"We've been searching all night! There's no trace of them!"
"We'll keep looking until we find them!" Sayid and Boone were at each other's throats (again). Everyone was tired and irritable, not to mention worried and frightened.
"And if we don't find them?" Jack asked from the sidelines where he and Charlie were watching the argument much like they would a tennis match.
"We'll find them," Locke called out as he stepped from the dark of the forest, thoroughly startling everyone.
"And why would you think so?" Charlie asked.
"Because I've found a trail."
"You found a trail where no one else did?"
"Yes, Jack, I did."
"John very good at what he does," Boone interjected in a proud voice.
"Yes. Are we going?" Sayid asked as he grabbed his pack.
Locke put out a hand and stopped Sayid from rushing past. "We have to prepare first."
"For what?"
"For what the island is going to throw at us. I counted at least seven people carrying someone."
"How can you tell that?" Michael asked.
"Their tracks were deeper than when they arrived. That indicates that they were holding someone a good degree heavier when they left."
"Seven? I could take seven," Sayid stated in an angry voice.
"Maybe at your best, but we're all tired and they're not going anywhere."
"What if they're harming the girls?"
"And Sawyer?" Charlie interjected, noting to himself that Jack had decidedly NOT mentioned Sawyer's safety.
"I doubt that they are. They took extreme measures to not hurt them. There was no blood, very little fighting on either side. If they wanted to hurt the girls they probably would have just dragged them away. Instead, they carried them."
"What about the blood over there?" Charlie asked, gesturing to where Kate and Sawyer had been taken.
"I think that Sawyer tried to interfere with them taking Kate and they attacked him. He saw who they were and what they were doing so they most likely took him to keep him from telling us what happened."
"Okay. So we rest and then we'll head out tomorrow."
"Why wait until tomorrow?" Sayid asked, throwing his pack to the ground. His hands shook, from impatience or so he told himself.
"Because I'm tired. They're tired. Hell, Sayid, even you're tired!" Jack lowered his voice as he stepped closer so that no one else could hear what he was about to say. "I know that you're worried, but she'll be fine. Shannon is very capable."
Sayid nodded. The others had looks of worry on their faces and Sayid realized that he wasn't the only person here who's, well, romantic interest had disappeared. Charlie was worried for Claire, Michael and Jin were worried for Sun, Jack was worried for Kate, and he was worried for Shannon. They knew what was happening inside him, they knew how this was eating at Sayid. He was feeling guilty because, like the last time Shannon had been abducted on the island, Sayid had failed to protect her.
Shannon leaned forward to better look Lenora in the face. "Just what do you mean by that duchess?"
"Exactly what I said princess. The second you all arrived on this island they were infected."
"You mentioned a cure?"
"Yes."
"Gonna tell me about it?"
"No. That would defeat the purpose of this little meeting."
"And that purpose is?"
"To use you to lure your comrades in. You see, by now they've found and are following the trail my babies left for them. If you decline to help me, that trail will lead them into a trap. They will die and all your…nonhelpfulness will have been for naught."
"Why do you want them so badly?"
"They are virile and strong. They'll impregnate the women fast."
Shannon spit out the water she'd been about to swallow. "IMPREGNATE?"
"Yes. Well, some of the women. Two are already pregnant."
Shannon could not abide it when someone knew something she didn't. "Who?"
"Sun and Kate."
"Reeaallly? That is so interesting. Can I leave now? I have got to scream at them!"
"No. Are you going to assist me Shannon?"
"Doesn't seem like I have a choice."
"You will make beautiful children Shannon."
"Not likely."
(Flashback)
As Shannon is rushed down the hospital hall, speeding towards the emergency OR, she can literally feel the blood and life of her child leak from her womb. As the doctors and nurses discuss her condition her mind phases in and out.
"She's hemorrhaging…"
"…lost the child…"
"Doctor, we've got compound fractures and internal bleeding…"
"…help…"
"…get her open…"
"…no time for anesthesia!"
"…please, save my baby…" They either cannot or will not acknowledge Shannon's request. They continue to work as Shannon begins to cry quietly. "Please…"
Through the hustle and bustle Shannon can see a small child standing nearby. With blonde pigtails and a worn purple kangaroo, she smiles at Shannon.
"…hysterectomy…"
The little girl raises one of her hands and waves to Shannon. Then she points to a small baby carriage next to her. Inside Shannon can see a small hand connected to the tiniest little child. A blonde haired baby girl. Scrawled on her shirt was the name Samantha. It was her baby.
"…blood type O transfusion…"
Wordlessly, the little girl turns and begins to push the carriage out the door. Shannon raises one of her hands as if to call her back but she has lost so much blood that it barely comes off the gurney an inch. A nurse's hand jerks Shannon's face from the direction the child had walked and shines a light in her eyes.
"…responds to stimuli…"
Shannon wants to get up and walk away with her baby. She wants to brush off the French doctors and nurses and just leave. She cannot. So she does what she feels is the only thing she can do. She lets out a loud, heart-breaking cry of grief. For her husband, for her child, and for herself.
(End Flashback)
"Return her to the cell," Lenora calls out to 'Duke'. "You realize that until I need you, you'll have too remain in the cell?"
"Yep."
"Good." Wordlessly Shannon returns to the cell and looks into the eyes of the other captives. Dare she tell them all that she'd learned? Did she really want to give up the anxiety and place it on them? Did she really want to pass up the opportunity to pressure Kate and Sun into telling her who the fathers of their children are? Nope, not really.
Did you enjoy this chapter? I enjoyed writing it so I hope that you all enjoyed it? But I have a constructive question for my reviewers. Do you guys think the dialogue between Shannon and Lenora is too casual? Is there anything you don't like about it? My friend told me that if she was kidnapped she wouldn't speak to her kidnapper like that…and then I had to try and explain the way Shannon's character works that I would think she would do that.
