Chapter Two:
Trouble
"What the hell happened to you two?" Jack asked, doing a bad job of trying to keep his voice down.
Kate glanced at Sawyer, realizing that the last thing she wanted was for Jack to find out that she had run into the jungle after a nightmare, and Sawyer seemed to read her mind, of course, giving himself the benefit.
"Heard something in the jungle," he said with ease, "figured I'd play hero for a while."
Jack looked at Kate for reassurance. She looked at Sawyer, surprised he would cover for her, even if it was to gloat for himself. Kate nodded.
"I was.. going back to the beach," she said, a little less assured than Sawyer, "I- left something there."
Sawyer was careful not to glance her way, though it was obvious he considered her a horrible liar.
"And what?" Jack asked. "Someone had a trick bucket of water hanging over a tree?"
"Hey, what's that?" Michael interrupted, waking up.
"They 'found it'," Jack explained, glancing at Sawyer, unconvinced.
"Believe it or not," Kate muttered.
The survivors looked at each other- what next?
"We can't do anything without a key," Michael finally said.
"We're not dropping the search to look for a key," Jack argued.
It was quiet again. Trying not to draw attention, Jack, Michael, and Kate looked at Sawyer, who they knew would not volunteer to look for Claire.
"Fine," Sawyer said, defeated, "I'll look for your damn key."
"Thanks," Jack said, as unappreciative as you could get.
The next morning dawned early for the four survivors who hadn't slept since their awakening, especially Kate, who couldn't get the alley scene out of her head. Jack, who hadn't slept that night to begin with, was worried about Kate, Sawyer was haunted by the magical presence the waterfall had seemed to have, and Michael was just a light sleeper. Naturally, Jack was the first up, and he and Kate were ready to go by seven. A small party of Jack, Kate, Michael, Scot, Steve, and some others were ready to go.
"We're heading up the north trail," Jack was saying, "I'm thinking they could've taken the two down the separate paths. Since we know the way, Kate and I are following where we found Charlie, we'll look for Claire. You guys need to take the opposite route, and look for Boone and Locke."
Everyone but Michael nodded and headed off. Stopping Jack, Michael began to talk.
"Why don't we take the other route?" Michael asked. "There's more of us. Whoever got Charlie and Claire- I mean, they're obviously more powerful than us."
"You don't know what you're up against," Jack said, not looking at Michael, beginning to walk off.
"And you do?" Michael called after as he left.
Jack met up with Kate fifteen feet ahead.
"What was that about?" Kate asked.
"What?" Jack said, cluelessly.
"Maybe they're right," Kate said, "are we really going to go up against god knows what's out there?"
"We know our way around up there," Jack tried to explain.
"But they don't know where they're going," Kate continued, uncertain about Jack's decision, "the last thing we need is for a second search party is lost."
"Locke knows what he's doing," argued Jack.
Kate didn't contradict him this time, and after a moments pause he began to worry.
"Something.. wrong?"
"What?" Kate asked, gaze following the ground.
"You didn't argue," he said, staring after her, "that's a first."
"I guess I'm just tired," Kate said.
It was a half lie. She was tired, but that wasn't what bothered her.
"Kate look, you didn't have to come," he said, "you can always-"
"No," she said finally, "I wanted to come."
Jack watched as she went ahead of him.
Meanwhile, Boone and Locke were hastily trying to uncover the steel. Plants and useless soil covered the cold stuff, and by then their hands were caked with mud. An hour into it, Locke began to notice how drawn out Boone was looking, the change in his breathing, and how Boone kept wiping the sweat off his face with his sleeve, in a nervous manner.
"You all right?" Locke finally asked.
"I'm fine," Boone lied, "I'm just going to- take a break."
Locke nodded, turning back to his work, determined to uncover whatever it was they found. He had almost forgotten about Charlie and Claire. Boone, on the other hand, had lied completely. He felt like hell, head pounding, blurred vision, and dizziness taking over him-
He returned back to Locke five minutes later, feeling slightly relieved. Not saying a word to Locke, he began to dig up a patch of moss. Suddenly something cut his left hand, which immediately flew up to his mouth.
"Damn," he muttered.
"What?" Locke asked.
Hand now blood-free, Boone pulled apart the moss and what he found startled him- a handle. He glanced at Locke. They gripped their hands around the handle and pulled.
"Kate?" Jack called around the same time.
He looked around. Somewhere on the trail Kate had gotten behind and he hadn't noticed.
"Kate?" He called again, getting worried.
Kate was walking through the jungle alone, not too far from Jack. She had been able to get away, but she didn't know how far she was or how long she had. All she knew was that she had to get to where she hid the case and fast. And it was difficult with the haunting memories-
"Let's go through this, again," an interrogator said, annoyed that his victim wasn't working with him.
Across the table from him sat Kate, in loose old blue jeans and a black sleeveless shirt. Her long hair was a mess, dried blood had formed cuts on her hands, and she was freezing, but Kate wasn't about to complain.
"Did you or did you not murder of Frank Marcutio?" The interrogator asked, his stern, straight face haunting her eyes.
"No," Kate replied in a low, simple voice.
The interrogators face grew darker, his voice deep.
"Did you or did you not murder.."
Kate could never remember anything after that..
Jack looked around once again for Kate as he began to backtrack. The worry grew, and the thought that something could've happened to her ate up his guilt. That was when he felt the hand on his shoulder. He was spun around to come face to face with Kate, uncharacteristically dark and crazed.
"Kate, what-?"
"What did you do?" Kate asked, not taking her grip off his shoulders.
"What do you mean-?"
"What did you do with the marshal," she said, eyes boring into his.
Jack had buried the marshall only a few hours after he had died. Convienetly, it was actually only about twenty minutes from where they were headed, but Jack wasn't willing to put off the search. Kate was ahead of him, seeming to know where to go after he told her. She stopped at the site: a single cross made of two pieces of wood on top of what she knew was the marshal's grave. She stared at it long enough for Jack to catch up with her.
"Kate, what is it?" He asked, knowing he wouldn't get a straight answer.
She finally moved after a few seconds, circling the grave, and then dropped tot he ground.
"What?" He said, more concerned now than ever.
Kate looked up at him.
"Help me dig him up."
An hour later the marshal's body was fully dug up. A few flies, which Jack had shooed off, circled the marshal's pale, dead face. Kate had seemed to calm down a little at last. At least enough to ask Jack a question.
"Why'd you do it?" She asked softly, staring pitifully at the body.
"Do what?" He asked, drawn in himself.
"Bury the marshal," Kate said, "why didn't you just burn it with the others?"
Jack stiffened. He knew exactly why, but he wasn't about to give into Kate.
"I don't know," he lied, "I just felt like.. I had to."
He snapped out of it, and remembered that he should be the ones asking the questions.
"Why did you want to dig him up so badly?" He asked. "What is it you want?"
As he asked this, he had watched Kate's hand find the marshal's pocket. It brought out a key. Now he understood, but wasn't able to say anything. Kate had run off again.
"Now look," her attorney had said, "your chances here are few and far between."
Kate, now in a prison uniform, was staring at him across from a table where they were talking.
"I didn't kill my father," Kate repeated.
"I know," her attorney said calmly, "but you were there when he died, and your DNA is on the body and evidence."
"Did you participate in the armed robbery at Wilson Bank?"
"Yes."
"Did you kill Frank Marcutio?"
"No."
"Dammit Kate!" The lawyer shouted.
His face got dark, and he bent down, level with Kate.
"Your odds at getting out of this are few and far between," said the lawyer.
"Then yell me what the odds are," Kate said with little hope.
Not wanting to tell her, the lawyer looked away..
Kate's running hadn't slowed down since leaving the marshal's body.
"Kate!" Jack called, only a few feet behind her.
She begin to slow down as she went down the hill, and found herself in the patch of bushes where she hid the case the night before.
"Kate!" Jack called as she drug it out. "Slow-"
He didn't finish when he saw what she was doing. Leaning over, he caught his breath, and then, not saying a word, watched her every move. Her fingers fumbled with the key, but she finally managed to fit it in the lock. The case popped open. Jack was taken aback by what was in the case: Two knives, a shotgun, and an evidence bag with a bullet inside, all on top of a file labeled 'Katelyn Austen'. It was at that moment that Jack realized he had never known Kate's last name, and it was then that it really sunk in that she was a fugitive.
"What's this?" He said.
It was as though Kate had forgotten that Jack was even there. She took the shotgun, and put it in her back pocket. She moved the knife over and picked up the file. Jack watched as she opened it. Inside was a detailed report with a smaller clip of her mug shot over it. One word covered the page in red: GUILTY. Kate could barely breathe.
"Guilty?" She said softly to herself. "But.. how?"
The answer she got startled her. Jack had snatched the gun that was sticking out of her pocket. Kate spun around. The gun was pointed straight at her.
"Who exactly are you?" He asked from behind the gun.
Kate backed up a little, hands raised.
"Be careful with that," she warned.
"Tell me what you did," Jack said, dead serious, "no more secrets."
"I can't do that," she said, breathing slowly.
"Dammit Kate!" Jack yelled. "Why can't you just tell me what you did? What is your loosing your dignity going to do now?"
"Jack," Kate said slowly, "Jack, put down the gun."
"Tell me Kate!"
Then Kate did something he hadn't expected. She grabbed for the gun, because she knew the one he had was the only one still loaded. The two struggled, and then fell to the ground. Kate rolled over, on top of Jack, still fighting for the gun. Jack regained control, and managed to roll over. He didn't want to hurt Kate, or appear to hurt her. All he wanted was the answers he thought he deserved.
"Kate, come on!" Jack shouted.
They rolled again. Kate took her left hand off the gun, and gripped Jack's neck with it. He gasped for air.
"Let go of the gun!" She yelled.
Jack began to grow pale, and his eyes got wider. He finally gave up, and let go. The gun fell into Kate's hands. Breathing a sigh of relief, she rolled off of him, staring at the weapon. Jack laid there, trying to regain his breath. After a minute he sat up.
"What was that about?" He asked from the breath he could get.
Any answer she could give was drawn out by loud shrieks of 'Help!' They glanced at each other. Putting the fight behind them, they ran after the noise. Kate had the gun, but it was clear the case was left.
They stopped fifteen minutes later in a clearing in the jungle. Jack looked around.
"Where do you think it came from?" He asked.
Kate shook her head. She glanced at the red marks on Jack's neck, and began to feel guilty.
"Who do you think it was?" She asked him.
"I couldn't tell," he said, shaking his head.
"Think it had to do with Ethan?"
"I dunno," Jack said, wiping his forehead, "maybe we can get there before-"
He didn't want to say 'it's too late' but was cut off anyway.
"Too late," he said dark voice behind them.
Jack and Kate slowly turned around.
Ethan," Jack said slowly, hardly able to comprehend it.
Ethan held a gun that looked too familiar: Kate's gun.
"Maybe you just didn't move fast enough," Ethan said. "Maybe not."
Jack and Kate glanced at each other and knew: they were in trouble.