Red In The Morning
By Sinking815
September 1st, 2006
A/N: I know this chapter is kinda short but it was necessary if I wanted to keep the suspense going and uphold my reputation for being the Queen-of-Evil-Cliffhangers. Insert evil grin here! Hee hee… I will update tomorrow and probably Sunday too with longer ones. This is it guys (and gals for those of you who want that to matter), the last few set-up steps before… well wouldn't want to spoil it, now would we?
Chapter 24: Affirmative
When he came to, the sensations flooding his veins and fogging his mind were all too familiar and he groaned audibly into the bitter gag stretched across his mouth. The first time he had been through this, Jack didn't even know how to begin to describe the heavyness in his limbs or the dull ache in his joints. The second time through, he knew with a sudden clarity that this was what it must feel like to be hit by a truck.
It was hard to breathe, was hard to move, was hard to see, think, and feel. He waited for the pain to come, that would make his whole body shudder and tense to fight it off, but in reality was only because that's what the drug coursing through his system told his mind to expect. He knew there would be no agony. Only the annoying tenderness around the swollen skin where the dart had punctured its incapacitating injection.
With effort, Jack managed to lift his head, thoughts of trying to get his bearings slowly working their practical way in the darkness around him. He concentrated on his senses, blinking frantically to regain his vision only to realize as his eyelashes brushed repeatedly against fabric, that vision was no longer his privilege. The air was cool on his bare arms and the tickle of the frayed strings against his shoulders told him there was a draft wherever he was being held. The well-known by now smell of smoke from jungle wood and the sharp sting of salt as he breathed in the night air made him tremble from the inside out.
Jack slumped, feeling the tug of defeat and rough rope ripping across his wrists and ankles. He'd never stepped foot off their camp. They had lied. Releasing him had been just another one of their endless mindgames. They had never planned on letting him simply walk out of their camp.
And then Jack pushed away all self-pity and felt the first twinges of panic snatch his breath away as thoughts of her finally broke through his confusion. They were still in this mess—all of them.
He tried not to think about what they were doing to them, what they were planning on doin to them. The image of the Asian scientist from the movie reel Locke had watched over and over flashed tauntingly in front of his blind-folded eyes, his words of warning bouncing back and forth like a ping-pong ball. The Dharma Initiative was committed to the betterment of mankind. So if they were being held as lab rats, how were he and Kate and Sawyer going to contribute to human development?
He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing the images of tests, and drugs, and experiments he did not want to consider the consequenes of out of his mind. And because he was stubborn, Jack was convinced that he would win the struggle. He didn't realize he was fighting a three-front war, his wayward mind, the after-effects of the sedative, and exhaustion.
"Any luck?"
The heavily accented voice startled her and Sun whipped around on the balls of her feet to face the sudden intruder. She dropped the hand that had risen to still her pounding heart and let out a rushed breath of relief, her features relaxing from the tautness of surprise.
"Sayid," she whispered, feeling it necessary to voice his name as if that made his presence concrete in the darkness surrounding her and shaking her head in reply. He squatted next to her and his hand settled on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort and apology.
"I did not mean to frighten you."
She nodded absently in acceptance, turning her attention back across to the glowing fires of the campsite before them. Silently, they watched a few shadows seated around a particularly large blaze rise and disappear in a nearby hut, each of their eyes scanning for a recognizable profile or a familiar stride. After another moment, Sun thought they had all left, but she held her tongue when another figure rose from the opposite side of the fire, her legs shielded by the flickering flames.
They studied her intently and Sun noticed the apparent differences in her just as Sayid voiced them to her, the tone cool and calculating. Sun glanced at him, in admiration at his professionalism despite the circumstances. He was a trained soldier switching to combat mode, ready to fulfill the mission assigned to him by his superiors. Operation Rescue had just been initiated.
"She is younger than them. And uncertain," he said without emotion, his dark eyes watching the girl take a few steps and pause, her head swiveling round, her ponytail swinging with the motion. Then she disappeared into a hut only to emerge a few minutes later with a companion.
It was all Sun could do to keep herself under some semblance of control when the fire threw its diagonal light over the new silhouette crossing the dirt path. She knew the dark waves, the pale skin, the green eyes, the short steady stride. What she didn't recognize was the expression plastered across Kate's face. In the few months that Sun had known the fugitive, haunted, fearful, sadness were all expressions she had learned were the outward signs of her character. But despondency, like there was nothing left to live for, nothing left in this world to struggle against, was not one of them.
Sayid was looking at her when she turned to him, waiting for the initial shock to wear off and she could see the plan they had needed moments before had suddenly materialized in his mind.
"I will wait until she leaves and then I'll move in to get Kate," he whispered, the edge of his voice laced with tension not from dread, but from excitement. He was in his element and Sun was going to step out of his way to leave a clear path. "I need you to stay here to intercept her. Then I will look for Jack and Sawyer. Are we clear?"
"Do you think that is the safest way?" The question sounded like she was unwilling to trust his authority and she winced at how blatant and harsh it sounded after his accented words.
He was staring back at the scene across the river with a look she had seen on his face several times before. As she watched him, Sun knew this was the look he wore when he had served his country, the look of obligation, duty and purpose was one she had shaken hands with many times. Jin used to wear it all the time.
"It is the only way," he replied.
And then he was gone.