/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Five

"So where do you think he ran off to?" Charlie asked as he jogged lightly behind his quick, younger companion.

"I don't know, that's why you call it hide and go seek," Walt stated, "the person or animal you're looking for is hiding and you go and seek them."

"That makes sense," Charlie said, feeling very stupid about asking the kid about that. He couldn't remember the last time he played hide and go seek. It seemed like forever when it was only a short time ago that he was an extremely small kid.

As they got closer the edge of the forest, Charlie began hesitating. Was it really worth going in there, risking their lives against the evils of the forest for a dog? And what would Michael say if he found out that Charlie let Walt lead him into the forest and Walt got hurt? He couldn't risk that; he didn't really feel like confronting a polar bear and whatever else was in there.

"Uh, Walt? I don't think this is a good idea to be going in there in the dark. There's kind of a bunch of stuff in there that I don't fancy meeting there in the dead of night," Charlie said, looking hesitantly around him.

Walt turned around and put his hands on his hips, glaring at him and Charlie shifted uncomfortably. Why did kids have to have that effect on people? It wasn't a very warm and fuzzy feeling to experience when kids glared at you. At least to Charlie, who didn't hang around kids too much unless it was some freaked out 14 year-old wanting an autograph, which he didn't mind doing too much.

"I thought you wanted to help me find Vincent," Walt said accusingly.

"I do, but if it comes to coming near those trees in the middle of the night, I'm out of here," Charlie said.

"Oh, come on. Don't be a scaredy cat. I thought you were part of a band. They're not supposed to be scared of anything," Walt exclaimed.

"They're not," Charlie said. "I just don't like the forest at night, especially this forest. You get me, kid?"

"Yeah, I get you, I—" Walt began, but suddenly a loud noise droned him out.

Charlie looked about quickly. He hoped that it wasn't anything too terrible. But in his heart, he knew it WAS something terrible. He had to get him and Walt out of here, back to the camp; nothing was safe here.

"What was that?" Walt asked, fear showing in his voice.

Charlie looked about him. "I don't know what it is, but I think it'd be a good idea if we went back to the camp now. I don't really want to know what that thing was."

"But what about Vincent? I can't leave him out here for that monster," Walt exclaimed.

"Hey, kid, Vincent's a dog. He can take care of himself. Animals have that special instinct to know when danger's around. He'll know to come back," Charlie assured him, grabbing the boy by the arm and started dragging him back towards the camp.

Walt began struggling against Charlie's grip. "You can't make me go anywhere! I want to look for Vincent! Get off me!"

"No, I won't get off you! We have to get back," Charlie said, starting to panic. He didn't want to be out here away from the fire, away from everybody else. He didn't think a grown man with a boy without any kind of defense was safe to be out here alone.

Just then, something started whining softly near them. Charlie whirled around, scared out of his wits. Was that the monster that everybody's been hearing around here?

"It's Vincent!" Walt cried out. He knelt to the ground. "Come here, Vincent, come here old boy."

The dog trotted over to Walt happily wagging his tail. The boy and dog had a few moments of happy reunion before Charlie grabbed Walt's arm and began leading him towards the camp with Vincent following in tow.

"We've gotta get out of here. It doesn't feel right around here," Charlie said.

"It never was," Walt said softly.

"What did you say?" Charlie asked, not believing his ears.

"I said it never was," Walt said a little louder. "It's always been weird around here because everybody's been acting weird. I don't know, maybe it's because we all don't know each other, so we all act different around each other."

"Yeah. Yeah, that's it," Charlie said, wondering if what he had said had any meaning.

As they came into camp, Michael rushed over to the two of them. "There you two are! I was getting worried about you, especially the past five minutes. I don't want you to go out there ever again after dark, do you hear me, Walt?"

"I understand, Dad, but I had to find Vincent, can't you understand that?" Walt stated.

"Yes, but Vincent's a dog, Walt. He has those animal instincts and he can take care of himself and come back when he senses danger. Next time he runs off, don't follow after him if it's dark," Michael scolded.

Walt sighed. "Yes, sir."

"Personally, I don't think you should be hard on the boy, Michael," Charlie said.

Michael turned to face Charlie. "Are you telling me how to raise my son, man?"

"No, I'm not trying to interfere or anything, but personally I think—" Charlie began.

"You think nothing. Walt's my son and I don't appreciate you trying to interfere," Michael said. "Do we understand?"

"Yeah, sure," Charlie said, wondering why Michael was acting mean and angry all of a sudden. Charlie always thought that Michael was an even-tempered man until now.

That night, Charlie fell asleep on his bed of leaves thinking about how people could change their attitudes in the blink of an eye. He hoped he'd never be that kind of person.

A/n: Once again, a warm thank you to all of those who have been reviewing, I've greatly appreciated it. This chapter was a little bit longer to make up for the last chapter. I hope you people are satisfied for the moment, laugh out loud.

To those who've been saying that they don't like the Kate/Charlie pairing, I ask of you to not jump into conclusions just yet. I like to say that a good story gives you suspense and gives you the unexpected—something that you didn't think the author would do. So don't jump to conclusions just yet, I might just change it to Claire/Charlie. You never know.

One last thing before I let you all people get back to you're your busy lives; I've got to ask you all a favor. This coming Wednesday (October 27) I have to work from 5:30 to 8:30 P.M. and that means I have to miss half of 'Lost'. So I'm asking you all a favor of reviewing the next chapter that I update for this story at the time and tell me what happens. I would greatly appreciate it and I'll be extra nice and try to update more chapters after Wednesday on the weekend or something. If you do that, you won't know how much I'll thank yeh, I haven't missed an episode since the premiere (and I've watched the first one since because of those helpful Encore stuff). Well, I'll stop talking know, and I promise you I won't have a long author's note next time or get back to my no author's note for a couple of entries.