How The Life Goes On Part 3
As the boat passed the four toed statue, a storm blew up. Bernard and Sayid steadied the sails while Rose steered and Jin kept the rudder stable
"Rose," Sayid yelled. "Rose, rocks!"
"I can't turn her," Rose replied, her voice nearly lost in the wind. The group kept working, trying to force the boat towards the sea and away from the rocks, but it was in vain. With a grinding, splintering crash, the ship ran aground. Almost as soon as this occurred, the storm began to subside and the wind let up. Jin and Sayid looked at each other.
"Others?" Jim questioned, and Sayid shrugged. They looked at the boat. It hadn't been completely wrecked, but there would definitely have to be work done before it would sail again, more work than they would have time to do before night fell.
The group decided to begin again on foot. There was some discussion of which way to set off. Sayid wanted to start at the Others' abandoned camp, but Bernard thought there would be no point since the Others weren't there. Sayid convinced him that he could track the Others better from a place they had been than from a random spot in the jungle, and the party began to walk.
Sayid took the lead, but Jin quickly caught up.
"We will get home?" He asked.
Sayid answered, "On this island, it cannot be certain, but I believe we will make it back to camp." Jin looked unconvinced.
"Sun, she is with…" he made a motion Sayid realized to mean 'child'.
"Yes, I understand. But she is alright. Claire and Charlie and Hurley are taking care of her.
"Are they good? On our side?" Jin wondered.
Sayid turned. "What do you mean, 'are they on our side?' Of course they are; we've known them for 60some days. We know they're good."
"We knew Michael was good." Sayid couldn't think of a reply, so he just nodded and continued walking.
Farther along the trail, Rose stopped. "It's getting dark," she commented. "What are our plans?" Sayid and Jin conversed for a short time and then Sayid said that they had two options. Either they could take shifts standing guard or they could go back to the boat and hope for safety on the beach. Rose and Bernard agreed to help keep watch and so they settled down in a clearing.
Bernard offered to take the first watch, but Rose refused to let him, saying "No sugar, I'm not tired anyway." Bernard looked worried, but he didn't argue, and soon Rose could hear his breathing slow down and become even. But Bernard wasn't asleep. He sat up late into the night, thinking about Rose.
Bernard sat in a bar an hour before his wedding. He had been there for three hours, but had thankfully only drunk 2 beers. He was nervous. What if Rose changed her mind? He certainly wasn't good enough for her, what if she realized that and left him standing at the altar?
Then he realized that his thoughts were stupid. If Rose was sitting here, and he told her what he was thinking, she would laugh and tell him he was crazy. Then she would say "What are you doing in a bar on your wedding day? Is your girl so ugly you need a few to make her look good?" Bernard laughed, imagining this, said to himself "Not at all" and threw a bill on the counter. Then he left the bar and headed for the church.
When Rose's shift was over, she went to make wake Bernard up. He pretended to sleep and arose groggily. "My turn?" he inquired. She nodded and lay down. He walked to the edge of the clearing and looked out into the darkness. He could see nothing, but imagined something moving out of the black. He shuddered involuntarily. Sayid watched him with interest. Like Bernard, he had not gone to sleep during Rose's watch. He admired Bernard's attempts at courage. Sayid could see that Bernard was not a brave man, but he tried his best to be as brave as his wife. Sayid rolled over and looked at Jin. He was asleep. Sayid felt his eyes closing and let them. He would have his turn to stay awake soon enough.
Far away, much farther than the seekers could have guessed, two men and a woman dozed in a drug induced slumber. One of the men awoke slightly. His blonde hair fell over his face as he opened his eyes. He tried to move and found that his arms and legs were bound.
"Son of a…" he muttered, trailing off as he looked around. The room was small and sparsely furnished. It was more civilized than a cave, but barely.
The sedative had not quite worn off the man, so he closed his eyes again, not hearing the sharp report of gunfire outside as he drifted back into unconsciousness. The other two prisoners did not stir.
At the end of his shift, Bernard woke Sayid. Then he said, "Look, man. If you want to go back to sleep, just let me know. It wouldn't be good for the leader to be tired, right?"
Sayid replied, "It is not good for a leader to shirk his duties either." He took his place as the lookout.
Sayid was very young when he first met Americans. Barely 6, he could not speak their language at all, nor understand it.
He watched them as they passed. Some of the older boys spat at their feet, but they took no notice. Sayid did not spit. He knew he must show respect to the visitors.
"Why are they here?" he asked his fried.
"They are the ambassadors," the friend said. "They're here to try to be friends with our country."
"Oh," said Sayid. "That doesn't sound bad. Why do the others spit?" His friend shrugged. Sayid turned back to watch the Americans enter a large building at the end of the street.
Morning came after Jin's shift. He woke the others. They packed what little they had brought and started off again.
Outside of the clearing, things looked different than the night before, or so it seemed. Bernard made a weak joke about Tolkien's moving forest, saying that maybe the voices they always heard at night were Ents, but Rose said that she thought they belonged to something more sinister.
They walked on.