They had been walking for a short while, when Ana became aware that they her name was being brought up in a conversation between Kate and Shannon. She groaned, despite herself. What had she done now? She was just trying to protect them. If Shannon was shot and killed, she wouldn't, couldn't be blamed. Shannon had little experience when it came to shooting a gun, and so Ana had wanted her to stay behind, and now they were bitching about her for it? She stopped, turning towards them.
"What is it?" She said plainly, throwing her hands up, "Well?"
Kate and Shannon exchanged glances. "What?" Kate said blankly.
Ana's lip curled as she felt her free hand curl into a fist. "What's so interesting about me? I didn't think you guys liked me enough to bring me up in a conversation. So.." She drew breath, not wanting to loose her cool, but not being able to help feeling pissed off. "What's the hot gossip? Something I should know about?"
"Not everything is about you, Ana," Shannon said darkly, glowering at her.
Ana smirked in response. "I never said it was. But you were discussing me, so.. spill. What have I done?"
"We're almost there, it's a couple of minutes away," Locke cut in calmly, appearing at Ana's side, as if worried that she would pounce on Kate or Shannon at any moment. "Don't start Ana, let's just keep walking."
"I'm not starting anything, she is!" Ana said, waving her finger accusingly at Shannon, "I don't know what I've done. I didn't want to come out here, and yet I did. And don't say you wouldn't have needed me anyway, because I was a cop, therefore I'm a pretty good shot. Better than a whiney teen who doesn't even know what she's doing."
"I'm twenty years old," Shannon answered, grimacing.
"Huh. Really." Ana mumbled, turning her back on them.
She had almost hoped that the blonde would reply, but instead she began to walk, charging off infront of Ana and Locke. Kate went after her and they slowed down, walking infront. Ana shook her head wearily at them, trying to understand but not being able to.
"They were just talking about who should go in first."
Ana looked over her shoulder. It was Charlie who had spoke, and he looked worse for wear, covered in bruises and what-not. She knew what those were from, and tried not to think about it. However, she replied to him. "What are you talkin' about?"
"They thought you should go in first, as you obviously have the most.. skill, y'know," Charlie croaked. Then he bowed his head, falling silent once again. Surprisingly Locke chose not to speak, and so Ana shrugged her shoulders at them and turned back. She glowered at the backs of Kate and Shannon's heads, and felt a pang of guilt. She didn't want to come off as a paranoid bitch, but she guessed that was what they thought of her right now.
However, her thoughts veered away from this when the girls infront discovered the secret door, prying it open together. Ana ran towards them, followed by Locke and Charlie. "Okay.." She breathed, glancing round at all of them. "I'll go in first. Good suggestion, by the way." She said quickly, looking to Shannon and Kate, who both shifted uncomfortably. "Locke, you come in right after me. The rest of you follow after. And.. be careful."
They all nodded and so Ana stepped into the Hatch, holding her gun with both hands, her finger on the trigger as she crept forwards. Locke entered soon after, followed by Kate, followed by Shannon, followed by Charlie. Once everyone was inside, Charlie slowly closed the door.
There was only one light on, and it was flickering slightly. Ana turned to Locke, fearing the worst. "They've been here," She stated, "Everybody just.. keep close to me. And don't say anything. Just keep walking."
Nobody was about to argue with that. They all kept close together, and Ana knew that they were all as terrified as she was. But still she kept walking, the 9mm ready in her hands as they entered the computer room. To her surprise, a couple of lights were still left on. However, as Ana went to approach the computer, someone stepped out infront of her. Before she had a chance to react, Ana was thrown up against the wall by said person, and her gun was taken from her.
"Stop!" Kate cried out, taking aim with her gun.
The mysterious person kept tight hold of Ana, pressing her right up against the wall 'til she could barely breath. "Put the gun down, Austen." A calm voice said, the voice of a woman. "Just put a down, and we won't have a problem here."
Ana just managed to incline her head slightly and saw that Kate's hands were shaking as she held the gun. "Put it down," Ana hissed, "Just do it!" She repeated pleadingly, and Kate lowered her weapon. Ana then recalled that the woman had used Kate's last name 'Austen' when speaking to her. She started to struggle slightly but could still barely move.
"Don't even try it, Cortez," The woman warned her, "Now, if you could all just put down your weapons.."
She glanced expectantly at the rest of them, who all threw down their weapons, all except for Locke, who didn't move a muscle, but stayed rooted to the spot. "Who are you?" He asked simply, still holding the gun.
"Isn't important.." The woman muttered, "Put down the gun, Locke. Now."
Her tone was becoming more menacing now and Ana felt it best to intervene before things got out of hand, "Put it down, Locke. Please."
Maybe it was out of respect for her but maybe it was only because of the dangerous situation they were all in, but Locke too lowered his weapon. "Good, very good," The woman said pensievely, and released Ana, who wasn't about to do anything stupid as the woman was holding an automatic rifle, and was pointing it directly at her chest.
"Who are you?" Ana asked quickly, echoing Locke, but not raising her voice. "How did you.. how did you..?"
"How did we find the hatch?" The woman filled in for her, a smile crossing her face briefly. "We've been searching for days for this thing. We found food in the jungle, and decided to investigate. Luckily none of you were here when we broke in, or there might have been trouble."
Ana smirked sardonically, "Really? Because the way you're acting now.."
"Some of the members of my, uh, 'Team' might not have been as patient as I'm being right now." The woman injected, then she stepped closer. "As for who I am, my name is Colleen. And as long as we all remain calm and collected, nobody is going to get shot."
She raised the gun a little in a threatening sort of way, and Ana saw Shannon flinch. Ana, who had been in a similar situation in the past, knew not to do anything stupid. She couldn't speak for the rest of them though, especially Locke and Kate, who were both eyeing their weapons closely as they lay on the floor by their feet.
Colleen seemed to notice. "If you could just uh, kick those away to one side." She said, raising the gun again. Shannon did automatically, but Kate, Locke and Charlie all waited a moment before doing so. They did however, and Colleen nodded, looking pleased. "Okay, question time.." She said, going to the computer chair and sitting down. "When did you come across this.. "hatch". How long have you been here?"
Ana sighed in annoyance, but decided to answer her question. "I think it was first discovered a month or so ago, but.." She didn't quite know how to explain it as she hadn't been there when Jack blew the hatch open. "You should ask Mr.Locke here, he probably knows more than me on the subject."
Locke flashed her a little smile before stepping forward. "I found the hatch in the jungle, with a young kid who.." He was looking at Shannon as he said it, "..is sadly no longer with us. But yes, we found it, and we tried to get it open but.." He paused, and Ana wondered if Colleen was buying this. "..we couldn't open it. We did managed to blow it open as Ana said, that must have been about a couple of weeks ago or so.. we got it open, and we've been coming and going ever since. Well, until.." Ana noticed that his voice was shaking a little, "Until you people.."
"Right," Colleen said impassionately, "Well, that makes sense. Sorry for startling you, but.." She inclined her head slightly and gave a vague nod, at which Ana instantly knew they had been set up. Sure enough, four large men all carrying automatic rifles stepped out of the next room. Colleen looked back to them, offering a look of false sympathy.
"You should have just shot her.." Charlie muttered, glaring at them.
Ana swallowed hard. Though if she had shot and killed Colleen they would have been dead in minutes, she couldn't help agreeing with the Brit. Not thinking, Ana dived down, grabbing the gun. However Colleen was too quick for her and put her foot down on the gun as Ana reached out for it.
"Get up," She said, her voice changing, "I said, get up."
Ana had no choice but to get to her feet. She gave Colleen a look of pure hatred before stepping back. She couldn't believe it. These were the people who had made a nervous wreck when she had first arrived on the island. They had forced her to resort to murder, something she had hoped she would never have to do again. They had basically made her life a living hell, and just as she had begun to think that things might just be looking up a little, they had arrived in camp and had as good as desolated it.
She had no more time to dwell on these thoughts as the shortest man grabbed her and began to tie her up. She made no attempt to stop him, knowing what would happen if she tried. She saw the three other men tend to the others, also tieing them up. After a short while, the shortest man looked up. "We're good to go, Col."
"Thanks Danny," Colleen said, eyeing him affectionately, "Okay.." She turned to the man who had hold of Shannon, "Jason, you take her out first. She doesn't appear to be a threat to us.." She turned to the other two. One was holding both Kate and Charlie, while the other had hold of Locke. "Ryan, you follow him. Matt, you follow Ryan. I'll make sure nobody tries to run.." She gave a cold look to Ana, "Okay, let's--"
The lights went out. There was a shot and Ryan, who had been holding Kate and Charlie, instantly collapsed. Ana fought to be free when she suddenly felt the gun against the side of her head and stopped struggling. She got a look at Ryan, who was laying spread-eagled on his back. He had a bullet in his head. He was dead.
Colleen glanced about wildly, "Who else is down here?" She spat at Ana, pointing the gun right at her, "Tell me!"
"I-- don't-- know!" Ana said through gritted teeth.
Another shot. Matt let out a cry and released Locke, who wasted no time in grabbing the 9mm by his feet and pointing it at Colleen. "Let her go," He said, approaching her slowly, "Both of you. Let her go!"
However he was knocked to the ground by Jason, who was also pointing his rifle at Kate and Charlie. "Don't try anything stupid!" He exclaimed, though he was scared and it showed. Matt, who had been shot in his shoulder, began to scramble around on the floor, looking for his gun, which Kate kicked across the room. "Matt, what the fuck are you doing?!" Jason cried.
"I can't fucking see!" Matt yelled.
Locke was laying, seemingly unconcious, right next to him. "That's it," Colleen said quickly, lowering her weapon. "Luke, make sure she doesn't go anywhere. Jason, keep hold of the blonde! She'll get away!"
"I'm trying!" Jason said, but was apparently finding it a struggle to keep three of the Castaways under control. Suddenly Shannon broke away from him and ran out of the room. "Fuck it!" Jason roared, aiming for her and firing. He missed, and Shannon was soon out of sight.
Colleen ran out into the hallway. Ana managed to elbow Luke, who dropped the rifle. Ana quickly picked it up and pointed it right at him, "Don't try anything," She said warily, then had an idea. "But just in case.." She shot both Luke and Jason in their legs, causing them to collapse to the ground, joining both Matt and Locke. "Get him up," Ana ordered, indicating Locke. Kate and Charlie grabbed Locke by his arms, pulling him up. Ana walked out into the hallway, looking for Colleen.
"Over here, Hot Lips."
Ana knew that voice. She turned and saw Sawyer as the lights suddenly came back on. He was holding Colleen at gun point, while a terrified Shannon stood nearby, looking shaken. Ana walked towards them, "How did you..? I mean.."
"I figured this would happen," Sawyer said gruffly, "So I thought you'd need a hand. Guess I wasn't wrong." He added, glancing distastefully at Colleen, who looked as though she was hyperventillating. "Are they..?"
"One's dead, three are injured." She inclined her head to the computer room, "You're a pretty good shot, Cowboy."
"Yeah, so who's the better shot now?" Sawyer replied, grinning sardonically at her.
Ana chose not to answer to this. "So, what are we gonna do with them?" She asked, stealing a look of disgust at Colleen.
"Ain't it obvious?" Sawyer growled, pushing Colleen towards Ana. He then pushed past her and went to the computer room. Ana's heart sank and she knew what he was about to do. She and Kate exchanged worried glances before she and Charlie lowered Locke and ran in to the next room. Ana wanted to aswell, but knew she had to keep Colleen under control. Using the rope she had just removed from her hands after they had been bound just minutes earlier, Ana tied Colleen up, making sure she wouldn't get away. Then, she went to see what was going on.
Bang.
She stopped before reaching the room, not willing herself to go any further. She heard seven shots before Sawyer walked out into the hall, followed by Kate and Charlie. Ana could see the specks of blood on his shirt, and knew he had killed them. But for some reason she didn't care. After what they had done she would have been only too happy to watch him kill every last one of them.
"There," Sawyer said quietly, "Let's go."
Ana nodded before remembering Colleen, "What do we do with her?"
"We should take her back," Kate injected, "She might know where the rest of them are."
"The rest of them?" Shannon cut in, "He just killed them!"
"There's more of them, though," Charlie said, glaring at her, "Somewhere."
Ana went to comfort Shannon, who was clearly in shock. Sawyer grabbed Colleen, after they all agreed they would take Colleen back with them. Like Kate had said, Colleen would probably beable to tell them more about the rest of her people. Kate and Charlie both helped with Locke, who was beginning to regain conciousness.
However, before leaving, Ana and Kate both raided the hatch, looking for any kind of medical supplies or leftover food. Surprisingly they found that the Others hadn't even devoured half of the pantry, so they took what they needed from there, along with as many medical supplies as they could find.
Then, once they were sure they had everything, they set off back to camp.