time in a bottle 7 "bat out of hell"
Title: Time in a Bottle
Chapter: 7. "Bat out of Hell"
Author: pengyn
Rating: Teen
Spoilers: Through to "The End"
Summary: James returns to the real world, trying to deal with his grief and still hold on to his memories of Juliet. Meanwhile, thirty years earlier, a series of sabotages in Dharmaville leads him to suspect the one person he doesn't want to believe could have done it.
previous: prologue one two three four five six
7. "Bat out of Hell"
The scuttlebutt at the Motor Pool was that all security teams had been pulled into duty. Their plan was to sweep each sector of Dharma terrain and hope that Willie Sanchez had not gone far. Juliet grabbed the electric sander off a shelf and crouched next to one of the vans. She knew the last thing James wanted was to venture into hostile territory, but venture he would if he had to.
James could take care of himself, but that didn’t stop her from worrying. She wanted to be out there with him, but there was no justifiable excuse to warrant a grease monkey tagging along with the big guns. Distracting herself with the task of fitting a new van door, all she could do was pray that they returned safely.
It was late in the afternoon when she heard someone running towards her.
“Juliet!”
It was Amy.
Juliet dusted herself down. “Hey, what’s up?” The smile on her face froze when she saw Amy’s expression. “What happened?”
“I just spoke to Horace. Something... I don’t know... the patrol...”
Juliet took hold of Amy’s shoulders. “Okay, Amy, slow down.”
Amy caught her breath. “They ran in to trouble, out on the search. They found Willie, but, I don’t know... there were shots fired... we... we don’t know if anyone was hurt.”
Juliet nodded - her eyes wild. “Where are they?”
“Horace says they’re on their way in now.”
Juliet grabbed Amy’s hand. “C’mon.”
“Where are we going?”
“The Pylons,” Juliet replied. She grabbed the keys to a jeep and hopped into the driver’s seat, Amy scrambling to keep up with her.
“Do you wanna slow down?!” Amy cried, as Juliet tore the jeep across an open field.
Juliet ignored her and the pain that shot through her spine each time the jeep hit a bump. Amy had one hand clutching her seat whilst the other gripped the overhanging frame - she was mentally making notes never to drive with Juliet again.
Juliet brought the jeep to a screeching halt twenty feet from the pylons and five feet from crushing Horace’s toes. If he was surprised to see her, he didn’t show it.
“Juliet,” he nodded.
“Horace, where are they?”
“Coming in now.” He went to the fence and keyed in the code just as the convoy of vehicles cleared the trees.
Most of the vans continued driving - heading for the infirmary - but Juliet could see James and Miles in one of the jeeps. Miles was driving and by the looks of it, James was clutching an arm. He spotted the panic in Juliet’s face and told Miles to pull over. He was out the car and Juliet was already inspecting his shoulder before he’d even opened his mouth.
“What -“
“I’m alright,” he interrupted.
“You’re alright? You’ve been shot!”
“It’s a graze, gimme some credit,” he smirked.
“Not funny,” she told him, her lips pressed tightly together.
James’ jumpsuit was soaked in blood. Juliet didn’t care how many dimples he was trying to impress her with. “You’re going to the infirmary.”
“I don’t need the infirmary, just take me home and slap on a band-aid.”
“James.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re going to the infirmary.”
***
“You wanna slow down there?!” James yelled above the roaring engine of the jeep, as Juliet sped back towards the compound. He was beginning to understand why Amy had turned down the ride and decided on going back with Horace.
Juliet parked just shy of the infirmary steps, ignoring his mutterings about female drivers and all but pushing him through the doors. Security team members, in various states of distress, were being poked, prodded and examined. Both Phil and Jin were sporting cuts to their face and arms and James watched Juliet’s eyes roam from them to Willie Sanchez, who was stretched out on a gurney being looked over by the doctor.
“Look, I’m fine,” he said. “Let’s just go and come back when it’s less busy.”
Juliet gave him a look, pushed him down onto a vacant bed and grabbed a suture kit. She hadn’t said anything since the pylons and he could see her hands were shaking as she unzipped his jumpsuit. Placing his own hands over hers, he forced her to look up at him. He imagined the look on her face to be similar to the one she must have had when she accidentally tranquilized him with a bovine sedative two months ago. It was cute, seeing her so worried and he wondered - just for a moment - if he should pretend the pain was that much worse than it really was just to see how much special treatment he could get.
She recovered quickly and helped him with his shirt. The fact that it was only days ago they were ripping each other’s shirts off was not lost on either of them. He could tell she was thinking it - her expression meant business but the color in her cheeks was the giveaway.
He grinned and then winced when pain shot through his shoulder.
“Serves you right,” she said softly.
He smiled, despite the sting as she started to clean his shoulder wound.
“So what happened?”
He was hoping she’d wait until later but he knew her well enough to understand she wanted the distraction while she patched him up.
“We were split up grid by grid, searchin’ cross-hatch style an’ makin’ sure we weren’t missin’ anything,” he began. “The teams kept callin’ in with no sign of the kid and we had to push farther out.”
“You ran in to the Others? The Hostiles?” she corrected, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one had heard her.
“Not exactly,” he replied.
“What do you mean ‘not exactly’?”
“We weren’t near enough in their territory for them to start shootin’ without warnin’. We found the kid an’ Jin swears he could see a couple hostiles hidin’ in the trees but no one got a clear shot. It was almost like they were tryin’ to miss.”
“So why is your entire unit in the infirmary?” Juliet asked.
He sighed. “I believe you’d call it - friendly fire.”
“You all... shot each other?”
“More like there was somethin’ wrong with the guns.”
Juliet looked up sharply. “What?”
“Not all of them, but enough of them. We took extra in case we ran in to trouble an’ what do ya know?”
“You ran in to trouble,” Juliet finished.
“Half of ‘em exploded just as soon as they were fired. Some of ‘em wouldn’t even fire at all - that’s how I got this,” he indicated his shoulder.
“James,” Juliet’s face was serious. “You clean your guns, you check them - they’re locked down in the security station... how... how does something like this happen?”
“The extra ammo, last time anybody would’a checked it was right before we shut everything down because of the storms. That was seven days ago. Thing is, even if any of those guns had somehow got wet under twenty feet of concrete in storage, there ain’t no way it was done before we closed everything off. I locked the guns up myself.”
“Who was watching the monitors?” Juliet asked. She knew he would’ve kept someone on duty at all times - even during a monsoon.
“I kept everyone on short rotating shifts, if any of them had seen anythin’ out of the ordinary I’d’ve known,” he replied.
Juliet paused - bandage in one hand, tape in the other. There was something in his expression that told her he wasn’t telling her everything.
“James,” she probed gently, neither a question nor a demand.
He sighed and brought his face closer to hers. “When my rifle wouldn’t fire, first thing I did was look at it more closely... It wasn’t ours.”
Juliet’s breath hitched in her throat.
“An’ there’s only one other group on this Island with access to guns,” he continued, watching as Juliet’s eyes lowered momentarily. “Which means that sometime between me locking down on Wednesday mornin’ an’ one of my guys takin’ shift, someone switched those guns.”
Chapter: 7. "Bat out of Hell"
Author: pengyn
Rating: Teen
Spoilers: Through to "The End"
Summary: James returns to the real world, trying to deal with his grief and still hold on to his memories of Juliet. Meanwhile, thirty years earlier, a series of sabotages in Dharmaville leads him to suspect the one person he doesn't want to believe could have done it.
previous: prologue one two three four five six
7. "Bat out of Hell"
The scuttlebutt at the Motor Pool was that all security teams had been pulled into duty. Their plan was to sweep each sector of Dharma terrain and hope that Willie Sanchez had not gone far. Juliet grabbed the electric sander off a shelf and crouched next to one of the vans. She knew the last thing James wanted was to venture into hostile territory, but venture he would if he had to.
James could take care of himself, but that didn’t stop her from worrying. She wanted to be out there with him, but there was no justifiable excuse to warrant a grease monkey tagging along with the big guns. Distracting herself with the task of fitting a new van door, all she could do was pray that they returned safely.
It was late in the afternoon when she heard someone running towards her.
“Juliet!”
It was Amy.
Juliet dusted herself down. “Hey, what’s up?” The smile on her face froze when she saw Amy’s expression. “What happened?”
“I just spoke to Horace. Something... I don’t know... the patrol...”
Juliet took hold of Amy’s shoulders. “Okay, Amy, slow down.”
Amy caught her breath. “They ran in to trouble, out on the search. They found Willie, but, I don’t know... there were shots fired... we... we don’t know if anyone was hurt.”
Juliet nodded - her eyes wild. “Where are they?”
“Horace says they’re on their way in now.”
Juliet grabbed Amy’s hand. “C’mon.”
“Where are we going?”
“The Pylons,” Juliet replied. She grabbed the keys to a jeep and hopped into the driver’s seat, Amy scrambling to keep up with her.
“Do you wanna slow down?!” Amy cried, as Juliet tore the jeep across an open field.
Juliet ignored her and the pain that shot through her spine each time the jeep hit a bump. Amy had one hand clutching her seat whilst the other gripped the overhanging frame - she was mentally making notes never to drive with Juliet again.
Juliet brought the jeep to a screeching halt twenty feet from the pylons and five feet from crushing Horace’s toes. If he was surprised to see her, he didn’t show it.
“Juliet,” he nodded.
“Horace, where are they?”
“Coming in now.” He went to the fence and keyed in the code just as the convoy of vehicles cleared the trees.
Most of the vans continued driving - heading for the infirmary - but Juliet could see James and Miles in one of the jeeps. Miles was driving and by the looks of it, James was clutching an arm. He spotted the panic in Juliet’s face and told Miles to pull over. He was out the car and Juliet was already inspecting his shoulder before he’d even opened his mouth.
“What -“
“I’m alright,” he interrupted.
“You’re alright? You’ve been shot!”
“It’s a graze, gimme some credit,” he smirked.
“Not funny,” she told him, her lips pressed tightly together.
James’ jumpsuit was soaked in blood. Juliet didn’t care how many dimples he was trying to impress her with. “You’re going to the infirmary.”
“I don’t need the infirmary, just take me home and slap on a band-aid.”
“James.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re going to the infirmary.”
***
“You wanna slow down there?!” James yelled above the roaring engine of the jeep, as Juliet sped back towards the compound. He was beginning to understand why Amy had turned down the ride and decided on going back with Horace.
Juliet parked just shy of the infirmary steps, ignoring his mutterings about female drivers and all but pushing him through the doors. Security team members, in various states of distress, were being poked, prodded and examined. Both Phil and Jin were sporting cuts to their face and arms and James watched Juliet’s eyes roam from them to Willie Sanchez, who was stretched out on a gurney being looked over by the doctor.
“Look, I’m fine,” he said. “Let’s just go and come back when it’s less busy.”
Juliet gave him a look, pushed him down onto a vacant bed and grabbed a suture kit. She hadn’t said anything since the pylons and he could see her hands were shaking as she unzipped his jumpsuit. Placing his own hands over hers, he forced her to look up at him. He imagined the look on her face to be similar to the one she must have had when she accidentally tranquilized him with a bovine sedative two months ago. It was cute, seeing her so worried and he wondered - just for a moment - if he should pretend the pain was that much worse than it really was just to see how much special treatment he could get.
She recovered quickly and helped him with his shirt. The fact that it was only days ago they were ripping each other’s shirts off was not lost on either of them. He could tell she was thinking it - her expression meant business but the color in her cheeks was the giveaway.
He grinned and then winced when pain shot through his shoulder.
“Serves you right,” she said softly.
He smiled, despite the sting as she started to clean his shoulder wound.
“So what happened?”
He was hoping she’d wait until later but he knew her well enough to understand she wanted the distraction while she patched him up.
“We were split up grid by grid, searchin’ cross-hatch style an’ makin’ sure we weren’t missin’ anything,” he began. “The teams kept callin’ in with no sign of the kid and we had to push farther out.”
“You ran in to the Others? The Hostiles?” she corrected, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one had heard her.
“Not exactly,” he replied.
“What do you mean ‘not exactly’?”
“We weren’t near enough in their territory for them to start shootin’ without warnin’. We found the kid an’ Jin swears he could see a couple hostiles hidin’ in the trees but no one got a clear shot. It was almost like they were tryin’ to miss.”
“So why is your entire unit in the infirmary?” Juliet asked.
He sighed. “I believe you’d call it - friendly fire.”
“You all... shot each other?”
“More like there was somethin’ wrong with the guns.”
Juliet looked up sharply. “What?”
“Not all of them, but enough of them. We took extra in case we ran in to trouble an’ what do ya know?”
“You ran in to trouble,” Juliet finished.
“Half of ‘em exploded just as soon as they were fired. Some of ‘em wouldn’t even fire at all - that’s how I got this,” he indicated his shoulder.
“James,” Juliet’s face was serious. “You clean your guns, you check them - they’re locked down in the security station... how... how does something like this happen?”
“The extra ammo, last time anybody would’a checked it was right before we shut everything down because of the storms. That was seven days ago. Thing is, even if any of those guns had somehow got wet under twenty feet of concrete in storage, there ain’t no way it was done before we closed everything off. I locked the guns up myself.”
“Who was watching the monitors?” Juliet asked. She knew he would’ve kept someone on duty at all times - even during a monsoon.
“I kept everyone on short rotating shifts, if any of them had seen anythin’ out of the ordinary I’d’ve known,” he replied.
Juliet paused - bandage in one hand, tape in the other. There was something in his expression that told her he wasn’t telling her everything.
“James,” she probed gently, neither a question nor a demand.
He sighed and brought his face closer to hers. “When my rifle wouldn’t fire, first thing I did was look at it more closely... It wasn’t ours.”
Juliet’s breath hitched in her throat.
“An’ there’s only one other group on this Island with access to guns,” he continued, watching as Juliet’s eyes lowered momentarily. “Which means that sometime between me locking down on Wednesday mornin’ an’ one of my guys takin’ shift, someone switched those guns.”