"Hey there," Dan said to the two people who had emerged from the bushes. For some reason he could remember the name easily. "Are you Jack?"
"Yeah, I'm Jack," he responded. The woman behind him looked completely stunned. "Who are you?"
Dan couldn't recall if he was supposed to lie about his name or not. He assumed he could just tell them the truth. "I'm Daniel Faraday. I'm here to rescue you."
Dan could tell that mere statement was enough to get them to trust him completely. As the three of them walked along, they questioned him. "Hey Dan, the chopper, how many of you were on it?"
"Er, four, including me," Dan said. He was extremely impressed by the island. Sure, it was plants and trees, like any other island, but it seemed so different.
"So what happened to the rest of them?" the woman, now revealed to be Kate, asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I, er, I have no idea," Dan said truthfully. He hoped that none of them were hurt; it was pretty chaotic up there. "I dunno how many were able to get out before it went down, I just, I jumped and I lost my , what do you call it, my pack, and my phone was in my pack, if I had my phone I would just-,"
"We have a phone," Kate interrupted.
"You have a phone," Dan reiterated. They handed it to him. It must've been Naomi's. "Thank you." He took it and looked down at the numerous buttons, forgetting how to work it. So much for what Charlotte had said.
Apparently his fingers knew more than he did, for seconds later someone picked up and said, "Minkowski."
"Hey, George," Dan said. "It's Daniel."
"Dan," George said, sounding relieved. "The chopper comm went dead, what the hell happened up there?"
"Yeah, I dunno," Dan said. "There was an electrical storm, all the instruments, they, I think they went down. But listen, I made contact with some of the survivors and we were just-."
"Dan, am I on speaker?" Dan could sense the seriousness of his tone and turned to Jack and Kate.
"Would you give me just one sec?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he walked a few feet away and turned off speaker.
"Dan," George said. "Did you find any of the others? Charlotte, Frank, Miles?"
"Well…no," Dan answered. "I was the first one of the chopper, so I don't-,"
"Listen," George said hesitantly. "These people killed Naomi. You have to keep yourself safe and find the others as soon as possible. Be cautious; Naomi was smart, and these people overpowered her. Befriend the survivors. That may have been her mistake."
"Right."
George quickly explained how the phone could help find them. Dan hung up and turned back. Both Jack and Kate were looking at him in a different way then before. He ignored this and told them what George had just explained before he could forget. They both agreed to help find his team, and Dan was relieved.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Miles had landed safely on a rocky part of the island. He hurriedly got his gun out and ready. He'd barely gotten up, however, before he jumped right back down to the ground again.
It was about another 2 minutes before he heard voices. He first recognized Dan's, far off and shouting his name. The second was Jack's, the one who called the boat in the first place. And then there was Kate's, the one who killed Naomi.
Miles became aware that Jack was standing right above him. He skillfully whipped out his gun and was on his feet. "Back up, handsome."
"Hey, whoa, Miles, take it easy, it's okay," Dan sounded slightly nervous, almost warning. "They're here to help us. It's okay, Miles, they're just trying to help."
Right, that's why the one is making a move for you gun, Miles thought. "Hey! Back away from him. Hands where I can see them."
"Kate, it's alright, it's okay," Jack told her reassuringly.
"So you're Kate," Miles said. "Wanna tell me where Naomi is?"
"What?" Kate questioned.
"Naomi, the woman you killed," Miles said. "Where is she?"
"Miles, Miles, hey, what are you doing?" Dan asked. "What are you doing, these are good people."
Miles was stunned Dan couldn't remember something so simple. And Miles had a plan, Dan obviously didn't see it. "Then why'd Naomi use the damn code? Yeah, you remember when she said tell my sister I love her, well she doesn't have a sister. That's what we're supposed to say if we get captured, have a gun to our heads. Like right now, Jack here would say tell my sister I love her, you get it?"
And then Dan remembered.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Her first view of the island, and it was upside down.
It could've been worse, she could've gotten hurt. Charlotte tried to free herself from the branch's strong hold, completely aware of the water beneath her. She just hoped it was deep enough and there weren't any rocks directly under her.
Suddenly she was engulfed by the flowing water. She resurfaced and breathed a refreshing breath of the clean air. She literally laughed out loud at her luck; she had made it to the island safely.
Charlotte then became aware of others' presence and saw people standing on the shore. Now she was nervous. Her thoughts trailed to who it could be. It could be Linus's people, ready to kill her because they know why she was there. Or it could be the survivors, those who had killed Naomi. Neither of them sounded too fun to be around right now.
"Hi," she said timidly.
"Hi yourself," the one in front said, apparently the leader. As far as Charlotte knew, Linus was the leader, and that wasn't him, so she figured it was the Oceanic survivors.
"Who are you?" Charlotte said, braver now that she thought she knew who they were.
"My name is John Locke, and I am one of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815," John said. He didn't look too pleased to see her. "And I'm going to have to ask you to come with us."
Charlotte reluctantly climbed out of the water. Inconspicuously, she checked to make sure she still had her gun, which gave her a bit more reassurance.
Charlotte looked around at all of the survivors. Her heart sank when she noticed that none of her teammates were with them. But then she did a double take and her eyes fell on Benjamin Linus. Her eyes lingered on him for a moment longer before throwing him a smirk unnoticed by anyone else. Charlotte almost smiled when she noticed the fear in his eyes.
She was about to ask why he was with them, but stopped herself. That would just be way too suspicious. "Are you hurt?" John Locke asked her. He sat down on a rock and motioned to another opposite of him. She smiled slightly and wondered why these people killed Naomi; they seemed nice enough to her.
"No," Charlotte answered. "Just a bit shook up, I guess."
"Why are you here?" John asked quickly.
Charlotte was somewhat startled by this question. George told the survivors they were here to rescue them. "To rescue you all, of course. It must be terrible to have stayed on this island for so long."
"It had its moments," John stated.
"I can't believe you're alive," Charlotte said convincingly. Time to get acting. "How many of you are there?"
This time someone else answered. "Why do you wanna know?"
"Why wouldn't I wanna know?"
"Forty-eight of us survived the crash," he told her. "That's not counting the tail section, but they're pretty much all dead now."
"Hugo," John Locke interrupted warningly, but it was too late. Charlotte had heard. And it made her feel a lot more in danger.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Everyone had seemingly gotten out of the helicopter safely. Now all Frank had to do was get himself to the island and not destroy the helicopter in the process.
Suddenly, the chopper shook violently and all the equipment went flying around, some falling out of the vehicle completely. Something metal and heavy worked its way up front and struck him in the leg.
Frank winced in pain. Fortunately, the chopper was becoming steadier as he neared the island. He could now see it clearly, and saw a clear field of grass, so he took up the opportunity.
The chopper landed with a gentle thud and Frank turned it off, sighing with relief. He now took the time to look at his leg, which was bruised and bleeding slightly. It hurt a lot for him to stand, but he ignored the pain. Right now, the best thing to do was to get everyone together without losing sight of the helicopter.
Frank grabbed a flare gun and looked around. There was a hill nearby. He figured it would more likely be seen if he was higher up, so he slowly began to limp up the slope.
Almost at the top, his bad leg caught a rock and he fell prostrate to the ground. Frank remembered how hard it was to stand up last time, so he just pulled his way up.
He saw rich green grass, abundant trees, glorious mountains, and…a cow. It was large and brown with a bell around its neck. It turned and then walked back into the jungle.
Frank blinked a couple of times before turning himself on his back and firing a flare into the sky. Now all Frank could do was hope desperately that the team was safe enough to see that.