Sayid felt like the entire world was collapsing around him. He stood there as he watched people lying in their tents up the beach, others rushing away to be sick. Those who weren't as sick were aiding the worst, and some just weren't moving at all.
He ran up and down the beach, unsure of what to do. He kept peering into tents, seeing the state of everyone. After a half an hour of bringing water to some, and helping others to their tents, there was a scream down the beach.
Sayid took off running towards where Sun stood, her hands over her mouth as she stepped outside a tent. Inside was a woman of about thirty kneeling over a man whose face was pale and eyes stared up at the canvas.
"He's dead," Sun whispered, before hurrying away looking sick.
"Are you sure?" Sayid knelt and felt the man's wrist. It was cold, and there was no pulse. Bowing his head he said a silent prayer and then stood.
"Where are you going?" Sun asked, looking weak as she hurried over to him. He began to walk quickly down the beach.
"I need the boat," he said firmly, his hands shaking slightly. "Where's your husband?"
"He's not well either. He's sick. You can't manage the boat alone," she exclaimed, hurrying beside him.
"He'll have to try," Sayid reached Jin and Sun's tent. Inside, Jin was sitting up but looking pale and sweaty. When he saw Sayid he stood.
"Tell him I need the boat ready," Sayid said to Sun who began speaking very quickly in Korean to Jin, who nodded slowly. "I would do it if I knew how."
Jin said something back to Sun which made her stop and look at him confusedly. He repeated what he said and she looked at Sayid.
"He said he thinks this has something to do with the hatch collapsing," she said, glancing back at her husband.
"Can you get it ready?" Sayid asked, hoping his shaking hands weren't noticeable.
Sun translated and Jin nodded, taking a deep quivering breath. He didn't look well. He slowly stepped out of the tent and hurried down the beach. They had anchored the boat to some rocks a bit off shore. Sun watched Jin go and turned nervously back to Sayid.
"And what will you do?" she asked as Sayid started off back towards the tents.
"I need to tell John and Charlie that I'm leaving. They'll have to take care of things for a while," he spoke rapidly as he walked. Sun practically had to jog to keep up with him.
"No, I mean with the boat. Where will you go?"
Sayid stopped and looked up at the many tents in their camp. There were the sounds of people coughing and others moaning in pain. Whatever it was that was making them sick was giving them flu symptoms magnified by one hundred. But what could possibly have killed that man?
"I'm going to find Jack," Sayid said.
……………………………………..
"Kate?"
Jack had sat up after falling asleep again. He had fought it off as hard as he could but finally succumbed to an uneasy slumber. Now he was jerked awake by a fresh pain in his face from being punched. His mouth felt like it was double it's size and his ribs ached. Looking around he didn't see her.
"Kate?" he repeated.
But she wasn't in the cell.
Down the hall, Kate was thrown into a hard metal chair. She let out a small cry by accident. Her entire body was in pain, her wounded arm throbbing so badly she could have screamed. She didn't dare look at it, knowing that if she saw how bad it was she'd terrify herself. She wasn't a doctor but she knew she needed it checked. She resigned to holding a hand over it, as blood occasionally seeped through her fingers.
This room was similar to their cell, but with bright lights in the ceiling. She sat in a chair in the center while the man who had dragged her out of the cell while she was sleeping walked to the door. He had surprised her, covering her mouth and pulling her from the room without waking Jack. She knew he'd freak out when he woke up.
Now she was left alone. She stared at the blank white walls. She thought about Tom for a moment, surprising herself. If she hadn't gotten in the car, if she hadn't gone to see her mother….that one kiss had meant so much…
The door opening and closing behind her ripped her from this. She didn't turn around because the pain in her arm was radiating up to her neck and into her side. She waited and listened as heavy steps came around the chair and stood in front of her.
"Not looking so hot, are we?" said Tom.
He had no gun in his hand, simply wearing his khaki clothing and a grim smile. His nose was still swollen from when Jack broke it and she took pride in realizing it must hurt terribly.
"I'm going to ask you questions, Kate," he said, beginning to pace around the chair. She didn't follow him with her eyes, keeping them straight ahead. "I want you to answer me honestly."
She didn't speak, just sat there holding her aching arm. She felt almost sick with it.
"Why were you on the plane?"
For a moment Kate closed her eyes. She could see herself with the Marshall, walking down that aisle between the seats, her hands cuffed under the jacket. She remembered how she'd thought of so many ways to escape. She had pondered drugging him, and then hurrying off the plane when it landed and telling someone he was ill. She'd wondered if she made a scene, if she could get away. But then it all came back to Tom, and seeing his bloody face, and the guilt kept her silent.
"I was going home," she whispered, opening her eyes again.
"Home where?" he asked, crossing his arms as he continued to pace in slow circles around her chair.
"Texas," she spoke.
"And why were you in Australia?"
"Why do you need to know this?" she snapped.
"I'm the one who asks the questions," he growled, the sly smile fading from his face. She saw his eyes watering slightly from his swollen nose. "Answer me."
"I was on vacation," she lied.
"No you weren't," he laughed and shook his head. "You lived in a trailer with your mother, you couldn't afford a vacation."
Kate's heart seemed to tighten in her chest. How could he possibly know this?
"See, Kate, we're not as dumb as we look. We may look like savages but we're on top of everything. Now, tell me, where was this plane headed?"
"Los Angeles," she spoke, keeping the fear from her voice. "Why do you need to know this? If you know so much, you tell me then."
"I know you were wanted for murder," Tom bent, putting his hands on the metal arms of the chair and leaning his face close to hers. "You're wanted to the murder of a doctor."
"How do you know that?" she asked, her voice quivering in fear, tears forming in her eyes. "How the hell do you know that?"
"All you need to do is check the papers, Kate."
From his back pocket he pulled out an old newspaper that was slightly yellowed. He spread out the front page and held it in front of her.
"Oceanic Flight 815 Disappears Over Pacific, All Presumed Dead," was the headline. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it would burst from her chest.
"Oh my god," she couldn't breathe, staring at the paper. It was right there, their flight having crashed. "Oh god."
"It has all your names," he opened the paper and folded it, creasing it. "And a nice big picture of you. You're a star!"
He turned it and showed her. Her picture was among some of the others, one of Charlie with information about Driveshaft, and the other about Boone who had been the head of a company. Hers was the only mugshot, though, with a price underneath it.
"See, even if you were rescued, you're not wanted back home," he was grinning as Kate felt like she could barely inhale. "So whether or not you leave here alive really doesn't matter. But some of these other people, well, they have families and jobs and….bands."
Kate turned away. She didn't want him to see her cry. Her blood was pounding so hard that she felt it throb in her wound. With every fast heartbeat a shock of pain sprang to her arm. She was gasping for air, barely able to open her eyes.
"Now Kate," he spoke softly but the menace was still there. "Just tell me the truth."
"You know it all!" she burst, her anger reaching a peak.
"Why was your plane so far south?" Tom demanded, bending close to her again. "Were they searching for something?"
"WHAT?" she demanded.
"Your plane could have been selected to go off course to search for this island, to interfere with our work," he was furious now and gripped her other arm. "Tell me!"
"I don't know!" she shrieked.
He slapped her across the face and she gasped. Shaking his head, Tom motioned at the door and a guard entered, lifting Kate roughly from her seat, dragging her to the door.
"Maybe your doctor friend does," Tom gave her a sneer before slamming the door behind her.
…………………
Penny crept slowly up the dark beach. The campfire was glowing in the distance, and she could see the smoke rising above the trees. She hurried, praying maybe someone had survived and was making a signal.
She came up to the fire and saw it had many large dark leaves in it that were creating very dark smoke. Looking around, she saw no one around. The warmth of the fire was comforting and for a moment she stared into the embers.
As she turned to look back down the beach she saw someone approaching from the trees. Her heart leaped into her throat as they suddenly ran at her.
Dodging around the fire she took off up the beach and took a sharp left into the jungle. She dashed through, scratching her arms on trees. Looking over her shoulder she could see three men in light colored clothing chasing her barefoot, what looked like clubs were in their hands. Her feet were flying under her as she dashed around trees and over logs. She splashed through puddles, hearing them shouting and running behind her. She was going deeper into the pitch black trees and no light was coming from above. She stumbled and tried to stay standing as she dodged under some high brush and suddenly something whipped around her feet and she fell hard to the ground only to be hoisted straight up in the air.
She was yanked up and felt her foot in a tree branch and she bounced, a rope wrapped tightly around her ankle and leg. She was almost fifteen feet off the ground, a weight having dropped somewhere, hoisting her up.
Suddenly the three men appeared below her. In the pitch dark she could only see the shimmering on their sweaty skin as they stopped beneath her, not looking up. She dared not breath as she hung, the blood rushing to her head but she didn't make a sound as they scanned the area and went forward into the trees, disappearing from sight.
Looking up, Penny saw the rope was roughly made and looked weak. But the fall was high and she knew if she cut herself down she'd get injured falling.
The tree branch that supported the rope was beside her as she swung. Using all her muscle from lifting her daughter, she reached up and tried to grab it. The first time she missed but the second time she wrapped her arms around it and gripped it, pulling her body onto it.
Her left leg was still wrapped but her injured arm was aching too much at the moment for her to reach down and untie it. She waited, breathing heavily, not believing what was happening to her. Why was she running through a jungle from strange people, why wasn't she at home watching television with her daughter and husband? Why was she so fixed on saving her former love, that she had no possibly ruined her daughter's life by taking her mother away?
Reaching down she unwrapped the rope. Looking down she figured she could shimmy most of the way down but with her broken arm she would have to jump the rest of the way.
Sliding to the trunk she gripped it painfully and started to slide down. She used the lower branches as steps and scratched her arms and legs terrible as she tried to climb down one handed. Finally when she was only ten feet up, she jumped.
Landing hard she rolled to break the fall. Slowly Penny got to her feet. She couldn't run anymore even if she tried. Her legs were weak and shaking and she felt slightly sick. Slowly she walked forward and spotted a small cove of heavy shrubbery and high brush. It created almost a little cave of leaves and branches that she slowly crawled into like an injured animal.
Lying there she stared up through the branches at the small bit of sky that was showing through. The sky was lightening up a bit and she knew dawn approached. Her entire body was too exhausted to even fight the sleep. She cradled her hurt arm and fell asleep on the floor of the jungle.
……………………..
Tom hadn't noticed but Kate had taken the paper, which he'd dropped on the ground at her feet. As she was shoved into the cell, which was empty of Jack, she waited for the door to close before opening it.
It was surreal as she read the article, which outlined the fact that the plane had suddenly disappeared from radar and wasn't heard from again. There was speculation that a violent storm had knocked out communications and then the plane had crashed into the ocean. If planes had searched, they would have only found small bits of wreckage. But there was nothing found. This paper was from two days after the plane had crashed.
She looked at the names and felt a sort of sadness. The families who had read this, the loved ones who had realized their husbands, wives, or children weren't coming home had probably broken down. Kate couldn't hold back her tears as she read on for six pages, which gave details about some of the passengers. There was quite a large article on Charlie talking about Driveshaft and how it was about to make a comeback. She smiled gently to herself, knowing if Charlie knew that he'd be extremely excited. Her smile faded as she wondered if she'd ever see him again.
Kate was surprised to read that Boone had been such a hot shot in the business world. His company was one of the largest Bridal companies in America and his mother would take over his position. She wondered how Boone's mother would react when she found out he hadn't died in the crash but had died afterward. Shannon's name was only mentioned very briefly at the end of Boone's article, which was even sadder.
The dim light made it hard for her to read but she read most of it. Some of the names she didn't know at all. She hadn't gotten to know all forty passengers and then some had died after the crash because of injuries. At the end of the whole section about the crash there was a disclaimer saying Ocean Airlines had gone out of business. Kate remembered Sawyer saying how much he wanted to sue Oceanic for all they had. She prayed she'd have a chance to tell Sawyer that it wouldn't happen.
Finally there was some experts who were quoted giving their opinions on what had happened. The most accurate one spoke of a magnetic field that could have drawn the compass off course, and into a storm. A lot of the theories included storms, probably because nowadays it was very hard for a commercial airliner to disappear especially with satellites and radio communication these days. A lot of the excuses spoke of storms knocking out the transmissions. Shaking her head, she sighed. If they were never rescued, they would never know the truth.
Folding the paper she placed it in the corner for Jack to read later. Folding her arms over her knees she closed her eyes. She kept seeing Tom, and the crash, and Jack, and Sawyer. Everything was so wrong, so messed up. Why did they have to go find Walt? Why did this have to happen.
Kate cried again, hoping no one could hear.
