Chapter 4
Sawyer wasn't done taunting Jack. "Where are you going Dugey Hauser? Don't you want you poncho? You look like you just saw a ghost…?" Jack completely ignores Sawyer; he is completely fixated on the image of his father that suddenly seemed to disappear into the jungle. He told himself "Not this again." He figured he needed some rest He had been exhausted. Between dealing with Henry, Locke, Sawyer, Sayid, Claire with her baby, Sun being pregnant and everything else he had enough. But the image of his father was so clear and so real he had to see where it went. He had to know for sure.
As he left Sawyer alone and disappointed because he couldn't get a rise out of Jack he entered the jungle with his backpack behind him. The rain was pouring hard as he entered the thick of the jungle. He continued going east thinking that was the direction the image went. He turned on his flashlight wishing it wasn't raining because he wanted to use his matches to light his torch because it was brighter and he didn't have to waste the battery of the flashlight. Moving past the trees and bushes it was very quiet. Eerily quiet. Besides the thunder from the storm and the pit pat sounds of the rain hitting the ground it was completely silent. Usually there was always some kind of jungle noises but now nothing, which was odd. He figured because of the storm the animals and insects decided to hide from the storm. In that moment he had a little jolt of fear. If the jungle was afraid of this storm maybe him and the others should take this storm a little bit more seriously too. He saw something on The National Graphic station about how animals know before a natural disaster to run and hide from it. He put this in the back of his mind because right now all he cared about was finding his father. As he continued to for farther though he couldn't help though to take his mind to other places. As he realized he should have stay back and fought Sawyer for his poncho because he could see that he probably will get really sick for not dressing appropriately for this kind of storm. He was pretty angry with Sawyer.
He didn't understand why Sawyer had to be the way he was. Since the crash he couldn't understand why he did everything he could to make an already sticky situation worse. Since stealing all the guns and medicine Jack was even angrier with him than usual. Getting the medicine back during the card game was important to Jack. He smiled on the inside that he conned the con man.
As Jack continued to go east he suddenly stopped. He hadn't seen his father's image in hours and this was starting to sink in that it was a little ridiculous to him. He finally realized he was going crazy on this island. To go in the middle of the night during a storm to go find his dead fathers image was nuts. He stopped for a rest at a small clearing. The rain was still coming down hard. He started to think of Michael and Walt and where they must be. He has been worried about the both of them since the guys on the raft returned without Walt and Michael went AWAL looking for him. He couldn't imagine what Michael must be going through surviving a plane crash with your son on a mysterious island and then having him kidnapped while your trying to get back home. Michael must be going out of his mind. He thought about since his father's trail went cold to go looking for him. Before the raft left he had grown close to Michael, but after the raft left and returned it seemed Michael became a different person. Jack had also lost Boone as a friend since his death and it seemed as if he was loosing sane people at camp he could trust except for Kate. And when she decided to follow them to find Michael and learn about the others he thought he lost her. He went for cover under a big tree from the rain.
Suddenly he heard some wrestling in the bushes. He gripped his gun and took notice of his knife immediately. His eyes searched everywhere his flashlight pointed since in this pitch-blackness he could see nothing. He saw nothing with his flashlight. Suddenly a rush of fear seemed like it was injected through his veins that was sent all over his body. "Anyone out there?" he called out bravely. "Who's out there? Michael is that you?" he shouted. He noticed he increasingly got a tighter grip on the gun as the seconds continued to go by without a response.
After five minutes of Jack staying under the tree looking frantically with his flashlight to see any signs of life beside himself he gave up and started hiking again. He went farther east this time but not to find his father rather to shake his fear. Before he left the tree though he did the trick he told Kate about when they first met. He counted to five to let the fear swallow him and after he counted to five he didn't allow the fear to take over. He resolved that whatever made those sounds was probably an animal in the jungle and he was just paranoid because he was alone in the jungle at night during a storm looking for his dead father's ghost.
As he continued to go east though he couldn't shake the feeling he was being followed. He was being observed. He was being stalked. Was it the image of his father? Michael? Walt? The monster that came after Locke? One of the other castaways following him? Maybe it was Kate again who decided not to listen again and follow him? He decided to keep on moving and ignore whatever it was. As he continued to go east he felt a rope tighten around his legs pulling him up, hanging him downwards on a tree. As he went up, his bag, flashlight, knife and gun went down with him. He was trapped, unable to move, and without his knife to cut him down he was at the mercy of whoever set the trap or who or what ever happens to find him first. Was this the doing of Rossusue? Did she set this boobie trap like she set the one that caught Henry? Was Rossusue the person who was stalking him? Only time would tell.
As much as he tried to escape the boobie trap he couldn't to save his life literally. The boobie was escape proof and whoever set it knew what they were doing. Finally he heard more noise but he couldn't figure out from where. It was pitch black. He called out "Is anyone there? Can someone help me? Anyone? Who's out there? I need help! Someone help me!" Suddenly flames went up everywhere like the time he challenged the apparent leader of the others about what they were going to do when they captured Kate.
The same guy with the baldhead appeared leaving the rest of his group hidden behind their torches in the jungle. Jack should have known. It completely slipped his mind that after a certain point him and the other survivor's were threatened by the mysterious others that if they crossed a certain point there would be trouble.
The man Sawyer nicknamed as "Zeke" finally spoke. "I thought we had a deal?" Zeke scolded. "You don't cross this point and we leave you alone." Jack thought carefully about this before he answered. "I know we had a deal but we are missing one of our survivors and his son and want to find them" Jack retorted. "I though you were told Michael was doing just fine last time we spoke?" Zeke answered back. "I know but that answer is not good enough for me. I want to know where my friend and his son went." Zeke obviously annoyed by this decided to pick up Jack's stuff on the ground including his gun and knife. "And you thought you were going to find them at our camp with these?" Zeke asked. "As you know this island seems to be a pretty mysterious and dangerous place. It doesn't hurt to protect yourself you know?" Jack answered back with an explanation he was satisfied with. Zeke tossed the bag and the other things to another shadow in the darkness. "Are you going to let me down from here?" Jack asked finally tired of the questions game and getting a headache from the blood rushing downward towards his head as he hung upside down. "Maybe in a little bit, first I have to ask you a few questions while we are all deciding to hang out" laughed Zeke "and some punishment for not following my instructions wouldn't hurt either." "What do you want to know asked Jack?" "Answer my questions first before I tell you anything!" Jack demanded. I don't think you are in any position right now to be the one to make the demands," Zeke said arrogantly. "Well, i'm not telling you anything until you at least let me down from this tree!" Jack shouted. "Alright boys let him down!" Zeke commanded. Jack finally fell to the ground hard, barely able to get up Zeke whacked him over the head with his gun knocking Jack out.