Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I don't own LOST.
Jack was startled awake. The dreams just kept getting worse and worse. He shook his head and sat up, looking at his surroundings. He had no idea of where he was, and for a minute he wondered if he was back on the other island. If that were true, then Jack was right back where he started. In a cell. But this time there was no Juliet, and there was no Kate. He was alone.
In a way, that should have made him feel relieved, but knowing that Kate was out there somewhere with a clone of himself didn't make him feel very good. He knew the Others were bad, but he had never expected something like this.
Jack realized that the door to his cell was open, and Jack slowly stood and walked over to it. The last time the door had been left open for him they had set him up to see Kate and Sawyer. He shook his head, trying for the millionth time to rid the image from his head.
He cautiously stepped outside and saw a hallway much like the one back at the hatch. He walked down it, not knowing what to anticipate.
The hallway turned into a rather small room, but it was obvious that people had been there. Along one of the walls there were a bunch of tvs and in the middle there were recliners and a computer. Jack walked over to it but didn't bother to do anything. He noticed a bunch of notebooks and he picked one up. The cover said that it was the Pearl Station. Jack tried to remember if anyone had ever mentioned it before. He couldn't think of anything and he went over to the tvs. None of them worked, though two of them gave him static.
Jack checked the station and realized that he was alone. He walked over to a ladder and started to climb it, but then he heard noise outside and he quickly went back down and hid in the cell that he had been in.
He heard someone come into the station and he held his breath as he realized the person was coming right to him.
"Jack?"
"Alex?" Jack stood up as Alex came in.
"Jack." Alex smiled but then quickly got serious. "You need to leave now."
"What?"
"You need to go back to your camp, with your people. My people have left. My father decided that he wanted to leave the houses and live in the forest."
"Why? He can't recover that way."
"Your friend, Locke. He told Ben something that made him do this. I don't know. It's something about cheating." Alex shook her head.
Jack bristled at the thought of Locke. "So Locke's with him?"
"Yeah, But you need to go and so do I."
"Wait. I don't know how to get back."
Alex hesitated. "Okay. I'll help you. Follow me."
Jack followed her out of the station and they climbed to the top. "Where are we?"
"That was the Pearl Station."
Jack immediately spotted the airplane. "Where'd that come from?"
"We don't know. It was up there." Alex pointed to the cliff. "But then it fell somehow."
Jack's jaw dropped as he realized this was the plane that had killed Boone.
"Come on." Alex motioned to him.
They continued to walk and Jack tried not to ask so many questions, but there were things he needed to know.
"Did you guys really clone me?"
Alex didn't say anything for a minute before she replied. "Yeah. You were actually the first person we've ever done it on. It worked great."
"Oh well I'm glad I could help." Jack said sarcastically. "Are you going to clone everyone now?"
"No."
"How do I know you're not a clone?"
"Trust me. My father wouldn't clone me."
"I don't know. Your father is a pretty evil guy."
"He wouldn't clone me." Alex said firmly, as if to convince herself.
"Right. So.. this clone. He's powerful?"
"Very. You need to kill him as soon as you get to camp. It would be better if you could kill him and change into his clothes so that no one ever knows you were cloned."
"Not even Juliet?"
"Don't tell her. Juliet makes you think you can trust her, but you can't trust her. No matter what she does, don't listen to her."
"What's going to happen when they realize I'm gone?"
"They're never going to notice. They'll find your dead body down there in the Pearl Station and they won't see the difference."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Now stop talking. We'll be there soon."
Jack stayed quiet as they made their way back to his camp, trying to remain levelheaded.
