PENNY'S BOAT
CHAPTER 4: SALVATION
Jack pulled himself to his feet. He let the gun slip from his hands as he breathed heavily, "You made me- You made me do that, John." There came no response from the corpse that was once John Locke. Just a silence that chilled Jack to the bone. A few months ago he was just a guy on my plane. Now… What has this place done to me?
"We have to get help or she's gonna die, brotha!" Desmond shouted from behind. Jack turned, snapped out of his trance. He dashed back to Juliet and picked up the satellite phone.
"Minkowski?!" He demanded.
"I hear you loud and clear, Jack. There's been some trouble on our end, but things are-"
"There's no time. A woman's been stabbed here, we need help right now!"
"What? Who did this? Put Naomi on."
"Naomi is… Naomi's dead. A man named John Locke who was on our flight went crazy a few days in after he saw something in the jungle. He murdered Naomi and now he's attacked… someone else. You have to get here ASAP!"
"Shit… Alright I'm sending a chopper out with our doctor. What's the status on this guy Locke?"
"He's… he's dead. I had to shoot him."
"Jesus. Okay sit tight, we'll be right with you."
Jack disconnected the sat. phone and began inspecting the wound. The knife hadn't penetrated anything vital, but there was heavy bleeding. Juliet had an hour at most. Hurley knelt down next to Jack.
"Dude, what do we do?" Hurley asked with concern. He looked a little nauseas at the sight of so much blood, but he'd come a long way since the incident with Mars. Jack looked up at Hurley with a panicked expression. Hurley had never seen him like this.
"Hurley, there's a helicopter coming toward us right this moment. I need you to get everyone together and build a signal fire so they'll see us through all this rain. I realize it'll be nearly impossible in this weather, but if they miss us-" Jack didn't need to finish.
Hurley nodded, "You got it, dude. Fire coming right up." With that he gathered a small group to begin constructing the fire.
Jack turned to see Sayid whispering to the other survivors one by one. They were all nodding silently as the soldier went on to the next person. Finally Sayid came to Jack.
"Jack…" He leaned in, "It has been decided that we will not tell anyone in the outside world about our experiences here. There was no hatch, no Others, no Dharma Initiative. We just sat on that beach waiting for rescue. We're going to pass off Desmond and Juliet as Boone and Shannon until we get to the mainland, at which point they can make a break for it and regroup with us if they like later. Do you understand?"
Jack grimaced, "Yeah, I get it, Sayid, but right now my number one priority is getting us of this island alive." He looked down at the rapidly fading, Juliet, "All of us."
Dan clung tightly to his seat. The helicopter was swerving about rather haphazardly and he found himself wondering if Lapidus had been drinking again. He looked up and around the chopper at the assembled team. Ray, the ship's doctor had been pulled out of his sick bay to help with the injured woman. He looked a little miffed that he'd had to go out in the field. Next to him sat Sam Austen, the head of security for the expedition. He didn't talk very much, but Dan had been told by Naomi that he was once a legitimate soldier and had given up a cushy government position for his job on the freighter. It didn't make a lot of sense. Miles Straume sat next to Daniel. The short, Asian man was supposed to be some sort of medium. He seemed like a good guy, if a little rough round the edges. Hanging out of the side door, searching for any sign of the survivors was Charlotte Lewis. Daniel had sensed a weird tenseness from her ever since the freighter had come within a few miles of the island, but couldn't figure out what was making her so nervous. She was a sort of adventurer archaeologist, so it had to be something really daunting to faze her. Daniel looked up at the cockpit. Inside sat Frank Lapidus, a drunkard jack-of-all-trades pilot who had been assigned to Oceanic Flight 815 the day it crashed. If not for oversleeping, he'd be dead… or worse.
"There! There's a signal fire down there!" Charlotte cried out.
Frank looked back from the pilot's chair, "Everybody hold on tight, we're coming in a little rough in this weather. And- SHIT! Something's screwing with my instruments!"
Daniel frowned, "Careful, Frank. These aren't normal conditions. There's something very wrong about this whole situation."
Jack looked up as a spotlight shone down on the survivors surrounding the signal fire. He held Juliet's hand tightly, "See that? They're here. Y-You're gonna be alright. Just hold on a few more minutes." Tears were starting to run down his face. Jack had never felt so scared in his life. You've taken so much away from me. He thought, not sure who or what he was addressing, Please don't take her. Not again. I can't…"
"We're saved! My God, he did it!" Sawyer shouted as the chopper descended. The blades blew everyone back as it set down in the mud. Everyone stared in awe as six figures stepped out of the helicopter. One stepped forward slowly.
"My name is Daniel Widmore. I'm here to rescue you!"