Ethan
Jungle
Sawyer and Ethan's buddies.

Ethan made a small thud as he landed on the floor, and knocked his head against the dirt. Two men rushed to his side, and covered Sawyers view of the man. Small sounds of struggling ensued, before Ethan rose to face Sawyer again, and with a small grunt, ripped his shirt down the middle where the buttons joined the fabric, revealing a metal shirt - a bullet proof vest.

"Your gun was useless all along, James." Ethan said, his voice slightly wheezing, but nonetheless venomous and vindictive. "Oh yes." He continued, at first leaning on his comrade, before being able to stand alone, "The gun I admit was a little off putting, but as I said, you underestimated me. It shows now doesn't it?"

He tilted his head to the side, his hand on his hips, and then pinched his chin. "Now." He said. "Instead of more sass..."

He nodded twice, once at a burly, buff man who stood to Sawyers right, and twice to the man behind him, smaller in frame, but still threatening in appearance.

"Grab him, bound him, blindfold him. Now."

He turned to the man who had helped him up. "Henry." He greeted, grabbing his shoulder and shaking it playfully. Henry didn't say anything, but sniffed, pointing to Sawyer.

"Why him?" He asked.

"Why not?"

Locke
Jungle
Charlie

Locke watched as Charlie tried to stand himself up, failing miserably, unfortunately, and tumbled to the ground again. Instead of helping him up at once, he stood, towering over the recovering addict, and placed his hands on his hips.

"Will you let me do my job, Charlie?" He asked, bending down and securing his arm under the crook of Charlie's, hoisting him up onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry. "Right, I don't want you to do that again Charlie, preserve your energy, just go back to that happy place we talked about, remember?"

He grunted as he secured him onto his own body, and began walking further into the jungle, the caves seeming like a more appealing place by the second;

"We'll be back in no time, Charlie."

Sawyer
Jungle
Ethan & consorts

An accomplished grin came over Sawyer's lips, and he let himself being pushed away by the strangers rushing to Rom's aid. Out of sight now for Ethan to see him, he slowly took some steps backwards --trying to slip away through the maze of the other man's servants.

But the grin on his face abruptly made place for a look of astonishment as Ethan rose to his feet, no indication whatsoever he was just shot straight in the chest. The bullet proof vest was revealed and the Southerner let out a grunt of frustration. This couldn't be true! How could this man have known he was going to come across him, and across the gun? How could he have been that prepared? It was impossible.

Still stunned by what was happening in front of him Sawyer didn't reply to Ethan's snide remarks. Instead he was still trying to sneak away, but the circle of people around him slowly tightened and the man knew he was hopelessly outnumbered. Especially if they were all accompanied by the bullet proof vests and god knows what else.

The sudden appearance of two seemingly strong men at his side showed Sawyer he had lost this round of the battle. He couldn't save himself from being held in a tight grip, his arms roughly twisted behind his back; sending shots of pains through his hands and forcing him to finally let go of the gun he was still clutching in his fingers. It fell down on the muddy soil of the jungle, not leaving more than a small gasping thud to indicate where it had landed on the ground.

Hearing Ethan bark his orders to the two men beside him and the faceless strangers surrounding the small group, Sawyer knew it wouldn't be long before they most likely gag him; cutting off his only option to warn Locke and Charlie. So struggling against the two men holding him tight, trying to distract them long enough to not cut off his words, he cleared his throat and yelled as loud as he could.

"Run Locke! Get away from here. Run like that son of a bitch Ethan Rom in on your heels!"

Casting an arrogant look towards Ethan he stopped his protest when the other men started to tie him up. He had done his job for now. And Sawyer knew it wouldn't be long before he found a way to escape.

Charlie
Jungle
Locke

He knew Locke was right and let the other man once more lift him onto his shoulders to be carried further through the jungle. Charlie mumbled an inaudible reply at Locke's mention of the 'happy place', not wanting to admit that that would be this island. At least it seemed as if his stomach was really calmed down now and the track wasn't as bad as it was earlier.

The jungle darkened even more than before; but no longer the sudden change or eerie silence. This time it was merely the sun sliding down the horizon, the rays of light fading away into the night time. It was late and the acknowledging of the time moved the British man from feeling tired to being completely exhausted. The eventful afternoon had taking its toll on the young man as on so many others that day.

Hoping they were close to the caves the former heroin addict closed his eyes trying to ignore the descending temperature around them and the thumping headache, but failing miserably.

Ethan/Henry
Jungle/Their camp
Sawyer/The Others

Ethan continued signalling to the two men holding Sawyer, making them drag him in front of himself and Henry. He looked at his comrade, seeking perhaps some sort of approval, to only find Henry stare down at Sawyer, and then turn around, heading in direction of their camp. "Back to camp then." He muttered to the two butch men keeping Sawyer, and jogged after Henry, catching him up and looking at the man again.

"Well?" He questioned, increasing his pace as Henry did.

"Well what?" He retorted, looking down at Ethan with a face of anger mixed with a supposed look of boredom. Ethan could understand the anger, but the look of dullness, as if he had seen this all before, as if he had better things to do? It rather insulted him. "If you're expecting me to say 'I'm impressed Ethan' you'll have a long wait."

Ethan frowned, checking now and then to make sure Sawyer and the rest were following them, as the two men walked ahead, leading the way back to their camp. "I don't understand." He said, forcing himself to keep up pace, though his legs were beginning to buckle, partly from Henry's growing wrath.

"What's to understand?" Henry growled, spinning Ethan around, glaring into his face. "You broke a direct order Ethan, you strayed from us, and what's more, you terrorised this group, when you could have told me, and I would have dealt with it. What the hell were you thinking, Ethan? Taking this man?"

Spluttering, Ethan raised his hands in defence from Henry, and shook his head in a way of apology.

"I never meant anything; he was just a trouble maker." He whispered, grabbing Henry's sleeves as his grip on him tightened.

"What now, Ethan? You want to piss over him and me and mark your territory? That's what you'd like?" Henry continued, his whispers growing frantic with annoyance.

"Henry please, I'm sorry. Don't show me up in front of him." He said, looking at the blindfolded Sawyer.

"You will be Ethan. Now get him back to camp, quickly, and then we plan. Until then I don't really want to hear a word from you."

Locke
Jungle/Caves
Charlie/Jack

Silence ensued as Locke struggled to put foot in front of foot, step after step and time after time he would think to himself; "I must get back to the caves with Charlie in one piece." He would mutter reassurances of reaching the caves to Charlie, though they were more for himself and he put in all his willpower to the task.

When at last he reached the familiar track leading to the caves, he shook his head, almost disbelieving of the fact he HAD got Charlie back here in one piece, with the boys laboured breathing an indication he still lived. But now came the shame and apprehension of what Jack would say when he reached the caves. The looks he would receive for letting this happen. The fact he had gotten hurt as well. And that Sawyer had to get involved with this.

Where ever he may be. Must have got held up, was all Locke could think, though he never heard the fatal gun shot. If Ethan had given the Southerner trouble, there was no doubt in his mind that Sawyer would have dealt with the problem immediately, but it wasn't up to him to worry about Ethan, it was his job to worry about Charlie.

"Help!" He called out as he dove into the caves, his frame wobbling under the pressure of Charlie. "Help me! Jack? Jack!" He called out; a brief smile of relief overcame him as he saw the Doctor emerge from round a corner.

"John." He greeted, his face once relaxed now frightened and concerned as he saw Charlie. Immediately taking action, he pointed to the mat on the caves floor. "Put him down there, gently." Locke did as instructed and gently lowered Charlie down, backing away slowly, leaving Jack to tend to him.

Jack looked him over, examining the head wound, and pointing at Sun and the medical box where bandages and medication were kept. "What happened to him, John?" He asked, leaving Charlie to keep silent and prevent any more head troubles. "John?" He asked again after receiving no reply, and turned around, however, only Sun stood there, Locke had vacated the caves.

"John!" He shouted, taking his hands from Charlie's head, palms already covered in blood and perspiration. "John!"

He shook his head, unable to comprehend the old mans rash exit and bent down over Charlie. "Can you hear me, Charlie?" He asked softly.

Sawyer
Jungle / Camp
Ethan, Henry, Others

The other men were walking at a far too high pace for the blindfolded and tied up Sawyer to keep up. He was continuously tripping over the various branches and plants in his way, resulting in him being dragged across the jungle to the other's camp.

His feet getting caught behind a nasty climber made him stumble on his legs. And if it weren't for the two men at his side, having a firm grip on his arms, the Southerner would have fallen face flat onto the soil.

He heard snippets of an argument between Ethan and a second man and he diverted his attention from the hard job of keeping on his feet to listening carefully to that conversation. And though the circumstances weren't there for him to join the lovely fight, increasing the humiliation Rom apparently was going through, the words being throw back and forth did make Sawyer feel good. It gave him that little extra spurt of energy that kept him on his feet when his knees buckled and the motivation to not give up. Not all was lost, it was far from it.

The encountering with these others had so far been only due to an inconvenient meeting with Ethan Rom. And according to the argument Ethan hadn't been right by capturing him. These others must be more civilized people. If only he had the opportunity to convince the boss of Ethan's mistake, he could talk his way out of this unfortunate mess. Sawyer was quite certain of it. He hadn't used his conning skills for a long time, and he felt quite eager to put his plan into action.

So even before they hit camp Sawyer spoke out loud, making sure he was heard by whoever was currently in charge.

"Excuse me gentleman", he yelled, while he moved his head in every direction, not quite sure where to look for the face behind the man telling of Ethan.

"I happen to overhear your little argument there and I just want to reassure you that when you let me go there will be no hard feelings. I can see how a mistake like...", a grunt of frustration escaped the Southerner's lips when he once again tripped over a branch lingering around, "A mistake like that can happen. On this godforsaken island you never know who to trust. But I am only one harmless guy; I suppose it wouldn't be a problem to untie me? The cloth around my wrists is simply killing me."

Sawyer was talking to Henry as if he were a different man; using different words and different phrases than he usually did. No more arrogance or sarcasm, but an act to convince the other man of his genuine trustworthiness.

Charlie
Jungle / Caves
Locke / Jack, Sun

He didn't fall back into unconsciousness, it was merely the exhaustion that made Charlie close his eyes for the last part of their journey through the jungle. Hearing Locke's cry for help he looked through his eyelashes and recognised the pattern of the caves rising up in front of him; finally. Aid in the form of the infamous doctor Jack wouldn't be far away and maybe he could get something to drift away in a painless sleep, forgetting the horrible day just as easily as he forgot the fact Sawyer was still lost somewhere in the jungle with the malicious Ethan at his side.

The British man softly moaned when Locke laid him down. His head carefully, but still painfully, hitting the ground of the caves underneath the thin piece of cloth.

Jack screaming for John awoke Charlie fully, who was slowly sliding away from reality. He wanted to nod in reply to the man's query, but felt his head was hurting too much to do so. So instead he opened his mouth, a mere gasp of exhaustion escaping before his words.

"Whatcha say mate, can you fix me something for my killing headache?"

Claire
Outside caves
Locke

It was late the sun was slowly descending. With the darkness on her heels Claire was hurrying towards the other castaways. She knew she was an easy target for the dangers lurking around in the jungle. Slowed down by her pregnancy and a woman; she was the most typical victim. And honestly, she wanted to be surrounded by the others. The ones she so easily came to trust. It made her feel safe, though really when thinking of it, they were complete strangers to one another.

Claire was absentmindedly rubbing one hand over her large belly while walking towards the caves. This motion always felt comforting and calmed her down when thinking of the absurd and peril situation they were in.

Before entering the caves she caught sight of someone emerging from it, and moving away as if being chased. For split second she stood mouse-still, not wanting the other party to see her before knowing who it was. But when she saw Locke's haunted features she quickly walked towards him, a concerned look spreading over her pretty face.

The man's face was pressed into an awkward frown, giving him a much older and somewhat defeated expression. She didn't know the man all that well, but up till now he had always looked wise in her eyes. Calm whenever unexpected disaster struck, a quick solution to every problem at hand. So when John Locke looked worried, Claire knew something must be seriously wrong; out of his control.

What's the matter, John?", Claire said in her thick Australian accent. Not immediately getting a satisfying reply she added, "Who died?" She was only half joking, knowing that on this peculiar island her query could be scare fully close to the truth behind the hunter's worried look.

Henry/Ethan
Jungle
Sawyer, The Others

"Keep it quiet!" Ethan barked at Sawyer, turning to look him, taking satisfaction in watching the man trip once more. The path was a thick one, as only their people used it, unseen to anybody else; that "anybody else" being Sawyer. He turned his head to look at Henry, but was only met with jungle that surrounded him, and as he turned his head, he had found that Henry had stopped walking altogether. The men also stopped to look at Henry, who was staring into space.

"Henry…?" Ethan questioned softly, becoming slightly worried Henry had had some sort of breakdown. His body had grown quite limp, his eyes wide and staring into space, and his expression vacant. "What's wrong?" Ethan asked, trying to follow the other mans gaze but seeing nothing.

Ethan looked at the individual member that formulated the circle, but they only shrugged their shoulders as confused as Ethan was. "Henry!" Ethan snapped, now annoyed at this sudden ignorance. His face burned with the humiliation of Sawyer now picking up on the fact that it was Henry who ran the show.

Smack.

Ethan dropped to the floor, blood spurting from his nose and bottom lip. The thud made before when Sawyer had shot him was forced, but this noise as he hit the floor was pure; pure with force and anger. He gasped and clutched at his bleeding face, looking up at Henry who slowly and calmly lowered his fist.

"Ethan." He said, "I asked you to stop talking. I said I didn't want to hear another word from you. I also made it clear that it was not you who made the orders here. And I don't think 'Keep it quiet!' is really obeying my word."

He pulled Ethan up from the floor and squeezed the already sore bottom lip, pulling him up close and hissing in his face;

"You don't understand the seriousness of this… Do you Ethan? It's a shame you caught me on my bad day, otherwise I mightn't have had to do something as unprofessional like that."

Henry released him, leaving Ethan to cradle his face, panting for breath, and avoiding the looks of pity he received from his fellow comrades.

Henry bent down next to Sawyer, and took a cloth from his back pocket and moving the blindfold slightly, mopped the sweat on his brow.

"I apologise for my companion's rash behaviour. But you'll appreciate my position when I say I cannot let you go now, not unless I sew your lips shut, and if you heard Ethan's splutters, you'll guess that isn't above me."

Jack
Caves
Charlie

Jack smiled down at Charlie briefly, nodding his head; "Yeah Charlie" He grinned, "I'll get you something for your head, but this is going to take time to sort out, you're not in a good way – but it's nothing we can't handle."

"Sun, get me some more water." Jack instructed, not allowing his voice to slip into a weary tone with Charlie conscious.

After Locke had left, Jack had carefully slipped a temporary bandage onto the patient's head, and cleared up any nicks and scrapes on Charlie's arms and legs. He cleaned his hands in the water, his reflection momentarily looking LOST to him, unrecognisable with the heavy bags underneath his eyes and mouth drawn into a tight line.

"Ok Charlie" Jack began, crouching down next to Charlie, his arm on the mat, fiddling with the wrapper from the bandage, as if it could somehow make him forget about John leaving him and Charlie in a dire situation.

"Tell me what happened out there. What were you doing, was anyone else with you?"

Locke
Beach
Claire

Locke's unsteady legs managed to travel down the beach, buckling slightly under the downhill slope. His eyebrows dipped into a troubled expression, leaving his eyes wide with shock and mouth gaping. As soon as he reached the caves, he had gone blank, unable to comprehend their time spent in the jungle. The sound of Charlie slipping from the cliff, being shot in the neck, the loss of Sawyer on the journey back, all totalled in Locke's loss of breath and shaking limbs.

As soon as he heard the familiar wispy voice of Claire Littleton, his head snapped upwards and he forced a smile, realising how bizarre he must have looked to a passing stranger. He stopped walking, and shuffled in the sand so he didn't lose stability which seemed to be fast disappearing.

"Who's dead?" He asked softly, taking a moment to realise it was a joke, before replying in the same tone she had spoke in, "No one's dead Claire. Only cut up into small pieces and mailed to me via a post box I found in the jungle." He paused, and gestured to the caves, "But Jacks' taking care of it."

Noticing in the afternoons that Charlie would frequently visit Claire, he didn't want his first words to be of his bad news, possibly causing her to implode a bundle of more distress for the Island.

Sawyer
Jungle on the way to "their" camp
Henry (Ethan, Others)

Sawyer suddenly felt a hard tug on his arm as he tried to take another step. Apparently the crowd had come to an abrupt halt. A satisfying smile formed on his lips when thinking that must be because they realized their mistake in taken him hostage. Sweet freedom was close by at last.

He listened carefully to the words Ethan used, his voice sounding more desperate and out of control after each unfinished sentences that crossed his lips. "Henry", Sawyer muttered under his breath, knowing that name was important and he had to remember it.

A loud smack suddenly filled his ears, interfering with Rom's remarks and breaking the otherwise silence that had appeared around him. It sounded as if someone had gotten a slap in the face, and the Southerner hoped with all his heart it was the arrogant Ethan that had gotten the punishment; for wrongfully capturing him of course. The conversation that followed between "Henry" and Ethan did point in that direction and Sawyer smirked once more. This was going much better than expected.

Suddenly he felt a hand near his face and the blindfold was slightly lifted of his eyes. With a lot of force he managed to open one eye and peek underneath the dirty cloth, catching his first sight of the man earlier referred to as Henry; the person currently in charge, or at least higher in rank than Ethan Rom.

Sawyer's first impression wasn't that of the relentless commander in chief, who only moments earlier tortured one of his own men. Instead he faced an innocent looking older man with a smile on his face, pretty harmless. But as the man started to speak, his educated words slickly covering up his threats, something on the man's face changed; giving Henry a far more malicious expression than Sawyer had seen on Rom. And he knew that instantly that he was in deep trouble.

Still pretending to be an innocent man himself he let out a soft chuckle after the man's rhetorical question. "Got it chief", the Southerner answered politely, though the wheels in his mind were spinning full speed, trying to think of a way to escape his frightful near future.

Charlie
Caves
Jack (Sun)

Charlie let Jack do his job, without interrupting him in any way. He felt much better already, just laying still on ground instead of bumping through the jungle. And the doctor's care eased the British man in a half dazed state.

It was then that Jack suddenly blurted out his questions and though the former rockgod felt too tired at first to answer, he knew he owed the other man that much. Not seeing any problem in telling the full truth he told his story.

"Well mate, it's quite an interesting little tale actually", Charlie started off.

And soon he was sharing the information on his trip with Locke to get a transmission signal, his disastrous fall of the mountain and their meeting with Sawyer and some vague others. It took quite some time for the British man to tell everything, taking breaks in his speech every other sentence to catch his breath. He also left out big chunks in his story, since he wasn't fully conscious most of the time and didn't pay attention to everything that happened around him; with Danielle and Ethan.

"Which brought me into the most excellent care of Doctor Jack", he finally finished. Charlie's tired eyes fluttering closed while phrasing his final sentence. He wasn't asleep yet, but he simply was too exhausted to keep his gaze on the man taking care of him.

Claire
Beach
Locke

"It's gonna be all right then?", Claire asked rhetorically. It sounded like Locke needn't worry; Jack was taking care of it.

Being one of the few people not being able to provide something for the group, the Australian wasn't exactly in the perfect state to lend anyone a much needed helping hand, she found herself more often alone than not. But although she didn't spend much time with her fellow castaways she did know that when someone was brought to the doctor that that person was in good hands. If anything the man seemed excellent in executing his profession. Which was a good thing, since somehow strange and dangerous stuff always seemed to happen on this island.

A soft smile caressing her clear face she walked closer to the hunter, wanting to help him; so the deep frown above the man's would disappear and make place for one of his catching face broad smiles. Claire couldn't help built shelters or pick fruit out of the high trees. Nor was she able to provide useful knowledge no one else could, but one thing she was able to do in her condition; and that was providing a listening ear.

However, before she spoke to him again a sudden thought occurred to the petite Australian woman; it had been odd that Locke hadn't mentioned who exactly was in the amateurish hospital, being examinated and fixed up by Jack this very moment.

"Who's in there, John?", she therefore asked. A strange feeling creeping up her back, Claire suddenly felt like she should worry; though she didn't have the slightest idea why that would be.