Part 112: Cave Dwellers

Shanna held onto Seth under the tarp. She was trembling due to a mixture of fear and being cold from the rain. The young bookstore worker embraced his friend, helping her to keep warm and to calm her fears. Mandy was doing the same to Taylor. Martin wanted to go check on them the moment they all heard the gunfire. But Yolanda insisted they stay cause that is what Tony would have wanted them to do. It was an emotional moment for all them.

Then McKay appeared through the bushes, pushing them aside and tilting up his hat. Taylor let out a massive sigh of relief. Then he was followed by a man none of them had seen before. A few drew gasps, assuming he was with the people from the other half of the plane. Then Tony, Marita, Eddie, John and Mia emerged from the woods as well. They didn’t join their friends; they were waiting for the others to join them. McKay came over and picked up his knapsack. The foreigner came over and bowed his head slightly. “Good day, my name is Sayid,” he smiled, “I will be your guide this afternoon.”

“Are you from the other half of the plane?” asked Yolanda.

“I am, Madame,” he said in the politest of tones, “If you will follow me, we’ll get you out of the rain.”

Everybody gathered up their gear, backpacks and such, following the man called Sayid. McKay joined him as he lead the way. The group stayed together as they started to hike through the bushes, hopefully for the last time. No one asked about the gunshot, clearly seeing that their friends were okay. Seth made a mental note that if he had time later, he’d ask about it.

As they walked, Sayid looked to Tony off and on. Marita had noticed that the man was looking at her boyfriend. He then said, “Tony, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.” The blind doctor smiled.

“May I ask . .why are you wearing a blindfold?”

“I lost my sight in the crash,” he confessed, “The window exploded in my face when the plane sheared off.”

“I am so sorry.”

“Don’t be, I’ve gotten used to it.”

“So, all of you survived on the other half of the island? That is amazing.” Sayid whispered.

“How many in your group, Sayid?” asked John.

“Just over 40.”

“Forty people?” exclaimed Yolanda.

“Yes, we’ve survived this long. We were lucky. We have plenty of fish and fruit to live off on. Are any of you hungry?”

“Starving,” muttered Mandy.

“Well, do not worry. Once we get you back to the caves, we’ll get you dry and some fresh food.”

“Thank you, Sayid,” McKay said.

The Middle Easterner just smiled, glad to see other survivors. McKay liked the man; he definitely could tell there was something about him that was trustworthy. He hoped the majority of the other survivors were that way as well. Tony seemed to have the same feeling about Sayid. But there was something strange about the sound of his voice.

He thought he had heard it before.
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Sayid pushed aside the branches as they finally arrived at the caves. McKay took a look around. The caves were definitely wide open, able to house whoever. There was already a large amount of people in the caves, and a mixture of supplies. To the left seemed to be a little alcove with one cabinet and boxes, like a storage area. The rocks were leveled to provide good sleeping areas. John then took immediate notice of the small waterfall and the micro-like lake. “Tony.” The archer smiled, “They have a small waterfall in here.”

Tony whistled and laughed, “They are lucky indeed.”

The blind doctor then turned around to make sure his friends could hear him. “Get those wet clothes off, people.” He said, “Get dry as fast as you can.”

The group began to take their packs off, and slowly strip down to their underwear. Sayid then grabbed some towels and blankets, bringing them over. The brunette they saw earlier, the one called Kate came over with a handful of them as well. As Eddie took off his pants and stood there in his underwear, a oriental woman came over and placed a blanket around him. He looked up at her, smiling, “Thank you.”

She replied something in a foreign language, and smiled then bowed. Eddie just bowed his head in return. Marita huddled under blanket with Tony looking at the small boy. He pointed to the oriental woman as she walked away. “I don’t think she speaks English.” He mentioned.

“That’s okay,” Marita grinned.

Mandy gently got out of her shorts, with her teeth chattering. She rubbed her arms, trying to get warm. Then she felt a gentle set of hands place a blanket around her. She turned slightly but it wasn’t anybody she knew. She saw McKay and Taylor huddled together to her left. Her blonde friend’s eyes then lit up with a point of recognition. Mandy turned around and met the young man that befriended them on the plane when Taylor dropped her bags. She couldn’t forget his ice blue eyes. “Hello,” he whispered.

“Hi,” she said, briefing making her teeth chatter.

He then rubbed Mandy’s arms, trying to help create some friction but it wasn’t working. Then unexpectedly he embraced her, and began rubbing her back. Mandy closed her eyes and rested her face on her shoulder. Taylor smirked, nudging McKay. The Australian smiled, happy that Mandy was already connecting to someone. Then another blonde girl came over and stood near both of them, looking disgusted. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“She’s freezing, Shannon,” the young man grunted, “I am using my body heat to help warm her up.”

Shannon then turned away, grunting, “It looks like you are coping a feel to me.”

Mandy looked sharply at the girl in anger. “Ignore her,” the young man sighed.

“Thank you . .for helping me.” Mandy whispered.

“It’s not a problem,” he said, still embracing her, “My name is Boone by the way.”

“Mandy,” she sighed.

He stopped rubbing her back and gently parted from her. Boone could tell she was no longer cold. He slowly reached up and parted a small strand of hair from her eyes. The young man briefly smiled and started to walk away. “Welcome back, Mandy.” He grinned.

Mandy watched him as he walked back to the entrance of the cave and left. The young girl stood their dumbfounded for a few seconds then turned and sat down with Taylor and McKay. Her friend just looked at Mandy with intense interest in her reaction. Then the blonde made a gesture of biting her fist with wild eyes. McKay even laughed at the display of emotion. “Oh, my god!” Mandy whispered under her breath, “He’s delicious!”

“It’s so good to know that he’s still alive,” Taylor grinned, “What did he say his name was?”

“Boone,” she sighed, “Oh, wow, even his name is sexy.”

“Well, all things considered, Luv, “ McKay smirked, “I think you’re off a good start. You’re already connected.”

Mandy blinked, “What do you mean?”

“The way he smiled at you, Mandy and said welcome back. Sounds to me like he remembered you.”

Mandy rubbed her lips. What her friend said made sense. She had met many men in her life and she knew, when someone’s eyes said certain things. Like kindness and caring. Boone seemed to already be giving it out in spades. Mandy then looked up at the other girl that insulted her, the one called Shannon. The young blonde then remembered her from the plane and if what Taylor said was correct, she was Boone’s sister. Why was she acting like the jealous girlfriend then?

Then the other group began to filter back into the cave. The one called Sawyer slicked back his hair and then took off his shirt, drying off. As he was drying himself, he looked at the new people. He smiled at Shanna, then at Taylor. Kate raised an eyebrow at her friend’s eyeballing of the new ladies. She walked over to him and crossed her arms in front of him. He looked at her, with a completely innocent face. “Something on your mind, freckles?” he smirked.

“They’ve only been here five minutes and you couldn’t wait to check them out,” she grunted, “Have you no class, Sawyer?”

“Yeah . . .when I was 12.” He grinned.

Then the ones called Jack and Locke appeared in the cave. They quickly flung off their shirts, and draped them over metal poles to dry them out. Sayid then walked up to Jack and told him something, pointing at Tony. The doctor then walked over to the group and kneeled down in front of Tony. “Tony,” he sighed, “Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Jack.”

“Nice to meet you, Jack,” the blind doctor shook his hand.

“Sayid said you lost your sight in the crash. Mind if I take a look?”

“If you wish.” Tony said, removing the blindfold.

Jack squinted his eyes as looked at the blind man. His right eye was gone, replaced with burned tissue and skin. His left eye was still there but something was strange about it. It was already dilated and it wasn’t changing in the added light. “How is your left eye?” he asked.

“It’s damaged as well,” Tony sighed, “I can’t make use of it cause it compensated the damaged by making it very near sighted.”

“Damn,” Sawyer whispered, seeing the burned eye socket.

“This eye looks burned,” Jack pointed out, “How did that happen?”

“It happened because I heated up the tip of my cane and placed it in there.”

“You did that? Yourself?” Kate exclaimed.

“He would have had to,” Jack sighed, “To stop the bleeding.”

“Correct, doctor,” Tony smirked.

“You got stones, boy,” Sawyer muttered, “I wouldn’t have done that.”

“I get that a lot.” Tony smiled, putting the blindfold back on.

Jack then felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder. He turned around and looked at the person getting his attention. Then he did a double take, when he recognized her. Jenny looked at Jack, squinting her eyes. She honestly didn’t believe what she was seeing. It couldn’t be him, it couldn’t be! Jack slowly stood up, looking at the young girl he hadn’t seen in three years. “Jenny?” he asked.

Jenny then turned around and walked back to Kristy. Her model friend looked at her. “Kristy, slap me.” Jenny ordered.

The model immediately slapped her friend. Jenny closed her eyes, shaking off the slight pain. Then she walked back over to the doctor and looked at him. She even touched his stubbled face slightly. “Jack, is it really you?” she asked.

“Jenny, what . . .what are you doing here?” he asked.

Jenny just sighed, and lowered her head. Then she looked skyward with a bright smile. “Thanks, Brendon.” She smirked.

Then next thing they was her fist connecting to Jack’s jaw. The doctor flung his head back and a stream of blood spew out his mouth.