Chapter 26: Ghost Town
Hours into the flight, the plane started rattling violently. The fasten seatbelt sign went on, and bags started to tumble out of the overhead compartments.
Valerie yawned, waking up. "Hold on tight," she said, slipping her hand into Ben's. She could tell that he was nervous. "No one likes a plane crash," she reassured him. He squeezed her hand.
The rattling of the plane was suddenly overwhelmed by a high-pitched buzz, and the cabin was consumed in a bright white light.
Valerie stayed conscious for most of the crash. The plane banked wildly around, and all of the cabin lights went out. The descent was steep and unsteady, and the impact as they skidded to a stop was concussive and disorienting.
When she gathered herself, Ben was slumped over next to her, bloodied from a cut on his head.
"Ben," she said, nudging his shoulder.
He didn't respond.
"Linus," she said urgently, unbuckling his seatbelt. She pressed her fingers to his neck to check for a pulse, but she was too shaky to feel anything.
"Ben you better wake up, or I swear to god I will fucking kill you myself."
His eyes blinked open. "What happened," he mumbled.
"We have to get up," she told him, lifting him up by the armpits. He pulled himself to his feet and shook his head. "I'm fine," he told her. "Just knocked out for a moment. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine—a little shaken."
They heard groans from the rows ahead of them.
Valerie grabbed her backpack.
"Sun?" a voice called from the front of the plane.
"Frank?" she heard Sun reply.
"Where's everyone else? Jack and Kate and Hurley—where'd they go?"
"They're gone," Ben answered. Both Sun and Frank were startled to see him. Valerie stepped into the light behind him.
"Where did they go?" Sun asked Ben, alarmed.
Ben shook his head in confusion and turned to Valerie.
"We've got to get off the plane," Valerie answered. "Where's Desmond? Did he get sent back with them?"
"Sent back?" Sun asked.
"I'm here," Desmond announced, pulling himself from his seat. "Let's not do that again."
"Good," she said, "let's go." She motioned to Frank who opened the emergency exit. "What about the other passengers?" Frank asked.
"They'll be fine. There's no time."
Ben trotted down the stairs, Valerie and Desmond following quickly behind him. Sun helped Frank, who had been injured in the crash.
They walked away from the crash site as quickly as they could.
"Nineteen seventy-seven," Valerie said, once they were alone.
"What?" Ben asked.
"That's where they went."
"The year nineteen seventy-seven?" Desmond asked, incredulous.
She nodded.
Ben frowned at her. "Why?"
"I don't know why. It'll be fine though. They're going to try to stop the Incident—the thing with Swan station—but they're going to cause the Incident. And then they'll be back. The others will be with them"
"You could have stopped them!" Sun exclaimed.
"Stopping them would have been catastrophic. If they'd known exactly what had happened in the past, they could change it. Not knowing was absolutely essential."
"Why not let them change it? Could it have stopped the plane from crashing?" Frank asked. "Your plane, I mean?"
"What do you mean the others will be back with them?" Sun said quietly.
"The rest of the survivors are there too—your husband among them. They're living with the DHARMA initiative."
"Is Alex there?" Ben asked suddenly.
Valerie shrugged. "She could be."
"You knew she might be stuck in the past? You didn't think to mention that?"
"I mean, I knew it was possible—but it's fine. She should be alright. Wherever she is, she's with her mother."
Ben shot Valerie an irritated look. "Fine—we can discuss that later. Right now, we need to regain control of this situation."
"We need some fucking guns," Valerie said, taking off towards Hydra station. "And we need to get back to the Barracks."
"Why do we need guns?" Frank asked suspiciously.
"Just—trust me."
"Your wife is terrifying," Frank muttered to Ben.
"I know," Ben replied appreciatively.
They followed Valerie through the woods and into the Hydra station offices. Ben was happy to let her lead the way—it gave him a strange sense of pride to watch her take charge.
"I don't actually know where anything is in here," she admitted once they'd made their way into the main part of the structure.
"The armory is down that hall," Ben told Desmond. "There's not that much there, but it should be enough."
Desmond trotted off down the hallway.
Sun took a seat with Frank.
"We'll be back," Ben told them. He led Valerie to his office and closed the door.
"You could have told me where she was," he chastised.
"I don't know if she's with them," Valerie reminded him. "I didn't want you to worry. There was nothing you could have done about it from L.A."
"Is there anything we can do about it from here?"
"Other than wait? Not really."
"Are you going to tell me why we need guns?"
"Just a precaution. I'm not sure who we can trust. We don't have to worry about Charles, but…" she trailed off.
He pried open his locked desk drawer and pulled out a handgun, checking to see if it was loaded. He tossed it to her and continued looking through the drawers.
She dug around in her backpack and pulled out a thigh holster. She strapped it on over her black pants, looped the clasp over her belt, and holstered the handgun.
He raised his eyebrows.
"I was thinking ahead," she explained innocently.
He found what he was looking for—a framed photo of him with Alex—and wordlessly handed it to Valerie.
She smiled at it. "Want me to hold on to this for you?"
"Please."
"Of course," she agreed, placing the framed photo in her bag.
He watched as she looked around the office. "You know, I never saw it like this," she told him. "You guys had cleaned out Hydra before I arrived. This room is kind of depressing."
It was, admittedly, a gloomy looking place. The décor was a bit macabre—though the fact that the only functional light was his desk lamp didn't help.
"Like, why the fuck do you have a stuffed pheasant? And what kind of skull is that?"
"A tiger, I think?"
"The taxidermy vibes are very creepy, honey," she told him sincerely, "even for you."
"We can redecorate later," he suggested, pulling the shotgun out from under his desk.
"Well, that's more like it. Do you have any knives? I want a knife."
He pointed at a glass cabinet near the door.
She selected a long dagger from his neatly displayed collection and tested its weight in her hand. Satisfied, she sheathed it and tucked it into the strap around her thigh.
She threw the backpack over her shoulder and he took a moment to look at her. It was strange, he knew, to be distracted by her beauty at this particular moment—but as she stood in front of him, armed to the teeth with that serious look on her face, he was certain that he'd never been more in love.
"Valerie," he said urgently.
She raised her eyebrows at him.
He wanted to tell her everything he was feeling—that he loved her, that he was terrified things would not go their way—that Alex was already dead, and that it will all have been his fault, again.
"I—" he began, hesitating. He couldn't quite find the words.
Before he could finish his sentence, she pulled him into a deep kiss, running her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck.
"It's going to be okay," she murmured reassuringly as she pulled away. "We'll find her."
He smiled to himself. He hadn't needed to say anything at all.
They reunited with Frank and Sun just as Desmond was returning from the armory with a duffel bag. "I think we're all set," Desmond told them.
"We'd better get going then."
"Where are we going?" Sun asked.
"We're going to find a boat—then we're going home."
Ben led the group to the beach that faced the main island and they walked in the sand until they found the outrigger canoes, hidden by a dirty tarp.
He looked back at them—there were too many people to take just one canoe
"Desmond, would you take Frank and Sun? Val and I will take the other."
"Should we try to take all three?" Desmond asked. "It might slow them down?"
Ben looked out at the water—it was choppier than usual. "I'm not sure we should risk it. Let's just push the third one out to sea."
"Alright," he agreed, and Ben helped him launch it into the water.
They loaded their weapons into the outriggers, climbed in and pushed off towards the main island.
"It's good to be back," Val told him, looking over her shoulder as she rowed.
"I suppose it is," he replied, though he wasn't sure he agreed. Something felt off about the place—though he couldn't put his finger on what.
It was dark by the time that Ajira 316 passengers began to congregate on the beach of Hydra island, and the boats were far enough away that they were unlikely to be seen.
They docked in the Barracks' harbor and tied up the outriggers. As they walked back up to the houses, Ben found himself unsettled by the obvious lack of activity.
He'd sent his people to the Temple when the mercenaries arrived, but he hadn't anticipated that they would stay there indefinitely. The Barracks could easily be restored to its previous state—it provided far more in the way of amenities, and it was the place that most of them had called home for the last couple of decades. It seemed strange to him that they would not want to return.
"Are they all in seventy-seven?" he whispered to Valerie.
"I don't think so. Maybe they never came back from the Temple?" she suggested.
It was a possibility. There had always been a faction who had preferred the way that they lived before they'd taken over the DHARMA houses. But they'd been in the minority, as far as he was aware. Most people preferred electricity and running water.
"Are we almost there?" Frank asked. "I'm about ready for a break."
"Just over this hill," Ben answered, then stopped in his tracks, holding his arm out in front of Valerie.
"What is it?" Sun whispered.
Ben turned around slowly. "There's someone home."