Fire and Water

Howard loved games, all kinds of games. It didn't matter what type of game it was. Games where he used people as the game pieces were his favorite. Living, breathing, thinking players, ones that could fight and had a will to survive. They always offered a unique challenge.

A small pinging noise awoke Howard from his sleep. He rolled out of his bunk and skipped over to his switchboard. The pining rang out for a few more seconds. Howard could have luxuriated in the wonderful high pitched noise for hours. But he couldn't. Howard flipped the switch that turned off the alarm. Instantly he was away, running out of his control room. There was no time to waste. The hatch had been opened. It was playtime.

Locke's foot hit the concrete floor. The ladder, one that stretched in the darkness for stories, had finally bottomed out. Locke stood firmly planted on the hard floor and took a deep breath. The air was musty and stank.

"Hey, get outta the way." Sawyer's voice echoed throughout the concrete shaft.

Locke looked around and took a step away from the ladder. Except for a tiny square of light high above them, the entire area was pitch black.

The sound of two more feet hitting the ground marked Sawyer's exit from the ladder. Locke was unclipping a flashlight from his belt. Sawyer squinted as the narrow beam of light flooded into the darkness. They were in a tall concrete silo buried in the ground. Branching off from the bottom of the silo was a tunnel, built with the same dark gray concrete.

By this time, the rest of the group had reached the silo's bottom. Jack and Sayid added their own flashlights to Locke's.

"Only one way to go from here," Locke said, taking a step forward.

"Are we sure this is the best course of action?" Sayid asked. "Perhaps were should take some time—,"

"I don't think that's smart," Locke interrupted. "We're here now. We might as well follow the path in front of us."

Kate turned to Jack, who remained silent. "What do you think?"

He shrugged. She could hardly see him, but the look on his face was unmistakable. It was the face of someone filled with dread.

"Well, come on, Doc. If ya got no objections, let's go," Sawyer said.

"What is—," Locke began. A loud screech and thundering crash cut him off. The tiny sliver of light that marked the top of the silo was gone. The hatch was closed.

"Again, our decision is made for us," Sayid said. "It is almost as if us following this tunnel is our fate."

Jack exhaled sharply.

"Okay, then," Locke perked up. "Let's get going."

The concrete tunnel was two meters wide and twice as tall. It was smooth, with no recesses or offshoots whatsoever. It ran, as far as the castaways could tell, entirely straight with not even the slightest deviation in direction. They walked on for a long hour before coming to a dead end.

"What now?" Sawyer asked.

Locke stepped up to the solid wall blocking their path. He inspected the wall, trying to find any marking or crease in the blockade. "I don't understand," he said after a minute. "There must be something—,"

"Over here," Sayid called. He had wandered toward the right side of the tunnel. His flashlight was trained on a small section of the wall. "The tunnel turns here."

In the wall were three archways, separate tunnels leading off from the main one.

"Which one do we take?" Kate asked.

"We should split up," Locke answered. "Find out where all of them lead."

"No," Jack spoke up for the first time since entering the hatch. "We're not splitting up. We'll pick one and go down there."

"Jack, we have no idea where these paths lead," Locke said. "It would be a shame for all of us to meet the same grisly fate, just because you wanted us to stay together. Wouldn't it be better to lose just one or two of the group, rather than the entire group?"

"Hold on a sec," Sawyer said. "I'm not so sure this is a good idea anymore."

"It's a little too late for that, Sawyer," Jack said dryly. "We're stuck down here now until we find a way out."

Jack turned to Locke. "There are five of us and three tunnels. Someone will be alone."

"I'll go alone," Kate said.

Jack opened his mouth to respond, but Locke was faster. "No, Kate. You go with Sawyer. Jack can go with Sayid. I'll go alone."

"This is a bad idea," Jack said.

"I'm open to better suggestions," Locke said. "If you have any."

Jack remained silent.

"Okay, then. Everyone got a flashlight? Let's go." Locke aimed his light down the middle tunnel and plowed into the darkness.

"Ready, Freckles?" Sawyer asked, shining his light on Kate.

Jack stepped in close to Kate. "Be careful."

"I will be." Their eyes met.

"I'm serious," Jack's voice was stressed.

"Aw, don't worry, Doc." Sawyer put his arm around Kate's shoulders. "She's with me. What could possibly go wrong?"

Kate stayed a step ahead of Sawyer as they trekked down the left tunnel. Sawyer kept the flashlight trained ahead and downward, illuminating the floor a few steps ahead. She was half bent over and moving slowly, studying the ground for signs of previous use. So far, she had found none.

Suddenly, the light went out.

"Hey, Kate. You believe it ghosts?" Sawyer's voice seemed to come from all around.

"Cut it out, Sawyer," she turned around to face him. "Turn the light back on."

The flashlight clicked on and illuminated Sawyer's face. The light was pointed up from his chin, casting his features in a ghastly red light. "Boo," he said, then laughed warmly. Kate rolled her eyes and smiled.

Sawyer refocused the light down the tunnel and the two continued on.

"So, you two set a date yet?" Sawyer asked a few minutes later.

"Huh?"

"You and Jack. When you tyin' the knot?"

Kate smiled. "Shut up, Sawyer."

"No, I'm serious. He likes you, ya know."

"Jack's nice and all, I just—," she trailed off.

"You just what?"

"I don't know."

"See yourself with a different type of man?" Sawyer was suddenly much closer.

"Something like that, maybe," Kate could feel Sawyer just behind her. She could see the grin on his face.

"Come on, Freckles. You can tell me."

"Wait a minute." Kate's tone had changed.

"I know you want to." Sawyer smiled. "Just say it."

"Sawyer!"

"Fine." He backed up and became indignant. "But don't say you didn't have a chance."

"Do you smell that?"

Sawyer took a deep breath. "Yeah, smells like kerosene."

"It is kerosene."

"What's that down here for?"

As he spoke, the path ahead of them erupted into a blaze of red-yellow flames. Sawyer covered his eyes, blinded by the intense light. He fell back and tripped over his own feet. His shoulder hit the ground hard, jamming his arm.

Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the light. The tunnel in front of them was engulfed in fire as was the pathway behind them. The walls, too, had begun burning, creating a box of flame. Sawyer stood up, rubbing his arm.

Kate was frantically roaming back and forth from one wall of flame to the other. "Looks like we're trapped."

"This ain't good." The fire was continuing to grow and moved steadily inward. The box was filling itself in.

Jack and Sayid crept along the right tunnel, sweeping the flashlight back and forth. The tunnel was straight and featureless, exactly like the main one, and ran for a long distance.

"I've never seen anything like this," Sayid said. "This tunnel must run for miles, buried so deep into the ground. How could anyone trapped here accomplish this sort of feat?"

"I stopped questioning things on this island a long time ago." Jack stared into the darkness. What is happening here? I can't believe I allowed everyone to come down here. It's dangerous. Jack found one side of his brain fighting the other again. But the dream wasn't true, it couldn't be. It was just a dream. He cleared his head. Now was not the time to be arguing with himself.

They walked on in silence for a long time. At times, it was hard to tell they were making any progress at all. Every section of the tunnel was identical to the previous one.

"So what do you think about Locke?" Jack asked. He had been looking for a way to break up the oppressive silence.

"We've had our problems in the past." Sayid said.

"Do you trust him?"

"In this situation, I don't have the luxury of selective trust," Sayid answered. "We must all have faith in each other, or there is no hope of survival."

"But how do you know you can count on people?"

"In the Republican Guard, we learned to trust very rapidly. We were forced to." He paused, no doubt recalling a painful past. "I think we can trust Locke," he deftly changed the subject. "I may not seem like we can at times, but if necessary, I believe he'll come through."

They came to a section of tunnel that was different than the rest. The walls widened sharply and squared off. At the other end, the walls slanted back at the same sharp angle.

"This seems to be some sort of room." Sayid was inspecting the walls. "Like a checkpoint along the tunnel."

"What do you think it's for?"

"I do not know, but there's something about these walls."

"What do you mean?"

"There are holes in the concrete. Many of them." Sayid was carefully examining the walls.

"Holes?"

"I wonder what they are for."

A deep grating noise echoed through the antechamber. It bounced off the walls and thundered from all around. Sayid turned away from the wall and rapidly directed the flashlight at the origin of the noise.

He found it too late. Two heavy stone doors settled into place with a thump, one at each end of the chamber. Both Jack and Sayid sprinted toward the door, but it was solid. No amount of pushing would even budge it.

Jack looked at Sayid. "What is this place?"

A new sound forestalled Sayid's reply. It was a trickling noise, like a small babbling brook. It increased in volume becoming a steady stream and a splattering against the concrete.

"Oh no," Sayid turned the flashlight onto the walls. Water was pouring into the room, rushing through the small holes. In a matter of moments, the water level was up to their ankles.

"Okay, let's think logically." Even with his professional tone, a hint of panic was evident in his voice.

But thinking logically wasn't doing anything. The water was soon neck high and still rising. Just seconds later, the water rose over their heads.

Jack and Sayid kicked upward, trying to keep their heads above water. The ceiling was looming ever closer, threatening to cut them off from escape. The air was draining. The water was rising. Before long, only their faces were above the water's surface. They took short gasps, filling their lungs with what little oxygen was left. The water continued rising.

Locke was accustomed to being alone. Sometimes he preferred it that way. It gave him a chance to think and explore his own thoughts. It was fun, digging deeper into his own mind.

He didn't get much time to think. After just a few minutes of walking, he found a small square room. The room was bear and had no exit. A dead end.

Locke was about to turn around when something caught his eye. There was writing, engraved into the concrete on the right wall. It wasn't anything special, just four ordinary words: Welcome to the Gameroom.

Locke read the message twice, then a third time. It made no sense.

"Welcome to the Gameroom," Locke repeated to himself, slowly and carefully. He ran his fingers over the words. He didn't know why, but somewhere deep in his mind, something clicked. These words meant something, something important.

Locke didn't have a chance to figure it out. Something hit him hard from behind. He fell to his knees, a searing pain slashing through his head. Darkness nipped at the edge of his vision, but he fought it. A second blow to his head ended any resistance. Locke fell limply to the ground.