disclaimer: i own no Lost stuff or things. i own Jake and Ari. they are mine.
the list of thank-yous: Richard Starkey, Sharpsnout, and Cohen101! you guys totally rock my socks off i'm glad you're enjoying the story :)
"Well," Locke says softly. "All right then. Let's go find that hell."
They continue to search until Jake trips over something in the ground. Usually, it would be considered a root or something of the like, but he is nowhere near any underbrush or anything tripable.
"We found it," Eko says, bending down to brush some leaves off of whatever Jake tripped himself up on. It looks like the hatch, but doesn't. It's got a green circle with a guy getting electrocuted painted in black on the door.
"Was it an electrical place?" Locke asks.
Jake shrugs. "No one got shocked."
"No one's quarantined, either," Locke muses.
After a brief pause, Jake bursts out, "Rousseau!"
"What?"
"Rousseau. That was Alex's last name!" Jake repeats, excited to be able to remember something that might be of some value to their search.
Locke's eyebrows raise, his eyes widen. "Really," he says.
"Really really."
Locke nods slightly. "God, I hope she's alive," he mutters under his breath, thinking of Danielle's reaction to knowing that her daughter was safe. Maybe it would stop her paranoia of stuff and things. Who knows? One can only hope for these things.
The door is locked, and nothing within reach is able to get through it. Even Eko's "Jesus Stick" won't do anything save making a dent in it.
"We're going to have to come back tomorrow," Locke decides, straightening himself.
"What? Why?" Jake asks, panicked.
"We have nothing to open this door. There's supplies back at the beach that we can use, but by the time we get back, it'll be dark already. We're better off waiting until tomorrow morning. Plus, it's going to rain soon."
After getting Jake to accept that fact, the trio march back toward the beach. On the way there, Eko stops in his tracks. He's at the back of the line, so Locke nor Jake see him stop.
He sees something in the jungle. Someone. Well, a shadow of someone. "What was his name?" he mutters to himself, trying to remember Ari. Finally, he does.
"Ari!" he yelps, hoping that the person really is him. But when he looks again, the shadow is gone.
"Did you see him?" Jake asks. "Was he there?"
Eko stares, then shakes his head slowly. "No."
Jake's heart sank. Why do they always have to be so damn close? They're micro-millimeters away from what they're looking for, and it disappears. Every time.
The shadow staggers through the foliage, struggling to find his way through to the shoreline. His heart is pounding; his brain is hoping that the black guy with his stick isn't following him. He doubts it, but keeps going at a steady pace just to make sure. He's discovered that you have to make sure of a lot of things if you want to survive on this godforsaken island.
At last, he feels the warm sand under his sneakered feet. He collapses face first, breathing heavy and fast. The sound of the ocean pounding in his ears is a welcome change to the gunshots, yells, and crackling leaves under the feet of his pursuers. He's managed to lose them many times. He's never been forced to go back. Not yet. He doesn't want to change his luck, so he knocks on the sand. It's just as good as wood to him.
He rolls over so that he faces the deep blue sky. He lays spread-eagle over the sand. Ever since he was little, he's always loved the sand. He slept on it whenever he went down to his grandparents' cottage on the beach, much to his mom's disapproval. Now is no different.
When he feels like he's about to fall asleep, he slowly drags himself over to a little reclusive shelter he made awhile ago out of some branches and leaves. It keeps out the elements, and is subtle enough to be hidden from unwelcome eyes. If you look hard enough, you can see it, but he's usually never there in the mornings, and at night, it's impossible to see it. He never lights a fire at night, and rarely does during the day. He rests his head down on a particularly big mound of sand and falls asleep.
Locke, Eko, and Jake trudge back to the camp, Jake's feet sore from the unnatural amount of hiking they did.
"Did you find anything?" Claire asks, walking up to them with Aaron in her arms.
"Found something, but we can't go back until morning. It's nearly dark, and it's going to start raining pretty soon," Locke answers.
Claire laughs. "How can you be sure of that?"
"Trust me. It's gonna rain tonight," Locke assures her.
Jake sits on the beach, his arms resting on his knees, eyes staring out at the ocean. It's almost magnetic; he has to fight to take his eyes off of it. He probably would've kept looking at it, but he feels something.
He tilts his head upward and sighs softly, slightly amazed, a bit stunned.
It had begun to rain.