We walk in silence for about an hour. I don't know where our final destination is, but I'm guessing it's high, seeing as we're heading for the bottom of some cliffs. I see Sayid check on me out of the corner of his eye every now and then. He still sees me as a kid. A useless child who will eventually get hurt and slow everyone down. I'll show him. If we actually are headed for the base of those cliffs, then he'll see that I can handle myself out here. He has no idea what I've been through.
After about another half hour we reach the cliffs. My heart is beating with excitement. This is my element. Finally I can contribute to our journey.
"What are we doing here?" the screaming girl asks.
"We have to go up the mountain," Sayid explains. "It will be faster than going around."
Sayid hands Kate the transceiver and begins to examine the best way to begin the climb. As he's doing that, I quietly here the CPR guy whisper to the screaming girl, "Regret coming on the hike yet, Shannon?"
"Nope," Shannon says back to him. It's like she's trying to prove something to him. I can see that he's getting frustrated with her, but he says no more.
Sayid gets done examining the mountain and walks over to me. "Are you sure you're capable of doing this?" he asks. I've had enough of this. Stop treating me like a child.
"I told you before that -," he cuts me off with a small smile.
"I mean your arm," he says, indicating the bandage still protecting my stitches.
I take the bandage off to find that the wound has healed and the stitches have come out. Jack will never believe this.
"I guess it's okay," I say to him, disbelief filling my voice.
"Then lead the way."
I walk over to the rock and try to find the best place to climb up. Eventually I'm able to map out a route of the best places to climb, and I waste no time in beginning the assent. One by one they follow behind me. I have to slow myself down for their benefit or else they'll lose the path to the top. I don't mind. It feels good to be climbing again. I haven't done this since… Well, let's just say I haven't done this in three years. Tears well up inside me as I think of my necklace. I quickly wipe them away and focus on climbing. I can't think about that anymore. I'm just going to have to accept the fact that it's gone.
Everyone makes it to the top safely, and I smile inwardly. They now know I can take care of myself.
The last person to make it over the ledge is Shannon. The CPR guy holds out his hand to help her up. Shannon ignores it, saying, "I don't need your help, Boone."
The guy named Boone keeps his hand extended incase Shannon needs it. She struggles, but she doesn't.
"Let's keep moving," Sayid says. I guess he really wants to get the transceiver working.
We plow on for another half hour, still in silence. We come to an area of high grass, and the trees have thinned out. We're tired and I can feel people getting restless, one of which is Sawyer.
"Okay, wide open space. We should check the radio, see if we're good."
I silently agree. We're not up as high as we could be, but it wouldn't hurt to just check it.
"We're not going to have any reception here," Sayid explains. True, but come on, Sayid, you never know.
"Just try it," Sawyer argues. Please don't start this again.
"I don't want to waste the batteries." Sayid's forcing himself to stay calm. I pray Sawyer doesn't say anything more. I can't take two fights in one day.
"I'm not asking you to keep it on all day," Sawyer retorts back.
"We're still blocked by the mountain." I'm impressed Sayid has stayed so calm.
"Just check the damn radio!" Sawyer yells.
"If I 'just check', we might not have any juice left when we get to-." A loud rumbling in the jungle ahead of us cuts off Sayid's shouts. The grass is too tall for us to see what it is, but something is definitely moving towards us.
"Oh, my God," Shannon squeaks beside me.
"What the hell's that?" Boone asks to nobody in particular.
"Something's coming," Kate states.
Sounds of running, grunting, and growling are coming from in front of us. I don't know what to do. Should we run from it or stay where we are and hope it doesn't see us?
"It's coming towards us I think," Charlie says.
"Come on, let's move," Kate says to us. Her and Sayid quickly take off running, closely followed by Boone pulling Shannon along, then Charlie and me.
We can't outrun this thing, there's no way. Where should we run? Should we hide? Should we get into one of the trees and hope it can't climb? God, please help us.
Whispers. All around me. I can't focus. Where am I running? I think I got turned around. I'm disoriented. The whispers continue and I fall behind from the group. Amid all the whispers I hear one voice that stands out. One I can actually understand. "Go back to Sawyer." That's it. The voice dies out, as do the whispers, and I'm left standing in the middle of the jungle.
I'm forced with a choice. Do I try to find shelter and protection or do I go back to Sawyer? I make my decision, one that I never really made. I run back to where Sawyer is still standing, waiting for that thing - whatever it is - to come charging through the jungle.
He stands his ground. I can feel the earth beneath me thud, as this thing gets closer. All of a sudden, Sawyer pulls out a gun from his jeans and starts firing it at this thing. One, two three shots go off, but it still charges straight for us. Four, five, six, seven. It doesn't slow down at all. Eight, nine. It's ten feet away now. It launches itself to jump on Sawyer as he fires the tenth shot.
The beast falls to the ground; its breath coming in slow gasps. As I look down at it, I can't believe what I'm seeing. Sawyer is in shock too. He doesn't even ask me why I came back. Thank God. How could I explain that?
Slowly, everyone comes back to take a look at their attacker. Everyone is stunned by what it is. Too stunned to speak.
Shannon is the first to break the silence. "That…. That's a big bear."
"You think that's what killed the pilot?" Boone asks. I don't know what he's talking about, and I honestly don't care.
"No," Charlie replies. "No, that's a tiny, teeny version compared to that."
Am I the only one who recognizes the obvious here?
"Guys, this isn't just a bear," Kate says. Finally, someone understands what I'm thinking."It's a polar bear," she concludes.
Boone bends down to take a look at this impossible animal. After a few seconds he stands back up. "That can't be a polar bear."
"It's a polar bear," Kate, Sayid, Charlie and I all say in unison.
"Wait a minute," Shannon interjects. "Polar bears don't usually live in the jungle."
"Spot-on," Charlie says to her.
"No, polar bears don't live near this far south," Sayid, states. This is weird. I mean, a polar bear! What is it doing out here? Are there more?
"This one does," states Boone.
"Did," Sawyer corrects. "It did."
Kate turns her attention to Sawyer. I sense something other than the bear is on her mind. "Where did that come from?" she asks him.
"Probably Bear Village. How the hell do I know?" Sawyer answers sarcastically.
"Not the bear, the gun," she asks hurriedly. I glance down at the gun Sawyer is still holding. I was so confused by the appearance of the polar bear that I hadn't even thought of the gun until now.
Now everyone else looks at Sawyer, intrigued.
"I got it off one of the bodies." I don't know whether to believe him or not.
Sayid doesn't. "One of the bodies?" he asks, doubt filling his voice.
"Yeah, one of the bodies," Sawyer retorts back. Will these two never get along?
"People don't carry guns on planes," Shannon points out to him. Is this a mistake in his story? Did he really get it someplace else?
"They do if they're a U.S. Marshal, sweetcheeks. There was one on the plane," he counters. If this is all an elaborate lie, he's good at it. What was it he said to me last night? "You've got a thing or two to learn about conning." Does that mean he's an expert at it?
"How do you know that?" Kate asks.
"I saw a guy lying there with an ankle holster, so I took the gun, thought it might come in handy," he explains. "Guess what? I just shot a bear!"
"So why do you think he's a Marshal?"
"Because he had a clip-on badge. I took that too, thought it was cool." I'm surprised he's answering all of Kate's questions so calmly. Lord knows if Sayid had asked these questions, they'd be at each other's throats by now.
"I know who you are," Sayid cuts in. "You're the prisoner."
My stomach jolts. Could it really be Sawyer? I quickly look at him.
"I'm the what? he asks accusingly.
"You found a gun on a U.S. Marshal? Yes, I believe you did. You knew where it was because you were the one he was bringing back to the States. Those handcuffs were on you. That's how you knew there was a gun." Sayid's explanation makes sense. But secretly I hope it's not Sawyer. There's a part of me that wants to trust him.
"Piss off!" Sawyer hollers back.
"That's who you are, you son-of-a-bitch!" Sayid retorts back. He believes he's right. I pray he's not.
"Be as suspicious of me as I am of you," says Sawyer.
"You are the prisoner," Sayid says again.
"Fine! I'm the criminal. You're the terrorist," Sawyer says. I notice how he says "criminal" and not "prisoner". Play-on words. My thoughts go back to his comment about conning. "We can all play a part. Who do you want to be?"
As he approaches a disgusted looking Shannon, Kate comes up behind him, rips the gun out of his jeans and points it at him. We all step back, except Sawyer, in shock. I don't know about him, but I don't want to be in front of that thing if she fires it off.
"Does anybody know how to use a gun?" she asks us.
"I think you just pull the trigger," Charlie states.
"Don't use the gun," Sayid says.
"I want to take it apart," she explains. Thank God for that.
Sayid explains how to take it apart. I don't really follow what he says, but Kate apparently does because within seconds she's removed both rounds of bullets. She gives the rounds to Sayid and hands the empty gun back to Sawyer. He goes to take it back from her but instead grabs her arm and pulls her close to him. He whispers something to her and she responds back, and then walks away.
I breathe out a sigh of relief as Sayid walks over to Kate. This island is incredible. First the whispers, then the noises, now a polar bear. What's next?
I'm loving this island more and more every second.