Part 292: What Kate Did

Shanna munched heavily on the green beans. She took the salt container and doused them in it; she always loved salty vegetables. Kate moaned slightly next to her in the infirmary. “I love salty vegetables, Kate,” she smiled as she ate, “I know. It’s hardens the arteries, but old habits . . . are just as HARD to give up.”

Shanna snickered under her little joke. Kate then slowly opened her eyes, looking at the red head. “You should try a salt substitute,” she whispered, “You don’t want high blood pressure.”

“Kate! You’re awake,” the redhead giggled, getting a small bottle of juice.

The fugitive leaned up while Shanna head the juice bottle for her to drink. Kate gasped, as she was extremely thirsty. She leaned back into the pillow, and smiled at her friend. “Thank you for staying with me.” She smiled.

“It’s my pleasure, sweetie,” she said in her kindest voice.

“I would have expected Jack or Sawyer to be here.”

“Jack is helping the others get the boat ready for us to leave. Sawyer . . is keeping an eye out for the returning soldiers.”

Kate then looked at her with concern. Shanna took another bite of her vegetables and then looked at her innocently. “What?” she said, swallowing her food.

“Why did you have that pause in the sentence with Sawyer?” Kate asked.

“What pause?”

“THAT PAUSE! You just did it when you talked about Sawyer.”

“I did?” the redhead tried to be innocent about it.

Kate closed her eyes, and rubbed her forehead. “Shanna, don’t be coy with me. Did Sawyer say something while I was out?” the fugitive asked.

“Uh . .no,” Shanna said, gritting her teeth, “You . .kinda. . . said something.”

“What? What did I say?”

“You asked for Jack . . .to never leave you . .and to love you . .”

Kate’s eyes slowly bulged out of her skull. “Oh, no,” she whispered.

“But after he left, you said that you couldn’t love Sawyer but he was a good man. You also mentioned that Seth deserved better than you but you loved him too.”

“Oh, no,” Kate repeated, covering her eyes.

“Katie . . . .who is Wayne?”

“What?” she said, opening her eyes abruptly and looking at her friend.

“You also said something else . . .you mentioned you needed my help. Someone very close to me told you that I could help you. And I think it has to do with this Wayne person. So . . .who is he?”

Kate started to get teary eyed. She looked at Shanna with a little bit of fear and panic. The redheaded drummer then reached up and too her other hand that wasn’t part of her shoulder bandage/sling. Kate started to cry, squeezing her friend’s hand. Just looking at her face made Shanna start to cry as well. “I’ve seen a lot of good things happen when someone lets go of their pain, Honey,” she whispered, “I can tell this has burned up your soul for a long time. Please, tell me.”

“I can’t,” Kate cried, “I can’t let you know of my guilt.”

“Please, Kate, tell me.” Shanna stood up, getting closer to her.

Kate started to hyperventilate, trying to suppress her tears. “Wayne . . .he was . .my step-father . . .he . . .he beat my mother,” she sobbed, “I . .I . .killed him.”

“Really?” the redhead gasped.

“My mother . .she . ..she never understood . . .she . .Oh, God, Shanna, . . .she’s was afraid of me. Her last words to me were spoken in fear!”

Kate leaned up and embraced Shanna, crying into her shoulder. The redhead cried with her, understanding the pain that the brunette had carried around with her for so long. Kate wept and wept, trying to breathe. “It’s all right, Kate,” Shanna rubbed her back, “You are still a good person.”

“I did . . .what I had to do . .to save my mom . .but she never . .understood,”

“I know, I know.”

“I killed him too. I made a mistake . . .he died because . .I was stupid.”

Shanna blinked through her tears. “You’re . . .you’re not talking about Wayne, are you?”

“My . .childhood . .boyfriend . .my first love . . .he wanted to help me but I ran and he was caught . . .in a crossfire . . .My plane . ..”

“Your toy plane?” Shanna remembered.

“It’s all I got left of him. That’s why, Shanna. That’s why I can’t love any other man . . .they’ll wind up dead too.”

“No, Kate!” Shanna parted from her, and looked at her directing in the face, “You can’t say that! You never know what the future holds.”

“No, it will happen, “Kate whimpered, “God is punishing me for killing my abusive father. I . .won’t ever be allowed to love ever again.”

Shanna gently stroked her friend’s hair, trying to produce a smile. “I am not much for religion myself, but something tells me,” she whispered, “I can’t imagine a God who would punish a wonderful woman like you.”

Kate managed to smile at her friend, feeling a little bit better. The fugitive always asked God forgiveness daily but couldn’t hear anything. She thought of the strange dream that she had, of the Asian man beckoning her to talk to Shanna to help her. At that moment, she felt more relieved than she had in years. Kate then raised her head up and looked into the distance with a concerned face. Shanna then turned around to see what she was looking at. The double swinging doors of the medical room showed a head leaning against the glass panel. The doors slowly opened up and Jack walked in, wiping his tears. Kate was mortified; she could tell her heard everything. However, he wasn’t offering a judgmental glare, it was more sympathy.

Jack took a few leisurely steps forward and came closer to her. “There were days when I asked myself, “ he whispered, “Would a cold blooded murderer help a wounded man sew up his back?”

Kate took a deep breath as he approached her.

“Would a cold blooded murderer be concerned about said man after he was in a cave in? Would . ..that cold blooded murderer also stay with that man when gave his life blood to try to save a dying young man? Or help a woman give birth to a child in the middle of nowhere?”

“Jack,” Kate whispered.

Jack then put his index finger on her lip to stop her from talking and let him finish. He leaned over so he was inches from her face. “The truth is, Kate,” he said, tears coming down in face, “That a cold blooded murderer wouldn’t.”

She started to cry, looking at him.

“You may have killed him, Kate but thanks to the Liberation we’ve all killed people here.” He said, embracing her, “And when you did it, you were not doing it for selfish reasons. You were protecting your mother. I am only sorry she couldn’t understand that.”

Kate wept in his shirt as he held onto her, rocking her back and forth. “I am sorry for a lot of things, Kate,” he said, kissing her hair, “I should have . . .I should have let you tell me what you did. Then maybe . .you wouldn’t have had to hold in this pain for so long.”

Shanna smiled, knowing that she was right. Good things had already happened to Kate. Jack, a man she cared deeply for, had not judged her on what she did; he had forgiven her. He saw the good in her and looked past the bad. He was right as well; they had all been forced to kill people. They only hoped that God would eventually forgive them for what they had to do.

Perhaps he would; as long as they forgive everybody around them.

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

Frakes browsed through the journal, hoping to get some sort of clue about what happened. However, the last dated entry was way before Fender left to see the Exalted One and then Frakes and his crew brought him back to the Island. So what happened since that time? The young soldier held the journal aloft in his hand, while his men gathered up the weapons from the civilians. The soldier then spotted Eve coming toward him. “Frakes, these people had a handful of weapons here,” she sighed, “and some of them are OUR rifles.”

“These people . ..wiped out Fender?” Frakes scoffed, standing up, “Wiped out my brother? I find that hard to believe.”

“You saw the burned out field. They got lucky, they had to have been.”

“I don’t believe in Luck, Eve.” The soldier spit into the ocean waves.

“Then how do you explain it? They have some of our guns and they have the Colonel’s Journal.”

“The Liberation doesn’t get wiped out by people like this!” he grunted, “We wipe out people like this!”

“Then what do we do, Frakes?” the female soldier asked.

Frakes scanned over the group of survivors. He checked out several of the men, even a few of the women. He was always a good judge of people, after his brother got him into the Liberation. It was one of his strengths. He walked into a room of mercenaries, he could immediately tell who the leader was. What was confusing to him was, among the group before him, he couldn’t tell who the leader was. But he was going to find out. “We get some answers.” He replied.


Embry paced over Hal and his group like an animal ready for the kill. Hal never expected to come across the murderer on the Island. Sure, he chased him to Australia but he didn’t find him. Was the Liberation responsible for that? The San Francisco cop turned to Ana-Lucia who looked at him briefly then back to Embry. “How do you know him?” Hal asked her.

“Hal, you can’t be serious?” Embry chuckled, “You honestly expect me to believe that you and Ana-Lucia didn’t come to Australia together to hunt down little ol’me.”

“I never met Hal till a few days ago,” Ana-Lucia replied.

“Then can I tell the story? Pretty please, Ana?” the soldier laughed.

“I will kill you.” She whispered.

“Hal, you’re gonna love this.” Embry walked back over to him, “You know what this bitch did? She busted up a thieving ring and when she walks in, my cousin blasts her. Four rounds in the body and then she lives. Then you know what happens? You are gonna love this. Ana-Lucia hunts down my cousin Jason and executes him in a parking lot.”

Libby looked back abruptly at her friend who kept her alive in the bunker at the Liberation. The Latina cop said nothing; she was not denying what Embry was saying. Hal looked to his friend then back to the man who killed his son. Embry stood up and walked back to Ana-Lucia. “You were pregnant, is that right?” he said kneeling down, “As I recall, that’s what Danny Boy said as he begged for his life.”

Ana-Lucia slowly closed her eyes, letting one tear slide down her face. “You ex-husband had no guts, Ana. I am surprised such a wussy-man would marry a tough broad like you?” he reached and gently stroked her hair, “Were you not only his wife but his body guard as well?”

“Don’t touch her.” Hal ordered.

“Dan didn’t deserve to die like that,” the cop whispered.

“You killed my cousin like a dog,” Embry kissed her on the ear, “I figured I would return the favor.”

Embry picked up his rifle and slung it back over his shoulder. He walked back up to Hal while two more soldiers watched over them. “Tell me, Hal,” the mad-man whispered, “Who told you I was in Australia?”

Hal said nothing. Then Embry pointed his rifle and placed it directly into the cop’s cheek, making Libby gasp. “I asked you a question, flat-foot.” He hissed.

“Coles.” Hal replied.

“Johnny Coles told you where I was?” Embry pulled his rifle away to enjoy a laugh, “Son of a bitch. I will have to pay that rat bastard a visit whenever I make it back to the states.”

“Why are you with the Liberation, Embry?” Hal asked him.

“Why did I join these boys? Well, that’s kinda your fault, now isn’t it?”

“My fault?”

“That’s right. You started bringing the heat down on me and my contacts back in San Fran. No body wanted to work with me, I was too hot. They were afraid Super Cop Hal would come down on them like a ton of bricks. So what did I do? I went down under to look for work and found a cool guy named Belmont.”

“He . .hired you?”

“Yeah, that was two years ago. I had to work my way up the chain of command. So my first tour with the Liberation, I was on their supply boat working guard detail. I figured, it was easy money and I liked their Ghost Legion attitude. They stay hidden, Hal. Just like I wanted to. . .until you brought yourself and Ana right to my doorstep.”

“FOR THE LAST DAMN TIME, I DIDN’T BRING ANA WITH ME!!!” Hal screamed.

Before Embry could answer, another soldier came jogging up toward them. It was a smaller man with a crew cut blonde hair and a scar twisted piece of flesh where his left ear used to be. He called Embry toward him, and gave him a white piece of paper. The cop immediately recognized the man with the damaged ear. “Deaf Darren.” Hal whispered.

“Who?” Ana-Lucia whispered behind him.

“Darren Marshfield. I remember reading the sheet about him. He got his ear blown off in a drug raid back in Lost Angeles and the criminals gave him the nickname Deaf Darren ever since.”

“He worked with Embry?”

“One of many.” Hal gritted his teeth.

Embry began to walk back toward the group of survivors, smiling at the piece of paper that was found. Hal looked up at him in disgust. “ You hired Deaf Darren or did Belmont?” the cop asked.

“I recommended Darren to the Liberation.” Embry grinned, “He may only be able to hear out of one ear but he’s got other abilities they can put to use . ..like, for instance, an eye for detail.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Darren found these as he was searching your tents for weapons,” Embry licked his lips, studying the paper, “ Didn’t bring my enemies to me, eh, Hal? And for a second, I nearly believed you.”

“Look, Embry . .I didn’t assemble some damn hunting party. I had no idea Ana-Lucia was looking for you.”

“Really? Didn't bring anybody else?” Embry finally looked mad. He flipped the white piece of paper around so Hal could look at. The cop blinked when he saw that it was a mug shot of Kate.

“Then why is Katie Girl here?” Embry asked him.