A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you guys have liked it so far! It took me forever to put up this chapter. The site wouldn't let me. But I was like hell no, I'm gonna sit here till u let me.

Chapter 3

Charlie couldn't believe what he was looking at. There was a new clearing in the forest. All around the set of metal doors leading into the hatch, stumps of previous trees were the only thing left.

Claire bent down and examined one. Each stump was exactly the same size, almost as if a woodcutter had measured and cut them down to the very last centimeter.

"I don't get it." Bernard said awed as he came up to them. "Did the explosion do this?"

"I dunno," Charlie replied, and then he bent down to the ground. The soil sparkled and glimmered in the sun. He scooped up a handful of dirt and then realized that it was mostly made up of metal shavings. "That's strange."

Charlie hesitantly walked up to the metal doors. They appeared intact. He slowly opened the slightly askew doors and peered in. It was dark inside, so he shined the light around.

"Hello?" He called, "Anyone there?"

There was no response, neither the mechanical hum that the survivors had grown accustomed to hearing in the hatch.

"It looks bad." Steve spoke coming up behind Charlie. There was debris and metal scattered everywhere on the floor. Charlie took a deep breath and walked in. He did not want to look like a coward in front of Claire.

"Wait." The woman called out from behind him. She came up to Charlie, "Be careful." Claire said, squeezing his hand. She remained outside the hatch ready to run back to the camp to get assistance if they needed it.

Charlie looked at her worried expression. Now that she was finally starting to trust him again, he didn't want to ruin it.

"I will." He reassured her. He walked into the dark hallway and made his way through the wreckage. Bernard and Steve followed, being careful not to disturb much. Steve looked especially worried. Charlie didn't even know if he had been in the hatch before. Not many of the survivors had.

Dust fell from the ceiling and Charlie squinted, trying to see. He hoped to find Eko and Locke soon, but also was hesitant because he was afraid he would come across their bodies. He shifted some debris aside and started to squeeze through the opening when there was a shudder. Heavy metal objects began to fall as Charlie struggled to get through. He pulled his legs through just in time as the whole thing collapsed, closing the opening. This reminded Charlie eerily of the time when the cave had collapsed with him and Jack in it.

"Charlie! Are you okay?" Bernard called from the other side.

"Um, yeah. I'm all right." Charlie answered back.

"Wait there, "Steve called, there was rummaging as the two tried to dig through.

"This might take awhile," Steve called on the other side.

"That's okay; I'll find another way out." Charlie answered.

"Wait, it's not safe," Bernard cautioned.

Faintly, Charlie hared a muffled thudding coming from farther within the hatch.

"Do you guys hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what?" Steve spoke.

"I think someone's down here!" Charlie told them excitedly, "Wait, let me check it out."

"Hey be careful, try not to disturb anymore wreckage." Bernard warned.

Charlie ventured foreword into the hatch, following the sound. "Eko, Locke?"

The light from the flashlight lit up the murals on the wall. Broken dishes littered the floor. Suddenly, Charlie remembered that Desmond was trapped among the destruction too.

"Help!" Came a weak call.

Charlie heard it and desperately asked, "I'm coming, where are you?" He shined the light around and his eye caught a pile of concrete move slightly.

"Get me out!"

"Hold on! Stay still!" Charlie spoke, panicking. His hands began to tremble and he wished he could have a fix to calm his nerves. It was very hot in the dusty chamber and sweat covered Charlie's face. He began to lift the concrete blocks away and finally reached the bottom. Locke's face looked up at him.

"Charlie!" He gasped.

Sawyer opened his eyes and then tightly shut them as harsh radiance shone into them. Jesus! Do I have a hangover? He asked himself. He must still be in Sidney hitting the bars in a vain attempt to forget his train wreck of a life.

Purple splotches danced behind his eyelids. This was the strangest hangover he had ever experienced. At last, Sawyer worked up enough courage to open his eyes and face the light.

A bright florescent lamp burned into his eyes and Sawyer tried to lift his hand to shield it from his view. That's when he noticed that he couldn't. His hands had been strapped down and after further struggling; he deduced his feet were too.

"Hey! Whoever you are, I'm gonna tear you to shreds when I get my hands on you!" He yelled angrily.

"Sawyer?"

Who was that and how did she know my name? Sawyer thought. He looked to his side and saw a pretty young woman with dark wavy hair and a thin, but strong figure. That's when he remembered everything, especially her.

"Freckles."

She looked tired and sad, "I don't know what the hell they're doing." She spoke, "Jack hasn't woken up yet."

Sawyer felt a sudden urge to rip out of his restraints and rescue her, so maybe she could stop worrying about Jack all the time and notice him.

"Listen, I'm getting out of here. If you want to stay behind until doc wakes up, fine by me. I'm not staying here any longer." Sawyer said fed up. He thrashed against the restraints, but couldn't get free. Looking around the room, he saw nothing but the tables they were strapped down to and a door.

Just then, the door opened and in came Henry, "Here are my chatterboxes now." He remarked looking at them interestedly. A few people followed him in. They wore white jackets, rubber gloves and masks. Two of them held clipboards while the last pushed a cart with metallic medical tools in it.

Jack groaned and Sawyer guessed that he was regaining conciseness. Henry began to speak, "Well now, all of you pulled through that very well. We learned a lot from you three. Now before we go foreword onto the next test, I have to hold up my part of the bargain. So I shall answer your question Jack. We have taken you because we need to learn more about ourselves."

"Then why don't you strap your own damn asses on these tables and test yourselves!" Sawyer shot back.

"Oh believe me, we have. We've gone as far as possible doing that. Now we need to explore past our own boundaries and reach a new realm of understanding." Henry announced.

Kate asked a question next, "Where are we and how can we get home?"

"Now that's a more complex question Kate." He conversed calmly, "I'm not sure you're ready to know that yet."

"He doesn't know where we are." Jack spoke up, "Are we some sort of experiment?"

"Getting warmer Jack. My my, you are catching on more quickly than the others." Henry replied, he wore a smug smile on his ugly face.

"So doctor Frankenstein decides to put us on an island and run tests on us? Is that the gig?" Sawyer asked.

"No, no, no," Henry spoke, "This was never decided. It's not like you were chosen to come here."

"Why? Why can't you just let us go? Can't you let us go home and see our families? Why can't we leave?" Kate asked, getting fed up.

"I thought you never had a family Kate. You were on the run for most of your adult life. When was the last time you shared a Christmas with someone or you received a birthday gift? You are home. None of you could get any closer." Henry told them bluntly.

"Alright! This son of a bitch has lost his mind." Sawyer said dangerously.

Henry stood at the front of the room and motioned for the Others to begin. The cart was wheeled over toward Sawyer and the shiny scalpels and scissors glistened without feeling. Two of the surgeons went up to Sawyer. They cut through his shirt and then took out the scalpel.

"Get off me!" He growled.

"Stop! You're going to kill him!" Kate yelled.

"Hey! What are you doing to him?" Jack ordered for them to tell him.

"Don't worry, James will not feel a thing. When you wake up, he'll be fine." Henry blinked and then gave a fake smile. He took out yet another needle and injected it into her arm as well as Jack's. Sawyer watched as Kate slowly closed her eyes. The same was done to Jack and then the surgeons proceeded with Sawyer.

A/N: So review okay?Doesn't it seem like there have been a lot less CC stories on the board. And I just don't get the Claire/Sawyer stuff. Soylent Green is people! Chinchillas r friends not furs!

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