LOST: Rp4

"We don't need to go back to camp to rest, or eat, or drink!" Zoe argued to Jo hotly when Aisah came over to find out their plan, before Aisah had time to tell her off for filling Jo in on everything. Of course, Aisah didn't understand that Jo was under pretty much the same prediciment as she was. They both yearned for answers, although Zoe was clearly much more obsessed about it.

But before Jo could object to Zoe's argument, Aisah stormed off out the station and into the jungle. After another qucik bable of bickering, Jo and Zoe followed Aisah to be confronted by the french woman. Zoe rolled her eyes. Yet another delay into getting to where she needed. Zoe was too busy muttering curses under her breath to pay attention to what Jo said. It was only when Rousseau started to speak, Zoe paid a little more attention. Zoe glowered at Rousseau. Why did everyone need to stick their nose in on her buisness.

Her mood changed quickly however at the mention of Rousseau going to the beach camp to warn them.

"Of what?" Zoe asked curiously.

"The Others are coming." Rousseau replied. Zoe thought quickly, and started marching off into the jungle. Jo followed after her.

"Zoe. Wait. Where are you going?" Jo asked her.

"Back to camp." Zoe replied quickly. If the Others were coming, she wanted to be there to greet them, first with a fist, the next with a ton of questions.

"No - wait. Zoe, please. Stop. We should rest. Get some food and water, and head back in the morning." Jo told her.

"What changed your mind?" Zoe asked shortly. "You were all up for going back to camp just a minute ago."

"You heard Rousseau. It's too dangerous. We should wait until morning." Jo replied reasonably.

"I don't want to do that." Zoe replied stubbornly.

"Zoe. Come on. You're clearly exhausted, god knows when you last had food, and you are dehydrated. You could pass out at any minute. If you collapse out there in the jungle, anything could happen." Jo tried to talk some sense in to her. "It's a wonder you haven't passed out already.

Zoe bit her lip to stop herself telling Jo that had already happened, which ended up with her being handcuffed to a bed...again. She sighed heavily, and continued onward through the jungle.

"Zoe! Where are you going?" Jo shouted after her.

"Back to camp." Zoe called back. "You wanna come. Come." Zoe didn't wait for Jo's answer though, she continued walking, it was dark, and yeah, pretty dangerous, the nicest of the worse probably to get captured by the Others, which she didn't mind right now. She'd take that option if it meant getting the answers she wanted. The worse...well, that scary smoke monster thing. But there was nothing anyone could do to stop that. It was a factor of life on the island she was just going to have to accept.

Zoe continued walking through the jungle, her head was banging, and she felt slightly dizzy, so she took a bottle of water out her back pack, pausing briefly so she could take a drink. Her mood lifting slightly to a better one at the thought that soon she would get her answers. The Others were on their way, and perhaps if she was really lucky, she would run into them on the way.

She knew there was going to be some hostility from a few of the camp members once she got back to camp. Kate for one, afterall, she had hit her over the head and knocked her out, and no doubt Jack will have something to say about that as well as their torturer.

As her minded drifted thinking about camp again, her mind went back to Charlie for the first time in days, about how much she cared for him, but he was totally clueless, focusing all his energy on that young blonde mum Claire. Zoe sighed and let the memory float out of her head again as to not feel the pain it caused her.

Zoe then heard footsteps approaching in the direction behind her. She turned and his herself quietly behind a tree, she knew there was a possibility that it was Jo, but as she had taken a little while to make her decision, and amongst that, the dangers that were in the jungle, she had to be cautious, so Zoe remained cautious, and listened intentively.

Jo followed Zoe's trail as closely as possible but at some point it simply seemed to vanish. At that exact moment the flashlight she had hastily grabbed from the Staff flickered and went out. Jo shook it to bring it back to life, which it did, but only for the briefest of moments before it faded permanently. She was left in complete darkness.

Jo listened for Zoe's footsteps but heard nothing. Sighing heavily, she moved forward into the silent night. As her eyes adjusted to the dark she could make out the silhouettes of trees. She spotted a wide banyan tree that would provide protection from - well, whatever might be out there - for the night. As she moved toward it her foot caught on a root and she flew forward. She found herself tumbling down a steep, rocky ravine. Finally, she landed at the bottom. Her screams pierced the silent darkness as she felt a bone in her leg snap and blinding pain invaded her body.

In the moments before she lost consciousness she gazed about her. Everything appeared blurry, and her mind was hazy, but she still recognized her surroundings: she had landed by the plane that had killed Boone. She groaned and blinked as a fire torch approached her. Within minutes someone was standing over her, whispering to others who had circled her with torches. Her heart pounded in sheer panic. "Help me Jack..." was all she could force out of her mouth.

The figure standing above her spoke gruffly. She knew the voice. "She's one of them. She escaped from the Staff with the other two. Pick her up," he ordered the others. "We'll bring her back to Ben."

Jo couldn't even protest. She had already passed out.

Zoe remained as silent as possible, although finding it difficult to control the heavy sounds of her breathing, she noticed a type of flash light light scanning the area as if someone was in searching, then it suddenly flickered and went out all together. Zoe held her breath for a moment as she grit her teeth.

Zoe was now very aware at how dark it was, and her eyes strained to see, but she could hear footsteps, they started to walk away from her. It must be Jo she thought, she had a torch afterall, it must have gone out on her, she was sure the Others would have some sort of unfailing light aid with them, and she could only hear one pair of footsteps, the likelyhood of Others travelling alone was slim - unless it was an Ethan situation.

Suddenly a different set of sounds followed - someone had tripped, and they fell more then the distance from standing to the floor, she heard rocks and small stones tumble.

"Jo? Zoe called out worriedly. She reached her hands out to the silhoute of the trees and walked steadily now, she didn't want to trip over either, a high pitched scream peirced the silent nights sky. A strange lonlieness followed along with panic. The silence she began to realise. It wasn't normal. There were no movement of branches in the night's breeze, sounds of bugs or birds around, even the wind was silent. Something wasn't right.

A soft glow or orange light then appeared in a downwards direction not far infront of her. Zoe gingerly moved forward to stare down a ravine, trickily hidden in the darkness, she could feel loose rocks beneath her feet, so she clung as tightly as she could onto the nearest tree again. She witheld herself from gasping as she saw a small group of Others surrounding Jo's lifeless body.

"...She escaped from the Staff with the other two. Pick her up," he ordered the others. "We'll bring her back to Ben." One of them declared as another started to scoop Jo up into their arms. When the one that spoke first mentioned Ben, the name suddenly became strangely familiar.

The rocks beneath her feet became more loose, causing some to fall down the ravine, the circle of Others looked up, straining to see, Zoe's eyes reflecting from the light of their torches. They had spotted her, Zoe's heart skipped a beat as she took a few steps back cautiously.

"Catch up with her! Don't let her get away!" One of them barked loudly. Zoe turned and ran, dodging trees as she ran through the darkness, she heard something fly past her. A bullet. Zoe stopped full in her tracks. She had no aid to guide her anywhere anyway, and wasn't this what she wanted??

"STOP!" Zoe suddenly shouted, and she put her arms slowly in the air in surrender. "I give up!" She declared. The eerie silence suddenly surrounded her again.

"There's a good girl." She heard someone whisper, and something whistled through the air and peirced the skin of her neck painfully, it felt like a dart, and she began to loose all feeling in her body, she feel to the ground, blinking slowly as someone walked over to her in ragged worn clothes which didn't look like any shop type lable, the heavy breath of whoever it was rickahashaded off her face as they lifted her up over their shoulders and carried her away, all in the meanwhile she slipped into unconciousness.

With a sigh of relief, Carrie finally put her pen down and sat back. She looked at her paper - her tiny handwriting had filled a whole page. A report this long, anyone would think the patient was crazy. But in fact, the report was on the survivors - several times, she had gone to the very edge of the jungle, and silently observed them. She had, several times, felt herself pitying them. Here she was, watching them like they were animals in a zoo, while they struggled to survive. It made her feel guilty, that they also had to cope with some of them being abducted, and she was one of the people who was part of that. But, she reassured herself, she had never been part of the actual abductions. All she had done was watch them.

Carrie ran a hand through her hair, a habit from a mixture of stress and exhaustion. She hoped Ben would be happy with the report - she wouldn't be able to do it again. Carrie looked up, and saw that it was almost dark. Yawning, she picked up the report and put it on the side. Ben would have to wait until the next morning to read it. Right now, all Carrie desired was to go to bed. But she didn't want to - Richard had gone off somewhere a few hours ago and still wasn't back. She went into the kitchen and made herself a glass of water to keep her awake - she didn't like coffee.

Just then, Richard finally arrived back. "Carrie, I need your help," he said.

Carrie raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

"The two survivors that escaped us, they're wandering around in the jungle. We need to go get them."

Carrie hesitated. "Why do you need me?"

"Because," replied Richard, "you were the first person I thought of."

Smiling, Carrie followed him out.


Out in the jungle, Carrie and Richard quietly made their way to where the two survivors had been seen. "Look," Carrie whispered, "it looks like they ran off this way." She pointed to a sloping pathway.

"How do you know?"

"The twigs are broken. And the bits that have broken off are right next to where they were joined before, which means they were broken only recently."

Richard looked at Carrie. "Now that's clever."

"That's why you hired me," she grinned.

The two of them set off down the path, trying not to make any noise. Carrie had gone into what she called spy mode - she didn't think about the fact she was in love with the man she was with. All she was thinking about was what she had to do.

There was a noise suddenly - Carrie heard someone slip and fall. She and Richard quickly went down and stopped when they saw the unconcious body of a woman Carrie recognised - she was one of the survivors, who she had observed so often.

Carrie looked at Richard. She didn't know if this was who they were looking for.

Nodding, Richard said, "she escaped from the staff with the other two. Pick her up, we'll bring her back to Ben."

Carrie immediately scooped up the body. She heard the slight sound of rocks falling in the trees to her right, and immediately flashed her torch in the direction of the noise. She saw another survivor, her eyes burning orange from the light of the torch. Carrie recognised her from when she had been observing - her name was Zoe.

Shocked, Zoe began to back away slowly. Then suddenly she broke into a run, sprinting at full speed in the opposite direction, downhill.

"Catch up with her! Don't let her get away!" Carrie exclaimed. Instinctively, she lifted up her gun and shot at the disappearing figure, as Richard chased after her.

"Stop!" Zoe shouted, and Carrie saw her arms go up in surrender. "I give up."

All was silent for a second. Carrie heard Richard mutter something under his breath. There was the familiar sound of a tranquilizer dart, and Zoe callapsed. Richard picked her up and climbed back up to Carrie.

"Come on," he said. "Let's get these two back to Ben before they wake up."

Carrie reached up and pulled the dart out of Zoe's neck. "Don't give her too much," she said.


Carrie and Richard arrived 15 minutes later outside Ben's house. Richard knocked. A few seconds later, Ben opened the door. He looked unphased to see the two of them, standing outside his door, carrying two of the survivors.

"We found them," Richard said.

"Good," smiled Ben. "Sit them on a couple of chairs and tie them up."

"She's awake," Richard said. Carrie looked over at the screen, knowing he was talking about Zoe. Carrie herself had fallen asleep a few times over the last few hours. Richard, however, seemed unphased by the late hour.

Surely enough, Zoe had sat up, and walked straight into the glass. Carrie laughed. "Do they all do that?"

Richard smiled. "Most of them. Could you bring her some food and water? Ben wouldn't be happy if she died of starvation."

"Sure," Carrie stood up. She leant over and gave Richard a kiss. "I love you," she said, smiling.

"I love you too," Richard smiled back. They kissed again, and Carrie went off to feed the survivor.


Carrie was surprised to find the door was open. Her and Richard must have forgotten to close it. Ben wouldn't be impressed if he knew. Then again, Ben never seemed impressed with Carrie. Perhaps he didn't like the thought of his advisor being 'distracted' by a relationship. Distracted, my left butt cheek, thought Carrie, sometimes he seems more interested in the Island than me.

Carrie went closed the door behind her using her foot, both her hands being full of food and drink. She looked over at the cell, and saw Zoe turn around. She seemed scared for a moment, then realised she was safe behind a glass wall.

"What do you want?" Zoe asked. Charming, Carrie thought.

"I've brought you some food and water," Carrie said.

"I don't want it. You've probably poisoned it."

Carrie looked at her curiously. "And why would I do that?"

"Because that's what you people do, isn't it?" Zoe looked at her vemenously. "You eradicate anyone that isn't in your little social group."

"Zoe, if we did that, we'd've shot you all down weeks ago." Carrie wasn't surprised by Zoe's attitude. She'd've reacted the same.

There was a pause. "How do you know my name?"

Carrie then realised her careless use of Zoe's name. How foolish. "I've been watching you. All of you."

"You've been watching us? What, like we're animals at a zoo?"

Carrie sighed. "Don't go thinking I didn't think the same about it."

"Why did you do it then?"

"It's my job."

Zoe snorted. "What are you, Chief Spy?"

Carrie smiled slightly. "No, I'm a psychologist. Look, if you're not gonna eat the sandwich, can I at least leave it in your cell? Richard won't be pleased if I leave it out here."

"Who's Richard?"

Carrie didn't reply. "Can you sit in the corner, please."

"What?"

"Sit in the corner. While I come in. Please."

Zoe reluctantly went over to the corner opposite the door and sat down. Carrie opened the door within the glass and placed the plate and glass down on the table. She immediately jumped to her right and grabbed the figure she knew was diving for escape.

"Let me go!" Zoe struggled against Carrie's tight grip on her.

"I could," said Carrie calmly. "But there'd be no point."

"I could go back to my friends. Why not try for a bit of compassion for once?" Zoe looked at her venemously.

Carrie looked at her plainly. "No, you couldn't. We're not on the main island anymore. We're on a smaller island, just offshore. So if I did let you escape, you'd have nowhere to run."

Zoe relaxed her attempts to get free for half a second. But half a second was all it took. Quick as a whistle, Carrie reached around Zoe's neck and pressed down on her two pressure points, briefly paralyzing her. Carrie pushed her onto the table and tied her up in the chains.

After she let go of Zoe's neck, Zoe said, "what the hell was that?"

"Pressure points. Paralyze your victim."

"Victim, alright," Zoe muttered.

"Carrie, are you alright?"

Carrie turned around to see Richard standing in the glass doorway. She smiled.

"All under control."