I.
In the jungle, the group of survivors broke off into two factions. Jack, Kate, Boone, and Locke went towards the eastern part of the jungle, and Michael, Charlie, Sayid, and that other guy went west. In the first group, Jack and Kate led, studiously not talking to each other. Locke and Boone took up rear.
Boone had been silent since they had left the camp. Locke watched him. "Don't be afraid," he said quietly.
Boone looked up. "I'm not," he said, "at least, not about me."
"Your sister."
"Yeah." Boone shook his head. "She drives me nuts, Shannon does. She's spoiled, she's bratty, she doesn't have a whiff of common sense in her head. Our parents gave her everything she ever wanted and she's never had to say sorry for any of it. She was their golden child." The bitterness and regret in his voice was evident.
"They didn't care about you?"
"They didn't care as much," Boone said. "We're twins, Shannon and I, and when my mom was in labor, Shannon almost died. She was very weak, and my parents felt. . .blessed that she was alive. They felt that she was a miracle, and that she needed certain, special attention that I didn't need. I was always a healthy kid, always pretty stout." Boone looked at Locke and a look of guilt passed over his face. "They did love me," Boone said quickly, not wanting to sound ungrateful. "It's just that when I got a hundred dollar mountain bike for my birthday, she got a thousand dollar diamond ring, and when I dropped out of college and got kicked out of the house, she was coddled as being a "spirited, lively kid" when she failed in her exchange program in France. The program that my parents paid for, of course." Boone shook his head again and then shrugged almost helplessly. "But I love her. I hated her sometimes as a kid but. . .I love her. I can't lose her now, now that we're stuck on some island and we're probably never going to be found. She's all I've got now. I don't want to lose her."
Locke clapped Boone on the back. "You're not going to lose her, son. That's what we're doing out here. Look, I know everyone talks about this island like it's evil, or at least thinks it. But I've seen miraculous things out here, some things that you wouldn't believe. This place changes you, heals you, somehow. Your sister's going to be just fine."
"Yeah?" Boone's voice was dry, sarcastic. "Like that pilot was just fine?"
Locke looked away. "Anything beautiful is going to have a spot of ugliness hidden within it. Light doesn't exist without shadow. The magic of this place is wonderous. But a debt must be repaid for such splendor."
"And how do I know that debt won't be paid with my sister's life?"
Locke looked at Boone solemnly. "Faith," he said.
And then they heard a scream.
II.
Charlie was nervous. And when Charlie was nervous, Charlie liked to talk.
Or get high. But as that ship had already sailed, conversation was his outlet.
"So. . .you guys know the band Drive Shaft?"
"God, can't you shut up about your stupid, two-bit little band?" the guy who's name Charlie wasn't entirely sure of asked. Charlie glared at him and decided his new name would be Bloody Git.
"Hey," Michael said. "Let's not be getting into any fights. We've got enough problems."
"That is certainly true," Sayid agreed. He took a moment before saying gently, "You do seem to talk about your band, ah, Drive Shaft, an awful lot though."
Charlie thought about saying how much Drive Shaft had changed him, what the music meant to him, what Liam had meant to him, and what the band and the drugs had done to change him, and immediately gave the thought up. Locke and Jack already knew about Charlie's addiction and that was two people too many. Sayid and Michael would never understand. . .the Bloody Git wouldn't either, but Charlie didn't really care what the bloody hell he thought. Instead, Charlie admitted, "I'm nervous. I saw what that pilot looked like after that. . .thing was done with him. I don't want to die like that."
He didn't add that he didn't want to die at all. Some things were better left off unsaid, mostly because they were obvious.
"That's understandable," Sayid said. "In the war, the fear of death loomed everywhere. The men would often talk about things that were not at all relevant to the current situation so that they could distract themselves from it. There's no shame in it. Still. . .there must be something in your life beyond Drive Shaft. Talk about your family. Whom did you leave behind?"
Charlie's first thought was of to Liam again, stalking off in anger and, most likely, jealousy. Jealous that his brother, who had dragged him into the drug scene he found himself entangled in, had somehow gotten out. Jealous that his brother had a family now, a wife, and a little girl, to love, while Charlie had no one else but his brother he was somewhat enstranged from, and his mother, who would get the same weepy look in her eye every time she had seen him since Drive Shaft began. There was no love of his life left behind, and no one to really miss him when he was gone.
He had no intention of talking about this either, though, and opened his mouth to say he talk about Liam when there was a sudden, uneasy rustle behind them. What he had intended to say was, "I have this great, protective older brother named Liam living in Australia." What came out was, "What the bloody hell was that?"
"Shhhh," Sayid said. Everybody froze but Charlie, who kept turning in circles, trying to see where the thing was coming from. There was a low, growling sound, and then suddenly a flash of motion as something from the wood pounced.
And then there was screaming.
An eternity of screaming.
III.
"Dude, what are YOU doing here?"
Sawyer froze for a second and then smiled with nonchalance at Hurley, who was sitting near the waterfall. "Came to see what the big hubbub is all about. The safety and the shelter of the caves, so saith Saint Jack." He glanced around. "It's a nice place."
Hurley raised his eyebrows. "What happened to you, anyway? Someone hit you with a rock?"
Sawyer smiled again, this time a trifle bitterly. He wasn't sure how long he'd been unconscious, but when he woke up, all his supplies had been rifled through, many of the items he had procured through scavenging had been gone, and his nose definitely felt a little twisted to the right. His shirt was stained with blood and his face hurt like hell.
"Something like that," Sawyer said. "Hey, is the good Doc and his merry men back yet from their little skip in the woods? I have a few words to say to them."
Hurley shrugged. "Not yet. They've been gone awhile now. And a little while ago, we thought we heard screaming. But nothing since then."
"Well, maybe I'll stick around till then, see when, and if, they come back. This isn't a bad little spot to stick out the rest of the night."
"Whatever, dude." Hurley put on his headphones. Sawyer gave him a contemptuous snort and walked around a bit. A few scattered people were sleeping, or trying to. That Japanese couple or whatever was isolated from the rest, the husband asleep, the woman still in his arms, eyes wide open. There wasn't much going on that was exciting.
Sawyer sat down near a tree and was starting to nod off just a bit when an anguished scream broke through the camp. Sawyer was quick to his feet, looking around. "Was that the noise you heard before?" he asked Hurley, who was also standing and staring.
Just as Hurley shook his head to deny it, a figure came crawling out of the bushes nearby the camp, wailing. It was that pregnant chick. "Claire!" Hurley yelled.
Claire was trying to breathe between screaming. Her hands clutched convulsively towards her stomach. She tried to push herself up to walk towards them but only collapsed on the ground, crying out in pain, her legs seeming to pull naturally apart from each other. It didn't take a genius to figure out she was about to have little Claire Jr.
If the doc was around, of course.
Sawyer knew this was gonna be a long night.