Chapter Four: Confessions
Sayid had been gathering some nearby props and now stood in the middle of the circle. "This is Australia." He said indicating an apple-sized rock he'd tossed down."This is us." He used the torch he'd lit up off the campfire to indicate their currently location. "Two days ago we take off from Sydney. We fly along the same north east route every commercial airliner bound for Los Angeles does." He used a stick to show the distance. "Now the pilot, he said he lost communication with the ground, correct?" he asked Kate.
"Yeah, 6 hours in." Kate nodded. "He turned around and headed for Fiji."
"So, we changed course. Regrettably, no one knew we changed course. The turbulence hit." He snuffed out the torch. "We know the rest."
"The pilot said we were over a thousand miles off course." Kate reminded everyone dejectedly.
"Yeah, but, they'll find us." Charlie spoke up hopefully. "They have satellites in space that can take pictures of your license plate."
"If only we were all wearing license plates." Sayid deadpanned. "Basic photography - point and shoot. Satellites can shoot, but they must be told where to point."
"Oh." Charlie said. "Bollocks."
"Okay, really enjoyed the puppet show." Sawyer spoke up sarcastically. "Fantastic. But we're stuck in the middle of damn nowhere. How about we talk about that other thing?" He asked the group. His question was met with furtive glances. "You know that transmission Abdul picked up on his little radio? The French chick that said, "They're all dead." The transmission's been on a loop for how long was it, Bondi?"
"16 years." Riley answered
"Right. Let's talk about that." Sawyer said slowly; his eyes staring blankly at the crackling fire.
"Well, we have to tell the others when we get back." Boone spoke up.
"Tell them what, exactly?" Shannon asked with attitude.
"What we heard." Boone
"You didn't hear anything." Shannon told him sharply. "I'm not a stupid translator."
"No one's going to tell them anything." Sayid cut in. "To relay what we heard without fully understanding it will cause a panic. If we tell them what we know we take away their hope. And hope is a very dangerous thing to lose."
Kate sighed loudly. "So we lie." She realized.
They didn't say much more. Sawyer laid down on his back and covered his face with his arm, Shannon used her sweater as a mattress so she didn't have to touch the ground and Sayid stayed nearby the fire, stoking it and apparently keeping watch with Kate who was leaning up against a large rock and watching the campfire. Riley used her arm as a pillow and tried to get some sleep. Boone was lying beside her and Riley found herself watching his chest rise and fall in the firelight as he drew in every breath. She watched as his breathing eventually slowed and her eyes became heavy. The last thing Riley heard was the cackling of the fire as she drifted off to sleep.
They all woke relatively early, no one getting a great sleep on the hard ground, and headed back to the beach. Sayid fell into step beside Riley as they walked. "From what you said last night; about the transceiver loop," He reminded her. "I assume you have experience with computers and electronics."
"Yeah," She nodded. "I studied Computer Science at university. Why?" She asked.
"When we get back to the beach, if we gather everything electronic we can find we might be able to power up the transceiver and try to send a signal again." Sayid explained.
"Oh, I'm not that good at building electrical stuff." She told him. "I just know how they work."
"That's still useful." He smiled at her.
"Well, I had a laptop on the plane but I don't know where it is now." She told him, sorry that she didn't have more to offer.
"That's ok." Sayid told her. "Perhaps when we get back to the beach you and a few others could gather cell phones, batteries, laptops, anything electrical you can find?"
Sayid had very honest eyes and a demeanor that made Riley want to help him out. "Sure."
"I'll help you." Boone said from behind her as he skipped up a couple of steps so he was walking beside Riley. He locked eyes with her and smiled.
"Thanks." Riley grinned back.
They made it back to the beach without incident. When they arrived, there was a group of expectant people waiting, including Jack. Sayid took the lead and explained what he thought they needed to hear while indicating that anyone with anything electronic should take it Riley and Boone. Riley listened to Sayid but also noticed Kate and Jack heading away from the group talking quietly amongst themselves; she wondered if Kate was telling him what happened on their hike – even though it had been her idea that they lie. Sayid then organized groups for gathering water, rationing the food from the plane that they had left and a third group to construct shelters with plane wreckage and tarps in case it should rain unexpectedly again.
However, right now the sun was beaming down brightly so Boone and Riley set up underneath a large oak tree where most of the bags had been tossed and began sorting through them looking for electronics. "Should we separate them now?" Boone asked as he found a cell phone and detached the battery off the back.
"Let's collect them all first." Riley suggested. "Hey, maybe it's worth turning them on first? Maybe we can call someone?"
"Way ahead of ya." Boone answered as he held the phone up to the sky to get a signal. It didn't take long before he gave up. "Nothing." He set the phone aside.
They worked for about an hour or so and in that time the sky went from a beautiful blue to a threatening navy colour. Rain was definitely on the way. Again.
"Riley?" Claire called to her as she came over with some cell phones in her arms. "I found these for you."
"Oh, thanks." Riley took them out of Claire's hands and handed them over to Boone. "What are those?" She noticed some papers under Claire's arm.
"Oh," Claire held them out for Riley to see. "I found them in some bags. Passports and photos and stuff. I thought they might help us find out who...who died. And for when we get recued; something to give their families back home."
"That's a good idea." Riley told her. "Yesterday when we were gathering bags; I found a whole bunch. I'll show you." She turned to Boone. "I'll be right back, ok?" He smiled and nodded as Claire and Riley headed back down the beach.
Riley found the passports and ID's she'd kept aside and helped Claire move them back to her airplane chair where she had started organizing stacks of papers and personal belongings that she'd found. "Wow..." Riley was impressed. "Haven't found anything with my name on it, have you?"
"Not yet," Claire lowered herself back into her chair. "But I'll keep an eye out."
"That's a weird saying..." Riley muttered as she knelt down on her haunches to sift through the papers. "So...is your husband or boyfriend here?" She asked Claire casually. "I mean, was he on the plane?"
"No, no, I'm not married." Claire told her instinctively rubbing her belly. "He, ah...he left me. After he convinced me we should raise this baby together; he left me."
Riley nodded. "Asshole." She said in affirmation.
"Hey, ah, Claire?" Charlie's voice said from behind Riley. She turned and saw him carrying a handful of passports.
"Hi." Claire smiled at him.
"I found these." He knelt down to her. "Figured you could use 'em."
"I'll see you guys later, ok?" Riley said to the both of them as she noticed Boone struggling with a huge, silver, rectangular case. "You're so weak." She smirked at him as he tried to lift it.
"Oh yeah?" Boone replied with a crooked grin. "You give it a go then."
"Ok..." Riley planted her feet deep in the sand and clasped her hands around the side of the case and heaved it up. She barely got it above her ankles before she had to drop it. "Crap." She muttered as Boone laughed.
"Oh, yeah, you're so strong." He teased her.
"Shut up." Riley tried to sneer but found herself giggling.
"Excuse me!" A voice called out behind them.
Riley turned to see a bald man she didn't know coming towards them. "Yeah?"
"That's mine." He pointed down to the case. "I'm John Locke. You're Riley and Boone, right?"
Boone nodded. "What's in there?" he asked. "It's heavy."
"Knives." Locke answered with a wry grin. He unhooked the locks and opened the silver case to confirm what he'd said. A dozen or so sharp hunting knives gleamed at them from the inside.
Boone and Riley shared a nervous glanced. "Knives?" he repeated.
"Might come in handy," Locke said as he shut the case and lifted up with relative ease. "You never know. Thank you."
"Ok, so...he's a little...odd." Riley said to Boone who nodded in agreement.
There was a sudden loud, clap of thunder boomed and the heavens opened and rain started to pour.
"Crap!" Boone swore out loud as he became drenched again. "Let's get under cover." He seized Riley's hand and started to pull her towards the fuselage shelter.
"No, no, wait!" Riley pulled him back by his forearm. "If this stuff get's drenched it'll be useless for the transceiver!" She had to yell to be heard over the increasingly wild wind. "We have to cover it up!" She hurried over to the pile of bags they'd been sorting through and began tossing them over the cell phones and batteries they'd found to keep them dry.
Riley was saturated when they'd covered everything up. "Let's go!" She grinned at Boone as they hurried away from their workspace and headed for the fuselage.
The rain was pouring so hard Riley could barely see her feet and somewhere along the run to the fuselage, Boone tripped on a partially covered piece of plane wreckage behind her and stumbled down. Laughing, Riley turned back to pull him up and saw that he, too, was in hysterics. They were closer to one of the tarpaulin covered pieces of wreckage than the fuselage so Riley directed them there. Steeped in rainwater and panting from the exertion of both running and laughing, Riley and Boone made it undercover where a handful of their fellow survivors were sheltering from the downpour.
"Are you ok?" Boone asked her through chuckles still clasping her hand firmly in his own.
"Yeah," She said as she caught her breath. "Fine." She realized she was standing closer to him than she ever had before and she got a shiver that had nothing to do with the rain. "Great, actually." She added quietly as the rain slowed to a mere trickle.
A horrible moan of pain from nearby interrupted their moment.
"Was that that shrapnel guy?" Riley asked looking over to where Jack had set up the poor man.
"Yeah, I think so." Boone nodded.
"Boone!" Shannon's shrill voice cried as she came stalking out from behind the fuselage and over to them.
"What's wrong?" Boone let go of Riley's hand and headed over to his sister who was stamping her foot about something or other.
Sighing, Riley joined the other survivors who were emerging from wherever they had taken cover and spotted Charlie helping Claire with the passports and papers she'd been collecting. Charlie had had the foresight to chuck a tarp over everything to stop it getting ruined in the rain so the three of them continued separating documents until the early evening.
That night was horrible. Not only did Boone stick himself to Shannon's side but the man with the shrapnel wound continued to get worse and his moans were very audible. From the way Jack was pacing and looking very distressed, Riley assumed there wasn't much they could do to help him unless rescue arrived immediately. And if the vast seascape before them was anything to go by; that wouldn't be at least until the next day.
In case it rained again, Charlie, Claire and Riley created a little nook for themselves up near where Riley and Boone had been sorting electronics. They took the tarp Charlie had used to cover the passports and strung it up between the door of the emergency exit off the plane and the oak tree. Hurley even helped them move Claire's airplane chair so she could sit up there. Charlie ate dinner with the girls but then headed away looking kind of jittery saying he'd see them in the morning.
Claire blamed her pregnancy for being able to sleep so quickly, Riley on the other hand was stuck up all night listening to that poor man moan and thinking about Boone. She was wondering why he acted the way he did around his sister; the second she said his name he dropped everything else and went to help her. It was like she had a hold over him. Riley likened it to a mediocre-at-best movie where the geeky boy was in love with the popular girl was at her beckon call. But she doubted that was Boone and Shannon's relationship. For one, Boone wasn't at all the image of a geek and two; no way was he in love with his sister.
Riley finally nodded off and fell into a very heavy sleep.
The next morning brought the news that the man with the shrapnel wound had died during the night. Riley spotted Jack moving the body and Kate confirmed that he'd passed away. Riley wasn't sure why it affected her; they'd lost the bulk of their passengers in the plane wreck. Perhaps because he was the first person to die since the crash? He was a survivor first; now he was a casualty. A fate none of them wished for.
Riley sat herself in the sand and looked out towards the ocean. She hadn't see Boone this morning as of yet but she saw him now handing his sister a pair of sunglasses. She glanced back out towards the ocean and saw Claire near the water's edge rubbing her tummy and mumbling something to her baby with a smile on her face. Just behind her was Charlie writing something on some tape he'd stuck around each of the fingers of his left hand.
"You are gonna love me." A now familiar voice called to her.
Riley looked up from her beach gazing and saw Boone heading toward her holding a cup that she recognized as the ones the flight attendants had been handing tea out in up in the air. "Sorry?" She asked.
Boone knelt before her and handed her the mug. "Here."
Curious, Riley took the mug and immediately smelt that glorious, caffeine scent she loved so much. "Coffee? Oh my God; I do love you!" She squealed with delight taking in a deep breath of that much cherished aroma. "But how did you get it?"
"I found my bag." He said as he sat himself in the sand beside her. "And I always steal the complimentary stuff in hotel rooms. Pieces of the plane are still burning around; heated up some bottled Oceanic water," He made a show of holding his water bottle up to her; ala the Calvin Klein model he resembled so well. "And voila; coffee."
"You?" Riley smirked. "A man who owns his own business steals complimentary instant coffee sachets?"
"And sugar." Boone smiled back. "I figure they want me to take 'em."
"Yeah, I steal them, too." Riley admitted with a smirk. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Boone replied with a warm grin.