Part 283: Day 57

The small band of survivors that ventured out into the newest unknown part of the Island were growing weary from their walk. They only hoped that they would reach the Broadway area soon, for they grew sick of walking. Shanna limped along with the others; feeling only a small pain in her ankle. Sawyer smiled at her, and then gently rubbed his lower back. He didn’t mind carrying her for the majority of their travel but it eventually paid the price. Marita then paused, grabbing Tony with her. “You okay, baby?” he asked.

“Yeah, just a . . .a cramp.” She said, massaging her left leg.

“Well, hold out a few more minutes. We’re almost there.”

The group paused for a moment, when they heard what Tony had said. Sawyer kneeled down and then back up to stretch his back. “You sure about that, co-cheese?” he grunted.

“I am,” the blind doctor smiled, taking a breath of air, “The air has changed. I can smell the salt content, coming from the ocean.”

Locke then took a whiff and then another. He opened his eyes and smiled. “He’s right,” the bald man grinned, “Fifteen minutes, tops.”

“Then for God’s sake, let’s keep moving.” Sawyer said, pushing one foot forward.


Locke stared upward at the sky, looking at the approaching clouds. He could feel it in his head, the remaining gift from the Island, that it was going to rain in about two hours. He knew they would reach the Broadway area by then and hopefully find decent shelter from the rain. The bald man yawn, then massaged his chin. His attention was caught by McKay tapping him on the arm, then pointing toward the right. Locke looked over and noticed something strange about a nearby tree. It was blue. Then it wasn’t. Then it was blue again. “Flashing lights?” McKay asked.

Locke motioned for everybody to be quiet. They slowly crouched down, taking cover. They quickly jumped into the nearby bushes to approach from another direction. McKay slowly pulled out his sidearm and motioned for Sayid to come up to the front. The Iraqi gently took off his backpack, pulling out his binoculars. Marita guided Tony toward where McKay and Sayid were. “What do you see guys?” the blind doctor asked.

“Just about 12 feet in front of us is a big sign that says Broadway.” McKay pointed.

“Really?” Tony asked in surprise.

Sayid looked at it with the binoculars. “There is some markings on the post but it’s took corroaded. I can’t read it.”

“Anything else?”

“There are at least four buildings, three small ones and one giant one. The cabins look like The Liberation built them but the giant building is a metal structure. Past the trees . . .is a boat.”

“It’s really there!” Kate gasped in joy.

“Yes, it s a large boat, a yacht I believe. On the side, it has markings. It reads . . .Butterfly Rogue.”

“Butterfly?” Shanna blinked, remembering what Mia told her to look out for.

“Wait a second,” Tony grunted, “The Rogue. That must be the ship! But they only called it the Rogue over the radio.”

“But . .if that’s the Rogue . . .then . .they are early.” Marita said with warning.

Jack and the others looked alarmed as well. To the best of the clues laid out before them, their best guess of the arrival of the Butterfly Rogue was to occur in seven days. However, it had only been four days. Sayid began to scan the area complex for any sign of life. To his amazement he found one and only one. “I see only one man.” He whispered.

“Nobody else?” asked Sawyer.

“No, “ the Iraqi concluded, “He is wearing a jacket, just like the rest of the Liberation.”

“What is he doing?” asked Tony.

Sayid slowly lowered his binoculars. “He’s sleeping,:” he whispered in disbelief.


The group emerged from the woods as silent as possible. They broke off in their formations they had practiced before. Sawyer held his shotgun ahead of him, ready to shoot anything that moved. Sayid held his gun low as he quickly jogged to nearest cabin, and checked it for soldiers. McKay quickly moved to the next cabin. It was empty as well. Jack, Tony and Marita made their way toward the sleeping man. He was perched on a hammock, snoring away. Sawyer quickly came up beside them, as Kate followed behind with Shanna in tow.

Jack slowly pointed his gun at the snoring man. Sawyer then quietly stepped up and then gently placed the shotgun barrel on the man’s cheek, pushing it in. The pressure made him wake up and when he realized what was touching him, his eyes nearly exploded out his head in surprise. “Make one sound,” the redneck warned, “And you’ll be finishing your nap in Hell.”

The man slowly raised his hands, showing that he was not armed. Marita reached over and padded him down to be sure. “How many on the boat?” Jack asked.

“No one,” he whispered.

“Bullcrap,” Sawyer hissed, “You expect me to believe you drove that thing here alone?”

“I didn’t say I was alone but there is no one on the boat right now . . .who are you people?”

“If you are not alone, then where are the rest of your soldiers?” asked Tony.

“They left . . .to deliver the supplies . ..to the Colonel.”

“How many?” hissed the blind man.

“Five.” He replied in fear.

Sayid and McKay started to make their way over to the port, where the large yacht rested. Locke was in the middle of the clearing, looking at the giant metal structure. To the middle of it was a door that allowed access into the complex. McKay past by him, then stopped. “Locke, what are you doing?” he asked.

“I am going to check out that area.” He pointed.

“Hold up and one of us will go with you.”

“Okay,” he smiled.

Sayid and McKay ran up to the wooden docks. Jack and Kate were tying up the one soldier they found. McKay looked at him, and then pulled up his jacket pocket; like the others Liberators, it showed his name. “Nice to meet you, Moon.” He smirked.

“How many did he say was on the boat?” asked Sayid.

“He said no one else but we’ll check it out anyway.” Tony said, pulling Marita with him.

McKay leaped onto the boat first, followed by Sawyer. McKay looked up and down, noticing all the things he could. Their was only one mounted chair in the back, mostly for fishing. Sawyer looked through the glass windows in the back but they were tinted so he couldn’t see anything. He held the door handle and waited for McKay to go first. The Australian gave him the nod to open it. The redneck pulled the door open abruptly and McKay dove in. It was a small relaxation area, possibly a dining room or living room. He immediately started down to the stairs to the lower level. They reached the bottom to find a couch, loveseat, and a bar. “This doesn’t make a bit of sense.” Sawyer hissed, “What kind of a mercenary operation would buy a boat like this?”

“Something tells me . . .they didn’t buy it.” McKay pointed.

Sawyer saw what he was pointing at. To the entrance to what appeared to be the bedroom, a massive red stain on the wide carpet. To the side of the doorway entrance, their was a small grouping of bullet holes. “I wonder who they took the Butterfly Rogue from?” the Australian whispered.

“I wonder what people will think of us when we arrive back home in this thing?” Sawyer whispered, “Will they blame us for this?”

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it, “ the Australian made his way toward another stairway, “Let’s check out the main bridge on this place.”

McKay lead the way as they made their way upward to the main area that drove the yacht. The Australian stepped out and looked around. There was clearly no one here. Sawyer grabbed the railing and joined him. McKay walked over to the steering helm, gently touching it. He checked all the readings, knowing what they meant. “You can drive this thing, Curly?” Sawyer asked.

“Yes, I can.” He smiled.

“The prospect of going home is practically giving me a boner.” The redneck smirked.

“Well, we ain’t home yet so don’t splooge too soon.” The Australian laughed.

“Hey, McKay?”

“Yeah?”

“Look at that.” Sawyer pointed to the counter.

McKay looked at what he was pointing at. Like many points, it was a manufacturer label of when it was built and where. But it was the other words that McKay noticed. It read MAX CAPACITY : 20. “Twenty people.” He whispered.

“Looks like we ain’t taking everybody off of this Island.” Sawyer whispered.

“Oh, dear Lord, how is that gonna go down?” McKay wiped his forehead.

“However you C-Span boys handle it, I better be on this boat. I came with you, that sounds fair to me.”

“Honestly, it sounds fair to me too, Sawyer but I will be the pilot. I’ll leave the decision to who goes and who stays to Tony and Jack.”

“Why?” Sawyer hissed.

“Because I trust their judgment.”


The two men made their way to the very top and then used the latter to climb back down. The others were still waiting by the dock. Sayid saw that at the end of the dock was a gas pump. It made sense that the soldiers would leave one person to guard the yacht and refuel it. The boxes that rested on the back of the boat were both marked PERISHABLE. “They must have been using The Rogue for supply transport.” Sayid pointed.

“It’s empty,” McKay said, jumping onto the dock, “Just like Moon said.”

“Can you pilot that thing, McKay?” Tony smiled.

“Yeah, not a problem, Tony.”

Shanna started to leap for joy. They finally had found a way to get home. Marita then tugged on Tony’s arm. “Tony, what about the five soldiers?” she asked.

“We won’t have to worry about them, honey.” The blind doctor padded her on the arm, “Once they find out Fender and the rest are dead, they will come back here and we will be waiting for them.”

“How the hell are they getting to the Outpost anyway?” Sawyer said, resting his shotgun on his shoulder, “If they were taking the dirt road, we should have seen them.”

“Maybe there is another one that leads to the Outpost?” McKay shrugged.

“I will set up a perimeter,” Sayid mentioned, “When they come back, we will surely know before they do.”

“What about that guy?” Shanna pointed to the tied and gagged Moon.

“We’ll leave him here. Just like we left Kreegan.”

“Hey, wait a second, . . .where is Locke?”

McKay then abruptly looked around the Broadway area and saw no sign of the bald man. The Australian grunted, stomping his foot on the dock. “Curious son of a bitch,” he hissed, “I told him to wait.”

“Where did he go?” asked Jack.

“He went into the metal structure. He was like a damn kid on Christmas,” the Australian made a move to walk off the dock and go get him.

“McKay, wait,” Tony said, “We’ll get him. You get that boat prepped to leave.”

“No worries, “ he said, patting his friend on the back, “Sawyer, Sayid, help me out. Find any canisters that we can use to haul gas in.”

The two men began to walk off the dock and search the complex for gas or water containers. They knew that they would run out of gas before they made it to any other area of land so it was wise to secure more. Jack led the way as he, Tony, Marita, Kate and Shanna made their way toward the metal building. Jack reached up to the door handle and opened it up. Marita pulled out a flashlight, and shined it forward. The group then walked in.

Jack was curious why their was no sign of Locke. How deep did he go into the complex? Shanna kept her eyes open, noticing all the details of what she was seeing. She knew that Mia would want to know. They slowly past another corridor. Jack looked at a symbol on the wall near a power junction. It was the same Dharma symbol they saw at the Outpost within the mess hall area. Except that behind the Dharma word was the symbol of a shark. Shanna started to take down notes heavily in Mia’s pad that she gave her.

The group then came into another area, wider than the original. What alarmed Jack the most was that it was the same configuration as the Watchman console. Marita whispered to Tony everything that they were seeing. “There is a ton of salt water air in here.” Tony coughed.

Kate looked around and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. It looked like the same ancient computers as they saw at the Outpost. The small wet puddles on the ground could have meant their was a small amount of salt water in here. Jack slowly walked up to the main console area. There was a green monitor, flashing an awaiting code. The doctor wondered, was this console the same access to Watchman or was it possible another sentient super computer? “Where the hell is Locke?” asked Tony.

“I’m here, Tony,” the bald man said behind them.

They turned around and abruptly noticed their was someone with Locke, holding a blade to his throat. Jack immediately pointed the gun the assailant who was hiding behind the bald man. Kate pointed her gun while Shanna stepped behind her. Tony felt Marita get behind him as well, while her blind boyfriend slowly unholstered his gun. He could tell something was wrong by the sound of everybody else cocking the breeches on their pistols. “You okay, Locke?” Tony asked.

“I’m fine, I just-“

“Everybody drop yours guns!” the man ordered.

Jack looked at the man. He couldn’t tell who he was, but he noticed he was wearing the same jacket as the Liberation. The doctor knew he had to get the man away from Locke enough to kill him, to protect the others. Tony slowly advanced forward. “Let’s not do anything rash here,” he said, “You are out gunned here.”

“Don’t make another move or I will kill him.” The man demanded.

Locke jerked as he felt the blade cut a small part of his throat. “Tony, he cut him!” Marita squeaked.

“That’s enough, damn it!” Tony grunted, “We came for the boat, so killing him will only insure-“

“I don’t give a rat’s piss what you came for, “ the man grunted, “Now put your weapons down OR I WILL SLIT HIS DAMN THROAT, BROTHER!!!”

Jack then blinked. That voice and that term was familiar to him. The man slowly moved away from Locke, allowing his full face to be seen. The doctor felt like his stomach was just twisted into a knot, upon seeing a man he recognized. “You.” He whispered.

Tony squinted his eyes, not sure if he just hear Jack right. Then he felt Marita’s hand curl up into a grip on his shirt behind him. “Oh, my God, “ she whispered, “It’s . . .him.”