Yes, as you may have guessed from the title of this chapter, this truly is the end of the first part of the story. Luckily as a treat, there is a preview of what is to come in future chapters! I've planned most of the story out from the beginning so it's great to finally hint at later parts. Enjoy!
"421, 422, 423. This is us." said Sawyer stopping in front of the locker. He looked to Miles. "Key please." Miles nodded and handed over the shiny silver key. Kate watched them with a desire to find out what was inside the safety deposit box.
Slowly, the key was inserted and after some quiet mechanical noises the door swung open and the three of them were staring inside at the small rectangular box.
Kate looked around. It was natural for her to be feeling nervous, after all the last time she took something from a safe deposit box she was under very different circumstances.
Sawyer took the box in his hands.
"Here goes…" he said, removing the lid. Inside there was a third photograph. This one was not of a person like the other two though. The picture was of a skyscraper that Sawyer did not recognise. On the back was written a few concise words.
This Building.
Sunday.
11.30pm
The Roof.
Come Alone.
"I've never seen that building before." said Sawyer.
"Me neither," said Miles. "I guess we have to work out where it is somehow."
"I've seen it." Kate told them.
"Well where is it?" Sawyer asked her.
"I can't remember exactly but I'm pretty sure that it's in New York." She replied.
"I'll wait here." said Ben, stopping just outside the jungle clearing.
"Are you sure?" asked Hurley.
"Yes. This really hasn't got much to do with me."
"Well we'll see you in a few minutes." said Hurley, taking Walt into the clearing with his arm on his shoulder.
"Is this gonna work?" asked Walt. He seemed uncertain.
"Yes, yes I'm sure it will work." The two stopped and stood in the centre of the trees on some smooth rocks.
Michael came out of the shadows and smiled.
"Walt! You're here man, you're really here!" he shouted in joy.
"So, when's my dad gonna get here?" asked Walt.
"He's already here." replied Hurley. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass bottle of water that he had taken from the stream near the heart of the Island. He popped off the cork and drank half of it before giving the other half to Walt.
Once they had both drank, Hurley put his hand back on Walt's shoulder and the two closed their eyes.
"See what I see, Walt."
When Walt opened his eyes he could finally see his father standing in front of him.
"Oh my, you've gotten big man," said Michael overcome with happiness.
"It's good to see you dad." The spirit hugged his son tightly.
"It's good to see you too." He replied.
Suddenly a barking could be heard from the jungle and Vincent came running in to join them.
"Vincent? You're still here?" said Walt, kneeling down to give the dog a good pat on the back. He laughed and smiled for a while before eventually. Michael looked up at Hurley.
"How much time have we got?"
"Just a minute or so," said Hurley. "I'm sorry."
"Walt." He began. "I'm gonna have to go in a moment. And you're not gonna see me for a while but I just want you to know that your dad will always love you."
He had a tear in his eye now. "Do you forgive me Walt? For all the bad things I did…" he asked pleadingly.
"Yeah," his son replied. "I forgive you."
"Thank you." cried Michael. "Thank you…" Then he was gone.
After a moment Vincent started barking like crazy again.
"Wow, boy calm down," said Walt.
"Dude this is bad…" said Hurley. "Walt, get out of here,"
"But what-" Without warning a huge cloud of black smoke poured into the clearing towards Hurley, Walt and Vincent.
"Run!" shouted Hurley desperately. Walt did as he said and legged it into the jungle, Vincent at his heels.
The whirling smoke monster clicked and hissed, stopping right in front of the Island's protector. As the two enemies stared into each other, the monster kept flickering and changing. Most of the people that it changed into Hurley didn't recognise. There was a grey haired man in a suit who he was sure he'd seen somewhere before, a black priest and a man in black although every now and then Locke would flash up for a moment. Sometimes it would even be animals. Then it would become smoke once more.
"Don't even try it dude. The water's effect has worn off. You can't hurt us now."
"Then why did you send the boy away?" asked the evil being.
"I don't want you anywhere near him." replied Hurley.
"I'll be able to hurt you soon. One of these days, someone else will fall into the heart of the Island."
"Well, whenever that happens someone's gonna be here to kick your ass,"
With a loud crash and more mechanical sounds, the smoke retreated and Hurley was left alone, wiping sweat from his brow. At least Michael had moved on now, this meant he'd have more time to head up to the lighthouse and fix the mirror while Ben tutored Walt to become the Island's next protector.
"New York? Are you sure?" asked Miles as he, Sawyer and Kate walked out of the bank.
"I'm pretty sure," replied Kate. "I think I had to walk past it every morning to get to work."
"Sunday… That's the day after tomorrow." said Sawyer staring at the photo of the building in his hand, deep in thought.
The trio found a café where they sat down and ordered some coffee. Miles used the internet connection to look up the building on his laptop. If they got to New York and found that Kate had been wrong, they'd be in big trouble.
"So how long exactly does it take to get to New York from here?" asked Sawyer.
"About 5 hours by plane." said Kate. "I guess we could go this evening."
"No. Not by plane," said Sawyer firmly. "We can't take any risks. If we fly there, the cops will know. If that building is where you say it is, we're gonna have to drive."
"Well I don't know how long it would take to drive there," said Kate.
"42 hours." Miles informed them from behind the screen of his laptop. "And you'd better buckle up your seatbelts," he turned the screen around to reveal a picture of the New York skyline with the building they were looking for right at the front.
"Well, I haven't even got a new car yet, it'll have to be one of yours," said Kate. Then a woman came around and served them their coffees.
"I don't think my crap car would still work after going that distance," exclaimed Miles, "It's like 3,000 miles!"
Sawyer took a sip of his drink.
"Then it looks like it'll be my car we're taking," he said, wincing as the coffee scolded his tongue. "We'll leave in a few hours. Kate, you'll meet us back at the police station?"
"Absolutely."
"I thought it said to come alone." said Miles.
"I know," replied Sawyer. "But you two can stay hidden so if it is some kind of trap, you can take the bastard out."
"Oh. Oops." Miles said looking guilty.
"What? 'Oops' what?"
"I may have left our guns at the station,"
"Ah, shit."
"What, can't you just get them back again?" asked Kate.
"No, they will have been put away until the owners come an collect them,"
"So what are we gonna do?" she asked.
"Okay, change of plan. Kate, you go home, me and Miles will get the guns and we'll come and pick you up at 3:00."
"Okay." said Kate. "But be careful. If they found out why you need them they'd be mad."
"We're always careful." replied Sawyer.
[Flashback]
Sawyer nervously walked down the garden path, hair clean and combed, wearing a new suit and carrying a small gift-wrapped box under his arm. He stopped just outside the door and pushed the doorbell. He put on a smile and waited. Finally the door opened and Cassidy looked at him. She shook her head in pitying disbelief and slammed the door shut again.
"Hey, come on, open the door!" said Sawyer, knocking loudly. "I just want to see her. Please!" there was no reply.
Feeling downhearted, he placed the gift on the doorstep and began to walk away. Just as he reached the gate however, he heard Cassidy's voice say;
"Fine. You can come in for ten minutes." Sawyer smiled and came back up to the doorstep. He picked the present up again and headed inside the house behind Cassidy.
"She's just through here," said Cassidy. They came into the living room and Sawyer saw his daughter for the first time sitting on the sofa. She looked very different to the photograph he had seen in prison. She was a lot older now. He smiled and went over to her. He knelt by the sofa and she looked at him.
"Hey there Clementine," he said.
"Clementine, this is… This is your father."
"You're my dad?" she asked.
"Yeah. And I got you something here." He handed her the box and she opened it excitedly. He hadn't known what she would like so there was a variety of things in there; a teddy bear, some chocolates, a necklace and a pink watch.
"Cool!" she said, putting on the necklace and opening the chocolates.
"That was nice of you." said Cassidy. "Bring anything for me?" she joked.
"No. I'm afraid not." The two smiled at each other.
"Look," she said on a serious note, "I'm just worried that now you've met her, you're not ready to commit. If you want to be a part of her life you'll have to visit at least twice a month. Are you sure you can do that?"
"Why wouldn't I? I'm ready to take some responsibility now. I enjoy seeing her too. She's great."
"You're gonna need a new job aren't you." She said.
"Yeah," He replied. "I'm sure I'll find something."
[Present]
Miles and Sawyer walked up to the counter of the evidence room where Jeff was reading a magazine about cars. They'd been told that Jeff had found their guns and had them.
"Oh," he said looking up. "Miles, Sawyer? What are you doing here?"
"Just getting our guns." said Miles.
"Oh yeah, I've got them right here." He reached under the desk and fumbled around looking for the weapons. He finally brought them out and handed them over.
"Thanks Jeff." said Sawyer.
"Hey," said Jeff. "What happened to your shirt?" he pointed at a rip that had been made the previous night when Sawyer had jumped out of the window. He hadn't been bothered to change.
"Oh, this? I uh, fell on a rock."
"Hang on…" Jeff headed into the evidence locker and brought back a box. He opened it. There were some photographs of a broken bookcase and the missing piece of Sawyer's shirt.
They all realised what had happened at once. The evidence from the break-in would have been handed in that morning and Jeff had recognised the shirt.
"Listen, we can explain-" began Sawyer.
"Put your hands in the air." said Miles, pointing his gun at the evidence offscer.
"What are you doing?" asked Sawyer. "This is against the law. We should just tell him the truth!"
Jeff put up his hands.
"Guys come on," he said calmly, "we can talk about this,"
Sawyer and Miles looked at each other. That was all it took, Jeff grabbed his own gun from under the desk and fired two shots. One hit Miles' arm and the other missed completely, hitting and breaking the glass of the fire alarm system. The sound of the alarm echoed through the police station. Sawyer shot at Jeff and hit his hand before he and Miles ran out of the room.
Meanwhile, Jeff headed straight to the phone and started to alert everyone else of what was going on using the hand that hadn't been fractured.
Miles clutched his arm and groaned in pain. Sawyer was ahead of him and turned a corner. Soon they heard more cops running behind them.
Finally they reached the back exit leading to the car park. Sawyer held it open as Miles ran out before slamming it shut behind them. He now held it closed as the other officers tried to force it open.
"Miles! Get in the car!" he shouted. Miles didn't need to be told twice and he ran over to the car.
"It's locked!" he shouted back. With much difficulty, Sawyer pulled the keys out of his pocket and pushed the unlock button. Miles heard a click and rushed into the vehicle, taking the passenger seat.
Sawyer let out a sigh. He was going to have to be fast. He let go and the door burst open causing several cops to stumble out of the building. Their target was already sprinting towards the car and got inside, grabbing the wheel. He stuck the key in the ignition and the engine roared.
Sawyer put his foot down on the acceleration pedal and sped away.
"It sounds dangerous," said Claire worriedly.
"Trust me," replied Kate. "We'll be back as soon as we find Sawyer's daughter."
"What about Aaron?" asked Claire.
"I've been away for longer in the past. He'll be fine. He'll still have you here until I get back."
"Okay. But you have to buy me something in New York."
"You drive a hard bargain Miss Littleton," laughed Kate.
"So when are they coming to pick you up?"
"Actually they're already a few minutes late," she glanced nervously out the window. "Oh wait there they are," she said as she saw Sawyer's car speeding down the street.
"Why are they going so fast?" said Claire. The two women ran outside as the car came to a halt.
"Get in!" called Sawyer from the drivers seat. Claire looked shocked.
"What's wrong?" asked Kate. But then she saw it too- Miles' arm was cover in blood. "What happened? And why were you going so fast?"
"JUST GET IN THE DAMN CAR!" he shouted. Sirens in the distance seemed like they were getting closer now.
"Claire, I'm sorry, I've got to go." said Kate. Claire shook her head. "I promise I'll be back in a few days," they kissed and Kate jumped into the back of the car. Claire watched as it disappeared down the road. At the other end of the street, police cars turned the corner and went in the same direction that Sawyer, Kate and Miles had gone.
"Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?" asked Kate in frustration.
"It's the cops. They found out that we broke into that house last night, and then they started shooting at us," replied Sawyer.
"Miles are you okay?" she asked.
"I feel great," he said sarcastically, still putting pressure on his arm, trying to stop the flow of blood.
"Oh well, look on the bright side," said Sawyer jokingly, "How could things get any worse right?"
[FLASH-FORWARD]
In the pitch blackness Sawyer could only feel the blood trickling down the side of his face. He could hear the humming of electronics and a dog barking. He opened his eyes but the darkness did not lift.
"What the hell?" he mumbled. He felt very disorientated and the scar on his face stung painfully. He realised quickly that he was in a confined space and started thrashing his fists at the wood around him. Soon he made a breakthrough. Knuckles bleeding, he pushed apart the splintered casket that had been a coffin before he had smashed it from the inside out, and stood up, taking in his surroundings.
There were boxes, crates and cages all around him of various shapes and sizes. Most of the cages had animals in them. There were even a few police cars stored in there. He searched his pockets but found only a pen.
His memory rushed back to him and he guessed correctly where he was- a plane's cargo hold. When the plane landed he was going to die. He sat down on the cold metal floor next to a dead body in a suit that had been left on the floor- the coffins original occupant. He should have taken the advice that Kate had given to him before it had all gone wrong.
Then arms grabbed him from behind, trying to strangle him to death. He quickly grabbed the pen he'd found in his pocket. His eyes were now watering and he couldn't breathe. He thrashed out with the pen, plunging it into his enemy.
As the attacker fell to the floor Sawyer stood up again. He closed his eyes and did something that he very rarely did; pray. He really needed a miracle.
Suddenly, the plane hit turbulence.
Well, more chapters coming soon, thanks for reading and please feel free to leave a review to say what you think about the story so far!