Part 319 : Mark of The Beast

Most of the survivors had gathered together inside the living room of the Broadway station. Libby tried her best to suppress her psychologist training, but old instincts die hard. She couldn’t count all the emotions she was seeing in the room. Sadness. Rage. Hate. Despair. Worry. Concern. She hoped that the men who became the defacto leaders of their group could figure out a way to help all those involved.

Jack had just gotten finished telling the story of what has transpired. A man named Goodwin had kidnapped Eddie and Sebastian. His only demands was access to the Argos computer and two other children Walt and Aaron. Goodwin claimed they were special and Eddie and Sebastian were not. It was like a slap in the face to Barbara; who buried her head in hands as she sat on a chair crying. Jilly tried to console her best she could under the circumstances. Micheal was in near shock; wondering who Goodwin was and how he knew about his on. But then again, didn’t Colonel Fender kidnap Walt for the same reasons Goodwin wanted him now? Yolanda sat with Walt and Micheal on the couch with her hand around the young boy. She didn’t know what to do. But like most everybody else, she kept her eyes on Jack; wondering what he was planning on doing. “Desmond?” Jack asked him.

The stranger was consoling the mother of his son as she wept in his arms. He too let mild teas streak down his face; upset that his boy was in mortal peril. “Desmond.” Jack said, trying to get his attention.

Desmond finally looked at him but said nothing.

“Does Sebastian . . . have a time limit that he can go without the medicine?” the doctor asked him.

“He . . uh . ..uh . .” Desmond tried to talk and coughed, “My boy . . .he’s . .he’s only got four days. The limit is four days.”

“You’re certain?”

“Yeah, we . .uh . . found a safe in the back. It contained further notes on the medicine. Not the project, the medicine. In four days, the saturation of the bloodstream will be ceased and all proteins of the medicine will be gone through Sebastian’s natural bodily fluids. If he hasn’t received the medicine by then, his body will reject it.”

“What happens at that point?” asked Natasha.

“Sebastian’s brain functions will break down and eventually he’ll have a nervous breakdown,” Locke answered, “He’ll become like Cedric . . .and the rest of the Black Faction.”

“THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!!” Desmond screamed.

“No one is saying it is, Desmond.” Jack countered, “We are trying to figure out a time table for what we need to do and what kind of a person Goodwin is?”

“He’s a liar and a kidnapper,” Barbara whispered, “What more do we need to know?”

“We need to know a lot more, Barbara. When Ecko and Raven get back, we’ll ask them cause they probably encountered him before. They can tell us how he thinks and that is what we need right now. I know you are upset about Eddie-“

“You don’t know squat, Jack!” the redheaded older woman hissed, “You’re in here discussing possibilities but we don’t need that right now. We need to get out there and find my son.”

“We’ll get Eddie back, Barbara but we can’t go off half-cocked.” Yolanda pointed out.

“The more we wait, the more danger Eddie gets place in. We need to leave now!”

“Barbara, we don’t even know where he is!” Jack said.

“Yeah, well, you’re not sending Locke out to find him, are you , Jack?”

“Barbara, that is not fair!” the black stewardess said.

Barbara laughed briefly through her tears, at the absurdity of what she was hearing. “No, you want to know what is not fair?” she cried, “What is not fair is that Tony, John and McKay went on that boat instead of Jack, Locke and Sayid.”

“Barbara, what are you-“

“If they were here, they would have been out there, trying to find my boy.”

“Barbara, please, believe me; we’ll get Eddie back!” Jack pleaded.

“The difference between you and them is that they loved my boy,” the redhead wept, “Not one was there to take care of my son but they were. You . . .bastards . . .”

“Okay, Barbara, that is enough,” Jilly replied, “Let’s get out of here to let them think.”

The redhead slowly stood up and followed the deaf girl out of the room. Jack watched her closely as she left. Her words struck him deep; and for a brief second, he wished Tony, John and McKay were here. It would have been easier for them to take control of the situation and he just followed. But they weren’t here; and he had to decide what to do. “She didn’t mean it, Jack,” Kristy said, touching his arm.

“I know,” He sighed then turned toward the resident cop, “Hal . ..you handled a hostage situation before?”

“Not personally but I was there when the actual negotiator was on the scene.” He admitted.

“Any advice would be helpful.” The doctor pointed out.

“Well, first thing you can’t give into his demands. Trading hostages for other hostages is not acceptable by any means.”

“What about the computer?” Locke asked.

“If you give him access to the computer, you’ll have to watch him. That might be able to by us some time and possibly keep him occupied while we find the other kids.”

Jack then noticed that Sayid finally came out of the side hallway. The Iraqi was in there trying to console the young lost girls with Shannon but judging by his face, he didn’t seem to have had much luck. “How are Flower and Andra, Sayid?” Jack asked.

“Scared out of their wits.” The Middle Easterner took a deep sigh, “Apparently, this creature they have seen before. Even killed some brothers in their tribe. They say that wherever this beast goes, the whispers are to follow.”

“The whispers?” Yolanda raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, apparently this monster communicates in whispers. I am . . .relunctant to admit I myself heard the whispering once in a while. From what they suggest, this beast has been watching us for some time.”

“That’s possible,” someone said, behind Jack, “The Fleshmonger was designed for absolute stealth.”

Jack turned and saw Raven walking toward them with Ecko in tow. Jack felt relieved to have Raven back, especially since it seemed he must have fought the creature and even knew it’s name. “This thing . .is called Fleshmonger?” asked Jack.

“Yes, it’s a wolf/human hybrid with camouflage ability, like a chameleon” the masked warrior told him, “If it doesn’t want you to find it, it won’t be found. The only time it gets visible is when it is ready to kill something.”

“When did you fight this thing before?” asked Micheal.

“Three years ago. The Fleshmonger had came in and attacked both tribes, killing at least four kids. It was stronger and faster than anything they could have seen. Both Alexander and Cedric had to put aside their differences in order to defeat him. They came very close too but Alexander was trapped by holding onto an access hole to the lower levels. I leaped in and did my best to fight it off.”

“You failed?” Jack asked in disbelief.

“I must have. It survived the fall.”

“Fall? What fall?”

“I fought it to a standstill,” Raven mentioned, “My only advantage was that I was quicker. When we got to the cliff, I dropped kicked it over and it plummeted into the water. I should have gone down to make sure it was dead but that was my fault. It never reared it’s ugly head until recently.”

“What can you tell us about this Goodwin bastard?” asked Desmond.

“He came it with the others,” Ecko piped, “With Ethan and the other scientists that Fender brought here to understand the Island. They became obsessed with the information they found. To create what they called the Herrenvolk.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Natasha clicked her fingers, “He did mention that. Herrenvolk. What does that mean?”

“It’s German,” whispered Locke.

“What does it mean, Locke?” the brunette asked, eager to know.

“The rough translation is Master Race. It was a term utilitized to describe what the Nazi’s hope to accomplished.”

“Ethan and Goodwin . . .are Nazis?” Kristy gasped.

“I don’t think we have to worry about the symantic argument over it, “ Jack rubbed his head, “We have to figure out how to find them and get them back.”

“If Goodwin doesn’t want to be found, then he can’t be found.” Ecko said coldly.

“Well, we have to figure out a way!” the doctor countered loudly, “We can’t leave those poor boys out there with this mad-man!”

“We won’t, Jack,” Raven assured, “ The Watchman Proticals are still effect. The Computer still scans the Island for Eddie’s presence.”

“What does that mean?” asked Hal.

“The moment Eddie is within sight, the computer will know. When the computer knows, I will too.”

“You have to get him back, Raven,” Jilly said as she came back into the living room, “I don’t think Barbara could live with losing both her husband and her only son.”

“How is she, Jilly?” Jack asked.

“She didn’t mean what she said, Jack.”

“I’m not worried about that. How she is?”

“She’s just . . .crying. She laid down on her cot and just started to cry. She . . .damn it! I can’t believe Bobby turned out to be a spy!”

Jack approached her and gently touched her shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Jilly,” the doctor assured her, “Ethan played us too to get close to Claire.”

“He was so nice,” she said, wiping her tears, “I feel . . .I feel so stupid! I mean, he even gave me this little piece of metal, saying it was a good luck charm to keep me from being scared. That . . .bastard!”

Jilly threw the small piece of metal against the wall and it bounced from it, landing on a nearby end table near Locke. By instinct, the bald man looked at the little piece of metal. He was curious about, expecting a coin or something. He then picked it up and took a closer look at it. The bald man then whispered a curse word. “Locke!” Jack said, reminding him of his language.

“I’m sorry, Jack but this piece of metal that Jilly had . . .it the top half of a broken key!” Locke pointed out.

“Yeah, so?” the deaf woman asked.

“Broken key . . .” Jack then blinked, “The Green cabinet.”

“What green cabin-“

Before Jilly could finish her sentence, both Locke and Jack ran toward the entrance to the underwater observation. They quickly ran down the stairs and Locke jumped to avoid the last three steps. He quickly grabbed the top half of the cabinet and then Jack grabbed the bottom half. The two men grunted as they began to ascend the stairs back up to the top. Kristy, Hal and Jilly were there waiting on them to see what they were doing. They moved out of the way when they finally reached the top. Jack and Locke quickly scurried back into the living room area, where the others were waiting dumbstruck by their behavior. The two men panted as they dropped the cabinet onto the floor. “Raven,” Jack coughed, “This cabinet . . .has a broken key in the lock . . .please . . .get it over for us.”

The masked warrior then stepped forward and kneeled down toward the cabinet. He reached to the lower bottom and then braced his other hand on the top. With one jerk, the lock popped off and the bottom drawer opened. Jack then reached down and pulled it all the way out. He pushed the folder catchers toward the front and saw an object in the back. The doctor reached in and picked it up, blowing the dust off it. “A video tape?” Isabella looked from the back.

Jack showed the tape to Locke. The label read Black and Red Project: Fleshmonger. “Everything happens for a reason,” Locke smiled, and then winked at Jilly.

The deaf girl was a little amazed that finally fate seemed to include her in the bunch. Perhaps it was simply her time but she figured she would leave the theological discussions for Locke and Mia. Desmond came over and held out his hand for the tape. Jack blew the rest of the dust off of it and gave it to him. He walked over to the rolling cabinet of the TV and VCR. He gently popped open the top and slid the tape in; pressing play.

The group stared at the TV screen but all they saw was static. Then it burst into a series of words but it was looking like gibberish. Then it showed an image of a man but the screen was so jumpy; no one could hear was he was saying nor tell was he looked like. “What’s wrong, Desmond?” asked Isabella.

“The tape is bloody old, Izzy,” Desmond replied, “I hope the VCR doesn’t eat it before we learn more about Fleshmon-“

“Genome therapy was successful,” the man on the screen finally came into clear view, “Once we were able to combine the wolf DNA with reptilian DNA, the Fleshmonger was able to be incubated into birth. Unlike Monstro, The Fleshmonger’s sole purpose is to provide an obst (zzzzz) at the children can work united (zzzzzzzz). The creature will be hard to defea(zzzzzzz) but it’s not supposed to be (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)means . .”

“COME ON!!” Desmond banged the VCR.

“The Flesh (zzzzzzzzzzz) attacks will force the kids to think. If they find the clues, they can find his weakness. We have program(zzzzzzzzzz) simple means. Fleshmonger can be disposed (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) whenever it (zzzzzzzzzzzzzz) If (zzzzzzzzzz) questions, direct them toward the Hanso (zzzzzzzzzzzzz) . . . . . “

The screen then went black. Desmond gulped as he looked at the VCR. He then pressed the eject button and the door only popped up half way. He then pulled the video tape out only to have the tape part slide out in ribbons. Isabella then started crying as the only piece of evidence to aid her in getting her son back was eaten by the VCR. Desmond slowly dropped it onto the floor, feeling like he was going to have a nervous breakdown. Jack came up to and placed a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder. “We’ll get them back,” he promised, “We’ll get them back.”