The Pigs are Walking - part 2
The Pigs are Walking
Rated: PG13
Genre: Lost/IT horror fic
Disclaimer: I don’t own Lost (it owns me), and hereby I present my sincerest apology to Mr.Stephen King for butchering his work
Characters: the whole Lost ensemble
Note: this is a very first in many ways. I never done a horror fic before, and never wrote anything for a challenge. And I don’t speak English LOL! So be kind.
Part 1
Part 2
“What happened?”
“The others! They’ll kill us all!”
“We can’t stay here... we must hide...”
“Maybe it’s the island disease...”
The panic was rising among the survivors. Hurley was looking in front of himself with ashen face. He spoke up suddenly.
“It was me! I killed him...”
A ringing silence fell after his words, every eye has turned into his direction.
Jack stood up and looked right at him.
“Can you provoke a heart-attack?” he asked raising an eyebrow.
“What?” he asked confusedly.
“His heart stopped. Did you do that?”
“Er...” Hurley watched the faces that surrounded him and he spotted Bernard and the pale face of Claire among the rest, her baby in her arms. He sighed deeply and grinned. It also occurred to him that Steve has not been turned into ashes after all... it was quite stupid to think that it was him that did it.
“Then stop the nonsense.” Jack turned back to the group. “Something odd is happening here, we all feel it. But we won’t just sit around, we are going to investigate it and...”
His voice broke when suddenly a man stumbled out of the jungle. His livid face was bruised and white as a shadow. When he saw all of them standing there, he fell to his knees.
“Thank God...” he whispered to himself, then he spoke up “help me!”
A few of the people were backing away, Jack and Sayid made menacing steps towards the stranger.
“What are you doing here, Ben?” Jack asked voice full of contempt.
“Why would we help you, lying murderous freak?” Sayid asked the obvious question with a stony face.
Ben was watching the corpse eagerly, he looked around to the frightened faces.
“It started here too, didn’t it?”
“Started what?” Jack was shouting already.
“Do you think I would come here if I had somebody left of my people to help me? Half of them are dead, the rest had gone mad... ” he said with desperate emphasis.
“At least some good news for today” Charlie sneered. He didn’t forget Ethan, the guy that infiltrated them, kidnapped the pregnant Claire and hung Charlie by the neck.
“Listen... I know what’s going on... but alone I can’t...” Ben shook his head out of words.
Jack and Sayid looked at each other unsurely. It was a hard decision to make, but they needed information. Jack nodded calmly.
“It would be nice, if only I could believe a single word you’re saying.” he said with forced calm.
“I know we had our little... misunderstandings, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“Explain yourself already” Sayid had lost his patience.
Sawyer was watching the two of them darkly.
“Great, let’s trust this guy! Let’s see how fast we all end up in cages this time” he snapped.
“We are not trusting anybody” Sayid answered calmly. “But we should hear him out first... information is vital” Their eyes turned to Ben now all expecting the explanation.
He sank his head for a moment, then looked Jack right in the eye.
“I believe you have met the Cerberus System by now”
“The Cerberus System?” Jack shook his head.
“I believe you call it the Smoke Monster” Ben smiled faintly. A few of them gulped hearing it.
“It is high technology meant to... make people behave. We had it under control, until recently.”
“You were managing that thing?” Charlie asked enraged. “Big surprise...”
Ben continued unperturbed.
“A couple of weeks ago something happened. It attacked someone of my people on its own, something that is not possible. It can’t run on its own”
“Who’s running it then?” Sayid asked raising an eyebrow.
“Jacob” Ben shuddered as he uttered the name.
“And who’s Jacob?” Jack seemed to lose his patience entirely.
“Now, that’s the hard part... it is difficult to explain” he shrugged in distress. All eyes were turned to him, so he continued with the air of someone who jumps into something nasty to get it over with. “He is an entity... a life form a bit different from our own. He is an old spirit stuck between two dimensions, whimsical and cruel. We had him under control, he was confined to his shack... I don’t know how but he escaped and he is taking people with him to the other side” he concluded his story, people were whispering distressed, a few of them were staring blankly at him. Desmond looked up at the mention of the shack, Jack walked up and down at the verge of a hysterical fit.
“So you’re basically saying that it is a ghost, a poltergeist” he said annoyed.
“That’s a very crude and unsophisticated way to put it” Ben said. “But it could be assimilated with the concept”.
“That shack... is it a small, shabby place made entirely of wood?” Desmond asked suddenly, another wave of whispering ran through the crowd.
“Yes... have you been there?” Ben asked puzzled.
“I’ve seen it in a dream” the Scot answered frowning. Charlie would have rolled his eyes at this if it wasn’t for his own dreams about drowning.
“I’ve been there” a new voice joined in. They jumped as they never seen him coming. “It is humbug, magic tricks. Don’t believe a word he is saying” Locke said and Jack looked utterly surprised at the sudden, unexpected help from someone least probable.
“How do you explain what you are seeing then? You all have seen things, haven’t you?”
“Mass hallucination provoked by your malfunctioning System” Jack said looking at Sayid and Locke, both seemed to agree with him.
“If that makes you feel better” Ben said in contempt.
“The question is, what do we do about it?”
“We go to the source” Locke said decidedly. As they looked at him inquiringly, he added “When we were coming from the Black Rock and the smoke grabbed me, a bit of dynamite solved the problem. If we go to the heart of it we could finish it for good. We still have some dynamite, our friend Ben just needs to tell us where to go”
“You think it’s so easy… but I’m telling you, it won’t work!” Ben said slowly.
“We won’t know until we try, right?” Jack said defiantly. “There must be some control, some center of this Cerberus System. Just tell us where to go”
“I suppose I can take you there…” he said shrugging on a voice that betrayed his skepticism.
“Good. We’ll leave within the hour” Jack said and strode off towards the kitchen. Sayid was following him, so were several others.
“Jack, I think you should stay here” the Iraqi started expecting an argument. “I believe things will get a lot worse around here soon, people will need a doctor”
Jack halted with hands on his hips, he looked reluctant. Sayid understood him perfectly. He liked doing things by himself, he was not the man who could delegate his tasks. He felt a personal responsibility towards the survivors and now he was torn between his duties.
“You can trust me to carry this through” he said looking him in the eye.
“I’ll go with you” Locke joined them, Sayid nodded in agreement.
“I’ll go too” Desmond volunteered.
“So am I” Charlie said emerging at their side. “Someone’s got to keep an eye on our friend” he said making a sign towards Ben, who was sitting in the sand quite broken.
“We’ll need guns” Sawyer came with a handful of rifles of all sizes.
“Ok” Jack finally made his decision. “Be very careful… and don’t let him out of your sight” they all turned to their guest for a second.
* * *
They were walking away fully equipped and were about to disappear into the jungle when Hurley ran after them panting
“Hey Dudes, wait up! The farther I am from the beach the better…” he said more to himself. Nobody had any objections, so they proceeded in silence. Hurley however had some uncertainties
“So, where are we going exactly?”
“Apparently, there is another underground station under the Black Rock”
“The Serpent” Ben intervened.
“If we blow up the whole amount of dynamite from the ship, it may do the trick” Charlie summarized the plan for him.
“But… it will blow off half of the island!” Hurley said shocked.
“It will just blow a very big hole in the ground hopefully” Locke smiled.
They were walking on for several hours advancing rapidly, Ben knew all the paths and corners of the island so they never had to struggle their way through the jungle’s abundant vegetation. They couldn’t but admire him as he walked on limping, helping himself on with a walking stick… pale but with a grim determination on his face.
Five hours passed without incident, Hurley was puffing slightly but he walked on along with the rest without complaint. At this point though Locke spoke up
“I know where we are! Why did you take us here?”
“We are just passing through… consider it a shortcut” Ben replied without even looking at him. In about two minutes they understood what he meant: they came in sight with a small, tattered wooden cottage. Desmond recognized it in a second, but the rest of them knew it quite as certainly: it was Jacob’s shack. But it seemed deserted now, the door was ajar admitting a view inside the one single room. It looked as if a storm had passed through it, every single thing was tossed and crashed.
Ben made a few trembling steps closer, jumped over a little brook. He examined something on the ground with a dark frown
“The circle is broken” he mumbled to himself. “Probably those damn boars walked through and disturbed it”. Desmond lifted his eyes, whispering
“The pigs are walking…”
Charlie cast an eye on him; they shared a worried look. Maybe it wasn’t all humbug after all…
“Are you done sightseeing? Are we going or what?” Sawyer lost his patience as he didn’t understand what the big deal was.
They walked on with more care, their uneasiness was increasing even if there was no obvious reason for it. Desmond fell behind a bit when he stopped to tie his shoelaces. A familiar chill fell upon him as Hurley’s back disappeared behind the corner. The hair on his neck stood on end again, a deadly silence surrounded him. He looked around uneasily but he saw nothing out of the ordinary among the trees. He stood up and quickened his pace to catch up with the party, turned the corner where they disappeared only seconds ago when he came face to face with a painfully familiar figure.
She was standing only a few steps away, her blue eyes were glinting as she looked at him in all seriousness.
“Penny...” the word rolled off his lips in a whisper as if he was afraid to speak up and frighten the vision away. “You are not really here, are you?” he asked confusedly.
“Des! What a lovely surprise. Never thought to find you here... you have to come and visit us, my husband will be thrilled to meat you!”
“Your... husband?” he asked with a bitter taste in his mouth.
“We got married two years ago. He is a great man, you’ll see too... he works with my father.”
“Penny... no!” the pain was so real, so overwhelming. She disappeared and in her stead he saw the man who was responsible of all his misery of the last eight years. He was looking at him with an ironic smile and spoke with contempt
“Stay away from my daughter!” he spat. “You’ll never be a great man, Hume, NEVER!” Desmond made a step forward, his only wish was to confront this man finally... but somebody was holding him back by his arm.
“Des, don’t!” Charlie said slowly. His calm made him come to his senses, the vision was gone. He only nodded his answer and they hurried after the others.
The jungle got darker and wilder as they proceeded, they were getting closer. Locke was a few steps ahead of the rest, he was walking with steady steps, determined not to be distracted. They were passing a small swamp; a heavy, smelly mist was rising from the surface and hovered a few inches above. He was not looking aside, but he couldn’t help but shudder when he heard his own name
“John...” it was a broken, tormented voice, he never heard him speak like that, not even when he was about to die. “Look what I’ve become, my son... I’m paying for all my sins” he said, and John just had to look at him. Anthony Cooper was sitting in a wheelchair, stuck in the deep, smelly swamp, dark mud oozing from his clothes. He looked old and miserable... Locke stopped in his way in shock. He made a few steps in his direction, but Sawyer was already catching up with him.
“Whatever you see there cowboy, it’s not there” he said and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him going, his left boot had already disappeared in the sticky dirt. John pulled back, he looked as if he just woke up from a nightmare.
“Back off, Pennywise” Sawyer shouted to no one in particular. Desmond just arrived, he shot a quick look at him blanching
“What did you just say?”
“Pennywise, the clown, Stephen King?” Charlie intervened looking at the Scot, who slowly got that it was a literary reference. His color didn’t return though, because he just realized a terrible thing...
“We must stick together” Locke said when he collected himself. “Don’t lose the others from sight. Let’s not offer him an easy target”
“Live together, die alone, right?” Charlie said grinning, but nobody smiled.
In half an hour they arrived to the brig. Charlie and Desmond stared at it in awe, they were the only ones that never visited the odd slave-ship in the middle of the jungle.
“How the hack did this happen?” Charlie asked with round eyes.
“Are you on the same island as I?” Sawyer asked raising an eyebrow. He got a point: they came to regard things like this as ordinary on the island.
Sayid, Locke, Ben and Desmond went in to examine the dynamite, the others sat down outside. Sawyer was paler than he ever was before. He clenched his teeth and made great efforts not to look at the ruins. Hurley was exhausted and frightened, he didn’t look any better than the conman.
“This is where Dr.Arnzt blew up” he said. The jungle swallowed his remains though and he looked around in vain for any sign that something horrible happened there.
The minutes passed heavily, they grew uneasy as no sound came out of the Black Rock.
“What’s going on in there?” Charlie grew impatient soon, but he couldn’t bring himself to go in either. After half an hour of peace and quiet, the ruins seemed to come to life suddenly. A low humming came from inside and bright light was flowing from every hole and crack of the old ship. Something was moving and the three men outside jumped to their feet to be ready to run if necessary. But they couldn’t abandon the ones inside, they waited shifting from one leg to the other... In two more minutes Sayid and Locke dashed out followed by Desmond who was dragging Ben by an arm. Sayid bellowed at them
“RUN!”
There was no need to tell them twice, they ran as fast as their legs brought them... Charlie was ahead, Sawyer right behind him. Hurley was a bit slower and as Desmond made efforts to drag Ben along too they remained a bit behind... the bright light followed them outside, it looked like a huge ball of fire, it lifted high in the air, above the trees, above the Black Rock, spreading and growing second by second... when a huge detonation blew the world itself into pieces. An enormous ball of fire and smoke and dust rouse and swallowed trees and light and sky. A shower of wood, earth and dust covered them from head to feet as they fell to the ground.
When Desmond came to his senses, Ben was out of his sight. No goodbye, no thanks, nothing, he just vanished from his side. He wasn’t too sorry though, he stood up and walked around trying to find the others who dispersed through the jungle. His ears were still ringing after the detonation, the silence felt hurtful after the turmoil. First he found Hurley who was lying face forward in the grass still covering his head with his hands.
“It’s okay brother, it’s over” he said and helped him to his feet.
“Dude! I thought we all gonna die” he said and his legs were still trembling.
Sayid and Locke came back looking for them, Sawyer appeared too among the trees. Charlie was hardest to find, he ran further than any of them. They spent a whole hour walking around shouting his name when he finally appeared in high temper asking where the heck they all got to. When he calmed down, he looked around
“Is it over? We did it?” he asked looking from one face to the other.
“Guess we should go back and have a look” said Locke, but none of them looked too eager at the perspective. They had to make sure though, so they went back to the ruins.
They walked carefully not knowing what to expect. The ship disappeared and just as Locke had foreseen it, there was a huge pit in the ground where it once stood.
“We should have kept some dynamite” Sawyer said darkly.
“Well, it’s too late now” Sayid answered.
* * *
They walked back to camp at leisure. There was no Ben to discomfort them, and the easy victory gave them confidence. They met no incident in their way so they felt quite sure that their attempt was successful.
They were close to camp already when a stiff wind started that promised a real storm. They didn’t mind a bit of rain, they had one almost every day, but it got so dark and the wind was howling with such intensity that they quickened their pace to reach camp before it was too late. The last few yards they made running just to find the whole camp in agitation. The wind was so intense that it was destroying their shelters, bits of canvas and rope were flying everywhere, people were running after them. They abandoned their packs and ran to help out the others.
Jack was struggling with the kitchen, the roof of the shelter seemed to fall apart, it was quite helpless. There was no time or possibility to put it back, the tents were even more impossible to keep standing. When Jack looked up to see the damage his eyes fell on a dark mass that was emerging from behind the trees along the shore… It followed the curve of the island and it was about to hit them all: a black whirling tornado. Jack came out to look at it, he couldn’t comprehend what he saw. There was no running from it, they had only seconds before it reached their camp.
People abandoned their struggle one by one, the whole camp was staring transfixed at the doom that approached unstoppable, without mercy, without a doubt to take them all in one bite. As it came upon them in full speed, they could very well hear the unearthly roar of laughter, the booming bellow that seemed to come from the island itself that was shaking with rage
“The pigs are walking!”
The whirl took Desmond among the first ones, lifted him high in the air, he spread his arms almost welcoming the cataclysm. Bits of canvas, wood and great amount of sand was flying around him making hard to see anything, but he was certain that the island was sinking… that soon there going to be no trace that it ever existed. Sometimes he could distinguish a human form floating at some distance but he could never recognize them. Shortly a heavy object hit him in the head and he lost conscience.
* * *
A big splash and the feeling of cold water on his face woke him from a blissful nothingness. He kicked hard several times more out of instinct than by deliberation and soon he reached the surface. He inhaled with thirst, looking around to see people all around struggling for their lives just like him. At a few yards distance he saw Charlie emerging for a second mouthing a feeble “help” and disappearing under the waves once again. Desmond followed him, searching frantically knowing that he had no time to waste. The yells and cries died as he swam around in the dark water, he could see several legs kicking, and between them he finally spotted Charlie sinking peacefully downwards. He grabbed him from behind and with two powerful kicks he propelled them both to the surface.
Charlie was spitting and coughing water all over him, but as it was a clear sign that he was alive, Desmond didn’t mind.
“Just hold on to me brother… hold on tight!”
* * *
Charlie opened one eye and saw a seagull. That was about right, but he was no more in the water… and that was odd. He was warm and almost dry too, most puzzling circumstances. He sat up to look around but his head was spinning.
“Where am I?” he muttered not sure to whom. The smiling face of a woman leant above him
“You’re on the board of the USS Pacific sir, you suffered a plane crash” she said on a soothing voice.
“I remember that one, but how did I end up here? How did you find the island?”
“The island, sir?”
“Yes, that bloody island that tortured us for three months” he said lifting his head and looking around. He was laying on the deck of what appeared to be a huge ship, several familiar faces were surrounding him, Desmond was sitting a few yards away. The woman looked at him puzzled.
“I don’t understand. We heard that the Oceanic 815 crashed about a hundred miles from our course, so we came and picked you up… there is no island on the map anywhere near the place” she said frowning
“Wait a minute… you heard that our plane had crashed here 3 months ago and you came to find what?” Charlie asked suspiciously.
“Three months? But your plane crashed yesterday sir!” she looked at him with pity, obviously thinking that something was wrong with his head.
“Yesterday? You’re mental sister!” he snapped. “What day is it? And how do you explain that he is here?” he pointed at Desmond “he wasn’t on the plane… or them” he pointed at Danielle and Alex who were sleeping wrapped in a tight embrace.
The woman wasn’t listening to him though.
“You should rest sir, you have a sever head-injury” she said and shifted away.
“Hey, lady!” Charlie was shouting after her in vain.
“Don’t question your blessings, brother” Desmond said quietly.
“How many? Who was saved?” he asked frightfully.
“I don’t know how many, but everybody as far as I know… and a few more” he said looking at the French woman and her daughter.
“Are Claire and Aaron…?”
“They are fine. There was a lot of junk from the plane, Jack made sure they sit on some door”
Charlie stood quietly for a few minutes, then it finally dawned upon him
“We are going home!” he said with a wide grin
“Yes, we are” Des answered really quietly.
He stood up and walked to the bow of the ship, looking out to the dark horizon. He felt emptied and sore as if recovering after a long and hard illness. Since his vision from the jungle he knew quite certainly that all his hopes and dreams were lost. Whatever that thing was that had tortured them in the last few days, putting them face to face with their fears one thing was certain: it never lied. Penny was married and he had lost her forever. She had been the center of his existence for so long that it felt almost impossible to imagine a future without her. But beside the emptiness he felt something else as well: a strange feeling of liberation, like the lift of a curse. They were sailing to a new world where new tasks and new possibilities open.
He looked back, Charlie found his woman and was now holding her and her baby in a tight embrace. Desmond smiled as he watched them. Fate took the young mother to a strange place, it took the least promising guy that ever existed and turned him into a good father for her baby, and herself into a faithful, loving mother. There was still hope in the world after all.
~ THE END ~
Rated: PG13
Genre: Lost/IT horror fic
Disclaimer: I don’t own Lost (it owns me), and hereby I present my sincerest apology to Mr.Stephen King for butchering his work
Characters: the whole Lost ensemble
Note: this is a very first in many ways. I never done a horror fic before, and never wrote anything for a challenge. And I don’t speak English LOL! So be kind.
Part 1
Part 2
“What happened?”
“The others! They’ll kill us all!”
“We can’t stay here... we must hide...”
“Maybe it’s the island disease...”
The panic was rising among the survivors. Hurley was looking in front of himself with ashen face. He spoke up suddenly.
“It was me! I killed him...”
A ringing silence fell after his words, every eye has turned into his direction.
Jack stood up and looked right at him.
“Can you provoke a heart-attack?” he asked raising an eyebrow.
“What?” he asked confusedly.
“His heart stopped. Did you do that?”
“Er...” Hurley watched the faces that surrounded him and he spotted Bernard and the pale face of Claire among the rest, her baby in her arms. He sighed deeply and grinned. It also occurred to him that Steve has not been turned into ashes after all... it was quite stupid to think that it was him that did it.
“Then stop the nonsense.” Jack turned back to the group. “Something odd is happening here, we all feel it. But we won’t just sit around, we are going to investigate it and...”
His voice broke when suddenly a man stumbled out of the jungle. His livid face was bruised and white as a shadow. When he saw all of them standing there, he fell to his knees.
“Thank God...” he whispered to himself, then he spoke up “help me!”
A few of the people were backing away, Jack and Sayid made menacing steps towards the stranger.
“What are you doing here, Ben?” Jack asked voice full of contempt.
“Why would we help you, lying murderous freak?” Sayid asked the obvious question with a stony face.
Ben was watching the corpse eagerly, he looked around to the frightened faces.
“It started here too, didn’t it?”
“Started what?” Jack was shouting already.
“Do you think I would come here if I had somebody left of my people to help me? Half of them are dead, the rest had gone mad... ” he said with desperate emphasis.
“At least some good news for today” Charlie sneered. He didn’t forget Ethan, the guy that infiltrated them, kidnapped the pregnant Claire and hung Charlie by the neck.
“Listen... I know what’s going on... but alone I can’t...” Ben shook his head out of words.
Jack and Sayid looked at each other unsurely. It was a hard decision to make, but they needed information. Jack nodded calmly.
“It would be nice, if only I could believe a single word you’re saying.” he said with forced calm.
“I know we had our little... misunderstandings, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“Explain yourself already” Sayid had lost his patience.
Sawyer was watching the two of them darkly.
“Great, let’s trust this guy! Let’s see how fast we all end up in cages this time” he snapped.
“We are not trusting anybody” Sayid answered calmly. “But we should hear him out first... information is vital” Their eyes turned to Ben now all expecting the explanation.
He sank his head for a moment, then looked Jack right in the eye.
“I believe you have met the Cerberus System by now”
“The Cerberus System?” Jack shook his head.
“I believe you call it the Smoke Monster” Ben smiled faintly. A few of them gulped hearing it.
“It is high technology meant to... make people behave. We had it under control, until recently.”
“You were managing that thing?” Charlie asked enraged. “Big surprise...”
Ben continued unperturbed.
“A couple of weeks ago something happened. It attacked someone of my people on its own, something that is not possible. It can’t run on its own”
“Who’s running it then?” Sayid asked raising an eyebrow.
“Jacob” Ben shuddered as he uttered the name.
“And who’s Jacob?” Jack seemed to lose his patience entirely.
“Now, that’s the hard part... it is difficult to explain” he shrugged in distress. All eyes were turned to him, so he continued with the air of someone who jumps into something nasty to get it over with. “He is an entity... a life form a bit different from our own. He is an old spirit stuck between two dimensions, whimsical and cruel. We had him under control, he was confined to his shack... I don’t know how but he escaped and he is taking people with him to the other side” he concluded his story, people were whispering distressed, a few of them were staring blankly at him. Desmond looked up at the mention of the shack, Jack walked up and down at the verge of a hysterical fit.
“So you’re basically saying that it is a ghost, a poltergeist” he said annoyed.
“That’s a very crude and unsophisticated way to put it” Ben said. “But it could be assimilated with the concept”.
“That shack... is it a small, shabby place made entirely of wood?” Desmond asked suddenly, another wave of whispering ran through the crowd.
“Yes... have you been there?” Ben asked puzzled.
“I’ve seen it in a dream” the Scot answered frowning. Charlie would have rolled his eyes at this if it wasn’t for his own dreams about drowning.
“I’ve been there” a new voice joined in. They jumped as they never seen him coming. “It is humbug, magic tricks. Don’t believe a word he is saying” Locke said and Jack looked utterly surprised at the sudden, unexpected help from someone least probable.
“How do you explain what you are seeing then? You all have seen things, haven’t you?”
“Mass hallucination provoked by your malfunctioning System” Jack said looking at Sayid and Locke, both seemed to agree with him.
“If that makes you feel better” Ben said in contempt.
“The question is, what do we do about it?”
“We go to the source” Locke said decidedly. As they looked at him inquiringly, he added “When we were coming from the Black Rock and the smoke grabbed me, a bit of dynamite solved the problem. If we go to the heart of it we could finish it for good. We still have some dynamite, our friend Ben just needs to tell us where to go”
“You think it’s so easy… but I’m telling you, it won’t work!” Ben said slowly.
“We won’t know until we try, right?” Jack said defiantly. “There must be some control, some center of this Cerberus System. Just tell us where to go”
“I suppose I can take you there…” he said shrugging on a voice that betrayed his skepticism.
“Good. We’ll leave within the hour” Jack said and strode off towards the kitchen. Sayid was following him, so were several others.
“Jack, I think you should stay here” the Iraqi started expecting an argument. “I believe things will get a lot worse around here soon, people will need a doctor”
Jack halted with hands on his hips, he looked reluctant. Sayid understood him perfectly. He liked doing things by himself, he was not the man who could delegate his tasks. He felt a personal responsibility towards the survivors and now he was torn between his duties.
“You can trust me to carry this through” he said looking him in the eye.
“I’ll go with you” Locke joined them, Sayid nodded in agreement.
“I’ll go too” Desmond volunteered.
“So am I” Charlie said emerging at their side. “Someone’s got to keep an eye on our friend” he said making a sign towards Ben, who was sitting in the sand quite broken.
“We’ll need guns” Sawyer came with a handful of rifles of all sizes.
“Ok” Jack finally made his decision. “Be very careful… and don’t let him out of your sight” they all turned to their guest for a second.
* * *
They were walking away fully equipped and were about to disappear into the jungle when Hurley ran after them panting
“Hey Dudes, wait up! The farther I am from the beach the better…” he said more to himself. Nobody had any objections, so they proceeded in silence. Hurley however had some uncertainties
“So, where are we going exactly?”
“Apparently, there is another underground station under the Black Rock”
“The Serpent” Ben intervened.
“If we blow up the whole amount of dynamite from the ship, it may do the trick” Charlie summarized the plan for him.
“But… it will blow off half of the island!” Hurley said shocked.
“It will just blow a very big hole in the ground hopefully” Locke smiled.
They were walking on for several hours advancing rapidly, Ben knew all the paths and corners of the island so they never had to struggle their way through the jungle’s abundant vegetation. They couldn’t but admire him as he walked on limping, helping himself on with a walking stick… pale but with a grim determination on his face.
Five hours passed without incident, Hurley was puffing slightly but he walked on along with the rest without complaint. At this point though Locke spoke up
“I know where we are! Why did you take us here?”
“We are just passing through… consider it a shortcut” Ben replied without even looking at him. In about two minutes they understood what he meant: they came in sight with a small, tattered wooden cottage. Desmond recognized it in a second, but the rest of them knew it quite as certainly: it was Jacob’s shack. But it seemed deserted now, the door was ajar admitting a view inside the one single room. It looked as if a storm had passed through it, every single thing was tossed and crashed.
Ben made a few trembling steps closer, jumped over a little brook. He examined something on the ground with a dark frown
“The circle is broken” he mumbled to himself. “Probably those damn boars walked through and disturbed it”. Desmond lifted his eyes, whispering
“The pigs are walking…”
Charlie cast an eye on him; they shared a worried look. Maybe it wasn’t all humbug after all…
“Are you done sightseeing? Are we going or what?” Sawyer lost his patience as he didn’t understand what the big deal was.
They walked on with more care, their uneasiness was increasing even if there was no obvious reason for it. Desmond fell behind a bit when he stopped to tie his shoelaces. A familiar chill fell upon him as Hurley’s back disappeared behind the corner. The hair on his neck stood on end again, a deadly silence surrounded him. He looked around uneasily but he saw nothing out of the ordinary among the trees. He stood up and quickened his pace to catch up with the party, turned the corner where they disappeared only seconds ago when he came face to face with a painfully familiar figure.
She was standing only a few steps away, her blue eyes were glinting as she looked at him in all seriousness.
“Penny...” the word rolled off his lips in a whisper as if he was afraid to speak up and frighten the vision away. “You are not really here, are you?” he asked confusedly.
“Des! What a lovely surprise. Never thought to find you here... you have to come and visit us, my husband will be thrilled to meat you!”
“Your... husband?” he asked with a bitter taste in his mouth.
“We got married two years ago. He is a great man, you’ll see too... he works with my father.”
“Penny... no!” the pain was so real, so overwhelming. She disappeared and in her stead he saw the man who was responsible of all his misery of the last eight years. He was looking at him with an ironic smile and spoke with contempt
“Stay away from my daughter!” he spat. “You’ll never be a great man, Hume, NEVER!” Desmond made a step forward, his only wish was to confront this man finally... but somebody was holding him back by his arm.
“Des, don’t!” Charlie said slowly. His calm made him come to his senses, the vision was gone. He only nodded his answer and they hurried after the others.
The jungle got darker and wilder as they proceeded, they were getting closer. Locke was a few steps ahead of the rest, he was walking with steady steps, determined not to be distracted. They were passing a small swamp; a heavy, smelly mist was rising from the surface and hovered a few inches above. He was not looking aside, but he couldn’t help but shudder when he heard his own name
“John...” it was a broken, tormented voice, he never heard him speak like that, not even when he was about to die. “Look what I’ve become, my son... I’m paying for all my sins” he said, and John just had to look at him. Anthony Cooper was sitting in a wheelchair, stuck in the deep, smelly swamp, dark mud oozing from his clothes. He looked old and miserable... Locke stopped in his way in shock. He made a few steps in his direction, but Sawyer was already catching up with him.
“Whatever you see there cowboy, it’s not there” he said and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him going, his left boot had already disappeared in the sticky dirt. John pulled back, he looked as if he just woke up from a nightmare.
“Back off, Pennywise” Sawyer shouted to no one in particular. Desmond just arrived, he shot a quick look at him blanching
“What did you just say?”
“Pennywise, the clown, Stephen King?” Charlie intervened looking at the Scot, who slowly got that it was a literary reference. His color didn’t return though, because he just realized a terrible thing...
“We must stick together” Locke said when he collected himself. “Don’t lose the others from sight. Let’s not offer him an easy target”
“Live together, die alone, right?” Charlie said grinning, but nobody smiled.
In half an hour they arrived to the brig. Charlie and Desmond stared at it in awe, they were the only ones that never visited the odd slave-ship in the middle of the jungle.
“How the hack did this happen?” Charlie asked with round eyes.
“Are you on the same island as I?” Sawyer asked raising an eyebrow. He got a point: they came to regard things like this as ordinary on the island.
Sayid, Locke, Ben and Desmond went in to examine the dynamite, the others sat down outside. Sawyer was paler than he ever was before. He clenched his teeth and made great efforts not to look at the ruins. Hurley was exhausted and frightened, he didn’t look any better than the conman.
“This is where Dr.Arnzt blew up” he said. The jungle swallowed his remains though and he looked around in vain for any sign that something horrible happened there.
The minutes passed heavily, they grew uneasy as no sound came out of the Black Rock.
“What’s going on in there?” Charlie grew impatient soon, but he couldn’t bring himself to go in either. After half an hour of peace and quiet, the ruins seemed to come to life suddenly. A low humming came from inside and bright light was flowing from every hole and crack of the old ship. Something was moving and the three men outside jumped to their feet to be ready to run if necessary. But they couldn’t abandon the ones inside, they waited shifting from one leg to the other... In two more minutes Sayid and Locke dashed out followed by Desmond who was dragging Ben by an arm. Sayid bellowed at them
“RUN!”
There was no need to tell them twice, they ran as fast as their legs brought them... Charlie was ahead, Sawyer right behind him. Hurley was a bit slower and as Desmond made efforts to drag Ben along too they remained a bit behind... the bright light followed them outside, it looked like a huge ball of fire, it lifted high in the air, above the trees, above the Black Rock, spreading and growing second by second... when a huge detonation blew the world itself into pieces. An enormous ball of fire and smoke and dust rouse and swallowed trees and light and sky. A shower of wood, earth and dust covered them from head to feet as they fell to the ground.
When Desmond came to his senses, Ben was out of his sight. No goodbye, no thanks, nothing, he just vanished from his side. He wasn’t too sorry though, he stood up and walked around trying to find the others who dispersed through the jungle. His ears were still ringing after the detonation, the silence felt hurtful after the turmoil. First he found Hurley who was lying face forward in the grass still covering his head with his hands.
“It’s okay brother, it’s over” he said and helped him to his feet.
“Dude! I thought we all gonna die” he said and his legs were still trembling.
Sayid and Locke came back looking for them, Sawyer appeared too among the trees. Charlie was hardest to find, he ran further than any of them. They spent a whole hour walking around shouting his name when he finally appeared in high temper asking where the heck they all got to. When he calmed down, he looked around
“Is it over? We did it?” he asked looking from one face to the other.
“Guess we should go back and have a look” said Locke, but none of them looked too eager at the perspective. They had to make sure though, so they went back to the ruins.
They walked carefully not knowing what to expect. The ship disappeared and just as Locke had foreseen it, there was a huge pit in the ground where it once stood.
“We should have kept some dynamite” Sawyer said darkly.
“Well, it’s too late now” Sayid answered.
* * *
They walked back to camp at leisure. There was no Ben to discomfort them, and the easy victory gave them confidence. They met no incident in their way so they felt quite sure that their attempt was successful.
They were close to camp already when a stiff wind started that promised a real storm. They didn’t mind a bit of rain, they had one almost every day, but it got so dark and the wind was howling with such intensity that they quickened their pace to reach camp before it was too late. The last few yards they made running just to find the whole camp in agitation. The wind was so intense that it was destroying their shelters, bits of canvas and rope were flying everywhere, people were running after them. They abandoned their packs and ran to help out the others.
Jack was struggling with the kitchen, the roof of the shelter seemed to fall apart, it was quite helpless. There was no time or possibility to put it back, the tents were even more impossible to keep standing. When Jack looked up to see the damage his eyes fell on a dark mass that was emerging from behind the trees along the shore… It followed the curve of the island and it was about to hit them all: a black whirling tornado. Jack came out to look at it, he couldn’t comprehend what he saw. There was no running from it, they had only seconds before it reached their camp.
People abandoned their struggle one by one, the whole camp was staring transfixed at the doom that approached unstoppable, without mercy, without a doubt to take them all in one bite. As it came upon them in full speed, they could very well hear the unearthly roar of laughter, the booming bellow that seemed to come from the island itself that was shaking with rage
“The pigs are walking!”
The whirl took Desmond among the first ones, lifted him high in the air, he spread his arms almost welcoming the cataclysm. Bits of canvas, wood and great amount of sand was flying around him making hard to see anything, but he was certain that the island was sinking… that soon there going to be no trace that it ever existed. Sometimes he could distinguish a human form floating at some distance but he could never recognize them. Shortly a heavy object hit him in the head and he lost conscience.
* * *
A big splash and the feeling of cold water on his face woke him from a blissful nothingness. He kicked hard several times more out of instinct than by deliberation and soon he reached the surface. He inhaled with thirst, looking around to see people all around struggling for their lives just like him. At a few yards distance he saw Charlie emerging for a second mouthing a feeble “help” and disappearing under the waves once again. Desmond followed him, searching frantically knowing that he had no time to waste. The yells and cries died as he swam around in the dark water, he could see several legs kicking, and between them he finally spotted Charlie sinking peacefully downwards. He grabbed him from behind and with two powerful kicks he propelled them both to the surface.
Charlie was spitting and coughing water all over him, but as it was a clear sign that he was alive, Desmond didn’t mind.
“Just hold on to me brother… hold on tight!”
* * *
Charlie opened one eye and saw a seagull. That was about right, but he was no more in the water… and that was odd. He was warm and almost dry too, most puzzling circumstances. He sat up to look around but his head was spinning.
“Where am I?” he muttered not sure to whom. The smiling face of a woman leant above him
“You’re on the board of the USS Pacific sir, you suffered a plane crash” she said on a soothing voice.
“I remember that one, but how did I end up here? How did you find the island?”
“The island, sir?”
“Yes, that bloody island that tortured us for three months” he said lifting his head and looking around. He was laying on the deck of what appeared to be a huge ship, several familiar faces were surrounding him, Desmond was sitting a few yards away. The woman looked at him puzzled.
“I don’t understand. We heard that the Oceanic 815 crashed about a hundred miles from our course, so we came and picked you up… there is no island on the map anywhere near the place” she said frowning
“Wait a minute… you heard that our plane had crashed here 3 months ago and you came to find what?” Charlie asked suspiciously.
“Three months? But your plane crashed yesterday sir!” she looked at him with pity, obviously thinking that something was wrong with his head.
“Yesterday? You’re mental sister!” he snapped. “What day is it? And how do you explain that he is here?” he pointed at Desmond “he wasn’t on the plane… or them” he pointed at Danielle and Alex who were sleeping wrapped in a tight embrace.
The woman wasn’t listening to him though.
“You should rest sir, you have a sever head-injury” she said and shifted away.
“Hey, lady!” Charlie was shouting after her in vain.
“Don’t question your blessings, brother” Desmond said quietly.
“How many? Who was saved?” he asked frightfully.
“I don’t know how many, but everybody as far as I know… and a few more” he said looking at the French woman and her daughter.
“Are Claire and Aaron…?”
“They are fine. There was a lot of junk from the plane, Jack made sure they sit on some door”
Charlie stood quietly for a few minutes, then it finally dawned upon him
“We are going home!” he said with a wide grin
“Yes, we are” Des answered really quietly.
He stood up and walked to the bow of the ship, looking out to the dark horizon. He felt emptied and sore as if recovering after a long and hard illness. Since his vision from the jungle he knew quite certainly that all his hopes and dreams were lost. Whatever that thing was that had tortured them in the last few days, putting them face to face with their fears one thing was certain: it never lied. Penny was married and he had lost her forever. She had been the center of his existence for so long that it felt almost impossible to imagine a future without her. But beside the emptiness he felt something else as well: a strange feeling of liberation, like the lift of a curse. They were sailing to a new world where new tasks and new possibilities open.
He looked back, Charlie found his woman and was now holding her and her baby in a tight embrace. Desmond smiled as he watched them. Fate took the young mother to a strange place, it took the least promising guy that ever existed and turned him into a good father for her baby, and herself into a faithful, loving mother. There was still hope in the world after all.
~ THE END ~