{/}

Chapter 10: If We Act Like Prey, They'll Act Like Predators

"We need to get rid of the bodies."

Jack, Kate, Sayid and I stood in a circle trying to decide what to do; a couple of hours ago, three boars had infiltrated camp and were rooting around for food.

"We should bury them," Kate offered, a small pang of sadness in her voice.

"Digging will be difficult with no shovels; there are more than twenty dead." Sayid said.

"We're not burying them." Jack interjected. "We need to burn them."

I quietly watched as the three of them continued to argue. "They're people, Jack." Kate whispered. "They deserve better than that."

Jack countered back, "Better than what? Being eaten by wild animals? Because that is exactly what's going to happen."

"Jack is right." I finally spoke up. "Any bodies we bury are not going to stay buried for long."

I intentionally kept my gaze away from Sayid, because I already knew he was giving me a disappointed look. And the fact that I still felt incredibly awkward around him since what had happened earlier this morning.

"What you say may be true, but for us to decide how these people are laid to rest, it's not right." Sayid said. "No regards for their wishes, their religions."

"I know it sounds harsh, Sayid, but it's not about what they deserve. We're here, and they're not. All they are is just rotting flesh."

"Dawn." Kate looked appalled.

"Look none of us are happy about it." Jack defended. "But we crashed over 1000 miles off course. It's been four days and no one has come. Tomorrow morning we need to start gathering up as much wood and dried brush as we can, and turn that fuselage into a furnace after the sun sets." And with that, Jack headed off down the beach.

The three of us remaining all exchanged uneasy glances before going our separate ways. I longed to talk to Sayid-not about anything specific, just talk. Whenever I was around him I felt this calmness. Even when we were being chased by the monster, having him close to me just made me feel safe, and I'd never had that feeling before. Something within me ached to be close to him, but after royally screwing everything up, I wasn't sure I would get the chance.

[/]

The next morning everyone did as Jack had instructed. We split ourselves into groups: some went in search of firewood for the fuselage, while others stayed and went through all of the luggage to sort the practical from the impractical. Shannon and I had elected to stay on the beach, but we often got sidetracked from working.

Right now, in particular, we were working on our tans.

"I just think you should talk to him." She said. "You two are acting like you're in high school; man up, grow a pair, and just talk to the guy. I mean for crying out loud, all you did was kiss."

I chuckled. "Oh God, go up and talk to him, why didn't I think of that? That's right, every time I try to approach him he quickly turns the other way."

"You two were together last night. Why didn't you say something then?" I had to admit, she had a point. "You're avoiding him too. I get it, rejection sucks. We all go through it. But he's just one guy. Why are you getting so worked up over it?"

Another good point. Why was this bothering me so much? I mean we had only met four days ago, and even though we've spent a lot of our time together, I still hardly knew anything about him. And he didn't know anything about me. For good reason, though. I kept myself closed off for good reasons. And maybe he was doing the same. What if he had some tragic backstory that he wasn't keen on sharing?

I rolled over onto my stomach, running my fingers through my hair. "Okay that's enough talking about me. Let's talk about you and your problems."

She smiled. "I have no problems. Well other than the whole stranded on an island one…"

[\]

Over the next couple of hours we tried filling out a crossword together that was in the back of one of Shannon's magazines. But for the most part, we were struggling. We tried to tough it out, but more often than not we ended up looking in the back for the answers.

Boone checked in on us every so often. He was more than eager to help with the whole "checking the fuselage for useful supplies and moving the dead bodies inside" adventure. I felt a tad guilty for not helping considering I had defended Jack's decision, but dammit as awful as our current situation was, I liked just lounging on the beach, listening to the rolling waves. For the most part, this place wasn't so bad.

You know, except for the mysterious monster that eats people, and the creepy distress signal from a mysterious French woman, and the weird cave with the weird mysterious symbols.

This island described in one word: mysterious.

And in some strange way, I liked it.

"Hey Dawn," Shannon asked. "What is an eight letter word for 'shameless audacity'?"

I chuckled lightly. "How the fuck would I know. Do you have any of the letters filled in?"

"Nope."

"Try chutzpah." A very familiar voice chimed in behind us. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Sayid standing over us, but it was Shannon who spoke up. "Perfect fit! How the hell did you know that?"

He shrugged innocently, meeting my gaze. "Can I talk to you for a second."

My heart stopped, my breath hitched in my throat, and I tried not to look as surprised and delighted as I felt inside. I could feel Shannon's eyes on me; I desperately tried not to look at her. With a simple nod, I hopped to my feet and followed closely behind Sayid; Shannon's glare burning into my back.

My mind buzzed.

What did he want to talk to me about? Were we finally going to discuss what had happened at the waterfall? Was he going to tell me he never wanted anything like that to happen again? That he didn't like me that way? I furiously chewed on my lip. I didn't think I was ready for this. For the rejection.

Sayid stopped, turning to face me. I braced myself for the inevitable.

Here it comes.

"Dawn, there's something I would like to show you." he knelt down and gestured to a hunk of metal on a suitcase. My face must have given me away, because he smiled slightly.

"And what the hell is that supposed to be?"

"Sit down and I'll show you." he said.

I tried to fight my smile, I really did, but it escaped. And I don't think it went unnoticed. I sat down next to him and placed my chin in my hand.

"Now, I'm not even sure it'll work, but that French transmission has been playing on a loop for sixteen years; there must be a power source somewhere here on the island." he began to explain. "If we can triangulate the source of the transmission-"

"You can do all that? From something you built from scrap?"

He smiled. "Hypothetically. I'm making an antennae of sorts. If we place a few of these on different points on the island, I may be able to use the transceiver to triangulate the signal."

I shook my head in disbelief. "How do you even begin to build something like this? How do you know how to do all of this?"

"I've always been very good with mechanical things." he answered simply.

"Yeah, but I can barely make a grilled cheese let alone build a freaking antennae from scrap metal from a crashed plane."

Sayid chuckled. "Remind me never to let you make me a grilled cheese."

I laughed and then he laughed, and then there was a sudden silence between us as our eyes met. And here it was. The moment had arrived and we couldn't avoid it any longer. Shannon's words rang in my ears. Man up. And just talk about it. If it affected our friendship then so be it; we needed to get everything out in the open.

But with Sayid's eyes locked with mine, the fluttering of my heart, and these swirling feelings in the pit of my stomach, I couldn't make any words come out of my mouth. I'm sure I looked like a fool sitting there with my mouth hanging open, stuttering over nothing. I could feel my cheeks reddening, and I quickly looked down at my hands in my lap before I gave too much away. Why did he affect me this way?

"So what can I do to help with the whole finding the transmission thing?" I quickly changed the subject.

"Well it would probably consist on another trek into the jungle." he answered. "For some reason, I don't think you'd be too opposed to that idea."

I shrugged innocently.

And then suddenly I remembered something. "Give me one second. I just came up with an idea."

I strode off down the beach in search of one person. This person could be trusted with this information. This person would be willing to help. And this person just so happened to be going into the jungle in a few minutes. I spotted her talking to Jack, and I quickly sprinted over to her.

"Kate!" I greeted her. "Sayid and I were wondering if you would be willing to help us with something?"

She looked slightly skeptical. "Um, yeah sure, what do you need help with?"

I bit my lip and chuckled lightly. "Uhh...it might be easier for me to show you rather than explain."

With Kate following dubiously behind me, we made our way back over to Sayid, who was now standing looking at me with an extremely confused expression. I told him how Kate was going on the boar hunt with Locke and Michael and she would be the perfect person to help us out, and together we explained to her what Sayid had built and what our plan was.

And like I knew she would; she agreed to help.

Point, Dawn.

After Kate left with the antenna in her pack, I grinned earnestly at Sayid. "What would you do without me?"

He smiled, shaking his head. "I'd hate to ever find out."