"He doesn't care about killing people, he knows this island like the back of his hand, and he's exceedingly lethal. No one can even imagine what he does to people; everyone who's come back from him has had amnesia." Locke pointed out. "He's got the advantage."
"Well," said Jack, "we just have to find out a way to get the advantage back, don't we?" Jack clicked back the hammer of his gun. "We need to split up," he said.
"I disagree," Boone spoke up, and Locke put a learned hand on his shoulder.
"Let me handle this." Locke whispered to him and Boone retreated, backing away into Locke's shadow.
"Well then, what do you think?" Jack asked skeptically. "If we split up, even if he takes one of us down, there will still be more of us. And plus, we'll have a better chance of finding Claire."
"Why?" asked Locke. "If we stay together, he won't dare attack us."
"This is Ethan we're talking about," Jack pointed out.
A rustling was heard in the underbrush, and everyone stood ready, weapons raised to strike. Loud, unhidden footsteps were heard coming towards them, and Sawyer ducked a last branch before standing upright, dusting himself off and looking up. Upon seeing all the weapons pointed at him, he raised his hands and exclaimed, "Whoa! I didn't know I was hated that much! Did I miss something?"
Jack lowered his gun and sighed. "What do you want, Sawyer?" he asked, almost a growl.
Sawyer stared at him. "I wanna help, what do you think?" he asked. Cracking his neck, he glanced around at the group. "Anybody got an extra weapon they could loan me for this adventure thing?" he asked sarcastically.
Locke reached in his pocket and pulled out the gun that Jack had given him from the Halliburton case, and tossed it to Sawyer. Sawyer examined it, running a hand over the hammer, weighing it in the palm of his hand, staring down the barrel. Jack hoped he would accidentally set it off and shoot himself, but no such luck. "Alrighty," Sawyer said as he pocketed the gun. "So... where we off to?"
"We're going to find Ethan." Kate informed him, stashing her gun in her belt.
"Ah. The boogey man." Sawyer chuckled, and Charlie glared at him.
"We're trying to find Claire, too." Kate added.
Sawyer just nodded. "Beauty and the Beast." he commented. "And the Baby."
"What's your point?" Locke asked Jack, returning to the conversation. "I think your idea sounds fine. It's just that I think my idea sounds better. Here's what I think we should do..." He turned to Boone, who was just staring at him, intently listening to what he had to say. Locke then turned to Sawyer. "I'm going to use you as bait."
"What?" exclaimed Sawyer. "Hell no!"
"Alright, enough foolishness," Jack said, "let's split. Locke, Boone, you go that way." he pointed south of where they were standing, "Hurley, you go that way. Sawyer... you go that way." he pointed in an easterly direction. "Kate, you go there. Michael, you go that way." He pointed them on two different paths, but both to the general direction of north-east. "Sayid –"
"I want to travel in a group of two as well." Sayid stated, and Shannon glanced at him.
"Alright," Jack agreed, "Sayid and Shannon, you go that way." He pointed west. "I'll go this way. Charlie...you go back to the camp and see if everything's alright there."
"Hell no!" exclaimed Charlie, almost laughing. "Last I checked, it was my lover we were chasing."
Jack sighed. "Fine." he said. "Where's your weapon, then?"
Charlie's eyes lit up with an almost maniacal light. "When I find Ethan, I won't need a weapon."
Jack considered him for a moment, and then nodded. "Alright." he said. "Let's go."