Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or any of it's characters (obviously or this story wouldn't have happened! stupid Shoone killers!)
Author's Note: YAY! I finished it! You guys have no idea how long it took me to get through this chapter, but I'm happy with it now. God bless random bursts of inspiration.
Only problem: now you all have to wait until I finish the next chapter, since I've depleted my stockpile. So I will apologize in advance for the impending long wait. I'M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!...ahem, back to the story.
Shannon would have screamed her head off, had it not been pressed into the damp leaf matter. Some air in her lungs would have helped too.
She could hear the loud booms of the island monster coming closer, but it wasn't close enough to reach her yet. Something else had knocked her down, and she was pretty sure it was human. Both she and her assailant remained frozen in place, not moving a muscle until the sounds of the creature had faded.
When it was evident the thing wasn't coming back, Shannon tried to get up. The heavy weight on top of her had other ideas.
"Shh." A soft voice hissed in her ear, sending a familiar shiver through her body.
Shannon obeyed, trying unsuccessfully to relax between the damp ground and warm body pressed against hers.
The instant she fell silent, the sound of many feet moving through the jungle reached her ears. Even though she couldn't see, Shannon knew they didn't belong to any of the survivors. There were too many to be any of the groups looking for Boone, and she knew Jack would have told everyone else to stay put until he returned.
The Others.
It had to be them!
This realization set Shannon's bottom lip trembling with fear. Once again she was overcome with the urge to scream. Fortunately her face was still pressed into the ground and her brain was working enough to know that screaming would mean death.
She remained silent and still until the sounds of the Others had faded just like the monster. It was only then that she gave a thought to the being on top of her.
"Boone, will you get off me! I can't breathe!" she growled into the dirt.
Before she could move, he had gotten up and swiftly pulled her to her feet, hands supportively resting on her shoulders.
"Thanks." Shannon muttered, looking down at her now dirty clothes. Damnit, this was her favorite tank!
"That's all I get for saving you from the Others?" Boone asked, eyes fixed on the top of her head, which was all he could see of it, what with her continued examination of the ruin that had been her t-shirt.
"You didn't save me from them, you saved me from the mon-" Shannon finally looked up, straight into Boone's eyes. Oh God! His eyes! They were completely red. Like twin pools of blood glimmering dully in the light.
"No, I saved you from the Others. The 'monster' was running from them too." He replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Clearly he didn't know he now looked like some sort of demon.
Shannon just stared in horror.
"Shan, you okay?"
Blink.
The blood stuff was gone. What was going on!
"Your eyes…" she began, still fighting that damned urge to scream.
"What?"
Shannon shook her head, trying to rid it of the disturbing image. Perhaps she was just freaked from her almost run-in with two of the island's most dangerous inhabitants.
"What were you saying before?" she asked, only then realizing what Boone had said to her.
"Do you hear that?" Boone asked suddenly, tilting his head slightly.
"Hear what?" Shannon didn't care, she wanted an answer to her question!
"It sounds like it's coming from the camp!" Boone yelled before dashing off into the jungle.
"Boone!" Shannon stood staring into the bushes he had disappeared into. Now that she listened, she could hear the faint sound of people screaming.
She set off at a fast walk, her body still worn from its last run. As she went, the screaming became louder, more urgent. And she could smell smoke. Shannon quickened her pace, something was very wrong, she could feel it.
She finally made it back to the clearing, only to find it engulfed in flames. The survivors were scattered throughout the thick smoke, some trying to put out the many fires, others attempting to rescue the few items that had not been destroyed by the blaze.
A familiar figure appeared suddenly between the clouds of smoke and Shannon began running towards it in relief. She was about to throw her arms around him when he turned to face her.
Shannon froze in confusion, it was Boone, wasn't it? In the surrounding haze, she couldn't see his face clearly, but who else would it be? He looked enough like Boone, didn't he? Shannon was confused, it was hard to see through all the smoke.
Oh crap, the smoke!
She bent over as her asthma flared up, throat tightening painfully. While she couldn't see, the figure began moving towards her, stalking almost.
Shannon looked up at him, her eyes widening in fear as she realized it definitely wasn't Boone. It wasn't even one of the survivors. A single word echoed in Shannon's head, Others.
She tried to scream as the stranger reached for her, but there wasn't anywhere near enough air in her lungs to even utter a tiny yelp.
He was seconds away from grabbing her when something else rammed into him, sending both figures into a nearby fire.
There was a blood-chilling screech, it reminded Shannon of one of those Ring-thingies from Lord of the Rings. A blackened figure flew up from the blaze, way up, past the top of the cliff and out of sight.
Shannon's eyes fell back to the fire in time to see Boone come striding out of it, flames licking their way around his body.
Alarm bells went off in Shannon's head, Dream! Dream! Don't let him touch you!
Wait, he wasn't on fire, just his clothes were.
Boone tore the shirt off and threw it to the ground where it slowly smoldered.
"Shan, are you okay? Did he hurt you?" worried eyes revealed themselves through the thick haze, not giving any clue whether their owner knew he had just walked through fire or not.
Shannon tried to answer, but her asthma was getting worse and she was starting to feel faint. She gestured to her throat quickly and Boone got the idea.
"Sun!" he shouted, looking around wildly for the Korean woman. She appeared by his side, smoke marks across her face.
"What's wrong?"
"She's having an asthma attack."
Sun's face fell and she covered her mouth with her hands.
"Oh Boone, I don't know where the eucalyptus is. I think it was destroyed in the fire. It's highly flammable. I'm sorry."
"God, no!" he turned back to Shannon, "Shan, it's going to be okay, I'm not going to let you die." Scooping her up, he made his way out of the clearing, which wasn't that clear any more, and into the jungle where the smoke was much thinner.
Collapsing against a tree, he pulled Shannon into his lap, holding her head against his chest.
"Listen to me breathe Shan, try to copy it." He soothed, stroking her hair slowly.
"In, out, in, out, in,"
Shannon tried, she really did. Her lungs just wouldn't fill with air. Her head began to swim. She could still see a few fires between the trees, they flickered invitingly at her, making her feel sleepy.
No! She couldn't go to sleep, she needed to tell Boone…tell him, what?
Love! She needed to tell Boone that she loved him.
"Boone," she whispered, unable to make her voice any louder.
He stopped his chanting and looked right at her, hot tears forming in his eyes.
"It's going to be alright, Shan. I promise it is. You just rest, okay?"
"No Boone, it's not. But…at least I get to say…goodbye this time." It was getting harder, Shannon was struggling to keep her eyes open and her mouth working. It didn't help that Boone was completely in denial.
"You don't need to say goodbye, you're not going anywhere. You're going to be fine."
"I'm not, and you…know it. It's…okay though…Boone…I got to…tell you…how…I felt…That's…all I…need." He could barely hear her voice now.
"No Shan. You can't go. I need you. I love you." The tears he was working so hard to hold back finally began cascading freely down his face, creating clean streaks amongst the dirt. He didn't want to be crying the last time she saw him, it wasn't right.
"I…love you…too." Shannon mouthed back, not having any air in her lungs for speech. Her eyes locked on his for a last moment before fluttering closed, her body going limp in his arms.
Author's Note: Yeah, I know I'm evil. runs and hides in the 'apocalypse' grade bomb shelter