Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
-The Dogs of War-
By CharliesHoodie
A/N: Who else is bloody PUMPED for this chapter? I am! I'm so excited! That last sentence of chapter 20 was like "WOW." So enjoy!
-LOST-
-The Others' Camp-
Obviously, the Others were still alive and well.
Right when Adie walked away from him, he followed her. He was so caught up in that moment with her, he had forgotten all about dragging her out of this place and to safety away from the Flight 815 survivors.
He then immediately stopped where he was, looking shocked and scared. Before Adie showed up and completely distracted him, his focus was to stop his people from coming in the camp.
"Bloody hell," he said aloud.
Adie turned around. "I could use more colorful words to describe this situation, actually."
Charlie was panicked now. "No, love, you don't understand…" he muttered. He looked around quickly and then turned back to her. "We've got to go somewhere where they won't see us, Adie. I need to talk to you and it has to be quick."
Adie was about to protest. She hesitated, but when she saw the fear in Charlie's eyes, her own eyes softened and she lead him to the hatch that was way too familiar for them both.
"No one comes in here anymore," Adie said, running her hand along the back of the sofa and sitting down in it.
Charlie sat next to her urgently. He moved to take her hands in his, but she pulled hers away and gave him one of her "looks."
Charlie closed his eyes briefly, recovering from what she had just done. "Adie, my friends…they're coming here. I left the beach to come for you. I just couldn't stand being without you…" he looked into her eyes to see if they held any sympathy.
If they did, she was a really good actress.
He let out a short laugh and wiped away a few stray tears. "Adie, don't you understand? You mean everything to me. When I was running here…I didn't know what I was going to find. I changed my plan to come here immediately to just finding my friends and stopping them. And then I found you…don't you see how bloody distracting you are?"
Adie looked down at her lap. She didn't know what to do anymore. "What will they do? When they get here?"
"Who knows?" Charlie said, throwing his arms in the air. "Everyone argues in our group. I honestly don't know. They could kill everyone in sight, or they could simply take charge without hurting anyone."
Adie looked terrified now. She still wasn't sure about her family, but she knew if they were all dead while Charlie kept her safe, she wouldn't be able to live with herself.
"Charlie, you have to go and stop them now."
"I don't think I can now, love," he said, fear and hurt in his voice. "Just me by myself…they're probably so close by now…I wouldn't be able to…"
With that, he broke down unexpectedly. It was so random that Adie sat on her side of the couch and stared at him. She had seen him cry, but never sob. She stood up, shaky and shocked, and paced around the room, feeling like crying herself.
When she could hardly stand seeing his shoulders heave up and down and his whole body quivering, she quickly went over to the old record player and put on Waterloo Sunset. The soft, pretty lyrics sung out lightly through the room.
"Dirty old river, must you keep rolling, flowing into the night…" Adie song softly to herself. She stopped and looked over at Charlie. He was still crying, as if he hadn't even noticed the song playing.
She quickly sat down with him again, closer now. She took his hands and squeezed them tightly and he cried a little harder.
"Charlie, please stop…" she nearly begged. "I can't stand seeing you like this."
"Adie," he whispered, finally calming down a little. "I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry. I never wanted this to get so out of hand. I never wanted to kill Molly, I never wanted them to come here…I never wanted to fall in love."
He didn't mean the last part to sound as bad as it did, and Adie knew that.
"I'm pretty bloody glad you did, Charlie," she said, emphasizing "bloody" and making him smile through his tears. "Because I wouldn't be the person I am now without you."
Charlie smiled and tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. He didn't have to kiss her this time, even though just looking at her wasn't enough for him. She took care of that.
They shared a deep, passionate kiss. It didn't go as long as either of them would've liked because of the current situation. Charlie was the first to pull away reluctantly.
"Adie, I have to get you out of here."
Adie looked away, pretending she didn't hear him. It was childish, but she just couldn't leave her family.
But Terry and JulieCross over the river
Where they feel safe and sound.
And they don't need no friends.
As long as they gaze on Waterloo sunset
They are in paradise.
How appropriate.
But it really wasn't true.
Charlie knew Adie wasn't about to leave the Others willingly, and Adie knew that for the most part, he trusted his friends.
"Adie, please," he pleaded.
Apparently, they had taken too much time.
The first gun shot rung out.
-The Caves-
No one heard the start of the fight from the caves.
But they were all just as nervous about the situation, though most of them didn't show it.
Jack and Ana came back from the Hatch, hand in hand. Both had tired but happy looks on their faces, as if a lot of hard stuff had been let out but things had turned out ok in the end.
People looked shocked to see them as they were, but they didn't mention anything. Instead, everyone looked relieved that their two protectors had returned from wherever it was they had been.
Except Kate.
She could've used a little more time away from them.
She found herself meeting Jack's eyes briefly before tearing away from his look and trying to tune back in to the story Sawyer was telling her that she hadn't been paying much attention to in the first place. She hurriedly laughed at a part that sounded funny and glanced in Jack's direction. He looked a little hurt, but not too deeply moved.
If he only knew how she was feeling right now.
For the sake of getting even, she flirted with Sawyer lightly and kissed him teasingly, catching him a little off guard, as he was the one who was usually trying to charm her into things. Kate glanced at where Jack was again, but he had his back to her and was talking to someone, Ana still at his side.
She looked flustered, but Sawyer didn't say anything.
Then Jack walked over to where Sawyer and Kate were. She quickly grabbed his hand. It was a sign to Sawyer, saying: "You're who I want" but also I sign for Jack, as well. And she wasn't too sure on what she was trying to tell him.
"Kate, Sawyer…I'm glad you're back," he said honestly, kneeling down next to them. "I didn't mean to seem like a horrible person when I left you there, but I had to get back here and help everyone."
Kate nodded slightly and Sawyer smirked.
Jack sighed, knowing he couldn't really make up for what had happened back at the Others' camp. "Where's Charlie?"
"We left him," Sawyer said.
Jack's eyes widened.
"At the beach," Kate said, shooting Sawyer a glare. "We weren't sure where everyone was, so we had him stay there just in case."
"Claire's out getting him now," Sawyer said.
On cue, Claire walked out of the jungle. Jack, Sawyer and Kate looked up, waiting for Charlie to come out after her. But he never did.
Jack stood and walked up to her. "Hey, Claire, where's Charlie?"
Claire looked a little frightened, as if she wasn't sure if she should say what she knew.
"Claire?" Kate said, standing up.
"He…he went out to stop Locke and the others," Claire said uncertainly. "He said…he doesn't want anyone getting hurt…"
Jack looked puzzled. Since when was Charlie so involved?
"He meant our people…Locke, Sayid. He didn't mean the Others," Claire said, shaking her head.
Sawyer snorted, and Claire and Jack turned to look at him.
"What?" Jack asked.
"You've got a lot of catching up to do, Doc…"
-The Others' Hatch-
Adie had never felt so terrified in her life.
She didn't scream when she heard the gun shot, but cringed and clasped a hand over her mouth. Charlie jumped and let out a slight shriek.
"Adie," he said, his voice shaking. "Please, come with me. Please…" He reached out and grabbed her arm. He was getting to the point where if he had to drag her away kicking and screaming, he would if it meant saving her life.
Adie didn't move. Her muscles tensed when Charlie grabbed her and she gave him a warningly look. He looked at her apologetically.
"Adie, I swear to God, they will hurt you. If I leave you, and they come in here, and they see you…you might get lucky if it's someone like Eko, but if Locke, or…" he shook his head. "Even if I was here…they wouldn't do anything to me obviously, but you…"
"I'm not leaving!" she said, her mind set.
The door rattled.
"Adie!" Charlie screamed.
A few bullets were shot into the door. This time, Adie screamed.
"Hey!" Locke yelled from outside of the door. There were a few forceful kicks. Then they heard the door cave in.
A pure look of horror shot across Adie's face, but she still wasn't going to move. If her people were going to die here, so was she.
But Charlie wasn't going to let her do that to herself. He grabbed her and drug her toward the back way. She screamed at him and gave him a few rough hits to the face, but he tried to ignore it as he pulled her around a corner.
Locke saw them move around the corner, but didn't recognize Charlie. He shot at their forms, but the corner blocked the bullets.
Eko ran in right away. "John!" he yelled. "There was a woman!"
Locke charged around the corner. "I couldn't even see who it was."
But when he turned the corner, there was no one there.
Charlie had succeeded in getting her out of the hatch, but now he knew it was going to get more difficult.
He wanted to run into the woods behind the hatch, but the island was huge. He would get lost, and he couldn't risk that. He was going to have to run to the main area of the camp, get through that mess, and get to the area that he knew well.
Of course, that would be even harder with Adie trying to kill him the whole way.
He ran toward the gunshots, half carrying, half dragging Adie who was completely hysterical – beating on him, yelling at him, sobbing. He bit his lip and stopped at the edge of the jungle.
Spread out before him was the Others' camp. He saw all of his friends there, on the other side of the clearing, firing in Charlie and Adie's direction at the Others. He pulled Adie with him behind a tree and sat her down against it. He didn't even bother to tell her not to move. She pulled her knees up to her chin and sobbed.
Guilt flooded over him and he began to mutter apologies aimlessly. He knelt down next to her and tried to talk to her soothingly, but she ignored him, caught up in her own tragedy.
A bullet skimmed the tree they were behind and Charlie jumped away and Adie covered her head.
"Are you all right?!" he exclaimed.
She didn't say or do anything.
Charlie jerked around and went out in front of the tree. If he could get someone to notice him from the other side, maybe he could get help…
Adie sat behind the tree, listening to all the gunshots. When she looked up, her eyes red and puffy, she saw John Locke charging toward her.
She looked right into his eyes. She had the 'I-don't-care-anymore-just-do-it' look, and that didn't stop Locke.
As she was waiting for him to just shoot, Charlie turned back around the tree just in time and saw Locke.
"Locke!" he screamed, stepping in front of Adie.
Locke lowered his gun. "Charlie…you're free…?"
"Yes!" Charlie cried. "Sawyer, Kate and I got back just when you left!"
"Why are you back here, then?!" Locke yelled, confused.
"For her," Charlie answered.
This caught Adie's attention, but she didn't show it.
"You can't bloody shoot her, Locke. It's a lost cause to make everyone else stop this. Everyone screwed up, all right? You all screwed up for coming here to save us when we were already free. The people at the caves screwed up for not stopping you before this happened. I screwed up for not finding you first. And I screwed up my relationship with her," he pointed at Adie. "And her life is wrecked now because of this, and I can't do anything to fix it! So I'm not going to let anyone hurt her!"
"They still deserve to be killed, Charlie," Locke said, although he didn't know anything about Adie. But he still didn't look ready to shoot her anytime soon.
"Maybe they do, but not her."
"We're losing this anyway, Charlie," Locke said quietly. "More than half of the men we brought with us are hurt or dead."
Adie looked up, tears in her eyes. Charlie looked shocked.
Locke bit his lip. "We're going to lose this."
"How many of my family are still ok?" Adie asked quietly. Charlie stared down at her.
"Most of them," Locke said, refusing to look at her.
Adie nodded slightly and looked away.
"Adie…" Charlie began.
He was cut off as a shot rang out particularly close to them. Adie screamed and Charlie threw his body over her. When he got back up, he saw a part of the tree splintered and a hole going deep into its thick bark.
Charlie shivered slightly and looked around for Locke. He was nowhere in sight. Peering around the tree, he saw Locke back over on the 815 survivors' side, helping an injured man.
Charlie was disoriented. He didn't understand how people were moving so fast and how bloody careless they were being. He turned back to Adie. "Adie, if-"
Adie was pulled up against Peter, her back against his front. He had a hand clasped over her mouth and a shotgun pressed up under her chin. Adie's bright eyes were wide with fear.
"Let her go, you bastard!" Charlie screamed, moving to attack him. But Peter warned him by pressing the gun harder against Adie and taking a step back. Charlie stopped.
"What are you bloody doing?!" Charlie exclaimed.
"If you don't make them stop, Charlie, she dies," Peter said. "You know I'm not going to," Peter whispered in Adie's ear. "You can relax."
But Adie didn't.
"…Why would I care?" Charlie asked shakily.
"Well, if that's the case…" Peter said casually, moving to press the trigger, his finger twitching against it slightly.
"No!" Charlie screamed.
Peter grinned slightly. "You see?"
"Let her go!"
Peter laughed. "Both Adie and I know that I would never hurt her…unless you don't stop them, of course. We're both quite aware you'd do anything for her."
Charlie was actually about to do as Peter said, even though he figured that he'd either get shot before he could do anything, or no one would listen. As he was still contemplating, Peter began to weigh his finger against the trigger.
"Stop that!" Charlie screamed, walking toward him.
A shot rang out all over their area.
Both Adie and Peter fell forward onto the ground, unmoving.
Charlie gasped so hard it made his throat sore and made him feel like throwing up blood. "Adie…" he whispered, still in shock.
He threw Peter off of her. But Adie's weight hadn't pulled him down as he thought.
Peter was dead. A shot in the middle of his face.
Charlie nearly threw up, but he pushed Peter aside and pulled Adie up, who was sobbing and still hysterical. She threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. She was far from being happy with him, but for a moment, she too had thought that Peter had shot her.
"You're welcome, rock star."
Charlie jerked around, Adie still in his arms. Sawyer stood behind him, a 5-millimeter in one hand.
"Sawyer…?"
"We've got this now. They don't have a chance."
Adie's grip on Charlie loosened.
"Why did the rest of you come?" Locke asked.
Most people on their side were fine except for a few men who had died. Most of their people had been wounded and not killed. Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Ana and a few others had come in from the caves and finished off the rest of the Others when it seemed that Sayid and Locke's team weren't going to make it. Although all the men had been murdered, they had let the women and children leave for wherever they would go.
"Sawyer told us about Charlie and that Other girl," Jack answered. "We didn't think things would run over too smoothly with him here trying to save her, so we decided to come and work things out since you guys here didn't know about it."
"We just didn't want someone to get hurt. If someone had shot Adie, things would've gotten messy," Kate summarized.
Locke turned around. A few yards away, Charlie stood with Adie who was screaming nonsense at him and trying to pull away. He had a strong grip on her arms and was trying to talk to her.
"So, what's the plan now?" Locke asked blankly. "She's one of them."
-LOST-
A/N: Intense chapter…woah. Next up is Kiss!!Review Responses for Chapter 20 (by kissbangx3):
Mystery Island: So glad you appreciate Kate and Sawyer, even though the show can't make up its mind about them. Anyway, I'm not crazy-obsessed with Charlie any more, so I can see your point of view, but hopefully we did a good job with his character here. Thanks for the review!
Freckles1230: No, Sawyer screwed Ana in this story, too. It said so in the beginning. Our timing's a little weird—post-Ana/Sawyer but obviously pre-shooting. Henry got away, but Ana let him go instead of Michael. Thanks!
Jimmy-barnes-13: Aww, thank you, thank you, and thank you. One of those chapters, probably the last, is definitely dedicated to you. We'll write it at the top when it's published. (: