"Drop your weapon!" Jack heard from behind him. If it hadn't been a familiar voice, Jack would have jumped twenty feet in the air despite his damaged leg, but he knew this voice and it belonged to Sayid. Jack's first thought was that they were saved but when he saw the man behind Walt maintaining his aim on him he felt differently.
"I said drop your weapon!" called Sayid again. The man refused and on the contrary seemed to tighten his grip. He lowered his self to Walt's level to use him as a shield again. Walt struggled to break free of his binds.
"You don't want to shoot me," said the man. "Not when I'm so close to the precious little boy." His face and voice were almost taunting and he rubbed one of his dirty hands on Walt's head. Walt flinched under his touch and yelled a defiant, "Get off me!"
"Don't you dare touch him!" John shouted. He inched forward knowing that the man would rather keep his aim on Sayid since he was armed.
"Stay back, old man," the man shouted, "or I'll shoot you."
Jack was curious as to why he said that he'd shoot John when it would have been more of a threat to shoot Walt. He had his hostage right in front of him. Why not use him for his own safety to escape? Or maybe he had plans for Walt.
John halted, Sayid shouted again. "Just let go of the boy and we'll let you go free!"
Jack assumed that this was bullshit. There was no way that Sayid would let him escape and give him another chance to harm someone else. Apparently the man was thinking along the same lines.
"I'm not going anywhere without this one," he said as he tapped Walt on the head again. Walt reacted the same way as before.
"Why do you need him?" asked John. Jack noticed he had moved forward a little bit more. Luckily the man hadn't noticed.
"That really is none of your business, old man," he said. "All you need to know is that I'm taking him with me and all of you are going to stay down here and rot."
With that as his final threat he fully extended his arm and cocked the trigger of the gun that was pointed at Sayid. Jack flinched as he heard gunfire and a body hit the floor. But when he opened his eyes, he saw that the man was lying on the floor, clenching his shoulder.
"Dad!" Walt cried out.
Michael and Shannon were standing in the archway at the other end of the room. Michael still had his gun aimed on the man and a look of horrible fury on his face.
"That was for Sawyer," Michael said. As he prepared to shoot again, John called out.
"Michael, don't!"
Michael didn't take his eyes off of the man but he obediently lowered his gun. He seemed too agitated to start an argument. Instead, he ran to his son, untied him, and took him in a tight embrace.
"Oh, Walt," he said, overjoyed. "I thought I'd lost you."
"That was awesome, dad," Walt said excitedly. Even Vincent ran over to give Walt an affectionate lick.
Jack couldn't help but smile at their little reunion. He was, however, beginning to feel a little dizzy from the blood loss and decided it was best to hold onto the wall.
Sayid and John rushed over to tie up the injured man with the same bindings that were holding Walt. The man yelled out as Sayid tied the ropes very tightly, not trying to be gentle at all. Sayid then found his way over to Shannon and hugged her. Shannon hugged him back just as hard. John walked around the room and appeared to be searching every corner. Jack limped over to Walt and Michael as Walt was explaining his terrifying journey.
"Hey, Walt. Are you ok?"
"Yeah!" he said, still very excited. "Did you see my dad shoot that guy? He was amazing!"
Michael smiled proudly. He had waited ten years to hear that he was his son's hero and he was enjoying every minute of it.
"How did you guys get down here?" Jack asked.
Michael looked over at Shannon who was staring around the cave with a look of deep disgust. "Shannon found another entrance."
Shannon smiled and shook her head. "No," she said modestly, "Vincent found it. I just happened to be looking for your dog."
She handed Vincent's leash and collar back over to Walt. "Here," she said. "I promised he'd be yours when we saw each other again."
"Thanks," Walt said, "for taking good care of him."
"Jack?" called John as he walked over. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Jack said. "I don't think it went through, it just grazed my leg."
"Here," John said, tearing off a piece of his shirt. "Tie this around your leg. We can't have a sick doctor."
Jack took it and tied it tightly, grimacing as it made contact with the skin.
"Are we ready to get out of here?" asked Sayid who had one hand on the man. "We really should get back quickly since Sawyer is injured." John walked over and grabbed him by the other arm as they all made their way out of the cave. Vincent, who was walked by Walt, led the way out of the tunnel, followed by Shannon and Michael who were helping Jack, and bringing up the rear were John and Sayid with the injured man.
The light in the dark tunnel was growing brighter and brighter as they neared the other entrance. Once they emerged out of the cave, they all had to stop to assess their surroundings.
"We came in from over there," Michael said as he pointed to a particular tree to their right. "I remember passing a really thick tree."
"I think that was further back," said Shannon with uncertainty.
But before anyone could say anything else, Walt called out to them from the lead. "Guys, it's this way! Vincent can smell his way back!"
"Walt," Michael called out, "don't let him pull you too far ahead!"
Along the way, John found a suitable walking stick for Jack to use. Michael then caught up with Walt and Shannon fell back to talk to Sayid, leaving Jack and John to talk.
"What do you think about all this?" asked Jack.
"I'm not sure," John said, "I couldn't find any useful supplies in that cave. It seemed more like a trap to me."
Jack looked at him quizzically. "A trap?"
John shook his head. "I'm just throwing ideas out onto the table. I'm really confused about all of this."
"Confused about what?"
"Well, besides the fact that there are other people on this island that weren't on flight 815, there is also the question of why they took Walt and held him captive in a place underground. And it wasn't like it was an underground base or anything. It was a completely useless room with easy access on one end and a sealed entrance on the other."
"Well there were other tunnels down there that were leading off in opposite directions," said Jack. "Maybe there was something that way."
"I don't know," John said. "I still don't understand why we had a sealed entrance when those guys could just walk right in."
Jack didn't respond. He didn't know what to say. He was at a complete loss.
"We may have to investigate again," John said suddenly.
Jack stopped briefly. "What? No. We aren't doing that again. It's too dangerous."
"I'll go by myself then," John said.
"Are you crazy?" Jack asked. "No. We all need to stay together. The last time we all went our separate ways we nearly lost some people."
"Well, maybe this is what our destiny wants to happen," John said.
Jack stopped again and stared at him. "Destiny? Every individual makes up there own destiny. It isn't planned out for us. And even if it was then all of our destinies would be linked because every event that has happened within the past however many hours has brought us all back together." Jack resumed walking as if to say the conversation was over. John said nothing more.
Back at the beach...
Sawyer was finally able to sit up against a nearby tree. The remedy that Sun had given him seemed to be doing its job. The bleeding had finally stopped and the pain was growing duller.
Sun came out of the jungle with more of the mystery remedy and with another bit of torn cloth. Sawyer opened his eyes and saw her approach.
"Aw no," he said as she sat down beside him again. "It's the nurse with the magical powers to create medicine out of every sort of plant she can find coming to change my bandage again." His voice wasn't hateful. It was more of a playful tone similar to what he always used with Kate. He was always trying to get a rise out of everyone; to see what his or her reaction will be. Sun's reaction was a smile but inside she was thinking that it was so much easier to dress his wound when he was unconscious.
Sawyer realized that Sun wasn't going to give into his light-hearted foolishness so he switched to a more serious tone.
"You should be really proud of your husband," he said.
Sun looked up from her work and stared at Sawyer quizzically.
"He was the one who pulled me out of the water," Sawyer said.
Sun smiled and nodded. She looked back at Jin who was making funny faces at Aaron who was crying in Claire's arms. Sun laughed and Jin looked at her, returning her smile with a look of deepest affection for her. She looked back at Sawyer and said, "I am proud of him. Thank you."
"Thank you," Sawyer said to her, truly meaning it, "you know, for this." He said as he pointed to his shoulder.
Sun nodded. An awkward moment passed. Sawyer didn't like all of the mushiness that had just taken place but what recently happened had just brought it out of him. He didn't know anyone cared that much for him. He had never in his life felt the way he did now since before his parents died. He suddenly felt that the awkwardness was too great and that he was being too nice for one day.
"Well, hurry up with that bandage," he said sarcastically, but not rudely. "It could get infected."
Sun smiled and continued her work. She understood his manly ego was at stake.
"Alright," came Kate's voice, "I'm going to go find Hurley. Maybe I'll go down into the hatch to look for Jack."
"Leaving me, freckles? Aw, what'd I ever do to you?"
"Very funny," Kate said, "It's been a long time and I left Hurley there alone. I'd feel bad if I didn't go back."
"Ok. Maybe you could catch me a wild boar with your bare hands while your out on your excursion."
Kate snorted. "You know what," she said as she put her backpack on. "I think I liked you better when you were asleep."
"Well shucks, freckles. I didn't know you cared so much."
"Goodbye Sawyer," Kate said, as she set off towards the hatch, unable to keep a straight face.
In the jungle...
"I think we're almost there," Walt said to his dad. "Vincent keeps whining."
"I think so too," said Michael. He was so glad to have his son back that he agreed with nearly everything he had said. A few minutes back, Walt had said that he thought Vincent looked taller and Michael agreed with him. Of course he knew that this wasn't true and that most kids, when separated from their pets for a while, will claim that they have changed. He just couldn't bring himself to correct him.
Further back, Jack and John hadn't spoken since the whole speech about destiny. The only time they did talk was when Jack had to rest and John changed his bandage and the only topic of discussion was how his leg was feeling.
Sayid and Shannon had talked a little about what had happened down in the hatch but they both thought it was best to talk when they weren't escorting the enemy along with them. It seemed that Shannon was on better terms with Sayid but she still seemed to resent John. Sayid tried to tell her that it wasn't completely his fault but she refused to listen. After that, they hadn't spoken.
"There it is!" Walt shouted as he let the madly barking Vincent run forward.
They had reached the beach where everyone was currently staying. Walt ran after Vincent and Michael followed him. Jack limped out of the woods with John at his side and headed towards Sawyer. Sayid kept his distance away from the crowd so as not to frighten them with the mysterious man. He found a piece of the plane far away from the crowd and tied the man to it, again not taking the time to be gentle.
There were a lot of smiling faces as they returned to their friends. Walt ran over to Sun and hugged her and then did the same to Jin. Other people shook hands with Michael and Walt, happy that they were back safely.
"How is he?" Jack asked Sun as he sat down with a groan.
"I'm fine," Sawyer said.
"Oh, you're awake." Jack said, examining his shoulder.
"That I am, Dr. Hero. How observant of you." Sawyer wasn't ever going to allow Jack the pleasure of his rare kindness. Jack ignored him. He was too used to his sarcasm to care.
"Looks like you guys didn't need me," Jack said, smiling at Sun. "Everything that could have been done is done. It's healing perfectly."
"Yup. Looks like you aren't the only one who can save us all," Sawyer said.
"You could use some of this too," said Sun, noticing his injured leg.
"Oh that's ok," said John. "I don't need it. Save it for Sawyer."
Sawyer rolled his eyes.
"I have plenty," Sun said and she stooped down to examine him.
"Jack!" Kate called suddenly. Jack turned around and saw Kate running out of the jungle. She looked upset.
"Jack," she called again as she got closer. She finally reached them and doubled over to catch her breath.
"What is it, Kate?" he asked.
"It's Hurley," she finally managed, "I can't find him anywhere."