Chapter 3- Leaving

A voice crackled out of the walkie-talkie on Dominic's belt. He immediately picked it up, and began talking into it.

"Yeah, Frank. We have survivors of a plane crash from 8 years ago here." He paused to hear what the man at the other end was saying.

"I don't know how many. We might just stay here until the sun comes up." He turned to Jack. "How many people are here?"

"We have a list back at the caves. That way, we can give you the exact number. It's around 50 or 60. Including children," said Locke

Dominic told Frank. "Looks like we can get you off the island tomorrow afternoon," he said to the group. Cheers immediately erupted, waking up the children.

"Mommy, what's going on?" Lily asked, walking up to Kate.

"We're getting off this island, sweetie," Kate said to her daughter.

"But I don't wanna leave!" the girl cried.

"Come on, you're tired," Jack said picking up Lily. The rest of the parents set off the take their half-awake children back to the caves.

Kate talked with David on the way back to the caves. He was amazed at how easily they made the 1-½ mile trip to the caves.

"You get used to it after a while. I start to forget how far it really is," Kate explained.

"So you guys live in caves?" asked David.

"Some of us do. Others live on the beach. It really depends. The people with kids prefer to live at the caves, because they don't have to travel that far for water. Claire and Charlie don't however; both had some pretty bad experiences there."

"It sounds like you guys have your own little community here. That makes sense though, seeing how long you've been here."

"When we leave, it'll take some getting used to when we get back to the rest of the world. Sometimes I'll forget that there are other people out there, I feel like it's just us."

"I could never imagine going through as much as you all did. It seems that you made the best of the situation."

"We tried. It was hard at first. It seems like we all had our problems. Charlie felt like we were all put on this island to overcome our problems. We became a family. Then, Boone died."

"Someone died after the crash?"

"Yes. A plane crushed Boone. It was stuck in the canopy of some trees, and he was in it trying to use the radio. The plane fell. He lost a lot of blood. Jack and Sun did everything they could for him, but he eventually died. He was Shannon's stepbrother. She took it really hard."

Kate stopped, they were now at the caves. David, Andy, and Dominic looked around in awe. The caves was now a little village. Tents had been pitched all around the caves, providing housing for the individual families. There was also a large campfire going in the middle of everything. Large stones had been placed around the fire pit to keep children away. The water supply was a waterfall that poured off the top of the caves into a small "pond" that seemed to be carved out of a large rock by the water. The children quickly scrambled to their beds, and were instantly asleep.

"Welcome," Jack said. "To our little village." Dominic slowly walked around. He stopped at a large plastic container at one end of the caves.

"What's this?" he asked.

"That's where the school is. Inside is books, we found this container, and it's used to keep the books dry," explained Hurley. "We got most of the books from Sawyer's hoard after he left on the raft. That's where we also got a good amount of our supplies too."

"This has to be one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It honestly looks like a normal community," said Andy.

"As normal as you can get on a bloody island," Charlie said, which earned him a whack from Claire for his language. Charlie rolled his eyes, and turned back to their guests. "The sun should be rising in about an hour, so there's no use in going to sleep."

"Do you mind telling us about this plane crash?" asked Dominic as everyone sat around the fire pit. Locke was busy getting a fire going, Shannon seemed to have disappeared somewhere, as did Walt, so Kate took the role as story teller.

"We were all on our way back to the states from Sydney. We were about half-way there; I guess you could say when things went wrong. It seemed like turbulence at first, you know, the plane shaking, but then it got worse. The back half of the plane snapped off, and nobody survived," Kate started out.

"Except for Bernard," Rose said.

"Except for Rose's husband Bernard."

"Where is Bernard right now?" David asked.

"He stayed at the beach, I believe," said Rose.

Kate continued, "Around 40 of us survived, and things were going great."

"Until Ethan came around," said Claire quietly. So quietly, that people didn't think she said anything at first. Until she went on, "Ethan kidnapped me and Charlie. I have no recollection of the crash to this day. Charlie was almost killed, and I managed to escape. When Ethan was shot; we found out that he wasn't even on the plane."

"So you don't know who this guy is?" asked Andy.

"No clue. We had just assumed that he had been on the plane. A little while later, Claire had Aaron. It was around then that Michael got the idea for the raft," Jack explained.

"My Dad wanted to get off the island so badly," Walt said. People hadn't even noticed that he was back. "We built a raft. It was able to hold 4 people, so it was me, my Dad, Jin, Sun's husband, and Sawyer. We spotted a ship on the radar Sayid gave us, so we shot up our only flare. The boat came back, and took me. They also blew up the raft. I don't know what happened to the others on the raft, but Locke heard me screaming for help one day while he was hunting, and before I knew it, I was back here."

Dominic said, "Sounds like you guys have had a rough time out here."

"We have, but we've made it through everything," said Locke.

"Well, you won't have to worry about any of that anymore. It looks like you're leaving this place this afternoon." The castaways looked at one another. This couldn't be happening. They were leaving. After waiting for what seemed like forever, they were finally leaving!

"So we're finally getting off this island?" Locke said at last. He was the first one to speak.

"Things will be crowded on the cruise ship, but we'll get you all home safely" explained Dominic.

Jack replied, "I don't think it really matters to us, as long as we get off of this island." Everybody laughed.

"How quickly can you get your belongings together?" asked Dominic.

"Not long," Claire said. "A better question is how quickly can we leave?"

"Soon, that I promise you. We have to get things organized on the ship before you can board, like I said before, this afternoon. Today is your last day here!" Cheers once again erupted. Their dream was finally coming true! They would be leaving!

The day passed as a blur to everyone. It involved explaining to the children as to why they were leaving, and gathering personal belongings. Sayid went to look for Shannon, and found her kneeling in front of Boone's grave, crying. In an effort to console her, he wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders.

"Don't worry, Shannon, everything will be alright. We can have a ceremony in remembrance of your brother when we get home. Don't worry," he whispered into her ear.

"I just don't feel right leaving his body here," Shannon said quietly. "I feel like I should do something about it.

"There's nothing you can do. His body's decomposed already, leaving nothing."

"I know that! It still doesn't feel right though."

Meanwhile, Jack and Kate were busy deciding on what supplies would be needed. They were sorting through suitcases, trying to find some clothes that they could use.

"Things are going to be different now, Jack," Kate said as she closed the suitcase they would be bringing, and placed it by the door to their tent. "I mean, there's a lot to think about when we get back to the States." Jack walked over to Kate, and wrapped his arms around her. Kate buried her face deep into his face, trying to calm down. She felt him rest his chin on the top of her head.

"Don't worry about any of that right now," he said as he slid his hands up and down her back. "Right now is one of the best days of my life. We're finally getting of this damn island."

"But then what? Don't you remember? I'm a wanted criminal, Jack! The second I step off that ship, it's off to jail with me!" cried Kate. Jack struggled to console his wife.

"We're not going to worry about that right now. I'm sure being stuck on this island for eight years is worse then any sentence those judges could ever come up with. I'll protect you, and I'm sure everyone else here will too." Kate looked at Jack. He always seemed to know exactly what to say. Jack looked deep into Kate's eyes, and lowered his lips to hers.

"Ew, Dad! Gosh!" exclaimed Tommy from the door to the tent. The parents whirled around, and saw Tommy trying to suppress laughter.

Jack picked up Tommy, and asked him what he was doing back at the tent. The kids were gathering up their books for the journey home.

"We're done. Everyone's playing at the beach now," explained Tommy. "Daddy, if we're not going to live here anymore, where are we going to live?" Jack looked at Kate. They hadn't thought about that.

"We don't know right now. But it's not going to be on an island," said Jack.

"But why not?" Jack put Tommy down.

"Because that's not how you raise a child. Now run along, you Mom and I still have some packing to do."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Sure." Jack chased his son out of the tent, and went on packing.

Kate put down her bag on the beach, and went to find Jack. She had realized that they had forgotten about something.

"Jack?" she called out.

"Yeah? I'm coming!" Jack replied. Seconds later, the doctor was seen running out of the jungle. "What's wrong?"
"We forgot something," said Kate. Jack looked confused.

"Forgot something? What did we forget?" Sighing, Kate took the gun out of her waistband. "These. We forgot about these. Do we just dump them in the caves, or should we go back to the hatch and lock them up?"

"Jack, I think we should lock those up. Just in case someone else lands on this rock, God forbid," Locke said from behind him.

"That's at least a one day hike there and back. If we want to do that, we need to get all the guns right now, and leave in no more than twenty minutes. Whoever isn't taking the guns back can get on the ship."

"That'll give us a chance to get anything that we need from the hatch," Sayid said, joining the circle.

"You ready to go?" asked Dominic. "Some people are already getting on the ship."

"Actually, we need to go and lock up our guns in the armory at the hatch. It's at least a one day hike there and back. We should be back by nightfall," explained Locke.

"I'll come with you. I want to see more of this island before we leave," said Dominic. Kate hoisted her backpack up on her shoulder.

"Then let's go," she said simply.