Author's Note:

Hi! I wrote this chapter right after I posted chapter six, and I got lots of reviews for chapter six in a very short time, so here I am, posting chapter seven. Wow. That was a long sentence. I am quite pleased with this chapter, and I think you will be too. Thank you to my reviewers for chapter six:

salvory

Charlie'sPunkDrugAngel

Jillybean

orange-tide

Evermore

CharlieLOVER

I'm lost...

bobby

CP

Wow! I got a lot of reviews for that chapter! More than I thought I had! Thank you VERY much, everyone! Enjoy.

Fires

Chapter Seven: Fiery Hands

Jack sat by the fire, watching as the other survivors drifted off toward their beds. He seemed to be the only one who noticed Charlie's absence, or, if he wasn't, he was the only one who cared. He waited in silence for a few more moments, looking up only when he saw Locke passing by.

"Locke," Jack called, standing up to meet the older man. "Charlie's gone again."

"I know," he replied, smiling slightly, in that strange way he always did.

"I think it's my fault," Jack explained.

"It's not your fault, Jack. He just needed to get away for a while."

"Don't you think we should go look for him?"

"He'll be back soon. In the long run, I think he can take care of himself."

"Locke, are you sure?" Jack gave him a meaningful glance.

Locke sighed. "I think the withdrawal's almost over. He's been looking much better lately." Jack nodded, walking back over to the fire. "Jack," Locke warned him. "Don't do anything… reckless, okay?"

"What do you mean?" Jack demanded, but Locke just smirked and kept walking.

-

Charlie backed cautiously away from the blood, his hands slightly behind him to feelfor trees and branches. He stumbled backward, and was baffled for a moment when he realized he was back in the clearing. He thought he had run farther than that.

Following the footprints carefully with his eyes, he took in the petrifying truth – whatever made that trail was circling him. He continued to follow them, hoping to locate whatever it was that was stalking him. The blood circled him once, then continued up the tree that he was standing under.

He stood frozen for a moment before looking up slowly, his eyes wide and fearful.

-

Jack jogged through the woods, realizing that leaving to find Charlie himself was probably exactly what Locke hadmeant by "reckless".

"Charlie?" he called, yelling at the top of his lungs. "Charlie!" No response. Jack knelt down and put his head in his hands. Boy, he felt stupid, leaving like that. Now, not only was Charlie lost, Jack was as well.

Suddenly, a terrified scream split through the quiet night. Standing upin an instant, Jack took off again, running toward the noise.

-

Charlie ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He couldn't believe what he had just seen, he couldn't believe it. It's round, leering face… No! Don't think about it! he reminded himself. It's dirty, ugly teeth and cracked lips… STOP! he screamed in his head. The blood dripping off of it's dry, torn feet… Just keep running! It's way back there in that tree, it's behind you. It's gaining on you… Just keep running!

Charlie pushed himself onward, convinced that the creature in the tree was licking at his heals. All of a sudden, his whole body ran into something. At first, he though it was a tree, because it hadn't budged at all against his body weight. Sitting up from where he had been knocked to the ground, he looked up at the offender.

Jack? No, not Jack – it was the same person he had seen that night by Hurley's stuff. "Who are you?" Charlie asked, staring in awe at his resemblance to the doctor he knew so well.

The man did not respond – instead, he knelt next to Charlie and held his palm about an inch above the ground. Charlie watched curiously, as a strange orange light traveled from his hand to the ground. Fire, he realized, fear suddenly building up inside of him.

Charlie backed away as fast as he could, desperate to get to his feet and run. Instead, the man grabbed his arm, and he could feel it burning, as the Jack look-a-like tightened his grip. Charlie closed his eyes tightly as he was pulled back toward the flame on the ground, which was steadily growing larger.

"Charlie, Charlie!" a familiar voice called. Charlie didn't respond -he had to get away before he was engulfed in the flames… "Come on man, calm down, Charlie!" Charlie opened his eyes a crack, before opening them all the way.

"Jack?" he asked, half suspecting that the strange man had somehow transformed to make him believe he was a friend.

"Yeah," the doctor said, pulling Charlie to his feet. "What happened, there?"

Charlie looked around. The fire on the ground was gone, and his arm wasn't burning. "I… don't know," he replied, running a hand through his hair. Jack waited a moment before speaking again.

"Let's get back to camp."

"But he's still out there, and it probably is too!" Charlie exclaimed, recalling the man that looked like Jack, and the horrible creature from before.

"What are you talking about?"

"The man that took the passenger list from the flight!"

"What man? Nobody took the passenger list."

"This man came in the middle of the night, and I saw him take something from Hurley's bag. The next day, the passenger list was missing."

"So, Hurley misplaced it."

"You took it, didn't you?" Charlie accused, pointing a finger at Jack's chest.

"What?"

"The man looked like you – maybe it was you!"

"You're crazy, Charlie." Jack shook his head and began the walk back to camp.

"Jack, what about the creature in the tree?"

"What?"

"I looked up into this tree, and there was something sitting on one of the branches. It was all pale and dressed in a white robe-type-thing, and its feet were all torn up and bloody, its teeth were disgusting and brown and its lips were all red and cracked up and its eyes… its eyes were yellow, and it didn't have pupils, Jack!"

Jack looked alarmed. "Are you sure, Charlie?"

"Yeah, you think I would make something like that up?"

Jack rubbed his face wearily. "Okay, we gotta go."

-

By the time the two wanderers found their way back to the caves, the sun had risen, and the other survivors were up and about. Jack and Charlie were both exhausted, and when they saw Kate approaching, they were not happy with the expression on her face.

"Where have you two been!" she thundered.

"We were just… just, uh…" Jack struggled to come up with an answer.

"Well, next time you 'just', how 'bout telling someone before you go gallivanting around on a tropical island, known to be a home of overgrown polar bears!" Kate glared at them both before marching furiously back to where she had been previously been talking to Sayid.

-

Who is this mysterious, fire-starting man resembling Jack so closely? And what is the secret behind the strange creature in the tree? Thank you for reading, and remember to review! If you read this author's note, put the words 'mouse holding a bouquet' in your review. You're probably getting really sick of the words I keep asking you to include in your reviews, but hey, this is the last time. Chapter Eight will be up soon.

- Setszuki

In the next chapter of 'Fires':

Jack furrowed his eyebrows. It couldn't be that simple. But, it had to be the answer! "Charlie?" he said, looking at his friend and licking his lips. "I think I know what that creature was."