Disclaimer: I don't own LOST/characters, yadda yadda yadda.
That's really all there is.
How the Life Goes On, Part 1
They had been clearing out rubble for nearly two days. When only Charlie came back from the hatch that afternoon, no one thought anything of it, though he did seem a bit shell-shocked. However, when it got dark and still no sign from the hatch, people began to worry. Especially after that noise and that… whatever that was. A small group- Steve (or was it Scott?), Rose and Bernard, and a few others were sent to see what was going on.
In the interim, Claire and Charlie tried to calm a breathless Hurley, who had come running into the camp as the last rays of sun went out over the horizon. He was yelling about all number of things and people- Kate and Jack and Libby and Walk and Others and birds and boats and so much that no one could follow it at all. It ended up that Charlie walked around with Aaron to try to stop him from screaming while Claire listened to Hurley's story. When the baby calmed down, Charlie came back and listened as well. When the tale was finished, Charlie stood up.
"Well, why are we waiting here then? Why don't we go after them?"
"Dude," Hurley said. "Didn't you hear what I just said? We can't."
"Charlie," Claire admonished gently. "Sit back down. We should at least wait for Sayid to come back. You don't even have a gun." Charlie obeyed and sat back down. Claire kissed him on the check. Aaron reached over and pulled his hair.
At the hatch, the group of survivors gazed in awe and horror at the sight in front of them. The metal door was crunched inwards as if some giant being had gotten angry and slammed into it his mighty fist.
Quietly, Bernard asked Rose, "Locke and Eko and… that other man, do you think they're inside?"
His wife answered, "I don't know, Sugar, but we're going to have to find out." Then she turned to another member of the search party and ordered, "Go back to the camp. Tell them what happened and ask them to come out here. We're going to need all the help we can get." The man headed back towards the camp as Rose continued to take charge, directing Bernard and Scott/Steve to work on prying off the door while she looked for anther entrance in case they couldn't get it off.
Rose lay in bed, wondering where her life would go. The doctor had said that the cancer was terminal, and there was nothing they could do. He was sorry, he said. Well, Rose had replied that she was sorry too, but sorry wasn't going to change the fact that she was going to die.
On the way home, her husband had told her how proud he was that he had such a strong wife. But tonight, she didn't feel strong. She felt like a mule that could no longer haul cargo and was put out to pasture to await its demise. Rose didn't want that. She got up, careful not to wake Bernard, and went outside. She got into her car and drove into the night. Bernard woke up and saw his wife next to him. "Are you still awake Rose?" he asked. She mumbled something about driving and rolled over. Bernard kissed the top of her head and went back to sleep.
Meanwhile on the beach, Sayid, Sun, and Jin were docking the boat. Actually, Sayid and Jin were docking the boat. Sun was being violently ill. Pregnancy combined with the mouthful of sea water she got when Jin had turned the wheel suddenly on their way back didn't make a good impression on her stomach. When Sun was finished vomiting and the men had tied the boat up, they went to report to the rest of the survivors.
"There was nothing there. Nothing. No one. They'd all cleared out," Sayid told Charlie, Claire, Hurley, and the others.
"Nothing," Jin agreed, gesturing emphatically with his arms. He began to speak rapidly in Korean, and Sun translated.
"We believe," she said, "that this was a trap for those that the Others wanted." Then she added, "Sayid plans to go back and search the area for tracks that may show where they went."
"Yes," stated Sayid. "Where is John? I will need a good tracker."
"We don't know," replied Claire. "We're waiting for someone to come back from the hatch and tell us where Locke, Eko, and Desmond are." Sayid nodded and say on a log next to Hurley. Jin and Sun sat down together.
Their first… date was awkward. First dates always are, but then most first dates don't involve frantically moving from place to place trying to keep the girl's father's employees from finding the couple and sending her home. Sun and Jin's first date did. They began at a small restaurant off of the main street of the city. It wasn't a very fancy restaurant, but it was all Jin could afford, and Sun didn't mind.
They sat together, not talking, waiting for a chance to leave. Sun had just spotted her father's chauffer and she knew that he was looking for her. She wasn't supposed to be out, especially not with a man of a different class. She didn't care, but she knew her father did.
Jin looked at Sun nervously. "Maybe we should just forget this," he said to his date. She shook her head. Then she reconsidered.
"Ok," Sun agreed. "I don't want you or me to get in trouble with my father." In a bold move, Jin kissed her on the cheek. Then, embarrassed, he dashed out. Sun smiled and went to find her father.
Less than ten minutes later, the man Rose sent back reached those waiting on the beach. After he explained the situation at the hatch, there came the question of what was to be done. Who would go back to the hatch, and who would be part of the rescue party to find Kate, Jack, and Sawyer? It was finally decided that, since the Others hadn't killed them right away, the captives probably weren't in immediate danger. However, the men in the hatch definitely were, if they were still alive, so everyone agreed to help at the hatch during the night, and reassess in the morning.
In the end, the decision was changed a bit, with Hurley, Charlie, Claire, Aaron, and Sun staying at the camp because of their shock (for the men), and the women's positions as new or soon-to-be mothers. The rest, including Sayid and- although he didn't especially want to leave his wife- Jin, started off.
After about 45 minutes, the group reached the hatch, where the people already there were clearing debris. They had removed the door and everyone could see a strange thing, except for the doors, which had been bolted into the walls, and the stove, which was affixed to the floor, all of the metal objects in the hatch had moved to smash against one wall.
"Find anything?" Sayid asked Bernard.
"Anyone, you mean? Not yet." The survivors continued clearing the hatch. They made piles outside of things they pulled out of the wreckage that could possibly be salvaged, and many more piles of things that were completely destroyed. The torches began to burn down, and there was no electricity in the hatch anymore, so the rescuers were working in near darkness. Every once in a while, there would be a muffled thump and a curse as someone fell over an unseen object.
Then, Jin shouted. Sayid made his way over to where Jin was lifting a heavy piece of debris off of Mr. Eko. When Sayid and Jin had moved the debris, they picked up Eko's limp body and carried him outside.
Sayid felt for a pulse. "He's dead," he reported. Rose got a sheet off of one of the hatch beds and covered the body.
"We should stop for the night," she said. "We can't see anything."
"No," argued Sayid. "See this door?" He pointed at the entrance to the computer room. "It's still closed, if destroyed some. If they were in there, they may still be alive. But we cannot leave them." Without another word, Sayid went back into the hatch and again began clearing it out by the light of the last torch.
Men were screaming in pain and fear in Sayid's head as he walked past the burnt out building. He thought that the man who had set the fire had been arrested for war crimes, but he wasn't sure. All he was sure of was that 110 people had died in that fire, set by an American regiment, apparently not caring that 96 of those people were civilians, and that 28 of those were children, as long as they got their "terrorists".
Sayid thought of Nadia, wondered if they would consider her a terrorist. Wondered if he would ever see her again.
He walked on, trying hard not to look. Despite seeing every horror war had to offer, and taking part in many of them, violence of this nature still made him sick. He walked on thinking about the future. Perhaps he would go to the United States and find Nadia. Perhaps he would just keep moving. Travel the world until he couldn't travel any more. Just keep going. Don't stop, Sayid, he thought. Don't stop.
Slowly, silently, the others joined him.