Thank youto the two people that gave reviews, I really appreciate it and I'd love if other people would do the same. Here'schapter 2. I'm almost finished with chapter 3, so expect that one soon as well.
How The Life Goes On Part 2
When day broke, the rescuers could see that they had made little progress. Around 5:30 am, Jin and Sayid began carrying Eko's body back to the beach. When they reached the others, Charlie saw the large, sheet-covered body. He tried and failed to hold back tears. Claire hugged Charlie sadly, also crying.
When they had finished, Sayid spoke. "I am going in one hour to hunt for the others and those of us whom they took. Bernard and Rose are coming with me. What are your plans?"
"I'm going with you," Hurley said. Sayid opened his mouth and then closed it again. Then Charlie said that he was going back to the hatch with Jin. Claire told him not to, but he said that he knew the hatch better than any of the other rescuers and that he knew where Locke and Desmond had been. At that point, Claire decided to go with Charlie. Sun said that she couldn't help because of the baby, but she would go and take care of Aaron.
The party split up with Jin, Sun, Aaron, Claire, and Charlie going back into the jungle and Sayid leading the way to Desmond's boat with Bernard, Rose, and Hurley.
A large man sat in the hospital on a sofa. Next to him was a woman with dirty blonde, stringy hair. He spoke to her, but she didn't answer. The med student watched them next to the psychiatrist. "What's their story?" She asked him.
The doctor answered, "Well, the man was put here because he is emotionally unstable. He has hallucinations and hears voices. Completely harmless though. The woman is a different matter though. Killed her husband about six months ago. On their boat. They put her on trial and her lawyer had her plead insanity. I don't know why. There wasn't evidence to convict her anyway; the boat was gone." The student asked what had happened to it, and the doctor replied "She said she gave it to a stranger to race around the world. Most likely just more ramblings of a woman who is mentally unsound."
The student nodded and watched as the man on the sofa reached over to brush away the hair that had fallen into the woman's eyes. She slapped his hand away, and he said "Dude, don't hit." Then he turned to the empty chair next to him and said "No man, she's probably just tired."
Once in the jungle, Charlie stopped abruptly. "Wait," he said. "This is bollocks. Mr- Mr. Eko's body. We can't just leave it out on the beach.
Sun replied, "There are two men in that hatch still who may be alive. We cannot worry about one man's body when his spirit is already gone when it would risk the lives of two more." This convinced Charlie and he started walking. The trip back to the hatch took longer than Sayid, Rose, and Bernard had taken to get from it, but this group had to deal with Aaron, who was screaming incessantly unless someone spun him around.
However, they reached the hatch eventually, where another discovery had been made. On the wall, looking as though it had been burned in with a hot piece of metal, was a… map? It was octagonal, covered in notations of math equations, bits of poetry, and pictures. No one knew what to make of it, but they didn't have time to sit and contemplate its meaning. A muffled voice was coming from the other side of the computer room door.
As quickly as possible, the group moved boxes and furniture out of the way. The door was easy to open, having been nearly knocked off its hinges (by the dynamite, Charlie explained). They pulled it open and John Locke stumbled out. His face was bloody and his eyes were wide. Claire screamed and everyone noticed Locke's legs. He could barely move them. One of the feet was almost torn off at the ankle and they were gushing blood from about 100 cutes and gashes all over.
He tried to stand up and Jin pushed him down. "No," he said. "Don't move." Charlie grabbed the sheets off of the top bunk bed and began to rip off strips of it. Claire tied them around Locke in tourniquets. When they had controlled the bleeding somewhat, they carefully carried him outside. While Charlie kept an eye on Locke and Claire took care of her child, Sun went to look in her garden for anything that might help Locke.
About 20 minutes after Locke had been found, the computer room had finished being thoroughly searched. There was no sign of Desmond. Jin was relaying this information to Charlie when Locke spoke.
"I… was wrong. He saved us down below. There's… a door." Then he closed his eyes and slipped into unconsciousness. Charlie went over to where the searchers were sitting.
"Guys, guys!" he said. "I think Locke just told us where Desmond is." He told then what Locke said and one man spoke up.
"Sounds like lunatic ranting. He's probably telling you Desmond's dead and in hell for trying to help us. 'down below'? Sounds like hell to me."
"And you are all just giving up? What's your bloody problem?"
"While you were with your girlfriend all night, we've been working. So don't expect us to keep going without a rest unless you want to be carrying more than just the bald guy back to the camp."
Charlie looked at them angrily, but knew they were right. He had been sitting at the beach while they worked. But he still had some faith in Locke, so he went alone back into the hatch. In the computer room, Locke had said that there would be a door that led "down below" and that was where Desmond went. Charlie walked into the room. He looked all around it. No door. He looked behind all of the equipment. No door. Then, he realized. Locke had said that it went down, so why, Charlie thought, "am I looking in the walls?" He began to stomp on the floor, listening for hollow spots, but the floor was too thick for him to tell.
There was only one thing left to do. Charlie got down on his knees and began attempting to pry up the floor. After breaking off three fingernails down to the skin, he found it. One of the stones in the floor lifted up with a creak. Charlie began yelling for help, and when a few of the rescue party came running, Charlie pointed at the hole and gave the man who argued with him a smug look. Then he climbed down into the darkness.
Claire handed him a torch. She offered to go with him, but he said that they had no idea where it went and it was probably too small for two people anyway.
"I'll keep talking so you can follow my voice back if you get lost under there," she said. Charlie smiled and kissed her quickly on the side of her face. Then he squatted down, torch in one hand, and crawled under the floor. Claire began to speak, telling Charlie about Aaron, and being on the island, and before the island, and anything else she could think of. She wanted to tell him everything especially right at that second when he couldn't see her and she couldn't see him. There were some things she was afraid to say while looking him in the eye.
A young Australian woman sat in the gallery. People milled around but she felt alone. Her friend came and spoke to her, and she got up and went over to where the group of people was standing.
"Hi," she murmured to the artist who was being showcased. "I'm Claire. I love your work." He replied his thanks and they had a brief conversation about the oils that he used on one of his pieces. When he moved on, a young man approached her.
"You like art?" he asked. Claire nodded. "Are you an artist?"
Claire shook her head. "No, are you?"
"Yes ma'am. I am. I'm Thomas. Nice to meet you." Claire introduced herself. They began to chat, and he didn't leave her side for the rest of the night. They talked about everything, and though they had very different interests (he liked football and she hated sports; she listened to classical and his favorite musician was Dave Matthews), they enjoyed each others' company. Thomas liked Claire's quiet sense of humor. Claire enjoyed his artistic knowledge.
When the evening was over, Claire was not surprised when Thomas asked her on a date, and he wasn't surprised when she accepted. However, as Claire walked home, a feeling of foreboding filled her. She brushed it off and continued on.
Claire was interrupted by a shout from the pitch blackness.
"I found him. Claire, I found Desmond!"
"Is he ok?"
"Well," Charlie faltered. "I don't think he's dead. But I wouldn't call him ok. He's not moving and he's barely breathing. I'm going to have to drag him out." He hooked his arms around Desmond's chest and began to pull him backwards. Then Charlie's head hit against something. He saw stars and for a moment, everything went black.
The heroin began to kick in, and Charlie began to hallucinate. This had never happened. Before he was sucked in, Charlie thought that it must have been mixed with something, LSD maybe. Then he quit having rational thought. There were colors all around him, and he thought he heard music coming from somewhere. He looked at the tattoo on his arm, and he heard the wordsas clearly as if he had just thrown his copy of Magical Mystery Tour onto the record player. He opened a newspaper, and the words flew at him off the page, and article about the new greenhouse near Hyde Park, exploding in song.
Then he turned the page to news of the war in the Middle East. Screams filled his ears as he read with blurry eyes of the destruction that was happening there. He whimpered, covering his ears and dropping the newspaper. He stumbled into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. The cold hit him like knives, and he closed it quickly. Suddenly, though he had been getting ready to go to a club, he didn't feel like going out.
Charlie climbed into bed, still wearing all of his clothes, including his shoes. He fell into a fitful sleep. He dreamed strange dreams about… pinball machines and blenders, and other strange objects, and then he dreamed about nothing.
Charlie heard Claire screaming his name in a tearful sounding voice. He opened his eyes and couldn't see anything. The torch had gone out. He tried to move and felt a warm body on top of him. Claire? He put his hand on the body's cheek and felt stubble. Desmond. Charlie remembered where he was and moved himself so that he could begin dragging the Scotsman again.
"I'm alright, Claire," he yelled. "I just knocked my sodding head on a piece of rock. My light's gone out though. You're going to have to talk louder so I can get back." Claire began telling a story about talking to the pilot of their flight in an airport coffee shop. Charlie reached her and she smiled.
"Listen," he said. "There's no way to get him up by myself. If I lift him, can you pull him out?" Claire nodded and Charlie hauled Desmond up by his armpits. Claire grabbed him around the stomach. Charlie pushed his legs up over the edge. Claire put her head near Desmond's chest.
"He's alive!" she exclaimed.