(Authors note) I hope I get a chance to, but if I don't this will be my last update before I go away on vacation. I am leaving tomorrow night (the 6th) and returning the 13th. I feel terrible leaving you guys without updates for so long but I promise you I'll be writing the entire time I'm away so you'll definitely have an update when I get back. There's a chance I'll try to update tomorrow before I leave but I can't promise. But definitely check this thread tomorrow afternoon in case I do!

If you want to be emailed or IMed when I return and update please don't hesitate to ask!

Check out some of my other fics here while I'm gone. Also check for my HP fics (same username as here)

Chapter 18: Resolution

Charlie stood slowly, his head spinning. He had taken a short nap and in the time that he'd done that, things had turned to chaos.

There wasn't one person who wasn't effected. Everyone was ill, throwing up, and covered in strange red burns and stung and hurt. People were barely moving from their tents and those who felt better were trying to help them but to no avail.

The burns on Charlie covered most of his forearms. He covered them with his sweatshirt as he sat up, looking towards Claire's tent.

She was looking down at the cradle. All around her people were moaning, crying, and hurrying to and fro. As Charlie slowly stood, he walked towards her.

Claire hadn't been as effected as the rest of them, but she still had some small burns on her hands and looked pale. Aaron was completely fine, sleeping in his bed without waking as Charlie came over.

"How are you?" he asked, bending down shakily. He knelt on the sand before her and gazed up at her.

"I'm alright," she lied, wiping her brow. "I just wish Jack would come back."

"Sayid went to get him," Charlie said, looking down at Aaron. He placed one hand tenderly on the cradle and sighed. "How is he?"

"He seems fine. I keep checking him for these sores but there are none," she said, motioning to her hands which she kept folded in her lap. "Charlie…"

Her voice was terrified and small. He looked up at her and saw she looked more frightened than he could ever remember her being.

"If we all die, there will be no one to take care of Aaron," she whispered. Her hands were shaking. "If I die…"

"You're not going to die," Charlie hissed firmly, rising from his kneeling position and standing above her. "You're going to be fine."

Claire didn't seem to believe him.

Charlie left her for a moment to check on John, who couldn't move from the place he was in his tent near Claire's. He wasn't complaining, but sat there staring out at the sea as though all were lost. He had several burns on his neck and arms and looked rather peakish.

"How's everything going, Charlie?" John asked officially as Charlie came to the opening of the tent.

"To bloody hell, John!" exclaimed Charlie angrily. "Can't you tell?"

"I think it's time you go back to the hatch," John said a bit weakly, sighing. "I think whatever Desmond was doing wasn't for nothing."

"What…"

"Desmond injected himself with something every nine days," Locke seemed confident in this as he spoke. "Maybe that can help."

"It's gone. He took it all," Charlie remembered Jack saying that Desmond had gathered all of the vials of vaccine when he ran. "There's none…"

"In the kitchen, the lowest cabinet on the far right below the sink," Locke spoke breathlessly and looked tired. "There are three vials."

"You've been holding out on us?" demanded Charlie angrily.

"I thought it was a placebo. I thought it was just part of the experiment," John began to adjust himself to lay down. He looked extremely weak and red. "I think it may help."

"But three vials isn't enough for forty people!" Charlie panted, leaning against the tree beside the entrance.

"It's up to you, Charlie," John said weakly before lying down.

Stumbling from the tent, Charlie looked up and down the beach. People were lying dying in tents, and others were weakly trying to help them by bringing water. Everyone was dying. How could he trust the word of the man who caused all of this, who had stopped pressing the button and done this to them?

"Claire," Charlie hurried over to Claire who was now holding Aaron. "I need your help."

………………………..

Kate slowly awoke. She had been drugged because when they were treating her arm she had begun to thrash wildly. The guard had tried to hit her over the head to knock her out but only made her head bleed before the doctor injected her with something that caused her to slip into unconsciousness.

Now she felt hard floor beneath her, looking around, she saw through blurry eyes that other people were lying beside her and above her. There was a thin rubber mat beneath her and there were no windows in this room, only one thick door at the end. The people seemed to be laid in rows with two aisles between.

"You awake yet?"

She jumped, sitting up quickly, making her head spin. She held her hand to her eyes, trying to stop the room from spinning. There were shuffling footsteps and then someone sat down beside her.

Looking over, her eyes widened.

"Sawyer," she whispered, feeling very weak. She went to move but cringed. Looking down she saw her arm was wrapped messily. It felt numb but she knew that eventually the pain would come. She looked back at Sawyer.

"Hey Freckles," he said, his heart absolutely jumping for joy. But then he saw it. The red X on her forehead. It was small but it was there, and Sawyer felt his stomach drop. He had seen them bring her in here about an hour ago but hadn't noticed it until he shuffled over just now when she had awoken. "How're feeling?"

"Terrible," she shook her head. Suddenly she remembered. "Jack told me you were dead."

Sawyer remembered telling Jack to get Kate out and supposed he had told her that to keep her from looking for him. Nice plan, doc, Sawyer sighed.

"I guess he saw wrong," Sawyer gave her a smirk. He was covered in dirt from his run through the jungle. He had woken up here earlier and only now had gotten his strength back.

"Where were you?" she asked, seeing his filthy hands and bare chest.

"They did some kind of test on me. They put me in the middle of the damn jungle and some thing chased me down," he shook his head, all of it now was a blur. "I think it was part of an experiment to see how I've improved since the surgery."

"I'm going to kill Jack when I see him," she panted, looking pale. He supposed she had lost a lot of blood. He stared at the red X and it seemed to burn in his eyes. Suddenly he knew what he had to do.

"I think you should lay back down," he said, moving over painfully to let her lie flat. "You lost a lot of blood."

"We're going to die in here," she whispered, looking glazed. She laid down on the mat and closed her eyes. "Sawyer…"

"I aint going anywhere," he whispered back sadly.

Sawyer placed his palm on her forehead for a moment, pressing gently but not enough to wake her. Lifting it, he saw the red X had come off into his palm. Quickly before it dried, he placed his hand on his own forehead and pressed. Letting go, he knew it had come onto it. After wiping the remains of the X from Kate's skin, he slowly crawled back to his mat and laid down wearily.

……………………….

"Where were you headed?" Sayid asked as they walked swiftly. He had let go of her, trusting her to walk behind him. Now they were hurrying through the jungle.

"I was on a research trip," she mumbled, struggling through the brambles behind him. She couldn't tell him about Desmond, it would seem ridiculous.

"What were you researching?" he continued, holding his gun out as he walked.

"Whales," she said, hoping it sounded convincing.

"When I was in the Republican Guard, I was an interrogator. I could tell a liar from a mile away. You might do well to remember that. Now tell me, why were you out here?" he said firmly.

Republican Guard, she thought surprisingly? How could she explain to this stranger that she was on a mission to find her true love who was shipwrecked almost three years ago. After everything that had happened, she wanted to believe that Desmond was dead so she could keep going.

"I was looking for someone who got lost in these waters a long time ago," she said as he seemed to slow as the path widened so she could walk beside him. "But I don't think it was worth it."

"You were looking for someone in the middle of the ocean?" he questioned, not harshly but curiously as they walked quickly, almost running.

"He was lost at sea three years ago but I think there was foul play," she reasoned, not wanting to look over at him. She could feel the skepticism in his eyes. "I think my father may have done something to him."

"And who was this man? A relative?"

Penny looked down at her hand. Her bare finger seemed to scream up at her. There was a tan line from her wedding band but it was fading since she'd been in the sun since she'd gotten here. She realized how thin and dry her hands looked and remembered how horrified she'd be if she'd ever let them get like that at home.

"He was my love," she whispered, not really thinking about it. "I loved him."

Sayid slowed a bit and looked over at her. There was compassion in his eyes that she hadn't seen in a long time. Whenever she spoke of Desmond to her research group, they all gave her looks as though she was crazy. But Sayid looked absolutely stunned.

"What's your name?" he asked he quietly, continuing to walk.

"Penelope," she said. She was about to give her married name and then stopped. "Penelope Widmore. Everyone knows me as Penny."

"Sayid," he didn't seem to feel the need to add his last name. "And what was the name of this man you were searching for?"

"Desmond," she sighed. "His name was Desmond."

Sayid stopped walking.

………………………………………………

The doorknob turned and slowly the door opened. Jack pressed himself against the wall and his hand came in contact with something cold and steel. Looking down he saw a golf club leaning against a chair. His hand covered the top of it as a figure stepped slowly into the room, shining a flashlight around.

Bracing himself, Jack waited a moment. The figure was tall but not wide and as they stepped further into the room and went to turn, Jack raised the club and brought it down hard on the figure's head.

A shout was heard and the man fell to the ground as Jack gripped the club, bursting out the door but closing it behind him. There was no one in the hallway as he hurried down it, the club tightly in his hand. He wasn't sure what good a golf club would do against all the people in this place but he supposed he had a chance.

He needed to find Kate first. Looking down the hall he saw the hallway that lead to the outside. Sad, he thought, that he already recognized this place. To his left there was another hall that led further into the compound. Putting the club behind his back he walked swiftly, moving with speed but calmness as he passed open doors.

Suddenly he stopped. He had passed a room where directly beside the door there was a lab coat hanging on a hook. Poking his head inside he saw no one was in there and ducked in, throwing on the labcoat and putting the golf club inside of it, holding the coat closed over it.

Stepping back into the hallway, Jack continued down it, peering into the rooms on each side as he walked. At the end were double doors. Through the glass windows he saw several people walking around inside what looked like a small operating room. Across it was another door leading to another hall.

His heart in his chest, Jack stepped inside and walked swiftly across it, trying to look like he knew what he was doing. Only when he was a few feet from the door did he see the words above it read BASEMENT.

Suddenly the door behind him swung open and a panting man in a stained lab coat came bursting in, looking frantically around. His eyes rested on Jack but only for a moment before sweeping the others.

"One of the prisoners, the flight survivors is missing," panted the man, the stains on his lab coat looking suspiciously like blood.

"Begin a search immediately," shouted a tall guard standing at another entrance Jack hadn't seen to his left.

Everyone began moving and Jack, his throat tight and his heart racing went to push the door ahead of him open when there was a shout behind him.

"Where are you going?" demanded the guard.

"I thought I saw a light down there," Jack said, pointing at the steep staircase ahead of him through the door. "Maybe the survivor went down there."

"Nice thinking," the guard nodded. "You check. If there's any trouble, give a holler."

Jack nodded and went through the doors.

He couldn't move down the stairs quickly enough. His breath was caught in his throat and he tried to breathe as he went. He knew going down here would trap him but maybe there was some way out from down here. He would have to return for Kate once he'd gotten help from Sayid and everyone else. There was no way he could take on this place by himself. It gave them all a better chance if he escaped and got help.

The staircase was long and ended in a small corridor where two doors were on each end. One read BOILER ROOM while the other read STOCK.

Going through to the Stock room, Jack found himself in a maze of bookshelves. All of them were lined with tapes, millions and millions of tapes. As he walked, he saw there were long aisles of them stretching for what seemed like miles. He walked the long aisle beside them, seeing the numbers rising as he went.

At the end of the corridor was a single television with a very old looking VCR at the top. A wooden chair sat right in front of the television which was extremely dusty.

Curiosity overtook Jack as he walked slowly forward. The VCR was the kind where the tape popped up out of the top. Inside of the open top was a tape that read 000001 HISTORY AND FOUNDING. Beside the open top was a piece of paper with several names written across the top and a date. Someone had been researching down here.

Slowly Jack pressed down the tape. To his surprise there was a whirring as the VCR accepted the tape, and a light came on the front of it above PLAY. Backing up, Jack looked down and saw the television had turned blue. It was thick with dust and seemed to hum as there was static for a moment and then music, the same music that had played for Orientation. Then a voice began to speak as the DHARMA symbol came up.

"Thank you, and welcome to tape number 000001 of the DHARMA Initiative Log. The following presentation will give you an affirmative history of the founding and creation of this Initiative. Students wishing to research and study the DHARMA Initiative are welcome to take notes, and continue through the library of logs that is to be created henceforth."

Jack's eyes widened as the screen came to an Asian man standing on the beach, a very familiar looking beach.

"It all began here with the creation of this compound….."