A/N: Don't worry it would be way too cruel to get rid of Bernard. Right now Bernard is untouchable. Thanks for the reviews, you guys rock!

Chapter 7

Charlie was surprised to find Claire curled up beside him when he woke up during the night. He looked at her still form in the moonlight and thought she looked more beautiful than the stars themselves.

His train of thought was broken when he heard shouts farther down the beach. Charlie got up and walked over to see what was going on. A few people stood near Sawyer's tent talking.

"Hey what's going on?" He called.

Bernard and Hurley came over to him. "Locke is gone." Hurley explained in the dark.

"He's no where on the beach." Bernard said confused.

"Why would he just get up in the middle of the night and leave?" Charlie asked, trying to figure out what happened.

"Dunno." Hurley yawned.

Charlie thought of all the possible places Locke might go. Actually he never knew where Locke went.

"What about the Others?" They might have taken him." Bernard suggested.

"What on Earth is going on?" A sleepy Rose questioned.

"Locke's gone missing." They all replied in unison.

"Well don't you think searching the hatch would be a good start?" Rose said obviously to the other men, "He probably feels guilty for leaving the others down there."

"But we just got him out of there!" Charlie groaned.

"We have no better place to look." Hurley added.

"I'll go get some guys." Bernard left feeling this was a repeat of the previous day.

Charlie, Hurley, Steve, and Bernard left the camp wearily. They headed to the hatch in search of Locke. Charlie thought selfishly of all the sleep he could have gotten next to Claire, but now he had to go find delusional Locke running through the jungle in the middle of the night. At last, the small group reached the hatch.

All four of them descended into the man made structure and came up to the impassible wall of debris that Charlie had created during the day. Now as they examined it further, they saw a small tunnel in it coming out on the other end.

"So Locke's gotta be down here." Hurley stated.

"Anyone want to volunteer to go in there?" Charlie looked around at the men.

"Dude, I can't fit through that." Hurley laughed a little.

"Uh, neither can I." Bernard announced.

"Steve?" Charlie asked.

"I'm kinda claustrophobic, besides you've been down there before."

"Well why the hell did you come down here?" Charlie asked irritated.

"Bernard's the one who woke me up in the middle of the night for this!"
"Guys chill!" Hurley's yell echoed across the walls. Everyone became quiet.

"Whatever, I'll go." Charlie sighed.

He crouched down and slid into the small hole. Metal poked out at every angle and Charlie tried to shield his eyes in the darkness. This again reminded him of the time when he rescued Jack in the cave in. Dirt fell on top of him as he pulled himself through the tunnel. "Great" he muttered to himself as he saw new cuts on his arms.

He reached the other side and shined the flashlight around. Everything seemed to be the same as it was during the day.

"Locke?" He called, "Hey are you down here?"

Charlie approached the computer room and peered around. He noticed that the bookshelf had fallen down and that books were scattered everywhere. The ping pong table was tipped over and next to that laid the broken monitor of the computer.

"Help me."

"Who said that? Locke?" Charlie searched.

"Help me, I need to bury him." Locke said in a strange voice.

Charlie saw with dread that Locke was kneeling on the ground next to Eko's body.

"Locke! Eko! Is he all right?" Charlie asked. He hurriedly came over. Then Charlie felt his insides turn as he realized what Locke had said. Eko was dead!

Charlie came over slowly and could barely look at the man lying on the ground, "No not you too." He said without expression. Eko didn't deserve such an abrupt ending.

"I need to bury him. We have to get him out of this place." Locke spoke quietly as if he didn't want to be heard at all.

"Wait, I'll go tell the others what's going on." Charlie said. He left Locke and headed back to the hole.

When he had explained the situation, Bernard spoke, "We can't fit Eko through here. Tell Locke to take him to the ladder and we'll pull you guys up like last time."

Charlie agreed and then went back. The two lifted Eko's body up and carefully carried him over to the ladder. Charlie felt so much remorse for the religious man. Over the days, Charlie and Eko had become friends as they built Eko's church. The other man never spoke much, keeping to himself but gradually Charlie learned more about him. Eko had really reminded him of his religious routs reawakened memories long forgotten.

Was it his fault that Eko died? He should have stayed and helped Eko leave the hatch, but instead fled. His last memories of Eko were during the turbulence before the hatch exploded when Eko had told him to leave. Maybe he should have stopped Eko from using the dynamite in the hatch. Eko could have escaped then.

All these doubts flooded his mind and Charlie tried to force them out. Wasn't this always going to happen? Whenever somebody died, like mum, there were always those what if questions. Now was not different.

They brought Eko's body to the ladder and brought him up. Locke and Charlie followed like before. Everyone seemed very solemn as they carried Eko back to the beach and covered his body with a tarp as the others before.

"So we doing the funeral in the morning?" Hurley asked.

"It'd be best that way." Charlie said.

Charlie walked back to Claire who was still asleep, unknowing of the things that had transpired during the night. Aaron was in his crib quiet. So many people had died on this island, and any one of them could be next. The funeral would be in the morning. The sky was already growing pink splashed with blue as the sun rose. Already, birds had been singing for hours.

Charlie sighed, there was no use going to sleep now. He knew someone would have to dig Eko's grave. Better get to it then.

Jack had to make a hard decision. Stay and try to find Jin while the trail was still fresh, or go back and bring the others back home. Jack had decided to leave and sail back to the other survivors. He felt terrible for leaving Jin, but so far they had never succeeded much in the rescue attempts. It always seemed to Jack that none of the choices stuck out clearer than the other. He felt so guilty when he looked at Sun's pain. She hadn't slept at all despite Jack and Kate advising her to. But how could she? Her husband was taken and now no one was there to comfort her.

But on the other hand, Sawyer and Sayid were in no condition to attempt a rescue mission. Sayid was still recovering from the dart that the Others had shot into his arm. It was lucky that Jack pulled it out so quickly.

When Jack had examined Sawyer, it appeared he was unconscious because of an anesthetic. In addition, there was a fresh wound on his shoulder where the bullet from the Others had entered his arm. Jack was puzzled by this. Sawyer's arm had appeared to be healing well after the infection. He didn't understand why the Others would perform a surgery on it when it was healing.

Kate approached him, "Hey,"

"Hey,"

"We will get Jin back. After what they did to us, they wouldn't kill him." Kate reassured him.

"I know," Jack looked out at the slowly lightening sky, "They just want answers." They had been sailing most of the night and now the morning was fast approaching. They should be at the camp soon.

Jack headed down below the deck to change Sawyer's bandages and Kate followed. "He should be waking up soon. They gave him some strong anesthetic."

"I'm already awake doc." Sawyer opened his eyes. He appeared to have been listening in on their conversation.

"Sawyer, how are you feeling?" Jack asked following through on the medical procedure.

"Swell, what did they do to my damn arm?"

"Surgery," Kate spoke.

"We don't know why." Jack said.

"I thought you were the all knowing-all seeing doctor." Sawyer commented cynically.

The boat rocked and swayed as Sun came down, "Jack we're back."

Everyone piled onto the deck to see. Jack recognized the beach they had been stranded on for more than two months. The camp seemed to be just waking up. Only a few people were seen walking around, washing, or eating. As the sail boat drew nearer, more people emerged from their makeshift homes and came to look at the returning craft.

Sun and Sayid anchored the boat and the life boat was released. The returning survivors got into it and managed to all fit somehow. Slowly they rowed it over to the beach. The crowd watched them, eager for news. Jack saw that most of them had relieved expressions on their faces, no doubt happy to get their doctor back. As they stepped off, all of them were bombarded with questions.

"Where did you go?"

"Did you get Walt back?"

"Did you see the Others?"

"Wait! I'll tell you everything! Just let us get some rest." Jack announced.

He saw Bernard and Hurley coming up to him.

"What's the matter?" Jack asked, looking at their worried faces.

"The hatch exploded and Locke's a bit hurt." Bernard said leaving out the other piece of information that they had come to tell him about.

"Eko is dead." Hurley said slowly as if he could barely bring himself to tell the doctor the bad news.

Jack frowned, if only he had been there to help. "Okay," He said getting a grip on his emotions, "Let me see Locke."

They lead him over to Sawyer's tent where Sawyer was already trudging around angrily fixing this and that.

"We have an infirmary on this damn island, but no. They had to put the hospital by my tent and raid my stuff, unbelievable!"

Jack ignored the con man and came up to Locke who was sitting alone, staring off into space. He looked different, older. Maybe it was because now he was wearing a plaid shirt that made him look oddly out of place on the island. He actually looked like he lived in the real world.

"Locke," Jack called as he approached the man.

"Just call me John." Locke said solemnly.

Jack was surprised by this but decided to ignore it, "Can I look at your wounds?"

"Go ahead."

Jack examined Locke and put some rubbing alcohol on some of the deeper cuts. He stitched up a nasty looking cut on Locke's arm and told him to get some rest.

Finally, Jack came back to his tent and collapsed. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in days. His tent looked so comfortable. Jack laid down and wearily closed his eyes. He fell asleep almost instantly.

A/N: You guys should all read The Others Plan by 16aqua. It sucks for her cause her computer died and now she has a hard time updating. Give her your support! Chinchillas are friends not furs!

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