Walt and Alex recover from the explosion, and think about a possible escape or rescue, while Walt turns an unpleasant situation into one where he finds he is not so easily intimidated by the Others.

The morning after the explosion, Alex came into Walt's room, pretty much having gotten used to the crutch she needed for her sprained ankle. Once Walt was up she asked him, "How are you this morning?"

Walt paused. He felt different somehow after being buried alive in the mudslide and then digging his way out toward the sound of Alex's voice. Followed by horsing around in the mud after the danger was passed. He was grateful for being alive, yet felt he should be bettering himself in some manner. "I feel all right, but something feels different. I can't really explain it. But how are you?"

"It appears that I will need this crutch for about a week, and then I will be in as good shape as before. My ankle is indeed sprained, and I just have to be careful to keep my weight off it." She went on to explain, "The Others have declared the entire south section of tunnels off limits to us. You had mined just about all the otherite there was in that area anyway. Today you will start mining the eastern section."

Walt had almost forgotten there was another section of the mines. For months he had been going straight forward down the corridor from his room to the large central chamber, and onward into the tunnel with all those side corridors. The stream to wash off in was to the right, or west side, but there was another passageway leading east. That morning Alex led Walt to the eastern leading corridor. It was similar to the one leading south, but there were side tunnels only on the left side. Alex explained that any tunnels on the right side would soon intersect with the first tunnel that led to the left from the south-leading main corridor. The picture made sense to Walt.

"There are sixteen tunnels leading off to the left side," explained Alex, "and you are to mine them in order. You may as well get started."

Alex retreated back to the central chamber so that she would be far enough way so that Walt would be able to detect the otherite in this portion of the mines, but Walt was having trouble. This day there was only a faint buzzing sound in his head at best. His progress was slow and unsure, and by lunchtime he had unearthed around a quarter of his usual morning quota. Alex gave him a worried look at lunch, and Walt didn't need to be told what he was likely to be in for. The afternoon work shift produced about the same results.

The pair ate dinner mainly in silence. They went through the usual motions when the meal was finished, Walt washing up and getting ready for bed, and Alex taking the dinner tray and dishes away and returning as if to shackle Walt to the bed. But this time she was carrying the dreaded syringe and bottle of iodine. "Walt," she started, but was promptly interrupted.

"I know, I didn't get enough otherite, my detection system is down, and I need another booster shot. I suppose I have to be tied to this chair again." Walt looked at the ropes that had been used for that purpose several weeks before, and which had been lying unused in a corner since then. "Isn't there anything else we could do?"

Alex looked sad. "You know you have to be restrained when you are injected or you will hurt somebody. So you have to be tied to the chair. That's all we have here, except for being all stretched out on the bed, and I don't think you'd want to do that."

It had been almost two months, but that experience was still fresh in Walt's mind. "No way. I'm not going through anything like that again. The Others have …" A wave of disgust swept through Walt. He continued, "I was going to say intimidated me too much. But I can't let them get to me like that. This would only be for a minute, with no dripping water, and it would be you around instead of them, so it won't be too tight." Walt hesitated, and continued, "No, I've got to do it that way. I can't be afraid when there's no reason to be."

Alex was surprised at this turn at events. "You don't have to … ," but she was stopped by the look of determination on Walt's face. "Well, I can just wrap the chains around the bed legs to shorten their reach," she reluctantly admitted. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"I will be when this is over. There's no real difference between being tied to the chair or the bed. And then I can just go to sleep like usual." Walt hopped onto the bed, and stretched out his limbs.

Alex realized there was no more use arguing. She snapped the manacles around Walt's ankles, and then wrapped the other two chains twice around the bed legs before securing those. "How's that?" she asked.

Walt moved his hands back and forth several centimeters. "Not tight enough." They both knew that he had to be restrained quite tightly for both their sakes; any unnecessary injuries would get them both into more trouble.

"The chains won't wrap around the legs three times. Wait, maybe I can twist them." Alex used the key to unlock the manacle around Walt's right wrist, and then twisted the chain a few times so that it barely reached. She then repeated the procedure on Walt's left hand. He had to strain his left arm outward, but was just able to get his wrist out far enough for Alex to close the corresponding manacle around it.

This time Walt could only move his hands a millimeter or two. "That's good enough," he declared. "Just give me a few seconds to get ready." Walt took a deep breath. For a moment he thought he was crazy. The unpleasant feeling of being immobilized overcame him, and visions of the water torture filled his mind. But then logic took over. He would have been immobilized tied to the chair as well, and he had the chance to get rid of this personal demon. He wasn't stretched out quite as much as in that previous incident. In addition, this was another way of showing he had complete trust in Alex, even though she was most likely convinced already. Now confident, Walt took one more deep breath and told Alex, "All right, I'm ready. Let's get this over with."

Walt's stomach quivered as Alex rubbed the iodine over it. She explained, "The last two injections were in your shoulders, and the Others say that it is best to inject this solution somewhere else, like in the abdomen a few centimeters below the sternum."

This was a surprise to Walt, but he decided it didn't matter. He braced himself for the injection as he felt the point of the needle contact his skin where Alex had indicated.

Alex regretfully pushed the plunger of the syringe all the way down and quickly withdrew it. A second later Walt clenched his fists and was pulling hard against the chains, but they rendered his limbs immobile as planned, and all he could do was turn his head from side to side and bang it up and down against the mattress. Not wishing to witness Walt's agony, Alex turned her head aside. But a few seconds later, something compelled her to watch. As evident by his facial contortions, Walt was putting up a tremendous effort to avoid screaming. Alex couldn't help but admire the effort, and to see the muscles in the limbs of the spread-eagled form straining so mightily against the restraints. This reminded her of the Walt she had first met; the one that was so full of life and so anxious to return to his father and friends above ground. It was actually inspirational. Then in a minute, the straining stopped, and Walt was just breathing very heavily.

"All you okay?" Alex asked with trepidation.

"I got a bad headache," came the reply from a grimacing face. Walt realized there was no point in hiding this agony from Alex. He had already gotten through the worst part, and had a new feeling of confidence as he had hoped for. He would still have to be careful, but he wasn't going to be intimidated so easily by the Others.

Alex moved as quickly as she could to the head of the bed, and plunged her hands into Walt's massive mop of hair until they reached his temples. She rubbed them slowly and gently, and asked, "Is this better? Oh, should I loosen the chains first?"

The massaging of his temples was gradually mitigating the pain in his head, and Walt didn't want that to stop just now. Being spread-eagled another couple minutes was no big deal to him now. "That's much better, please keep it up."

Alex was glad to know she was helping, and continued her headache cure. "Just let me know when to stop." In about five minutes Walt told her his head was feeling fine. Alex then disentangled her arms from Walt's twenty-five centimeter thickhair, causing a small yelp. "Sorry about pulling your hair like that. Are you sure you're okay?"

Something suddenly came over Walt. He squirmed some, and declared, "Actually, it itches around where you stuck me with the needle."

Alex was a little concerned, as Walt hadn't mentioned this after the other injections. She lightly scratched the region that had been covered by the iodine.

"No, it's much more spread out than that," informed Walt.

Alex then scratched Walt all over his stomach and chest, which Walt enjoyed. In a couple minutes, he broke out into too large a grin. Alex noticed, and asked, "What was that big smile for?"

Walt confessed, "You pulling on my hair didn't hurt, and it didn't really itch. But it did feel real good."

Alex was glad to see Walt express some spirit, but had to do something about the behavior. In mock indignation, she declared, "You deserve this!" and startled tickling Walt's sides.

Walt tried to hold out, but within a few seconds was laughing and squirming, trying to avoid this supposed punishment. In another minute he pleaded, "I'm sorry, I promise I won't do that again."

"All right then." Alex stopped, but then gave Walt a series of chops up and down his chest and stomach like she had done a few days before, knowing that he liked it. Then she stopped and took a step back. "You know, you deserve to be left like that all night."

"I guess maybe I do." The possibility wasn't frightening to Walt any more; now it might be more like a challenge he was confident of meeting. But after waiting a few minutes to learn his fate, Alex pretended to give in.

"Unfortunately, the Others expect a solid day's output from you tomorrow, and you might not sleep well enough like that." Then Alex unlocked the manacles around Walt's wrists, unwound the chains from the bed legs, and then reattached them, so Walt was in the familiar position of having his elbows bent at right angles. Then she finally said good night.

The next morning Alex arrived, moving a little better on her crutch. Acting more seriously, she released Walt quickly and asked, "How are you today?"

"I actually feel pretty good, like I'm more confident, and not scared so much. Thanks for making last night go as well as it could. I do hope that's the last of those injections, though. Maybe that's what made me act funny, tricking you like that. It was like part of me wanted to be left all stretched out just to prove to the Others that I could take it. But I guess it's better that they don't know."

"If the injection worked, it should be the last one. Based on your previous work rate, you should finish mining the eastern section before that last injection wears off. You could be right in that the injection made you act unusual; we'll see if any more incidents like that happen in the future. But don't worry about acting funny. It is excellent that you still have your spirit and a sense of humor after being here almost three months. Those qualities are very helpful in getting through ordeals like this. I understand why you acted the way you did, and am glad you got over what was bothering you. And I'm sure you could 'take it' as you put it, but the Others don't need to know that. I told them that you were tied to that chair like before, and then chained to the bed after you stopped struggling."

"Wow, that was good thinking, lying to the Others like that. It's great that you can do that now."

The injection had worked as intended. Walt immediately returned to his previous level of productivity. The days passed as he methodically extracted all the otherite that was practical, and in another week Alex was able to get along without the crutch. In the following days she was able to move around enough to acquire some information. Then one night, she told Walt,

"The Others have been putting a lot of resources into repairing the damage caused by the explosion that buried you. They have been clearing the debris, and fixing their machines, while timing it so that they don't come near you. It appears that your friends made an attempt to get in that way, but they have no idea of what they did. A consequence of this is that the Others are not so concerned with the entrance through which you first came here. There is only a single guard posted most of the time, with nobody else near. They are afraid your friends will make another attempt to reach you through the southern end of the mines."

Walt was grateful to hear this information. As he lay in bed before falling asleep, he thought, "Come on Dad, find the entrance by the water and come get us."

Michael didn't believe in telepathy or any of that other nonsense about supernatural abilities, but had in fact just completed repairing and testing his canoe and found it seaworthy. He and his crew were going to take off that morning, in search of an entrance that must be there, somewhere on the north side of the island, where that wretched powerboat had taken his son.