Chapter 49
Sawyer was confused. "War against It? What, the Cloud?"
Eko shook his head, sighing. "No, James, the Island. Or rather, what is controlling the Island." He started walking again.
Sawyer's confusion grew. "I thought the Others controlled the Island."
"No. The Others are one of Its tools, just like the Cloud, and both serve the same purpose, just on a different scale."
"And what purpose is that?" He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer; all of the information was overloading him a little.
Eko was quiet for a few steps, then he stopped again, turning to Sawyer in the dark. The trees whispered and Eko shivered a little; he felt eyes on them. Turning back the way they had come, he picked up his pace, forcing Sawyer to sprint to catch up. When Eko spoke again, after a few minutes, his voice was low. "To supply the Island with what it needs to survive. What it needs to exist."
Sawyer was a little scared; this was all kinda hard to swallow at once. "And what is that, Ed?"
"People like you." Sawyer froze, and Eko stopped, smiling a little. He turned to Sawyer, coming close, and he said, quietly. "There are other 'special' people, James, but you are more than they; you are suffused with something that casts them deeply in your shadow." He smiled, touching Sawyer's arm; sparks erupted where their skin touched. "We should walk. The woods have ears." Saywer nodded and they stared forward again. "The Island would make use of you, if it could. It seeks to weaken you for that reason." His voice became urgent, and he lowered it. "You must not go after Frank Sawyer, James. If you kill him for your own selfish reasons you will play into the Island's hands."
Sawyer hesitated; there was a slight problem with that. "I have to kill him. He'll always own a part of me if I don't." He smiled, softly. "You call me James, Ed, but I ain't really him, at least, not right now." He paused, thinking. "I want to be James again. But as long as Sawyer lives, I am him."
"Frank Sawyer is a ghost; you brought him here. He is such a part of you that you carry him inside." He paused, taking a few steps before speaking again. "Your greatest desire in life has been to kill him, yes?"
Sawyer nodded. Until recently, yeah. "Yes."
"The Island is giving you the chance to get what you want; it made him real so that you could have your shot at him. But if you do it, if you kill him because you need to, then the Island will own you. You will have to give it a sacrifice, and what it will ask for is you." They had come to the edge of their camp; Sawyer could see Kate still curled up, asleep against Vincent, who was lying with his eyes open, staring into the jungle at them. "He is dead, you know. A ghost. So are you, Sawyer. That is a name you will not need much longer." He smiled, and Sawyer could see him in the firelight. "Remember, any...division between you and Katherine is a vulnerability, a hole in your defenses; you must be completely together. The battle is not yet begun, there is time for you to heal those differences, James, and become truly whole."
Saywer nodded, then hesitated. "Should I tell Kate about all of this?"
Eko smiled and chuckled. "Of course. Tell her everything, James, anything she wants to know. How else will you finish healing each other?"
Sawyer opened his mouth to ask another question, a thousand questions. They swirled through his head making him dizzy; he shut his mouth again, and looked over at Kate, who was sitting up, looking around in a panic. Suddenly he felt calmer, clearer; he called out to her, "Kate, I'm here!"
Eko smiled. "I think that is enough for tonight, James. We will talk again, after you have had time to...adjust." He glanced at Kate, who was walking sleepily towards them, Vincent padding at her heels. "Goodnight, James. I think Vincent and I will go to the pit and get the pack so we can get an early start in the morning. Something tells me we need to get back to the hatch."
Sawyer wanted to go with them for a brief second; he didn't remotely feel like sleep and he wanted to wander through the jungle, listening to it. He even started to say something, but then Kate's arms were around him, leaning into him; she yawned and smiled blearily up at him. "Where'd you go?"
He smiled down at her, and the jungle was forgotten; how could he want anything but to be with her? "I was just talkin' to Ed. He and Fido are goin' after the pack while you and I get some sleep."
He could tell she wasn't really listening, her eyes were drooping and she mumbled, "That's nice. Be careful." She sagged against him a little and he held her up, grinning at Eko. "She was tired."
Eko smiled back. "I see."
Vincent yipped and grinned at Sawyer, who scowled back at him. "Not that it's any business of yours, Rover, but we are goin' to sleep." He shook his head. "Dog can talk and suddenly he thinks he's the damn Island comedian."
Eko smiled and he and Vincent disappeared into the jungle. Kate was dozing against him so he swung her up in his arms and carried her back to their place by the fire; it was burning down and Kate woke to him lying her down in the dim light. She reached up and touched his cheek; he kissed her softly, then sat next to her, smiling sadly. "What's wrong?"
He took her hand and played with her fingers for a few minutes, then he sighed and looked into her eyes. "I got a lot of stuff to tell you, Freckles." He grinned, shaking his head. "And I don't think you're gonna like any of it."
-----
He had it cleared; his fingers were raw and bloody but he didn't care; he could see the opening and his heart skipped a beat; the lid was not seated flush into the walls of the hatch; it wasn't sealed. He pushed against the lid, trying to shove it off with brute strength. It didn't work. He sighed.
Taking the log shovel, he shoved the sharpened, hollow end into the sliver of an opening, and pushed against it with all of his might, trying to lever it off; it gave just a smidge before the shovel snapped, sending him stumbling to the ground.
Cursing lightly, he brushed himself off and went a little way into the trees until he found a small bamboo stand. He found the thickest one and laboriously cut it down with one of his large hunting knives; it was a helluva job and he didn't think he'd ever get it done, but he did and taking the stalk, he slid it into the slightly widened hole and pushed against it hard again; this time it shifted a good deal before snapping the bamboo in half.
He could look down into it now; he held his flashlight, shining it down the hole; there was a ladder, and it went all the way down, as far as he could see. Excited, he hunkered down beside it and grasped the egdes of the lid, trying to flip it over; he grunted and strained; asking the island for help he suddenly felt superhuman and the lid slowly, inexorably tipped over and off of the hatch.
He gazed down, his heart beating wildly; slipping over the edge his feet found the ladder; he descended quickly, holding his flashlight down until he could see the bottom. He stepped gingerly onto the concrete floor and turned to see a door. An airlock with a wheel. Trembling a little, he reached out and turned the wheel, barely daring to breathe.
It turned and he pushed gently; the door swung open with a creak and he slowly stepped inside.
-----
The thought had been tickling at the back of Ana's mind all morning; Locke said if she wanted something she could ask the island for it; it had worked for him since he wasn't in a wheelchair anymore, maybe it would work for her too. But what would she have to sacrifice? What would she sacrifice? Almost anything, she thought, for the chance to try again.
Jack was holding her hand as they walked up the pass; the sun was barely up and it was already scorching and sticky. They hadn't been going very fast, but they had left early and they were about halfway up the trail when Jack noticed a small plateau; there were the remains of a campfire and lots of footprints, and while Jack was no tracker, it wasn't hard to notice the broken bushes where someone had run off into the jungle. "Wanna go check it out?"
"Sure." They slowly followed the track into the trees, it didn't go very far before they found a gun lying on the ground. Jack picked it up, looking it over; it looked like one of the marshal's. "I wonder why they left this?" He said, looking at Ana with a little worry. "Why would they leave a gun?"
She shook her head. "I don't know." Sighing, she headed back through the trees to the plateau. Going to the path she studied the ground; she had learned quite a bit about tracking from watching Locke and she thought she could just make out three sets of footprints and one set of pawprints going up the mountain. Motioning to Jack to come over, she pointed to the tracks and said, "All of them left together, I think. Maybe nothing is wrong." She cocked her head, looking at him. "It is weird though."
Jack chuckled and shrugged. "What here isn't?" Smiling, he glanced back up the path. "You wanna rest a few minutes?"
She shook her head. The faster they found Sawyer and Kate the sooner they got back to the hatch where she could talk to John. It was burning at her now, she wanted to know what to do. "No, let's keep going; if we don't find them we need to get out of the valley before dark."
He snorted. "Rousseau was crazy. I'm not worried about staying in the valley."
Ana stared at him, a sad smile on her face. "You should be, Jack." He just shrugged.
They continued up the pass; Jack kept running their encounter with the bearded man over and over in his mind; who was the carpenter? "Ana, who do you think the carpenter is?"
Smiling, she said, "Maybe it's Karen Carpenter. Or the movie guy, John Carpenter." Jack wasn't laughing and she frowned. "Just kidding. Lighten up."
"You just said I should be worried."
"Worry and fun are not mutually exclusive emotions, Jack. You're allowed more than one at a time."
Her sarcasm ticked him off a little and he turned to look at her angrily. "They are going to take you, Ana. Remember what They did to Sawyer?" She blanched and he nodded. "Yeah. So forgive me if I am a little preoccupied with trying to figure out a way to keep you safe, okay?"
God, he was condescending. "You can't, Jack. You know that. If They want me They'll get me. And even if you knew who the carpenter was, would you just turn them over?" Jack didn't answer. "So, lighten up, Jack. Let's enjoy the now, and not look into the future because it never turns out the way you imagine." She took his hand. "Let's find them and get back to the hatch." Smiling mischieveiously, she said, "Maybe this one has a shower too."
Jack laughed at that, and he kissed her quickly. "Okay," he said. "That's motivation enough for me. I hope they're close."
Ana sighed, thinking about getting to the hatch so she could corner Locke. "Yeah," she said. "Me too."
