We're sitting around a camp fire. Well, all of us except Rousseau, who stands to the side with Mikhail, who's tied up.
Sayid inspects his electrical map. "From the position of this stream, we should be here, and if the scale is right, his people are two miles in that direction," he points, then turns to Mikhail. "I don't expect you to confirm that."
"It's electrical wiring map, Sayid," Locke says, standing up. "I'm not sure it's as accurate as you think."
"Well it's certainly not as infallible as the magical carvings on your stick."
"Hey, the stick did get us to that station."
"Oh, the station which you accidentally blew up."
"Well, if you'da warned me that the basement was rigged with C4, I might'a been a little more careful."
Kate cuts in, turning to Mikhail. "Why don't you just tell us if we're going to right way?"
"You're going the right way," he answers passively.
"Remind me why we're keeping him alive." Locke asks.
"What do you suggest, we shoot him like a dog?" Sayid counters.
"No, I like dogs."
"He's right," Rousseau says, cutting in. "They will not trade his life for his friend's. We should shoot him."
"Whoa, calm down!" I say. "We're not shooting anybody."
"The map says where they are, and he says the map is right," Kate agrees. "Just keep moving."
We walk another two miles and Kate pulls out a water bottle. "Water?" she offers it Mikhail.
"No thank you."
"So how'd you get here?" Kate asks him. "How'd you get onto this island?"
"Don't waste your breath," Rousseau says. "Whatever he says will be a lie."
"I was recruited when I was twenty-four," Mikhail answers. "I was approached by a man—,"
Kate cuts him off. "I didn't ask you when, I asked you how."
"They brought me on the submarine."
"So your people," I ask. "They can just come and go whenever they want?"
"Oh yes, but two weeks ago, our underwater beacon stopped emitting its locator signal. There was an event, an electromagnetic pulse. It would be impossible to come back."
"Why would you want to come back to this place?" I ask him.
"You would not understand."
I turn around and face him, stopping the group. "Try me," I say.
"I misspoke," Mikhail grins. "What I meant to say is you are not capable of understanding."
"And why am I not capable?"
"Tia," Sayid warns me.
"Because you are not on the list," Mikhail answers.
"What list?"
"The man who brought me here, who brought all of my people here, he is a magnificent man."
"If this Ben guy is so magnificent, then why did he need one of us to save him?"
"Ben?" Mikhail says, confused. "Ben is not. I will try to make this as simple as I can. You are not on the list because you are flawed. Because you are angry, and weak, and frightened."
"The more I learn about your people," Sayid says to him. "The more I suspect you're not as omniscient as you'd have us believe. Don't speak to us as if you know us."
"Of course I don't know you, Sayid Jarrah. How could I?" Mikhail says. We all look at him with confusion. How does he know Sayid's last name? "And you, Kate Austen," he says, turning to her. "Are a complete stranger to me. And Tia Samuels, you and I couldn't possible know each other, as you pointed out on my couch yesterday. But you John Locke, you I might have a fleeting memory of, but I must be confused, because the John Locke I know was paral—,"
"Hey!" Rousseau shouts from beyond the tree line. "Look at this! Over here, come on."
We walk out of the jungle, facing a large open field. Giant…well I'm not entirely sure what to call them. I guess they're pylons, circle the field, all the way around, as far as I can see. "Well, looks like we're here." Locke says.
"What is it?" Kate asks, walking towards one of the pylons.
Sayid grabs her arm and pulls her back. "Don't touch it! Don't even go near it!" He turns to Mikhail. "What are these pylons?"
"What do you think they are?" he asks.
"A security perimeter," Sayid answers. "Those sensors on the side would be triggered if anyone passed between them. It's an alarm system, or a trap. Either way, we'd be safer going around it."
You're right," Mikhail answers. "It was a security perimeter. But like everything else on this island, it hasn't functioned in years."
"Of course it hasn't," I answer sarcastically.
"If you wish to waste your time, be my guest," Mikhail says. "The pylons encircle the entire Barracks. There is no going around them. If you don't believe me, look at your map."
Sayid grabs the electrical map out of his pocket and I look at it beside him. The forty or so houses on the map labled "Barracks" is indeed circled by tiny dots representing the pylons.
"He appears to be telling the truth," Sayid says.
Locke drops his pack and my eyes shoot up at the thump. He grabs Mikhail and starts walking him towards the pylons.
"John, John!" Sayid shouts in warning.
Locke shoves Mikhail between two pylons, Mikhail ending up on the other side.
The Russian just stares at us. "Thank you," he says, maliciously.
A large pulse sounds out from the pylons and the sight before my eyes is a gruesome one. Mikhail starts foaming at the mouth and twitching, not in control of his body. Blood spurts from the pressure point below his ears. His brain is hemorrhaging. The force of the pylons power throws him onto his back and he lays there, grunting and twitching before his body goes limp.
"Oh my god," Kate exclaims.
Sayid and I stare at Locke in disbelief. "Sorry," he mumbles.
I walk up and bend down, looking at Mikhail's body from our side of the pylons. "I think he just had a cerebral hemorrhage." I look back and Sayid is staring at me. "I think," I say again. "I can't be sure."
"Why did you do that?" Kate shouts at Locke. "We needed him!"
"They were never going to trade him for Jack," he answers.
"You don't know that!"
"Well you don't know it either! What we do know is that he shot one of his own people who didn't want to be in this exact situation. So I'm going to stick with my opinion."
"Yeah, well we could've discussed it."
"Nobody asked me about it when we brought him along in the first place!"
"Alright, everyone calm down!" I say, turning around and standing up.
"Pardon me, for not knowing that they had a— a sonic weapon fence," Locke says. "I didn't know he was gonna die, how would I know that?"
"Why are you really here?" Sayid says to him. "Are you here for Jack?"
"Why else would I be here?" Locke counters.
Sayid stares him down for a few more seconds. "We'll talk about this later," he decides.
"Fine by me," Locke replies. "Just tell me how we're gonna go through this."
"We're not going through it, we're going over it," Kate says. "Sayid, where's the axe?"
"It's in his pack," Sayid says, nodding to Locke.
"No wait a minute I got it," Locke protests, moving to his pack. "Here I got it."
Sayid, noticing the distress in Locke's voice, grabs the pack first, reaching inside. He pulls out a brown box of C4 explosives from The Flame, rigged with wire.
"I thought you didn't know there was any C4?" I say to Locke.
"Well I stand corrected," he says sheepishly.
"Why did you take it?" Sayid asks.
"You never know when a little C4 might come in handy."
"You'll have to do better than that," Sayid says, putting it back in the pack and grabbing the ax instead. He makes for the jungle.
We work diligently, taking turns hacking at trees with the ax. Eventually, we manage to rig up a long, thick tree, laying it on top of one of the pylons, allowing us to be able to climb over the round sensors that are on the sides of the pylons.
"The system appears to fire a sonic pulse when an object breaks the plane between two pylons. So, as long as we don't break the plane, we should remain unharmed," Sayid says.
"Why don't we just use the plastic explosive you took?" Rousseau asks Locke.
"Be my guest, you wanna go stick it on there?" Locke counters.
"Whoever climbs over, give those sensors a wide berth," Sayid instructs, pointing to the round things on the sides of the pylons.
"I'll go first," Kate volunteers. She climbs in top of the tree and shimmies her way up, reaching the pylon. She pauses momentarily at the sensor, then crosses. I exhale a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. She drops to the ground, landing beside Mikhail's body.
"I guess I'll go next," Locke says.
It takes a few minutes, but eventually, we've all made it across, Rousseau last, dropping down beside me. We ignore Mikhail's body as we follow Sayid across the field, towards the Barracks.
We come to another grouping of trees and walk inside them, sticking close. Sayid tells us to wait at a distance and he advances before us, leaving for a moment, and then returning.
"What?" Kate asks him.
"We're here."
We follow him to the edge of the tree line. On the other side, beyond the brush I see a series of averaged sized yellow houses. It looks like any suburban neighborhood. I hear a grunt to my left. Jack runs towards us, without seeing us in the brush. He reaches up over his head and catches a football and turns around, throwing it back. It's caught by an old acquaintance of mine.
Jack and a beardless Mr. Friendly are playing football!
Kate stares at them in disbelief. "What is he doing?" she asks, shocked.
Locke tells her to shush as Jack and Mr. Friendly continue their game.
I feel Rousseau beside me, start to leave. "Jack!" a voice calls from the distance. A pretty blonde woman comes out of the house. "She's the one who helped me and Sawyer escape," Kate tells us.
"What's up?" Jack asks her.
"Okay, I think it's going to be tomorrow," she says, catching the ball as Mr. Friendly throws it to her.
Sayid starts moving. "Hey, what?" I ask him.
"Danielle," he says, noticing her absence.
"John, Rousseau's gone," Kate tells him.
Locke ignores her and keeps watching Jack and the blonde woman. He pulls out binoculars to get a better look.
Jack and Blondie walk over onto one of the house porches. Jack exchanges words that I can't hear with a man in a wheelchair.
Henry Gale. AKA Ben, the leader of the Others. Jack shakes his hand, like old pals.
"This is going to be more complicated than we thought," Locke says, lowering the binoculars.
We walk away, back into the trees so they can't hear us. Kate grabs her pack and produces bullets for her rifle, loading it. "I'm getting him back," she says.
"So what's your plan exactly?" I ask her. "To go all commando on their asses and just shoot them at random? That is most certainly going to accomplish nothing, except your death."
"We came here to rescue Jack, and that's what we're going to do," she says.
"But obviously the circumstances have changed," Sayid argues. "He may not want to be rescued."
"That is not him! That's not Jack," she says, clearly upset. "They must have done something to him. When they captured us, they drugged us."
"Kate, he was playing football," I say. "Drugs make you drowsy and incoherent. He wasn't drugged, Kate."
"They kidnapped him! Held him prisoner! He wouldn't just forget that!"
"I agree," Sayid says. "But until we know why, we're putting our lives at risk."
Kate starts walking away. "I'm not leaving him, Sayid."
Sayid grabs her arm, stopping her. "You may not have a choice."
"It's Jack," Locke says, off to the side. "The first time I saw him he was risking his life pulling people out of burning airplane wreckage. If he's shaking hands with the Others, I'm sure he has a good reason. We just have to go down there and find out what it is."
"What do you suggest?" Sayid asks.
"We wait till it's dark, we approach Jack when he's alone. If he wants out, we get him out."
We wait the extra four hours in the brush of the trees, munching on mangos from my pack, cleaning and loading our guns. After the sun sets, we move back to the tree line. "Sayid, you guard the front. I'll go around and cover the back. Tia, you're at the side, near Sayid," Locke instructs. "Kate, you head in through the side door."
"I'm going in alone?" she asks.
"It's better if you're the first one he sees."
"Alright," she agrees.
I move, keeping close to Sayid, towards the house, my glock pointed at the ground. I watch as Kate moves inside.
It's incredibly quiet in the dark of their neighborhood. I wait, facing the house, hoping Kate can get Jack out of their quickly.
The next think I know, I'm clocked on the back of my head, but they didn't hit the sweet spot. I'm disoriented as I feel them take my glock from my hand. I regain my balance and start struggling against the person that grips my wrists together.
"Stop doing that," a man's voice says to me. But I ignore him and continue to struggle. I hear a punch that must be Sayid. I hope it was him throwing down and not the other way around.
The Other forces me through the front door of Jack's house. I can't get too good of a look, but he shoves me down a hallway and into carpet. Sayid lands down beside me.
"Hold him still!" a man shouts.
Kate calls Jack's name as they force her onto the floor beside me.
The Other giving the orders grabs my hair, pulling my face up to his. "Who else is with you?" I spit in his face and he lets me go. He moves over to Kate. "How 'bout you? Who else is with you?"
"Jack," Kate pleads.
"Just answer the question, Kate," Jack tells her.
"Okay, one more time," the Other in charge says, cocking his gun. "Who else is with you?"
Kate looks at me, then at Sayid. "Nobody. Nobody else, it was just us."
They take me to another house, handcuffing me to a ceiling post in the middle of its living room, forcing me to sit on the floor in an awkward position.
I sit there for a good half hour, the cuffs chafing my wrists. Mr. Friendly walks through the door.
"Hey there, Tia. Sorry about those handcuffs. But I'm sure if I let you go you wouldn't be to kind to me, would ya?"
I just stare forward. "Where are my friends?" I ask.
"They're fine. Nothing worse than you."
"Why should I believe you?"
"Why shouldn't you?" Mr. Friendly counters.
"Because you've infiltrated my camp. Kidnapped my people. Stolen my guns. Lied about who you really are," I say, gesturing around the room with my head.
"Well, you've got me there," he says. "Maybe we've gotten off on the wrong foot. My name's Tom."
"The wrong foot?" I ask, staring up at him for the first time.
"I can see you're still angry," Tom says.
I let out a chuckle. "Ya think?" I say. I take a deep breath. "How do you know my name?" I ask him.
"I know way more than your name, Tia," Tom says, reaching into his bag and pulling out a thick, red folder. "Tia Maria Samuels. Born to Donald Samuels and Eliza Reynolds April 8, 1981. Two brothers, Donald Jr. and Gilbert Reed. Your mother was shot and killed when you were sixteen by a thug trying to rob her. You dropped out of college twelve credits shy of a Bachelors in Biology at UCLA. You joined the US Army in 2003 as a 91-Bravo helicopter medic. You were shot in the left shoulder four months ago, right after you shot an Arab Forces solder in the head for your defense. You were Honorably Discharged from the military and moved to a facility in San Antonio. A week later, your father had you transferred to a treatment center in Sydney."
He pauses and I stare at the wall. "You done?" I ask him.
"You got any questions?" he asks me.
"What kind of questions?"
"You've been on this Island for eighty days. I've got everything about you, your family, your friends, right here on paper. Anything you want to know?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Well, most of the people on Flight 815? Their lives haven't really changed too much. But yours, Tia? A lot's happened while you've been here."
"Nice try," I say, looking back up at Tom.
"Excuse me?"
"You're trying to make me curious? Make me ask you for information? I'm not buying it. You want to take Jack away? Let him go off the Island? That's fine with me. I couldn't care less. Jack is a condescending control freak. Go ahead and get rid of him. I just want my friends back, safe. We'll go back to our side of the Island and we won't cross your line."
Tom smiles, standing and holding my red folder. "You don't want to know? That's fine with me. We're probably gonna let you go. Don't know when, but we probably will."
I turn my gaze back to the wall as he exits the room.