Disclaimer: Still don't own anything
Author's note: Right, I think this is my favourite chapter so far, so please please review! I'm going to start replying to everybody who does, cause I always love i when people do that :) Okay, this chapter's quite suspensful i think, so i dunno, the next one might have a bit of fluff, allthough i like writing action much more, ya gotta have some fluffinessdon't you lol. (Just a bit though, lol...or more..? i dunno, you tell me:)
AmazinglyMe- Np, i love reviewing! (if any of you guys out there have charlie stories, just mention them and ill check them out)Yeah, you'll find out soon enough ;) And thanks for reviewing!
Vampyfreak- thanks, i hope you like this chapter too
SpikeandCharlie'sLostLuv- There's your update! lol, yes i too love charlie fan fics. Thanks for the reviews!
Sawyerslover-I wrote this chapter before that last review, but i think you'll like it :) hope. It's all pretty ironic, anyway, thanks for the reviews, and enjoy :)
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The Chase
"Okay" said Jack, "Where did Charlie go?"
"I sent him back to camp to go tell the others about all this." Jack glanced up at Kate sharply. He hadn't wanted everybody to know about what was in the hatch, or get the wrong story. Sighing, he looked around.
"Which way is the camp?"
Sayid began to look this way and that too, coming to stare directly in front of them.
"I think it's that way." He said, pointing up ahead.
"Are you sure?" Jack asked nervously. "The last thing we need right now is to get lost in the jungle."
Sayid shifted his eyes over to rest on Jack and Kate. "No, I am not sure."
xxxx
"Shannon" Sun said, shaking her shoulder a bit. "Are you alright?" She had found Shannon lying on her back staring up at the canopy of leaves above. She blinked slowly and jerked her head, acting as if she had just been greatly disturbed.
"Yes, I'm fine." She said, "I was just thinking about something."
Sun nodded and walked away slowly, to go sit down and have a rest. She was exhausted, having got almost no sleep at all the previous night. She had been much to worried about everybody's safety, and about… the others.
xxxx
"Why is everything dark?" Charlie mumbled to himself.
Turning his head over, he realized his problem. He hadn't opened his eyes yet.
"Bloody hell…" He said softly, spitting out the dirt that he had most likely inhaled in his sleep. He couldn't remember exactly what his dream had been about, but he could sure as hell guess.
Charlie stood up, and shook his head, perhaps trying to clear it of all the uncomfortable thoughts that were creeping back into his mind. He spun around again, this time more aware of his surroundings.
He seemed to be inside a ring of trees, which towered over him, whispering softly.
Charlie shook his head again. Did he really hear whispers? He started whipping around frantically in every direction, whenever he thought he heard a distinct word among the raspy voices.
He began to back up slowly, until he felt a large tangled vine that hung off of an enormous tree behind him. Charlie screamed and jumped forward when he heard a particularly loud crashing noise coming from right behind where he stood.
Scrambling forward on all fours, Charlie heard the noises getting louder in every direction, and he started too really panic. There was nowhere he could run.
xxxx
"Okay, Kate can you go back to Locke? Tell him that Sayid and I are setting off to the caves. I think he's got the erm… situation under control now. We can send someone else back to help organize, and sort all of the equipment down there."
"And the food…" Kate said with a smile edging onto her lips.
"Jack" Said Sayid, "What about…" He gestured towards the drugs lying beneath his feet.
Jack didn't reply, but just stared where the broken statue lay for quite awhile. When he looked up again, he saw that Kate had already left back down the hatch, and Sayid seemed to be deep in thought as well.
"I think…" he said slowly, "We should throw it away."
"But he knows where the plane is!" Sayid replied, glancing up quickly. "He could go retrieve some more whenever he wants. It was foolish of me to mention the drugs at all… there was no reason for me to." Sayid said quietly.
"There was no way you could've known." Jack replied without hesitation. "When you saw him he was already unconscious correct?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so. I know what you're thinking Jack, but I do not believe he has already taken some, and I doubt he would anytime soon."
"We'll see…"
xxxx
Hurley didn't like the fact that everyone was already starting to get ready to go back to the beach. He had a strange feeling it wasn't safe yet, and he still thought all the castaways should stay put for at least one more day.
Charlie still hadn't come back yet, so they didn't know if it was okay at the beaches. For all they knew, the others could all be waiting there withthe manalready held captive.
Hurley shivered at the thought of everybody walking out onto the beaches right into a trap.
"Everybody! Wait!" Hurley shouted, pointlessly, because nobody was listening. Hurley began to get frustrated; they were all being way too careless.
xxxx
When he started to see the branches in the trees sway in front of him, Charlie knew that he had to get out of that clearing, or die. He ran over to the opposite end, and began tearing away at the twisted branches, trees, and vines helplessly.
Charlie thrust himself amidst the thicket, ignoring the violent gashes and cuts created by the many thorns and branches he was trying to shove out of his way.
It seemed that he was only moving inch by inch, as the monster advanced on him, perhaps waiting until he tired himself out, then swooping in for the kill.
He knew that any second now, he would be wrenched away from his desperate struggle. Only once before, had Charlie experienced true terror. The kind that would make your heart freeze over, and paralyze your limbs almost entirely, only succeeding to terrify you even more. That had been the moment when realized Claire was gone.
Every sound become magnified one thousand times more in Charlie's ears. His harsh breathing, the beating of his heart, even the sound of the branches whipping across his face sounded like the crashing of lightning.
As Charlie tried to gain speed through the jungle, the vines and branches became increasingly difficult to avoid, and he ran head on into a low hanging branch, getting the wind knocked out of him.
Charlie tried to get to his feet again, but staggered, still gasping for breath that he feared he would never regain.
In a last, vain attempt to escape the hopeless reality that this thing would get him, Charlie began to crawl forward on his hands and knees. He felt the jungle monster breathing down his back and for one second, considered giving up and facing the reality he knew existed right there, less than a few feet behind him.
xxxx
Jack and Sayid had been trudging through the jungle for what seemed like hours, and they both doubted the accuracy of the route they had chosen to take.
"Alright Jack, what do you propose we do? We could turn around and make our way back to Kate and John, or we could continue on with the hopes of finding the caves."
Jack stopped walking and slung his bag off his shoulders. He didn't understand how sometimes it could be so incredibly easy to find something in this jungle at one point, and then not be able to find the exact same thing another time. How did Kate find the camp so easily when she came back?
Frustrated, Jack plunked himself down on the ground.
"Maybe we should just stop looking." He said, exasperated.
Sayid gave his companion a quizzical look, and sat down as well. "What do you mean?" He asked, taking a bottle of water out and tossing it to Jack.
"I don't know…" He said cautiously. "I just think we should stay here for awhile, maybe for the night…" Jack paused, what was he thinking? They needed to get back to camp! He sounded exactly like Locke. Jack shook his head and stood up.
"Then where are you going Jack?" Sayid asked.
"I changed my mind, I think we do need to continue, you were right." Jack answered. He began to walk away, so Sayid stood up off the bright, moss covered rock he had been sitting on, and followed.
They had to take quite a detour to avoid a fairly steep hill, covered with a thicket of many brambles and roots, which were easy to trip over.
Not being able to take the uneasy silence anymore, Sayid mentioned that they were now most likely heading north, therefore quite a way off the course they had began to take.
xxxx
Shannon was one of the first people to have packed up all of her things to head for the beach. She was more then willing to leave the caves she hated so, so much.
Ignoring Hurley, who was ranting away about god knows what, Shannon left everybody behind and started off on the path to the beach. She needed to be alone right now, and didn't feel like waiting around in the caves.
"Crap!" Shannon said to herself when one of her shoes fell off for the third time. Angry for having chosen to wear such inconvenient footwear, she sat down and pulled open her pack.
Fumbling around through all of her possessions, Shannon realized she didn't have one single freaking pair of proper shoes. What the hell was she thinking? Who cares what she looks like on this stupid frigging island.
Shannon stood up and threw her sandals into the jungle. She didn't care anymore; all she wanted was to get to the beach.
Frustrated, she trudged on in bare feet. Shannon began walking faster then ever, because she didn't want the others to catch up to her, and start trying to have a conversation.
xxxx
Charlie could feel his whole body shaking like mad as he knelt, curled in a ball, directly in front of the mysterious menace. His breaths were coming out in gasps, and there was sweat dripping off his forehead, and running into his cuts and eyes, making them sting like crazy.
Gathering the rest of his strength, and courage, he began to get ready to make a break for it. He didn't know why this thing was waiting, but he decided not to question its intentions.
Charlie began to count down from ten. 10, 9, 8, There was nobody here to help him now, no one to bring him back to life and make everything okay again.7, 6, It was just him, 5, alone, 4, in the jungle with something that wanted to eat him.
3, 2, 1
xxxx
"Which way's west then?" Jack asked impatiently.
"We would have to start making our way down this slope diagonally, doubling back a bit the way we came." Sayid answered, point down the hill.
Jack sighed, all he wanted was to get back to the caves and it seemed that they had been walking the whole day. He hoisted his pack onto his shoulders and followed Sayid down the slanting terrain, praying to god that this was the right way.
xxxx
The screams of Aaron were echoing through the caves, driving the entire camp crazy. Claire stood amongst the crowd of people, trying desperately to calm her child, yet have no effect whatsoever.
Tears began to leak from her baggie eyes, and she started to push back toward the waterfall. She couldn't take it anymore! All she wanted to do was go to sleep. When she heard everyone was moving back to the beach, she was eager to go, still not knowing where the bloody hell Charlie was.
Then she started to get angry. She needed him now, and he had just gone traipsing off into the sodding jungle, leaving her alone to deal with everything by herself.
With Aaron still screaming in her arms, Claire collapsed onto a boulder, rocking her son back and forth madly. Sun, who had been helping people here and there, rushed over to the mother when she noticed she was about to pass out.
"Here, Claire, let me take him, I will carry him to the beach for you, you need some rest." Claire just looked at the Korean woman with grateful eyes and handed the baby over.
"Thank you." She said.
"If you don't want to come down to the beach, you don't have to Claire, I will stay with you, and there are many others who do not wish to go as well."
Claire shook her head, "No. I have to find Charlie." She said simply.
xxxx
Digging his fingers into the spongy ground, Charlie pushed off as hard as he could with his hands. He slid to his feet, and took off again through the jungle, completely aware the chase was on once more.
He felt lungs were definitely going to burst open any minute, as Charlie tore on ahead, feeling, and truly remembering fierce pain shoot through his body.
He had no idea where he was running, or how he was going to get there. All Charlie knew then was run.
Suddenly, he felt himself begin to stumble forward. As if everything had gone to slow motion, he looked down to find the cause of his fall had been a bright, moss covered rock.
xxxx
When the two men heard a scream in the distance, right in the direction they were headed, they faltered. They weren't sure if they should continue and see what's happening up there or not. It could be something at the camp, or maybe even somebody lost in the jungle.
But who's to say it wasn't someone like Ethan, baiting them in so he could kill them… or worse.
Silently deciding it was in their best interest to follow the source of the noise, Sayid and Jack continued on, this time hastening their pace some more.
xxxx
Charlie swore as he did somewhat of a flip and landed on his shoulder. However he never did stop falling. Picking up speed as he tumbled down the hill, Charlie somehow managed to right himself so his feet were facing ahead.
Using his momentum, he leaned over enough to put him on his feet, which was a big mistake, because now he was falling face forward, instead of feet forward.
Charlie began to crash through anything and everything in his way, including trees, branches and such.
Unfortunately, when the ground started to level out, and he broke through into a small clearing, he had not lost any of that speed. This made everything all the more painful when he ran straight into the little yellow plane.
xxxx
Hurley watched helplessly as the caves emptied out slowly, until there were only a few people left, including Claire and Sun. He rushed over to them, hoping they weren't planning on leaving as well.
"You two aren't going are you?" He asked, almost desperately.
Claire just glanced up briefly. She was packing some water bottles and supplies hurriedly into a pack.
"Yes Hurley, we're going. I don't know what's wrong with you, but didn't you hear Charlie? There is nothing out there."
Hurley didn't argue, but he knew she was wrong. How could she believe there was nothing out there when she had been…
"Fine, I'll accompany you too then. Can't let you go wandering through the jungle alone." He said, trying to be cheerful.
Sun stood up slowly. The baby had stopped wailing, and she didn't want it to start all over again. She turned around and got the attention of the rest of the people who were staying in the caves.
"If Jack, or anyone else comes back, just tell them that most of us have gone back to the beaches, to get away from here for awhile."
One of the men nodded, and the three companions turned and followed the last of the people out of the caves.
xxxx
Charlie stumbled backwards; he had been winded for the second time. This time however, when he hit the ground he could not get back up again.
Barely conscious anymore, he inched slowly towards the hatch on the side of the small plane. He knew there was no way he could possibly keep running anymore, and his best chance to survive was to hide inside.
Now on the right side of the plane, Charlie pulled himself inside, still not hearing a trace of the monster's pursuit.
Of course, Charlie wasn't thinking about this now, but if pain hadn't been searing through every inch of his body, he would gaping at the fact that he'd come across the plane at all.
Honestly, how is it that he could've possibly found the air plane in the middle of the jungle on this huge island. Then again, maybe the island wasn't that big after all…
Charlie then crawled in to the middle of the aircraft and collapsed among the scattered statues of Mother Mary.
He closed his eyes, waiting for it to find him.
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Okay, well I hope you liked this chapter. I'm not sure if everything was as clear on the page as it was in my head, so I'd appreciate it if you reviewed and let me know what you thought. Ahem, did you get the part about the bright moss covered rock? lol...or is it really obvious...or not?
Yes, I've just decided that I'm not gonna continue with the story unless I have 5 suitable reviews, so if yah want to keep reading, you know what to do! (teehee)
BTW- Is it Locke, or Lock? I'm not sure which one i've been using... i apologize if i've been using both, or the wrong one, so let me know which one it is so i can fix the problem, lol, thanks.
Right, well… I know the button's right there… below this writing… so go ahead, Push it! It's not that hard!
Pen Liddin