Lost Horror story: "Seven Days"
okay, so I did not finish in time as I had wished, but I hope you enjoy! (it is not Halloweenish anyway ;) )
Title: Seven Days
Characters: Lost - GEN (no pairings), many characters (Michael, Locke, Eko, Sawyer and more)
Rating: PG-13 for violence and cursing, 7 000 words
A/N: Made for Lost Horror challenge at lostsquee , borrowing the concept of "The Ring". Of course, I do not own either Lost or that movie. Fits with the timeline at Lostpedia, where I got the transcripts too. I would like to publicly bow before themoononastick who did such an awesome beta job. ♥ It would have been horrible without her help.
Summary: Michael brings back a videotape. It all goes downhill from there.
Michael takes the unmarked videocassette out of his bag and looks at it intently, hoping that it will show him a way to get Walt back without having to betray Hurley, Jack, Kate and Sawyer. He stills wonders why they were carrying a videocassette around, living in huts like they do. He can't imagine them all getting together for movie nights. Michael had seen the plastic cassette, hanging half out of an Other's backpack, and took advantage of a rare lapse in the surveillance to snatch it. He wonders if they realized he stole it. And he wonders if, maybe, they wanted him to do just that.
On the big control panel in the computer room, there is a slot that looks like the opening of a VCR. This is Michael's only chance, Jack or the others surely will be back soon, so he slips the tape in and prays that it works. The tape is swallowed and a loud beeping sound startles him as the cursor vanishes from the black computer screen to be replaced by unfocused images. Michael sits down and watches, searching for clues.
He sees jungle, nowhere he can recognise, but it all looks the same to him anyway. A bark-less tree, fades in and out. Moving shadows with gas masks, vanishing before Michael can count how many there are, the images too blurry for him to make out any faces. The jungle and the tree again. A sudden close up on a wide, scared brown eye makes him jump back on his chair, before it's replaced by an old wooden cabin. It shifts to a coil of black smoke that snakes and twists between the trees with a purpose, as if it can move of its own accord. The jungle again where trees are flying in all directions. A violent storm, with lightning and torrential rain
The screen finally stills and fades to black, leaving Michael astounded and even more confused. He hears the tape rewind and eject behind him as the lights dim for an instant. The speaker in the corner of the room crackles, there is a high pitched distorted sound and a voice utters "Seven days.".
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Michael's hands shake so much, he has trouble getting the combination right on the armoury's lock. Eighteen, one, thirty-one. Eighteen, one, thirty-one.
He can't believe he just killed two innocent women in cold blood. Can't believe what he still has to do, what he's totally ready to do to get Walt back. When the heavy door opens, instead of revealing an imposing giant like he'd imagined, Michael sees a mouse of a man, looking almost scared. They stare at each other for a long moment before Michael shoots himself in the arm. Everyone will think this man killed Ana Lucia and Libby, then shot him too as he got out. No one will ever know what he did.
The shock and the pain, on top of the high emotional roller coaster he's on right now, make Michael's knees weaken. He slowly slips to the ground, breathing so shallowly that black dots start to swim before his eyes.
He sees the Other's feet stop near him and looks up, meeting enquiring blue eyes and a mouth twisted into a smirk.
"You watched it, didn't you?"
It doesn't make any sense to Michael, who just sees the Other smile a bit wider. That man is obviously very dangerous, maybe not such a mouse after all.
"Thank you, Michael."
He says almost like a sing song before he exits the hatch, leaving Michael to his panic attack.
@@@
If Locke won't take the responsibility to enter the numbers into the computer anymore, Eko decides he will do it. It is important, he is sure of it. The cement is cold under Eko's feet, an alien sensation on this island. Upon entering the living room area, he sees Michael cleaning blood on the ground. He makes his presence known.
"Hello."
Michael jumps in surprise and many emotions flash on his face, guilt among them.
"I didn't hear you come in, man." He replies, getting himself under control.
"I left my shoes outside. They were muddy."
Michael nods, and then asks:
"Did you find him? Henry?"
Eko never really wished to find Henry, but he answers the question.
"No."
There is a brief flash of relief in Michael's eyes. He diverts the conversation.
"I hear you're a priest."
"Yes."
"I guess you believe in hell, then."
Eko begins to help Michael clean the blood from the floor, trying to find the best way to respond to this man who clearly has something troubling his conscience. Maybe he had a hand in the tragedy they are trying to remove the evidence of, other than simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Penance is needed to repent sins you have committed, he does what he can to make Michael understand.
“For a brief time I served in a small parish in England. Every Sunday after Mass, I would see a young boy waiting in the back of the church. And then one day, the boy confessed to me that he had beaten his dog to death with a shovel. He said that the dog had bitten his baby sister on the cheek; and he needed to protect her. And he wanted to know whether he would go to hell for this. I told him that God would understand -- that he would be forgiven, as long as he was sorry. But the boy did not care about forgiveness. He was only afraid that if he did go to hell -- that dog would be there waiting for him.”
Eko knows by Michael's expression that whatever he did, he is not sorry for it, not really or not enough. Hell it will be then.
When they are done with the cleaning and Eko has washed the blood from his hands, he sees a videocassette on the top of the panel in the computer room. He picks it up, turning it in puzzlement, sure it was not there before. Michael notices his interest.
"I stole the cassette from the Others, while they were not looking. Don't bother: it's a whole bunch of crap."
"Have you watched it?"
Michael shrugs, and takes the tape from Eko's hands before inserting it in a rectangular opening.
"I swear man, there is nothing logical on this. At all."
The tape is swallowed and the computer beeps. Images appear on the computer screen as Eko moves closer, fascinated.
Lots of jungle, shadows, a brown eye and an old cabin. Suddenly there is the black smoke he saw while he was in the jungle with Charlie, the day he found Yemi's corpse and the plane. Eko wonders who filmed it and why, if it is possible to know what the smoke is and whose instrument it is. There are other images: havoc in the jungle, a huge storm and then it stops. The tape rewinds and ejects behind him, confirming it is over.
"Told ya. Nothing." Michael says, and the lights dim for an instant. "Geez, again?"
The speaker in the corner of the room crackles, there is a sound like a distorted whine and a voice utters "Seven days.".
@@@
Pickett curses as he watches the boat, almost invisible now on the horizon, carry away the boy and his idiot father. He squints at Ben as he shoves the tall blond smartass forward, generating a string of muffled sounds he doesn't doubt are very inventive epithets.
"And why didn't we kill him again?"
Ben raises his eyebrows with such a condescending expression on his face, Pickett feels small and worthless. Funny how a man half his size can do that so easily.
"Because he was given our word, Danny."
Ben turns and looks at the boat too, before smiling like the cat that ate the canary.
"Besides, I have faith the Island will resolve our problem."
Ben fastens his stride to take the lead on the column, ending the conversation there as if all has been said. Pickett shivers in spite of the heat, wondering once again if they are being lead by a dangerous madman.
@@@
The motor makes a hypnotic rumble as Michael fights against dozing off. Five days now, going straight towards the compass bearing of 325, and he can only hope they are very near rescue. It's night, so he has to stay awake and check out for other boats, make sure they don't inadvertently change direction.
An unusual sound, mostly made of clicking, permeates the semi-trance he's in. It gets louder and louder before it seems to stop right outside the cabin's door. Michael rubs his eyes in disbelief when he sees the door handle turn.
He steps back in horror when the door opens and Libby and Ana Lucia come in, looking exactly like they did in their last moments, gunshot wounds included. Michael shivers, his heart pounding, and as he speaks he prays the sound of his voice will scare the ghosts away.
"Oh god. I... I must be dreaming. That's it, I fell asleep, this.. this is a nightmare."
Libby shakes her head softly, a mysterious little smile playing on her lips. She doesn't look scared of him anymore, in fact Michael is sure he is the one looking terrified this time.
"No, Michael. You're not sleeping."
Ana is more vehement and she puts her hands on her hips while she approaches, almost spits in his face and snarls:
"We're not a nightmare, you bastard. Or maybe we are, finally. We're here to bring your judgement."
Michael shakes his head no, backing up against the far wall, tries to find words to appease them.
"I didn't want... it was not supposed... oh god, I am so sorry!"
The images of the women start to lose their shape and they morph into a column of black smoke that whirls around Michael making the clicking sound he heard on the tape. He's paralysed, can't even scream. Like flashes of a camera, he sees snapshots of all the dark recesses of his life: his sins, his mistakes, all of them, on the island and before.
His last thought before being swallowed by the darkness is of Walt.
@@@
The apparition that looks like Yemi turns without answering his questions, and walks away toward the jungle tree line. Eko shouts angrily:
"Who are you!? Who are you!?"
Since not-Yemi doesn't stop, Eko follows him into the jungle. He repeats, infuriated:
"Who are you?"
Suddenly there are sounds all around him: that loud roar they can hear sometimes in the jungle, plus the clicking the black smoke makes that seems to circle him. He turns to look behind him but does not see anything. As he turns back around to continue to chase after not-Yemi, a giant column of black smoke towers before him, just like it had done that day with Charlie. It is menacing this time, not enquiring, and in the flashes contained in the smoke he only sees the murders, crimes, drug deals, those others he killed with his bare hands, all of the horrible things he did to survive but that maybe God sees as sins after all. The smokes seems to pass judgement, says he had seven days to straighten his life. Since Eko will only accept judgement from God, not from this abomination, he starts to pray:
"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd..."
There is a metallic clanking noise when the smoke reaches out and grabs Eko around the waist, lifting him into the air and slamming him head first into a tree. The pain is harsh and there is nothing he can do as he's smashed from one tree to the other. Eko is dizzy and almost unconscious, but can still feel it when he's lifted up and up in the air, passed the trees and slammed forcefully back to the ground, face down. Everything stops moving then and the smoke fades away.
There is someone beside him, saying his name. It's John, who looks at him with pity.
"Eko! Ohh... Eko. It's ok. It's ok."
Eko is too weak to do more than whisper, but he has to warn them, knows the seven days the smoke suggested is linked to that movie somehow, even if why and how are getting confused in his head.
"Careful... destroy tape... die next."
That is all he can say, he doesn't care about fighting to live anymore. There is a warm yellow light that reminds him of the Nigerian sun, just there before him. He goes towards it with hope, thinking about his brother.
@@@
There is some kind of commotion down the beach. Paolo can see the Scott walking in the surf, holding Claire's small body in his arms until he lays her down on the sand. Why people who aren't expert swimmers even venture in the ocean, Paolo really doesn't get. He briefly worries about Claire, hopes she's okay. That kid of hers would be a handful if she were stupid enough to get herself drowned.
Paolo figures this is his chance to go through Eko's stuff, or at least what was rescued from his shelter’s fire. He's sure Eko said more to Locke than the old man let them know. There is nothing much to go through, but he finds the weirdest thing ever: a videocassette.
Why the fuck did the giant priest carry a tape around? It's so strange that Paolo slips it in the waistband of his jeans, under his shirt.
@@@
Nikki groans, annoyed, as Paolo turns on the cot again. He didnt manage to get one second of sleep of the entire night, his mind always coming back to the damn videocassette. Resigning himself that he will not get any rest until he sees what is on it, Paolo gets dressed and makes his way over to the Pearl station, where he knows there is a VCR.
What he sees on the tape when he pops it in? Not worth losing sleep over, that's for sure. A big psychedelic experiment made by someone with too much time on his hands. The images flicker with no coherency, showing random scenes from the island cut together into a whole that has no meaning. The only thing Paolo is sure of is that Eko must have found it here, somehow.
After a couple of minutes, the screen goes dark and the tape rewinds and ejects on its own. There is a weird flicker in the lights and a speaker Paolo didn't even notice before starts screeching. And then he hears a deep voice say “Seven days.”.
@@@
Paolo cannot believe that he lost sleep over this stupid tape again. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw random images from it playing out in his mind's eye. The worst were the white brimmed eyes - a little wild, definitely scared.
Now that he's seen it, Paolo itches to get rid of the tape. He's reluctant to just to throw it away and he wonders if he could get something in return. Just as the thought crosses his mind, there is another commotion down the beach. This island is definitely a never ending source of crazy distractions. Paolo wonders if the Scott saved someone again, before realising that it's Sawyer and Kate, back from where ever they went with those mean Others Hurley keeps talking about.
Maybe Sawyer would be interested in the tape, he thinks, before remembering that the southerner doesn't have much to barter with anymore. Paolo then sees Locke, ambling over to hug like the rest of the group. Who knows when it could be useful to be in the old man's good graces? He stops Locke with a shout and runs over.
"Hey, Locke!"
Locke stalls and watches him, as always with that sovereign calm that very rarely leaves him.
"Hi Paolo! What can I do for you?"
Paolo smiles.
"In fact, it's more something I want to give you. Here."
Paolo takes the cassette from his pants waistband, wipes it on his jeans when he notices how his sweat has made it damp, and hands it over.
"I found this in Eko's stuff, and I thought it could be of interest to you."
Locke looks a bit weary, to Paolo's surprise, but takes it anyway.
"Have you watched it?"
Paolo nods.
"Yeah, and frankly I could not make much of it. But you know the island more than anyone here, so I guess that if someone can make sense of it, it would be you."
Locke smiles at that, laughter lines showing at the corner of his eyes, and puts the tape in his backpack.
"That's thoughtful of you. Thank you, Paolo."
Paolo shrugs and dismisses the gesture with a wave.
"You are welcome."
@@@
Kate and Sayid are sleeping on the other side of the campfire while Locke is on second watch duty. Knowing he has to occupy himself if he wants to fight off the temptation to sleep, he starts rummaging through his pack, inventorying what he's got and planning how to use it on the submarine when he can get near it.
"And what do you know."
Mikhail's voice is amused. Locke looks at their prisoner, meeting the sharp gaze of the other man. Locke is worried he saw the explosives until Mikhail speaks again.
"Did you watch that cassette?"
Locke looks down at the black plastic tape by his foot. He doesn't know why he even answers.
"No."
A slow smile spread on Mikhail's face, and he moves a bit as if he's trying to find a good position to sleep tied up as he is. His one unwavering eye turns up to the star studded sky visible between the canopy above them and he says softly.
"Good for you then."
Taking the videocassette to put it back in his bag, Locke wonders if it's anything important.
@@@
Paolo tries to bat the spider that Nikki just threw at him away, but he feels a little sting and burn as it bites him on the neck. He looks at Nikki with disbelief.
"Are you out of your mind?"
She is furious.
"You remember Doctor Arzt's friend. Did it bite you? Does it hurt? He told me why they call it the Medusa Spider. Wanna know why?"
There is definitely something wrong with him, and he starts to shake, feeling heat and tingling spread through his body. Paolo grabs Nikki, half to shake her, half to use her to stand up.
"What did you do?"
She is smug, obviously very proud of her little plan.
"Because one look from Medusa will turn anyone to stone, just like one bite from the spider will paralyse you, for about eight hours. It won't kill you, it'll just slow your heart rate down to the point of where even a doctor would have a hard time..."
Paulo feels his control on his body slip away and he falls to the ground, already numb in the extremities. Nikki continues her little tirade
" ...Hearing it beat. You won't be able to move a muscle, so I'll be able to do, all sorts of nasty things to you. And since it bit you on your neck, I'd say paralysis will happen fast. I'm guessing that you have the diamonds on you. Huh?"
He's afraid now, knows how ruthless Nikki can be, especially when she thinks she's been deceived. She starts frisking him, looking for the diamonds. Paolo chastises himself, he should have buried them somewhere, not listened to Locke. Nikki won't stop until she finds what she is looking for, Paolo is absolutely certain of that.
"In a shoe, maybe?"
She asks, almost playfully. Since she finds nothing, she throws the shoe away and Paolo can see it catch in a tree. She pauses for an instant.
"I think I know where..."
She knows him too well, because she starts to undo Paulo's belt and zipper, and pulls out the pouch from his underwear. She stops to look at it.
"Son of a bitch."
He had a bit of hope that she would maybe miss the diamonds, but now that she got them, he has to win her back, has to convince her he did this for a good reason.
"I'm sorry."
Nikki looks hurt, and still furious.
"You're only sorry cause you got caught."
Speaking gets more and more difficult. Paolo tries to plead with his eyes.
"I was, afraid, of losing you. If you found the diamonds, you wouldn't need me any more."
Paolo can see Nikki's expression soften, as if she's maybe inclined to forgive him. But at the same time there is this weird clicking sound that seems to circle them. Nikki looks around and sees something that scares her. From the corner of his eyes, Paolo can see numerous Medusa spiders approaching. Nikki starts to panic and seems to be shaking something off her leg before she starts talking to herself.
"Ow, dammit! Oh no! No! No, no."
And Nikki runs away, leaving Paolo laying there on the jungle's floor, surrounded by creepy spiders and that weird sound that's coming closer and closer. He's absolutely terrified, even more so because he cannot move or scream, just like in his worst childhood nightmare.
He cannot even look at what is approaching him until it hoovers above him: thick black smoke, just like the one on the videocassette. It takes the form of Howard Zukerman, one foot on each side of his torso, looking down.
"Oh Paolo, Paolo. How ironic. You poisoned me for that woman, and now you'll die because she did the same to you. Time to be judged, chef."
Zukerman turns back to smoke and there is a myriad of flashes that show every con he pulled, every person he deceived, and every single other bad thing he ever did. The smokes morphs back into the sleazy old man and he smiles cruelly.
"Usually I'd kill you right now Paolo, for everything you did. But I think it's better that I leave you this way, unable to bat an eyelash. Especially since I know that in just a couple of hours? Your friends will, without even knowing it, bury you and your bitch of a girlfriend alive."
Zukerman bursts out in a thunderous and manic evil laugh and walks away, leaving Paolo alone with the sound of his heart so faint to his own ears he barely can discern it even if it should be deafening.
Paolo screams for the next fours hours non-stop, but no one hears it.
@@@
Locke and Alex leave Ben's house, as she leads him towards the submarine.
"You know he's manipulating you, right?"
The girl asks. Locke looks at her sideway, surprised at this honesty.
"How's that?"
Alex sounds bitter when she answers.
"That's what my father does. He manipulates people. He makes you think it's your idea, but it's his."
She is probably right, but right now Locke is certain he's the one in charge of his destiny. He acknowledges her statement though.
"I'll have to keep that in mind."
As they walk through the woods, Alex suddenly asks.
"When I brought the backpack, I looked through it. The videotape... did you watch it?"
Locke narrows his eyes, curious about why Mikhail and now this girl seem so interested about that.
"No. Why?"
She looks relieved.
"Then don't do it. Never watch it."
They are now at the end of the path and Locke can see the submarine at the pier. Alex gestures to it.
"The submarine is down there. At the end of the dock."
Locke puts his hand on Alex's shoulder for a moment, and apologises for holding her hostage in her own home.
"I'm sorry I had to involve you in this."
She looks at him for a couple of seconds, young and earnest. Then Locke hurries towards the submarine, knowing he has to be fast before the alarm is given.
@@@
They are going to leave for that Old place tomorrow morning, that’s what Ben said. Locke knows this is probably his only chance to watch that mysterious tape. He finds a VCR in Ben’s living room, beside old Disney tapes and romantic comedies. Obviously, Ben leaves movie watching to his daughter.
He pops the cassette into the machine, hoping it still works properly. The images he sees are mesmerizing, even if incomprehensive as a whole. There is the jungle, nowhere Locke can specifically pin point, some people, a cabin and a scared guy, and most importantly the black smoke he encountered twice in the jungle so far. There is other stuff too, but the images stop suddenly, leaving him hungry for more.
Locke is about to rewind the tape to watch it again when it rewinds and ejects on its own. Lights flickers and a walkie talkie that's been left on the kitchen table crackles, until a man's voice says "Seven days.".
Locke looks at the radio curiously as Ben walks in, a big canvas bag in hand.
"What does it mean, seven days? Is that the time to get to that place of yours?"
Ben frowns, clearly not understanding him.
"You are not making any sense, John."
Locke huffs, annoyed again at how they love keeping their secrets and thinking that he'll find out soon enough, one way or the other. He goes to the VCR to retrieve the unmarked cassette, and turns back to a smiling Ben.
A cold shiver goes down Locke's spine, even though Ben doesn't say anything and just starts filling his canvas bag with food from his pantry.
@@@
Locke goes through the file Richard gave him on Sawyer, finding with shock the connection James Ford has with his father. That despicable old man he calls Dad has brought so much pain to this world in so many incarnations, Locke is more and more convinced he does deserve to die. But Locke also knows he doesn't have it in him to actually kill Cooper himself. He's jarred out of his ruminations by Alex, who drops on the grass beside him with a smile. She sounds cheerful.
"Dad says that you watched the tape, but you're okay. He's so pissed, you have no idea."
Locke raises his eyebrows in amusement.
"Of course I am okay. And why is he pissed, exactly?"
She leans back on her elbows and her green eyes sparkle.
"That definitively proves that you have a great connection with the Island."
Locke doesn't see the relation, but it makes him feel better, especially after the public humiliation of the night before. Alex sits back up and extends her hand.
"Give it to me, I think it's safe to hide it or maybe even try to destroy it now."
Locke shakes his head, raising his shoulders in apology.
"I'm sorry, Alex, but I don’t have it anymore,"
She looks puzzled.
"I put it in Jack's backpack before we left."
She visibly whitens at that and a look of horror spreads on her face.
"What did you do!” Shock turns to scorn, as she hurries to stand up. “You're not special, you just perpetuated the curse!"
He shakes his head, more confused than ever.
"What? I do not understand what you are talking about. Explain, please!"
She lets go a long suffering sigh.
"It sounds crazy, I know, but that videocassette is cursed. If you are unfortunate or stupid enough to watch it fully, you can hear Jacob's voice at the end that tells you that you have a week to live before the Island passes its judgement. There is absolutely no way to escape it, and you die."
The girl is obviously a bit off her rocker, and the thought that immediately flashes is that it could run in the family. Locke states the obvious, smiling.
"The rumours of my death are highly exaggerated!"
Alex rolls her eyes.
"That's because the only way to escape death is if someone else watches the tape when you are not there but within the seven days, which transfers the curse to them."
Locke ponders on that for a second, even if he's far from believing her tale.
"Maybe Jack didn't watch it. Maybe I am special."
The teenager looks at him with contempt, and in that moment she looks as much like her adopted father as she is the living portrait of her mother.
"I guess we can't know for sure now, can we."
She walks off toward the jungle, hurried. Locke watches her go and opens up Sawyer's file again.
@@@
Sawyer starts walking towards the beach, wincing when he steps on a branch. Physical pain is the least of his problems right now though, he thinks, looking at the little recorder that supposedly proves Juliet is a mole.
"Hey, James!"
He turns, taken aback to see Locke ready to carry the corpse of his father wherever it is he wants to take it, thinking for the millionth time that the man is probably a psychopath.
"What?"
"How is Paolo doing?"
For a second, Sawyer thinks he heard wrong, because the question just does not compute. He answers slowly, after he remembers Locke was away with Kate and Sayid at the time.
"I'm sorry to say Paolo's dead, Nikki too." Locke nods and weirdly doesn't seem surprised. "Were you guys friends?"
Locke shakes his head.
"No. Not really. And Jack... Would you happen to know if Jack watched a videocassette?"
If the last question was out of the blue, this one is plain crazy.
"What? What the fuck are you talking..."
Locke cuts him short.
"Did he? It’s important."
Sawyer sighs loudly but does remember Jack coming back to camp one night with a pinched and exasperated look on his face as he had put an unmarked old videocassette on the pantry's higher shelf. Sawyer had teased him about how porn was supposed to help him relax, prompting one of the rare genuine smiles Jack had made since he came back from his time with the Others.
"Well yeah, he did actually. Said it was full of nonsense."
Locke sags a bit at that and Sawyer wonders if he's not going to collapse under the weight of the cadaver on his shoulders. Why doesn't he put the corpse down to have a conversation, anyway? Locke seems really preoccupied about the tape business.
"When? When did he watch it?"
Throwing an arm up in the air in exasperation, Sawyer searches his memories to pin point the moment.
"I dunno.. four or five days ago? And what the hell..."
Locke's face goes blank at that, a little nerve twitching on his temple.
"Does he still have it?"
It figures that the old kook is interested in some tape with island mumbo jumbo. If he wants it, he's going to have to come and get it though.
"I know where it is."
Locke looks towards the jungle, than back at him, biting his lower lip.
"That tape is cursed. Jack will die seven days after he watched it, unless someone watches the cassette before then."
That's it, he’s nuts, no more arguments needed. Better not risk sudden movement and back away slowly.
"O-kay."
Locke half smiles and then gestures around with his free hand.
"You think I am crazy, but listen to me. Look around James, logic doesn't apply here. Look at that boat, in the middle of the jungle. How I'm walking after four years. And how did he get here?" He says passionately, jerking his head towards the body he's carrying. "It all sounds crazy, right? But it's true! Eko, Paolo… they watched the tape, and they died. Jack is probably next, you don't want that."
Sawyer laughs, but it's bitter.
"Why would I care?"
He turns and starts resolutely for the beach, ignoring Locke, and thinking he doesn't have a duty to save anyone's ass but his own.
@@@
Locke looks down and sees a mass open grave full of skeletons, some still wearing their beige DHARMA jumpsuits. There are dozens of bodies, clearly a mass murder that shocks Locke more than anything he's seen on this island so far. Ben, however, is calm, as if it's nothing.
"This is where I came from, John. These are my people. The DHARMA Initiative. They came here seeking harmony, but they couldn't even coexist with the Island's original inhabitants. And when it became clear that one side had to go, one side had to be purged, I did what I had to do. I was one of the people that was smart enough to make sure that I didn't end up in that ditch, which makes me considerably smarter than you, John."
The tingling feeling of danger comes too late, and when Locke turns to punch Ben, he gets shot first. Locke falls back into the ditch, and bones crack under his weight with a horrible sound. He's wounded in the chest, and the pain is incredibly strong, making it hard to breath. Ben looks down at him from the edge.
"What did Jacob say to you?"
It's not making any sense to Locke, why Ben is still going along with that delusion that Jacob was in that cabin, and even more so why he just shot him.
"Why did you do this?"
Ben just won't let it go.
"Because you heard him. Now I need to know what he said."
After everything he's been through, Locke cannot believe he's going to die in a ditch, on top of old skeletons. He answers Ben anyway.
"Help me."
The nerves in Ben's neck are stiff and he's coldly furious.
"John, I'm not going to ask you again. What did he say to you?"
"He said... help me."
Ben looks troubled, and flinches for a moment.
"Well I certainly hope he helps you, John."
He turns around and leaves then, leaving Locke helpless and weaker by the moment. He manages to cry out.
"Ben! Wait! The tape..."
Locke hears Ben's footsteps as he comes back, and the short man spits out his frustration now, words like venom.
"Yes, the tape. That's one other reason why you have to disappear, John. I found that tape at Jacob's, years ago. I survived it out of sheer luck, because one of my men watched it after me. Took me several strange deaths to put two and two together, but its curse had never failed. Never before you. I decided you had to die two days ago, John, when the Island didn't claim you. And if it means I have to do it myself? So be it."
When Ben leaves this time, no amount of pleading can bring him back.
@@@
Karl looks at the activity on the beach as the survivors of the plane crash and Juliet are getting ready for the raid, and doesn't quite know what to do, where his place is. He hopes it is okay to trust them. Well he even gave them his gun, so Karl thinks he is in trouble if they decide to turn against him. Kate and Sawyer, they did save him from The Room and Ben, but they did it to escape themselves. If only Alex was here…
Circling around some people doing shooting practice, Karl marches to Jack and Sawyer, who are near one of the marked tent, setting up explosives. Alex was clear on that, he has to warn Jack about the cursed tape. He clears his throat to get his attention.
"Huh Jack?"
The doctor stands up and looks at him somewhat suspiciously.
"Yes? What is it... Karl?"
He nods.
"Yes, it's Karl. I... huh... I have to warn you about the cursed videocassette. Have you watched it?"
Jack looks at him with puzzlement while Sawyer audibly groans.
"Ah damn. Not you too."
Jack frowns down at Sawyer, who doesn't take his eyes off the delicate task of positioning the dynamite, then looks at Karl, hands on his hips.
"What are you two talking about? A what?"
Sawyer sighs.
"That weirdo tape you watched the other day. They think it's gonna kill ya."
Wondering where Sawyer heard about it, but most of all worried because it seems Jack did watch it, Karl tries to explain.
"Yes, that tape... it is cursed, seriously. When you watch it, Jacob gives you seven days to live. Then the smoke monster kills you. The only way to stop it is if someone else watches it before your day is due."
It's absolutely clear in Jack's face that he doesn't believe a word Karl is saying. Sawyer is eying him now, though.
"Boy... that tape... the death thing seriously happened before?"
Karl nods vehemently.
"Yes! A lot of times, for real! No one touched it in a couple of years though, so it was okay, we thought it had disappeared. But I can assure you it's true."
After rubbing the back of his head, Jack just shrugs.
"I'm sorry Karl, I am sure you mean well, but I think that's impossible."
"The Others version of the bogey man." Sawyer sniggers; Jack giggles back. Frustrated, Karl walks away, but not before hearing Sawyer declare:
"I tell you Doc, there's something in the air here? The longer you stay, the crazier you become. I just cannot wait to get off of this rock, before I try to go catch a fairy in the jungle."
@@@
The more Sawyer tries to not think about it, the worse it becomes. He just cannot get that wacky stuff about the videocassette out of his mind. Beats thinking about what he did to Cooper though, so Sawyer knows it must be part of a self-preservation mechanism in a way. But trekking towards the radio tower, when they don't even know what happened with Sayid, Jin and Bernard... he has a bad feeling. He should go back to the beach, he owes those guys that. Sawyer stops walking and announces:
"I'm going back."
Jack frowns.
"What?"
"I'm going back to the beach."
Of course that doesn't go down so well with their resident hero.
"No way. We keep moving."
It's infuriating how that man thinks he can decide everything.
"I ain't asking permission."
Sawyer says as Juliet and Kate both stop, intrigued and incapable of minding their own business. Sawyer looks at Jack, hopes he gets the importance of it.
"Look you got a job to do here. I ain't gonna stand in your way of doing it. And you sure as hell don't need me."
The vote of confidence from Jack is quite weak.
"What do you think you're gonna get done. Alone and unarmed."
That's when Kate decides to get involved, in pure Kate fashion.
"He won't be alone, I'll go with him."
Just the thought of how dangerous it's going to be makes Sawyer exclaim instinctively.
"No!"
Kate is pissed.
"Twenty minutes ago you weren't even interested in going, and now all of a sudden you're telling Jack I'm..."
Sawyer shakes his head, knows he got to keep her away.
"I didn't wanna go with you."
Jack still tries to change his mind.
"Sawyer, it's a suicide mission without guns."
Which could be true, but Sawyer doesn't really care. To his surprise, Juliet butts in.
"I know where there are some guns. There's a hidden cache, a couple of miles from here. I can take us back to the beach on a route past it."
The situation is clearly escaping Jack's control at this point. He sounds sorry for that blond bitch he's so found of.
"Juliet, you don't have to do that."
She has a little soft smile.
"Yeah, Jack, I kinda do."
At this point, Sawyer is just itching to go. He proclaims
"Let's do this." and starts to walk back to camp.
Sawyer hopes he didn't wait too long and that he's going to get there in time to help, somehow.
@@@
Sitting by the hippie-van-slash-tank, Sawyer sips on a hot beer as he listens to the little radio conversation Hurley has with Jack, then Claire.
He feels numb, now that the adrenaline has dropped, and his eyes keep going back to Zeke's corpse. It had been so much easier to kill this time. Sawyer smirks derisively, thinking how that is exactly what he always heard hit men or serial killers say.
So they are going to get rescued after all, or it seems like it. Sawyer is not sure how he feels about that. He's pretty sure he doesn't deserve a second chance in the real world.
Sawyer finally gets up and goes to look around the shelves of what used to be the kitchen. Jack made everyone pack all of the food, leaving empties as decoys, but Sawyer spots the videocassette right away. It looks so inoffensive, and it would be in the real world, no one would even give it a second glance.
Could it be that such an innocuous object could bring death? Sawyer picks it up, slips it in his pack and warns Sayid that he's going to take a stroll in the jungle, saying that he's going for a swim to clean up which he really needs. After assuring Hurley that he's not going to be gone long, he treks to the Pearl, that Sayid showed him days ago after they tried to confront Juliet.
Inside the hatch, Sawyer takes a moment to marvel at the mad scientist vibe that seems to always be present everywhere those DHARMA freaks are involved. The tape in his hand is exerting a strong fascination: now that he can, Sawyer has to fight the urge to watch it right this second. In itself, the feeling goes a long way into convincing him that maybe all of that curse crap is genuine.
Pushing the videocassette into the VCR, Sawyer thinks that at least if it is true, Jack is going to be alright.
The End.
Title: Seven Days
Characters: Lost - GEN (no pairings), many characters (Michael, Locke, Eko, Sawyer and more)
Rating: PG-13 for violence and cursing, 7 000 words
A/N: Made for Lost Horror challenge at lostsquee , borrowing the concept of "The Ring". Of course, I do not own either Lost or that movie. Fits with the timeline at Lostpedia, where I got the transcripts too. I would like to publicly bow before themoononastick who did such an awesome beta job. ♥ It would have been horrible without her help.
Summary: Michael brings back a videotape. It all goes downhill from there.
Michael takes the unmarked videocassette out of his bag and looks at it intently, hoping that it will show him a way to get Walt back without having to betray Hurley, Jack, Kate and Sawyer. He stills wonders why they were carrying a videocassette around, living in huts like they do. He can't imagine them all getting together for movie nights. Michael had seen the plastic cassette, hanging half out of an Other's backpack, and took advantage of a rare lapse in the surveillance to snatch it. He wonders if they realized he stole it. And he wonders if, maybe, they wanted him to do just that.
On the big control panel in the computer room, there is a slot that looks like the opening of a VCR. This is Michael's only chance, Jack or the others surely will be back soon, so he slips the tape in and prays that it works. The tape is swallowed and a loud beeping sound startles him as the cursor vanishes from the black computer screen to be replaced by unfocused images. Michael sits down and watches, searching for clues.
He sees jungle, nowhere he can recognise, but it all looks the same to him anyway. A bark-less tree, fades in and out. Moving shadows with gas masks, vanishing before Michael can count how many there are, the images too blurry for him to make out any faces. The jungle and the tree again. A sudden close up on a wide, scared brown eye makes him jump back on his chair, before it's replaced by an old wooden cabin. It shifts to a coil of black smoke that snakes and twists between the trees with a purpose, as if it can move of its own accord. The jungle again where trees are flying in all directions. A violent storm, with lightning and torrential rain
The screen finally stills and fades to black, leaving Michael astounded and even more confused. He hears the tape rewind and eject behind him as the lights dim for an instant. The speaker in the corner of the room crackles, there is a high pitched distorted sound and a voice utters "Seven days.".
@@@
Michael's hands shake so much, he has trouble getting the combination right on the armoury's lock. Eighteen, one, thirty-one. Eighteen, one, thirty-one.
He can't believe he just killed two innocent women in cold blood. Can't believe what he still has to do, what he's totally ready to do to get Walt back. When the heavy door opens, instead of revealing an imposing giant like he'd imagined, Michael sees a mouse of a man, looking almost scared. They stare at each other for a long moment before Michael shoots himself in the arm. Everyone will think this man killed Ana Lucia and Libby, then shot him too as he got out. No one will ever know what he did.
The shock and the pain, on top of the high emotional roller coaster he's on right now, make Michael's knees weaken. He slowly slips to the ground, breathing so shallowly that black dots start to swim before his eyes.
He sees the Other's feet stop near him and looks up, meeting enquiring blue eyes and a mouth twisted into a smirk.
"You watched it, didn't you?"
It doesn't make any sense to Michael, who just sees the Other smile a bit wider. That man is obviously very dangerous, maybe not such a mouse after all.
"Thank you, Michael."
He says almost like a sing song before he exits the hatch, leaving Michael to his panic attack.
@@@
If Locke won't take the responsibility to enter the numbers into the computer anymore, Eko decides he will do it. It is important, he is sure of it. The cement is cold under Eko's feet, an alien sensation on this island. Upon entering the living room area, he sees Michael cleaning blood on the ground. He makes his presence known.
"Hello."
Michael jumps in surprise and many emotions flash on his face, guilt among them.
"I didn't hear you come in, man." He replies, getting himself under control.
"I left my shoes outside. They were muddy."
Michael nods, and then asks:
"Did you find him? Henry?"
Eko never really wished to find Henry, but he answers the question.
"No."
There is a brief flash of relief in Michael's eyes. He diverts the conversation.
"I hear you're a priest."
"Yes."
"I guess you believe in hell, then."
Eko begins to help Michael clean the blood from the floor, trying to find the best way to respond to this man who clearly has something troubling his conscience. Maybe he had a hand in the tragedy they are trying to remove the evidence of, other than simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Penance is needed to repent sins you have committed, he does what he can to make Michael understand.
“For a brief time I served in a small parish in England. Every Sunday after Mass, I would see a young boy waiting in the back of the church. And then one day, the boy confessed to me that he had beaten his dog to death with a shovel. He said that the dog had bitten his baby sister on the cheek; and he needed to protect her. And he wanted to know whether he would go to hell for this. I told him that God would understand -- that he would be forgiven, as long as he was sorry. But the boy did not care about forgiveness. He was only afraid that if he did go to hell -- that dog would be there waiting for him.”
Eko knows by Michael's expression that whatever he did, he is not sorry for it, not really or not enough. Hell it will be then.
When they are done with the cleaning and Eko has washed the blood from his hands, he sees a videocassette on the top of the panel in the computer room. He picks it up, turning it in puzzlement, sure it was not there before. Michael notices his interest.
"I stole the cassette from the Others, while they were not looking. Don't bother: it's a whole bunch of crap."
"Have you watched it?"
Michael shrugs, and takes the tape from Eko's hands before inserting it in a rectangular opening.
"I swear man, there is nothing logical on this. At all."
The tape is swallowed and the computer beeps. Images appear on the computer screen as Eko moves closer, fascinated.
Lots of jungle, shadows, a brown eye and an old cabin. Suddenly there is the black smoke he saw while he was in the jungle with Charlie, the day he found Yemi's corpse and the plane. Eko wonders who filmed it and why, if it is possible to know what the smoke is and whose instrument it is. There are other images: havoc in the jungle, a huge storm and then it stops. The tape rewinds and ejects behind him, confirming it is over.
"Told ya. Nothing." Michael says, and the lights dim for an instant. "Geez, again?"
The speaker in the corner of the room crackles, there is a sound like a distorted whine and a voice utters "Seven days.".
@@@
Pickett curses as he watches the boat, almost invisible now on the horizon, carry away the boy and his idiot father. He squints at Ben as he shoves the tall blond smartass forward, generating a string of muffled sounds he doesn't doubt are very inventive epithets.
"And why didn't we kill him again?"
Ben raises his eyebrows with such a condescending expression on his face, Pickett feels small and worthless. Funny how a man half his size can do that so easily.
"Because he was given our word, Danny."
Ben turns and looks at the boat too, before smiling like the cat that ate the canary.
"Besides, I have faith the Island will resolve our problem."
Ben fastens his stride to take the lead on the column, ending the conversation there as if all has been said. Pickett shivers in spite of the heat, wondering once again if they are being lead by a dangerous madman.
@@@
The motor makes a hypnotic rumble as Michael fights against dozing off. Five days now, going straight towards the compass bearing of 325, and he can only hope they are very near rescue. It's night, so he has to stay awake and check out for other boats, make sure they don't inadvertently change direction.
An unusual sound, mostly made of clicking, permeates the semi-trance he's in. It gets louder and louder before it seems to stop right outside the cabin's door. Michael rubs his eyes in disbelief when he sees the door handle turn.
He steps back in horror when the door opens and Libby and Ana Lucia come in, looking exactly like they did in their last moments, gunshot wounds included. Michael shivers, his heart pounding, and as he speaks he prays the sound of his voice will scare the ghosts away.
"Oh god. I... I must be dreaming. That's it, I fell asleep, this.. this is a nightmare."
Libby shakes her head softly, a mysterious little smile playing on her lips. She doesn't look scared of him anymore, in fact Michael is sure he is the one looking terrified this time.
"No, Michael. You're not sleeping."
Ana is more vehement and she puts her hands on her hips while she approaches, almost spits in his face and snarls:
"We're not a nightmare, you bastard. Or maybe we are, finally. We're here to bring your judgement."
Michael shakes his head no, backing up against the far wall, tries to find words to appease them.
"I didn't want... it was not supposed... oh god, I am so sorry!"
The images of the women start to lose their shape and they morph into a column of black smoke that whirls around Michael making the clicking sound he heard on the tape. He's paralysed, can't even scream. Like flashes of a camera, he sees snapshots of all the dark recesses of his life: his sins, his mistakes, all of them, on the island and before.
His last thought before being swallowed by the darkness is of Walt.
@@@
The apparition that looks like Yemi turns without answering his questions, and walks away toward the jungle tree line. Eko shouts angrily:
"Who are you!? Who are you!?"
Since not-Yemi doesn't stop, Eko follows him into the jungle. He repeats, infuriated:
"Who are you?"
Suddenly there are sounds all around him: that loud roar they can hear sometimes in the jungle, plus the clicking the black smoke makes that seems to circle him. He turns to look behind him but does not see anything. As he turns back around to continue to chase after not-Yemi, a giant column of black smoke towers before him, just like it had done that day with Charlie. It is menacing this time, not enquiring, and in the flashes contained in the smoke he only sees the murders, crimes, drug deals, those others he killed with his bare hands, all of the horrible things he did to survive but that maybe God sees as sins after all. The smokes seems to pass judgement, says he had seven days to straighten his life. Since Eko will only accept judgement from God, not from this abomination, he starts to pray:
"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd..."
There is a metallic clanking noise when the smoke reaches out and grabs Eko around the waist, lifting him into the air and slamming him head first into a tree. The pain is harsh and there is nothing he can do as he's smashed from one tree to the other. Eko is dizzy and almost unconscious, but can still feel it when he's lifted up and up in the air, passed the trees and slammed forcefully back to the ground, face down. Everything stops moving then and the smoke fades away.
There is someone beside him, saying his name. It's John, who looks at him with pity.
"Eko! Ohh... Eko. It's ok. It's ok."
Eko is too weak to do more than whisper, but he has to warn them, knows the seven days the smoke suggested is linked to that movie somehow, even if why and how are getting confused in his head.
"Careful... destroy tape... die next."
That is all he can say, he doesn't care about fighting to live anymore. There is a warm yellow light that reminds him of the Nigerian sun, just there before him. He goes towards it with hope, thinking about his brother.
@@@
There is some kind of commotion down the beach. Paolo can see the Scott walking in the surf, holding Claire's small body in his arms until he lays her down on the sand. Why people who aren't expert swimmers even venture in the ocean, Paolo really doesn't get. He briefly worries about Claire, hopes she's okay. That kid of hers would be a handful if she were stupid enough to get herself drowned.
Paolo figures this is his chance to go through Eko's stuff, or at least what was rescued from his shelter’s fire. He's sure Eko said more to Locke than the old man let them know. There is nothing much to go through, but he finds the weirdest thing ever: a videocassette.
Why the fuck did the giant priest carry a tape around? It's so strange that Paolo slips it in the waistband of his jeans, under his shirt.
@@@
Nikki groans, annoyed, as Paolo turns on the cot again. He didnt manage to get one second of sleep of the entire night, his mind always coming back to the damn videocassette. Resigning himself that he will not get any rest until he sees what is on it, Paolo gets dressed and makes his way over to the Pearl station, where he knows there is a VCR.
What he sees on the tape when he pops it in? Not worth losing sleep over, that's for sure. A big psychedelic experiment made by someone with too much time on his hands. The images flicker with no coherency, showing random scenes from the island cut together into a whole that has no meaning. The only thing Paolo is sure of is that Eko must have found it here, somehow.
After a couple of minutes, the screen goes dark and the tape rewinds and ejects on its own. There is a weird flicker in the lights and a speaker Paolo didn't even notice before starts screeching. And then he hears a deep voice say “Seven days.”.
@@@
Paolo cannot believe that he lost sleep over this stupid tape again. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw random images from it playing out in his mind's eye. The worst were the white brimmed eyes - a little wild, definitely scared.
Now that he's seen it, Paolo itches to get rid of the tape. He's reluctant to just to throw it away and he wonders if he could get something in return. Just as the thought crosses his mind, there is another commotion down the beach. This island is definitely a never ending source of crazy distractions. Paolo wonders if the Scott saved someone again, before realising that it's Sawyer and Kate, back from where ever they went with those mean Others Hurley keeps talking about.
Maybe Sawyer would be interested in the tape, he thinks, before remembering that the southerner doesn't have much to barter with anymore. Paolo then sees Locke, ambling over to hug like the rest of the group. Who knows when it could be useful to be in the old man's good graces? He stops Locke with a shout and runs over.
"Hey, Locke!"
Locke stalls and watches him, as always with that sovereign calm that very rarely leaves him.
"Hi Paolo! What can I do for you?"
Paolo smiles.
"In fact, it's more something I want to give you. Here."
Paolo takes the cassette from his pants waistband, wipes it on his jeans when he notices how his sweat has made it damp, and hands it over.
"I found this in Eko's stuff, and I thought it could be of interest to you."
Locke looks a bit weary, to Paolo's surprise, but takes it anyway.
"Have you watched it?"
Paolo nods.
"Yeah, and frankly I could not make much of it. But you know the island more than anyone here, so I guess that if someone can make sense of it, it would be you."
Locke smiles at that, laughter lines showing at the corner of his eyes, and puts the tape in his backpack.
"That's thoughtful of you. Thank you, Paolo."
Paolo shrugs and dismisses the gesture with a wave.
"You are welcome."
@@@
Kate and Sayid are sleeping on the other side of the campfire while Locke is on second watch duty. Knowing he has to occupy himself if he wants to fight off the temptation to sleep, he starts rummaging through his pack, inventorying what he's got and planning how to use it on the submarine when he can get near it.
"And what do you know."
Mikhail's voice is amused. Locke looks at their prisoner, meeting the sharp gaze of the other man. Locke is worried he saw the explosives until Mikhail speaks again.
"Did you watch that cassette?"
Locke looks down at the black plastic tape by his foot. He doesn't know why he even answers.
"No."
A slow smile spread on Mikhail's face, and he moves a bit as if he's trying to find a good position to sleep tied up as he is. His one unwavering eye turns up to the star studded sky visible between the canopy above them and he says softly.
"Good for you then."
Taking the videocassette to put it back in his bag, Locke wonders if it's anything important.
@@@
Paolo tries to bat the spider that Nikki just threw at him away, but he feels a little sting and burn as it bites him on the neck. He looks at Nikki with disbelief.
"Are you out of your mind?"
She is furious.
"You remember Doctor Arzt's friend. Did it bite you? Does it hurt? He told me why they call it the Medusa Spider. Wanna know why?"
There is definitely something wrong with him, and he starts to shake, feeling heat and tingling spread through his body. Paolo grabs Nikki, half to shake her, half to use her to stand up.
"What did you do?"
She is smug, obviously very proud of her little plan.
"Because one look from Medusa will turn anyone to stone, just like one bite from the spider will paralyse you, for about eight hours. It won't kill you, it'll just slow your heart rate down to the point of where even a doctor would have a hard time..."
Paulo feels his control on his body slip away and he falls to the ground, already numb in the extremities. Nikki continues her little tirade
" ...Hearing it beat. You won't be able to move a muscle, so I'll be able to do, all sorts of nasty things to you. And since it bit you on your neck, I'd say paralysis will happen fast. I'm guessing that you have the diamonds on you. Huh?"
He's afraid now, knows how ruthless Nikki can be, especially when she thinks she's been deceived. She starts frisking him, looking for the diamonds. Paolo chastises himself, he should have buried them somewhere, not listened to Locke. Nikki won't stop until she finds what she is looking for, Paolo is absolutely certain of that.
"In a shoe, maybe?"
She asks, almost playfully. Since she finds nothing, she throws the shoe away and Paolo can see it catch in a tree. She pauses for an instant.
"I think I know where..."
She knows him too well, because she starts to undo Paulo's belt and zipper, and pulls out the pouch from his underwear. She stops to look at it.
"Son of a bitch."
He had a bit of hope that she would maybe miss the diamonds, but now that she got them, he has to win her back, has to convince her he did this for a good reason.
"I'm sorry."
Nikki looks hurt, and still furious.
"You're only sorry cause you got caught."
Speaking gets more and more difficult. Paolo tries to plead with his eyes.
"I was, afraid, of losing you. If you found the diamonds, you wouldn't need me any more."
Paolo can see Nikki's expression soften, as if she's maybe inclined to forgive him. But at the same time there is this weird clicking sound that seems to circle them. Nikki looks around and sees something that scares her. From the corner of his eyes, Paolo can see numerous Medusa spiders approaching. Nikki starts to panic and seems to be shaking something off her leg before she starts talking to herself.
"Ow, dammit! Oh no! No! No, no."
And Nikki runs away, leaving Paolo laying there on the jungle's floor, surrounded by creepy spiders and that weird sound that's coming closer and closer. He's absolutely terrified, even more so because he cannot move or scream, just like in his worst childhood nightmare.
He cannot even look at what is approaching him until it hoovers above him: thick black smoke, just like the one on the videocassette. It takes the form of Howard Zukerman, one foot on each side of his torso, looking down.
"Oh Paolo, Paolo. How ironic. You poisoned me for that woman, and now you'll die because she did the same to you. Time to be judged, chef."
Zukerman turns back to smoke and there is a myriad of flashes that show every con he pulled, every person he deceived, and every single other bad thing he ever did. The smokes morphs back into the sleazy old man and he smiles cruelly.
"Usually I'd kill you right now Paolo, for everything you did. But I think it's better that I leave you this way, unable to bat an eyelash. Especially since I know that in just a couple of hours? Your friends will, without even knowing it, bury you and your bitch of a girlfriend alive."
Zukerman bursts out in a thunderous and manic evil laugh and walks away, leaving Paolo alone with the sound of his heart so faint to his own ears he barely can discern it even if it should be deafening.
Paolo screams for the next fours hours non-stop, but no one hears it.
@@@
Locke and Alex leave Ben's house, as she leads him towards the submarine.
"You know he's manipulating you, right?"
The girl asks. Locke looks at her sideway, surprised at this honesty.
"How's that?"
Alex sounds bitter when she answers.
"That's what my father does. He manipulates people. He makes you think it's your idea, but it's his."
She is probably right, but right now Locke is certain he's the one in charge of his destiny. He acknowledges her statement though.
"I'll have to keep that in mind."
As they walk through the woods, Alex suddenly asks.
"When I brought the backpack, I looked through it. The videotape... did you watch it?"
Locke narrows his eyes, curious about why Mikhail and now this girl seem so interested about that.
"No. Why?"
She looks relieved.
"Then don't do it. Never watch it."
They are now at the end of the path and Locke can see the submarine at the pier. Alex gestures to it.
"The submarine is down there. At the end of the dock."
Locke puts his hand on Alex's shoulder for a moment, and apologises for holding her hostage in her own home.
"I'm sorry I had to involve you in this."
She looks at him for a couple of seconds, young and earnest. Then Locke hurries towards the submarine, knowing he has to be fast before the alarm is given.
@@@
They are going to leave for that Old place tomorrow morning, that’s what Ben said. Locke knows this is probably his only chance to watch that mysterious tape. He finds a VCR in Ben’s living room, beside old Disney tapes and romantic comedies. Obviously, Ben leaves movie watching to his daughter.
He pops the cassette into the machine, hoping it still works properly. The images he sees are mesmerizing, even if incomprehensive as a whole. There is the jungle, nowhere Locke can specifically pin point, some people, a cabin and a scared guy, and most importantly the black smoke he encountered twice in the jungle so far. There is other stuff too, but the images stop suddenly, leaving him hungry for more.
Locke is about to rewind the tape to watch it again when it rewinds and ejects on its own. Lights flickers and a walkie talkie that's been left on the kitchen table crackles, until a man's voice says "Seven days.".
Locke looks at the radio curiously as Ben walks in, a big canvas bag in hand.
"What does it mean, seven days? Is that the time to get to that place of yours?"
Ben frowns, clearly not understanding him.
"You are not making any sense, John."
Locke huffs, annoyed again at how they love keeping their secrets and thinking that he'll find out soon enough, one way or the other. He goes to the VCR to retrieve the unmarked cassette, and turns back to a smiling Ben.
A cold shiver goes down Locke's spine, even though Ben doesn't say anything and just starts filling his canvas bag with food from his pantry.
@@@
Locke goes through the file Richard gave him on Sawyer, finding with shock the connection James Ford has with his father. That despicable old man he calls Dad has brought so much pain to this world in so many incarnations, Locke is more and more convinced he does deserve to die. But Locke also knows he doesn't have it in him to actually kill Cooper himself. He's jarred out of his ruminations by Alex, who drops on the grass beside him with a smile. She sounds cheerful.
"Dad says that you watched the tape, but you're okay. He's so pissed, you have no idea."
Locke raises his eyebrows in amusement.
"Of course I am okay. And why is he pissed, exactly?"
She leans back on her elbows and her green eyes sparkle.
"That definitively proves that you have a great connection with the Island."
Locke doesn't see the relation, but it makes him feel better, especially after the public humiliation of the night before. Alex sits back up and extends her hand.
"Give it to me, I think it's safe to hide it or maybe even try to destroy it now."
Locke shakes his head, raising his shoulders in apology.
"I'm sorry, Alex, but I don’t have it anymore,"
She looks puzzled.
"I put it in Jack's backpack before we left."
She visibly whitens at that and a look of horror spreads on her face.
"What did you do!” Shock turns to scorn, as she hurries to stand up. “You're not special, you just perpetuated the curse!"
He shakes his head, more confused than ever.
"What? I do not understand what you are talking about. Explain, please!"
She lets go a long suffering sigh.
"It sounds crazy, I know, but that videocassette is cursed. If you are unfortunate or stupid enough to watch it fully, you can hear Jacob's voice at the end that tells you that you have a week to live before the Island passes its judgement. There is absolutely no way to escape it, and you die."
The girl is obviously a bit off her rocker, and the thought that immediately flashes is that it could run in the family. Locke states the obvious, smiling.
"The rumours of my death are highly exaggerated!"
Alex rolls her eyes.
"That's because the only way to escape death is if someone else watches the tape when you are not there but within the seven days, which transfers the curse to them."
Locke ponders on that for a second, even if he's far from believing her tale.
"Maybe Jack didn't watch it. Maybe I am special."
The teenager looks at him with contempt, and in that moment she looks as much like her adopted father as she is the living portrait of her mother.
"I guess we can't know for sure now, can we."
She walks off toward the jungle, hurried. Locke watches her go and opens up Sawyer's file again.
@@@
Sawyer starts walking towards the beach, wincing when he steps on a branch. Physical pain is the least of his problems right now though, he thinks, looking at the little recorder that supposedly proves Juliet is a mole.
"Hey, James!"
He turns, taken aback to see Locke ready to carry the corpse of his father wherever it is he wants to take it, thinking for the millionth time that the man is probably a psychopath.
"What?"
"How is Paolo doing?"
For a second, Sawyer thinks he heard wrong, because the question just does not compute. He answers slowly, after he remembers Locke was away with Kate and Sayid at the time.
"I'm sorry to say Paolo's dead, Nikki too." Locke nods and weirdly doesn't seem surprised. "Were you guys friends?"
Locke shakes his head.
"No. Not really. And Jack... Would you happen to know if Jack watched a videocassette?"
If the last question was out of the blue, this one is plain crazy.
"What? What the fuck are you talking..."
Locke cuts him short.
"Did he? It’s important."
Sawyer sighs loudly but does remember Jack coming back to camp one night with a pinched and exasperated look on his face as he had put an unmarked old videocassette on the pantry's higher shelf. Sawyer had teased him about how porn was supposed to help him relax, prompting one of the rare genuine smiles Jack had made since he came back from his time with the Others.
"Well yeah, he did actually. Said it was full of nonsense."
Locke sags a bit at that and Sawyer wonders if he's not going to collapse under the weight of the cadaver on his shoulders. Why doesn't he put the corpse down to have a conversation, anyway? Locke seems really preoccupied about the tape business.
"When? When did he watch it?"
Throwing an arm up in the air in exasperation, Sawyer searches his memories to pin point the moment.
"I dunno.. four or five days ago? And what the hell..."
Locke's face goes blank at that, a little nerve twitching on his temple.
"Does he still have it?"
It figures that the old kook is interested in some tape with island mumbo jumbo. If he wants it, he's going to have to come and get it though.
"I know where it is."
Locke looks towards the jungle, than back at him, biting his lower lip.
"That tape is cursed. Jack will die seven days after he watched it, unless someone watches the cassette before then."
That's it, he’s nuts, no more arguments needed. Better not risk sudden movement and back away slowly.
"O-kay."
Locke half smiles and then gestures around with his free hand.
"You think I am crazy, but listen to me. Look around James, logic doesn't apply here. Look at that boat, in the middle of the jungle. How I'm walking after four years. And how did he get here?" He says passionately, jerking his head towards the body he's carrying. "It all sounds crazy, right? But it's true! Eko, Paolo… they watched the tape, and they died. Jack is probably next, you don't want that."
Sawyer laughs, but it's bitter.
"Why would I care?"
He turns and starts resolutely for the beach, ignoring Locke, and thinking he doesn't have a duty to save anyone's ass but his own.
@@@
Locke looks down and sees a mass open grave full of skeletons, some still wearing their beige DHARMA jumpsuits. There are dozens of bodies, clearly a mass murder that shocks Locke more than anything he's seen on this island so far. Ben, however, is calm, as if it's nothing.
"This is where I came from, John. These are my people. The DHARMA Initiative. They came here seeking harmony, but they couldn't even coexist with the Island's original inhabitants. And when it became clear that one side had to go, one side had to be purged, I did what I had to do. I was one of the people that was smart enough to make sure that I didn't end up in that ditch, which makes me considerably smarter than you, John."
The tingling feeling of danger comes too late, and when Locke turns to punch Ben, he gets shot first. Locke falls back into the ditch, and bones crack under his weight with a horrible sound. He's wounded in the chest, and the pain is incredibly strong, making it hard to breath. Ben looks down at him from the edge.
"What did Jacob say to you?"
It's not making any sense to Locke, why Ben is still going along with that delusion that Jacob was in that cabin, and even more so why he just shot him.
"Why did you do this?"
Ben just won't let it go.
"Because you heard him. Now I need to know what he said."
After everything he's been through, Locke cannot believe he's going to die in a ditch, on top of old skeletons. He answers Ben anyway.
"Help me."
The nerves in Ben's neck are stiff and he's coldly furious.
"John, I'm not going to ask you again. What did he say to you?"
"He said... help me."
Ben looks troubled, and flinches for a moment.
"Well I certainly hope he helps you, John."
He turns around and leaves then, leaving Locke helpless and weaker by the moment. He manages to cry out.
"Ben! Wait! The tape..."
Locke hears Ben's footsteps as he comes back, and the short man spits out his frustration now, words like venom.
"Yes, the tape. That's one other reason why you have to disappear, John. I found that tape at Jacob's, years ago. I survived it out of sheer luck, because one of my men watched it after me. Took me several strange deaths to put two and two together, but its curse had never failed. Never before you. I decided you had to die two days ago, John, when the Island didn't claim you. And if it means I have to do it myself? So be it."
When Ben leaves this time, no amount of pleading can bring him back.
@@@
Karl looks at the activity on the beach as the survivors of the plane crash and Juliet are getting ready for the raid, and doesn't quite know what to do, where his place is. He hopes it is okay to trust them. Well he even gave them his gun, so Karl thinks he is in trouble if they decide to turn against him. Kate and Sawyer, they did save him from The Room and Ben, but they did it to escape themselves. If only Alex was here…
Circling around some people doing shooting practice, Karl marches to Jack and Sawyer, who are near one of the marked tent, setting up explosives. Alex was clear on that, he has to warn Jack about the cursed tape. He clears his throat to get his attention.
"Huh Jack?"
The doctor stands up and looks at him somewhat suspiciously.
"Yes? What is it... Karl?"
He nods.
"Yes, it's Karl. I... huh... I have to warn you about the cursed videocassette. Have you watched it?"
Jack looks at him with puzzlement while Sawyer audibly groans.
"Ah damn. Not you too."
Jack frowns down at Sawyer, who doesn't take his eyes off the delicate task of positioning the dynamite, then looks at Karl, hands on his hips.
"What are you two talking about? A what?"
Sawyer sighs.
"That weirdo tape you watched the other day. They think it's gonna kill ya."
Wondering where Sawyer heard about it, but most of all worried because it seems Jack did watch it, Karl tries to explain.
"Yes, that tape... it is cursed, seriously. When you watch it, Jacob gives you seven days to live. Then the smoke monster kills you. The only way to stop it is if someone else watches it before your day is due."
It's absolutely clear in Jack's face that he doesn't believe a word Karl is saying. Sawyer is eying him now, though.
"Boy... that tape... the death thing seriously happened before?"
Karl nods vehemently.
"Yes! A lot of times, for real! No one touched it in a couple of years though, so it was okay, we thought it had disappeared. But I can assure you it's true."
After rubbing the back of his head, Jack just shrugs.
"I'm sorry Karl, I am sure you mean well, but I think that's impossible."
"The Others version of the bogey man." Sawyer sniggers; Jack giggles back. Frustrated, Karl walks away, but not before hearing Sawyer declare:
"I tell you Doc, there's something in the air here? The longer you stay, the crazier you become. I just cannot wait to get off of this rock, before I try to go catch a fairy in the jungle."
@@@
The more Sawyer tries to not think about it, the worse it becomes. He just cannot get that wacky stuff about the videocassette out of his mind. Beats thinking about what he did to Cooper though, so Sawyer knows it must be part of a self-preservation mechanism in a way. But trekking towards the radio tower, when they don't even know what happened with Sayid, Jin and Bernard... he has a bad feeling. He should go back to the beach, he owes those guys that. Sawyer stops walking and announces:
"I'm going back."
Jack frowns.
"What?"
"I'm going back to the beach."
Of course that doesn't go down so well with their resident hero.
"No way. We keep moving."
It's infuriating how that man thinks he can decide everything.
"I ain't asking permission."
Sawyer says as Juliet and Kate both stop, intrigued and incapable of minding their own business. Sawyer looks at Jack, hopes he gets the importance of it.
"Look you got a job to do here. I ain't gonna stand in your way of doing it. And you sure as hell don't need me."
The vote of confidence from Jack is quite weak.
"What do you think you're gonna get done. Alone and unarmed."
That's when Kate decides to get involved, in pure Kate fashion.
"He won't be alone, I'll go with him."
Just the thought of how dangerous it's going to be makes Sawyer exclaim instinctively.
"No!"
Kate is pissed.
"Twenty minutes ago you weren't even interested in going, and now all of a sudden you're telling Jack I'm..."
Sawyer shakes his head, knows he got to keep her away.
"I didn't wanna go with you."
Jack still tries to change his mind.
"Sawyer, it's a suicide mission without guns."
Which could be true, but Sawyer doesn't really care. To his surprise, Juliet butts in.
"I know where there are some guns. There's a hidden cache, a couple of miles from here. I can take us back to the beach on a route past it."
The situation is clearly escaping Jack's control at this point. He sounds sorry for that blond bitch he's so found of.
"Juliet, you don't have to do that."
She has a little soft smile.
"Yeah, Jack, I kinda do."
At this point, Sawyer is just itching to go. He proclaims
"Let's do this." and starts to walk back to camp.
Sawyer hopes he didn't wait too long and that he's going to get there in time to help, somehow.
@@@
Sitting by the hippie-van-slash-tank, Sawyer sips on a hot beer as he listens to the little radio conversation Hurley has with Jack, then Claire.
He feels numb, now that the adrenaline has dropped, and his eyes keep going back to Zeke's corpse. It had been so much easier to kill this time. Sawyer smirks derisively, thinking how that is exactly what he always heard hit men or serial killers say.
So they are going to get rescued after all, or it seems like it. Sawyer is not sure how he feels about that. He's pretty sure he doesn't deserve a second chance in the real world.
Sawyer finally gets up and goes to look around the shelves of what used to be the kitchen. Jack made everyone pack all of the food, leaving empties as decoys, but Sawyer spots the videocassette right away. It looks so inoffensive, and it would be in the real world, no one would even give it a second glance.
Could it be that such an innocuous object could bring death? Sawyer picks it up, slips it in his pack and warns Sayid that he's going to take a stroll in the jungle, saying that he's going for a swim to clean up which he really needs. After assuring Hurley that he's not going to be gone long, he treks to the Pearl, that Sayid showed him days ago after they tried to confront Juliet.
Inside the hatch, Sawyer takes a moment to marvel at the mad scientist vibe that seems to always be present everywhere those DHARMA freaks are involved. The tape in his hand is exerting a strong fascination: now that he can, Sawyer has to fight the urge to watch it right this second. In itself, the feeling goes a long way into convincing him that maybe all of that curse crap is genuine.
Pushing the videocassette into the VCR, Sawyer thinks that at least if it is true, Jack is going to be alright.
The End.