat for a few moments in companionable silence before Kate cleared her throat. "I was wondering..." She hesitated. "If you don't mind me asking, I can't help but be curious..."

Without opening his eyes, Jack observed, "You want to know what it was like being a w--" He found himself unable to say the word. "What it was like," he amended, a bit lamely.

"Well," she admitted with a faint smile, "Yeah."

He opened his eyes, but remained silent for a few moments. Finally, he said, "I don't really remember."

"Oh, come on," Kate protested, sitting forward and looking over at him. "You've gotta remember something."

Jack shrugged. "Just...random sensations, really. Images. Smells." He shook his head ruefully. "Way too many smells."

She regarded him skeptically. "And that's all."

He nodded. "Yeah. That's all."

She shrugged. "OK, then." Kate rose to her feet, brushing a few clinging leaves off her pant legs. "Well, if you ever remember more and you want to talk about it..."

With a tired smile, Jack assured, "I'll let you know."

Kate crossed her arms and ordered, "Now get some sleep."

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am." She gave a mischievous smile, shouldered her pack, and headed back towards the beach. Her footsteps faded out of hearing, and Jack was left alone.

He lay back against the tree, listening to the jungle, feeling the faint morning breeze on his face. He tried to think back on what had happened yesterday, but the memories were slippery and elusive, evading his grasp.

Probably just as well, he told himself. Not like there's anything about it I'd really want to remember. Jack shut his eyes again, folded his arms in his lap, and fell into a deep, sound sleep.

--

In his dreams, hot breath rushed in and out of his lungs, trees blurring past him in the darkness as his paws beat a thudding rhythm against the earth. There was no thought, no hesitation, no fear. The wolf ran knowing ran knowing what he was, what he was meant to do, beyond any doubt or question.

When he woke, he would forget again, and lose himself in the human's endless maze of thoughts and feelings. But for now...there was only the run, and the hunt.

For the wolf, that was enough.