Chapter Thirty Six: Into the Jungle
They'd been walking through the jungle for hours now. Violet guessed they must have walked right through the night, because the first signs of sun were staring to come up over the mountains in the east. Strange, Violet didn't even feel tired. It only felt like moments ago that they were readying to leave the camp. Violet could still remember the ridiculous conversation she and Jack shared before venturing out:
"Violet, you remember the rules. You don't leave our side, and that gun is a last resort, and you don't use it unless you have to," Jack had said to her. Violet had raised an eyebrow.
"Are you saying I should just stand there like a sitting duck if a bunch of guys jump out of the jungle with guns? Should I wait for your signal then?" She knew she was short-tempered, but Jack wasn't being realistic. She'd seen the hundreds of times Jack, Kate, Juliet and others had to reach for their guns without a second's warning. If her life was in danger, she wasn't waiting around for someone to tell her it was okay.
Jack seemed to understand her point, and breathed out, defeated.
"Fair enough, but play it safe, Vi," he said simply.
Kate looked less than impressed, but Violet shot her a small smile.
"Don't worry," she whispered. "I probably won't even need it."
Somehow, she doubted that was true, but whatever she could to ease Kate's mind.
Now, hours into the jungle, there hadn't been anything to suggest they were in any danger, but Violet reasoned wherever that helicopter was going was deep enough in the jungle, it still might take them a while to get there.
It was what they would find there that terrified her.
The walk was as silent as death, but Violet was okay with that. She didn't want either Jack or Kate to suspect how crazy her heart was hammering in her chest, how much her stomach ached where the gunshot was, how thirsty she was and wanted to take a break, but Jack was way more hardcore than she was. Kate had tried to get him to slow down a few times, he was, after all, supposed to take it easy after his surgery, that just happened yesterday! Violet sighed. And they yell at me for going for walks two days after I got shot. Yeah, Jack never made any sense. Even when he was bleeding through his T-shirt, he insisted they keep going.
They were just coming to a thicket of trees when they all heard the rustling.
In seconds, Jack and Kate had yanked their guns out, had them cocked and were circling. Hands shaking, Violet reached behind her, fumbled for the gun and lifted it up, remembering to release the safety on it as Juliet had shown her. It took her double the time it had taken Jack and Kate to pull out their guns. Violet would have to work on that; if it had come to a draw between her and an enemy, she would have been dead right now.
Wide-eyed, the three of them searched for the direction of the rustling, and Violet felt herself jumping out of her skin when the bushes parted and out walked Miles, and behind him, Sawyer.
Sawyer was holding Aaron. Why was Sawyer holding Aaron? Violet's stomach sank to her knees as she lowered her gun, hands shaking.
Jack and Kate breathed sighs of relief, and the three of them tucked their guns back in their pants. Miles watched Violet while she did it.
"So you've joined the A-Team, I take it?" he asked in his usual cynical voice. Violet ignored him, drawing her attention back to Sawyer, and the baby.
"Where's Claire?" Kate asked the question they all wanted to ask. Why was Aaron here, and not Claire? Why was Sawyer carrying a baby? He'd never be caught dead with a baby!
Sawyer's face was all sad looking, and he wouldn't look at any of them, wouldn't catch their eye. He sighed long and hard, looking to the baby instead.
"We lost her," Sawyer said quietly, defeated.
Violet's heart skipped a beat. No, not Claire!
"What?" Jack asked loudly.
"She just took off into the jungle in the middle of the night. We spent a day looking for her, but she's...she's gone," Sawyer replied, eyes narrowing as he relived the horror. Violet felt herself shaking as she struggled to catch her breath.
"What do you mean, she's gone? Why didn't you look harder, why didn't you look again?" she screamed out, feeling the weight of the situation upon her shoulders. Claire could be dead, or taken, or mauled somewhere by a polar bear. What if those men on the helicopter had gotten to her?
Violet felt sick.
"I told you, Freebird, we looked for a day! There weren't even any tracks to follow!" Sawyer yelled back, his old self erupting. Pausing, he took in a breath to collect himself, and noticed all the guns. "Why're y'all armed anyway?"
Jack, still looking shaken about Claire, took a breath and explained about the helicopter and the sat phone.
"We're following it. I think Sayid's on that helicopter and he wants us to follow it," he added.
Sawyer looked panicked.
"You better hope Sayid ain't the one on that helicopter, doc! Because if those guys on that copter are the same ones who just attacked half of New Otherton, then y'all want to be as far away from that copter as possible!" he yelled out. "Half of our people are dead!"
That struck a nerve in Jack, as he got that scrunched up look on his face, a cross between him ready to cry, or lash out.
He chose to lash out this time.
"And what did you do to help them?" Jack yelled. "People are dead, and Claire is missing! Where were you when all this was happening?"
"Hey, back off, doc! You weren't there, so you got no idea what you're talking about!" Sawyer shouted back. Jack opened his mouth to retaliate, but Aaron had started to cry. Violet stepped forward, reaching out and grabbing the baby from out of Sawyer's arms, as Kate stepped between the two men.
"This isn't the time to argue, you two!" she exclaimed. Violet clung to Aaron, bouncing him up and down to keep him from crying. He settled, resting his bald head on Violet's shoulder.
Jack took a deep breath.
"Whether Sayid or Desmond are on that helicopter or not, I'm still going after it," he announced. "I'm the one who told Sayid and Desmond to go out to that freighter in the first place. I promised our people I would get them off this island! That means I have to find that chopper."
Jack was sweating up a storm as he spoke, and everyone around him seemed stuck for words. Not waiting for an answer, Jack pulled out his gun, and nodded to Kate.
"Take Violet and Aaron back to the beach. Keep them safe," he ordered, turning toward the jungle alone. Kate grabbed his shoulder.
"Jack, you can't! You aren't going anywhere alone with those stitches!" she exclaimed, pointing out the bloodied mess on his shirt. Jack ignored her.
"Get the baby back to the beach and make sure he's okay. I'll be back soon." Without waiting for an answer, he traipsed off into the jungle, leaving Kate and Violet to stare at each other, dumbfounded. They were at a loss - neither of them could follow after Jack, not with a baby, and sending Violet back with Aaron alone through the jungle was suicide. There was no choice.
Sawyer finally gave a grunt, and cocked his own rifle.
"Hold up, doc, you don't get to die alone!" he called after Jack, and disappeared through the trees after Jack.
There was nothing left to do for Miles, Kate, and Violet, who held the sleeping Aaron in her arms. Nothing left to do now but head back to the beach, shaken by how frightening this situation had become. Those people weren't here to rescue them, the truth had come out. People were dead, Claire was missing, and a war was coming that nobody was prepared to fight.
January 2005...part 2
Jack, Sayid, Sun, Hurley, Violet, and Kate, with Aaron in her lap, sat at a long table in front of a crowd of people consisting mostly of press. Camera flashes were blinding, and Violet stared quietly at the microphones in front of her. It had come to this after all - they would have to lie. Violet felt anxiety clawing at her heart as she stared hard at everything but the crowd.
Karen Decker was addressing the crowd first. She was pointing out on a map projected on a large screen behind them the location of the crash. She traced the course of the survivor's journey toward the small island known as Membata, the island they survived on for four months. Of course, it was all a lie. The statement read announced that the survivors floated on seat cushions from the plane, which landed in the water, and floated around for a day before they were washed up on the beach of Membata, an uninhabited island. Violet felt the truth eating her up inside. The statement read that there were only eight survivors, two died on the island, and the rest died in the plane crash. It was disgusting, Violet thought, to lie about all those people they'd left behind.
The rest of the story continued, that an old fishing raft had magically washed up upon the shore of Membata, and the remaining survivors, and Ms. Austen's baby, who was born on the island, rowed their way to an island community called Sumba, and from there, they were rescued.
With that out of the way, Karen introduced the seven survivors, and the press went wild with questions.
"Dr. Shepherd, can you tell us about the crash!" one reporter shouted. Violet cringed. Did these people have any respect whatsoever? As if anyone who survived a horrific plane crash wanted to recount those details! But Jack spoke with ease, as though it didn't even phase him.
"It all happened so fast. We hit some turbulance, and things got a little crazy. I knew we were going down. Eight of us got to the emergency exit and, as Ms. Decker already mentioned, we floated on cushions before the current brought us to the island. Within a couple of days, one of the survivors, Libby, succumbed to internal injuries, and the other survivor, Charlie Pace, drowned a few weeks later" he replied without batting an eye. Violet swallowed; how was it that easy for him to lie? Her insides were twisting like mad. Libby was shot unfairly, and Charlie drowned saving all of their lives. How could he speak such lies? It was dishonoring to their memories!
"Violet, is it?" a voice called out. Violet looked up and met the eyes of a reporter who was looking right at her, right through her. Violet could feel Jack's penetrating gaze upon her, like he was sending her a message. 'Don't mess this up.' Violet swallowed and waited.
"We understand you were traveling with your older sister, who was your legal guardian, to Los Angeles when the plane crashed. She died in that crash, is that right?" the reporter asked without any tact.
Violet felt her mouth drying up to paste. She saw Katie's lifeless body in her mind's eye, a gash taken from her neck. Swallowing, Violet managed a small nod.
"With your sister gone, and both of your parents deceased and no other living relatives to speak of, what are you going to do now?" the reporter continued. Violet felt her throat seizing up but before she could even think of what she would say, Karen Decker leaned into her own microphone.
"Uh, sorry, but Violet's legal guardianship is off the table. It is a personal matter that has nothing to do with this conference," Decker explained. Violet felt a small trickle of sweat forming on her forehead as she stared at the table. She didn't want to think about her sister, she didn't want to think about her dead parents, she didn't want to think about the crash, about her situation now, about anything! All she wanted to do was sleep for a year.
She felt Kate reach over and cup her hand over her own, giving it a reassuring pat before another reporter stood and addressed Kate next.
"Ms. Austen, what was it like giving birth on the island?" he asked. Kate leaned forward, looking tired and drained.
"Scary," she replied simply.
"And how old is he now?"
"Just over 5 weeks."
Lies. All of it lies. Aaron was 8 weeks old now.
"So that means you must have been about six months pregnant when the Marshall apprehended you in Sydney and was transporting you back to the States, is that correct?" the reporter asked.
"Ms. Austen's legal situation is also off the table!" she stated boldly.
It seemed like there were a thousand more questions, and thankfully, nobody bothered with Violet anymore. She shut herself off, went somewhere else in her mind, waited until Ms. Decker brought the conference to an end, and escorted the Oceanic Seven behind the curtain. Violet felt herself shutting down all over, like she'd left a large piece of her heart on that island. She could never be whole, not here, not without her sister, not without her parents, not without the truth. Everything had changed; the rest of her life was a sentence to lies, to remembering the rest of the survivors who were still on that island, and her with no way of ever finding them. The reality of that sank into her heart like a heavy brick.
Things would never be the same again.
More hours later, Violet saw the trees ending, and the beach beginning. She breathed out a sigh of relief; Aaron had slept for most of the journey, even when he was being traded off between her and Kate, but now he was awake again, and a little fussy. How could he not be fussy? His mother was gone!
The first thing Violet felt when she walked out onto the beach was her stomach sink.
Sayid was by the water.
Sayid!
He's not on that helicopter! What is Jack running to?
In seconds, Kate and Violet were running toward him, desperate to find answers.
"Sayid, what's going on?" Kate asked in a panic. Sayid looked just as panicked as he quickly explained.
"Listen to me, those people on the helicopter are very dangerous! They are intent on killing every man, woman and child on this island!" Sayid shared a look with Violet, and glanced at Aaron. Violet felt her stomach turn to acid. Jack and Sawyer...
"Jack and Sawyer went running after that chopper!" Kate exclaimed, voicing her own, and Violet's fears.
"I know, Juliet told me," Sayid said quickly. "I'm going after them. I brought back a Zodiac raft from the freighter, and we are going to start ferrying people back to the boat. We need to get everybody off of this island. Juliet is going to take care of that, I'm going after Jack and Sawyer."
"I'm going with you!" Kate exclaimed. Sayid was silent for a second before Kate continued.
"You know you'll never find them quickly unless you've got someone who can track them," Kate pointed out.
Sometimes, Violet wished she had a skill like that would guarantee her a spot on all these treks into the jungle.
"Alright," Sayid agreed.
"I'm going too," Violet said, sharing a glance with Kate. "You already told me I could go with you and Jack, so you can't take it back. Besides, I've already got a gun!"
"Violet, maybe you should get on the raft," a new voice added. Juliet. "I was against you going out there from the start, but now we know their orders are to kill everyone. We need to get the children, and Sun off the island first." It was like she was trying to convince everyone involved.
"Listen, I know I'm only 14, but I'm not getting on that raft without you," Violet said for only Kate to hear. Kate sighed, and shared a glance with Sayid, and then Juliet. She shrugged.
"Sorry Juliet, but I guess Violet's coming with me," she said simply. Violet smiled to herself, but knew part of it might have just been her angst toward Juliet coming out. Juliet looked less than impressed as Sayid cocked his rifle, and Violet carefully handed the baby boy to Sun.
"What's going on?" Sun asked. "Where's Claire?"
"We'll explain everything when we get to the freighter," Kate explained, staring at the baby. "Just keep him safe for now."
Violet shared a final glance with Juliet, who looked more than worried now, and followed Kate and Sayid at a run back toward the jungle, muttering a silent prayer that Sun would get Aaron safely to the freighter. That little baby was all of their responsibility now. Violet felt grief gnawing at her, as she thought of Claire, who might be dead, who might be hurt, but she suppressed it. She could cry later; right now, she would have be something more than just a sad teenager.
Now, she was a hunter.