Chapter 7

The Task (P.D.I.)

Jack and Kate stood close together, weaponless and out of anyone's earshot. There was no chance that any of the other survivors would hear them if they needed to call for help. Kate cursed herself for having gone so far from camp. Each of the men wore a bullet proof vest. They reminded Kate of some special ops team. She knew that these guys weren't there for search and rescue, and prayed that the mission wasn't to search and destroy.

"What do you want?" Jack asked in a firm but calm voice.

"All we want to do is help you and your friends get back home," Said Stanley as he took a step closer. "But, first we're going to need you to do something in return."

"And what's that?" Jack said keeping his eye on the other two men.

Stanley turned and took something from one of the other men. It was a large manila envelope. He tossed it to Jack. Jack opened the envelope and pulled out what looked like a red file. The file bore the name Benjamin Linus. "All you need to do is find this man and bring him to me and then we can all go home. It's that simple."

"What do you want with him?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"We just need to ask him a few questions?"

"And that's all?" Jack said with disbelief.

"That's all."

"And what if we can't find him?"

Stanley's tone changed from nice to threatening. "Oh you will find him, and you will bring him here, because if you don't, you and your people are going to die here." Stanley nodded to someone beyond their view and a fourth man dressed identical to the other three men emerged from the concealment of the jungle. The man had with him a woman with blond hair and blue eyes, her hands were cuffed behind her. It was Juliet.

"Jack, I'm sorry." There was fear in her eyes and in her voice.

"Let her go!" Jack shouted. "This is completely unnecessary. We'll do whatever it is you want…we'll bring Ben here, just let her go."

"That's what I want to hear Jack."

Jack glared at the man. One of the men behind Stanley took out a small grey case and handed it to Stanley. Stanley opened it and took out what looked like a gun, but it had a needle inside the barrel and a glass vial full of amber colored liquid that was attached to it. Kate thought that it looked rather similar to the auto-injector that Desmond used to inject the Dharma vaccine into his arm.

Stanley took it and walked over to Juliet, who started to struggle with the man that was holding her. "Get off me!" She screamed.

Jack sprinted and tackled the man called Stanley. The injector flew from Stanley's hand and landed in front of Kate. Kate reacted quickly and grabbed the device and just as she was about to smash it against the tree to ensure that they couldn't use it on them, something hit her hard against the chest and she fell to the ground gasping for breath. One of the other two men who was standing behind Stanley had hit Kate with the bottom of his rifle and now stood with his boot pressed against her chest and the tip of the barrel of his weapon now mere millimeters from her face.

"Don't move." The man said in a deep serious tone. Kate couldn't feel the injector in her hands anymore, and could hear Jack being restrained somewhere off in the distance.

"Bring her over here." Kate heard a husky voice say, and within seconds the pressure from the man's boot eased off her chest. He gripped Kate's arm tightly as he pulled her up and over to where Jack was. He was kneeling on the ground blood dripped from his lip. Kate looked at Stanley and saw that Jack wasn't the only one that had taken a beating, Stanley's lip and nose were bleeding, and there was a large gash over his right eye.

Stanley spat on the ground, came over and stood in front of Jack. He had the injector in his hand. "Do you know what this is Jack?" He said putting the injector close enough to Jack's face so he could get a good look at it. Jack gave no answer. "It's a deadly virus that is highly contagious. All I have to do is inject it into one of you, and within a week the rest of you will be dead." He said struggling to suppress his anger.

"This particular virus stays dormant for a period of up to 24 hours; then it becomes active. Once in its active stage it is able to be contracted by anyone who gets near it. 24 hours from the time the virus becomes active, unless the person receives the proper treatment from us, they will die."

Both Jack and Kate were horrified by what they just heard. Stanley walked over to Juliet.

"Don't you do it…Stanley NO!" Jack pleaded, but it was useless. Stanley had injected Juliet with the virus.

He turned back to Jack. "You now have 48 hours until she dies. Bring us Ben and she will get the treatment. You can save her Jack, I suggest you hurry."

"You son of a bitch." Jack shouted horrified at what had just happened. The men that surrounded them released and un-cuffed Juliet then retreated back into the jungle.

Before he left, Stanley threw Kate a radio and instructed her to call once they've found him.

Jack helped Juliet to her feet and examined the injection site.

"How do you feel?" He asked Juliet as he looked at her with concern

"I…I don't know…a little nauseous…but it's not bad." She laughed slightly. "It's probably just the fact of knowing that I'll be dead in two days."

"Don't say that. Juliet you are not going to die. We will find Ben."

"How? You don't know where he is, and if Locke took him, he could be dead for all you know."

Jack looked back at Kate for some support.

"Come on, let's get her to someplace safe." Kate said.

"Well we can't go back to the camp. None of us can, we can't risk infecting everyone else." Jack said.

"What about the caves?" Kate asked.

"You can come with us." Jack said to Juliet.

Juliet shook her head. "So I can infect you? No!"

"How do you know you haven't already?"

"Jack we're running out of time, we need to decide and start moving." Kate said interrupting them.

Jack nodded then looked back to Juliet. "I'll be fine at the caves." She stated.

"Ok, let's go." Jack sighed in defeat.

Jack Kate and Juliet started on their way to the caves. Jack pulled out the black walkie that he had taken from Ben earlier and prayed that someone would respond before he spoke. "Hurley, are you there? Please answer."

There was nothing but silence on the other end. Jack tried again.

"Is anyone there? It's Jack."

"Maybe they don't have it on." Kate said.

"Jack, we're here. Go ahead." A voice broke through. Jack sighed in relief.

"Sun! This is very important; no one can go to the caves for any reason. You have to make sure that everyone stays at the beach. Tell Sayid that the people who are supposed to rescue us aren't who they say they are. They are very dangerous."

"Jack what happened, where are you?"

"Sun, I can't explain right now, you're just going to have to trust me. Kate and Juliet are with me, and we won't be back for a few days. Tell Sayid and stay on the beach. Just remember that these people are armed and dangerous."

"What people?"

"The ones from Naomi's boat. Sun Promise me."

"O—okay, I promise…Jack wait."

"Yes Sun?"

"Be careful."

"You too."

Hey everyone, I just want to say thank you for continuing with this story. I know that it doesn't seem like this is going anywhere, but I promise you that it is. I just did the outline for this entire story last night, and it is going to be long. I'm going to leave you with the titles for the next few chapters as a sort of preview of what's to come. ;)

Ch8: On the Run

Ch9: Time for Redemption.

Ch:10: Out of Time

Ch:11: Telling Lies

Ok that's all for now. Will update as soon as I can!