Chapter Four: Walkabout
"Who's dangerous?" asked Lucas again. The mashall, slipping in and out of consciousness, again tried to answer. "Yeah, you keep saying that. And every time I ask you who you have to bring back, you pass out on me again. Since your fever's running pretty high, I'm guessing you have no idea who the hell you're talking about."
"Don't trust her."
"Who?" asked Lucas again, wishing he could be more forceful but knowing his fragile condition wouldn't be able to stand it.
"My jacket pocket," said the marshall, his eyes still closed.
"What?"
"Jacket pocket," he said again. Lucas obediently rummaged through the pockets of his jacket until he unearthed a folded up piece of paper. Hands shaking, he opened it up to see a picture of a woman. A woman holding a set of numbers looking fierce, lost and completely blank. A blonde woman that was rapidly becoming more and more familiar to him.
"Hey, let me help you with that."
Brooke smiled in relief as Jake hurried up to her and lifted the suitcase that she was trying to haul into the wheelchair that they'd found on the beach.
"Thanks," she said, smiling.
"Look on the bright side, whoever this belongs to is probably better off than we are," said Jake. Brooke smiled, and moved to push the wheelchair down the beach. "I got it," he said again, and began to push.
"Dan? I think I found your bag," said Karen. He looked up in surprise, looking hopeful.
"Really? Let's see."
He frowned in disappointment as they opened it to discover someone else's belongings.
"No, it's not mine."
"Then I'll keep looking."
Karen turned to go, dragging the heavy suitcase behind her.
"Karen?" Karen turned to her husband. "Come here."
"Have you seen yourself? Your clothes. You're filthy," said Dan. Karen nodded, attempting not to look resentful. "Go wash up."
Karen nodded and made to leave again, but he stopped her. She turned expectantly to him.
"I love you."
Karen didn't answer, but instead smiled a smile that did not reach her eyes.
"So, how's the baby?" asked Jake, pulling the wheelchair down the beach while Brooke walked beside him, her hands protectively around her stomach.
"Good, I think," she said uncertainly.
"So your husband, was he on the flight?" asked Jake. He hadn't seen Brooke with a man, but expected that there was one.
"Oh, I'm not married," said Brooke.
"Oh." Jake now felt awkward. He knew that there was nothing wrong with this, as he hadn't been married to Jenny's mother, but at the same time he knew that conveying his approval would be difficult.
"I know, how modern of me right?" asked Brooke, smiling and flashing dimples.
"Well who needs men? Useless, if you ask me," said Jake, tipping the wheelchair to dump the suitcase into a pile.
Brooke smiled again. She hadn't been looking forward to explaining her situation to the other islanders.
"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Yeah."
"Is he going to be okay?" asked Haley, hovering by the door of the tent that Lucas was using for his infirmary.
"Do you know him?" asked Lucas. Haley stared down at him.
"I was next to him on the plane," she said simply.
"I don't know, Haley. I thought we'd be in a hospital by now, with penicillin and tools and procedures and men in white coats," he said. She raised her eyebrows.
"Is there anything else you can do? There's still stuff in the fuselage you could look through," she suggested.
Jack turned his gaze to the plane, still sticking out of the sand, shining brightly in the sunlight. He knew what was in it, which was exactly why he didn't care to explore.
Jenny scowled darkly when she encountered her father chatting with Brooke in the shade of a palm tree, sitting on the sand.
"You said you'd find Vincent as soon as it stopped raining!" she reminded him in annoyance. Jake winced. Her dog, Vincent, had been missing since the crash. It was pretty much all she thought about.
"Sorry," he said.
"Well?"
Jenny planted her hands on her hips when Jake failed to rise.
"Fine, I'll go now," he said in annoyance. Brooke stared at Jenny, who blushed as Jake ran off into the jungle.
Lucas sighed as he opened a carry on bag to find the typical, boring contents: a hair brush, a paperback novel, a pack of gum. So far, no one had painkillers on them. It was getting disappointing. And staying in the plane alone with all the dead bodies was getting to him.
He stiffened slightly as he heard movement in the far corner of the plane. Slowly he turned around and flashed his light on the movement.
"Boo."
Lucas tightened his jaw in annoyance as Nathan's face came in to view.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"Same as you Doc."
"I'm looking for medical supplies," said Lucas, suddenly feeling the need to justify his actions.
"Playboys, some cigarettes," said Nathan, displaying his findings.
"These people are dead."
"So they don't need 'em, do they?" stated Nathan.
Lucas turned away from him and onto the next bag.
Outside, Haley glanced around her as night began to fall. Lucas had heeded her advice and gone to the fuselage. The beach was almost empty except for a small grouping around the fire.
She moved silently into Jack's tent. She dropped onto her knees beside the makeshift bed and looked closely at the Marshall. If he died, she'd finally be free.
His eyes suddenly snapped open and his hands grabbed her neck. She made grasping noises and attempted to move him, but he was too much for her.
Taking in the scene at a glance, Lucas pulled Haley from harm and pushed the Marshall back down onto the bed. He panicked as he realized he was no longer breathing.
"What did you do?" he demanded. Haley coughed loudly, trying to clear her throat.
"Nothing. I was just in here, and all of a sudden he..."
"I saw the mug shot," said Lucas. Haley went white.
"I..."
"He's not breathing. His fever's at a hundred and four. Damn it!" he yelled. Haley slowly stood, and backed tentatively out.
"God, why won't he just die already?" asked Rachel, as more screams of agony sounded from the tent.
"Real humane, Rachel," said her stepbrother in disgust as he dropped onto the sand beside her.
"Everyone's thinking it. If you were him, would you really want to live?" she asked.
Mouth looked sideways at her. In the dark, he could only just make out her profile. He wondered if there was pain in her eyes.
Cooper fed the fire one final time before going to bed. Everyone was asleep or pretending to, besides Lucas, who was still tending to the Air Marshall. Cooper sighed and looked at the radio by his bed. He knew that it was the only way he could get them off the island, but he didn't even know how to attempt it.
He was the first to awaken, hours later. It was still dark, but everyone awaked around him. It was only moments before he realized, with trepedation, that there was soemthing moving in the fuselage.
"What's in there?" asked Rachel, looking nervous.
"Nathan," said Lucas, looking calm.
"Right behind you, Jackass."
Lucas flicked on his flashlight and cautiously moved toward the plane, followed closely by Cooper. As Kate stepped toward them, Nathan grabbed her and held her back.
Bright eyes shone in the darkness as Nathan swung his own flashlight toward the source of the noise. Throwing it to the sand, he pulled Haley into him and lunged for shelter as two animals ran out of the plane.
Rachel screamed in alarm and ducked behind Mouth. Cooper helped Claire out of the way. One of the castaways, a tall dark haired man, stared after it, his eyes gleaming.
"What was that?" asked Haley shakily, detaching herself from Nathan's arms.
"Boar," said the man, looking after them in satisfaction.
They waited until morning to hold counsel. Most of the islanders fell back while Lucas, Nathan, Haley, Cooper, Jake and the dark haired man talked.
"They're going to start eating the bodies. We need to get rid of them," said Lucas.
"Bury them? It's going to be hard, there are so many," said Jake, glancing toward the plane.
"No. Burn them."
"They're people, Lucas," said Haley, after a disapproving silence.
"I know they're people Haley. But they're going to start to decay pretty rapidly in the sun. And if we bury them, they'll eventually be dug up again, by boars or whatever the hell else is on this island. We have to get rid of them, and this is the only way to go about it," said Lucas.
"I thought we were here to discuss the boar," said the dark haired one. Lucas looked at him in surprise.
"What's your plan?" he asked.
"We hunt."
Lucas stared at Haley as she packed water into a knapsack. He'd left the Marshall alone, knowing he could do nothing and unable to stand the screams.
"You're going?" he asked. Haley looked up. He hadn't spoken directly to her since their confronttion.
"Yeah," she said.
"Be careful, we still don't know what's our there," he said.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're worried about me, Lucas," said Haley teasingly.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a problem staying in one place for very long, Haley," he said, as Haley's smile faded. "So, you wanna tell me why you're really going?"
Haley sighed and dug the radio out of her bag. "This. Cooper fixed it, he said that if I can get it to higher ground I could pick up on something."
"Be careful," he said again, letting his hand fall to her shoulder. She nodded and ran off as Jake called out for her.
The three of them went off into the jungle, each armed with the hunting knives that the man had mysteriously come up with.
"What's your name?" asked Haley eventually.
"Keith," he said. She glanced at Jake and raised her eyebrows. He smiled.
"I'm Jake," he said, offering his hand.
"Haley. How's your kid doing?" she asked.
"Jenny? She's coping."
"She's a brave kid," said Haley warmly.
"Yeah. It's not my doing. She's lived with her mother most of her life," explained Jake. Keith shushed them.
"Don't talk. This is its wallow, we're probably nearby."
Keith stopped, and suddenly seemed to becoem in tune to the valley around him. Distantly, Haley heard the sound of hooves beating the ground.
Suddenly the boar appeared out of the long grass. Jake threw his knife and missed. He collided with it and fell onto the ground.
"JAKE!" screamed Haley in alarm, running for him. Keith looked down.
"He'll be fine. You just help him back to camp."
"You can't stay out here alone," said Haley.
"I'll be fine," he said. As he faded into the trees, Haley distantly heard him speak again: "Don't ever tell me what I can and cannot do."
Jake tried not to lean on Haley as they slowly made it back to the camp.
"Guy's a nutcase," he said, beathing heavily. She smiled.
"Yeah, probably. Let's take break," she said, helping him to the ground by a tree.
"Hey, gimpy here. Don't I get to decide when we take a break?" he inquired.
"Sorry. Need to try and find radio waves. I'll just be a sec," she said. As Haley pulled herself onto some low hanging branches and reached for one above her head, Jake opened his mouth to protest in concern. He silenced when she swung onto a higher branch and began to expertly climb up the tree.
She reached as high as she could go, and flicked it on. She held her breath as the bars slowly built up.
Haley screamed in excitement as a voice began to come through the tranceiver. One male, speaking quickly. She didn't hear the sounds of hoofbeats again, and only remember Jake's presence as he yelled in alarm. She dropped the radio in surprise and winced before sliding back down to the ground.
"You okay?" she asked. He nodded, staring at the tranceiver until she packed it back into her bag and helped him back up.
"DADDY!" screamed Jenny happily as he and Haley returned. Haley laughed as Jenny launched herself at her father, who groaned in pain but did not set her down. "What happened? Was it like, a boar fight?" she asked eagerly.
"No, more like me getting mauled," he said, laughing. She slipped her hand into his. "I've been talking to Brooke. She's so cool, she..."
Jenny's voice faded as Haley hurried down the beach toward Lucas.
"The mighty huntress returns. What's for dinner, honey?" asked Nathan as she walked past him.
"Not now," said Haley in annoyance, ignoring him.
Haley looked around as the reached the end of the beach. She'd seen Lucas before, but he'd disappeared during her walk.
"Haley?" Haley turend around and smiled as he called out for her. Apparently, he'd been missing her.
"Are you okay?" he touched her face gently and turned it to see the scratch on her cheek. She smiled slightly at the feel of his skin on hers.
"Yeah. I think I heard a transmission, but the radio broke. How's he?" she asked. Her question was answered as the marshall screamed in agony.
Hours later, as night began to fall, Haley watched as the islands prepared to burn the fuselage. Brooke prepared a memorial service with that little was available to her from travel documents and wallets. Lucas remained in the tent, tending to the Marshall.
"You know, I've been meaning to thank you," said Nathan, coming up behind her.
"You going to ask me what for?" he asked.
"No."
"For taking that gun off me. Wouldn't want to be the only one around here with one," said Nathan. His point was illustrated as the Marshall's groan of agony sounded.
"Go away, Nathan," she said sadly, looking back into the fire.
She drifted to the tent and stared down at his grey skin, at Lucas' shaking hands doing his best to make him comfortable.
"Can't you just end it?" she asked eventually, her voice small and reluctant.
"No."
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because I," he said, stanidng to look at her. She noted that his eyes were slightly crazed, and red from lack of sleep. "Am not a murderer."
Lucas left abruptly, leaving her alone in the tent once again.
He wandered down the beach and stared at the growing flames, at Brooke reading off some papers, Jake and Mouth on either side of her, holding torches.
Jack ignored Cooper, who followed him as he walked back across the beach.
"Haley went in there alone," said Cooper warningly.
"So what? She's 120 pounds soaking wet," said Lucas dismissively, still not beleiving she was guitly.
"She's got a gun," reminded Cooper. Lucas swore loudly and ran to the tent.
As he reached it, a loud gunshot sounded. He stared in horror as Haley appeared, looking dejected, not carrying the gun. She glanced at him and looked down again. Nathan appeared moments later. Lucas ran in to see him pouring blood our of the heart, dying quickly. He glanced at Nathan.
"Nathan?" Nathan stopped as Haley's voice sought him. She reached him and looked up into his blue eyes, impressed more by his murder than by anything so far. She placed a hand on his arm and smiled sympathetically at him as the flames filled the air and the survivors provided them with the best eulogy that they could manage.
Author's note: Sorry this took so long to get up, hope the length makes up for it. This is two episodes squished into one chapter, but hte next chapter revolves around "White Rabbit" which is the one where the water gets stolen. Thanks for reviewing.