RP3 Part Two "One Year Later"

All Zoe saw was green blurs as she sprinted through the jungle, making her way back to the village. She had to warn them, even if it meant risking getting shot. A boat was coming, and this could mean danger for everyone. She didn't know. It might even mean rescue for the plane crash survivors.

It had started to suddenly rain again, and she stopped. A stitch was burning on her side, and she clasped it. knealing down as she caught her breath.

Then she heard it.

Whispers. They came out of nowhere, ingulfing her surroundings. She couldn't quite hear what they were saying, no matter how hard she tried to listen. The whisperes grew louder and louder, so many speaking all at once, she couldn't pick them out individually.

Then there was an almighty roar. Zoe clasped her hands over her ears, knealing down on the jungle floor which was now just mulch, her trousers now covered with wet thick mud, her clothes completly drenched from the rain. It was begining to get dark too.

Then she heard a familiar sound. She looked up to her left. She could just see in the distance the black smoke, it was flashing bright white too, and coming towards her. She got up rapidly to her feet and ran, ignoring her stitch that was burning at her.

She made the mistake of looking back to see if the black smoke monster was still chasing her, a fatal flaw in anyone running from something, preventing them from seeing what was in front of them - or rather, what wasn't.

The straigh ground of the jungle floor ceased, leading into a gradual steep slope, and Zoe tripped, tumbling down it, falling into the biggest puddle of muddy water she had ever seen, she completly submerged in it.

She scrambled through it to the surface, breaking out at the top, and struggled to the side, gasping for breath. She climbed out, not pausing to stop and clean herself up, and continued running, this time not looking back to see if she was still being chased. She was still a long way from the village.

Mel ignored Ben's instructions to go to his house and instead went to Juliet's.

"What happened?" Jack asked when he saw her.

"Ben happened." Mel answered darkly.

Juliet walked into the living room with Bella.

"Good, Jules, Ben knows about Emma. She needs to be warned not to do anything stupid."

"How does he know?" Juliet asked.

Mel looked down, "You don't want to know."

"Are you alright?" Jack asked.

Mel nodded, "Of course, I'm fine. Thank you both for watching Bella. I'm going to take her home."

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Mel tried not to pay attention to Ben and Sophie's fight as she carried Bella across the courtyard back to her house.

"Where are you going?" she heard Ben yell across to her.

Mel had been so intent on getting away from Ben she hadn't noticed Sophie run back into her house.

"I'm going home." She told him.

"I told you to wait for me in my house." Ben said as he came up to her and Bella.

"You're insane if you think I'm going to listen to anything to say to me right now. Especially after what you just did to me."

"I didn't do anything to hurt you Mel. I just needed information."

"So you exploited me for it? We're leaving now."

"She is my daughter too." he called dangerously.

"Sound like you already have one custody battle on your hands Ben, do you really want another?" Mel said as she pushed open her front door and locked it behind her.

"Sophie!?!" Ben shouted running in the jungle. Searching looking around everywhere around her. Richard caught up with him.

"She just went now?" Ben asked.

"Yes."

"She can't be far then." he replied.

Ben turned around to look at Richard when John stood behind him. "Hello Ben!" John said with smile. Before hitting him on the head. With a branch from one of the trees.

"Whats going on?" said Ben as he took the blow to his head looking to Richard before falling to ground unconicous.

John pulled out something from his pack. It was sometime of gunk he had created. Placing it on Bens wound he had just made on him. "I can't believe we are doing this." said Richard.

"Were doing it to help Sophie."

..............................................

Ben woke up on the jungle floor he sat up feeling his head. Feeling the egg bump on his head. Looking at his hand he saw blood and some strange gunk from touching his head.

"Ben!" she heard Sophie scream. "Ben!"

Ben got up running towards the screams. He found her laying on the floor covered in her own blood. "Sophie!" he said before falling to ground next to her.

"I'm so sorry." she cried.

"Wheres molly?" he asked not seeing her anywhere.

"I'm sorry" she repeated. Slowly she was dying and he kept asking her but she wouldn't answer just repeating im sorry. Ben cried when sophie stopped breathing kissing her forehead. "I'm so sorry" he whispered back "I love you"

Ben got up leaving her dead body on the floor. Struggling to cope, as he headed back to the village.

........................................................

"What is this place?" sophie asked looking at some kinda home.

"Its one of those stations, it's been abandoned for years. No one comes here. No one will find you." said Danielle.

"Thank you." she replied heading towards it. "Your not coming?" she asked

"No my job is done now."Danielle replied

Mel was walking in the courtyard with Bella when she saw Ben. She saw that his face was covered in blood as he staggered from the jungle.

"Ben, what's happened?" she cried as she ran up to him.

Ben sunk to the ground and Mel fell with him, struggling to keep hold of Bella while she held Ben up.

"Ben, your head. What happened to you out there?"

"They're dead." he whispered.

"Who is dead?"

"Sophie and Molly. They're gone."

"What do you mean they're dead? How?" Mel asked in horror.

"I don't know." Ben said desperatley.

"Ben, I'm so sorry." Mel said as she hugged him. "Come on, let's get you inside."

Mel tried to help Ben stand but it was like all of the life had gone from him. She looked around the village frantically. She saw Jack and Sayid standing in front of Ben's house.

"Jack!" she yelled. "Jack!"

Jack turned his head towards her voice and saw her struggling with Ben. He and Sayid immediatley came running.

"What's going on?" Jack asked.

"Help me with him please. Let's take him to his house."

"No!" Jack and Sayid said at once.

Jack gave Mel a telling look and she nodded. "Fine, take him to my house. We can clean him up there."

Mel followed closely as Jack and Sayid carried Ben into her house and laid him on the couch. Jack started to examine him as Sayid and Mel stepped back.

By now Ben was in and out of consciouness so they weren't too worried about him overhearing them.

"Emma is in Ben's house?" Mel asked.

"Yes. I should get back to her."

"She'll be fine for now. Let her search for her answers. I need you to do something for me."

Sayid moved closer, "Does this involve what Ben told you?"

Mel nodded, "He said that both Sophie and Molly were dead. But he couldn't tell me what killed them. I need you to follow his trail back through the jungle and find them."

"You want me to go searching for bodies?"

"Yes. We need to find out what really happened."

"I'll leave now." Sayid said as he left her house.

Mel went back over to Jack who was cleaning the wound on Ben's head.

"Is he going to be okay?" she asked.

"He'll need some time to heal. But he should be fine."

They sat in silence and watched Ben. Finally he woke and began to mutter again. At frist they couldn't understand what he was saying, then suddenly his words were clear.

"They're dead." he whispered as his eyes shot open and looked straight at Mel. "It's your fault."

Mel felt the color drain from her face at Ben's accusation. How could he blame her for Sophie and Molly's death?

Mel ran outside to her front porch. She took deep breaths and tried to calm herself down. She did her best to block out Ben's hateful words. She kept her eyes on the tree line hoping for some sign that Sayid was returning.

Fifteen minutes later Jack joined her on the porch.

"I stopped the bleeding and stitched up his head." he said as he sat next to her on the steps.

"He didn't mean it you know." he said trying to reassure her.

"Yes he did." Mel claimed. "If I hadn't of come back here and told Ben that he was Bella's father then Sophie never would have run away into the jungle."

"Ben would have gotten Sophie angry some other way. You know that."

"Do I Jack?" Mel asked helplessly. "I'll go check on him." mel said as she stood and walked back into the house.

One minute later she ran back to the porch.

"Jack, did you move Ben to one of bedrooms?" she asked.

"No, why?"

Mel looked back through the door to the now empty couch. Ben was gone.

Worn out, covered in mud and cuts from where low branches had torn at her flesh as she had run away from the black smoke, Zoe had arrived back at the village, struggling with her last steps. She ran intot he middle of the village, alerting everyone's attention, most of them shocked by her bravery to come back, and shocked by the state she was in.

"B-" She stuttered, hbreathing heavily, trying to get her breath back as people came running towards her. "Boat!" She managed to finish before collapsing to the ground, unconcious.

"You must be Emma," Ben said in a voice that was deceptively pleasant. His glance fell to the briefcase in her arms. "I see you've found my special box. I hope you understand, there's no way you'll get to see what's inside."

Emma nodded. More than anything, she felt relief that he wasn't pointing a gun in her direction. "Ben Linus, I've watched you for a very long time. You have something that I want. Perhaps we could bargain for it."

"Now isn't really the best time for bargaining, Emma. I've just lost someone very special to me and someone has to pay for that. I don't have the time for your nonsense."

Now Emma felt the anger rising. "I think you DO have the time," she said coolly. She reached for the gun in her back pocket and panicked. She must have left it at Sayid's house.

Ben chuckled. He was blocking both the window and the front door, so Emma had no way to escape. "Mel told me what you want. You want Desmond."

"Yes, Ben. I've waited long enough. Tell me where he is, and I'll leave you and your people alone."

"I don't think that's the best idea, Emma. You see, Jacob wants to learn things from Desmond. He wants to know how he can see the future, and what the future holds for this island. He's very valuable to us. I don't think you have anything that can equal his value, Emma. Go back to your home. Desmond is in very good hands."

At that moment they were interrupted by Jack's knocking on the door. "Ben!" he shouted. "We need to talk!"

Jack always annoyed Ben. "Jack, this doesn't concern you," he said menacingly. He made sure the door was locked.

Emma took advantage of Ben's momentary distraction to dart towards the window. Ben caught her by the wrists and pinned her against the wall. His spoke quietly into her ear. "I told you this wasn't the best time to chat, Emma. Don't make me angry."

Emma gulped. She wasn't sure how she was going to get out of this. Ben pulled a tranquilizer gun out of a nearby desk drawer and used it on here. He dragged her body to the basement, locking her in. Then he fell to the couch, exhausted from his recent trauma. Now was the time to grieve for Sophie.