Chapter 5
Present day...
Christian isn't real....
He couldn't be real. None of this could be real. Jacen had to be in a coma on the beach, still waking up with a broken rib. This was all some doped up story that nobody could understand and couldn't even be explained. Jacen had seen up close the pillar of smoke that was following him like a dog in heat, and not to mention this unnatural beast was somehow scared away by some old guy in a suit. Nobody would believe this story, so how was he going to explain to Veronica that he spent half the day on the other side of some fence that could hold back smoke... No, he couldn't even explain it to himself.
He muttered to himself, cursing under his breath as walked through the hot jungle. The sweat and dried blood on him was now mixing into a crimson pudding against his skin. His head was still aching, and he started to assume it was just from the attempt to understand the past twenty four hours of his life and not the invisible fence.
He stepped around a tree, and suddenly found himself standing in front of the fence again, exactly as Christian told him. This time it was much closer to the tree line, so close that a tall, dead tree was leaning out over the top of the fence. The tree was partially dead, pushed over by wind and age. But, Jacen was assuming the freaky old guy wasn't lying and that if he tried walking through it, he would be killed.
Within a few minutes, Jacen was halfway up the tree. He shimmied his way over and then let himself slide under and hang under the tree from his hands and legs wrapped around it. Pulling himself most of the way out across the tree, he looked under him and saw he was directly over the fence. He pulled himself a few feet further and the dropped down to his feet, landing with a heavy thud against the ground.
"That was too easy..." He muttered, looking into the jungle and expecting his smokey friend to come slithering out. But it didn't, and all he could hear was the ambience of jungle life.
He shrugged and moved off toward the jungle's edge, walking casually. He thought back to the woman at the fence though as he neared the jungle's edge and merged into it. She couldn't have been real, just some trick of the mind after what had happened. The fence could have done anything to scramble Jacen's head, and waking up from that trauma, Jacen's brain was confused. He knew she wasn't there, she was dead. He knew he had shot the girl years ago in that bank, taking an innocent life had marked his conscience since that day.
The reality of dealing with that though, the emerging demon from his conscience, had paid a heavy price on his heart. All the guilt and fear he had buried was newly dug up and scratching against his brain, digging into it and making him recall the memories.
The hardest part was how real she was, and how looking into her eyes brought back the memory so clearly. She was still wearing the clothes from the bank and still bleeding from her forehead where the bullet hit her. Her death, though, meant the lives of everybody else in that bank. Was it really that.... No, he'd been down this road before. What happened, happened. Dead is dead.
Lost in thought, he had forgotten how far he had walked. Reaching the stream at which he had started his flight from the monster, he was reminded of his original goal of coming into the jungle. He stood at the stream's edge, looking downstream. He didn't recognize this part of the stream, but he knew it was the same. This island wasn't that big, and he knew he was heading in the right direction.
He thought for a moment, turning to look upstream. The past day had been horrible, and all he wanted was to get back to the camp and find a cot or warm piece of sand near the fire to lay on. Maybe Veronica would have some pity on him and give him a shoulder to rest on or at least just be near him. He needed something calm right now.
But, thinking of her made him realize that he'd be returning to a camp without a water source. People were going to be panicking, and he didn't need to deal with that now. He sighed, looking at the water flowing toward him and he knew he needed to go. Death was always a consequence of any action on this island, even sitting in the camp would eventually lead there.
He started a slow walk upstream, following its edge and letting his boots leave their prints in the soft muddy shore. Looking around him, he realized how peaceful it actually was in the jungle. The swaying of the treetops in the wind above him scattered the light through the canopy and flashed over him occasionally. The heat from the jungle engulfing him was the only bad part, but the gentle wind piercing the jungle gently caressed him as he walked. He was actually happy. He knew he needed to think this too. Finding a little bit of comfort, a little peace, in the most trying and difficult of times helped anybody deal with their burdens and fears. He needed this moment.
But, as things have always happened, it didn't last. The ambience of the jungle was suddenly quieted by voices, and clatter and crunch of movement. Jacen crouched, and hurried forward to a wide tree trunk. Ducking behind it, he scanned around him. A few hundred feet away, the terrain elevated up the slope of a hill. Near the base of the hill, though, was an opening, a cave. In front of that cave were people that Jacen recognized. The first face he locked his eyes onto was Veronica, standing outside and talking to the pregnant girl.
He stumbled forward, pushing through some foliage and walked quickly toward the cave. Alarmed by the noise, the pregnant took a step back but Veronica turned and looked. Spotting Jacen, her face sparked in recognition and she jogged over to him. Surprising Jacen, she fell against him and wrapped her arms tightly around his chest, ignoring the sweat and the blood along his neck and head. He hesitated, and then hugged her back.
Finally letting go, and looking at him, she yelled, "Where have you been?!"
He smirked, "Looking for water, but you guys beat me here, I guess."
She shook her head, "You're bleeding, what happened?"
"I....," He started to say, and then thought about his decision. He knew his story was nowhere near believable, and he didn't need people thinking he was insane. However, he did know the fence was real and would be there. He could take someone back to show them, but he couldn't explain how he got there without talking about running away from some puffy smoke cloud and listening to Christian. He said, "I had an accident, fell and hit my head. Think it knocked me out for a few hours."
"Oh my god," Veronica said, and grabbed his hand. By now, a few people had gathered to see him and the commotion going on. Veronica turned and pulled him along behind her, leading him into the cave, "Come on. We'll have Jack look at you."
"I'm fine, just got hurt." He said, but followed after her.
"You've gotta be cautious, you don't know what kind of diseases or viruses are on this island." She replied.
Walking into the interior of the cave, Jacen was surprised at the room inside. It was nice, and already, most of the people from the beach camp were here. Walking past everyone, Jacen enjoyed the moment of her hand in his. He didn't know why he was obsessing over it or her for that matter. He was a twenty six year old man, and this wasn't the first girl he'd ever spent time with by far. Something about her sparked in him, and maybe the years of loneliness had a heavier toll on him.
"Where's Jack?" Veronica asked, stepping up to a few people.
"He's back at the beach camp getting some supplies, what happened?" A shorter woman with dark hair and a patch of freckles across her nose asked. Following her, a familiar face came toward Jacen. John Locke was eyeing Jacen cautiously.
"Had an accident." Jacen replied, pointing to his head with his free hand.
"An accident? Looks pretty bad..." The freckled woman said, inspecting him.
"Yeah, got careless and fell a few feet."
John was eyeing him pretty closely, then finally said, "You sure you fell?"
"Yeah... why?" Jacen asked, eyeing John back.
He smiled that goofy grin Jacen had seen a few times, and then John said, "Just making sure I got the story right..."
It was good to be back. He was surprised more than anything by Veronica's helpfulness. It was like having his own personal nurse. She barely knew Jacen, though, and by any normal standards, nobody should be this friendly after having two conversations. He put that worry away from his mind though.
He had went down the stream a little away from where people were drinking, and tried to wash some of the dirt and blood from him. Using a torn shirt of her own, Veronica gently dipped it into water and helped to clean him up some. It felt good, the cool water dripping down his skin and the gently brushing of her hand. Once he was clean, they walked back up to the cave as darkness was falling. The jungle around them was quickly cooling down, and near the front of the cave, the other survivors had a fire burning.
Veronica helped him sit near it, using a log the survivors had chopped down to support his back. As she gently slid in next to him, he took a deep breath of fresh air and felt the warmth of the fire radiating off of him. This was the calm moment he was wanting as he limped back from the fence, and once here, it was exactly as he wanted it. And, that was the whole reason Jacen was being cautious. His life had never worked out this much for the good or even how he wanted it, he expected more trouble with his story but nobody had questioned him really. Not even Veronica had, but he was sure she would eventually.
Footsteps drew his attention to his left past Veronica and he saw Jack walking up to him. As he neared, Jack asked, "So how you feeling?"
"Fine, just a little headache." Jacen replied.
"You feel tired or anything?" Jack asked, looking into his eyes. Jack wasn't soul-searching though, he was looking for medical signs on Jacen.
"No, just sore."
Jack nodded, pulling his backpack off of him and dropping it on the ground in front of him. He looked over at Veronica, "Is he acting alright? Losing his balance or slurring words?"
She shook her head, "No, he hasn't. Why?"
"Just asking." Jack answered, and looked back at Jacen, "So what happened?"
"Well, I knew we were running out of water so I left this morning to explore out here a little to find some, but I made it to the stream bed about a mile downstream. I didn't see the drop though; I thought I'd heard something behind me. Next thing I knew, I was falling forward, and I smacked into the water. Woke up later, dragged myself back here." Jacen answered.
Jack nodded, and then said, "You shouldn't have come out here alone, next time come talk to me before you leave. It's dangerous out here, and if you'd broken your leg, we might not of ever found you."
"Alright, Doc. I'll check with you next time."
Jack pulled a bottle from his pack, and retrieved two pills from it. He gave them to Jacen, "It's just pain killers to help you through tonight, but I can't spare a lot. Tomorrow, you'll have to go without them."
Jacen nodded, holding them in his hand. Jack got up and grabbed his pack, then looked over at Veronica, "Can I talk to you a second?"
"Sure." Veronica said, and stood up. Together, Jack and Veronica walked away from Jacen and completely out of his range of hearing. Jacen didn't like the doc taking her away to talk private; he didn't like not knowing what was going on. A part of him didn't even like the doc talking to Veronica and getting close to her.
Jacen grabbed the water bottle Veronica had left between them, and took the two pills. They looked like Tylenol, so he assumed they were. He didn't care though, his head was pounding and he really wanted to sleep. He dropped the water bottle back down next to him.
"You're lucky." A voice said from Jacen's right. He turned to locate the source and found John sitting on the end of the log a couple feet away. He held a mango in his hand and was slicing it open with an oversized knife.
"How so?" Jacen asked.
"You fell into the streambed. The water and soft soil probably saved some of your impact, lessening the fall." John said, and offering the mango to Jacen. He shook his head and John shrugged. He continued, "You must of fell just right to not break an arm or a leg, or even gash yourself open for that matter. The only blood I saw on you looked like it was coming from your ears. You must have landed on your head then..."
Jacen locked eyes with John, and after waiting a few seconds asked, "Yeah, guess I was lucky."
"Why are you lying?" John asked outright, and calmly ate a piece of his mango.
"Who says I am, John?" Jacen asked.
John looked at him with his eyes that seemed different from Jack's. John's gaze actually felt like it was searching through your soul, looking deeper into you than other people can. Jacen held his ground though; he knew what intimidation felt like. He'd used it before.
"Just wondering, you know. Maybe you hit your head so hard you don't remember the way it really happened..." John said.
Jacen shook his head, "No, that's how it happened."
With that, they both sat there quietly listening to the crackle of the fire. The dark night had encroached finally upon them, and the only light sources were the moonlight from the entrance to the cave and the fire. Across from Jacen and John, two people had remained but now, they were standing and leaving. Only Jacen and John would still be here, and Veronica was nowhere to be seen. He wished she would return.
"You look like somebody that's got demons chasing them...." John said.
Jacen's mind starting flying, caught off-guard. Did he know? Did he know about the smoke? Had he seen Jacen somewhere, or did he know about Christian? All of Jacen's questions flooded through his mind, but he kept his cold stare into the fire and sat there stoically.
"Why do you say that?" Jacen asked.
"If I had a mirror, I could show you."
"Do you believe in demons, John?" Jacen asked, finally turning and looking at him.
John took another bite of his mango, chewing slowly. Swallowing, he turned back to Jacen and answered, "I believe we all have demons chasing us, and unless we face them, they'll eventually kill us."
John tossed his mostly eaten mango out of the cave and into some brush. He closed his knife and stood up to his full height. Something about him was different than the others, and Jacen wondered who this man really was. He seemed so confident and sure of himself.
"Next time you want to go out into the jungle, come find me. I want to go with you." John said.
"Why?" Jacen asked.
"Because I believe we're both searching for answers." John said, then turned and walked away toward the front of the cave.
As Jacen watched him walk away, he felt different about John. He didn't like him at first, felt like he was making trouble for Jack and the others. But, now he felt like John was different. John wasn't just trying to survive; he was trying to understand... life here. This island was more than just a patch of earth they were surviving on, Jacen knew that already from his explorations and experiences. There was something special about this island, and while it threatened Jacen with death, he felt like it was promising something else to John Locke.
"Are you okay?" Veronica asked as she plopped back down next to him, and slid up against him.
"Yeah... Yeah, I'm good." He said.
"Good." She said, and looked into the fire with Jacen. Even he, the forlorn and solitary traveler for the past three years of his life felt the romanticism of the moment.
"Can I ask you something?"
She smirked, "Of course."
"What did Jack want?"
She answered, "Claire's been having dreams at night, and he wants me to keep an eye on her."
"Claire?" He asked.
"The pregnant girl," She smirked, "You should really branch out to other people than following me around like a puppy?"
"I can't help it, you look like fun."
She laughed, "And what does that mean, Jacen?"
He shook his head, "I'm not explaining anything. If I'm that bad at sending signals, then I don't deserve it."
She smirked, "Easy boy. I know we're stuck on an island and it's pretty boring sometimes, but let's not move that fast. How about we go back to talking about you?"
"That's a boring subject." He answered.
"Then what are we going to talk about?" She asked.
"Let's talk about us."
Three years prior to the crash...
The cool night air had encroached on them, slithering through the cracks in the front door and swarming across the floor. Jacen could feel it lingering across his legs and around his hips, slowly crawling up his right arm with patient vengeance. The only warmth was the pretty, young blonde next to him, nestled against him and shivering. His left arm was buried under her arm and against her side, so close he felt each intake of her breath. She barely moved, but he knew she wasn't sleeping. None of them were, despite it being now three in the morning.
Jacen looked around the lobby of the bank, looking at the forlorn and pathetic faces of the individuals stuck in here with him. Many were huddled together for warmth and companionship as well, but in all their faces Jacen could see either fear or sadness. The woman that had cared for the dying lady had cried herself dry of tears, now she only sat there staring into the marble floor. Her shirt had dried with the blood of the woman, and her arms from her elbows down were now a dark crimson in the night. Jacen sighed, and looked at the man across from him. He was in his late forties or early fifties, growing a belly in his older years and a beard as white as snow. He had a dark suit on, now with tie loosened and his shirt buttons near his collar undone. Next to him, two younger women sat, who obviously felt in this man's presence a protection and comfort. He had a fatherly appearance and mannerism about him, which lent to his presence.
"We need to be doing something." Jacen said quietly, staring at the man.
The man looked up at him, deep blue eyes set into the face worn by years. His deep voice answered, "What about SWAT or the cops out there?"
"They're not going to enter. They don't know two people are dead because if they did, they would have already entered. We're on our own right now." Jacen answered. The girls next to the older man stirred at those words, deeply interested in this conversation.
"You got a plan?" The older man asked.
"No, but we need to come up with one," Jacen said, and then turned and looked down at the office the two crooks were currently inhabiting. Occasionally, the man would look out the window at all the hostages but right now, they were both concentrated on their phone call. Jacen looked back over at the man, "If we can separate them, I can take the guy out myself. The girl is still hurting from where I hit her earlier, might have cracked a rib when I landed on her. She's been favoring it."
"I can handle her, don't worry." The man answered, "But, how we going to separate them?"
"I don't know. If they bring the key, one of them has to get it. But, it's been too long. I don't think its coming." Jacen thought out loud.
"Yeah, I gave up on that hope an hour ago." The bank teller next to Jacen spoke up, her voice quivering and weak. Jacen felt a twinge of pain in his heart for her. Jacen focused back on the situation though.
"What if we start a fight? Maybe they'll come out and separate us that way." The older man said.
Jacen shook his head, "No, they're too nervous, too trigger-happy. I think this is their first heist, so I don't trust them to keep their cool. They might shoot one of us."
"Bathroom? One of us or one of the girls asks to go?" The man wondered.
"Maybe...," Jacen said, thinking about it. It left too many possibilities for mistakes though, and while the older man was willing, he may not have been able to do what Jacen needed. Jacen sat there in silent thought a moment, and then asked, "Can you get up with your hands tied like this?"
The man looked down at the plastic ties around his wrists, and then back at Jacen, "I don't know, I'm not as limber as I used to be."
Jacen nodded, "That's fine." He turned and nudged the bank teller with his shoulder, "You got a knife or something around here I can cut these ties with?"
"What?" She asked, lifting her head from his shoulder and looking at him with her watery, light blue eyes.
She reminded him of his wife, the same color eyes and depth of emotion behind them. Jacen forced that thought away; if he thought about his wife then he'll lose his cool head. He needed to be calm, and he needed to be unafraid. He nodded, "I need something to cut these ties off him."
She thought for a moment. Strands of her blonde hair fell across her eyes, and Jacen fought the urge to remember his wife in his head. Those curly blonde locks of hair, and the smell of her skin..... He blinked, and forced it out of his head, "There's gotta be something."
"Yeah, pair of scissors. One of the old ladies here has arthritis, and she uses a pair of scissors to cut the paper bands from the folds of money.... She keeps it under her money drawer." The bank teller replied.
"Good," Jacen said, getting his legs underneath of him and watching the window of the office. The two crooks were deeply interested in their conversation on the phone, the male crook with his back turned to them, "Which drawer?"
"Umm," The bank teller looked over at the counter, and pointed at the end of the counter toward the end of bank near the office, "Second from the wall."
Jacen cursed in his head, and then said, "Alright. Let's hope I make it...."
He stood up into a crouched position and walked across the bank floor slowly to the side the old man was on. The older man was staring at the office window watching, "Wait... Get down!"
Jacen flipped around and landed with a thud against the front of the counter. The girl between Jacen and the older man held back a yelp as Jacen landed hard against her shoulder. She bit her tongue and kept quiet. At the window, the female crook on the phone was staring out the window, tapping a pencil while talking on the phone. Something angered her though and her face scrunched together, and she barked something into the phone. The answer wasn't better and she threw the pencil against the wall, and it stuck. She swiveled in the office chair, and faced the wall with the pencil lodged into the plaster.
Jacen hopped to his feet, and leaped onto his stomach on the counter. The older man quietly barked at him to hurry and Jacen rolled across and fell hard against the marble floor on the other side of the counter. He fought the urge to cry out in pain as his knee throbbed, but he let out only a long breath of air he'd been holding. He struggled to get his knees under him, and he coughed out, "Am I okay?"
"You tell me son, you landed hard." The older man answered quietly.
"I'm fine, did they see me?" Jacen asked gruffly, getting his feet under him and crouching down. He was safely hidden behind the counter as long he remained low.
"Nope, hurry up though." The older man barked, and Jacen flew quickly down along the back of the counter. With the office door closed, they couldn't hear much so he knew he didn't have to worry as much about how much sound he made. Arriving at the correct money drawer, Jacen stood up and eased his head over the counter's lip to see the office door and window. From this angle, they'd have to intentionally look over here. Assuming he was safe, Jacen stood up enough to see the top of the cashier drawer and tapped around on the computer keyboard above the drawer. Finally, after selecting a few options, the lock of the drawer snapped open and Jacen pulled the drawer. Sitting in the bottom of the drawer, a pair of blue-handled scissors rested there. He quickly grabbed them, and ran back along the counter, crouched.
Coming back to the safe spot he toppled over last time, he stopped and listened. It was still dead quiet, and Jacen finally asked, "Is it safe?"
"Yeah, I think so." The older man's low voice answered.
Jacen hopped up and rolled over the top of the counter, landing on his feet next to the man the two girls huddled near him. Jacen dropped the scissors on the ground next to the girl, and then hustled back across the floor. He turned and slid back into his spot next to the bank teller, lightly sweating and now very cold as the cool air washed over him. In the window, the two crooks were still on the phone and still very angry. Looking over at the man, Jacen saw the girl next to the older man cut his plastic ties from his wrists.
"Alright, so now what?" The older man asked, taking the scissors and starting to cut the girl's ties next to him.
"Now, I'm going to get the guy to take me back into the vault." Jacen answered, slowing his breathing back to its normal, docile rate.
"Why? Let's just cut everybody's bindings and we can take them both." The man retorted.
"No. We need to do this smart. I don't want all of these people trying to be heroes, too easy for a mistake to happen and somebody else to die." Jacen answered.
"How you going to get back in the vault?" The man asked. After releasing himself and the two girls next to him, he put the scissors on the floor in front of him and slid them across the floor. Stopping it dead with his boot, Jacen picked them up and held them in his hands.
The bank teller next to him put her hands on his thigh, and looked at him. He shook his head, "Sorry, I can't."
"Why not?" She whined, "Please, I'll do whatever you say."
"No, too many people free will create problems." Jacen felt the guilt in the pit of his stomach, and putting the scissors back onto the floor, he slid them back across the floor to the old man, "Use them only when I got these two out of the way, then release everybody."
The man nodded, "Okay, but how are you going to handle them?"
"I'm thinking..."
"I thought you said if you got them in the vault." One of the girls next to the older man said.
"Yeah, in those close quarters I'll have a chance to take him down without him getting a chance to react, but you'll have to deal with that girl," Jacen said, "But I don't know how I'm going to get him to take me in there..."
"Well," The man said, giving the scissors to the girl next to him who hid them in her blouse. The man folded his hands in his lap as if he was still tied, and said, "Let's come up with a plan, cause I think 'Bonnie and Clyde' are getting antsy."
Jacen looked over as the woman pounded the phone back into the receiver and the man paced along the window. The man was right, these two crooks were not getting what they wanted and pretty soon, they'd start making their point by sending dead bodies to the front door. Jacen sighed. While they'd made progress, they still had a long way to go and short time to get there.