Chapter 18: No Rest for the Wicked
Ben emerged from his basement, wild eyed.
"Did you do it?" Valerie asked him.
He nodded.
"What did he do?" Sawyer asked Valerie.
"Reinforcements," she explained, gritting her teeth.
"Hugo, there's a first aid kit under the sink," Ben instructed. He turned to Valerie. "There's no time for any kind of analgesic—even if we had anything strong enough," he told her apologetically.
"Do we have time for any of this?" Miles asked, impatient and nervous.
Ben grimaced. "We'll just have to slap a bandage on and hope it's enough to make it out of here. If she keeps bleeding and loses steam—"
"We'll have to leave her," Locke concluded.
"We're not leaving Wednesday!" Sawyer exclaimed.
"Certainly not," Ben added, glaring at Locke.
"Gentlemen, I am fine," she declared, jumping to her feet. The movement drained her instantly—she felt dizzy and weak. She sat back down on the floor.
"Okay, maybe not," she said. She clenched her jaw and took a sharp breath through her nose. When she'd been hit, there hadn't been much pain. It had been hot—just a very intense, localized heat. She knew that once the shock started to subside, the pain would become much worse.
Sawyer and Locke fired a few more shots out of the window to keep the mercenaries at bay, driving them back into the jungle.
Ben grabbed the first aid kit from Hurley and knelt beside her. "It looks like it went clean through."
"Fantastic," she replied dryly.
"Hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol?" he asked, holding the bottles in front of her.
"If I say peroxide can I drink the rubbing alcohol?"
Sawyer laughed.
Ben rolled his eyes and splashed the peroxide over the wound, clearing it gently with a cotton ball. She flinched slightly. She leaned over her knees so that he could get the entrance wound on her back.
He placed bandage pads on both sides of her wound then haphazardly emptied the contents of the kit into his messenger bag. "Well do stitches as soon as we can," he told her gently.
"I need my backpack," she told him. "It's in the closet downstairs. It's ready to go."
"I'll go get it," he assured her, getting up. He helped her to her feet and hurried across the room. He paused at the door to the stairs.
"You all need to get ready to run," he informed the group.
"Run from what?" Hurley asked,
"Just—run," Ben replied and disappeared back into the basement.
"What's the deal with you and Glasses?" Sawyer asked Valerie, sitting beside her.
"Great question," she answered glibly.
"You really do love him, don't you?"
"I told you," she replied, raising an eyebrow. "It's complicated."
"Ain't it always."
Ben burst back through the door and tossed Valerie her bag. She caught it, gritting her teeth through the pain, and slung it over her good shoulder.
"Everyone, listen up," Ben announced. "When I give the signal, I need you all to run towards the tree line, as fast as you can."
He paced over to the kitchen and pulled the curtain back to peer out of the window.
"What are we waiting for?" Sawyer whispered to Valerie.
"The smoke monster."
He laughed for a moment, then realized that she wasn't kidding. He whistled. "You're serious?"
She nodded.
"Care to share any of that rubbing alcohol?" he asked.
They heard a rumbling in the distance.
"Out of the house," Ben barked.
They ran through the door, pausing for a moment to marvel at the horrifying cloud of black that rattled violently through the trees.
They took off in the opposite direction, headed for the tree line bordering the other side of the Barracks. Valerie pushed herself as much as she could. Ben stayed beside her until they made it into the jungle.
"Where are we going?" Sawyer asked, turning to Valerie. She shrugged, shaking her head.
"We have to find the others," Hurley said.
"We need to find Jacob," John said decisively. He turned his gun on Ben. "You two are going to take me to him."
"I need to find my daughter, John."
"You don't need us," Valerie added. "Hurley knows how to find him."
"I do?"
"He does?" Sawyer asked.
"Just—don't think too much, Hugo. If he wants to be found, you'll find him. We have to go find Alex. We have to make sure she's okay."
"You don't know how to find him, do you?" John asked Ben pointedly, still holding the gun.
Ben turned to Valerie.
"No one finds Jacob, John," she said. "He's not in a particular place unless he wants to be."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means you have to have faith," Ben replied.
Locke glared at him, annoyed at the way his own words had been thrown back at him.
"Trust Hugo," Ben told him.
"I don't even trust me, dude."
"You should," Valerie told him with a smile.
"Hurley, man, come back with us," Sawyer pleaded.
"I think I have to do this, dude. We'll find you at the beach. But I think we gotta go the other way."
Locke glanced up, surprised that Hugo had some sense of direction. "Let's go then," he said urgently, motioning at Hurley to start walking.
"John," Ben called after him, "if the worst happens—find my people. They need a leader. I have a feeling that it ought to be you."
John looked startled—but the idea seemed to please him. "I'll do my best," he answered over his shoulder.
Valerie turned to the rest of the group as Locke and Hurley disappeared into the jungle. "Alex is probably still with her mother. James, Miles—her camp is more or less in the direction of the beach. We can stick together if you want—but those guys are going to be looking for him." She tilted her head in Ben's direction.
"Live together, die alone, as the doc would say," Sawyer replied.
"What does that mean?" Miles asked.
"It means we'll stick together." Sawyer explained. "Who is this guy, Wednesday?" he asked, pointing a thumb at Miles.
"He's from the freighter."
"I know, but—what's his deal?"
"I'm right here, man."
"James Ford, meet Miles Straume" Valerie replied. "James goes by Sawyer—he's got a thing about nicknames. I think you two will get along. You're both sort of scammy."
"Hey now," Sawyer objected.
"Miles, James is a professional con artist," she explained, ignoring his protests. "James, Miles talks to dead people. That's not a scam, but he does use it to scam people every once in a while."
"Charming," Sawyer replied.
"How do you even know that?" Miles asked plaintively.
"Ben does his homework," she answered.
She could see Ben smirking out of the corner of her eyes. "Indeed I do," he added distractedly, scanning the trees around them for signs of Widmore's men. "We'd better get going," he said, and began to walk.
The time seemed to pass very slowly as they trudged in the direction of Rousseau's camp. The threat of the mercenaries—and the smoke monster—loomed heavily on their minds. Ben led the way—silently for the most part.
"I feel like I've spent the last few days just running laps of this place," Valerie noted, adjusting the backpack over her uninjured shoulder.
"You and me both," Miles agreed. "Have you considered cable cars?" he asked Ben. "Or a trolley?"
"Do you remember the cloud of smoke that tore through the mercenaries back there?" Ben replied.
Miles nodded emphatically. "Yeah, I'd say that's permanently etched into my mind."
"Not sure it would be too fond of cable cars."
"I take your point."
They continued walking until it grew dark, and continued walking well into the night. Ben seemed to have a destination in mind, but Valerie was too exhausted to keep track of where they were.
"Are we there yet?" she asked plaintively.
"Nearly," he replied.
A few minutes later, they emerged into a clearing. Valerie blinked a few times, getting her bearings.
They were at Pearl Station.
"Give me a hand with this, James," Ben instructed, and Sawyer helped him to open the hatch.
They climbed in one by one, and Valerie turned on the light.
Ben flicked on the console.
"What is this place?" Sawyer asked, amazed, as the wall of television screens flickered to life.
Ben scanned the screens, looking for activity—but found nothing. He turned back to Sawyer.
"This place, James, is for keeping an eye on things," he replied heavily. He took a seat on the floor and leaned his head back against the wall.
Val took a seat next to Ben, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Night, night, princess," Sawyer cooed sarcastically.
Valerie flipped her middle finger at him.
"She's had a long few days," Ben said defensively, resting his hand on her knee.
"I'm just surprised she's relaxed enough to sleep," Sawyer replied.
"They'll have no reason to look for us here," she said, yawning.
Sawyer and Miles sat in the chairs that faced the wall of screens. Sawyer watched the screens pensively for a few moments before turning the console off.
"The one thing I don't get," Sawyer asked, looking over at Miles, "is how you knew the guy's gun would be jammed. How'd you do it?"
"It wasn't jammed," Miles explained. "It wasn't loaded."
He pulled his own gun out and showed it to Sawyer. "We were all issued the same sidearms. I emptied mine, and we switched them out right before he sent me out with the walkie."
"That was risky," Ben noted.
"That's what I told her."
"Well, it worked," she mumbled drowsily, her eyes half shut.
"For now," Sawyer replied, "but they're still trying to find Glasses." He eyed Ben for a moment. "What happens if they get him? Hypothetically, of course."
"There's a station on the Island that will flood the entire place with a nerve agent," Ben explained clinically. "We know their orders are to find me and kill everyone else. We have a spy on the freighter—your friend Michael decided to help us out. He felt a bit guilty about leaving you all here."
Sawyer whistled in surprise.
"We believe their plan would be to release the toxic gas."
"Jesus, who did you piss off?"
"A very selfish man named Charles Widmore," he answered solemnly.
When Valerie woke the next morning, she was sore in more ways than she'd imagined possible. Her shoulder was screaming, her neck was stiff—she had blisters on her feet and her knees felt like they'd aged thirty years.
"Fuck," she announced, slowly pulling her head from Ben's shoulder.
"Good morning to you too," he replied.
"Did you sleep at all?"
"No," he answered simply.
She nodded—she'd expected as much. Sawyer and Miles had fallen asleep in the chairs—Miles was hunched over the console and Sawyer was leaning over the back of his chair.
"Rise and shine!" she shouted, and they both jumped out of their seats.
"Christ!" Sawyer exclaimed.
"Morning," she greeted, with sarcastic cheerfulness. "We have to wash up and move out—no time to lose."
They were back on their way before dawn broke.
"They've passed this way," Ben noted with concern as they made their way into the forest. "These footprints can't be more than a couple of hours old."
"Do you think they know where we're headed?" Valerie asked, frowning.
"I don't know," Ben murmured, "but we'd better hurry."
They picked up the pace, trotting through the trees as quickly as they could.
When they reached Danielle's camp, they found it deserted.
Ben's face fell immediately. "Alex?" he shouted. "Alex?"
Danielle emerged, pointing a rifle at them.
"Ta fille, Danielle," Valerie called out, "est-elle içi?"
Alex came rushing out of the woods, trailed closely by Karl.
"Dad? Val?"
She rushed into Ben's open arms.
"I'm so glad you found us, what has hap—"
She was interrupted by the sound of a gun firing. A bullet whizzed past them, blasting into a tree trunk.
"Shit!" Sawyer announced, "they found us—run!"
Valerie immediately dropped her backpack and leapt up into the nearest tree, scrambling up to a branch she could stand on. "Rifle!" she directed. Ben tossed his rifle up at her and she snatched it out of the air.
Danielle started firing back into the woods and Ben ducked behind the tree. Sawyer grabbed Alex and Karl and ran with Miles for cover, firing his pistol over his shoulder.
Valerie had a better vantage from the tree. She picked the mercenaries off with merciless efficiency as they approached.
Sawyer darted back to them, gun drawn, taking cover next to Ben.
The gunfire grew closer and closer. From the amount of noise, it was clear that there were too many mercenaries for them to handle alone.
"Don't shoot," he shouted as the men stepped into the clearing. He stepped out from behind the tree holding his hands in the air. "Don't shoot," he repeated. "My name is Benjamin Linus—I believe you're looking for me."
They lowered their weapons.
"Dad, what are you doing?" Alex screamed from the bushes, her voice quickly muffled by Karl's hand over her mouth.
Valerie understood the calculation he had made. He knew the risks—he wouldn't bet Alex's safety on their odds in this firefight. He was banking on playing them against each other later. It might work—but she didn't want to let him find out.
She eyed the approaching mercenaries. There were eight of them left—but they hadn't seemed to realize there were shots coming from the trees, so she had the element of surprise.
Their leader took a few steps towards Ben. "We're supposed to take you alive."
"I need assurances you will let—"
Before Ben could finish his sentence, Valerie dropped out of the tree, landing between him and the men.
In a single swift motion, she handed the rifle back to a gaping Ben, drew the handgun from her waistband, and turned back towards the mercenaries.
She fired decisively, dropping three of them before they could realize what was happening.
A fourth lunged at her—she side stepped his attack, and he grabbed at her—pulling her into a choke hold. She passed the gun to her left hand and—biting her lip through the pain—raised it up, firing it into the man's chin.
She pulled the long dagger from the man's belt as he fell to ground and rushed back to Ben, passing it to him before pulling him back behind the tree.
"What the fuck was that?" Sawyer asked, wide-eyed.
"Not now, James," she hissed back at him, clutching at her bandage.
The gunshot was still ringing in her ears, but she could make out the crunching of footsteps approaching from either side of the tree.
Ben lunged up and stabbed one of the men in the side of the neck. Val shot the other in the chest, firing her last bullet.
They heard more gunfire, and the grunt of a man falling.
"Dad?" Alex screamed.
"Fuck—Alex! Come back!" Karl shouted after her.
Val shared a glance with Ben. They both jumped up and ran out to the clearing. Ben handed the knife to Val as he pulled the baton from his pocket.
The last remaining man had his gun aimed at Alex's head.
"Come with me," he instructed, his voice shaky. "Come with me or she dies."