Chapter Thirty-Five: Rescue
Kate held Violet back for a little while after Jack went back to deal with Ben, and calm the rest of the survivors down about their little visitor. He was not going to tell them about Sayid, Jin and Bernard. Not yet, Violet guessed he had good reason, but she could not stop crying.
"Violet, listen I know it's hard. I feel like crying too, but right now, you have to be brave! We're almost at the radio tower. They're already scared because Ben's here, but think of how much of a panic it could cause if they know what happened on the beach." Kate tried to tell Violet, who struggled so much to keep herself from shedding anymore tears, but it was so hard.
"So you want me to lie?" Violet asked, a little bitterly. Kate nodded with a bit of a shrug.
"Not exactly. Jack is going to tell them, but he wants to wait until we get to the radio tower. We have to keep moving. Especially now that Ben is here. We can't be sure if some of his people are going to come back and try to stop us now, because we have Ben. We have to keep going, and our best chance of doing that is if we just pretend like everything's okay." She explained. Violet sighed, and shook her head angrily.
"But it's not okay, Kate! Three people are dead! No, more than that are dead! God, how many people have we lost already? What about Charlie? What if we lose him too? This isn't right, Kate, none of this is right to me! Everyone else is excited to leave this place, but I'm not. I don't need to tell you why, you already know, but I can't just pretend like three people I saw day after day are still alive and okay." She cried out, scrubbing her face with the backs of her fist to dry the fresh tears. Kate shook her head, as she put a hand on Violet's shoulder.
"I'm not asking you to. I'm just asking you to keep it a secret until we get there." Kate paused. "Can you do that?"
Violet paused before she finally looked up with a sigh.
"Yeah, alright." She said quietly, as she headed back to where Jack was getting everyone ready to keep going. Kate followed not far behind her, as the two of them joined up with the rest of the survivors. Claire looked over at her curiosly, no doubt wondering why there were tears in her eyes, but Violet ignored her. She quickly tried to come up with a lie to recite if anyone asked her what was wrong.
As Jack and Rousseau began leading the way again, Violet noticed that Alex was with Karl, holding his hand and giggling with him. Ben was bound by the hands and being by a rope by Danielle, who held on tightly and intentionally. She shot him ugly glares whenever she had the chance. It was difficult to read Ben's expression, what with all the dried blood crusting on his face from when Jack beat him to a senseless pulp. Violet shivered.
Violet kept close to the front of the line of followers, sticking close to Kate, and to Jack, feeling safer this way. If she hung out near the back of the line, people would ask questions. At least this way, if she were asked any questions, Jack or Kate could jump in and cover for her. She wasn't the best liar.
Violet felt exhausted, physically and emotionally. From what Rousseau was saying, the radio tower was close. Part of her hoped they wouldn't be able to turn off Rousseau's message. Part of her hoped Charlie hadn't been able to find the switch in the Looking Glass that would turn off the jamming signals. Part of her hoped the batteries in Naomi's phone would die. This whole thing was a long shot, wasn't it? A chance of faith? What were the odds of anything actually working out in their favour? The Flame was destroyed, and the submarine was destroyed, every piece of equipment Sayid tried to use to make contact with the outside world wouldn't work. She swallowed. It's almost like the island doesn't want us to leave. She shuddered. Now she just sounded like Locke.
Violet nearly jumped out of her skin when the walkie talkie Ben had on him started making static noises, and a voice seemed to be coming through. Jack grabbed it from his pocket (he had taken it from Ben after he punched him several times) and turned the knob a couple of times, trying to make the voice come through clearer.
"Attention, Others. Hey, Others." A familiar voice rang through the frequency. Violet swallowed when she realized it was Hurley. She quickly turned around and looked for him, and realized he wasn't with them. When had he taken off? Violet hadn't even noticed.
"Hey, Others, this is a warning for you. We got you bastards good, and unless the rest of you want to be blown to smitherines, stay away from our beach!" Hurley said with about as much authority as kitten. Violet smiled to herself, as she even thought she saw a small grin cross Jack's face, as he lifted the walkie up to his mouth.
"Hurley, is that you?" He asked. There was a pause.
"Jack?" Hurley asked.
"Yeah, Hurley, where are you?" Jack asked.
"Dude, I'm here on the beach with Sawyer and Juliet. We got 'em, Jack. We got the Others. All of us, we're all here." Hurley replied euphorically.
"We, what Hurley? Who's all there?" Jack asked.
"All of us, man. Sawyer, Juliet, Sayid, Jin, Bernard, everyone! I saved 'em all!" Hurley replied. Violet felt her heart leap into her throat as she grabbed Kate's arm, staring up at her wide-eyed. Kate never took her eyes off of Jack, who looked at the two of them before talking again.
"What? Jin, Sayid and Bernard are there?" He asked.
"Yeah man, everyone's alright!" Hurley replied. A cheer erupted in the crowd behind them. Everyone had heard Hurley's message, and Violet turned to see Sun and Rose embrace with tears of joy in their eyes. Violet felt tears of her own beginning. They were alive. Ben had lied about the whole thing! Violet turned and hugged Kate, and saw Jack, out of the corner of her eyes, and saw that he had tears forming in his own eyes as he turned back to the walkie talkie.
"Hurley, that's great, listen, stay at the beach, okay? We'll meet you all back there. It won't be much longer now. We're almost there." Jack said.
"Okay man, good luck." Hurley shouted back. Violet stepped forward, and looked up at Jack, who seemed to know exactly what she wanted. He lowered the walkie down to Violet.
"Hurley?" She said quietly.
"Vi, is that you?" Hurley asked. Violet smiled, with tears flooding her eyes.
"Yeah, it's me." She swallowed hard. "Is...is Charlie back yet?" She saw Claire in the corner of her eye, awaiting the answer as nervously as Violet was.
"No, he's not back yet, Violet. Don't worry, though, this is Charlie, okay? He'll be fine." Hurley replied. Violet felt her body tremble slightly as Jack took the walkie back and Violet looked over at Claire, who looked just as shaken. As Jack continued to talk to Hurley over the walkie, Violet walked over to Claire, and gave her a hug.
Jack wasn't kidding when he said they were nearly there, because another ten minutes of walking took them to the top of a hill where Violet finally saw the radio tower.
She wanted to cry.
Nobody else felt the same way. Violet could literally hear the sounds of relief all around her as they finally reached the radio tower. It was then that she heard a gasp coming from Naomi. Violet turned and saw Jack and Kate approach her as she was staring at her satellite phone. Please God, say the batteries died. Violet found herself thinking.
"Your mate, the one who went down to the Looking Glass, what was his name again?" Naomi asked.
"Charlie." Jack replied. Naomi looked up with a bit of a smile.
"Well Jack, Charlie's just got us rescued." She turned her phone to him and the light on her phone that had been red this whole time was now a bright shade of green. Violet swallowed hard as she thought about the situation. Charlie had found the switch. That meant he made it safely down into the Looking Glass. Now, if Rousseau and Jack could turn off Rousseau's distress call that had been playing for 16 years, they would be able to contact the boat.
Violet began to cry as she watched Jack and Rousseau enter the radio tower. Kate approached her, and just held her without a single word. Kate knew how much this was killing Violet, but she wasn't sure what to say. She was shocked herself. Too shocked for words. This was really happening.
Nothing happened for a while. Everyone had found places to sit on the ground, waiting for news, waiting for Jack to come out and tell them they had successfully turned off the looping message and they'd be able to contact Naomi's boat.
Violet bit at her knuckles nervously as she sat on the grass with Kate, who waited just as anxiously. Violet tried to imagine what it would be like if they made it onto this freighter, and back to the world. Would there be cameras? Would social services be there? Would she be able to go back to Australia, or would they take her somewhere else? Would she be able to just sneak away without anyone realizing it? So many questions plagued her mind as she waited for Jack and Rousseau.
When Jack emerged from the radio tower with Rousseau right behind her. Everyone stood up, eyes fixed on Jack, who's face was unreadable. Violet felt Kate's hand grab her own, squeezing tightly for assurance. Violet didn't feel much better. Jack looked at the crowd, and gave a small nod.
"It's off!" He called, and everyone cheered. Violet's stomach churned and churned, she thought she might throw up right then and there. All Naomi had to do now was contact her boat. If everything worked out the way it was supposed to, she should get a signal now, and that would put her into contact with her boat.
"Jack!" A voice called out suddenly and Violet's head turned to see Ben, who was now tied to the trunk of a tree. In all of the chaos of getting a signal and turning off the distress call, Violet had completely forgotten about him, but now Ben seemed frantic to get Jack's attention.
"Jack, you can't let her get into contact with that boat, I'm telling you, Jack." Violet listened curiously. Is that what Ben had been trying to tell Jack earlier? "Jack, I know you think you're saving your people, but if you contact that boat, but you aren't. It will be the biggest mistake you have ever made! It will be the beginning of the end! For all of us!"
Jack ignored him, and focused all of his attention on Naomi, who was still working hard on her phone, but Violet couldn't take her eyes off of Ben. She had never trusted this man, he had been less than truthful on so many things, and he was one of them. But Violet saw in his eyes fear, pure fear.
Naomi played around with her phone for a few moments, and for a brief second in time, Violet thought it wouldn't work, and she almost felt relieved, but when Naomi let out another little gasp, and stared up at Jack with a small smile, Violet felt all hope slipping away.
"I've got it, I've got a signal!" She cried out. Everyone watched with eager anticipation as she tried to clear the static. But that was when it happened! That was when Naomi's body lurched forward, and with wide eyes, fell to the ground. Violet nearly screamed out as she saw the thick knife that was sticking out of her back, and John Locke, who was standing about ten feet away from her, obviously the one who had thrown the knife. Violet stared at him in disbelief, but before anyone could say anything, Jack came forward, determination and anger written all over his face.
"Locke!" He screamed out, gunning it forward toward Locke.
"I'm sorry, Jack, I had to do it." Locke said. Jack stopped.
"Why?" He asked, staring coldly at John.
Before Locke had a chance to answer, Naomi's satellite phone began to ring. Violet's heart was hammering against her chest, as Jack looked down at the phone that was now lying in the dirt next to Naomi's limp body. He bent down.
"Don't pick it up, Jack." Locke said calmly. Jack raised an eyebrow.
"What?" He asked.
"I said, don't answer it." Locke said again, as he pulled out a gun. Kate instinctively put her arm around Violet's shoulders, and Violet backed up.
Jack just stared at him, though, silent and still for a few moments as Locke held the gun up at Jack.
"John, I'm going to answer that phone." He carefully bent down and picked up the phone, as Locke released the safety on the gun.
"Jack, I'm warning you, if you answer that call, I will shoot you." Locke said. Violet turned away, as tears rolled down her cheeks. What the hell was Locke doing here? Why was he ready to shoot Jack? Who's side was he on?
Jack held the phone up to his ear, as Locke pulled the gun up again.
"Jack, don't answer it." He said again, but Jack shook his head.
"I'm sorry, John, but you're going to have to kill me to stop me." Jack said strongly.
Locke held the gun up for some time and Jack just stared at him. Violet couldn't stand to watch, but she couldn't tear her eyes away either. The two men just stood there, staring each other down, Locke holding the gun that was now trembling in his hands. He finally lowered it, shaking his head. He couldn't do it.
"Jack, please." Locke rubbed the sweat off of his forehead. "You're not supposed to do this." Jack just stared at him.
"Well, John, we are doing this." Jack answered the phone.
"Hello?...Is anyone there?...Naomi?..." A voice on the other end of the satellite phone came through a little patchy, but clear all the same. Violet's heart skipped a beat as the rest of the survivors clung to each other tightly, anticipating what would happen. They were moments from rescue, they could all feel it. Violet saw Locke out of the corner of her eye, sneak back into the jungle. She so desperately wanted to do the same.
"Hello?" Jack said into the phone.
"Hello, who is this?" The other voice asked again. Violet stared at Jack's face, it was full of hope, and tears were in his eyes, and his body was trembling. Violet shook her head as she watched in terrifying anticipation.
"My name is Jack Shepherd." He swallowed, as he paused. "I'm one of the survivors of Oceanic flight 815. Can you get a fix on our location?"
A pause.
"Hell yeah we can, you sit tight, we'll be right there." The guy on the other end said eagerly.
An uproar of cheers and tears passed through the survivors, as they hugged, and cried together, and praised God, and clapped. In the midst of the happiness around her, Violet fell to her knees with tears in her eyes. They had been found. Rescue was coming. There truly was no going back now.
Epilogue
Violet hadn't been sleeping very well, and often found herself lying awake in bed at night, staring at the ceiling and thinking about her past, and her present circumstances.
She heard the phone ring, but it wasn't the land line. It was a cell phone, but not hers. She always turned hers off at night.
Violet rolled out of bed quietly and listened at the door. She knew it was her cell phone that had rung, and her bedroom was down the hallway, so it was difficult to hear what she was saying. But whatever it was must have been important, because the woman left her bedroom quickly, stumbling to put on a jacket as she ran down the stairs in a hurry.
Out the front door she ran. Violet walked over to her window to watch the woman driving away. Violet wondered what was going on. It wasn't like her to just get up and leave like that. Not with a small toddler. Violet was more than capable of babysitting, but this was a little abupt.
Violet left her bedroom and tiptoed down the hall. She carefully peeked in on the sleeping toddler, who hadn't so much as budged at the sound of her leaving so quickly, but Violet soon found herself entering the woman's bedroom. There she found the forgotten cell phone on her dresser. She didn't like to be nosy, but then again, it had always been Violet's nature to be nosy.
She checked the recent calls list, and saw it. It made her heart skip a beat when she saw the caller ID, from a number that was still listed in the woman's phone directory.
Jack Shepherd.
Violet closed the phone and breathed out, as she lowered herself down to sit on the bed. Why the hell was he calling? More importantly, why the hell would Kate run off in the middle of the night to see him?
A/N: Thank you all for being so supportive of Violet's journey thus far. This is the end of the Season 3 edition of Violet's point of view. I'm already a few chapters into the fourth season, the fanfiction title is "The Unknown." It will probably be out in a few days. I hope you will all continue to read on. Thanks for the reviews :)