Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or any of the characters in it.

Note: Is it normal to cry when you're writing your own fan fiction:sniffle: As pathetic as it is I did make myself cry with this one. Be prepared for graphic descriptions and a lot of death. Not necessarily character death, yet anyway. I pictured the song "I shall not walk alone" by The Blind Boys of Alabama playing throughout this story.

Summary: The Others attack the camp. Lots of death and violence.

"The Others"

When they came, it was fast.

One minute the survivors were all alone, enjoying the crashing of the waves on the shore and the nice, yet somewhat sandy, island breeze. They were daydreaming about life before and after the island and wondering whether or not the raft plan was going to work. Some were worrying about the four who were on the raft, others were just hoping that, no matter what, they would be seen by a ship.

And when the others came, it was swift and with a purpose. The mission: leave no man, woman or child standing. There was black smoke in the distance, but those who noticed it did not even get halfway to its location to investigate before they were struck down by their attackers. They were fierce and angry and were determined to take back their island no matter what the body count may be in the end. They had no regard for human life, the lives of the survivors or the lives of their own men. They did not get emotionally attached to each other by any means and survived strictly by procreating like mammals do once a year. There was no love, no marriage, no family. The others were men and women similar looking to the survivors, but held a lifestyle more like wild animals. But even wild animals had families and mates. No, the others were much worse then that.

It was Sayid, the Iraqi soldier, who led the exploration of the black smoke. The doctor wanted to come along, but decided to stay behind at the last minute. It was felt that his services might be more useful back at camp, did these people actually decide to attack. So Sayid took a group of four with him- the man known as Locke, the burley young millionaire known as Hurley, and two more of the 42 left on the island.

Kate would have joined the group, had she been at camp at the time of departure. Where she was, actually, was a place much closer to the black smoke then any of the investigative team would manage to get. Kate was thinking about Sawyer, her unofficial other half on the island, when she heard voices. They weren't normal voices like she knew them. They were muffled and mumbled. She could barely understand the words, but they were a mix of English and another language that she didn't recognize. Something told her that she did not want to meet up with this group of people, so she carefully hid herself farther away in a group of trees. She watched as a large group of men carrying knives, guns, and other assorted weaponry hurried by. She knew instinctively that these must be the others that the French woman had been talking about. She had to get back to camp to warn everybody. She slowly made her way through the trees, trying to keep herself hidden while hurrying at the same time.

"Hey Dude, can we take a break?" Hurley mumbled. His T-shirt was covered in sweat and he was breathing heavily. Sayid was determined and walking quickly. He seemed annoyed by the young man's request.

"If you can't keep up then go back to camp. We have to find the source of that smoke before it is too late." Sayid said. The other people in the group followed him, almost in fear of making him any angrier.

Hurley sighed in frustration. Locke stopped and patted him on the shoulder a moment. He smiled and continued along. Hurley just looked at him in confusion. That dude was majorly creepy, he thought.

So Hurley continued along, although he continued to fall behind as the group trudged quickly through the trees. Little did he know that he was doing himself a favor by lagging so far behind.

Sayid was the first to see them. Figures shaped like men running through the trees ahead of them. They were angry and they had weapons of all sorts. He turned pale and stopped in his tracks. The rest of the team watched him eagerly, waiting for their next order. Locke, finally noticing that the Iraqi soldier was at a loss for words, spoke up.

"They're here." He spoke calmly, almost in amazement of the people approaching them. "They're here to kill us all. Run. Save yourselves. Run!" He shouted. The two anonymous men sprinted away as quickly as the words left his mouth. Sayid was still frozen in his tracks. He was flashing back to a memory of the war. American soldiers were approaching at enormous speed and he and his troop, beaten and broken from a previous battle, were in no shape to defend themselves. And as the others approached closer and closer Sayid felt the same helpless feeling that he had on that day. Here they were, five people with one gun to their name. How could they survive this? His feet seemed to be glued to the dirt underneath them. He knew, instinctively, that it was over.

The next thing he felt were two strong arms pushing him to the ground. He found himself lying in the dirt behind a tree. Next to him was John Locke. John Locke had the gun.

"Locke…" He muttered. Locke looked down at him. He looked at peace somehow. He looked like he had known about this moment all along. Sayid wanted to question this, but was not sure how to go about it in the few seconds that they had to live.

"We took their land without their permission. Now they're going to take it back. It is the way of life, since the days of ancient Greece." He looked back out into the horizon, where the men were approaching fast.

"We have to give ourselves up. It is the only way!" Sayid said.

"No, they won't accept that. They want a fight." Locke paused and cocked the gun in his hand. "We'll give them what they want."

Sayid felt his strength returning and he was able to move himself again. He pulled a makeshift knife out of his belt. "The more we can take out here, the less of them will make it to the camp." He paused. He thought of Shannon, back at camp. She had been asleep when he'd left. "Allah help our friends." He bowed his head and prayed. Locke joined him. The silence lasted until the others found them, and they were in for the fight of their lives.

Kate ran as fast as she could. She hadn't looked back since the men had passed her by. She needed to get to camp. She needed to get there now. Thoughts flashed through her mind of the people still left there. There was Claire and her baby. There was Charlie and Shannon and Sun and Jack and so many others. They had no idea what was about to happen to them. They had no idea that they were all about to be slaughtered. She ran so fast that her heart felt like it would pop out of her chest, and then she stopped.

She stopped because she heard a scream. It wasn't just a scream. It was a woman. And she was screaming something that chilled Kate to the bone.

"My baby! Don't take my baby!" Kate felt tears come to her eyes. She was too late. How had they made it there so quickly? She'd run so fast. She crept towards the clearing, trying to peek out into the camp area. She saw the men with their guns and knives. They had blood all over them. There was blood in the sand. The water on the beach was tinted red with the blood of her fellow survivors. She watched one of the others violently slit the throat of an older woman. He then seemed to gloat in his victory over the helpless woman. Kate had to cover her mouth so that she wouldn't throw up.

She began to eagerly search the area with her eyes, searching for anyone she knew. She didn't see Claire anywhere. Nor Charlie. She hoped that some of them had been able to hide somewhere before the attack had occurred. That would be their only hope of survival. She paused her search when she noticed Charlie's guitar. It was lying innocently on the ground near one of the caves. It hadn't been touched. Maybe, just maybe, he had managed to get away.

And Jack was also gone. She knew Jack well enough to know that he would fight till the end. This made her weary of his survival. She would expect to see him fighting off one of the predators, protecting somebody who needed him. But he was nowhere to be found. She felt more tears escape her eyes. Was there anybody at all left?

Then, she heard something. A whimper. It was coming from the bushes to her left. There was hope after all, somebody was alive.

Hurley was vaguely aware of something going on up ahead of him. Despite what Sayid had said to him, he decided to take a break and drink some water. He could hold his own, but he figured nothing was worth getting dehydrated over. Especially a couple of harmless columns of black smoke. As he hurried on ahead, searching the trees for anyone from his team, he noticed some noise. It wasn't quite loud enough to be the pissed off giraffe or another polar bear. It sounded like someone was getting into a fight.

"Hey dudes, what's going on?" He said loudly. The scuffle seemed to continue despite his inquiry. "Dudes? That you?" He said again. Again, there was no answer. Then, he heard Sayid's voice. But it wasn't really his voice, more like him screaming. In fact, now that he thought about it, there was a lot of shouting and screaming going on. It didn't sound like some place where he wanted to hang out. He looked through the trees and caught a glimpse of some guy. He was wearing some ghetto torn up clothes and was hitting something with a hatchet. Once Hurley realized that it was not something but someone who was being hit with the hatchet, he decided to get the hell out of there as fast as he could.

He would go back to camp to get help. Only, he would never find any in time. And he would eventually learn that it was only because of his inability to keep up that he would survive to see the rescue helicopters.

Kate quietly crept through the bushes, trying to find the source of the whimpering she heard. Once she had cleared one bush she noticed a movement and immediately jumped back on instinct. She then heard another whimper, and recognized the source of the sound immediately.

"Vincent." She whispered. She touched the dog on the head and petted him. Somehow, just seeing him here and alive made her feel better. She moved forward more and noticed something else. It was a shirt sleeve. It was pink. It looked like it was on somebody's arm. She began to panic and her heart started to race. Tears came to her eyes as she moved closer and closer to the lifeless arm.

She was so tense that she nearly screamed when she saw the arm move. When she moved the bushes aside she saw somebody she knew. "Shannon." She whispered. There was a line of blood coming down the side of her face. Her eyes were closed, but she was clearly breathing. There was blood all over her shirt as well and her arm was cut and bleeding. But she was alive. Kate moved closer to her, causing the dog to whimper again. The hand of the arm that she had seen earlier was clutching the dogs leash like it was a lifeline. She moved next to Shannon and felt her neck for a pulse. Although she knew she was alive, it just seemed like the thing to do. But she soon discovered that this was a mistake. As soon as her fingers touched the flesh of Shannon's neck the girl bolted to life and began to scream.

Kate panicked and quickly put her hand over Shannon's mouth. "Shannon, its Kate. It's me, I'm not going to hurt you." Shannon's eyes were wide and full of fear. It took a moment for her to recognize Kate, but once she did she was able to stop screaming and calm herself down. She began to cry.

"Kate, what's' going on? Who are these people?" She clutched the dogs leash so tight that her knuckles turned white. Kate became nervous and looked around them to see if they had been discovered. She was shocked to find that the men that were there earlier were gone. They had left bodies, carnage, and chaos. But they seemed to be completely gone. Still, she felt safer in the bushes.

"Its ok. I think they're gone now." Kate whispered. "Are you ok?" She asked and searched the girls body with her eyes once more.

Shannon nodded emphatically. "I'm fine. My head hurts, but I think I'm ok." She paused and petted the dog with her free hand. "Vincent saved me. The monsters, they thought I was dead I think. Vincent attacked them so they couldn't hurt me anymore. He dragged me here. That's all I remember." She was hysterical as she talked about the nightmare, Kate smoothed her hair back, trying to comfort her. Then she thought of the others. She got closer to Shannon and asked in the calmest voice she could muster at the moment. "Do you know where everyone else is? If they're ok?"

Shannon began to shake in fear again. "They killed them. Everybody at the camp. They killed them all." She began to cry again. "Everyone's dead. They killed them all." She repeated.

"Shh…ok. Its ok. It's going to be ok Shannon. We're going to be ok." Kate tried to soothe her, although she herself felt like she was going to break down at any moment. Could she be right? Could everyone else be dead?

Kate tried to think of someway, anyway, that they could have lived through this.

When Sayid awoke he had a splitting headache. It took him a moment to find consciousness again and he immediately decided that he wished he never had found it. Around him there was blood and carnage. Slowly the memories returned to him. The others. Their guns and weapons. John Locke. Sayid sat up a little too quickly and found himself dizzy and nauseous. He leaned over against the tree and threw up whatever water he had consumed before the attack.

Once his stomach was emptied he sat back up and regained his search. He looked around him and saw blood splattered everywhere. It took him a full minute to realize that it was actually his blood that surrounded him. He immediately looked down at his hands, arms, body, legs, feet. He saw gashes along his arms and legs. He saw one large blood spot on his shirt. He touched it and realized that it was actually only on his shirt. Then he looked at his hands, really looked at them. He hadn't noticed the blood before, mainly because there was so much of it that both of his hands were completely stained red. His breath caught in his throat. Slowly, he reached up to his head. He touched his hair. It was sticky with bloody. His face was covered in it as well. He touched his left ear and the side of his head. Then, he went to touch his right ear.

It was gone. Only a bloody hole was in its place. Blood was pouring from his head at an overwhelming rate. He went completely pale and would have thrown up again had he had anything in his stomach to throw up. He breathed in and out until he had regained control of himself. He brought his hand back down and looked at it. It was red, as expected. But there was something else.

Black dust. Gun powder. He'd been shot in the head.

But the bullet had only grazed him. Just enough to fool the others, he thought. They had left him for dead.

He sighed in relief for a moment. He was alive. Then he remembered Locke. He searched around him and saw two dead bodies. They were his enemies. He also saw a lot of blood. He knew it all couldn't be his. He would surely be dead if he'd lost that much blood. The other men did not have enough wounds to cause that must bleeding. Some of it was Locke's. But Locke was no where. Had they kidnapped him? No, Locke had said it for himself. They wanted their land. They were out to kill and nothing more. Sayid bowed his head and prayed for Locke. Wherever he was now.

He used all of his strength to rip apart the sleeve on his shirt until he had a strip of cloth. He tied it tightly around his head, wincing in pain the whole time, in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He then stood up on wobbly legs and looked around. He steadied himself against the tree until he could get his sense of direction. He could barely stand, much less walk. He'd lost too much blood. But slowly, using tree after tree for support, he headed in the direction of camp. Because that's where Shannon was. That's where everyone was. And they needed his help.

It had been fifteen minutes now at least. There had been no movement in the camp. Kate decided it was time to come out of hiding. Shannon was still too frightened to move from her spot in the bushes. Vincent stood by her side, loyal as ever. Kate explained to Shannon that she was going to go check for survivors. That she would be right back for her. Shannon cried and began shaking. Shannon begged her not to go out there and leave her alone. Kate reassured her as much as she could, and headed out into the clearing.

What Kate found made her want to cry again. Death was everywhere. Bodies lay strewn across the clearing. She recognized most of them. People she'd talked to at least once. But none of them were the people she was looking for. She needed to find Jack first. But anybody who was still alive would do. She needed to know that there were more then two survivors of this holocaust.

She waded through the bodies and the blood soaked sand. She tried not to step on anybody. They were still people. They were still souls. She stopped to check a few pulses, finding nothing promising. In theprocess she became covered in blood from their various wounds. She sniffled and covered her nose. The smell of the blood and carnage was getting to her now. She walked to the center of the clearing finally. She stood in the center and turned around in a complete circle, examining the carnage around her. She felt herself begin to shake, begin to collapse. She couldn't stop herself. She couldn't control herself anymore.

And she fell to the sand. But she didn't fall, because someone had caught her. She panicked when she realized it was a strange man she had never seen before. She screamed and fought. He only held her tighter.

She would later learn that he was a rescue worker with the coast guard.

He was there to rescue them.