Chapter 11
Lauren awoke a week after the crash to hear shouting outside her tent. As Lauren fully came to her senses, she could hear part of the yelling was in Korean. The group had run out of food from the plane, and only fish remained, and Sawyer was being his usual prick self.
"Hand over the fish short straw!"
The Korean man, Jin, yelled back unintelligibly, keeping the fish out of Sawyer's grasp.
"Hey, hey," Lauren heard Jack approach the altercation. Lauren debated on getting out of the tent and into the drama, but she realized she couldn't hide forever, and she was hungry. She exited the tent to find that most people were on Sawyer's side. Gaunt and pale, the camp had turned on Jin and his wife Sun, who guarded their last two fish. The couple had fashioned nets from the vines in the jungle, but the dozen or so fish they were able to catch a day was not enough to feed the 42 survivors.
"Leave him alone!" Jack pushed Sawyer away from Jin, followed closely by Locke, then began to address everyone, "It's been 7 days and we're all still waiting. Waiting for someone to come. But what if they don't? We have to stop waiting. This man has been providing us with the only food we've had for days and now you want to crucify him? We need to start figuring things out. We can't do this. Every man for himself is not going to work. It's time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we're going to survive here. Now, I found food. There are boar in the valley. Locke has hunting knives, he'll take a group of volunteers with him. If you don't want to go, then find another way to contribute. Last week most of us were strangers. But we're all here now. And God knows how long we're going to be here. But if we can't live together, we're going to die alone."
Lauren stared at Jack alongside the other survivors. Now was the time… Everyone was gathered, it was her best chance.
"Jack's right," The group turned to look at Lauren, and she felt incredibly self-conscious, "We might be here awhile… before we crashed, the pilot informed us that he lost communication with the ground and we had turned to land in Fiji. When we hit turbulence, we were over a thousand miles off course... But," Laurne emphasized, "Sayid is figuring out the radio and the signal fire is burning strong. They have ways of finding us! We are not doomed." Her voice was strong by the end of her speech, but her stomach was flip flopping. Am I lying to them?
The survivors were astonished by this information, and they all turned to whisper amongst themselves. Locke walked away to gather his supplies for the hunt, and Lauren started to follow him, when Sawyer grabbed her arm.
"That true? They're looking for us in the wrong place?" He growled, his mouth only inches from Lauren's ear. She froze, but managed a nod. "And you didn't think to mention this a week ago?"
Lauren finally ripped her arm out of his grasp, "Like it would have changed anything," she said as she tried to leave. Sawyer let her pass, but he watched her walk away with a sinister look on his face.
Lauren jogged to catch up with Locke but was again interrupted, this time by Sayid. In one hand he held a shoddy looking antenna that had wires peeking through the duct tape encompassing it, in the other the transceiver.
"Did you fix it?"
"Possibly," Sayid looked to where Locke stood, "Were you planning on going on the hunt?"
"How did you know?" Lauren asked.
"I had a feeling, you know how to handle yourself… for the most part," Sayid peered at her through thick eyelashes. Lauren hadn't noticed how beautiful his eyes were. An awkward silence fell between them until Sayid finally continued.
"Will you help me, Lauren?" She nodded, fighting the blush that crept up her neck. "Take this with you and fix it to a high point, a tree perhaps. I will take another one I made to a point in the mountains, and Boone will have one here. Using these antennas we can triangulate the French woman's distress call. If we can find its source, maybe we can find rescue."
Lauren took the antenna from his hand and put it in her pack. She understood the importance of her mission, and she gave Sayid her word she would accomplish this. Finally, Lauren made her way to Locke and invited herself along on the mission.
****Passage of Time****
Locke slid his hand along the base of a tree, showcasing to the group the tusk marks that damaged the trunk. Locke had told them to remain silent, and now he was waving his hands around to direct them where to go. Lauren tried to understand the signals, and crept across the jungle to the other side of the tree. Snuffling and squealing was heard nearby and Locke held his hand up to stop the group from moving. He unsheathed his knife and the others followed suit; he took two steps forward and the hog came barrelling forward. Locke evaded it gracefully, but Lauren was too slow. The boar wasn't coming at her at first, but changed paths and swiped her calf with its tusk. She screamed in pain and the boar ran further into the jungle, followed by two piglets.
"Are you ok?" Michael asked, kneeling next to her in concern. Lauren glanced down at her leg to see blood seeping through her torn jeans. She ripped the tear apart even more to reveal a deep gash in her calf.
"In my pack," Lauren breathed heavily, "grab a towel." Michael did as she asked and handed it to her. Lauren took the towel and pressed it down on her wound, she flinched in agony and grabbed Michael's hand to apply further pressure. Locke walked past them, not even checking on Lauren.
"What are you doing?" Lauren yelled through the pain.
"I'm going after 'em," he responded.
"Locke, you can't," Michael shouted after him.
"Don't tell me what I can't do," he said before disappearing through some trees.
Lauren looked at her leg and up at Michael, then braced herself on his shoulder and hoisted herself up. She let go and balanced on one leg, then took a small limp forward before saying, "Go with him."
"What?"
"It's not that deep, Michael. I'll be ok, but if Locke can kill one of those things, he's not going to be able to bring it back on his own. Everyone is counting on us. Go."
Michael stood there uncertainly, before picking up his pack and running after Locke. Lauren limped forward, wincing in pain, but she remembered her mission, and was determined to complete it. She glanced around her and saw a tall tree up the hill. Slowly, painfully, Lauren made her way up to it. Once there, she carefully fell to the ground. Lauren had felt the blood pooling in her socks on her trek to the tree and she had to take a moment to wrap her leg. As soon her bottom touched the ground, Lauren heard a click and her whole body was lifted up into the tree.
****Passage of Time****
Lauren awoke to snuffling underneath her. Her face was pressed to the nets and she could feel the indents lining her face. She looked around to see the source of the sound, and noticed three boar nosing the ground. Lauren didn't know how long she was unconscious, but as soon as the net snatched her up, she had blacked out. Lauren examined her leg, which was basically above her as she was pretzeled into the trap. Kinda lucky, Lauren thought. The elevation of her leg had slowed the bleeding, and by now a scab was beginning to form. A hog squealed beneath her and Lauren jumped. Glancing down, she noticed the boar were on alert. Their ears turned back and their snuffling ceased, all three frozen under the tree. Lauren couldn't understand why until a gun shot rang through the air, and the boar closest to Lauren fell over with a sickening squeal. She looked up to see a wild woman in shabby clothes walk through the trees. Their eyes met and Lauren's blood ran cold. She wasn't on the plane.
The other boar scattered at the sound of the gun shot, but didn't disturb the woman. She crept forward towards Lauren, her eyes glistening in the moonlight that showed through the canopy. She made her way over to the base of the tree, never breaking eye contact nor lowering her gun. She tugged a rope that Lauren hadn't seen and Lauren fell to the ground. She cried out in pain from her leg, but quickly scrambled up to the trunk of the tree, shielding her backside.
"Who are you?" The woman questioned in a French accent. Lauren gaped.
"I'm a survivor of a plane crash. Flight 815. We crashed here a week ago!"
The woman gazed at her skeptically, then lifted the butt of her rifle, and smashed it to Lauren's temple.
****Passage of Time****
When Lauren opened her bleary eyes, she noticed two things. The first was that she was no longer in the jungle, she was in a room of some sort. The second was that she was strapped down to a bare mattress. Her leg throbbed in pain but before she could say anything Lauren felt a jolt of electricity course through her. The sensation alternated between ice cold numbness and violent vibrations. It went through her arms and down her legs, until her whole body was convulsing against the mattress.
"Where is Alex?" The French woman demanded. Lauren cried out in pain, but the shock stopped, and she was left breathing raggedly. "Where is Alex?" She questioned again. Lauren whimpered gibberish but the woman slammed down a switch and the current coursed through her again and again.
"PLEASE, I DON'T KNOW ANY ALEX!" Lauren finally screamed. Again the electricity ceased and Lauren sobbed hysterically. "Please…" she whimpered.
"Did you really crash here?" The woman said after a few moments.
"Yes," Lauren cried softly. Through tear filled eyes, Lauren peered around the room. We must be underground, Lauren thought as the only light that trinkled in came from a small crack near the top of the enclosure. Dirt stairs led to the light and Lauren figured that was the way out. At the end of the mattress was a chain link fence that separated the two women. Behind the French woman hung a jacket with Rousseau printed on it. Lauren whispered the name.
"How do you know my name?"
"It's on your jacket, just behind you." Lauren tried to point but her hands were still restrained.
"What is yours?" The woman's hand hovered over the switch threateningly.
"Lauren," she quickly gasped, "Please, I'll tell you anything you want!"
"I want to know where Alex is!" And the woman slammed the switch down again and Lauren felt the shock just before she went unconscious.
****Flashback****
I'm going to kill him, Lauren thought as she twisted her wrists together. She could hear her mother calling her for dinner, but the duct tape that covered Lauren's mouth made it impossible to respond. It was the week before 8th grade started for Lauren, 6th grade for Zane, and Lauren couldn't believe how immature he still acted. As an 8th grader, Lauren felt grown up, practically in high school already, but she acted with all the sass and stubbornness of a teenager. Lauren continued trying to twist out of the duct tape that bound her wrists, but it pulled the hair on her arm and she shrieked against her confines in frustration.
After several more minutes of tugging and twisting, Lauren's mother finally found her taped to the chair. Zane was grounded from TV for the week and that was it for his punishment. Lauren couldn't believe the injustice. She had been stuck in that chair for an hour, she almost peed herself, and all he got was no tv? No. Lauren decided to come up with a plan.
After the family went to bed, Lauren snuck out of her room. Quietly she tip-toed down the hallway and into the kitchen and retrieved something from deep within the cabinet. She innocently filled up a glass of water, and walked back towards her room, looking over her shoulders waiting for her parents to catch her. When she reached Zane's room she poured the water all over the floor. Lauren grabbed the Apollo bar from her pocket, unwrapped it and yelled tauntingly,
"ZANE, I'm eating the last Apollo bar!"
The bedroom door swung open to reveal her angry little brother, who had called dibs on the Apollo bar at dinner, and he marched towards her. When his foot slid across the puddle of water, he fell backwards on his ass. Lauren busted out laughing, spewing a mouthful of chocolate all over Zane. He groaned loudly and muttered a curse not fit for an 11 year old. Lauren's parents came stomping down the stairs.
"What happened?"
"I accidentally spilled water and Zane fell!" Lauren lied.
"Liar," Zane choked out between groans, but their parents didn't hear him.
"Get up Zane, you're alright," his father ordered, offering a hand. Zane stood up and rubbed his tailbone. Lauren tried to stifle another laugh, but her mother glared at her.
"Both of you go to bed," Her mother said, as she helped Zane to the stairs. Lauren waited as her brother slowly and dramatically ascended the stairs, and internally she looked forward to the day when they were both adults and wouldn't fight anymore.
****Flashback Ends****
Lauren's eyes opened wide and she lurched forward in the bed. She was no longer strapped down, but her hands were still bound. Lauren noticed her pack sat on a table to her left, her possessions spilling out next to two large batteries. The woman sat near the bed, gun trained on Lauren. Lauren laid back against the bed, knowing she had startled the woman when she had woken up.
"Those batteries couldn't have powered your distress call for so long," Lauren wondered aloud.
"No, there is a tower. It was there that I recorded the call," Rousseau said, her voice sounding far away, but then her eyes narrowed on Lauren and she continued, "they control it now."
"They?"
"You. And the others like you." Rousseau spat out the words like venom.
"I don't know who you think I am! I just crashed here a week ago!"
"Where are the others from your plane then?"
"I got separated from them while we were hunting. Look at my leg… a boar did that!" Rousseau got closer to the end of the bed and pulled up Lauren's pant leg. Examining the wound, Rousseau touched it gently and Lauren winced.
"You need stitches," she commented, moving towards a shelf behind the bed. She returned seconds later with a needle and thread. Lauren balked at the woman standing before her, but Rousseau didn't ask for permission. She dug the needle into Lauren's flesh. Lauren cried out in pain but tried not to move her leg. Why is she helping me? She thought through the pain. Rousseau tied a knot and moved down the gash, placing individual stitches along the wound. Lauren's teeth ground together throughout the process, her mind racing with thoughts of gangrene and amputation. Finally, it was over and Lauren laid back and caught her breath.
"Thank you," she finally croaked.
Just then a roar was heard overhead. It wasn't the mechanical monster that loomed in the jungle, but something smaller. Rousseau checked the chamber of her rifle.
"If we're lucky, it's only one of the bears."
"Lucky?" Lauren squeaked, but Rousseau lifted part of the roof off the shelter, and disappeared into the jungle. Lauren frantically scanned the room, I have to get out of here. She rose from the bed, but collapsed to the floor instantly. It wasn't just her leg, her whole body trembled, aftershocks of the torture that had preceded, and Lauren realized she was in no fit state to escape. Pulling herself back onto the mattress, Lauren waited for the French woman's return.
