Author's Note: Okay- this is the chapter where I add in a bit of a twist. Hope you guys like it. And, as always- please review. I love your feedback and suggestions. Where do you guys want to see the story go? I am always glad to listen to what you say…
Chapter 3: The Surprise of a Lifetime
Daylight couldn't have come soon enough. The rising of the sun heralded the return of the three stragglers that had wondered off into the jungle the day before. Ryan stood by the edge of where the sand met the stall grass to meet them. Kate came out first, gasping and panting and looking widely frazzled.
"Pilot… hanging on the tree… dead" she breathed out. Ryan took hold of the shaking woman and lowered her down to the sand. She looked up as Jack and Charlie came into view. Jack looked disturbed and Charlie looked oddly detached- he reminded her of those heroin addicts she had seen one night on the streets of London. She looked up at them, question written all over her green-gray eyes.
"It's the pilot, he was killed" Jack said soberly.
"Killed?" Ryan asked, her eyes huge. Jack nodded morosely.
"Killed by what? Are there wild animals here?" Ryan asked the man.
"Seems like it. We need to be on guard, maybe find a few weapons" Jack said, his eyebrows creased together. Ryan nodded slightly. She had found a nice piece of driftwood last night that she thought would be perfect to make a small dagger- or a slingshot.
"I'll take care of Kate" Jack said flatly. Ryan nodded slightly, leaving Kate to Jack and starting to leave back to the beach.
"Ryan wait- we found this" Jack called out. Ryan turned around and saw him holding a small transmission device. "It seems to be broken- maybe you can find somebody to fix it" Jack said, handing it to her. Ryan took it from him and examined it.
"I think I know the right person for this" she said slightly, walking over to the beach where Sayid was sitting, showing Boone different pieces of oddly shaped metal from the wreckage.
"Um, Sayid…" Ryan said hesitantly, hoping she wasn't ruining anything. Sayid looked up at her.
"Yes?" he asked, his accent thick.
"Jack found this near the plane- I thought you could fix it" she said. Sayid took the device from her and looked it over.
"It's a transmission device" Sayid said, incredulously.
"Yes" Ryan said "can you fix it?" she asked him. Sayid laughed a bit.
"I was a communications officer" Sayid said lightly, while he started to tinker with the device. Ryan's eyes grew wide.
"So was my mum. She worked with the British command" Ryan said, smiling slightly.
"I worked with the Iraqi Republican Guard" Sayid said tightly, wondering whether or not Ryan or Boone was going to crack any sort of terrorist comment. Sawyer had already accused him of hijacking the plane.
Ryan's large eyes lit up with excitement. She turned to Sayid, talking in perfect, fluent Arabic. Sayid and Boone both stared at the girl then at each other.
"You…you speak Arabic?" Sayid asked, confused but thoroughly pleased with this turn of events.
"I moved a lot as a kid. I lived in Saudi Arabia for two years." Ryan said, shifting a little. She always got uncomfortable when talking about her past.
"What else can you speak?" Boone asked her. Ryan sighed a bit.
"Japanese and a bit of Gaelic" Ryan said. Japanese she had picked up from her three years in Tokyo and Gaelic she had picked up from her mother, who was a quarter Irish and a quarter Chinese. Her father had spoke French, but he had died before she really even knew him. It seemed like Sayid was about to say something, but Hurley interrupted them.
"Um. Ryan, Jack- I think you need to come here" Hurley called. Ryan nodded towards the two men next to her and went over to Hurley, Jack hot on her heels. Hurley was standing next to the body of a man who was in obvious pain.
"Oh, god" Ryan said, looking at the man, who was bleeding all over the sand. Jack whistled a bit.
"I guess we need to get to work" he said. "but first, we need to find antibiotics" he said. Jack had never performed a surgery in the open on a beach before, and he wasn't about to do it without a plentiful stash of medicine by his side. Jack, Ryan, and Hurley all spent the next two and a half hours finding any medicine of use. Sun even gave Ryan a herbal remedy that she had made out of some of the plants she found near the jungle. Ryan didn't know if it would help- but it was worth a try.
By the time that they had gotten all of the medicine, Sayid had fixed the transmission device. They started to organize a party of people who would go into the jungle to try to get a reception.
"Go with them Ryan" Jack said to her. Ryan turned around and faced Jack.
"But you need help" she said. Jack shook his head.
"Nah- I've got Hurley here. I think the others need you- in case something happens to them while they are in the jungle" Jack said. Hurley nodded in agreement. Ryan smiled a bit. She had wanted to go into the jungle, actually. She had a natural sense of adventure and there was something about the jungle that called to her.
The team had come together- Sayid, Charlie, Shannon, Boone, Ryan, and Kate. They went into the jungle, wary where they stepped. There was still a wild animal out there somewhere, and no one wanted to take a chance. Ryan walked ahead of the group, trying to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.
"Do you hear anything odd?" Shannon said all of the sudden.
"Do you?" Ryan asked apprehensive. She even forgot for a minute that she and Shannon were fast enemies.
"Yes" Shannon said, whispering- her voice quavering a bit.
"It's probably just the wind, Shannon" Boone said. "You always make a big deal out of small things." He added.
"Wait- I hear it too" Kate said softly. All of them stopped and waited for a second. All of the sudden a flash of white fur appeared above them.
"Everybody down!" Ryan said hurriedly just as a gun shot went off. They all got up and saw Sawyer, a gun in his hand.
"Where did you get that?" Ryan asked.
"A polar bear!" Boone said, his tone amazed.
"What?" Everybody asked, turning to him.
"A Polar Bear!" Boone repeated, pointing the "monster" that Sawyer had just shot. They all turned around and saw the bear.
"What…the…hell" Charlie dragged, voicing everybody's thoughts.
"Where are we?" Shannon asked.
"Well, if we knew that then we wouldn't be lost" Ryan said as Shannon shot her another dirty look.
"I think what Miss Shannon is wondering is why there was a polar bear on a tropical island" Sayid said.
"I think we are all wondering that" Boone said, his eyes still riveting on the bear. Ryan, too was looking at it. There was something oddly familiar about it, as though she had seen it not that long ago.
"Walt" she whispered, not really understanding why she said his name. But she had remembered Walt for some reason when she saw the bear.
"You guys- I've got a transmission!" Kate called, causing everybody to leave the polar bear. They surrounded Kate, listening to the voice on the communication device. The voice was slightly distorted, but the words were understandable. Well…actually they weren't understandable at all. The were in French.
"God dammit" Charlie whispered. "Does anyone here happen to know French?" he asked.
"I know a bit" Shannon offered. They all looked at Shannon expectantly. She took the radio and listened to it.
"I can't understand all of it… something about being alone…and 16… and killing" she said, her forehead wrinkled in concentration.
"God Shannon, why do you always have to be so useless?" Boone asked, his voice not at all pleasant. Shannon gave him a withering look, but she seemed somewhat hurt.
"I'm alone now, on the island alone. Please someone come. The others are dead. It killed them. It killed them all." Shannon said, after the twelfth time she heard the massage.
"Are you sure?" Sawyer asked her. Shannon nodded. Sayid looked thoughtfully at her.
"Then whoever left the message must have been on this island for about sixteen years then" he said.
"But who is it? Is she still here?" Kate asked.
"Most probably dead" Charlie said, quite morbidly. He was always slightly morbid when he was buzzed.
"Um, guys- what's wrong with Ryan?" Boone asked. They all turned to the small girl who was staring at the transmission device- her eyes wider than they had ever been. Her mouth was slightly ajar and there was a look of pure surprise on her face.
"What's wrong?" Boone asked her.
"That…that voice, on the transmission" Ryan blurted.
"What about it?" Sayid asked.
"That's my aunt" she said. They all looked at her as though she was crazy.
"Your aunt?" Sawyer asked.
"Danielle Rousseau. She and my uncle left when I was two on some sort of scientific exploration. I don't remember her much- but I heard her talking on my parent's wedding video. That's her voice I'm certain of it." Ryan said. "She left me this key before she left" she added, tugging on a golden chain on her neck. On the chain there was a small locket and a golden key with numbers written down the side.
"Your aunt left when you were two? And that would be…" Kate asked.
"Sixteen years ago" Ryan said softly. The silence that rippled through the group was almost deafening.
"Whoa" Charlie said, and everybody nodded in agreement. This island was just getting weirder and weirder.