Sawyer knew he wasn't on that table anymore. Opening his eyes he could feel something beneath him, it felt like dirt. Looking up, his blurry eyes only saw sunshine and shadows. Focusing better he realized he was looking up at the canopy of the jungle.

He sat bolt upright but grimaced in pain. He was still sore but it barely registered as he looked around.

He was lying in the middle of the jungle, nothing but trees all around. The ground was littered with leaves and brush and the trees were tight around him. There was no path in sight from where he sat.

Was it all a dream he wondered? Had them being captured and him being tortured all been in his mind?

Kate.

Suddenly her face flashed before his eyes. He remembered seeing her. She had said Jack told her that he was dead. A flare of rage burst inside him but he was trying to think, trying to figure out how he got here.

Leaning against a tree he pulled himself up. Looking around he saw nothing. It seemed to be about midday. Slowly walking forward he tested his strength. He seemed okay to walk, although a splitting pain went up his side if he breathe in too hard.

What could possibly have happened that he was let go? Was he really let go? Sawyer didn't know and didn't care. If he could get back to camp, and tell Sayid and everyone what had happened they could storm the place and save Kate and Jack. But then he stopped. If none of it was real, wouldn't he be near camp anyway?

He'd never been more confused in his life. Shaking his head, trying to clear it, Sawyer waked forward. He pushed his way through the trees, trying very hard not to breathe too deeply. It was agonizing as he walked, barely able to move. He looked around, feeling more hopeless than he had in a long time.

Suddenly there was an explosion to his left. The blast knocked him sideways and he clutched a tree to remain standing. He shouted in pain but recognized the horn sounding bellow that echoed through the trees.

It was the monster.

Turning, he moved as fast as he could through the jungle. The pain tore through his side and his eyes flashed with fear as he stumbled through the trees.

A second explosion of dirt and brush took place to his right, closer this time and Sawyer leapt forward, moving faster and feeling as though he could faint at any moment.

The horn sounded again and he looked back, seeing nothing. Just then an explosion took place directly behind him and suddenly he felt himself flying through the air.

He crashed down to the jungle floor hard, the pain ripping through his side and making his head spin. He dazedly looked around and then quickly went unconscious.

……………….

A man had seized Kate's arm as she watched Sawyer's eyes close and his body begin to seize.

"NO!" she screamed, trying to wrench her arm away. "SAWYER!"

The guard dragged her backwards into the hall and let go of her long enough to punch her hard in the gut, sending her sprawling sideways into the wall and to the floor, gasping.

He bent, lifting her and dragging her down the hall. She stumbled as she walked, her gut wrenching, her mind spinning. Jack had lied to her. She could only see the redness of anger, and how much she wanted to strangle Jack.

But she wasn't being led back to her cell. They were in a different hallway. Moving further down, past busy rooms. More people were in this hallway, rushing to and fro. Suddenly he pulled her left into one of the rooms.

It looked like a doctor's examining room except the table was plain steel and there were no friendly pictures on the walls, just a counter on one side and a bed on the other. The man shoved Kate forward towards the bed and she weakly climbed onto it, not about to fight with him.

"Lay down," he ordered, his eyes blazing. He was young but extremely muscular.

Slowly she lay back on the icy cold table. It caused her skin to crawl and she looked around the small room, wondering what had gone on in here.

"Hold her arms," said a voice behind the guard.

Kate looked up as the guard moved forward and pinned her arms to her sides. A shorter man with wiry glasses and a pointed nose came out from behind him, approaching Kate with a slouch.

"Let me see the arm," he said to the guard, who moved aside so he could see her injured arm. She barely felt it anymore because the entire arm was numb. "She'll need a shot."

Watching in horror, Kate felt her heart pound as the short man moved to a small cabinet above the counter. When he opened it she saw inside, stacked messily were several syringes with needles attached. They were dirty, not sterilized. Her mind spun.

"Please," she begged, trying to squirm but the guard had her arms pinned. The doctor approached slowly after filling the syringe. "Please don't."

"You don't want to lose the arm now, do you?" asked the short man in a high pitched voice. "It will only hurt for a second."

She watched with wide eyes as it approached her pulsing, bleeding wound and she closed her eyes as it touched and she let out a scream. A young girl in the doorway covered her ears.

…………………………

Jack followed the others back into the compound as they were rounded up when the sun began to set. Strangely enough, Jack realized, he wasn't being separated from them. He didn't say anything as they walked inside and were pushed along one hallway until they reached the end of an unfamiliar one.

The group began to split and Jack went to the right with most of the men. There were about thirty people who entered the room on the right.

Stepping inside Jack saw many mats lying on the floor. He stared around as people walked to what was apparently their own mat, and sat down. But there were people who had previously been in here. They were lying looking ill or some looked injured with bandages.

"Jack?"

Spinning, he saw Alex rush through the door from the other side of the hall.

"Who…"

"Alex," she said quickly. "I helped Sawyer."

Nodding, Jack looked at this teenager and realized it was who Sawyer was talking about. Sawyer wanted Jack to save this girl.

"Have you seen Kate?" Jack demanded, pulling her away from the door to the darker wall beside it, fearing someone would come in to make sure everyone was in their place.

"Yes," she looked suddenly worried. "They're trying to treat her wound but they're making it worse. I think they may use her for one of their transplant experiments."

"No," fear filled Jack as he looked down at her. "No, they can't. They don't have to treat the wound. Let me…"

"They won't let you. Usually they take the injured or sick and use them because of their risk of dying anyway," shaking her head, Alex gripped Jack's arm. "You need to tell me exactly what to do to make her better faster."

"How? How will you help her?" he snapped, suddenly furious.

"I got Sawyer antibiotics, I can do it again. I got in trouble so they won't expect me to do it again," she seemed extremely smart for her age. Jack felt sorry for her that she lived here. "Please."

"She needs antibiotics," he breathed, wishing he wasn't in this situation. "And plenty of water. Her wound needs to be stitched closed or the antibiotics are pointless."

"I can do that," she nodded. "They let me do that on the dead."

Jack looked at her with wide eyes and she didn't seem to notice how strange that had sounded. He wondered exactly how long she'd been there.

"Why are you in here?" she demanded, looking around as everyone else was lying down. The room was dark except for the light coming from the hallway.

"I guess they forgot to come get me," he shrugged. "I'm sure they don't want me in here."

"HEY!"

Both of them spun around quickly. A large guard had appeared at the door and strode towards them quickly.

"You don't belong in here," he growled at Alex, who hurried by him without a word towards the other room across the hall. Slowly the guard turned to Jack.

For a moment Jack expected the man to hit him but then the guard simply turned around and walked out of the room.

"Hey," said a voice below him. He looked down and saw the shorthaired Australian woman lying on a mat below him. "Can I ask you something?"

Jack knelt beside her.

"If you do escape and you're rescued, will you do me a favor?" she sounded choked up. He saw the desperation on her face. "Will you tell my husband and son I love them?"

Nodding Jack slowly stood again. He couldn't understand why she would think he was going to be rescued. Shaking his head he headed for the door.

…………………………..

He left the blonde woman lying on the deck as he jumped down into the hold and then climbed back up, his heart pounding.

"SUN!" he screamed.

Someone had taken Edward's dead body, and taken Sun with them. He didn't understand how this had happened in the short time that he'd gone ashore. He searched the shore frantically but there was no sign of movement.

Going over to the blonde woman he shook her violently. Her eyes fluttered open and she gasped when she looked at him.

"You need to tell me where they are," he snapped, realizing his voice was shaking. "You must tell me."

"Who?" she demanded, pulling away from him.

"THEM!" he screamed, pointing at the shore. "The men who were trying to get you!"

"I don't know," she said confusedly.

Suddenly he had stood and grasped her wrist, pulling her up. She felt very shaky and weak as he dragged her towards the ladder down to the water.

"Where are we going?" she demanded thickly, her mind not very clear.

"To find the Others," he spoke.

……………………………….

Charlie watched as they carried the older man's body across the sand and up towards where they had placed the other woman's only a few hours ago. Two down, he thought wearily, about forty more to go.

Turning towards the sea, he searched desperately for any sign of Sayid's boat.

…………………………

Sawyer awoke moments later. The pain was too much, he felt too sick. Why was this happening?

But the horn sound was gone, and there seemed to be no more explosions. Getting up carefully, he moved off in a different direction. None of this was familiar but he figured that if he kept walking he'd either hit the beach, or start walking across the center of the island and would eventually see the highest mountain. If he could get a view of that, he could figure out which way home was.

Home, he thought a bit crazily. He couldn't believe he was calling a blank stretch of sand and some coconut trees home. Anything is better than where I was, he shook his head.

A small bit of hope was surging through him. How he had gotten out, he didn't know but he knew now he was free. He could get back and send help but he now knew he wasn't going to die. Jack had saved him by giving him a liver, and it was only hitting Sawyer now that he would probably have died on this island.

Out of nowhere there was a whirring sound and a dart hit Sawyer squarely in the shoulder. Looking down at it, he furrowed his brow but suddenly a wave of dizziness hit him and he stumbled sideways and fell to his knees painfully. Looking up he saw many guards and the man who had tortured him walking through the trees.

"He passed this one," said the man who had controlled the torture. Sawyer's vision was blurring and he fell to his hand only to have his arm collapse beneath him as he fell to the ground. "On to the next experiment…."

……………………………….

Jack walked the hall slowly, seeing no one in either direction. Where he was going, he had no idea but he knew if he had this chance he should take it to get out and bring back help.

Creeping up a second hallway, Jack froze. Footsteps approached from beyond the corner. Seeing a slightly open door, Jack bolted towards it and stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

He was in what looked like had been a lavish office, complete with a mahogany desk and leather chair. But everything was dusty and boxes were everywhere. Through the dim light coming through the painted glass window in the door he saw many framed documents on the walls and lying on top of some of the clutter.

Slowly Jack walked over. Picking up the top one he blew the dust off it and read in the dim light.

"For Outstanding Ecological and Biological Research in Zoology and Physiology

This Acknowledgment of Achievement is given to

Alvar Hanso III of the Hanso Foundation

From the EZBP Association of America

On September 4th, 1970"

Sounds like an excuse for a fancy dinner, Jack thought, shaking his head. He looked down at the box he was looking at. Inside was many folders sitting vertical, as though this was a reference box. All of them were dated. The oldest being in 1965, and the newest in 1987. Flipping through the folder Jack pulled out the last document in the box that was yellowing and wrinkled.

It was a letter from whoever this Alvar Hanso guy was to a cooperation, sounding very threatening. It was dated March 3rd, 1987.

"To the superintendent of financial services

I received your letter with deepest regrets. The DHARMA Initiative has spent the last twenty or so years bettering the lives of those associated with it. The Hanso Foundatio, having started DHARMA, it is imperative this notice of cancellation of funds be revoked immediately. The media outcry would be far too large if word got out that the Hanso Foundation was associated with certain facilities and events that occurred while the DHARMA Initiative was being created. Having founded the Hanso Foundation myself, and then sold it to your superiors in order to gain more knowledge of this smaller branch, it would seem absurd to out the original founder from the inner workings of the corporation.

I urge you to reconsider the cancellation of funds. Over four hundred workers will be out of work when the DHARMA Initiative closes down. Not the mention the ecological effect it will have on testing sites.

Sincerely yours,

Alvar Hanso

C.E.O. of DHARMA"

Whoever this Hanso guy was, he obviously had been powerful at one point and then given it all up to work on DHARMA. Jack remembered the logo from the hatch, and from many of the food labels in the pantry back in the hatch. For a moment Jack wondered exactly how complicated this whole thing was, and how long it would take him to go through these boxes.

There was the sound of footsteps in the hall and Jack suddenly bolted to the place behind the door. He still had the letter in his hand as he stood there, listening hard. Slowly, the doorknob was turning.