"How did it happen?"
John had been zoning out, staring off into the musty doorway that led to the trashed and flooded computer room. His mind had wandered back a long time ago to a time when he thought the rest of his life resided in a wheelchair.
"How did what happen?" John asked, turning confusedly to Charlie.
"How were you paralyzed?"
John looked at Charlie's dirty and tired face. They had only been there an hour yet it felt like forever. Already John could feel the air getting musty and his slight claustrophobia was starting to get to him. Behind them, hidden by the closed shower doors, was Eko lying dead in the bottom of the shower.
"I was shot," Locke said, looking away from Charlie slowly, his eyes still unfocused. "I was shot in the back."
"By who?" Charlie knew he was pressing but if he didn't keep talking the idea of being stuck down here would drive him nuts. He knew Sayid would get them out, of that he was sure.
"Someone thought I was someone else," Locke looked down at his legs that seemed almost detached from his body. He couldn't feel them. He did not feel the weight of his hand on his thigh or the wound that was still bleeding. "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Oh," Charlie was disappointed, expecting a better story.
"Perhaps you should go see if there's any progress," John suggested, taking a deep breath as though to refresh himself and take him away from the memory. "Maybe Sayid is almost in."
"Okay."
Charlie stood but knew why Locke wanted him to go. Charlie had touched a sensitive subject but he was just so fascinated by the fact that the plane crash had cured John. Perhaps it hadn't. Maybe Locke was lying and wasn't in a wheelchair, and had gotten injured when the hatch began to collapse. Maybe he'd fallen badly and broken his back and only now his legs weren't working. Charlie even doubted Locke's sanity at this point, especially after the strange white light.
Walking through the computer room Charlie was halfway across when he heard something. Freezing, he looked down at the water in puddles all along the ground. There was the sound again, almost like a scuffling. Turning, he saw the square hole in the ground where there had been a door that was twisted off and now stuck to the opposite wall.
Slowly Charlie bent. He could see nothing except faint glimmers from the pale yellow light in the water that had pooled down there. It seemed to be a fairly shallow hole.
Looking back at the doorway, Charlie decided John could wait and carefully lowered himself down.
The water was only ankle deep but to go through this passage Charlie would have to get on his hands and knees. He could see nothing and didn't go any further than the opening. For a moment there was silence and then there was the scuffling again.
Leaping from the hole, Charlie practically dove across the floor, skidding on the wet. He threw himself back into the bathroom, startling Locke.
"What?"
"There's someone down there!" Charlie gasped, looking back. "Or something!"
Locke's eyes grew wide.
……………………..
"Kate," Jack was trying to get Kate to calm down. "I need to tell you something."
She seemed to stop crying immediately and looked at him with wide eyes. Perhaps she was expecting something terrible, or possibly even good news. All she knew was that his voice told her to listen.
"When they made me do that surgery on Sawyer," Jack spoke in short spouts, his throat catching every so often, "it wasn't for nothing."
"What do you mean?" she asked slowly, her eyes shining in the darkness. He almost reveled at the paleness of her skin and how it seemed to glow.
"Something wasn't right. I removed Sawyer's liver and…it was covered in tumors. It didn't feel right either. It was just the wrong color and unless you've seen one it's hard to explain but…"
"My dad…" she stopped and shook her head. "Yeah, my dad had liver cancer and they removed part of it. I've seen a liver."
"Well, then you know what I'm talking about. Sawyer was sick, Kate. He had some kind of cancer. It was completely destroyed and I was surprised at the condition he was in before it. Those tumors looked big, as though they've been there a while…."
"Are you saying Sawyer was sick before the surgery?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Yes and no. At the size they were, he wouldn't have had long if we were still stuck here. I think that's why they took him, I think they knew. I doubt Sawyer has seen a real doctor in years. Men like him are too proud…"
"Jack," Kate jerked Jack back on course.
"Anyway. I think he was sick and that's why they wanted him," he looked carefully at Kate. "They wanted to test their organs on him because he was already sick and they could see if he improved."
"But he was hurt. Won't that…"
"Yeah but liver function is completely different. No doubt Sawyer was a heavy drinker, it was obvious. But drinking doesn't cause liver cancer. Well, it can but in his case it looked more like….Kate I can't explain it. Nothing around it seemed effected. The tumors hadn't spread. It was just on that one organ," Jack wished he could explain it better. "Almost like…"
"They were put there," she whispered.
Sighing, Jack nodded.
"When though?" she asked. "You said it looked like he was sick a while."
"Yes, if they didn't infect him first," Jack stood back and started to pace, something he did when he was thinking hard. "If they infected him, the tumors would grow rapidly but would have no time to spread because it would only target the one…"
"Jack, they don't have the right medicine or equipment to even keep people alive after surgery and you're saying they infected him with cancer within the time we've been here? How do we even know if Sawyer is alive?" she suddenly looked very upset and recrossed her arms looking away. A swell of jealousy rose in Jack's chest again but faded quickly.
"If he's alive, it would be a miracle," whispered Jack, looking down. "The infection would be bad. And if he rejects the organ…"
"There were more," she could barely speak she had begun to shake so hard. "I saw it, a whole room of people that looked like they'd gone through the same thing. But some were dead and…"
Her mind raced back to the room full of dead people and she closed her eyes trying to compose herself. When she was brought back, she found Jack standing right before her.
"I have a plan to get us out of here," he whispered softly to her, barely moving his lips.
…………………….
Penny saw the enormous wave coming before anyone else did and ducked as it crashed into the boat sending it seesawing back and forth. Penny clung onto the side and felt her entire left side drenched as it submerged momentarily just to be wobbled back again. Looking around she saw they hadn't lost anyone.
The waves came harder and faster and she could see the fear in the captain's eyes through the heavy rain. Looking at Robert, she saw he had his eyes closed in fear.
Her daughter's face flashed before her eyes and she could almost feel the warmth of holding her.
Then the wave came.
It knocked into the boat and Penny realized she was flying through the air just as she hit the water hard. Surfacing she was tumbled again and felt her body connect with something sharp, possibly a piece of the boat. Struggling to see she watched as another wave came down on her, sending her beneath the waves, struggling.
"ROBERT!" she screamed just to be submerged again.
The thrashing water threw her hard against the rocks and her head struck a rock and everything went black.
When her eyes opened it had felt like she was unconscious less than two seconds but the brightening sky and the ground beneath her told her it was longer. Slowly she tried to focus. There was the sound of waves but it wasn't harsh, but very gentle. Wind was blowing the trees and the sun was beating down heatedly.
Water hit her and she jumped up, realizing she had been lying on her back just at the shore, being pushed further and further up the beach by the waves. Looking around, she saw a long stretch of beach on either side of her.
As she went to stand she let out a cry of pain. Her arm was definitely broken. Looking down at it, she could see it was bent at a strange angle through her blouse. The pain was piercing and for a moment she bit her lip, trying to keep from screaming.
The sun was a dull pink as she carefully got to her feet, every movement making her arm ache. Her coat was gone, probably washed away by the waves. She only wore a thin red blouse and jeans, which were soaked, and she saw blood on her shirt and could feel scratches and wounds from the rocks all along her back. Her entire body ached as she stood on the sand missing one shoe. Looking down, she kicked the remaining one off.
Her eyes caught something on the beach about one hundred yards to her left. It looked like a white mass for a moment and then she saw a white shirt and her heart jumped.
"Robert!" she shouted, starting forward. For a moment her stomach was flipping with joy that he was on the beach. As she approached, though, she knew something was wrong.
It wasn't Robert but the Captain. Suddenly she stopped and turned, vomiting into the sand.
The Captain's right arm had been chewed off, leaving only a bloody ragged stump with bits of flesh and bone dangling from the shoulder. The shirt was covered in blood with hundreds of teeth marks where parts of his abdomen and other arm had been chewed away. His face was a bloody mess and his one remaining eyes stared up at the now brilliant blue sky blankly.
She felt sick and was sure she'd throw up again. Her stomach seized but she didn't vomit. Instead she realized with sick horror that it could have been her. The sharks could have eaten her as well.
"Robert!" she shouted, praying he was okay. How had she washed up here and no one else had?
She headed back down to where she'd woken up, where her shoe lay in the sand. The rocks were just a few yards away and she knew she was lucky she hadn't been killed.
Suddenly she froze. A figure was walking out of the jungle wearing khaki colored clothing. Her heart seemed to tighten as she wondered who this person was and then her stomach dropped as they turned and spotted her.
………………………
"I'm almost in!" Sayid said as Sun returned for the second time. She'd left and come back half an hour later hoping Sayid had come to his senses but now he was even sweatier and dirtier, sitting in a five foot hole digging with a broken makeshift shovel. The sky was almost completely dark with only the light from the moon lighting the area.
"Sayid!" Sun bent at the top of the hole. "This is insane!"
Suddenly Sayid stopped. Right below him was some bedrock. Immediately he began digging faster. He uncovered it and realized it was cracking and tried to crack it more.
"I'm almost in!"
Sun watched as Sayid continuously dug. She wondered if he'd pass out first or just fall headfirst into the dirt. But she realized he was right because as Sayid dug, dirt began falling into the middle and suddenly a large chunk of Earth fell right through into an empty space.
"YES!" Sayid used the shovel to widen it, chopping down the dirt to shove it through. The hole was about two feet wide. Sayid was sweating profusely and looked slightly sick.
"I'll need help!" Sayid called up to Sun who was watching with wide eyes. "Get Jin!"
Without questioning, Sun hurried off.
Sayid felt nauseous and extremely faint as he lowered himself into the hole. His tired arms shook as he held his weight and then dropped.
But Sayid wasn't in any part of the hatch he recognized. He was in some strange tunnel that was only about three feet high. Carefully climbing out he reached for the flashlight, as the sky was now almost completely dark, and shone it down.
It was made of stone and was completely circular, like a long cylinder. Whatever this was, it wasn't the hatch.
Looking up, he saw parts of the rock that made up the long tunnel were cracked and water was leaking through some. He doubted the safety of it but wondered if maybe it lead right into the hatch.
Stooping, Sayid walked forward. The way behind him was mostly blocked with the dirt he'd knocked in. Bent double, Sayid walked forward, his feet sloshing in the mud that was at the bottom. His hands were shaking slightly with exhaustion and the sweat was running down his face and into his eyes. He was breathing heavily, close to passing out.
His tiny flashlight shone on nothing but the stone walls as he walked. Looking back, he could see the entrance he's created growing smaller and smaller in the darkness. The tunnel was weak where he'd broken through and he hoped it wasn't weak in any other places.
After walking for five minutes Sayid came to a block. The tunnel looked as though it had collapsed in and dirt filled the tunnel. But it looked muddy and extremely wet. A horrid stench was coming from the water below him and he supposed decomposing rodents or leaves were causing it. Reaching out, he pressed the muddy wall with his hand and felt it go right through.
It was a thin barrier. Holding the flashlight in his teeth, Sayid pushed the mud forward, knocking it into the hole. Beyond it lay more tunnel. He was able to move enough of the mud to slide through, although now he was absolutely covered in the grime and muck.
Ignoring this, he wiped off the flashlight and climbed to his feet again, still stooping almost double. He walked slowly now, his heart thudding in his chest. If this tunnel collapsed, he was dead. It was underground, and any kind of earth tremor could cause it to cave in.
It was another few minutes when Sayid stopped.
This time before him was a large wood board, roughly cut to fit the tunnel although the corners left gaps. Roughly drawn on the wood, was the swan.
