Back at the beach...
Day is breaking...
"Sayid," Shannon called out. The sunrise was giving the beach a soft orange hue. Shannon was searching frantically for something. "Sayid! Where are you?"
"I'm here," called Sayid, who had just come out of the bushes. "What is it? I was looking for my bag."
"It's Vincent," Shannon said.
"Vincent?"
"He's disappeared. I can't find him anywhere."
"I'm sure he's just off playing around," said Sayid.
"No, I had him on a leash tied up to a tree, he was here a minute ago." Shannon was beginning to sound desperate. "I promised Walt that I'd take care of him."
"Shannon, calm down," Sayid soothed. "He probably just broke away from the leash and took a walk. You have been holding him really closely lately."
Shannon sighed vehemently. "We need to find him," she said.
"He'll be ok, Shannon. He's a dog. They're a lot more resilient..."
"Look," Shannon interrupted and stared into his eyes. "I just need to find him, ok? Can you just help me look for him?"
Tears were rimming her eyes. Sayid was having a hard time figuring out why she was suddenly so attached to Vincent. She really didn't seem like a dog person. The helplessness in her eyes made Sayid feel bad.
"Alright," he said. "Let's go ask the others if they've seen him."
"Thank you," she said, and truly meant it.
Inside the Hatch...
"John! Over here!" Jack called out into the darkness. They had been traveling for a half an hour through a horizontal tunnel that was just tall enough for their heads to clear the ceiling. The air was moist and stale and reeked of mold and decay. The ground was made up of earth rather than metal similar to the downward tunnel and it crunched under their feet as they walked. They hadn't made as much progress as a half an hour would allow because they kept coming upon different obstacles.
"Look, there's more writing," Jack said.
"Interesting," John said as he studied the unfamiliar words and symbols closely.
"Interesting?" asked Jack.
"I know this language," said John, "It's Cantonese."
"What does it say?"
"It's just repeating the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 over and over again."
"How do you know Cantonese?" asked Jack.
"I had a friend who spoke it," John said. "I believe all of these languages are a repeat of the same numbers. I noticed on the way down that these numbers in English were covering the walls."
"Maybe these are the numbers Hurley was talking about," Jack suggested.
"Maybe," John said, still studying the walls.
"Well I think we should move on," Jack suggested. "I don't think it's a good idea to stay still for too long down here."
As they moved further down the narrowing tunnel they noticed that the ground was getting soggier. Jack thought that maybe the reason for this was that the tunnel traveled under the ocean towards a neighboring island. But it didn't make sense. First of all, the hatch was a good two miles inland and they hadn't been walking for more than an hour, and second of all, if a tunnel were built under the ocean, it would have been very expensive and therefore mentioned in the news. Jack didn't remember hearing about an underwater tunnel on the news. Jack looked up at the ceiling of the tunnel and saw no water droplets forming. It was almost as if it had rained inside the tunnel.
"Where do you suppose this water's coming from?" asked Jack.
"Possibly underground streams or wells," John said.
"Are those possible on islands?" Jack asked.
"Oh yeah. Any place there's water..." He broke off in mid-sentence and stood as still as if he had turned to stone.
"John? What is it?"
John held up his hand to silence Jack and continued to look forward into the black abyss. Jack was beginning to wonder whether John was playing a trick on him until he heard something. Jack's heart skipped a beat. It sounded like someone. Jack couldn't tell what the noise had been because it sounded very distant. So distant that it didn't even echo. But he could tell that it was definitely human as opposed to the cry of any wild animal.
"Do you hear that?" John whispered so quietly that Jack wouldn't have been able to hear him if he wasn't already listening hard.
"Yes," Jack whispered back.
"Come on," John said and resumed walking in a faster pace.
Back at the beach...
The sun had just cleared the horizon as Shannon and Sayid started towards the caves to continue the search for Vincent. Nobody so far had seen him and Shannon was becoming more worried.
"Shannon, relax," Sayid said, rubbing her shoulder as they made their way to the caves. "I don't want you to have another asthma attack over a dog."
"I won't," she said in a choked voice, "but I might if he doesn't turn up soon."
Sayid saw Charlie and Claire sitting over by the waterfall. Aaron was asleep and they were talking silently to one another as they both shared some kind of tropical fruit.
"Charlie, Claire," asked Sayid quietly, "Have either of you seen Vincent?"
"No, man," Charlie said. Claire shook her head.
"Well, if you see him come and tell me," said Sayid. "Shannon's a bit worried about him."
"Sure," Charlie said. "I'm sure he's fine. He's probably just off digging or swimming somewhere."
Shannon gave him a half smile but it was very forced.
"There it is!" said Sayid suddenly.
"Vincent?" Shannon asked hopefully.
"No, my bag. I must have left it here when we got back." Sayid walked over to retrieve his bag.
Shannon rolled her eyes and started to walk back to the beach.
As Sayid hitched his bag over his shoulder he noticed something familiar. He saw the top of a Holy Mary figurine sticking out of Charlie's bag. His brow furrowed in confusion. Why would Charlie take some of those drugs back to the caves with him? He turned around to question Charlie about it when Sun came running out of the thick trees, clearly upset.
"Sayid!" she said as she gulped in huge amounts of air. "The raft. They're back. Something's wrong!"
Sayid looked at Charlie and Claire for a split second before following Sun back to the beach.
"Should I go or do you want me to stay?" Charlie asked Claire who was rocking the sleeping Aaron in her arms.
"Let's both go," she said.
Sayid and Sun arrived back at the beach within minutes. The raft was swaying in and out as the tide carried it back and forth. It was badly damaged. Half of it was gone, including the sail and the remains were severely charred. Sayid was surprised that it was still afloat. There was a mark on the beach that looked as if something or someone were dragged away from the raft. Nothing about this situation looked good.
"Over there!" Sun shouted and pointed about a hundred feet to the left. There were quite a few people gathered around something. Sayid hoped that it was something instead of someone but inside he knew differently.
"Move over people," he shouted as he cleared the spectators and found a bleeding and unconscious Sawyer lying on the sand. Michael was pressing his fingers to his neck to check for a pulse. Jin was standing out of the group, letting what needed to be done, get done and staying out of the way. Sun ran over and squeezed him, gripping him so tightly that he grunted as she did so.
"How did this happen?" Sayid said. "How long has he been unconscious?"
"He's been unconscious for about an hour. Some guys on a boat saw our flare..."
"You made contact with someone?" Sayid interrupted, surprised. "You haven't been gone that long."
"They were no good. They shot Sawyer as he reached for his gun."
"Why were they no good? Why did Sawyer have to reach for a gun?"
"Because they said they wanted Walt," Michael shouted angrily. "They took him!"
"What?" Sayid asked disbelievingly. Michael got up and started to pace back and forth in frustration. Sayid took a shirt from a nearby bag and hastily replaced the old bandage. Sawyer's arm was almost completely drenched in blood.
"We need Jack," Sayid said. "Michael? Can you keep an eye on him while I go find Jack?"
"Yeah, sure," he said.
Back at the Hatch entrance...
"I wonder if they're ok," Kate said. "Hasn't it been like an hour?
"Yes," Hurley said. He wasn't fooling around anymore. He was almost as tuned in as Kate was. They were both sitting close to the edge in hopes of hearing their voices calling out with positive news.
"No news is good news, right?" Hurley asked. Kate looked at him skeptically. She wasn't quite sure she believed that. No news could mean that they were both dead and unable to give them a sign. Kate didn't want to think about that.
"Maybe I should go down there," Kate suggested, peering over the edge into the dark.
"I don't think that's such a good idea," said Hurley.
"Why not?" Kate asked.
"Because. Suppose something happens and I'm the only one left to get help?"
Kate raised her eyebrows. "And?"
"What do you mean 'and'? Have you seen me run? I'm not exactly a cheetah. You guys would be goners by the time I found anyone."
Kate smiled. "Alright. I'll stay up here. I just feel like something really bad has happened."
"You're just being paranoid," said Hurley. "I'm sure they're..."
"Kate!" Sayid's voice came booming through the trees. Kate and Hurley shot up at once looking towards the jungle.
"Kate!" Sayid finally emerged from the trees, sweating profusely.
"Sayid? What is it?"
"We have to get Jack! Sawyer's hurt."
"Sawyer? But I thought..."
"They're back. They ran into trouble. Walt's been kidnapped. Sawyer has been shot."
"Oh my God," Kate breathed. Hurley whispered an astounded, "Shit."
Inside the Hatch...
John and Jack were getting closer to the sound. It was growing louder but it was still very hard to tell what it was. The ground was never consistent. It had become dry again after they had jogged a few hundred feet and it was now soaking wet again. Both Jack and John were having a tough time keeping their balance. Jack noticed after a while that the writing on the wall was no longer there. Instead they were painted with various stains that Jack really didn't want to know the origins.
Jack was about to alert John of this change until something appeared out of the darkness ahead. Jack nearly slammed into John as he skidded to a halt. Jack's heart was pounding as he searched for the thing that blocked their path. He didn't have to see what it was because at that moment John said with a very surprised and shocked tone, "Vincent?"