Author's notes: Wow! Thanks a lot for that great review, Zombie Kitty. It really is a big source of encouragement. Those were some guesses about possible future scenes. I have a Michael-Locke one planned about six chapters from now, but at this point I doubt anyone could guess the circumstances. Michael and Sawyer is also a good idea, though I can't tell when that may come up. So far I'm just throwing in occurrences of Hurley's number all over the place like they do in the show. Maybe something more will occur to me. Also, thank you, pip4 and anon for your comments. I need a little humor now and then to keep myself entertained.

The second side effect of Walt's injections manifests itself, and Alex tells all about Ethan.

The next few days in the mines passed uneventfully. Walt had gotten into the routine of clipping his fingernails every day and his toenails every other day. He had managed to acquire a few minor scrapes, and now a bar of soap, a bottle of peroxide, and some tissues had been added to his collection of possessions on his washstand, to go along with the clippers, toothbrush, and toothpaste. Every now and then he saw Alex apparently spying on him in the mines, and hadn't dared to take another look at the forbidden tunnels at the end of the main corridor. After another week, returning from work, he got another little present.

To Alex, it resembled a short comb with very long teeth spaced wide apart. "Here," she said," the Others say you will know what to do with this."

Walt gave a little chuckle. "An Afro pick? Thanks, but I don't use them because my hair's never been long enough to …".

A surprised expression befell his face as he put his hand on his head. His hair was matted down and generally disheveled due to lack of attention the past two weeks. He had too many other things on his mind to worry about hair, and as he thought about it, realized that there weren't any mirrors in this place, so he wouldn't have noticed. He used the pick to comb out his hair. It took some effort due to a lot of tangles, but eventually a spherical mass was produced, to Alex's amusement. To Walt's shock, measuring against the pick he found that his hair extended seven or eight centimeters from his head. Three weeks ago it couldn't have been more than a single centimeter.

"Wait a minute, how did the Others know my hair grew so much?"

When Alex didn't respond immediately, Walt figured out, "You must have told them."

Alex now asked, "Didn't you realize that I have to report on you? If I hide anything from them, they can force it from me. I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about that."

"Yeah, I sort of thought you had to spy on me. It's not that big a deal." However, the information that his suspicions were correct was valuable. Walt was right in acting cautiously when Alex might be around. Of course, it meant escape would be as difficult as he thought possible.

"I've never seen hair like yours before," commented Alex. "You look much better like that."

Without thinking, Walt replied, "Well, I've seen hair like yours."

"Oh, really? Where?"

Whoops, the answer was Danielle, but Walt wasn't ready to give such a direct answer yet. But Alex might be able to tell if he was lying so he was able to tell the truth by casually stating, "Oh, one of the women on the island had hair like yours, but it was definitely darker."

Alex studied the expression on Walt's face. She felt he might be hiding something. Was it from her, or something that he didn't want the Others to know about?

"So I guess I could use a haircut?" asked Walt, changing the subject.

"That would be a shame. I suppose you mean by me? I don't even cut the Others' hair; they prefer not to have me handling sharp objects if it isn't necessary." Now it was Alex's turn to stretch the truth. She had some odd fascination with Walt's hair; perhaps because it was something new to her, and didn't want to lose it.

"Well, if you like it, I can keep it for a while." This could be a way to repay Alex for all the nice things she had done for him, and Walt felt good after realizing that. After a few seconds thought, Walt continued, "I suppose the same stuff that is making my nails grow fast is also making my hair grow so fast?"

Now Alex's face developed a sadder expression. "I'm sure it is. That serum the Others injected is similar to what they gave to some of the zoo animals, and some of them grew at an accelerated rate."

Walt thought some more: "Does that mean I'm growing taller fast too?"

"I can't tell yet, but it is quite possible, so you should be prepared for that possibility."

"Hey," Walt thought, "at least some good is coming out of this. Maybe that'll be the end of all those stupid short jokes." What where those names Sawyer called him? Tattoo, Short Round, Gazoo? And yet Sawyer was the one who ended up taking a bullet trying to save him, and now might be lying in agony somewhere on a slow road to recovery, if recovery was possible.

Still, if he was growing fast, Walt didn't want it to be for too long. After he was in bed, he started thinking about how he could escape or facilitate a rescue again. Find some way to send a message. That, plus the realization that if his hair were going to keep growing like that, he would have no use for a pillow, not that he needed one or was likely to get one here.

More days passed, and suddenly during one dinner Walt had a thought. "If the Others are sick and need help, why didn't they just ask us nicely?" This whole kidnapping business could have been avoided entirely.

"You never would have helped them, certainly not after your experiences with Ethan," replied Alex.

"Oh, right. What was the deal with Ethan?"

"As I said before, the Others are not entirely sane. However, Ethan went quite insane, and could no longer listen to reason. He knew the Others needed children, and when he saw the pregnant lady Claire, all he could think of was abducting her and keeping her baby. He never let go of the idea that a child had to be born on this island to have special abilities, and didn't pay any attention to you. The rest of the Others tried to convince him not to go through with his plans. He pretended that he wouldn't for a few days, and then took off on his own and did it. He did have a fantastic knowledge of the island, and was able to hide with her somewhere no one else found out about. Apparently she escaped somehow after a week, and Ethan returned briefly and swore revenge against all your group. We couldn't stop him; at times the sickness somehow gave him incredible strength. He must have taken the powerboat that brought you here to your beach campsite, and in the middle of the night set anchor, waded ashore, and killed one of your members."

"That was Scott."

"We didn't hear from Ethan again. From what we know now he hid out another day, and then was trapped, shot and killed by your group. One of the Others got a look at his body when none of you were around and deduced what had happened."

Alex continued, "Based on those experiences, the Others determined that your group would never trust them or cooperate with them willingly. Therefore they planned that elaborate scheme to capture you. They would prefer not to kill anybody else, as is evidenced by the fact that they could easily have killed everyone on the raft if they wanted to, but they will kill if they feel that someone is stopping them from achieving their goal of getting cured. I'm sorry events have placed you in this situation," she concluded sadly.

"Hey, it's not your fault. I owe you a lot of thanks for helping me get through this so far. You're in a rotten situation too. I really wish we were both out of here."

"Some day that will happen, but you have to be patient."

Alex feared that Walt was not sufficiently patient, and was correct. For the next several days, Walt acted like a good boy, lowering Alex's guard. Then he got braver, and took some more quick trips to the last two cross tunnels. But he could never budge the heavy metal door, and the rocks blocking the last tunnel were too heavy to move. He could chip away at them with his tools, but that would make noise, and would probably take forever.

One month into his captivity Walt took some time to consider his situation. His accomplishments included mining what must have been tons of otherite ore by now, growing two or three centimeters taller, and growing an Afro fully a decimeter thick. That wasn't satisfactory; he had to do something about it. When he had a chance, he took another trip to the last, rock-blocked tunnel. To his surprise, he heard a new sound, as if some tool was hitting the rock quite some distance away. It might have been many things, but it gave Walt hope.