Chapter 36- Rescue and Trapped

Ben-Ben wiped sweaty face as they continued to move rocks. They had been at it for an hour or two and it looked as if now they had made progress. Michael strained at a rock that needed two or three people pulling it out. "We're through. We got a hole." Michael said with a grunt.

Ben-Ben released the rock he had just pulled out and leaned toward the hole. "Dad! Dad! Can you hear me? Come on, Dad, answer me!" Ben-Ben said to a heavy, pregnant silence.

"Oh!" jack's thick groan filled the air.

"I hear him!" Hurley shouted.

"He's alive," Michael said.

"Dad, are you okay?" ben-ben asked.

"I'm pinned. I can't move, son. I can't move," Jack said between groans and grunts.

Ben-Ben looked at Michael. "What do we do? How do we get my dad out?" Ben-Ben asked breathlessly.

"Charlie was with us, Benjamin," Jack said.

"He's okay. He made it out, same as me, Dad," Ben-Ben said.

"Listen, jack," Michael said.

"Yeah?" Jack asked.

"We're gonna get you out of there, okay?" Michael asked. The only answer they got back was a groan.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get him out," Ben-Ben said almost frantically.

"Okay. Ben-Ben, we can't safely make that tunnel any bigger. But since your dad can't get out, one of us is gonna have to go in and unpin him," Michael said.

"What? Crawl through that?" Hurley asked, looking at the hole.

"I think he means someone smaller," Boone said, taking a drink from his water bottle as Jin spoke in Korean.

"Dude, we don't understand Chinese," Hurley said wearily.

"Korean, man. They're Korean," Michael said.

"I'll do it," Charlie's voice came into the cave. They all turned. Charlie and Hope were standing there, a determined look in Charlie's eyes.

"Charlie?" Hurley asked as Charlie pulled down the hood of his sweatshirt.

"No, man. You're still too shook up. I might be able to squeeze-" Michael started to say before Charlie interrupted.

"Wait. Who's gonna take care of your son if something happens? She's got a husband. He's got a sister. And Hope has Ben-Ben and he has her. I'm alone here. No one on the island. Let me do this," Charlie said, giving logical reasons why Hope, Ben-Ben, Sun, and Boone couldn't do it. Michael stared at him for a long moment.

Hope bit her nails to the quick as Charlie tested a flashlight. "Listen, man. Go slow all right? Try not to nudge any of the rocks around you," Michael warned.

"Anything else?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah. Good luck," Michael said.

"And thank you, Charlie," Hope reminded.

"Be safe, man," Boone said.

"Good luck, Charlie," Hurley repeated Michael's words.

"All right. Thanks, guys," Charlie said, going to the small opening. He looked back at them, nodded, and turned on the flashlight, going into the cave.

Michael and Boone went to the entrance to watch Charlie's progress. Hope joined them as the cavern began to shake. "Charlie! Charlie, move!" Hope ordered sharply.

"Charlie!" Ben-Ben shouted as what they saw of the cave ceiling collapsed and dust came out.

"I say we try again," Hurley said as they all moved from the opening after the dust settled.

"We can't just leave them," Boone said.

"We all know they're gonna run out of air," Hurley said, sounding logical.

"Will you stop talking? I'm trying to think!" Michael snapped as he paced.

"Where is he? Where is he?" Kate asked as she came into the cave, a worried look on her face.

"Kate," Michael said.

"Where is he? Where's Jack?" Kate asked, her worry becoming anger.

"He's in there," Hope said after a pause as she looked to the cave.

""Does anyone know if he's alive?" Kate asked. Is he alive?" Kate asked again when no one answered.

"We don't know. Charlie went in there through a tunnel that we dug. But it collapsed," Ben-Ben explained.

"Why is nobody digging?" Kate asked as she went to the opening and they all started to pull the rocks out.

Jack sat across from Charlie as Charlie took a drink of water. The pain in Jack's shoulder was diminishing thanks to Charlie popping it back in. "How long has it been, Charlie?" Jack asked. From the moment he woke up this morning, he could see the withdrawal and painful detox written all over the rock star's face. Being a doctor, he saw it more than he liked. Especially when Hope's friend got sick from the same thing. The one time he wanted to protect his daughter like when she had been little and this time he couldn't.

"I don't know what you're going on about," Charlie denied. The panic in his eyes was saying everything.

"How long since your last fix?" Jack asked dryly.

"Almost a day and a half," Charlie admitted.

"How's the withdrawal treating you? Any hallucinations?" Jack asked.

"Apart from the conversation I had with you about an hour ago in the jungle, no, not really," Charlie said and both men laughed at his sarcasm.

"Why didn't you say anything? I could've helped you through this," Jack said.

"Yeah. You thinking I'm useless and a junkie to boot," Charlie said bitterly.

"Useless? You're not useless. That took a lot of guts getting in here and trying to rescue me. I won't forget that," Jack said, taking a drink of water.

"For the rest of our lives," Charlie teased.

"At the rate we're losing our oxygen in here, that won't be too long," Jack said as Charlie looked around.

"This place reminds me of confession. Those little claustrophobic booths," Charlie said.

"My daughter and son have gone to church with their grandmother, so I know what confession is," Jack said.

"Yeah. I've seen Hope praying and using the Sign of the Cross and she told us about Ben-Ben accidentally shooting out Father Timothy's car tires at summer camp," Charlie said.

"Yeah. My mother introduced them to Christianity when they were babies. I wouldn't have taken you for a religious man," Jack said. Charlie smiled.

"I used to be. Hey, you want to hear my confession?" Charlie asked. Jack laughed. "It might take awhile."

"Hey, I'm no saint either. I often think its Hope who should be a saint as she has the kindest, purest heart of anyone I know. What's wrong?" Jack asked as Charlie looked up at the ceiling.

"It's a moth," Charlie said.

"A what?" Jack asked/

"Right behind you. There's a bloody moth in here. Look," Charlie said as he moved to his flashlight.

"Charlie what are you doing?" Jack asked as Charlie started to dig through the wall.