Part 184: Exodus Part 2

Most of the survivors were getting concerned. No one knew what to make of the French woman, nor her mysterious warning. A warning that became visible in a stream of black smoke. They had all gathered around the leader that they knew and wanted answer. Jack held up his head and spoke to them. “Look, I know you're all scared.” He told them, “And I know everybody has a lot of questions. All I can tell you right now is that we do have a plan. We've got to go into the jungle to get some supplies. We'll be back in a few hours. In the meantime, do everything you can to help Michael get that raft in the water. And after that, go to the caves. We'll be back as soon as we can. I promise.”

Jack walked away and began to go gather his gear. Then the school teacher called Arzt came up to him in a hurry. “Nice speech,” he chuckled, “plan's a little flawed, but hey, nobody's perfect.”

“What plan?” asked Jack.

“Yeah, your plan. You're going to go into the jungle and get some dynamite and blow open a hatch and then you're going to hide everyone inside. You want to keep a secret don't tell the fat guy, Jack.”

“What do you want, Arzt?” the doctor demanded.

“God knows how long that dynamite has been out there. And from what I can tell Madam Nutso doesn't seem too concerned with how to handle it. So, unless you want to blow up, I'm coming with you.” The teacher assured him.

“Look, I appreciate your concern but we got it covered. Tony is going to help us.”

“Tony?” Arzt gasped, “The . .the BLIND man??”

“He’s knows about explosives. He’ll tell us what to do.”

“Maybe but if the dynamite is what I think it is, you’re going to need some one with hands and eyes.”

Jack sneered; knowing he had no time to waste and it didn’t seem the school teacher was gonna back down. Perhaps in the end it might be better to have two people who knew about explosives. “All right, fine,” he said, “Grab some water bottles, we leave in half an hour.”


Tony buttoned up his shirt, getting ready to move out. He hand Marita tie a fresh blindfold over his eyes before they left. They were going to move deep within the jungle and he knew it would soak up sweat very face. He paused when he heard a soft moan coming from the little boy standing next to him. “I don’t want you to go.” Eddie whimpered.

Tony kneeled down and hugged him. “It’s going to be okay, Eddie. I will be back before you know it.”

“NO!” he cried, “You are heading out there! Those Others will find you and take you away . . .just . .like my mom and dad.”

“Eddie, you ain’t losing me,” Tony sniffed, almost crying himself, “Marita and I are coming back. I promise you that. Now, be a good boy, and do what Uncle McKay says, okay?”

“Please . . .please come back.” He cried.

“We will, baby,” Marita him on the head, “We ain’t ever leaving you.”

Tony and Marita took each other hand in hand, and walked out of tent. John was standing there, holding Mia’s backpack. He gently helped her put it on. Then he reached down and placed on his own quiver, full of arrows. The archer offered no words; he simply picked up his bow and led the way. Eddie watched them leave with Shanna by his side. He gently waved to them, as Marita waved back.

They quickly rendezvoused with Locke and Hurley. They had to wait for Jack to get back from talking with Sawyer about something.

After a few minutes, Jack ran back to the beach. He quickly ran to his parked gear and grabbed it, hoisting it over his back. The majority of the survivors were getting the raft ready to launch. The doctor started to shove water bottles in his pack when a shadow interrupted his vision. Kate stood before him; hands in her pockets. “So, you're heading out?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he whispered.

“I was thinking that I might go with you . . .for old time's sake? I want to help.”

“You won't be here for the raft launching.” He pointed out.

“Yeah, well, . . . I'm not very good at goodbyes.” Kate smiled.

Jack shook his head. “Grab your gear,” he told her.

----------------------------------,

The black smoke continue to rise in the horizon. Charlie looked at it, hurrying as fast as he could. He quickly walked over to one of the survivors, holding his bottle. The man held up a small piece of paper and gave it to the short musician who quickly stuffed it into the green bottle. “Thanks, man, I’ll keep it safe.” He told him.

Locke then past by and Charlie got his attention. “Hey, Locke!” he said, holding up the bottle, “do you have a message? It's going on the raft. You know: Dear mom, Everything's fine. I'm on the island, unless, of course, the black smoke people turn up. Love, your name here. For when they get rescued . .they can contact your family.”

“A message in a bottle?” the older man smiled, patting him on the back, “That’s sweet, Charlie.”

Charlie then walked over to Hurley, who had just gotten finished with his message. “You ready?” his friend asked him.

Hurley handed it to him. “Don’t read it.” He told him.

Charlie immediately opened it. “DUDE!” the large man slapped him on the arm, “I said, don’t read it.”

“Be sure to include in that message that Godzilla is a pansy, big man,” Seth laughed.

“Let’s not start that again.” He replied, walking away.

Seth then held up his piece of paper to Charlie. “Do me the honors?” he asked.

“No guess who this is for,” the short musician smiled, placing the note in the bottle.

“I hope she forgives me for being gone so long,” the bookstore worker sighed.

“Stop talking nonsense, Seth! She’ll be just happy you are bloody alive!”

“I hope so,” Seth sighed, walking away.

Charlie then spotted the school teacher. “Hey, Arzt!” he called, “You want paper?”

“I gave at the office,” he muttered walking, past him.

“Okay,” the musician sighed, and kept walking.

At the raft, the survivors were helping load in the new gear. The dynamite expedition was ready to move out. The group had to go say their goodbyes to their friends on the boat. Jack said his goodbyes to Micheal and Jin. Hurley waved goodbye to Walt, who stood on the boat. Tony said his goodbye to Micheal but their little group had a more special person to bid farewell too.

Marita did her best not to cry as she held onto her friend. Yolanda kissed her on the cheek and returned the embrace. “Be safe.” She whispered.

“You especially,” Marita sniffed.

“You take care, Yolanda,” Mia patted her on the arm.

“Watch over each other. I will be back with the rescue boats, I promise,” the black stewardess assured them.

“Don’t forget to bring a pizza when you do.” John chuckled.

Yolanda sighed and gently took Tony’s hand. The blind man smiled as he pulled it close and kissed her knuckles. “Any last words of advice, Tony?” she asked.

“Yeah, “ he smiled, “Don’t forget us.”

“Now how could I ever do that?” she hugged him.

“Time to go, guys,” Jack told them.

The little group bid their farewells to Yolanda and headed out. Kate was lagging behind for a few seconds, asking about Sawyer. Charlie told her he hadn’t seen her. She looked around for a few minutes, then turned around. She paused when she ran into Natasha. The brunette looked to Kate and then saw her in eyes what she was doing. She gently rubbed her arm with a smile. “I’ll tell him you said, goodbye.” Natasha replied.

Kate then embraced her, “Thank you.”

“Look after John for me.” The other brunette said, walking away.

Jack waited for Kate to catch up. The fugitive then ran off and got up to him. He smiled and then turned; walking with the others.

They walked on for a good thirty minutes, trailing the line of the beach. They had long since past the giant Rock Wall and wound up at a rocky interface of the land and the beach. Danielle put down her rifle and began to remove her sweater. The other took this as a brief moment to rest. Hurley immediately sat down, while John patted him on the back, in a way of telling him he was doing okay. Locke took a sip of his bottle and then spotted some strange scratches on the French woman’s arm. “How did you get those scratches?” he asked.

“Bush,” she said, simply.

“That is one mean bush,” the bald man replied.

“We must keep moving,” she said, picking up her rifle and walking on.

Locke then proceeded forward, but Mia grabbed him by the arm. She leaned upward toward his ear while he leaned down to her. “Watch her close,” she warned in a whisper.

The bald man patted her hand for reassurance. “Way ahead of you.” He said, already keeping an eye on her.


The group continued their march into the jungle. They all walked in single file, with Danielle in the lead and John right behind her. He kept watching all the areas in front of them, watching for any sign of anything and ready to grab an arrow at a moment’s notice. Mia held onto his quiver back, almost as a way of letting her know he was always right in front of him. It also helped the archer to know his girlfriend was there too. “Let me ask you something Arnzt.” Hurley then said.

“Arzt.” The school teacher corrected him.

“Arnzt?” the big man replied confused.

“No, not Arnzt, Arzt. A-R-Z-T, Arzt.” He grunted.

“Sorry, man, the name's hard to pronounce.”

“Actually, it is.” Mia called back.

“Yeah, well, I know a bunch of 9th graders who pronounce it just fine.” He spit disgusted.

“How about we call you by your first name?” Hurley replied.

“How about you don't.” he quickly replied.

“Why not? I remember it from the plane's manifest. I think Leslie's a bitchin' name.”

“Arzt is fine, damn it.” He grunted as they walked.

“Leslie Arzt?” Mia whispered under her breath, “So much for Seth’s STUD theory.”

John snickered, hearing what she said. The school teacher wasn’t sure what they were laughing at but he was certain it was at his expense. The group continued their walking. Tony then smelled something unusual, like dead plants. Danielle then came to a stop near a tree. Jack looked at her, seeing as she came over to a very old piece of cloth tired to a dead tree branch. “Le Territoire Fonce.” She whispered.

“The Dark Territory.” Mia assumed she said.

“The Black Rock is not far. This is where it all began . . .where my team got infected . . . . . . where Montan lost his arm. We must move quickly.” She ordered them.

“You know what?” Arzt said, “I'm going back.”

Jack looked at him abruptly, after hearing all his complaining about Tony. “Hey, I thought you wanted to help.” The doctor said.

“Yeah, I wanted to help . . that was before Montan lost his fricking arm.” The school teacher pointed out.

“Well, what about the dynamite?”

“Be very careful with it!” he started to walk away, “You hear that, blind man?”

“Loud and clear . . .Leslie,” Tony hissed.

The man then continued on back into the jungle. Jack motioned for the others to keep going.


After another few minutes, it began to rain. Mia quickly put on her bandana and kept walking. Marita held onto Tony’s arm as they walked. The blind man tilted his cane with every step. Then he abruptly stopped, pulling the Latina with him. “Tony, what-“ she stumbled slightly.

The blind doctor said nothing. He quickly reached out and touched a nearby dead tree. John stopped and looked at him. His friend wasn’t feeling for the touch of the tree or smelling anything differently than normal. What he was feeling was coming up from the ground, resonating through the tree.

An impact tremor.

Tony then turned his head toward the sound. John and Mia then looked as did Marita. Kate was the on who finally said, “Did you hear that?”

Then Arzt burst from the jungle shoving the giant leaves out of his way. Then the all too familiar sound of the Polliwog echoed through the jungle, giving his almighty roar. “RUNNNN!!!” the school teacher screamed.

Arzt ran into the far distance. Danielle, Jack and Kate immediately ran after him. John got ready to run but he then felt Tony’s grip on his shirt. The blind doctor then held onto Marita who was fighting to run. Mia held her ground, when she saw Locke wasn’t moving. Hurley then started to run but the older man stopped him. “TONY, LET ME GO!” Marita screamed.

“DON’T RUN, BABY!!” Tony screamed back, “It’s not going to hurt us!”

“How do you know that?” John said back, seeing the trees move ahead of him.

“Because we are not Poteet, or anybody like him! It won’t hurt us!”

Hurley had no idea what the blind doctor was talking about. “Dude, we gotta book.” He said.

“Listen?” Locke said.

Everybody froze. The guttural growl of the Polliwog started to sway in the trees. The sound began to slowly die away, meaning only one thing. “It’s going the other way,” Mia said, crotched on the ground.

The rain then finally stopped abruptly. John looked skyward, not remembering the last time the rain just up and stopped pouring. The small group then gathered themselves together and began to join with the rest of them. Danielle, Jack and Kate were hiding a stack of bamboo. John almost scoffed at them, about to tell them that no amount of bamboo in the world could have protected them from the giant monster. “We're safe now.” Danielle said.

“What was that thing?” Kate demanded, nearly in tears.

“It's a security system.” She answered plainly.

“Security system?” Jack raised an eyebrow,” What does that mean?”

“It's purpose it that of any security systems . . .to protect something.”

“Protect what?” asked John.

“The Island,” the French woman said coldly.

Marita then embraced Tony. The blind man held onto her. “Tony, I’m so sorry I freaked.” She whimpered.

“Don’t be, baby.” He said, “Just stay by my side, I haven’t led you wrong yet.”

“I know,” she wiped her tears.

Then Marita screamed with someone appeared from the jungle. It was Artzt, catching his breath. Everyone relaxed for a second, while the man leaned on his knees and tried to breathe through the humidity. “Dude, I thought you were dead.” Hurley pointed out.

“Can we just, please, go get the dynamite, please?” he exhaled.