DISCLAIMER: I do not own LOST. The end.
-JADED-
-BY WHENICOMEAROUND-
-CHAPTER TWO-
"Well," said Jack, standing up and wiping his knees. "that's that."
Locke ignored him and remained bent over the open hatch door. Kate said, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Look, there's no way we're getting everyone down there in time." said Jack. "Besides, the ladder is broken."
"We can lower everyone down." said Locke reasonably.
"You're going to lower fifty people down there one by one, one with an infant? We don't even know what's down there. If you want to come back here and battle with the hatch in the morning, you can. But right now, we're going back to camp." Jack shouldered his backpack and looked at Kate. She looked at the hatch, then slowly turned back to Jack and nodded.
"Yes. Good idea. Let's go." said Hurley, who was eager to get away from this thing.
Kate, Hurley, and Jack began to walk away.
"Let's go, John." said Jack.
Locke stood and with one last look at the hatch, he left.
"Uh, guys?" said Hurley. "There's something you should see."
The other three turned and looked at what Hurley was pointing at. One word on the hatch door that read "QUARANTINE".
---------
Fifty survivors looked up at Jack expectantly.
"Well?" said Charlie.
"Uh," said Jack. He glanced to his left, where Kate stood. She smiled at him. Somehow, he felt braver.
Jack gave a little speech about the hatch and their intentions to hide everyone inside it, and how that probably wasn't going to work. So everyone would stay here tonight.
"And tomorrow morning, the sun is going to rise, and all of us are still going to be here to watch it," Jack concluded. "If we live together, we're going to die together. But if we live alone, we're going to die alone."
There was a murmur of agreement.
Jack breathed a sigh of relief.
Locke appeared beside Jack. Everyone looked at him.
"What?" said Locke. He picked up a rope.
"What are you doing?" said Jack.
"Getting some cable," said Locke. "I'm going into the hatch."
-----
"Do you really believe it?"
Jack had finished his lecture and was now sitting by the fire. He looked up at the speaker. It was Kate.
"Believe what?"
"That everything's going to be okay." said Kate. She sat down beside him.
"Yeah," said Jack, looking at her. "I do."
"It's sort of unlike you," said Kate, smiling. "the whole glass-half-full thing."
"There's a glass?" They both laughed.
"You did a good thing, saying what you said." she said. "just giving everyone something to count on. If you weren't here, Jack..." she trailed off.
Jack liked the sound of that.
Kate played with her hands in her lap. "I'm going to the hatch."
Jack looked at her.
"Look, Locke is going down there, whether you like it or not. And if he falls, and breaks his neck..." she trailed off again. " 'Live together, die alone', right?" she quoted.
"Right," said Jack, smiling. "Be careful, Kate."
She smiled. "I will."
-----
Now, we all know Jack. And we all know he would never, ever, keep still about something like this.
And right now wasn't any different.
Jack was racing around, tossing things in and out of his backpack. He felt a lump in his throat for some inexplicable reason.
"But what about all the stuff you said, about watching the sun rise and everything?" Hurley exclaimed.
"I changed my mind."
"No, Kate changed your mind." said Hurley shortly.
Jack picked up his water bottle and his eyes fell on the gun. He picked it up.
"So what?" he said. And with that, he left.
What Hurley said actually was the truth- Kate had changed Jack's mind, and he wasn't going to let her go down there alone.
And besides, he really didn't trust Locke.
When Jack got to the hatch, Kate and Locke were nowhere to be seen.
He bent down over it and shouted: "Kate!"
No answer.
"Locke!"
Still, no answer.
Jack tore a rag in two and wrapped it around his hands. He grabbed hold of the cable that was dangling over the edge of the door and held his breath.
He hit the ground with a THUD!
Jack stood up and looked around. He picked up Kate's discarded flashlight and looked around.
A mirror in the corner, but nothing else.
Strange place.
Jack began walking down the tunnel-like path. It looked somewhat like a mine or a cellar. Jack could see plumbing pipes and an electrical fusebox.
This was very strange.
Jack walked on. Near the end of the hallway he cocked his gun. He shined his flashlight in the corner and saw another mirror.
Then, Jack's heart skipped a beat and he jumped about a foot in the air when he heard music blasting all around him.
A white, blinding light turned on behind him. Jack shielded his eyes. What was going on?
He walked into a circular room filled with computers and technological-looking things. He made to touch the keyboard on the nearest one, when the music stopped abruptly and a voice came from behind him: "I wouldn't touch that."
Jack looked up and pointed his gun at Locke. "Where's Kate?"
"Jack, it's-"
"Where the hell is she!" he shouted.
"Jack, she's okay, it's-"
Just then another gun appeared by Locke's ear and a voice Jack couldn't recognize said, "Don't move."
To Jack the voice said, "Put the gun down."
"I'm not putting anything down, where's Kate-"
"Put the gun down, or I'll blow him to smithereens!" shouted the voice. "Put the damned gun down!"
The speaker turned his head to reveal his face...
A/N: CLIFFIE ENDING, HA HA FOR YOU!