Chapter 51

They weren't going to make the pass by dark; a torrential rainstorm had broken on them and the jungle floor was just a slippery, sucking bog that pulled on their feet when they tried to walk. Forced to slow to a crawl they were now way too far behind to make it to the mountain, much less over it. The rain had finally stopped but dusk was falling and the ground was still soaked.

"I think we should camp," Jack said, dropping his pack on the soggy ground. "We can go over the pass in the morning."

Ana shook her head; she was still pissed at him for snapping on her after Kate knocked her on her ass. That pissed her off too; but that wasn't her reason for disagreeing. "No, Jack. We can't stay here. This is Their valley, and I for one would rather try to walk. Push on to the hatch." She eyed the ground. "And I don't really want to try to sleep in the mud."

Jack was equally mad at Ana; why did she have to stir sht up with Kate all the time? She was like Sawyer with long hair and boobs. "Yeah? Well we're tired. Tired people make mistakes; we could get lost, turn in the wrong direction, someone could fall in the dark, hell, we could be walking right to them." He shook his head. "No. We camp, wait until daylight."

Kate said, "I don't think so, Jack.' She hated to agree with Ana but she had a point. "Who's going to get any sleep in this muck? We should keep moving, put some distance between us and Them." She paused. "Besides, a moving target is harder to hit."

Jack glared at her, irked that she would go against him instead of having his back. "I guess you'd know all about being a moving target, wouldn't you Kate?"

Sawyer flared and Kate could feel him spark; he would definitely fry Jack. She held him back, looking at Jack with a little hurt. "Yeah," she said softly, and Jack was suddenly sorry he'd said it. "I do know all about it. And that's why you should listen to me."

Ana snorted. "Listen to you? You got caught, Bonnie. Weren't you with the Marshal, you know, the one whose guns we're all carrying?"

Kate tensed. How did she know that? Who would have told her? The truth thudded into her belly like a rock and she looked accusingly at Jack. "You told her?" He looked away and Kate snapped, "I don't believe you did that, Jack."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, Kate. Sawyer told everyone within shouting distance that you were the Marshal's prisoner. Why the hell don't you give him sht about it?"

Sawyer stepped up, eyes flaring. Kate kept her body between his and Jack's, trying to avoid an incident; she could feel the power running through him as he said, "That's between us, Jackass, and it was a different set of circumstances."

Jack laughed nastily. "Oh really? well, why don't you tell me those 'circumstances?' Exactly how are they different?"

"Because when he outed me it was in anger and to a crowd. Spontaneous." Kate was flaring too; Sawyer's energy was diffusing itself into her and she snapped, "When did you tell her? By the campfire? In the shower?" She turned to Ana, smirking. "Does he talk about me before, during or after?" She laughed at Ana's expression, then glared at Jack again. "You made a concious decision, Jack, to tell someone, a stranger, about my past and my reasons for being here. That's the difference."

"Come on, Kate," Jack snorted. "She could have found that out from anybody. Everyone knows." It was a hollow rationalization and he knew it; he flinched as Kate laughed in his face.

"You are a jackass. You know what? I'm done." She looked into his eyes and said it again, "I'm done."

A door closed behind her eyes and Jack grabbed her arm, trying to reason with her, but Sawyer's hand flew out from behind her, grabbing him by the throat; Jack's skin tingled unpleasantly where Sawyer touched him. "Don't you touch her, Jack." His voice was cold.

Ana shoved him, trying to make him let go of Jack; Kate shoved her back as Sawyer let go of him, glaring. Eko and Vincent watched them from a distance, the four of them shoving and shouting; he sighed sadly, looking down at the solemn-eyed dog. "Difficult times lie ahead, Vincent." He stepped up to put a stop to the argument before it came to blows.

"Please, please," he said, holding his hands up in the air to quiet them. "Please," he said again as they all stopped, and turned to him looking a little ashamed of themselves. "Fighting amongst yourselves will not solve the problem at hand." They all separated, still shooting glares and threatening stares at each other; Eko shook his head, smiling to himself, they reminded him of the children at the orphanage in Nigeria. "That's better. Now, I believe that Katherine and Ana-Lucia are correct- we should keep walking." Jack started to protest, but Eko shook his head again and continued, "We will not lose the trail, Jack. James and I can follow it."

Sawyer glanced at Eko questioningly, but he just smiled. Wait. Jack was glaring at them all crazily, "Fine. I guess I'm outnumbered. But if anything goes wrong, Eko, it's on you."

Eko just smiled. "Nothing will go wrong, Jack. Everything will go just right." He smiled at Sawyer, who grinned back, pulling Kate to him.

They trailed into the dark jungle, disappearing into the shadows as the whispers began to swirl softly behind them.

-----

Locke was fascinated by the files in his lap; he had finally raided the kitchen and found some sodas and a few packages of crackers that were slightly stale; but bonanza! he had found tucked away in a cabinet eight boxes of Twinkies. And they were still good. They lasted eight thousand years, after all.

The alarm went off and Locke stared at the timer as it continued to count down; finally at two minutes it reset, and the televisions flickered and reset. Then the automated voice, "Timer reset. One hundred and eight minute surveillance countdown beginning. Nothing detected." He had looked around the hatch enough to know that there was no one here, and there hadn't been for a long time. The TVs were automated, the surveillance was automated, even the lights were automated; but the button wasn't, because it took a different amount of time each cycle to get pressed. A computer would execute at the same time interval, every time. It was the swan station that was pushing the button, he was sure, and it was resetting the surveillance equipment here. He wondered if it had anything to do with the incident.

He felt his pocket reassuringly; it was still there. The Island's salvation lay in his pocket and it was safe.

An alarm sounded; it was different from the button alarm, shrill and piercing, like a steaming teakettle. The lone television on the far side of the room came on; Locke covered his ears and ran to it, wiping the dust from the screen. It was one of the ocean views, but there was something in the distance; a ship. Locke's heart froze as the automated voice spoke loudly, "Incoming detected. Incoming detected. Scanning." The alarm was shrieking but Locke ignored it; there was a ship out there; that meant rescue. And he didn't want rescue. The alarm cut off and the sudden silence made his ears ring. "Scan negative. Tesseract deactivated. You will have 5 seconds to override by pressing execute." The computer whirred to life and began a countdown from 5...4..3..2..

John considered pressing it just to see what would happen; his finger hovered over the button but he pressed just a fraction of a second too late; the computer powered down again and he pushed the keys frantically but with no result.

The ship disappeared over the horizon and the television went blank too. John sank into the chair next to the computer, sighing shakily. What the hell was this place?

-----

The dark was complete; the stars were muffled and dim and the jungle was strangely silent. Sawyer and Eko led the line, with Kate and Vincent behind them, and Jack and Ana bringing up the rear. Sawyer kept glancing back at Kate to make sure she was okay; he didn't really worry too much about her when she was with Vincent because that dog would take a bullet for her if he needed to. She was as safe with him as she could be but Sawyer wanted to protect her himself; it was his right because she belonged to him.

Completely. She had shut Jack out and Sawyer felt it. No part of her belonged to anyone else; she was his. Of course she still cared about Jack, she didn't want him to die or anything, but she didn't care about him.

But part of him still belonged to someone else, and he hated himself for letting it be that way. He could just let it go, he could visualize himself letting go of Frank and Sawyer forever and being just James but his powers didn't extend to this, apparently, because it didn't seem to be working. He couldn't let go until he knew for sure he was dead.

Eko spoke to him from the darkness, his voice low so no one could overhear him. "James, we are in dangerous territory. You are."

He paused, and Sawyer asked, "Shouldn't Kate hear this, Ed?"

Eko smiled. "Yes, of course."

Sawyer smiled and dropped back a few feet to Kate, who was shining Jack's old flashlight in front of her; it was wobbly light and very dim after its trip into the ocean, but it was better than nothing. She flicked the light up under her chin as Sawyer fell into step with her. "Boo."

He smiled. "You already scare me enough, Freckles. That ain't necessary." She grinned and bumped her shoulder gently against him, and he whispered, "You wanna join me and Ed for a little chat?"

She frowned. "I don't know if I do, Tex. It's never good news, is it?"

He laughed and hugged her to him. "No, it never is." He looked down at her, suddenly serious. "But I want you to be with me, Kate."

Her eyes were shining as she said, "Yeah, yeah, Cowboy, it's always about what you want." He grinned and took her hand, drawing her up even with Eko. Her flashlight sputtered one last time and died. "Damn." She took her hand away from his to unscrew the cap, trying to jostle the batteries into working.

Sawyer grinned at her and kissed her gently on the cheek, taking the flashlight from her hands. He glanced back at Jack and Ana who were too busy glaring at each other to pay attention to what he was doing. "Close your eyes, Kate." She did, and he whispered, "Take my hand." Her fingers slid into his and she felt brighter; her whole body felt full of light and when she opened her eyes she could see; it was still dark night outside, but the light behind her eyes lit up the path before her. She looked up at Sawyer in wonder and he smiled. "I feel like I should be in a comic book or somethin'. James Ford, the Human Flashlight."

Awestruck, she said, "Who are you?"

He leaned into her ear, whispering, "I'm a complex guy, sweetheart."

She laughed, still a little stunned. "Yeah. I'll say."

Eko cleared his throat. "James, are you done showing off?" Saywer and Kate had forgotten why they were there and they grinned sheepishly at each other before turning to Eko, who shook his head in exasperation. "You are all like children." Sighing, he turned serious, glancing back at Ana and Jack, who still trailed them by a good margin. "As I said, we are in dangerous territory, here in this Valley."

Kate was instantly serious, though Sawyer still didn't seem too concerned. "What kind of danger?"

"Temptation." He paused and they walked a few steps before he continued. " 'Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried he will recieve the crown of life.' James 1:12." He looked askance at Sawyer; he was smiling at Kate. "Everyone is tempted, James. Even Jesus." They were silent, waiting for him to continue. "He was led into the wilderness; the spirit called him there. He stayed, fasting for forty days and forty nights and he was hungry. Satan came to him in the deepest throes of his hunger and said, 'If you really are who you say you are, if you really are the Son of God, then turn these stones to bread that you may eat'. But Jesus refused, saying, 'Man does not live by bread alone.' So Satan tried another trick to shake Jesus' faith; he spirited Jesus away to the top of the temple in the Holy City, and there he said, 'Throw yourself from the top of this temple, and if you are truly the Son of God the angels will catch you before you fall." Jesus refused again, replying that he could not be tempted. The Devil was getting desperate; he could not make Jesus deny his faith. He tried once more; spiriting Jesus to the top of the highest mountain he showed him all of the kingdoms of the world and said, 'All of this can be yours, if you deny you are the Son of God and join me.' And Jesus refused again, and with that the Devil disappeared, thwarted in his attempt to destroy us all."

THey were quiet and Sawyer finally spoke, drawing Kate against him as he did. "Ed, I don't know if I can resist that. It's too strong."

"You must, James. Or It will destroy us all." Eko considered a moment; Sawyer could see his smile. "You lack faith, James, just like Jesus' brother, yes?" Sawyer didn't answer. "You don't have to do it, what you feel you need to. You are James, deep inside; Sawyer is just a skin you wear and you feel naked and open beneath it. Raw. That scares you and I understand. Katherine understands." He felt Kate's hands tighten around him; Eko leaned into them both as they walked slowly and whispered, "Neither Kate or I will let anything hurt you, James, if you remove that skin and throw it to the wind. We will protect you; Katherine will keep you. Let it go. It is the only thing that stands between you."

Kate squeezed him and smiled up into his eyes. "Let it go, James," she said, the name feeling alien on her tongue; it almost felt like she was talking about someone else.

Sawyer stared at her for a minute, breathless. It was the first time she had ever really called him by his name, not counting the arguments. It stopped his heart to hear her say it; before he knew it he had crushed himself to her, kissing her hard and clutching her body against his.

She couldn't breathe; she didn't want to. She finally pulled away a little, croaking, "Sawyer, you're crushing me."

He released his grip but still held her against him. Eko smiled at them; they were so close. "It is not the great temptations that ruin us, it is the little ones." He smiled to himself as they all continued walking into dangerous territory.