Chapter 5

A sharp scream scared the birds that were resting on top of the trees. The birds then started to fly towards opposite directions of the jungle. A huge quantity of stinking grey smoke hovered in the air coming from the ocean.

The salty water waves disturbed by the wind and by the fall of wreckage from an aircraft on fire hit the rocks full of clams, sea-urchin and corals that were enjoying the heat of the sun in the beachfront.

The deep blue ocean had part of its waters dyed of a strong red. Human bodies, victims of a terrible plane crash that just had happened moments ago floated lifeless while they were dragged by the waves, some more to the bottom, others more towards the beachfront.

There was no distinction of color, age, gender or social position between these people, not anymore. Everybody suffered the same uncertain destiny. They were waiting now for somebody to rescue them from the water and give them a decent funeral, an opportunity for their families spread around the world to cry over their deaths.

Inside a piece of the airplane where the scream that scared the birds earlier came from, Ana-Lucia was stuck to her seat of number 43 B, on the top of what was before one of the wheels of the plane. She was trying to release her body from the seatbelt.

When the captain said to fast their seatbelts she did it so well that now it was almost impossible for her to get rid of the piece of fabric that was still keeping her in her seat.

There were two bodies beside her, one on each side of her seat. An old man that had part of his face ripped out by the impact of the airplane window on his body and a middle aged woman that looked like she have had a heart attack during the crash. Her face was purple and her eyes were wide-open showing how scared she was when everything happened.

Ana-Lucia felt that the cabin was floating. She knew she was on the water. Her eyes were burning due to blood that was coming from a wound somewhere in her forehead and the viscous liquid was making her vision blurry making it harder for her to escape.

She wanted to scream again to see if somebody would show up to help but the absence of human sounds told her that she was somewhere isolated and nobody would hear her, especially if she stayed inside that cabin. Would everybody be dead? She thought.

"No, somebody must have been survived. It's not possible!"- She said.

She forced again the seatbelt. The metal inserted inside the plastic box didn't move. She tried again until her fingers were bleeding. She screamed and fought. Suddenly, she heard a click and the seatbelt finally got loose.

"Oh, my God! I made it! I did it!- Ana yelled.

She looked at the two bodies beside her and said a silent pray for their soul before leaving her seat, kick the broken floor of the plane and dive in the salty water.

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Sawyer felt vertigo when he looked down and saw the distance between his body and the ground. He was partially lying on the top of a tall tree, surrounded by wreckage from the flight 815. He was having a hard time to breathe and feeling a lot of pain on the left side of his body. There was a circle of blood in his blue shirt but he had no idea yet about how bad he was injured.

"At least I'm alive!"- He exclaimed to himself and laughed. "I'm alive!"- He yelled but the effort provoked pain. He cried. He had never felt so lonely in his entire life. After fooling people, cheating, blackmailing and lying to them Sawyer felt that he deserved that terrible destiny. Yes, he was alive but he didn't know for how long.

His last memory from the plane was the moment that the lights turned out and the oxygen mask fell on his face. He also remembered of the sound of the emergency alarm and a sharp pain that he felt in his chest followed by an unbearable noise in his ears. He could still hear the buzz deep inside in his eardrums. He was having a hard time to hear something else besides this but he was still alive. That was all that mattered.

Sawyer wiped off his tears and thought about the last two times he felt that scared. It was when he shot the wrong man in Sidney and when his father shot himself after killing his mom while he was hiding under the bed. He had survived to both of these situations. He could survive one more time. He looked down again trying to figure out how long it would take for him to get to the ground.

"I can do it…"- He told himself.

He observed the body of the tree and noticed that there were a few branches along it that he could use to support his feet if he wanted to try going down slow. But he would need something to keep him on the tree in case he slips off. He looked around searching for something in the wreckage that he could use. He found some cables and pieces of a seatbelt that he could use to make some sort of a rope that it would involve him by the waist while he was going down.

After he prepared the rope and made sure it was strong enough to handle him, Sawyer watched the jungle from the top of the tree and saw a beach not so far from where he was. Part of the plane had crashed there. There were still a lot of smoke and it could potentially have more survivors like him there.

Sawyer tied up the rope on his waist and got ready to go down. He tried to ignore the horrible pain he was feeling in his body. He turned his back to the beach and visualized himself going all the way and getting to the ground.

"Alright, let's do it."- He started to go down slowly and without looking at the ground.

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It was hard to swim to the beach but Ana-Lucia made it despites the pain that the salty water caused to her wounds. When she finally made it to the beachfront, she laid her body in the wet sand and had a rest. She was exhausted due to the effort. She kept her eyes closed for a while and then opened them up to face the immensity of the cloudless blue sky in front of her. It was beautiful.

Ana remained lying there until she felt strong enough to get up and sit on the sand. She faced the scenario in front of her. The Oceanic 815 was completely destroyed; its parts were sinking down the ocean. Human bodies where floating all over the water.

Suddenly she heard a sound. Somebody was struggling somewhere near her. She stood up in an impulse and ran following the direction of the sound. She found a young woman, lying on the beachfront. She was having a hard time to breathe.

"Hey, I'm going to help you."- Ana said kneeling beside the woman. "Can you hear me?"

However the woman started coughing and wasn't able to say anything. There was a fragment from the plane right in the middle of her abdomen. Ana-Lucia felt terrified to see that wound. She knew then that there was nothing she could do for her.

"I'm so sorry."- She whispered holding the woman's hand, trying to comfort her.

The woman coughed one more time, let it out a loud last breath and passed away. Ana-Lucia let her hand go and she laid in the wet sand again, holding her body in a fetal position. She started sobbing.

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Sawyer had already passed more than half of the tree but his arms were getting tired.

"Just a little bit more, James!"- He encouraged himself. "Almost there, you're almost there!"

He went down a little further and suddenly his right foot slipped off and he lost his balance. Sawyer screamed and held on to the tree.

"I'm still here."- He whispered hugging the tree's body. His arms and hands were bruised and bleeding due to the harsh superficies of the tree.

Sawyer took a deep breath and moved his body in a way that his feet could touch the tree's body again. As soon as he recovered his balance he started going down again. After what it seemed like an eternity his feet finally touched the ground and he felt relieved.

"Son of a bitch!"- He exclaimed when he saw himself safe and sound on the ground.

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After witnessing the woman's death, Ana-Lucia spent some time crying. She didn't know what to do. When she recovered she decided she should be practical. She had no idea where she was and she also didn't know how long the rescue would take to find the missing plane on the sea. There were 324 passengers including the crew in that flight, it couldn't be possible that she was the only survivor.

She noticed that the deceased woman had a watch in her left arm, one of those waterproof ones. She took off the woman's watch, rubbed against her blouse and put it in her arm before standing up and starting to walk at the beach.

Ana-Lucia faced the ocean and realized that the tail fell on that beach but the middle and the main cabin should have fell in different spots of that place. But if there was any town nearby the accident, help would have come already, she concluded.

She looked around herself and saw an extensive jungle on top of the beach plus hills. There was a great possibility of that place not be inhabited at all. That thought gave her the creeps but Ana-Lucia thought that the best way to survive there for the next hours would be to find drinkable water, something to eat, dry clothes and a shelter to spend the night. She checked the watch and saw that it was four in the afternoon.

There were a few suitcases stuck on the sand where she could find clothes, tools, maybe bottled water. There were also parts of the plane she could use to build a temporary shelter. Ana-Lucia then started working what kept her busy for the next hours.

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Sawyer wondered through the jungle following the sun, trying to get to the beach. He was so thirsty and hungry. Hours had passed and he was almost succumbing to the pain in his body when he found a creek. He didn't think twice and kneeled by the water, using his hands like a shell to drink it. He also washed his face to refresh from the hit. After drinking water Sawyer felt a little better and continued his way towards the beach.

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It started to get dark after six o' clock and Ana-Lucia had been able to build a small shelter using a piece of the fuselage. By a miracle she found a suitcase with dry clothes besides an Oceanic blanket, peanut packages and three water bottles that also had the Oceanic logo on them.

She changed her wet blouse and pants for a long sleeve shirt and a pair of sweat pants two numbers higher than hers.

She was sitting under her new shelter, eating some peanut and drinking bottled water when she saw a figure walking out of the jungle. Her eyes grew wide and she stood up immediately. The figure was walking towards the ocean and when it was closer to Ana-Lucia she could recognize the figure of a tall man. He was having a hard time walking while he was holding one of the sides of his body. He was obviously injured.

"Hey!- Ana yelled."

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Sawyer finally made it to the beach but he barely could stand. He saw pieces of the airplane floating on the ocean and suddenly he heard a voice calling. He frowned wondering if he wasn't imagining things.

"Hey! You!"

He heard it again and turned his eyes in the direction of the voice. He saw a petit woman wearing large clothes; she was walking towards him. Sawyer then walked towards her.

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Ana-Lucia ran. She wanted to get closer of the man as fast as possible. When she finally could see his face lit by the left over sunlight in the day she smiled.

Sawyer felt his heart beating fast inside his chest and smiled back to her.

"When you said you wanted to go to the farthest place possible in the world I thought you're kidding."- He teased her.

"Sawyer..."- She said.

"Ana..."- He said.

They embraced each other. A miracle had just happened to both of them.

To be continued...