"You're not listening to me!" Hurley bellowed as he followed Sayid back to the beach.

"I can't right now, Hurley!" Sayid snapped, rushing through the trees, surprised Hurley could keep up in his exhausted state.

"But they've been kidnapped!"

"You're hallucinating," Sayid shouted over his shoulder, his initial instinct to believe Hurley. But how could the three of them be kidnapped? It was ridiculous. They were probably on their way back. Hurley had to have fallen behind.

"Sayid!"

But Sayid took off running, needing to get away from Hurley. Everything was too much. He needed to get help, find a bunch of people to help him dig out the hatch. The hole that Charlie had crawled through was slowly collapsing. It was already almost half the size it had been. He needed a lot of hands to help him widen it, to help dig it out so they could get Locke and Eko out, if they were alive.

"Scott!" Sayid shouted, coming up to a guy trying to put together a second part of his tent.

"It's Steve," snapped the man, not looking at Sayid. "Scott's dead."

"Sorry," Sayid hurried. "I need help. The hatch has collapsed, we need a lot of hands to dig it out."

"Were there people inside?" asked Steve, looking concerned.

"Yes. Go find as many people as you can to help."

But Steve looked hesitant.

"Where's Jack?" he asked, stepping away from his work. "How come they haven't come back yet?"

"They're on their way," Sayid had no time for this, he needed to find more recruits.

"Did they find that kid?"

"I don't know!" Sayid shouted angrily. Steve gave him a look that said 'you really think I'll help you now?' and Sayid sighed.

Forgetting Steve, Sayid ran down the beach and found Claire hurriedly walking with Aaron and a bag over her shoulder.

"Claire?"

"They've gone crazy!" she exclaimed, looking back. "They're going through Sawyer's stuff! Hurley said they're dead!"

Leaving Claire to hurry along the beach, Sayid took off towards Sawyer's tent. Several people were going through his bags. As much animosity was between them, Sayid knew Sawyer would flip a lid if he came back and his things were gone. It wasn't right.

"Stop!" Sayid came up to them "They're not dead!"

"Hurley said they were taken by the Others!" shrieked Sun, not ransacking Sawyer's tent but standing by and watching. "What happened?"

"They're on their way back," Sayid said.

Suddenly Sayid knew how Jack felt. In complete chaos, he was the only one who could take control. He knew Charlie was down in the hatch with the opening closing more and more with every second. He knew Locke and Eko were down there, hurt or even possibly dead. But what he didn't know was whether he was lying when he said Jack would return.

"Get away from his tent," Sayid ordered, suddenly taking charge. He went towards the tent and everyone scattered, holding things like sunscreen and bottles of aspirin in their hands. "Put it back!"

"Why should we?" asked one guy with a pair of pants in his hand.

"Because if you recall, Sawyer has a gun and if he comes back and finds you have taken his things, who knows what he'll do," Sayid said simply, not wanting to scare them but hoping they'd understand. "We all know what he is capable of."

They all exchanged worried glances. Jin had come over to see what was going on and was pulling Sun away, as she tried to stay. Her eyes were on Sayid, and he knew she could sense something wasn't right.

Slowly, they put everything back. Sayid knew the bags were much emptier now, people having stuffed certain items in their pockets. Sayid did his best to straight Sawyer's tent, realizing this was the same man he had stabbed in the arm. Perhaps Sawyer would pay him back someday.

"Wait!" Sayid said as everyone started to walk away. "I need help. The hatch has collapsed and I need hands to help dig it out."

There was an immediate hush and everyone hurried away even quicker. Perhaps it was because of that strange violet light they'd seen, or because Charlie had returned acting so strangely from the hatch. But now everyone seemed to regard the hatch as dangerous or possibly murderous.

Turning back, Sayid started down the beach. He had only gotten out of sight of Sawyer's tent when Sun appeared out of nowhere, pulling him inside her tent. Jin wasn't there.

"What's going on?" she demanded, her hand on her stomach. She looked pale and nervous. "Something isn't right."

"Nothing's wrong," Sayid insisted, going to duck out but she gripped his arm. Her fingers were like ice and had a viselike grip. He looked down at them and up at her face.

"Where are Jack and the others?" she asked desperately, peering over Sayid's shoulder, watching out for Jin. "What happened to them?"

"I don't…"

"Hurley says they've been taken. We went to see, you said the camp was deserted. But you never said what was in those doors," she whispered.

Suddenly something occurred to Sayid. He was staring into Sun's dark eyes, and her knowing seemed to bring him around.

"There was nothing," he said calmly. "A wall."

"It was fake?" she demanded. Her hand on his arm began to hurt. "What does that mean?"

"It means it was a show," Sayid's eyes were unfocused as it all fell into place in his mind. "It was for looks. They wanted us to go there, they tricked Michael. They made him believe they were hicks. They're not..."

"You're not making sense!" Sun was terrified and she had begun to shake.

"I need the boat. Tell Jin to get the boat ready. I need to go back," Sayid pulled his arm from her grip and stepped out of the tent. "And find Hurley!"

…………………………………………….

"He's bleeding," Jack said, bending over Sawyer. He had been okay, leaning against the wall and breathing heavily. Then his breathing had become extremely labored. Jack had laid him down on the cold ground and was listening to his chest. "It's possible he punctured his lung."

"English!" Kate spat, her fear turning into frustration. "Jack, what's going to happen?"

"He's going to bleed to death within twenty-four hours," Jack said firmly to her, his eyes looking straight through her.

"You have to do it then," she hissed, her eyes on Sawyer. Her hands kept brushing his hair from his eyes. Somehow, a strange spurt of jealousy raged inside Jack's chest like a sleeping dragon. He could feel it rumble for a moment and then fade.

"How? How do we know they'll let me?" he snapped. He didn't mean to be nasty, but the jealousy was making his hands shake.

"They have to. Just…"

But the door had opened and in came the same people as last time except this time Alex stayed near the door, a gun in her hands. Tom came over to Kate and shoved her aside. Jack stood up before the man coming towards him could reach him but he stilled grabbed his arms.

"What does he need?" Tom demanded, standing over Sawyer who was unconscious.

"Surgery," Jack said, looking around the large man in front of him. "I need to remove his spleen and check for perforations in his lungs."

"Can you do it?" asked Tom, looking at Jack.

Slowly Jack nodded, his heart pounding. He looked over at Kate as she struggled to free herself from the man holding her arms. They held them back as though afraid they'd attack Tom.

"Okay. We'll get it set up," Tom turned around and walked towards the door. "I'll be back"

They let go, and the guy holding Kate practically shoved her away, causing her to fall. Jack hurried over and helped her up. As the door closed, Alex's worried face was in the crack until it shut

……………………………

(off the island, a dock)

"Miss Widmore!"

Penny turned around. She had only just gotten out of her car. Saying goodbye to her husband and baby had been hard. Now she had put more determination in her heart than ever She had packed her bags, unsure of how much to bring. The sky was a bright blue as she drove to the dock that was three hours from her home. In her mind she pictured Desmond lying on a beach, perhaps skinny but alive. Maybe he was waiting for her to rescue him.

She turned around when she heard her name and saw Robert hurrying towards him. He was dressed in a white t-shirt that was too small over his large beer gut, and had a baseball cap over his balding head. He already had a flush of pink to his cheeks as he hurried towards it. It was late November but the weather was unseasonably warm, perhaps the last warm spurt before the cold rains and snow of winter.

"Do you need help with your bags?" he asked, panting slightly as he reached her. Behind him was the dock, large and expansive. Hundred of boats were lined up, some huge yachts and others were tiny sailboats. All along the water people were coming in and going out. Rich families relaxed on their boats, enjoying the last bit of warm weather.

"I wasn't sure how much to bring," she said as she popped the trunk and he came around to join her at the back of the car. In the trunk were three large suitcases.

"Oh dear," said Robert, cocking his eyebrow. "Perhaps you only need one?"

"How long are we expected to be at sea?" she asked worriedly, not looking at her suitcases anymore.

Robert turned slowly to her with a nervous look.

"Our best hope is a week, and that's if we find anything. I guess I should tell you now. We're going on this boat but it's not ours. We couldn't get clearance to have our own. We have to act like we're studying the zoology that these people are looking for. We sent them coordinates and said there was an abundance of genetically defective whales and sharks in one portion of the ocean, so they're going there. It's where we're searching. We have our equipment to measure the electromagnetic energy, but we can't let on about it."

She was slightly angry that all the money she had put into it couldn't get them their own boat, but realized there was nothing she could do now. She was already here, had already said goodbye to Richard and Georgia. She had to go through with it.

"A week?" she repeated, picking up the largest suitcase and heaving it onto the ground.

"Yes. If we find something. If we don't, we must let them go along with their research and it's an extra week but then we'd be back by the twenty-third. Is that alright?" he asked, looking concerned

"Yes fine," she mumbled, her mind not on the dates.

As she approached the boat, rumbling her large suitcase on wheels down the block, she had a strange feeling. The wheels of her suitcase banged against the boards on the dock. She approached a large yacht that was teeming with nerdy men and women running around with laptops and sound recording equipment. Several men were using cranes to lift large trunks onto the deck. All of this was muted to Penny. All she could see was the water, and how calm and serene it looked in the dock. She had a strange feeling as she stopped. She looked back at her car, and thought about her wedding ring inside the glove compartment. Somehow, she wondered if she'd ever put it back on.

Shaking her head she handed her suitcase to a man who had been waiting for her response. Robert took her arm and lead her up the ramp.

(end)

…………………………………..

"Again?" Charlie didn't understand. Locke sat there, looking almost sick. "What do you mean?"

Shaking his head, Lock looked down at the wound on his leg. He felt nothing. He knew it should hurt like hell, probably cause him to shout in pain but it didn't. It was like a fake wound, like makeup in a horror movie. He couldn't feel the warm blood pouring from it, or his hand as he felt it. There was nothing.

"We need to get you out," Charlie gasped, suddenly very claustrophobic. "I'm going to go back and see if Sayid can help."

Without waiting for John's response, Charlie jumped up and left the bathroom. He didn't run, but hurried through the computer room. He wasn't capable of handling something like this. Where was Jack when you needed him? Usually Jack jumped to heroics and would rescue everyone. Why was Charlie now in that place?

Reaching the hole Charlie realized it was smaller than before, the dirt sliding in from the top. Looking up he saw only a small bit of sunlight. He put his hands on the inside and tried to poke his head in to shout up.

"SAYID!"

But the movement of his hands caused a large amount of dirt to fall inside and hit Charlie in the face. He retracted, spitting and coughing dirt from his mouth and nose. He opened his eyes to see mud pouring in the hole. Suddenly it stopped.

Bending, he looked up and saw it was completely blocked.

"Hey!" Charlie shouted. "Hey! Help! I'm down here!"

Suddenly there was a rumbling.

Sayid knew he had to get Charlie out, but he also knew Hurley wasn't lying. Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were in real danger. He had to get going, he had to get over to the other side of the island to help them.

He reached the mound where the hatch had been and stopped. Where was the hole? It almost looked like someone had covered it up, disguising it against the rest of the rest of the debris.

"Charlie?" Sayid called.

Hurley appeared behind him, panting.

"Do you believe me yet?" Hurley gasped.

"I think the hatch just collapsed in on itself," Sayid breathed, his eyes wide.

"Dude."