A/N: Sorry for the looonnnggg delay again. School has been insane and at the moment I am down to one "free" (no work, youth group, extracurriculars, etc.) night a week, assuming I don't have homework overload (snort). This WILL get finished though, it will. Anywho, thanks to my awesome reviewers, suspencer, Setszuki, Oreata, Taylor47, Freckles-101, Eliza4892, mfkngst, and October Sky, you guys rock!

Her knife was at his throat now, the blade pressing threateningly deeper into his skin.

"Claire, it's Boone. Boone? From the caves?" He choked out, trying not to swallow and let the blade cut further into his throat. The knife wasn't moved and Boone's mind raced as he tried to figure out what had just happened.

How could she have forgotten who she was? Damn, he knew nothing about amnesia, not even if that was what she had. Whatever it was, though, he had to fix it fast before finding a way out of that cave was the least of his worries.

"Look, there was a plane crash, our plane crashed. We got stuck on this island and a couple weeks later you got kidnapped by some psychopath. Do you remember any of that?" He explained quickly, if not sympathetically, as his eyes darted up to try to see her face for signs of recognition. She was still quiet.

"Jack, Kate, Locke, and I are… were out looking for you. Well, Locke was and then Shannon showed up and then this giant polar bear came out of nowhere and I think Locke was helping Ethan-" Boone rambled on quickly. How could he summarize anything that had happened those past few weeks? He could hardly even rationalize any of it to himself, let alone someone who couldn't remember any of it.

"You know about Ethan?" Claire demanded, "How can you know?"

"That bastard is the reason we're down here!" Boone asserted, glancing over at Shannon and then trying to look Claire in the eyes , "If I can't get out of here soon, my sister is going to die. We're both on the same side, what else do you need to know right now?"

There was a silent pause and Boone began to think for sure that he was finished. Closing his eyes, he waited for the blade to cut his throat and stiffened, but to his surprise, the knife lowered.

Claire moved in front of him and knelt down, setting her hand on his knee cautiously, whispering, "Do you really think we can get out of here?"

Taking deep breaths of relief, Boone glanced around the cavernous room, "I… I don't know. I haven't been in here long enough to see anything, but I'm sure we can." He added as he saw Claire's face fall, "Don't worry, okay? If you and me work together, we'll break out of here no problem. Alright?"

She nodded and then wobbled back to the small cot in the corner, then turned and walked three paces away from it. Boone hurried back over to Shannon and put the back of his hand on her cheek. It was still warm, they still had time…

As Boone looked up to see what Claire was doing, he raised an eyebrow to find her staring up at the ceiling above where she stood.

"What is it?" He asked curiously, hoping he wasn't about to find out another depth to Claire's already seemingly fleeting insanity.

"It's wet."

Boone shrugged, "Yeah, so?"

"It's particularly wet right here. I think," She sniffed, "There's a leak."

Jumping up, he positioned himself next to Claire and glanced up just as a large droplet of water hit him in the nose and he mused, "It was raining earlier…"

"Which means…" Claire began.

"We have a way out." Boone finished.

"Blood, that's all you found?"

"Honestly, Kate, it's a long site better than the whole of nothing we found back there." Charlie pointed out, stooping down by the muddy, thick puddle at his feet, "And you of all people should know a trail when you see one."

Raising his finger, he moved it above a long, thin scarlet trail running through the leaves and then pointed back towards where the trail suddenly vanished into the clearing.

"Someone came through those bushes, stopped right here, and then headed off…" He paused and stood, looking at the nearby fern leaves and then nodded into the forest, "That way."

Shaking her head, Kate frowned, "I circled around the rest of the clearing, nothing. But there has to be another trail, they can't both be together."

"Ah, but I am afraid you are mistaken, my friend." Charlie said, putting on his best Sherlock Holmes voice, "The blood pooled here, someone stopped. If I'm right-" He moved one of the ferns aside, revealing a double set of footprints, "One came through here before the other."

"But they both came through?"

"It would seem so, eh?" Charlie commented, letting a small grin spread over his face, "It looks like Jack, the lucky bastard, made it through again."

"So did Ethan." Kate added darkly before shouldering her pack, "Come on, let's go."

The pair headed off into the forest following the droplets of blood and footprints leading them, twisting and turning, through the trees. It was harder and harder to follow the further in they got as the moon became blocked out by leaves and clouds, but they moved on. Glancing up at the sky, Kate began to wonder if she'd ever get a chance to go back to the beach again. Stupid as it was, she was beginning to miss the, relative, calmness there.

Suddenly, Charlie's hand was on Kate's shoulder, "Erm, Kate?"

Turning back, she glanced at him as he stared off to the side, "Yeah?"

"I think we found it."

"Found what Charlie? Jack?" She asked, stooping down to squint at the trail again. They had to be off course, there was no way the random zigzags of the trail could have led them anywhere.

"No."

"Then what?" She asked exasperatedly, standing to look to where Charlie was now pointing, off to their left as the clouds slid from across the moon again, sending silver light cascading over them.

For a convict who had been pretty sure she'd seen most things, the view in front of them now almost made her jaw drop.

"That is the biggest bloody rock I think I've ever seen in my life. It's like…a mountain or something." Charlie muttered.

"It's not like any mountain I've ever seen." Kate said, staring at the huge rock down in the valley ahead of them. Even in the moonlight it looked black and shadow less, almost as if it was a shadow itself. Nothing was growing on it, all the greenery stopped a good ten yards from the base of it and on the top, Kate could've sworn she saw something blinking, like a little red light.

"Is that a radio tower?"

Charlie nodded, "I think so."

"Where… are we?"

As they both stared in awe at the formation in front of them, Kate suddenly remembered why they'd gone all that way and started into the valley below them with Charlie following right behind her until they came to the bottom of the slope and stopped. It was like one of the swamps in horror movies, monotone and bleak, only without the water. Kate felt like it was almost sucking the color out of her and Charlie as they stepped down into it.

Kate shivered and Charlie frowned, glancing around at the huge, grey-green trees that now surrounded them and commented, trying to sound light, "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to build my summer home here."

Chuckling halfheartedly, she moved further along and pushed herself forward against every nerve in her body. The plants around them seemed to move and groan even without the breeze and Kate couldn't help but feel like she was being watched. Shrugging off the feeling, she started forward again.

"Psst, I think I found Ethan."

"What, Charlie?" Kate asked, but no reply followed. Turning around, she spun in a full circle, eyes scanning for Charlie who had disappeared from behind her. After a moment of panic, she spotted him edging his way near a clump of bushes, crouched and on edge as he leaned closer and closer, waving at Kate to be quiet.

He was just above the bushes now and as Kate began to relax again as nothing happened, a hand shot out from the bushes and grabbed Charlie's wrist, pulling him down as another hand shot over his mouth.

Sprinting over, Kate smashed the hand as hard as she could with her fist as Charlie watched in horror and took a step back.

"Kate, stop it!" He hissed.

"What- but, it's Ethan!" Kate hissed back in confusion.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you." Came a voice from the bush that pulled his hand back in and swore lightly as he stepped into sight.

"Jack!"