marco1094: thanks i'm glad you liked it:-) yes the City of the Damned is like, the city to be inlol especially if Green Day is there
Richard Starkey: lol psychadelic! that word is so cool :-) i'm glad you liked the chapter!
disclaimer: i own no Lost stuff or things. Except for the fan guides, the season 1 dvd, and those little trading cards. ;-)
"Mike?" Ari asks. "What're you doing here?"
"Um, I'll tell you later, okay?" Jake answers hurriedly, noting the pained look in Mike's eyes.
Ari shrugs, not realizing the seriousness of the matter. "Okay. So, now what?"
There really is nothing else to do. There's a certain phobia that they all have of going into the jungle alone, so they can't go looking for anyone without Jack, Locke, Eko, or anybody.
So they play hangman in the sand. After awhile, though, that gets boring. Anything gets boring after awhile. But they find ways to pass the time until the sun is replaced by the moon.
That night, Jake lies awake, contemplating the events that had occurred earlier in the day. His mother is gone, his mommy is dead. There is no bringing her back. Tears form in his eyes. He tries to choke them back, but it's useless. They come flooding anyway, and after a few seconds, he doesn't try to stop them.
Jake thinks of something. What else is there to live for, really? Ari. But anyone else? Does anyone know that they're on this island? Does anyone care?
If they do care, why aren't any search parties coming around to look for them? God, it can't be that hard to find, can it? It's an island! A big chunk of land in the middle of water! It's not like they're totally isolated from civilization.
He hopes.
He repeats the question in his mind. Does anyone care? He sounds increasingly desperate each time he repeats it, and each time, he gets more and more unsure of the answer.
Finally, he decides. No one off this island cares. His fellow castaways on the island care; they're his family now. They have to be. Who else can be?
No one, that's who.
It rains. It keeps raining. All day long.
"Why won't the damn rain stop?" Ari moans, holding his head, shaking it back and forth slightly as if he has a migraine.
"Because it knows you don't like that it's still going," Jake answers absentmindedly.
"Haha, very funny," Ari says mockingly. He lays down on the sand and stares up at the tent ceiling. He rolls over, props himself up on his elbow, and begins a new conversation.
"So, Mike," he begins, "you never said what happened. Like, how'd you get here? Is Greg with you?"
Mike reddens. "I, um," he stammers, licking his lips, trying to distract Ari so that he won't have to re-explain everything. But Ari has a one-track mind.
"Uh…hey, Ari!" Jake says, putting some false enthusiasm in his voice.
"Yeah?"
"Um, can you come over here for a second?" he asks, motioning toward another area of the tent.
"If I do, will I be able to find out what you guys aren't telling me?" Ari asks skeptically.
"Yeah."
"Swear?"
"Yeah. Now come on."
Ari gets on his hands and knees and crawls over to where Jake is sitting. He looks up at Jake with eyes that look like a little kid's who's about to have a story told to him by his grandpa.
"Tell me a story," he says in his little-kid voice.
Jake stares at him. Ari rephrases.
"Okay, sorry. What happened?"
And Jake spills it. He tells Ari everything. Every last little thing. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Mike flinch at certain parts.
When he's done, Ari sits there, stunned. His eyes gaze in front of him. He's not looking at Jake. He can't bring his eyes to him.
"God, Jake," he mutters. "I'm sorry. That…that's the worst."
And he knows it.
There's an awkward silence between the three of them that lasts for around thirty seconds, filled only by the raindrops ceaselessly pattering on the shelter. Then something else fills the silence, overpowering the rain.
A gunshot.
A scream. Another gunshot.
The three lock eyes, and a unanimous, silent decision is made. They stumble for the tent opening and peek their heads out, all at the same time.
Sawyer is right next to them, his feet planted firmly in the sand, his arms out straight, holding a gun. He shoots seemingly every ten seconds. He doesn't notice them.
They peek their heads out a little further, and Jack is there, too, with Sayid and Locke. They have guns as well.
"What the hell is going on?" Ari whispers in between shots.
Right when he says this, a bullet comes whizzing by Mike's head, missing it by inches. All three of them simultaneously pull themselves back in, breathing fast and hard. Mike swallows.
"Did that hit you?" Jake asks.
"No," Mike breathes. "I promise, if it had, you would've known."
Finally, Ari gets up the courage to look out again. After about a minute, he comes back in with some company. Claire, with Aaron, and Sun.
"What's happening out there?"
"They're here," Sun says softly, almost disbelievingly. "They came."