The castaways race to extricate Locke from the rockslide.

As the avalanche of rocks ended, Kate ran screaming to Jack, who had been cautiously moving in the direction of the noise. They returned to the site, where Kate yanked at a rock at the bottom edge of the pile. She pulled it loose, but more boulders tumbled into place, and the walls spewed forth an ominous shower of dust and pebbles.

"Easy, Kate," warned Jack, "we might set off another slide, and get us all killed. We need more help – lots of it."

Kate had to listen to reason. She yelled at the pile, "Locke, we're coming back for you!" on the off chance that he could hear, and then hurried to the hatch entrance with Jack. Then they went up the rope ladder, and back to the caves with Hurley, filling him in on the way.

"I knew those numbers were bad," muttered Hurley under his breath, but still not giving away his secrets to the other two. The numbers had claimed another victim, possibly two, since if the Others had discovered the message sending, the message sender also stood a good chance of suffering an unfortunate fate. Then again, what if this was the only way to communicate with Walt? He huffed and puffed, trailing the other two, and then holding back as they reached the caves, so his return trip wouldn't be quite as long.

Jack explained the events to all those present in the caves. Michael was dumbfounded.

"You mean Walt is right there, and you didn't tell me!"

"Calm down, we weren't sure, and you couldn't have done anything that we didn't do."

"Take me there, now!"

"Easy, since there's been a cave-in we have to be careful not to make things worse. What do we need to shore it up?"

Michael simmered down, and announced, "There are materials from the plane we can use, like poles and large sheets of metal. I'll show you what we need."

The cave residents collected the materials, and hauled them off to the hatch. Left behind in the caves were Sawyer, who was still too wounded to be useful, and Claire and Aaron. Claire was not about to take Aaron on such a trip, and didn't want to be left alone, so it worked out well that Sawyer could stay behind as well. The baby had been upset by all the commotion, so Sawyer started reading from some magazines that had survived the crash. He and Claire had discovered a month before that for some reason Sawyer's voice had a calming effect on the little one.

It was the first view of the hatch for several of the castaways: Michael, Shannon, Charlie, Jin, and Sun. It had different effects on them. Shannon freaked out, realizing that the discovery of this object had indirectly led to Boone's death. Out of a sense of duty she had brought Vincent along, but now she wanted no part of it. Michael was a mixed bag of emotions – was this the way to find Walt, or did it just cause him more hardships? Charlie had a sense of déjà vu; the cave-in with Jack was too recent and powerful a memory to forget quickly. Would his skills be needed here? Actually, this was good for him; it would take his mind off that stash of heroin for a while. Jin and Sun were left with a sense of wonder, and rapidly talked to each other in Korean.

Some of them would have to go down, but Jack pointed out the need for a stretcher. It would work best with three or four people on it, and it worked out well that Shannon couldn't bear to descend the hatch. She would help with the stretcher, as well as Sun, who had some experience in the nursing field, and Hurley, who had some experience working in a mental hospital. Jack barked out orders, and those four assembled the device from tree branches, and metal pieces and ropes that they had brought.

After Kate showed them the way down the rope ladder, Michael was the next to go down the hatch. He was followed by Charlie, Sayid, and Jin, all of them carrying an assortment of equipment. Michael was struck by the construction of the tunnels. He declared them very well built. The walls and floor were unusually solid, smooth, and uniform. But Kate led the way to the recent rockslide, and it was a different story. Michael prodded the surrounding walls with a long, narrow piece of metal, and detected several places where the walls and ceiling were unstable. Now in command, he confidently issued orders, getting some solid metal pieces from the airplane propped into place with poles, anchored against edges where the wall met the floor. It took over an hour, but eventually he declared,

"This is the best we can do. Let's dig him out now."

Locke woke up as a drop of water hit his face. He was in a very uncomfortable position, and before opening his eyes, tried to remember what happened. His mind was still sharp, and he regretfully recalled a fuse igniting several sticks of dynamite. He tried to move, and found that he couldn't. There must have been boulders all over him, and he couldn't even feel his legs. Trying again, he was able to twist his hands and head a little bit. Another drop of water hit his face, and he realized that water might save him from dying of thirst before he could be unearthed. He strained, twisting his head, and was able to get a drip in the corner of his mouth. It tasted awful. Maybe he could wait a few hours before resorting to that. Locke also tried shouting, but didn't get a response. He hating having to admit he was helpless, but realized his best chance was to conserve his strength.

Kate, Michael, Sayid, Jin, and Charlie formed a boulder brigade. There wasn't enough room for more than two people at the head of the rockslide, and this arrangement was working as well as any they could make. It was hard work, and was taking hours. Eventually Kate and Michael got tired due to the harder work in the front, and were replaced by Sayid and Jin. Still, there was excellent collaboration and sense of purpose among the castaways who hadn't always seen eye to eye.

While conserving energy, Locke lost consciousness. However, vivid images quickly occupied his subconscious mind. First he saw Walt, crying plaintively for help. Something was horribly wrong; this Walt was immobile, unable to do anything more than call out. This image was replaced by a mirror, and suddenly Locke was looking at his own face. He wanted to move, but was paralyzed below the neck as well. Now it was he who was helplessly calling out for aid. The face changed again, and now was replaced by a sinister image of a bloodied Boone.

"You sacrificed me to the island," spoke Boone in a haunting voice. "Now it is time for your sacrifice."

Locke woke with a start, banging his head on a boulder. The water was still dripping, but there was something else. Sounds similar to those he had heard the day – or was it two days? – before: the sounds of tools striking rock.

"I'm here!" he yelled, and tried hitting a rock with his fist in a further effort to make noise. The noises grew louder and closer, and within another hour a gust of air suddenly swept across his face.

The job still wasn't done. Now it was mainly Michael and Charlie prying away the loosened boulders around Locke's body. Locke was distressed that he couldn't aid in the effort as he legs were pinned up to the moment that he was finally freed. But an hour after Locke's head became visible, he was finally freed.

The stretcher had long been finished, and Jack tested it by being carried around by Hurley, Sun, and Shannon. After some fine-tuning, it was deemed fit for use. Jack went down the hatch with the stretcher being lowered alongside him. He made his way to the collapsed tunnel, and oversaw the placing of Locke into the stretcher. Then carefully he was transported back to the bottom of the rope ladder. The rope used to lower the stretcher was reattached, and straps placed under Locke's arms to keep his weight off his badly damaged legs. Then he was raised to the surface, and carried back to the caves, with the other castaways taking shifts.

As Locke was being carted away, it occurred to Michael to bring Vincent to the edge of the hatch opening. The Labrador's reaction surprised Michael: the dog yelped, and as if terribly frightened, bolted away so quickly that Michael barely held onto the leash. Michael wondered if Vincent sensed that another trip into the hatch was a bad idea.

Back at the caves with all his medical equipment, Jack made the examination. When he was done, he had this news for Locke.

"I'm afraid both your legs are broken. That's not surprising considering what fell on them; it would be surprising if they weren't. Fortunately your upper body is in surprisingly good shape. There are many bruises and scratches, a few of them deep, but nowhere near life threatening. You probably felt the antibiotics as I applied them. But you're going to be off your feet for a few months, at least.

I hope you'll consider this good news; we managed to save a wheelchair from Oceanic Air. You will be able to get around a little in that, but at first someone will have to push you. I don't know if you've spent any significant amount of time in one of these, but it is important to take it easy. I'm going to make casts for your legs. If you can avoid any further damage, you should be able to get around on crutches in a month or two."

Locke was rather dejected. "I'm sure I can handle it," he replied, and then waited for Jack to make casts for his poor, broken limbs. At least he would have a lot of time to think, and he needed such time now.