"Sawyer," Kate called quietly to him as she stood on the beach just above the surf. Sawyer was standing at the edge of the jungle, staring at her as she called out to him again as quietly as the first. Sawyer was amazed that he could hear her. Her voice was barely higher than a whisper although she stood far enough away that Sawyer had to strain his eyes to see her. It didn't take Sawyer long to notice that he was alone, but just as quick as the sun emerges from behind a cloud, his fellow survivors appeared behind Kate, getting ready to set sail on a magnificent ship.

He suddenly wanted to run to Kate, to the ship, to leave this damned island behind, but some imaginary force held him back. He didn't know why he wanted to stay but he could not protest the invisible ropes that seemed to have bound him there.

"Sawyer!" Kate called out again. Her voice was becoming louder and more urgent. He wanted to follow her, to tell her that he could not move but when he opened his mouth to speak, words different from the ones he was thinking poured out of his mouth. It was as if someone else was speaking through him.

"We can't leave, Kate," he yelled. "We can't leave anyone behind."

Kate looked confused. Sawyer felt the same for he saw everyone boarding the huge ship, even the people that he knew to be dead. Despite his best efforts, he still could not move, and more words that weren't really his came out.

"We have to find Walt," he yelled. "We won't make it without him!"

Suddenly as if a storm was moving overhead, the beach turned dark and Kate disappeared from view. The scenery changed and he was suddenly walking through a dark tunnel. He heard screams and he rushed forward, his legs were moving but he could not feel them.

Then there was Walt. He was at the end of the tunnel. Sawyer tried to move forward to help him so that they could leave but something kept him away. It was the same force that held Sawyer back on the beach. Walt tried to move towards Sawyer but he met the same obstacle. That's when he began to yell.

"Sawyer!" he screamed. "Help me, Sawyer! Sawyer!"

His voice echoed and the tunnel walls seemed to shake with every syllable. It was getting foggy and Walt's voice was changing. Sawyer saw Walt turn into Kate moments before the fog obscured his vision and he felt himself spiraling downward...downward...downward...

"Sawyer!" Kate bellowed.

Sawyer woke up. Kate was hovering over him, her cheeks flushed. The old pain in Sawyer's shoulder hit him like a brick and he groaned loudly.

"Easy, Sawyer," he heard Kate say as she squeezed his hand. "You were just having a dream."

Sawyer's vision began to focus as the pain in his arm dulled and he found himself staring into Kate's eyes.

"Freckles?" he said quietly. "I thought I'd never see you again." He flashed his big dimpled grin and Kate smiled back. That's Sawyer for you, Kate thought. Even after being shot in the shoulder and losing a countless amount of blood he still had his charm. He was considerably pale and looked very weak but that twinkle in his eye was still there.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," she said back with a smile.

Sawyer laughed but it turned into a cough and he winced in pain. His smile faded from his face and he closed his eyes. Kate stopped smiling and she squeezed his hand again. Kate could feel tears welling up behind her eyes. She had never seen Sawyer in such a helpless state. He would always put up a wall whenever someone would hit a soft spot. Always playing on his arrogant charming ways to keep people from revealing his weaknesses, anything to keep his manly pride from getting damaged. If this had never happened before she would have thought that Sawyer would have bounced back from being shot, getting to his feet and saying, "It's just a damn scratch." Now she knew better and it made her uneasy.

She suddenly realized that Sawyer was staring at her and she spoke up. "What happened out there?" she asked.

Sawyer took a deep breath. "Some guys showed up on a boat. They decided they wanted Walt. I went for my gun, but they were too quick. Bastards blew up the damn raft. Where is everyone else?"

"Jack and John are in the hatch. So is Sayid."

"Hatch?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah. It looked like some sort of tunnel."

"A tunnel?" Sawyer asked. He remembered the tunnel in his dream and how he found Walt at the end of it. "Walt," he whispered more to himself than to Kate.

"What?" Kate asked.

"The dream I had. I was on the beach talking to you. I was telling you that we couldn't leave without Walt and then I was in a tunnel. Walt was at the end of it calling me to help him. I think Walt might be down there."

"Sawyer," Kate reasoned. "That was just a dream. Walt was taken away on a boat. It doesn't make any sense that he'd be here."

"Since when has anything here made sense?" Sawyer fired back. "We've seen polar bears for God's sake! Look, I don't care if you think I'm crazy but don't dismiss the idea that Walt might be on this island. It wouldn't hurt to look."

Kate thought briefly that it was the gunshot wound causing him to act delirious but in the back of her mind she felt it was true. Call it women's intuition, but she suddenly knew that Walt was in the Hatch. And as Sawyer closed his eyes again to rest, she thought about what he said about it not hurting to look.

Further along the beach...

Charlie managed to slip away from Claire long enough to examine the small handful of heroine baggies he had brought along with him. Claire was one of the many people sitting around Sawyer like a guard. Charlie had been sitting next to her playing peek-a-boo with Aaron and making goofy faces to encourage laughter.

"I don't think that babies laugh when they're this young," she had said. She herself was laughing at his antics while Aaron just stared blankly, most likely wondering what in the world this odd creature was doing.

"Sure they can," he said in between faces. "I'll get him to laugh, just watch." He leaned forward to get a little closer and he felt the presence of the drugs in his pocket. His many years previous as an addict had sharpened his methods of excuse making to find privacy for a drug fix and this time made no exception. "I'll go find something to get his attention," he had said.

"Ok," said Claire with a grin, "Just make sure it isn't poisonous."

Charlie gave her the thumbs up and made his way into the jungle.

He couldn't lie to his self. He did feel bad for lying to Claire but he wouldn't feel anything soon. He had gone through de-tox earlier but there was still a deep need for the drug. He would always feel it, but over time, if he never had another fix, that feeling would become less intense. He felt guilty for giving in to the temptation but he felt it extremely coincidental that he just happened to wander across an airplane full of heroine, his drug of choice.

He pulled one of the baggies out of his pocket and stared at it. He even opened it and smelled that familiar scent. It was definitely heroine. He realized that his heart was pounding and his hands were shaking. Then he started to sweat. He felt like he was going though de-tox again. He suddenly had second thoughts but he couldn't throw the drugs away either. For a moment, he was frozen. Deep down, the drugs scared the shit out of him because he knew what would happen if he started this again. The road of a drug addict was long, painful and lonely but it was also pure ecstasy.

His trembling hands brought the drugs closer to his face. He was halfway to Paradise and halfway to Hell. He felt the desire for it burning throughout his veins and the veil of eternal despair draping over his head all at the same time. Closer. Sweat dripped down his nose. Chills coursed up and down his spine, first hot and then cold. Closer. He could smell it again and it made him want it more. The trembling of his hands made the smell stronger and his heart skipped a beat. It was now right under his nose.

"Charlie?" came Claire's voice to the left of him.

He whipped around so fast that he almost dropped the bag. The sweat from his forehead flew off in a tiny shower as he turned quickly and he held his hands behind his back to conceal the drugs.

"Claire," he said in a squeaky voice that was thick with guilt, "I didn't hear you coming...I was just looking for something for Aaron."

"What is that you're hiding?" she asked. Her voice was held an accusatory tone but it was almost drowned out by shock.

"Oh...uh...nothing," he said, dropping the drugs behind him and praying that she hadn't seen them fall. "See," he said, holding out his sweating and trembling hands. He saw how shaky they were and he quickly shoved them into his pockets.

"Don't lie to me, Charlie," she said. Aaron was getting fussy in her arms. This was making Charlie more nervous. "What were you holding?"

"Nothing I just showed you..."

"Charlie!" she yelled. She was beginning to shake and Aaron was beginning to cry. "Just tell me the truth," she said. Her voice was strangled as if she was holding back tears. "I saw what you were doing so either way, whether you lie or not, I'll know the truth. Tell me," she said, tears were running down her cheeks now. "I need to hear you say it."

Charlie didn't want to say it but his mouth betrayed him. "It's heroine," he said quietly, completely ashamed. "But I just found it, I wasn't going to..."

"Bullshit!" she yelled.

Charlie jumped at her outburst. He had never heard her so angry before and his shame grew stronger.

"I saw you, Charlie! It was practically up your nose!"

"I can explain," Charlie said.

"Explain what?" Claire yelled back. "Explain that you lied? You told me that you were clean! You just dropped the fact that you were a junkie on me a short while ago and it took me forever to accept it!"

"But I wasn't..."

"No Charlie! I trusted you! And now when I'm finally starting to feel things for us you throw it all away for a damn fix!" Aaron was crying loudly and Claire's cheeks were stained with tears.

"Claire..."

"I don't want to hear it, Charlie," she said, "How could you?" She turned around and headed back to the beach.

"Claire wait!" he shouted but she continued to ignore him. When she was out of sight, Charlie sank to his knees and covered his face with his hands as he started to cry. He wiped his tears away and looked down at the ground. The baggie was lying there and the drugs were still inside. None had spilled. He picked them up and tossed them violently from his sight.

Inside the Hatch...

For a brief moment, time stood still. Jack and John were motionless with their guns raised and aimed at the men surrounding Walt. The five men were also poised to strike at any moment but they all waited for the first shot to break the silence. But as quickly as the pause occurred, it ended with a bang. It was John who had the first shot. He hit one of the men who were armed and as he dropped to the floor in a heap, the others, Jack included, sprang into action.

Jack fired his gun at another man who was armed and he saw him hit the floor. He had only hit him in the leg so he was most likely still alive. There was another guy crouched behind Walt, using him as a shield. He was armed and his gun was pointing towards John.

"John, look out!" Jack shouted as the man squeezed the trigger.

Jack heard a bang and saw John drop to the floor. He wasn't sure if he was hit or not because one of the other men was coming at him at full speed. This guy appeared to be unarmed but as he approached, Jack saw him pull out a knife and hold it out in front of him as he charged forward. Jack dodged him just in time and the large man went barreling past him. Jack turned around and shot but missed as the guy dived low to the ground. Vincent then sprang into action and grabbed hold of the large man's pant leg. Jack assumed that Vincent got a hold of more than just clothing for the guy yelled in pain. Two men were down and one was getting his leg chewed on by Vincent. There were two more. The same guy was still crouched behind Walt but he wasn't doing anything. He was just using him as a shield.

Jack heard noises to his left and saw John punching another guy only armed with a knife. Jack, thinking on his feet, aimed for the man who was fighting with John but as soon as he was ready to squeeze the trigger he heard a bang and felt a sudden searing pain on the side of his right leg. He looked down and saw blood trickling down his pants leg. He had been shot. He turned to find the man who Vincent had been biting standing behind him with a gun aimed at his head. Jack thought that his heart had stopped. He was staring down the barrel of a handgun. If it weren't for the horrible pain in his leg he would have felt that he was dreaming. The man who had the gun aimed at him was grinning. "Say your prayers," he said. Jack closed his eyes as he heard the gun cock and then click.

Nothing happened. The man was out of bullets. The man looked at his gun and then at Jack's. The smile on his face was wiped away and he tried to run but Jack was ready. He aimed his own handgun at the man's back and fired. The man dropped to the floor, lifeless.

Not thinking twice about his actions, he turned towards John who was still fighting the other man. Jack figured that John must have run out of bullets or he had dropped his gun because he was fighting with his fists. Jack resumed his previous action and aimed for the guy who now had his arms around John's neck. He squeezed the trigger when he had a clear shot but the gun only clicked. He was now out of bullets. He must have shot more times than he thought. Jack threw the useless gun at the man's head and hit with aim so precise that it scared him. The man fell backward and looked a little disoriented. John seized the opportunity to grab for a knife on the floor and when the man came at him, he plunged the knife deep into his gut.

As that man hit the floor, John looked over and nodded to Jack in thanks. Jack nodded back and turned his focus to the man behind Walt. He had finally stood up now that there weren't any more bullets being fired.

Jack's leg felt like it was on fire and his heart was beating twice as fast as what was normal. He no longer had a gun and the man standing behind Walt did. John was staring at the man too and he was just as unarmed as Jack was. For a moment it felt like nothing happened. It was the same tension that they felt when they first entered the room, only this time Jack and John were unprotected.

"Nice try, Jack," said the man as he stepped out of the shadows.

Jack was shocked. "How do you know my name?" he demanded.

"Oh I know all of your names," he said with a grin. "John," he added as he looked over in his direction. This man was thin with long hair and a scraggly beard. He had the look of a shipwrecked pirate. He still had his gun aimed at Jack and his gaze would drift back and forth between him and John.

"We've been watching you," he said.

"We?" Jack said, confused.

The man smiled and nodded. "And now, it's time for youtwo to die."