Building Team Hurley
"I have to say, I'm a little surprised we're headed into the jungle and not making our way down to the heart of the island," Ben followed Hurley, who was walking at a fast clip and swatting at tree branches. As long as he'd lived here, Ben couldn't imagine where they were going. There wasn't much in front of them for miles as far as he knew except for more of the same.
But he was heartened that Hurley seemed to be taking charge, at least a little. Hurley had been crushed and tearful when it hit him Jack was dead. Ben had given him some words of encouragement, reminded him that there'd be time for mourning later but that they had a lot to do right now. It didn't seem to help at first. Ben was making a mental note that he should start honing his persuasive skills that didn't involve exploitive manipulation and fear, when Hurley suddenly stood up and asked him to follow.
"I expected you'd want to try to find Jack, or … well, find his body," Ben said.
"I'll be going to get him soon," Hurley's voice was flat but determined. "But not he's not where you think he is, he's not in the cave with the light anymore."
"How do you know where he is?"
"The island told me."
Ben picked up his pace to catch up and stopped Hurley with a hand to the shoulder.
"What do you mean, the island told you? The monster said the same thing to me once, before I realized it wasn't really John Locke. He said the island had told him where and when to go to the site of the crashed drug plane… so that Richard could tell him how to get the rest of you back here."
"Oh, man, can we please leave the time travel out of it for now?" Hurley looked truly pained. "My head hurts enough without adding all that confusion to the conversation. Seriously, the time traveling had better be over for good, because if it starts up again I think it'll kill me. Then you'll have to run this place on your own. Wouldn't that be funny?"
Hurley took a few steps away to fill his canteen in a stream.
"You'd finally be getting what you wanted, right?"
"No, it wouldn't be funny. And it's definitely not what I want… anymore." Ben said. "I'm sorry, I know you're still in shock. It doesn't matter exactly why or where the monster told me that story. It's just that once I realized it was him and not Locke who was speaking, I assumed he'd been lying and he just knew where to go from past experience. I've never heard of the island talking to anyone. Is it literally like it's speaking to you?"
Ben asked it urgently, but without the bitter jealousy he'd carried around when he thought Locke had a closer communion with his own home than he'd ever had.
"No, it's not like that. It's more like I just know things I didn't know a minute ago. Not everything about this place, but some things. I know where Jack went to die. I know where we'll find Desmond."
Hurley started walking again, but slowly.
"I can see them. It feels like I'm remembering things, but I know they're not memories, they're things that are happening right now."
"Well then maybe you won't need a Number Two helping you out for very long at all, Hugo." There was some disappointment in Ben's voice.
"Oh yes I will," Hurley said. "I've got so much to learn I can't even think about it all right now. I'll have to wait and think about it tomorrow, or I'll throw myself off that cliff I almost jumped off of once."
"Really?" Ben was taken aback. "You were going to do that? A candidate can't kill himself, something would have stopped you."
"Yes, something did," Hurley said. "Someone, actually. Libby did." He stopped.
"We're near the cabin where Rose and Bernard are living. Let me do the talking, okay? They don't have any reason to trust you yet, and well, it's going to take awhile before they do. Bernard might take my word for it. But Rose, she's no-nonsense, man, and she doesn't like you."
"Don't worry about my feelings, Hurley," Ben grimaced. "I'm very used to it. As long as she doesn't try to beat me senseless, I'll be ahead of the game, really."
Bernard saw them coming first, and called Rose who was within earshot hanging out their laundry. They walked over to greet Hurley, Bernard with a handshake and Rose with a long silent hug. Hurley looked her in the eye and shook his head, fighting back tears one more time.
"I take it your war with that hateful thing is over, and you won," Rose said. "Or you wouldn't be here, Hurley, you'd still be doing whatever it took to stop it." Hurley nodded. "But not everyone made it, I guess?"
"Kate did. Kate, Sawyer, Claire. Miles from the freighter, and Richard Alpert too. They're gone, Frank Lapidus, the pilot flew them away."
"Flew them away? With what?" Bernard asked as Rose led Hurley to a long wooden table. Hurley and Rose sat while Bernard got them all some water, wordlessly handing Ben a cup too. He took it and sat in a chair a few feet away.
"They left with the plane we flew back to the island on. Jack died fighting with the smoke monster. But first he and Kate killed it, and Jack saved the island. Then he died. He died about an hour ago."
There was silence all around for awhile. Rose frowned, shook her head.
"Saved the island? Hurley, no insult to Jack but why in the world didn't he just stay home once he got there? Let me guess- now you're going to take up the fight, what, until you die protecting the island too?"
"I don't know Rose, but maybe. That's pretty much what I promised Jack I'd do," Hurley said, "And what he promised Jacob he would do. There's a lot we have to tell you… about the reasons for it all, and I promise we will. But right now the two of you are hiding out here in the jungle trying to stay safe by not taking sides and I don't think that's going to work anymore. It's not over and it's never going to be over. And I need your help."
More silence. Ben got up and brought another jug of water over, and walked around the table filling cups. Rose looked up at him.
"And what do you have to say about all this?" Rose asked him. "I don't remember you as the strong silent type, it seemed you just about never shut up all those months after we crashed here, always telling us what we had to do and why our people shouldn't leave the island. In fact you did everything you could to make our lives miserable. Why should we even consider working with you or becoming knights at your round table?"
"Hurley asked me to let him do the talking, and I'm going to let him." Ben set the water down. "All I can say is that everything I did was in the interests of the island. And now he's in charge of it, and it's my job to be his right hand man."
"I'm not sure how useful a Number Two you can be when Number One needs to keep an eye open all night to make sure he'll still be alive in the morning," Rose replied tersely, "Hurley could die of exhaustion."
"It's not going to be like that," Hurley said. "And we're going to live at the Dharma barracks, not on the beach or in the jungle. I need furniture, and rooms and a roof if I'm going to keep my head together. I don't expect you to just move there with us today, but I sure hope you both will. We need to be ready," Hurley said. Nobody asked for what.
Bernard and Rose sat looking at each other, and Bernard's face didn't move but a rueful smile was in his eyes. "It's up to you, Rose. Whatever you decide. But we've tried and they just keep coming back for us. Maybe it's time to return to being part of what passes for civilization around here."
Rose sighed. "Hurley, can we get back to you? I need a couple of days to think about this."
"Yes, but I do need your help with something right now. I need to send Ben to help Desmond get to the sailboat and head home. And I need you and Bernard to help me get Jack's body back to the beach camp."
'"Where is he, Hurley?" Bernard asked.
"The bamboo grove. I don't know the way exactly, but Vincent will take him to us."
Bernard stood up, walking around. "Speaking of which, where is Vincent? I haven't seen him for a couple of hours. He wanders more than he used to but he usually doesn't wander that long."
The words weren't out of his mouth before they heard Vincent's paws in the brush headed their way and then saw his panting, smiling face. He walked up to Hurley and sat back on his haunches.
"Well, it looks like you've got Vincent on Team Hurley, whatever happens," Rose got up, and picked up her backpack, filling it with bottles of water. "And I sure do hope you have a few more recruits in mind because I can tell you our two tired, reluctant selves are not going to be nearly enough for whatever it is you need to accomplish."
Hurley grinned a little, realizing he'd convinced her though she wasn't ready to say so yet.
"Yes, I have some ideas. But that can wait. And I need to talk with Ben first, when he gets back."
"Let's get going," Rose started walking, motioning to Vincent who barked one short bark and led the way. "Maybe we can make it to the beach by dark."
Ben left them about a tenth of a mile later. He agreed to go find Desmond, who was already off looking for a way to Hydra Island where the sailboat The Elizabeth was anchored. Ben would lead him to one of the outriggers, help him paddle over, and make sure he was underway before heading back to the site of the 815 beach camp.
"Ben, there's one more thing," Hurley motioned for him to stop. "Between now, and when Desmond sets sail, I need you to figure out a way to convince him to come back."
"What, after all he's been through? Why in the world would he ever think about coming back?"
"I know, but just the same I need you to convince him to go get Penny and Charlie and come back to work with us. Maybe not permanently, maybe they won't come live here for good but we're going to need them. And no, I don't have any brilliant ideas about how to convince him," Hurley said, slapping Ben on the back. "So good luck with that Dude, don't screw up your first assignment for me, okay?"
Hurley walked away with Rose and Bernard, leaving a stricken-looking Ben wondering what he could possibly say to convince Desmond to return.