Oceanic
A LOST Spin off/Fan Fiction
By Patrick Salazar
Swirling, Torrents, water, falling, air…blue, ocean, drowning, twirling, whirlpool….waking up, Adam Hockle's first thoughts were choppy and broken, much like the water and the ocean currents he was falling deeper and deeper into. He was drowning and needed air.
Falling further and further down into the dark ocean depths, Adam became weaker and more delirious, however, he had not lost his will to live. His survival instincts kicked in and he managed to push himself up to the top of the water. Adam burst out of the water in a fit of sputtering, coughing, and shivering. He managed to gasp in a few refreshing gulps of air before another wave hit him. But now he was able to kick himself up again with much more ease. He started treading water and looked at his surroundings.
He was in the middle of the ocean, that much was obvious. He could not remember how he had gotten there, though. As he looked further he saw many burning pieces of metal.
Again, a wave knocked him into the water. After swimming up to the surface and looking around a little more Adam noticed something else; aside from the ocean waves there was no noise. Adam was completely alone
…Finally they called Adam's row. "Took frickin forever," he grumbled as the attendant scanned his ticket. An Iraqi man glanced at him but then quickly looked back towards the flight attendant who was now scanning his ticket.
Adam dragged his luggage to the row he was sitting in, about 2/3 back into the plane. He stored it overhead and sat down in his aisle seat. He slumped down in his chair and waited for the flight to start.
"Excuse me," said the same Iraqi man, "I seem to have the seat next to you. Would you mind getting out of your seat so I can get into mine?"
"Yeah I would," Adam mumbled to himself as he got up…
Adam figured his best chance to survive was to use one of the metal pieces to float. He swam over to one and grabbed on. Even though it was no longer on fire it still was hot and burned Adam's hands. He didn't care. He hung on until he thought it would be cool enough to lie on. Adam pulled himself up and onto the piece of metal. Might as well take a little nap while I wait for someone to come rescue me…
"Hey you! OVER HERE!" a voice jolted Adam awake. He looked around but saw no one. "YOU! OVER HERE!" The voice called again. Adam looked around and this time saw hands sinking into the water.
"Oh Crap!" Adam said, louder than he meant to, and dived into the water. He swam over to where he had seen the hands but nothing was there. Adam dove down and saw the face of a middle-aged man, and quickly swam towards it. He grabbed the man, and pulled him back up to the surface.
The man gasped at the air hungrily. Adam swam over to the piece of metal and laid the man there. He sat down next to him
"Are you okay?" Adam asked, out of breath.
"I'll be okay, thanks to you," the man gasped, "Thank you."
"So, do you know what the hell's going on?" Adam said
"What do you mean?" The man asked, evidently confused by Adam's question.
"I mean, how and why are we in the middle of an ocean? What are these big pieces of metal on fire?"
"You mean you don't remember? The plane and the turbulence, you don't remember?" The man said.
"Plane? What plane…?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've just hit some unexpected turbulence and the pilot has turned the fasten seatbelt sign on. If you haven't already, please buckle your seatbelt. We should be clear of this in just a moment." The flight attendant announced.
"Well geez. Great. Just great," Adam said. The Iraqi man said nothing. "Flying sucks, don't you agree?" Adam said to the Iraqi. Again he ignored Adam. Adam shrugged and turned back to what he was doing.
A few minutes passed and the turbulence got worse and worse. Suitcases fell out of overhead storage bins and slid down the aisles or beaned people in the head. Adam chuckled for a moment when one guy sitting next to a beautiful girl in handcuffs got pinned in the head. But then a few people were thrown out of their seats and slid towards the back of the plane. An elderly man slid past Adam's row. The Iraqi leaned over Adam and tried to catch the man but was too late.
"You could have helped him, why didn't you!" the Iraqi said. The truth was Adam was scared. People were falling, screaming, and bleeding all around him.
Then the entire back end of the plane broke off and only a few rows stood between Adam and open air. He gripped his seat as best he could, but the attempt was futile.
"Oh shhhhhh—" Adam muttered to himself as he was thrown out of his seat.
The memory of the plane came back to Adam but only up to the point where he was boarding. He focused back on the present. He and the man could only lay on the piece of metal (which was probably a part of the plane, Adam realized) for so long.
"So," Adam said, sitting up, "I'm Adam, who're you?"
The man stuck out his hand. "William. Call me Bill. Nice to meet you."
They sat there for a few more minutes until Adam asked, "So what's your story. I mean, why were you on the plane?"
"Business trip," Bill said quickly, "You?"
"Visiting extended family," Adam said, incredulous of Bill. Adam's response was believable; he was turning 30 in 3 months and was visiting his Aunt& Uncle and his two cousins. But Bill's response had been too…worried about something, as though he was afraid Adam might figure out something.
Adam focused his mind on what needed to be done and tried to ignore the undeniable fact that there was something "off" about Bill.
"Uh, we, like, got to get to land," Adam said, "Only problem is, there is no land."
"Yeah, I agree. But look over there, you see that smoke? Let's swim towards there," Bill said.
"Swim!"
"Do you have a better idea?" Bill challenged.
"Yeah. Go over to that metal thing over there…" Adam pointed to a still burning piece of metal, "Rip off that jagged piece on the edge and use it to cut that piece…" Adam gestured to another piece of metal, "…to make a paddle." Adam finished and immediately swam towards the burning metal piece. "Just sit tight over there!" He called to Bill.
After tearing off the piece of metal, Adam began cutting the other piece, which was no easy task. It didn't help that the ocean waves were getting rougher. Even Bill was having trouble staying on the part of the plane he was on. Every few seconds Adam would get knocked into the ocean by a strong wave.
Eventually Adam finished. Fighting the fierce currents and waves, he swam over to Bill and showed him a crudely fashioned paddle. "Do you want to row first, or should I?"
"You can row first," Bill said
"Alright," Adam replied and began paddling.
Paddling against the ocean with a bad paddle was a lot harder than it seemed. Adam struggled to stay on the part of metal and at the same time get some power into his strokes. After a few hours Adam guessed they had only gone one to three miles.
"Hey," Adam said to Bill, "Why don't you give it a go."
"Alright," Bill sighed, like Adam was being outrageously unfair.
Hey, Adam thought, I just paddled for 2 and half hours. Fair is fair. Adam was beginning to dislike Bill and wished Bill would just tell him what was going on.
As he paddled, Bill looked around as though expecting something. He seemed very paranoid and Adam figured that had to be what was making him go slow. Even considering how hard it was to paddle, Bill was still going slowly.
After an hour, Bill showed great signs of fatigue, so Adam took over. But Bill still looked paranoid. Finally Adam was fed up with it.
"Alright man, what's the deal! Why are you acting so paranoid!" Adam said, extremely frustrated.
Bill said nothing, just continued to look around until finally, he stopped. He still looked paranoid, but kept staring straight ahead. Adam tried to match his line of eyesight with Bill's and saw what he was looking at.
It was a boat. Motor-powered, Adam noted. It turned its lights on and Adam saw an old, scruffy captain, a strange woman, and a man who looked so similar to Bill, it was uncanny.
"Well hello there," the captain said, "Looks like you could use a ride."