Locke stared at the hatch intensely; it had to be something special, something that the island had wanted him to find, by following the false trail.

"Err… John?"

He looked behind him to see Boone standing there and he realised that he must have lost track of time. He stood up, smiling blissfully. "They obviously didn't come this way, we should get back to camp, see if Jack and Kate had any more luck." He quickly covered the hatch with fallen branches and began to walk back, Boone traipsing behind him.

"Do you think that they found Claire?"

"I don't know, we'll find out when we get back," he was barely listening to Boone; he was watching the darkening jungle around him, noticing the leaves of the trees, the clods of dirt on the floor. He had felt that he had returned home when they had crashed and since then the island appeared to be opening it's mysteries to him, one by one, welcoming him back with tantalizing new quests. This was the latest and he could already feel his soul being consumed by the need to complete it. After all, this could be the one that made his life worth-while, this could have been the purpose he had searched for, this could fix everything.

"Maybe we should have followed the other trail, once we knew Ethan didn't go down ours."

"Maybe."

They walked along in silence for another minute before Boone attempted conversation again, "I hope Ethan didn't hurt them."

Locke stopped moving, he hadn't thought about it. He had thought about it whilst trying to find them but had abandoned that quest and had forgotten that Charlie and Claire were in danger. He scolded himself internally; he would have to remember that he was still in the real world, still one of the survivors. Thinking about Charlie helped, Locke considered him a disciple in a way; he had helped Charlie to get over his drug habit and could possibly eventually amount to a friend. Locke smiled to himself at the thought; he'd have to make sure that happened, he found it hard to make friends and any he could gather were greatly appreciated.

"I hope so too."

Locke began to walk back to the beach again, Boone following in silence now. The moment he returned he could tell that something was wrong; people were quiet, many obviously still upset. He was about to ask someone what had happened when he saw a yellow blur whiz past him, attaching itself to Boone, who reeled slightly from the impact.

"Shannon, hey, what's wrong?" Boone sounded concerned as he placed his arms on her back, causing her to pull away sharply.

"I thought Ethan had got you as well."

"As well? As well as who?"

Shannon ignored Locke's question, the worry was fast disappearing from her face, becoming replaced with a cold anger.

"What were you doing out so late? What the hell were you thinking?"

Boone flashed a glance towards Locke before replying, "We were tracking Ethan. What happened?"

"He killed Charlie."

Locke's stomach fall, so much for his grand plan. He felt a pang of guilt; he'd been hunting with Ethan, he should have realised that something was wrong, if he had… Charlie might still be alive. But he'd let himself get so wrapped up in trying to convince Ethan to be a friend that he hadn't paid enough attention.

"What about Jack? Kate? Claire?"

"Claire's missing; the others are at the caves, starting an army."

Shannon's statement brought Locke back round, "an army?"

"Yeah, to go after Ethan or something." Her voice was filled with annoyance and Locke felt like he was interrupting her and Boone, wasn't welcomed. He walked away and began to head towards the caves, trying to work out a way to talk Jack out of creating his army.

When he got there, Jack was standing in the middle of a group, addressing those around him. There was a sharp intake of breath when people noticed that Locke had returned and the focus was suddenly switched to him. Jack walked over, approaching him.

"Where's Boone?"

"Back at the beach."

Jack nodded, obviously relieved, "Charlie's dead."

"I know."

"I'm going after Ethan."

"I know."

Jack turned to walk away again and Locke swallowed his fear and spoke up, "don't do it Jack. You shouldn't build an army."