The three came back to the beach only to find Sayid and Sawyer having a heated argument. It looked like they were ready to throw blows.
"Hey," Buffy yelled, running over to them, "Break it up!"
"Guys, come on," Michael yelled, holding Sayid back as Jack grabbed Sawyer.
"Tell everyone what you told me. Tell them that I crashed the plane. Go on, tell them," Sayid yelled at Sawyer.
"Well, if the turban fits," Sawyer sneered back.
"What is going on?!" Jack asked.
"I saw this guy during the flight, acting pretty shady and what do you know the guy who was sitting next to him didn't make it," Sawyer accused as he pulls away from Jack, "Get off of me." To Sayid, "You don't think I saw them pull you out of line before we boarded."
Sayid broke away from Michael and tried to take a swing at Sawyer but Buffy grabed his hand and brought it behind his back before he could, "Stop!" Sayid complied, backing off, "We found the transceiver but it's not working. Can anybody help?"
"I can," Sayid replied.
"Oh great let's trust this guy with our one chance of being rescued," Sawyer said.
"Hey, chill out man. Everyone's just trying to help. We're all in this together," Hurley said.
"Shut up, lardo," Sawyer yelled.
"Hey!" Jack said, "Back off!"
"Whatever you say doc, you're the freaking hero," Sawyer said with a smirk. He walked off.
"Can you fix it?" Charlie asked Sayid, who was looking at the transceiver.
"Its dual-band military spec. Chances are the battery is good, but the radio is dead. I'll need some time," he replied, walking away.
"Chain-smoking jackass," Hurley said, sitting down next to Sayid.
"Some people have problems."
"Yeah, you're okay. I like you. I'm Hurley."
"Sayid and you're okay too."
"How do you know all this stuff?"
"I was a militarily communications officer."
"Cool."
"Is it working," Buffy asked Sayid when he walked over to her a few hours later.
"Seems to be, except we're not picking up a signal."
"Why are you trying to pick up a signal, aren't we trying to send one?"
"Yes, but what you want to see here is little bars. Bars would show the radio's getting reception."
"We need the bars?"
"We could broadcast blind, hope that someone, maybe a ship somewhere picks up our distress call. But that would be a waste of the battery. It might not last for long. There is one thing we could try."
"What?"
"Seeing if we could get a signal from high ground."
"How high?"
"About that high," he said, pointing to a high mountain.
"C'mon Shannon. We're trying to clear some of the wreckage. You should come and help out. You're just being worthless over here," a handsome guy with brown hair and piercing eyes told her. It's her brother, Boone.
"I'm being what?"
"What do you want me to say? You're sitting on your ass staring at bodies."
"I've just been through a trauma here, okay?"
"We've all been through a trauma. The only difference is you're the only one who hasn't done squat to help since we got here."
"Fine, make fun of me and my pain. You're good at it. I get it."
"I wish I didn't have to waste my time making fun of you, Shannon but you have to admit you make it easy. "
"Screw you, like you have the slightest idea what I'm thinking."
"I have more of an idea than you think I do."
"No, you don't."
"Okay, Shannon. Then what are you thinking?"
She noticed Buffy and Sayid, preparing for their hike, "I'm going with them, on the hike."
"Really?" he asked, incredulously.
"Yep. I'm going and you can't stop me."
"No, you're not. Shannon. Shannon!"
"I'd like to come with you," Shannon said, walking up to them.
"She's not going," Boone stated.
"The hell I'm not. You can't tell me what to do."
"She's just doing this to make me mad."
"Shut up," she said then turning to Buffy and Sayid, "I'm coming with you."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Buffy said. Shannon reminded her of Cordelia and she doubted she could handle a hike through the jungle.
"Excuse me, in case you haven't noticed you're younger than me. Who put you in charge?" she said. After which she turned to Charlie, "You're going, right?"
"Yeah."
"Fine, everyone can come but we're leaving now," Buffy said.
"You couldn't tell from that, but she's actually really nice," Charlie whispered to Shannon.
"I'm coming too," Sawyer said as he walked over.
"You're coming?" Sayid said, surprised.
"Hey, I'm complex guy."
Locke sat on the beach with a backgammon game board set in front of him.
"What is it, like checkers?" Walt asked, walking towards him and sitting down.
"Not really, it's a better game than checkers. You play checkers with your Pop?"
"No, I live with my mom in Australia."
"You've got no accent."
"Yeah, I know. We move a lot. She got sick. She died a couple of weeks ago."
"You're having a bad month."
"I guess."
"Backgammon's the oldest game in the world. Archeologists found sets when they excavated the ancient ruins of Mesopotamia. 5,000 years old. That's older than Jesus Christ. Two players. Two sides. One is light, one is dark. Feel like playing a game."
Walt nodded.
Cameron sat in the dark, cold, dank recesses of the cave he had found. He had been one of the passengers on the plane but he wasn't like them at all. He was a vampire. He was about 5'6'' with shaggy black hair parted in the middle and he was very thin. He had been badly burned when the plane crash but he had managed to find cover and extinguish the fire on his body before he became dust.
His skin was black and peeling from the burns. It hurt for him to move, to even smile. He had recovered a little but not much. It would take him time to heal. He had killed that pilot, drank from him to get some strength and then turned him so he wouldn't be alone but that stupid girl, the slayer, had killed him, thrown him into the sunlight, where he turned into dust. She had killed one of his children and he wanted revenge. Cameron sat in the dark, cold, dank recesses of the cave waiting for dark, waiting for the time when he could hunt and gather his strength.
Sawyer, Sayid, Buffy, Shannon, Charlie, and Boone all made there way through the jungle. By now they were a good way up the mountain but still not far enough.
"Check the transceiver," Sawyer commanded Sayid.
"No, we're not far up enough."
"Just check the damn thing will you."
"No!"
After walking a little father and about a minute later, "Will you check it now?" Sawyer asked.
"No!" Sayid and Buffy yelled in unison.
After hiking for about another hour Sayid took out the transceiver.
"Oh, now's a good time to check the radio," Sawyer said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"We're up higher," Sayid replied.
"Thank you, captain obvious," Sawyer replied.
"Shut up," Buffy said.
"Oh, be quite Barbie," Sawyer yelled.
"What's your problem?" Boone said but before Sawyer could reply he was interrupted.
"Hey, we've got a bar. Mayday, mayday," Sayid said. The sound of feedback could be heard coming from the radio.
"What's that?" Charlie asked.
"Feedback," Sayid replied.
"Feedback from what? What would do that?" Boone asked.
"I don't know," he replied.
"I'll tell you what would do that. This guy not fixing the radio. This thing doesn't even work," Sawyer sneered, indicating the transceiver.
"No, no. It's not broken. We can't transmit because something else is already transmitting," Sayid said.
"Transmitting from where?" Buffy asked.
"Somewhere close. The signal's strong," Sayid said.
"Somewhere close, you mean on the island, that's great," Charlie said, a smile on his face at the thought of being rescued.
"Can we listen to it?" Buffy asked.
"Let me get the frequency first, hold on," Sayid said as he began to tinker with the radio.
"There's no transmission," Sawyer said, "That things broken and you know it. We've been sabotaged."
"Hey, Mr. Negativity, not helping," Buffy said.
"Who would be transmitting from the island?" Boone asked.
"The rescue party, it has to be," Charlie said as they began to listen to the transmission. It's French, "It's French, the French are coming. I've never been so happy to hear the French."
"Does anyone speak French?" Sayid asked the group.
"I take French but I have no clue what she's saying. All I know how to say is can I go to the bathroom," Buffy said.
"Shannon speaks French," Boone said.
"No, I don't," Shannon said.
"What the hell are you talking about? You spent a year in Paris," he told her.
"Drinking, not studying," she clarified.
"Iteration 7294531," the transceiver said.
"Okay, what's that?" Charlie asked.
"Oh, no, no, no, no," Sayid yelled at the radio.
"No, no, no, What?" Buffy yelled back at him.
"The batteries are dying," he replied.
"How much time do we have?" Buffy asked.
"Not much."
"I've heard you speak French listen to this. Listen to it," Boone said, putting the transceiver near Shannon's ear.
"I can't."
"You speak French or not, because that would be nice," Sawyer said.
"Iteration 17," the transceiver said.
"C'mon," they urged Shannon.
Some of the transmission can be heard, ³Il est dore.²
"It's repeating," Shannon managed to say.
"She's right," Sayid said in realization.
"What?" Boone asked, confused.
"It's a loop. Iteration, it's repeating the same message. The counter, the next number will end 533," Sayid remarked.
"Iteration: 17294533," the transceiver said.
"Does anyone know what the hell he's talking about?" Sawyer yelled.
"It's a running count of the number of times the message has repeated. It's roughly 30 seconds long so, how long…." Sayid said.
"Don't forget to carry the 1, chief," Sawyer joked.
"She's saying: she's saying: please help me, please come get me," Shannon said, unsure.
"Or, she's not. You don't even speak French," Sawyer threw back at her.
"Let her listen," Charlie said.
Shannon began to listen intently, "I'm alone now, on the island alone. Please someone come. The others, they're, they're dead. It killed them. It killed them all."
"That was good," Boone said, patting her on the shoulder.
"16 years," Sayid said.
"What?" Buffy said.
"16 years and 5 months, that's the count."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sawyer said.
"The iterations. It's a distress call, a plea for help, a mayday. If the count is right it's been playing over and over for 16 years."
"Someone else was stranded here?" Boone asked.
"Maybe they came for them?" Shannon reasoned.
"If someone came why is it still playing?" Sawyer said.
"Guys, where the bloody hell are we?" Charlie asked.
Review please, thanks to all of you who did.