A/N: Thanks for the reviews! If anyone does have any suggestions, I will defiantly consider them, I swear.
Disclaimer: I don't own Lost. I do own the first season (and an awesome box. Which has nothing to do with Lost, but is very square and cardboardy), but that's it. Oh yeah, and Ardren.
Ardren didn't know how long he had been in the jungle, but the pretzels and half of his water was gone. He had picked up a swarm of bugs, which he had named and had thought cool at first, but now were plain annoying. He had been so caught up in squishing "Billy" that it took him a while to notice that the path of broken and bent plants he had been following was too small to have been made by three people. Thinking that maybe they had split up, or one of them had walked ahead, Ardren shrugged, but examined the path closely as he walked. He couldn't see the sneaker-made foot prints in the mud any more. And when he bent down to tie his own shoes, he noticed that the new footprints were considerably smaller then Jack, Charlie, or Kate's would be. Also, Ardren could see each toe print clearly; this person wasn't wearing shoes. Confused, Ardren picked his bag up, and kept walking, thinking hard.
How could a survivor get this far into the jungle? What if it's some crazy cannibalistic native? Ardren almost hesitated, but curiosity got the better of him. He tried to run, but he had to be careful with his leg. Instead, he staggered as fast as he could, sometimes using the crutch like a pole-vaulter did, to sort of jump over the roots and rocks. He skidded to a stop; he was in a well-lit clearing, which was completely empty. Ardren slowly exhaled, feeling slightly relieved. He closed his eyes, and leaned against the nearest tree, gasping for air. A twig snapped behind him, and Ardren spun around, his arms raised in fists. At first, he didn't see anything, but the movement of her breathing caught his eyes. She was frozen between two trees, like she had been backing out of the clearing when he heard her. She looked like she was his age, and she had very long brown hair, which fell in waves to her knees. Her brown eyes were wide in fear, and she wore blue canvas caprise, a darker blue shirt, and no shoes.
"You're not taking me back there. Never again. You can't…can't make me!" she said, and Ardren noticed her voice had a familiar accent. With that, she ran, and in seconds she was gone. Ardren stood, dumbfounded. He almost ran after her, but it was going to be dark soon, and he didn't have enough supplies to stay the night. Or the courage…Ardren thought, hitching his bag over his shoulder. He had been walking for ten minuets, when Jack, Kate, and Charlie stumbled through the underbrush, soaking wet. Jack was bent over panting, Kate looked shocked and was shaking, and Charlie was wiping mud off his hands and legs.
"Um….did you find the cockpit?" Ardren asked, when no one said anything. The others looked up at him, then at each other, like they didn't know what to say.
"Well, we found the cockpit…" Kate started.
"And then we met this dead pilot, but he wasn't really dead yet…" Charlie added.
"And, so, we got the transceiver, but-"
"There was a bloody monster! So we ran for it!"
Jack stood up, shaking his head. "We'll tell you when we get back, okay?" Ardren nodded slowly, trying to ignore the questions that had popped into his mind at the mention of an undead pilot, the transceiver, and a monster.
It was a quite trip back, except when Charlie would try to break the silence ("So how come you didn't get wet? Just my luck; it only rains over me." "So, why were you in the forest anyways?") He gave up, and sulked the rest of the trip, unconsciously fingering his hoodie's pocket. After half an hour, Ardren started to feel the strain on his bandaged leg, and his arm hurt from using the crutch. No one noticed when he stopped, doubled over in pain. His leg felt like it was burning. He sat half fell, half sat on the ground, waiting for the feeling to leave. Kate and Charlie came running back up the path, with Jack behind them.
"What, do you have a death wish or something?" Charlie asked incredguisly.
"Jack, we have to set up camp. Chances are the monster isn't coming back. It's already dark, and we don't know where were going!" Jack glared at his feet, thinking.
"Okay." He relented. "Where? Right here? We don't have any tents, you know."
"It won't be the first time I've slept outside without a tent." She said firmly, setting her bag down. Charlie whimpered something that sounded like "Monster", but stayed. Jack sighed, and put his bag down too, but took out of one of the pockets a book of matches.
"Do you have any food, um….." Kate trailed off awkwardly.
"Ardren."
"Right, sorry. Ardren." Kate apologized quickly. He took out his half empty water bottle, and held it up for her.
"That's all I got." Ardren said, slipping it back in his now-empty bag. Charlie stumbled through the trees next to them, looking chagrin.
"Where'd you go?" Ardren asked when Kate had gone to talk to Jack. He and Charlie were staring at the fire, and Kate and Jack were on "a walk". Or at least that's what Kate had said. Charlie ignored the question.
"If you could be doing anything right now, what would it be?" he changed the subject. Ardren saw this, and frowned.
"Ugh, I don't know. Okay, well, I would be getting the hell out of Australia, so I guess somewhere in the USA. Mmm…maybe listening to Blink182 in my car. Eating fried chicken." Ardren answered vaguely. "So, really, where were you just now?" he tried again. Charlie winced, and his hand went instinctively for his sweatshirt pocket. Ardren nodded sadly.
"What?" Charlie asked irritated.
"Nothing." Ardren answered quickly. Maybe it was a touchy subject for him, or he wanted to keep it a secret. None of his brothers ever cared if anyone knew they were high. Ardren sighed and turned over to go to sleep. He wasn't awake when Jack and Kate came back.