Walt wakes up in an embarrassing position – but does it matter? Is he, or anyone else, alive?


Walt woke to the sun bearing down on his body. His stark naked body.

"Hey, what's the big idea!?"

Walt's first impulse was to cover himself up. Then he got to his feet, and realized he was in a deep pit. The hatch somehow had imploded around him, disintegrating his clothes as well as everything that had been part of the hatch, and leaving a large crater in the shape of a paraboloid, with smooth dirt walls gradually getting steeper near the edge. The pit was fifteen meters deep and thirty meters in diameter at the top. There were no obvious handholds or footholds visible after the amazingly neat implosion.

Walt felt foolish standing there in the nude at the bottom with no way to clothe himself. The walls looked impossibly steep but he had no choice but to try to climb out, barehanded, barefoot, and bare everything else. He started up one side. The first five meters were easy, but then the dirt started to give under his feet. He carefully dug his hands and feet into the side, and made his way farther up, but at the ten-meter mark, the dirt failed to support both feet simultaneously. He hung by his hands for a split second, but then the dirt gave way there too, and he tumbled down near to the bottom, with plenty of dirt cascading down with him.

Fortunately the dirt was smooth, and he didn't hurt himself. He got up, and brushed the dirt off. He made another assault on a different side, with nearly identical results. As he brushed himself off again, he was thinking, I have to try something else. Choosing another angle, he went up much more slowly, and did make it one more meter higher before the wall gave way, sending Walt on a slightly longer trip to the bottom. With increasing anger, he ran as fast as he could in another direction, but came tumbling down more quickly. His thoughts were discouraging. What a ridiculous way to die. Starve to death in a stupid hole.

He had now been awake in this unique prison for an hour, and was becoming convinced he could well spend the rest of his short life there. Admitting defeat, and facing humiliation should someone find him, he called out, "Anybody out there? I could really use some help." There was no answer to that or other shouts for help. Another thought struck Walt.

What if Desmond was right? I may have just let the earth be destroyed. I could be the last human being on the planet. Maybe the last living thing.

Despite the heat, Walt shivered at the thought. Then another idea came to him. Raising his arms, he shouted, "Hey Jacob, can you give me a hand out of this? Got any suggestions?" Unfortunately for Walt, Jacob was not answering at this time. After waiting five minutes, Walt now shouted to the air, "Thanks for nothing, Jacob!" Walt sat down, drawing his knees up near his chest. He had plenty of time for contemplation.

What difference does it make what I do if I'm the last person alive? I don't have anything to live for. I don't have anything … literally! I have absolutely nothing. Nobody cares, everybody I know is dead, this is pointless….

Walt lay back, letting the sun roast his body. When it got too uncomfortable, he turned over on his stomach, naturally subjecting his backside to the baking process. Soon that was getting unbearable, and he got back on his feet. Walt reconsidered the question of whether he was alive. Maybe I really am dead. This could be the afterlife. Am I doomed to roast here for all eternity? Then he was struck by the thought, If I'm dead, why do I have to go to the bathroom? Walt improvised a latrine by digging a hole within the pit, a few meters away from the center. When finished, he covered it back up, and reflected on his situation, gazing up at the sky.

That looks like the real sky. Isn't that sun moving? And this is real dirt. But how can I tell for sure? He stood there for a few more minutes, when a cloud crossed his restricted field of view. That's a real cloud. This has got to be Earth.

How having been conscious for two hours, Walt had a change of heart after this realization. He stood up, shook his fist over his head, and yelled,

"I am not going out without a fight!"

With more anger now, Walt climbed again, but in his haste lost his footing at a lower height, and slid down once more. Another effort resulted in a larger mass of earth falling to the bottom of the pit. Uprighting himself once more, Walt noticed that the top of the pit didn't look so high. He realized, The dirt is filling up the hole. If I can get enough down, it will be shallow enough to climb out.

Now excited, Walt climbed partway up again, anchored his feet and one hand, and with the other reached out as far as he could sideways, dug into the dirt, and clawed the dirt out. More earth fell, but not at a very satisfying rate. Walt took more chances, climbing higher and digging harder. Eventually a large chunk came loose, taking Walt with it. At the bottom, Walt sprang up as the dirt piled up around him, burying him up to his waist. There was a small consolation: Well, at least no one can tell I'm naked now.

Walt tried to step out of the dirt but it had packed too tightly around him. He needed a breather. Rotating his upper body, he observed that the upper wall was less steep where the dirt had caved in, and that there was the end of a tree root sticking out. That I can reach and climb. Walt raised his arms in triumph, and comically beat his chest. He started laughing at his situation. When he recovered, he scooped the dirt away from his body, and rocked back and forth and from side to side. It took another fifteen minutes to extricate himself, eventually pushing himself up with his hands so that he could sit on the edge of the small hole that had just engulfed his lower body.

He had been awake three hours now, the blazing sun baking his body as if the curved sides of the large hole reflected heat rays directly onto Walt, and it was harder to brush the earth off his sweat-covered body. With that accomplished, he began one more ascent toward the root, which was about two meters below the regular ground level. As Walt expected, he was able to climb the shallower slope, and with a lunge seized the root with both hands. But in trying to climb up onto the root, the dirt beneath his feet gave way again, leaving him hanging by his hands – until the root snapped, sending him tumbling down once again out of control. Amid the dirt and dust Walt didn't realize where he was heading until he slid into the same hole in the center of the bottom of the pit from which he had just extricated himself. However, this time, instead of just finding himself waist-deep, more dirt piled around him, covering several centimeters of his stomach and back.

"Aaarrrrgh!"

Walt shook his fists in the air, and then pounded the ground alongside him. Should have filled in that little hole, he thought too late. He sulked, folding his arms across his chest that glistened with sweat. He took several deep breaths, and then resumed the laborious process of extricating himself again. This time it took close to half an hour, including filling in the hole after he was out.

Looking up again, Walt noticed a second root was now visible near the shortened first. He climbed up once again, and this time managed to grab one root with each hand. Combined, the roots were enough to support his weight. He made his way along the roots, moving one hand at a time closer to the edge of the pit and the trunks from which the roots emanated. He then maneuvered one foot one each root, and from that position was able to reach the ground with his hands and pull himself up over the edge.

"I DID IT!"

Spent from the effort, four hours in total, Walt lay splayed out on his back. A sense of euphoria over having cheated death came over him.