Lost belongs to JJ Abrams and crew. I'm just borrowing for some non-profit fun. After Sawyer and the others return to the island, he finds Kate has finally chosen Jack. Post Exodus II. (The events that lead up to previously posted stories –Incarceration, Interim, Ineffable) Enjoy!

Lost – Infected

By Mystic

July 2005

Chapter 9

"An' den momma, Chalee fall dan, an' den momma, Sawya fall dan, an' den we jump on dere tummies." Maggie gave a happy wiggle and sprinted to catch up with Kate as she smiled back at her.

"Really. And they let you jump on their tummies?" Kate asked, trying not to laugh.

Maggie nodded her head enthusiastically. "Yup. Sawya says he's a sucka fer pitty gers."

"What about Charlie?"

"Chalee's just silly, momma." Maggie laughed, rolling her eyes. Kate stopped, raising a hand, and she began to climb up a tree, throwing looks back down at her daughter every few steps. Maggie held tight to her mother's backpack, glancing inside to see the fruits they'd been picking all morning. "We gonna feed eveeone, momma?"

Kate laughed. "Not everyone, Maggie, but Sawyer's out with Jack hunting boar, that'll feed everyone."

"Not you, 'cause you don't eat meat," she made monster faces up at Kate. "Why don' you eat meat, momma?"

"Your mother is a vegetarian." Locke told the little girl. Kate dropped quickly, catching herself on a branch. "Vegetarians don't eat meat; they prefer vegetation such as fruits and vegetables." Maggie nodded at the man, taking in the information as Kate climbed down as fast as her body could take her. "Occasionally they'll eat chicken or turkey…"

"Get away from her, Locke!" She shouted, her feet skidding against the ground as she landed.

Locke touched Maggie's head. "I'm not going to hurt her, Kate." Maggie took a step away from him, towards Kate, but Locke grabbed her, lifting her up. "Don't worry, kiddo, I have no intentions of harming you."

Kate watched the man shift the little girl so she sat on his hip. "I'll kill you," Kate told him through clenched teeth. She already had her hand on a knife in her belt.

"I need your help; you need your daughter." Locke grinned. "I think we can come to some sort of agreement." Then he mouthed, "I'll kill her."

Putting her hands up towards him, Kate nodded her head. "Fine, whatever you want, John, just let her go."

"How do I know you won't run?" John smiled at Maggie, tickling her stomach and watching her giggle. "You're notorious for your lies, are you not?"

Kate nodded slowly. "John, on the life of my daughter, I swear I will help you."

John looked at the little girl, bringing his hand up to catch her chin and examine her face. Kate swallowed hard knowing if she lunged at him, he could plunge his knife into the girl's abdomen before she could do any harm. It wasn't worth the risk. She almost wished Sawyer were out in the jungle, stalking the duo like he usually did. He popped out during their outings and made up excuses, but she knew he was just looking out for them. John put the little girl down on the ground. "Now you run to your pop, tell him your mom's gonna help out an old friend, ok?"

Maggie looked up at her and Kate smiled, nodding her head and pointing back in the direction they came. Maggie started to run, but stopped. "Gotta take the fruit momma," she tried to lift the bag and Kate took a step forward, but Locke blocked her path, shaking his head.

"Baby, just go home, ok?" Kate told her, her voice wavering.

With a look of hesitation, she turned and began running through the jungle as Locke backed away from Kate. "She's a good little girl."

Kate nodded.

"I need your help finding Walt," Locke told her, pulling his knife out of his waistband and slapping it gently against his palm.

Licking her lips, Kate watched the small head of brown wavy hair until she couldn't see it anymore. "Why do you need my help? I thought you were the expert tracker."

"I've been watching you since I was exiled." Locke sighed. "All of you." He walked into the jungle and she followed, curious about his actions. "You're the expert. Where'd you learn to track?"

"My father," she spat.

"Wasn't a good man, was he," Locke pressed.

Kate watched the back of his head. She knew if she jumped at him now, he couldn't defend himself. She could snap his neck and he'd be dead and she could run off to her daughter, to Jack, and be safe. But she was scared. What if he was tougher than he looked? He was also infected. Kate didn't want to kill him only to find herself infected. She wasn't even sure how someone could get infected.

He turned and smiled. "You can walk ahead now; I'll show you where I last saw him."

Walking around him, Kate curled her upper lip slightly. She walked ahead of him, listening to his every move. If he tried to touch her, she'd break his arm. "My father was a sick man."

"Liked to play games with his girls?" Locke chuckled. "Don't tell mommy," he whispered into the wind.

The words made shivers run down her spine. She hadn't heard them in a long time. Kate felt her memories trying to break to the surface, but she shook them away. All she needed now was to have a panic attack, or to give into her suppressed rage.

"You had every right to kill him," he suddenly told her. "I expect one day you'll kill me, just for what I was thinking of doing to that little girl of yours."

Kate turned quickly, seeing the madness in his eyes. "You touch her…"

He raised a hand and looked disgusted, "Oh, I have no interest in touching her. She's just a little girl." Locke grinned knowingly at her, "We're not all like your father."

"What do you know about my father?" Kate grunted, walking when he pointed his knife into the jungle.

Locke shrugged. "Army man, US Rangers – taught you a bit of his ways – probably stationed in the North West by your tracking abilities and comfort in the wild. You don't get that way in the city or southern states. Probably gave off the air of a good man to everyone around him. Had the nice little doting wife and the beautiful daught..."

"Shut up." Kate frowned.

"Liked to sneak into the room at night, sometimes, drunk – more often not – and give you kisses while you slept. It'd be like any dad except his hands, see. They'd travel under…"

"SHUT UP!" Kate turned and swung at him, feeling him catch her fist and bend her arm behind her painfully, shoving her forward.

"This is where I last saw Walt."

"You're sick," she told him.

"I'm just looking for my boy."

"Walt's not your boy," Kate told him. She remembered Michael's face as he laced bamboo together to make walls for the large caves. They divided the large caverns into bedrooms, built walls outside for the showers and bathrooms. The man kept himself occupied because he'd given up hope of ever seeing his boy, his boy who would be almost fourteen.

Locke didn't respond, he just waited, staring at her. She wondered what the infection did. It obviously didn't have any physical alterations. After listening to Danielle, she expected Locke to be completely deranged. Kate half-wondered if the infection was really all that bad. Maybe Sayid had done something to deserve his death. Shaking her head, she lowered herself to the ground, examining the mud splashed about.

After a moment, she stood and pointed, "This way," she said, sounding defeated. She led him towards a stream and stopped, bending over and cupping her hands in the water. Locke handed her his bottle and she shoved it away.

"You're thirsty," he told her, sounding confused.

"I'll take my chances with nature," she sipped from her hands.

Nodding, Locke gave a short chuckle. "This 'infection' isn't so bad, you know? It just makes you see things more… clearly."

"Oh yeah?" Kate grunted, standing. "How's that?"

Locke grinned, but didn't answer, he just waited.

Kate glanced around, wishing someone were there, before looking back at the stream. "Locke, you know as well as I do that once a track hits a stream, it's gone. Walt could have traveled for miles along this and we don't know in which direction…"

He raised a hand. "Guess." Then he added, "We'll leave it to fate. You pick the right direction and lead me to Walt and I'll let you go back home to your beautiful little girl and your… what is Jack to you anyways?"

She picked left and began walking within the stream, examining the banks on either side for a sign that Walt had stepped back on shore. Kate hadn't thought about it. They slept together, had a child together, wasn't that considered marriage in some states? She smiled just a moment, imagining them having an actual wedding. Her in a white dress; him in a black suit.

Locke gasped suddenly and Kate looked up. Walt stood there, a few yards away, staring back at the old man with a frown on his face. Kate watched the boy as his eyes trailed down to her and she gulped slowly, wanting to apologize for even trying. She knew she should have been stronger than that. Three years ago she would have been stronger.

"You want me, John, not Kate. Let her go."

She started to step aside and Locke caught her by the arm. "I let her go, you'll just run away again, son."

Walt walked up to them and took Kate's hand, pulling her away from Locke. She was amazed she could look the boy in the eye now; he'd grown as tall as her. He was still thin, still haunted, and had traces of a recently trimmed beard. She smiled just seeing him alive. Most of them had thought him dead.

"LOCKE!" Sawyer shouted from somewhere close by. Kate took it as her cue to run and she felt Walt on her heels, directing her through the foliage. She didn't know where Walt was taking her, but she trusted him.

She heard her name on Jack's lips and she froze, sliding to a stop. Walt grabbed her arm and pleaded with his eyes for her to keep running. She shook her head, "No more running, Walt."

He clenched his jaw, knowing she wanted him to stop too. His head turned for a moment, towards where he had been heading and then looked back towards Locke. "He's going to come looking for your daughter. He'll kill her, like he did Sayid."

Kate pulled her knife out of her waistband and nodded. "Then we'll stop him."

Walt's lips trembled at the idea and he followed Kate back towards a tree, where she hid and listened. She held his hand, afraid to let him go. She wanted to bring him back to his father. She couldn't imagine how she'd be if Maggie disappeared. Kate felt him squeeze her hand and she glanced over at him, seeing him staring into the jungle, like the little boy she remembered from years ago.

She heard Jack gasp and popped her head around the corner. Jack and Sawyer were fighting with Locke, demanding to know where she was. Locke pulled two knives from his waist and smiled at them, egging them on. She knew Sawyer would take the bait first, bringing out his own knife as if it meant something and he lunged at the man. Locke moved quickly, slicing open Sawyer's forearm and kicking him aside.

Jack stood and shook his head. Kate saw him mouth the words, "I won't fight you," and she grimaced, knowing Locke wouldn't take that as an answer – not this Locke. It was as if nothing had changed, except, everything had because the moral compass Locke had lived by – even skewed as it were – was gone. Locke attacked Jack and Kate jumped out from behind the trees.

Kate threw her knife. She watched it zip through the trees and embed itself into Locke's forehead with a clunk she could hear even as far away as she was. Jack backed away from the man who fell in front of him and turned his head, feeling the blood starting to drip down his cheek from where the cold steel had grazed him. Kate locked eyes with him and her bottom lip began to tremble with fear as she let her arm drop to her side.

Jack walked towards her as Sawyer stared down at the body. Kate watched Sawyer's mouth drop open and his eyebrows fall in horror as he went with the other man. She met them halfway with Walt at her side. He was clinging to her shirt like a child and he stared at Locke also, seeming confused by the whole ordeal. What had he expected, Kate wondered, he wanted her to kill him, didn't he?

Taking her face in his hands, Jack stared into her eyes, watching them go wild as her actions settled in. "Kate?" He said softly as she brought her hands up to grab hold of his wrists. "Are you ok?"

Sawyer came up beside Jack and glanced around the jungle. "It's getting dark, we should head back."

Kate nodded her head slowly, but her legs felt weak under her. "I could have…" she started.

Jack shook his head, closing his eyes. "Don't do it, Kate. You did what you had to do." She looked up at him and he smiled, dropping a hand down to take hers. "Come on, Shannon has Maggie back at the caves."

Turning, Kate put an arm around Walt and pulled him towards her. The left corner of his mouth broke in a shy grin as he took a step with her towards the caves. She wondered what he was thinking. Why he'd been running? What he would have done if she hadn't killed Locke? If Locke was even who he was running from at all? She glanced around the jungle as Sawyer led the way and she shivered wondering if any of them were infected.

…

Finis