Charlie shivered in the icy darkness, finally realizing what the big black Dharma coats were for.
He gingerly held his right arm, the one he had used to break the fall. It was practically shattered, but Charlie could at least be relieved that no bones broke the skin. While he stood there, shaking and cradling his throbbing arm, Charlie struggled to remember what to do next. Jacob had given him instructions, detailed ones at that, but it was all different when Charlie was actually there.
When he had asked Jacob "why me?", Jacob had looked Charlie straight in the eyes with a funny expression on his face said, "You have been here long enough Charlie, and the only way for you to leave is to do what I'm asking." It was settled after that, and Charlie had departed to begin his new life as an other. Three years later, to a day Charlie had been half praying for, half against, Charlie was finally going to leave.
A massive shudder shook the entire cave and caused rocks to begin cascading from the ceiling. Charlie fell, onto his bad arm, and screamed in agony. He felt as though he had glass under his skin, stabbing him from the inside. Finally, the shaking stopped as abruptly as it started. Charlie reluctantly got to his feet, after much self encouragement. He had known there would be an earthquake caused by the drilling, but he hadn't know it would be that bad, or that it would reach him all the way at The Orchid.
Charlie's arm now hung limply by his side, and he bitterly wished, not for the first time, that there hadn't been any Dharma blokes around, making him have to go through the well. Fortunately for the mission, the Initiative hadn't filled the well yet, unfortunately for Charlie, his arm was now useless. Charlie looked up from examining his arm to see light coming towards him.
"H-Hello?" Charlie called out, "I-Is there s-someone there?" The cold made his whole body shake, but now, Charlie was shaking for a different reason. The light got closer, reflecting off the icy walls, and Charlie could only wait.
A tall, serious looking man in a suit and white sneakers came carrying a lantern through the tunnel, but he smiled when he saw Charlie.
"You made it." He said with an unmistakeable American accent. Charlie blinked through the brightness, as the man looked at him better.
"You've broken you arm." the man observed. He didn't seem to be cold at all. Charlie nodded impatiently.
"Can you help me?" Charlie was able to muster without stammering. The man raised his lantern again and turned to leave, saying "This way." Charlie followed. It got a bit warmer as they moved further, and Charlie was able to relax a little. They came to a wide opening and into a large cavern with a giant frozen wheel jutting out of the wall.
"My arm is broken, can you?" He motioned at the wheel, swaying on its axis. The man shook his head.
"You must do it yourself." he said. Charlie thought he recognized something about the man, how he looked like someone he knew. The thought passed with sudden anger.
"What?! My arm is broken I can't move it you crazy nutter!" The man simply smiled and then stood in the corner. Charlie looked around wildly, realizing he was alone. The cavern began shaking again, a slow, steady humming filled the room and Charlie knew that it was time. The bomb hadn't gone off, and his friends would die of radiation.
Charlie took a deep, steadying breath and grabbed the wheel with his left hand and tried to turn it - the whole cavern was shaking - Charlie tried harder - it wouldn't work - he used his right hand, pain exploding all over - the wheel began to turn. Charlie gritted his teeth through the pain and pulled with everything he had. The cavern began to fill with white light, and suddenly time stopped.
Charlie's mind was bombarded with images, memories. The plane crash, beach, ocean, throwing the statues into the ocean, holding Aaron for the first time, Claire. Except this wasn't the Claire he knew, it was the crazy feral Claire who had tried to kill him. The Claire that had lost everything. Charlie wondered if Claire would still be like that when, if he saw her again.
Charlie decided that didn't care, he wanted to see her anyway. He yanked a the wheel and took A last look at the only other person in the room. The man smiled and then said, "Take care of my daughter." Charlie was wondering what he meant when everything went white.
Charlie fought for reality when he found himself laying on the ground in a completely different place than he was before. The sun was beating down on the caked, dry earth beneath him. Charlie lifted his head, but couldn't keep it up. He managed to turn his head to the side, and that besides the desolate landscape with mountains in the distance, there was a camera on a stick pointing right at him. The lens focused and an alarm sounded from behind him. Charlie turned to see a large building off in the distance. It looked to be newly built.
"Help!" Charlie croaked at the camera. A van came speeding out from the building, headed right for Charlie. It tires screeched as it kicked up dust clouds. People came running out of the van in a blur. Charlie waited for someone to help him up, but nobody did. They simply stood around him. Charlie noticed one of them with a rope. Another had a plastic bag with an unused syringe and a bottle in it. All of them were gloved and masked. Someone else walked out of the car.
"Is this one of them?" one person called out.
Someone else asked, "Can he help us find it?" They seemed strangely excited that a has-been rock star had popped out into the desert.
Charlie heard gravel crunching as the person neared. Someone shuffled aside to let this person through. Charlie blinked in the sunlight until a shadow darkened over him, allowing him to see. Leaning over him was unmistakably Eloise Hawking. Charlie knew that it was her even though she had aged at least 30 years. She had the same cold expression in her eyes masked by a smile across her lips. She nodded.
Everything else was a blur. Charlie tried to fight as the bound him, but his arm hurt too much. The man with the syringe opened his bag and measured a dosage. Hands lifted him up slightly and he felt a pinch at the base of his neck.
"No," Charlie tried to tell them he wasn't who they wanted, but he couldn't talk. His vision swam in and out of focus as he felt the drugs wash into his system. The last thing he saw was Eloise smiling over him.
Everything went dark.
After that, Charlie was never fully coherent. He noticed when they had moved him; the long, bumpy car ride had negated some of the effects of the drugs. Masked people would come into his room, ask him question about the island; how he managed to leave, where it was now, what healing properties it had, who else was there, who was Jacob, what is the monster, et cetera. He noticed that his arm was fixed, bandaged while the other was restrained. Eloise would talk, but only ever over the speakers. She was the only one that did. Charlie hoped that some part of her felt guilt, maybe even remorse. But every time, she would ask the same questions, with more urgency than the others, and when he told her the island had moved, she would send in the doctors and scientists. Charlie supposed that she wanted to get back to the island more than anything.
Eloise had told her colleagues that Charlie hadn't aged in 30 years, she had pictures to prove it. The others would get excited, wanting to figure out this "medical mystery" even though Eloise knew that Charlie had just moved through time. It obviously served her purposes well; if he didn't tell her everything, she'd send in the doctors to study him. It didn't work, as Charlie blatantly refused to answer.
It must have been months and still, Charlie was trapped. His life was a never ending parade of doctors, speakers, and drugs. Everything was the same, the days crawled by one after another until Charlie had just about given up hope. Until, a voice came over the speaker. And it wasn't Eloise.
"Charlie? Charlie can you hear me?" Charlie immediately became alert, yet he was certain that he was dreaming. He hadn't heard that voice in over three years.