Back again. Not much to say…so I'll get on with the updating.
Disclaimer: I don't own Lost. Quite obviously. If I owned it, this stuff would, of course, be happening on the show, not in my imagination/on this website.
Chapter Two: Different
The Expedition Cruise Liner
"What?" Ellie demanded the second she heard.
"I'm sorry, Miss, but is that not what you would like?" asked the beautiful ship's events coordinator politely.
Ellie shook her head faster than the speed of lightning, but Jenny sent her a begging glance. Ellie realized that Jenny would just love to sail through uncharted territory and map it out. Who cared if the next King Kong was there, or something?
Still, Ellie knew that Jenny had done all the work in the bird flu project, and she deserved to pick where they went. "Okay," Ellie sighed.
Jake grinned. "You're looking at this the wrong way, Elle," he told Ellie excitedly. "First we're the curers of the bird flu, and now we map out islands that, for all we know, could be the leading source of oil in the world? We'll probably win a freakin' Nobel Prize. Elle, we're gonna be rich!"
Ellie shook her head. "Knowing my luck, we're going to be marooned on an island where weird natives keep us hostage and we end up living their our whole lives."
She just didn't know how close to the truth that was.
The Hatch
Jack shot up out of his seat in an instant.
"You're sure?" he asked in disbelief. "They're going to stop on this island?"
"That I am not certain about," Sayid admitted, "but as long as we can make some kind of sign, they should see us."
"But Michael and the others already used our SOS firework," Jack reminded him. "And a ground signal like what Bernard tried to make wouldn't be very visible from a ship."
"We can yell," Hurley said frantically. "Wave our arms. I don't care."
"We could burn something," Sayid suggested, "but it would be dangerous."
"What could we burn?" Jack asked miserably. "All we have are the trees, and that'll cause a forest fire."
Sayid shrugged. "I suppose we'll just hope for the best."
Hurley sighed. "On this island, there is no best."
The Expedition Cruise Liner
The Expedition was actually very nice. There were chandeliers, fancy tables, nice decks, golf courses, pools, and each student had a top-floor suite to share with one other. Ellie and Jake were sharing one, and right now they were talking about the scientific expeditions.
"So the only people on this cruise are us and other scientists?" Ellie asked Jake in confusion. The only reason she'd been a little excited about the Expedition ride was that she'd get a chance to know what it felt like to be a normal person in a normal paradise. Now both of those had been taken away from her, and she felt herself longing for her apartment.
Jake nodded, trying to block out the screeching sounds of Ellie tuning her guitar. She could tune by ear, but her instrument had gotten really out of tune from being handled by completely annoying and irresponsible baggage handlers who hadn't let her take it with her on the plane. Fascist, she had thought to herself.
"Yeah. It's pretty much like nerds on water."
Ellie sighed. He was twenty-freaking-two. Wasn't he way too old to be saying things like that?
"C'mon, Jake," she groaned, trying to get her guitar's annoying G sharp to lower back down to a G. "It'll be fun." She was trying to assure herself of that when the emergency alarms began to ring. She glanced out the window to see that they were already approaching an island. Was that the only reason there were emergency lights and alarms on?
"This is just a drill, right?" Jake asked in an almost scared voice.
"ATTENTION, PASSENGERS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
Ellie snorted. "I think that answers your question."
"ALL PASSENGERS ARE TO EXIT ROOMS TO THE NEAREST LOCKDOWN AREA. WE ARE APPROACHING AN UNCHARTED ISLAND, AND THE BEACH'S SAFETY IS UNKNOWN. PLEASE STAY CALM, AND WE WILL REACH LAND SHORTLY. LOCKDOWN AREAS ARE ONLY TO ENSURE YOUR PROTECTION."
Ellie looked out the window again, and she could've sworn she saw people. But Jake yanked on her arm and dragged her out of the room.
"There were people," she told him. "On the island. But they said it was uncharted!"
The Beach
"Bloody hell" was all Charlie could say when he saw the Expedition crashing onto the shores of the beach. It wasn't even that large or spectacular, but the fact that a ship was landing—with live people, nonetheless—was unbelievable.
Behind him, Jack and the others were discussing the ship's not-so-graceful landing. Charlie had to admit they were right about that. It's power was fading from the forceful crash, and it was starting to tip from the propellers brushing against the sand, making the beach unleveled. The people on the deck were screaming, and Charlie knew that the chances of someone falling were very, very high.
"Okay," Jack shouted, "we need a limited amount of people to help them!" He ran as close to the ship as was safe and shouted up at them, "Can you send down a ladder?"
One of the frantic scientists ran over to the lifeboat area and found a drop-ladder. He dropped it down the side of the boat to Jack, who waved a hand in thanks and turned to the 815ers. "Listen," he shouted to them. "We can't have many people. John, Sayid, Gin, Kate, Sawyer, go ahead. Everyone else, stay back! Help people once we get down!"
The selected 815ers ran up to the ladder and began climbing. Charlie followed behind Sawyer and reached Jack.
"Jack, c'mon," Charlie said. "Please let me go. I need to help someone." He did. Ever since the island, Charlie had felt an unexplainable need to help whoever was at all helpless. That was probably at least part of what explained his near obsession with Claire—she had a baby, and she needed his help with him.
"Charlie, six of our people is more than enough. For all I know, the friction caused by the propellers could cause this boat to blow up. Just stay back." He turned and began to climb the ladder.
Charlie didn't care what Jack had to say. Who had said he was the leader, anyway? It wasn't a freaking democracy, Charlie reminded himself. There was no government or anything else on this island, and whatever Jack said didn't have to go.
So he climbed up behind Jack, reaching the top before Jack could protest.
"Charlie-" Jack started.
"Jack," Kate said, shaking her curly brown mane. "He's already here. Just let him help."
Charlie nodded, thankful that Kate had stuck up for him. Sawyer looked pleased, too, that Kate had objected to Jack's wishes. It didn't mean anything, her objecting, but he was sick of watching Kate and Jack agree with each other on each and every little detail about the island.
Kate and the others helped the deck survivors get off first, but a surprising amount were falling off the edges and, unfortunately, dying. Charlie couldn't believe how calm all the 815ers were being about this. He frantically ran across the deck and into the top level of rooms, the suites. He reached a lockdown door and knocked.
Lockdown Room
The sound of a fist against the wood would've made Ellie wince, but she was too scared to move a muscle in her body. The only small comfort was having Jake's arm around her shoulders, but it didn't help much, because he hadn't said one word to her since they'd gotten there except to shut her up.
"Should we get it?" Jenny asked from Andrew's side. The only ones in the lockdown room were twenty-two of the thirty Emory seniors.
"Of course we should, spaz," Jake grumbled, but he didn't get up. "Who do you think it's going to be, a big guy with a gun?"
That statement didn't make much sense, so Ellie figured that was who Jake was worried it would be. But she didn't say anything. Instead she watched Andrew slowly rise. The knock sounded again.
"Anyone in here?" shouted the voice of a young British man.
Ellie felt a smile burst onto her face. "The Brits are going to save us!" she cheered. "Thank God for Brits!"
She heard a muffled laugh. "Heard that. C'mon, let me in. I promise I don't bite."
Andrew looked at them for approval. Jenny and the others nodded, so Andrew slowly opened the door.
Charlie was surprised to see a bunch of young, healthy-looking college students who actually didn't look all that scared. But he was mostly excited to find out who had said "Thank God for Brits."
He scanned the room for a moment before seeing her. She looked like she felt miserable, and yet she looked beautiful. Her long, tangled red hair fell to the sides of her shirt, which had a British flag on it. He automatically realized that she was the Thank God for Brits girl, and grinned eagerly at her.
Meanwhile, Ellie was stunned. No way could this be the Charlie Pace. She had been in love with him for what felt like forever. She had never liked the singer of Driveshaft much, his brother Liam, but she had always loved Charlie and his cute outfits, as well as his hilarious personality on talk shows. But instead of jumping up and hugging him, she stared at him coldly. Because that was what Ellie did: she spited people. And while Jake and the others would think she'd love him, she didn't say a word to him.
"This is quite rotten luck for all of you," Charlie informed them. "You see, me and my friends down there have been marooned on this queer island for quite a few months now. You lot were our only hope for survival. Then again, there might still be some." No one had the nerve to say anything, so he shrugged. "All right, then, come on. We've got to get you out of here before the boat tips."
A tall, preppie-looking boy that Charlie automatically disliked was whispering something into the redhead's ear. Ellie, or the redhead, chuckled softly, and Charlie wondered if it was about him. A lot of people commented on him being a has-been, so he wouldn't be surprised.
Instead of saying anything, however, he just backed out of the doorway and let them all leak out. Ellie and Jake were the last two, a completely odd couple (yet it was obvious that they were just that—a couple). Charlie smiled his cutest smile, and Ellie felt her heart beg her brain to let her hug him or even say something to him. But Jake yanked her hand again, obviously jealous (she had told him who Charlie was), and she turned her head before making eye contact with Charlie.
Charlie sighed. Why was he always attracted to the girls who didn't give a care in the world about him?
Main Deck
Sawyer stared longingly at Kate from across the deck as he helped a few annoying college seniors off the boat. He didn't stare longingly at anyone but her, ever, because he thought the whole thing was kind of a waste. But it was so easy to stare at her, and he found it so pleasurable.
She helped a few children down, but most of them were too scared to leave. She looked like she was practically begging them to leave, but there was still a sensitivity to her that Sawyer found alluring. Here she was, leading children around to keep them alive while risking her own life, and only a few weeks before, she had told him she'd killed a man. He couldn't connect the dots.
No matter how brave she was being, Sawyer wanted her off. He wanted to get off too, of course, but no way was he leaving without Kate. He'd seen her almost die quite a few too many times, and he didn't want it to actually happen. But before he could talk to her, Charlie ran up to them with about twenty collegians. Some of the seniors he was helping stopped and ran over to them.
"What is this?" Sawyer demanded grumpily. He had been in the middle of saving them. They weren't helping him look like a hero in front of Kate. "Some kinda college vaca shindig?"
A redheaded girl Sawyer actually found pretty good-looking in her own grudge way laughed. "Who's the redneck?" she asked.
He felt a vein in the side of his head pulsing. Such grateful people.
"That's Sawyer," Charlie explained. "You might not want to piss him off."
Jack walked over to them, interrupting Charlie's time talking with Ellie. "Hey," Jack said, "good job, Charlie." Charlie beamed. "All right, everyone, slowly down the ladder. And tell us if you've seen any kids—we can't find any."
"It's not a kids' boat," explained Jake. "It's a science expedition."
"Oh," Sawyer said, chuckling to himself. "So you guys are like PhD nerds, right?"
Ellie groaned. This annoying blonde was almost as bad as Jake himself. "We're just normal upperclassmen," she explained, "who happened to find a cure for the bird flu."
Jack's eye's shot over to her, for once not noticing Kate as she walked over to them, too. Sawyer did, though. He ignored her disapproving glance at him for treating the survivors badly.
"You found a cure for bird flu?" Jack repeated in astonishment.
Jenny grinned. "We're awesome, I know. But could we get off now?"
Jack nodded speechlessly, led them to the end of the boat, and escorted everyone onto the ladder. They all slowly climbed down. Finally all the Emory students were free. But that wasn't the strange part. Once the college students were down, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and the other 815ers followed, not seeing anyone else on the deck. They waited by the side to see if anyone else was there, but the second Gin's feet touched the sand, the boat collapsed onto its side and splashed into the water. Whoever had been in it was now dead. So, unfortunately, were many of the scientists who had been standing underneath the boat's new crashing point.
For some strange reason, the island had accepted the Emory students. But for another strange reason, it had rejected everyone else.
The Beach
Through the long day, people went in and out of the destroyed ship. All the passengers were dead, but Sawyer received many new trinkets and medicine, and Ellie and the other collegians got all their suitcases back successfully. After that long day of finding and collecting things, all the survivors of both crashes were circled around a fire.
"First of all, there are some good things about the island," Jack was saying. "There's enough food for everyone, and there's a hatch where we can take showers and eat, as long as we divide our time carefully."
Ellie raised her eyebrows. "You guys have a shower on this island?"
Jack nodded. "It, like a lot of other things, was there when we got here."
"Wait." Andrew had a hard time believing this. "This is an uncharted island. How could a shower be here if no people have been here?"
Sawyer snorted. "People have been here, believe me."
"Sawyer," Kate scolded; and turned to Andrew. "There are people here. We call them The Others, and they're not exactly the friendliest of people."
"They've done some pretty bad things to us," Jack said, not wanting to say too much to scare the newcomers.
"Pretty bad things?" Charlie repeated, robbing the Emory students' attention. "They kidnapped me and Claire, tried to hang me, and tried to take her baby!" Jack shook his head for Charlie to stop, but he just shook his head right back. "I'm not going to lie to them," Charlie said bitterly. "They need to know what's out there."
The Expedition Survivors' Shelter
A large tent found in the remains of the Expedition had been put up for the thirty Emory students—the twenty from the lockdown room and the ten that Sawyer had found on the deck. Now they were all scattered around in mangy sleeping bags, mostly staying up talking.
"Do you think we'll be rescued?" Ellie asked to whoever was listening.
Jake shrugged, but Jenny nodded. "I do," she said. "I don't know what the 815ers' deal was, but we weren't very far off course. And there were locators on our ship specifically for this reason. I'm sure we'll be rescued." But there was a hint of doubt in her voice.
"They were off course," Ellie agreed, "but Charlie said they left from Australia, and Fiji isn't that far away from Australia. Don't you think someone would've at least flown over them here?"
"You're talking to him?" Jake demanded hotly.
"He was talking to all of us," Ellie mumbled defensively. Jake didn't reply.
"This sounds like just about the last place in the world I want to be," said another of the collegians, Samantha. "I just can't believe it's been sixty days for them and no one's come!"
"Calm down," Ellie said immediately in a soothing voice. She had surprised herself by doing it, but she did. "We're going to save ourselves and the 815 survivors."
Jake grinned. "Yeah. And then we'll be the heroes who found the cure for bird flu and saved a group of crash survivors."
But to Ellie, it wasn't about fame any more. It was about being stuck on an island with one of her favorite celebrities of all time. Of course, she wasn't going to tell him that. Because it was Ellie, and for reasons she couldn't understand, she was going to spite him.
The Beach
"Have you ever heard of Driveshaft?"
It was the next morning, and Charlie had seen her baggy black THE KINKS shirt and immediately found hope that she liked his band.
Ellie snorted. "That has-been pop group? Yeah."
Charlie's face fell in an instant, and Ellie felt pain swell up inside of her, but she didn't say anything.
"Oh," he said with a shrug. "Okay, then."
Ellie sighed as he walked away. She couldn't do this to him. He didn't understand her. Not yet.
But she couldn't follow him, either. Because as hard as it was for her to do what others expected, it was a thousand times harder for her to apologize for not doing what they expected.
END OF CHAPTER TWO
I hope you liked it! I know there's too many OC's and not enough original characters, but you'll get to read a lot more about Charlie, Kate, Sawyer, and the others as the story goes on. This is going to be about twelve chapters, about this long. Hope you enjoy!
KISSBANGX3 aka CHARLIE LOVER
