Chapter 36: Conquering Your Fears
It took most of the day, but Jack and Morgan managed to build a small raft that could support their weight. It was constructed kind of like a mini-version of the big raft the Michael and Jin had made. It was nearing dusk and Jack and Morgan pulled the raft down to the edge of the water. Morgan had Heidi cradled in front of her in a bjon, like the one Charlie had made for Claire. She found that this came in quite handy when she needed both hands free and she needed to keep an eye on Heidi.
"Well, it floats." Morgan said, smiling.
"Yeah, and the river seems to have slowed down, and that's in our favor." Jack said, "You ready to test this puppy out?"
"Hang on." Morgan said, running back up to their campsite.
She poured some water over the smoldering remains of their fire and grabbed her duffel bag and slung it over her shoulder. She went back down to the raft and climbed on. Jack also climbed on and grabbed one of the paddles that he had made and used it to push off from the shore. They slowly floated downriver, Jack pushing them steadily over to the other side. It was a little difficult to get to the other side with the current pushing them forward, but they managed to get across after about fourty-five minutes. They pulled over to the opposite shore and hopped off the raft.
"We made it!" Morgan said, smiling.
Jack tied the raft to a tree so it wouldn't float away. He didn't know why; they wouldn't be using it again.
"Let's go." Jack said.
They traversed off into the jungle, Jack leading the way.
[FLASHBACK]
Morgan sat on a rolling stool in the octagon-shaped laboratory of the Cerberus. Her laptop was unfolded in front of her and she had the memory card from her swim-mask inserted in the side, downloading the pictures she'd taken in the week that she'd been there. It was standard procedure to give each student a laptop upon their arrival so they could record their observations, downlaod their pictures, or just to play a game to pass the time. Morgan's laptop was working a little slow today, so she took out a piece of light-green paper and began doodling to pass the time. At first, she was concentrated and drew a scale of numbers and letters of the alphabet, but soon, her mind began to drift and she just doodled randomly about the page. She drew wavy lines, squares, circle patterns, random numbers, and a little cartoon at the corner of the page. Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"Come in." Morgan said.
The door opened and Mrs. Hopkins(the woman whom they'd met when they arrived) stepped in.
"So sorry to bother you, but are you busy?" Mrs. Hopkins asked.
"Not really." Morgan said.
"Come with me. One of our student may have just discovered a new species." she said excitedly.
Morgan put her pen down and followed Mrs. Hopkins out the door and down the short walkway to the graveled parking area. There were several other students gathered around a small table, chattering to each other and a few of them had a camera and were taking pictures.
"Let us through." Mrs. Hopkins said, making her way through the small crowd.
Morgan followed Mrs. Hopkins and she was amazed by what she saw. Setting on the table was a glass box with a strange animal inside. The animal looked like a cross-breed between a grey snake and a lizard. It had the long, slender body of a snake, but it had short front legs like a lizard. It had no back legs.
"What do you make of it?" Mrs. Hopkins asked.
"Well, it's definitely reptilian." Morgan said, observing it closely, "Who found this?"
"I did." she heard a slightly British-accented voice say.
She looked up and saw a woman standing near the table. She had brown, thick hair down a little passed her shoulders, hazel eyes, fair skin, and a slender frame.
"What's your name?" Morgan asked.
"Georgia." the woman said.
"Where did you find this little guy?" Morgan asked.
"He was over close by the inlet." Georgia said, pointing across the ocean inlet.
"Will you go get some of the vegetation from around where you found him and bring it over here?" Morgan asked.
"I'm on it." Georgia said, sprinting off.
"This little guy is amazing." Morgan said, looking back down to the little creature in the glass box.
"We need to get him inside and catalogued." Mrs. Hopkins said.
Morgan carefully picked up the glass box and carried it into the octagon-shaped laboratory.
[END FLASHBACK]
Morgan and Jack continued to walk through the steamy jungle, sweating from the heat. The canopy of leaves above them provided a little relief from the hot sun, but it was still hot. Suddenly, Jack stopped and stood still.
"What's wrong?" Morgan asked.
"Do you hear that?" Jack asked.
"Hear what?" Morgan asked.
"Listen." Jack said.
Morgan listened closely and she thought she heard the sound of water rushing somewhere in front of them.
"Sounds like another river." she said.
"Let's go see." Jack said.
They walked on for about a quarter of a mile until they were stopped dead in their tracks. Before them was a huge gorge with a deep river running through it. The gorge was at least a hundred feet wide and four hundred feet deep!
"How the hell are we gonna get across THIS?!" Morgan exclaimed.
Jack looked up and down the gorge. No sign of a bridge. But he did see some vines hanging from a tree a few feet away.
"We can swing across." Jack said.
"What?" Morgan asked as Jack walked over to the vines.
"These vines could hold at last two hundred pounds or more." he said, pulling on one of them.
"Are you crazy?!" Morgan asked.
"Would you rather swing across or wait here for either the Monster to get you or the Others to find you? Take your pick." Jack said.
Morgan gave him a 'your-an-idiot' look.
"It's now or never." Jack said.
He grabbed ahold of one of the vines and steadied himself. Just as he was about to swing, Morgan stopped him.
"Wait." she said, walking over to him.
She gave him a light kiss on the lips.
"For luck." she said.
Jack gave her a reassuring smile. Morgan stepped back to give Jack some room. Jack took a deep breath and counted to five before he swung. He held onto the vine tightly and jumped off he side of the cliff, flying through the air with grace and audacity. He landed with a thud on the other side. He looked over to Morgan, who stood wide-eyed on the other side.
"Jack, I don't know if I can do this." she said.
"Yes, you can. I know you can do it." Jack encouraged.
Morgan made sure the bjon was tied as securely as it could be around her shoulders and made sure Heidi was all the way inside it before she stepped up to the vine. She gripped the vine firmly with both hands and took a deep breath. She jumped over the side of the cliff and screamed with fear as she swung through the air with great speed. She looked down and saw the deep, deep gorge flying by and she felt dizzy. Oh, God this is it. I'm gonna die! She thought. She closed her eyes and tried to make it all go away. She suddenly felt a strong pair of gentle arms wrap themselves around her and she stopped. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Jack standing in front of her, holding her in his arms.
"You made it." he said, smiling.
"I-I did?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah. You were amazing." he said.
Morgan smiled and looked back over the gorge. She really had made it....and she was alive!
"Let's go find a place to set up camp for the night." Jack said.
Morgan nodded and they walked into the jungle to find a place to rest.
A/N: Well, did you like it? I worked hard on it.