[Kiowa Warrior]

Chapter 13 - A New Alliance

“Desmond?”, Jack had been knocking on the door of the bathroom for twenty minutes now. Desmond refused to reply. Kelvin was dead. Desmond just couldn’t accept it. He was sat against the wall, gulping down the beer. Another bang on the door.
“Go away!”, Desmond called.
Jack didn’t listen. He banged on the door once more.
“Maybe you should just leave him, Jack”, Locke called, standing next to the dead Kelvin.
Jack turned.
“Michael is being kept prisoner, John”, Jack said angrily.
“For good reason, Jack”, Locke replied.
“Who knows if he’s even telling the truth?”, Jack motioned at the bathroom door.
The bathroom door opened.
“I’ll prove it to you, brother. Later”, Desmond said, emerging from the bathroom. He looked at his dead friend then at Jack and Locke.
“Got a shovel?”, he asked solemnly.

Sayid sat away from the beach staring out to sea. He thought of Shannon and how she used to do the same when Boone died. Shannon. She was all he thought of now. Nothing else seemed to matter. He was stirred from his thoughts by someone emerging from the bushes behind him. Spinning he saw a very rugged looking man with long hair.
“Who are you?”, Sayid asked, stepping back cautiously.
“Easy, brother”, Desmond told him, raising his hands. Locke appeared behind Desmond.
“Sayid, this is Desmond”, Locke introduced him.
Desmond nodded in Sayid’s direction and began shovelling the earth. Sayid looked at Locke.
“What’s going on?”, Sayid asked, puzzled.
“Long story”, replied Locke.
Sayid didn’t need to ask what Desmond was doing, once you’ve dug a grave, you can tell when someone else is doing the same.
“We’d better leave him to it”, Locke motioned for Sayid to leave with him. Locke explained to Sayid why Desmond had returned whilst walking to the beach. Sayid remained quiet, as if deep in thought about the situation. As they approached the beach they saw Jack had assembled some of the survivors, explaining the situation. The group that had gathered were listening intently, giving occasional glances to Desmond digging a few hundred yards away.
Locke and Sayid caught the last of his speech;
“And after the burial, myself and some others are gonna go find Michael, and we’re gonna bring him back. I promise”, Jack looked at the arriving Locke and Sayid.
With the group dispersing he spoke to them,
“I guess you filled Sayid in on what’s happening”,
Locke nodded.
“We’re leaving as soon as this funeral is over”, Jack announced.
“And who’s coming?”, Sayid inquired.
“Well, I told Sawyer and Kate on the way to the beach. So it’ll be those two plus us three and Desmond”, the mention of Desmond turned them all in his direction, who was still digging. Locke made off towards him with the intention of helping. He wasn’t the only one. Soon four or five of the survivors joined him. Desmond appreciated this, he needed a kind gesture. It was something which he rarely experienced on this Island.

Half an hour later and the funeral was ready to begin, Desmond had brought the body of Kelvin from the hatch with the help of Locke. The survivors were gathered, but all of them felt awkward at the situation. Desmond spoke,
“Kelvin was my friend. He was a good man. He didn’t deserve this. Rest in peace, brother”, Desmond threw some soil into the grave. The others did the same. It was a very confusing time for them.

Desmond, Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Kate, Ana and Sayid had gathered in the hatch. Desmond had just told his story yet again. He felt if he kept telling it he might start to believe it himself.
“Well, seems like we’re in the middle of a little fall out”, Sawyer smirked.
“I doubt it’s a good idea for us all to go”, Locke said.
“True, I’ll stay”, Sayid volunteered.
“So will I”, Ana joined him.
“We need to keep order at the camp, if something happens to you all there’d be no one here to control the people”, Sayid said.
“OK, so when do we leave?”, Sawyer asked, he was glad to be going on another little adventure.
“Now”, Jack declared.
Desmond sighed, he didn’t seem to have much of a say in all of this.

“How far?”, Jack asked Desmond, who was leading the way through the jungle.
“We won’t get there till dark, brother. It took me a few hours to get to your camp”, Desmond replied, as it began to rain.
Sawyer walked at the back with Locke.
“So, Mount Baldimore, who you think these people are?”, Sawyer asked.
“Who do I think what people are?”, Locke replied.
“The Hanso folk, whaddya think they’re up to?”,
“I don’t know James. But from what Desmond’s told us they’re the bad guys. The ones who’ve been snatching people in the middle of the night”,
“Yeah . . . Desmond”, Sawyer looked at the man who lead the way, he did genuinely look like someone who’d been caught up in this, much like they were. He still didn’t trust him though. Not that Sawyer trusted many people anyway.

Night was falling and the rain still fell all around them, Desmond seemed to be looking for signs now. He knew they were close. Even in the dark he couldn’t mistake the wall of vines. He stopped.
“What is it?”, Jack asked.
“We’re here brother”, Desmond declared. They all looked at each other. Where exactly was here . . .?

Thomas Mittlewerk, CEO of The Hanso Foundation readied the tape he was about to show. He looked at the man in the room with him, Alexander Widmore.
He left the readied tape and sat down with Mr. Widmore. Mittlewerk flicked off the lights and pressed play on his remote.
On the screen an image of himself appeared, dressed in a white lab coat. He began to speak,
“Hello, I’m Dr. Thomas Mittlewerk, CEO of The Hanso Foundation and this is the Orientation for your role in Project Salvation.
The Dharma Initiative has failed. We must now take drastic action if the future of Mankind is to be secured. With the impending launch of the Flight 81 -”, the two men’s attention was drawn from the film by someone entering the room.
“What is it?!”, An annoyed Mittlewerk demanded.
“I’m sorry sir, but we’ve brought in another two” . . .


Chapter 14 - The Other Side

Sam cursed as he and Michael were thrown roughly into a cell. Michael lay on the floor silently, he was exhausted. They weren’t alone in the cell.
“Good to see you again, Sam”, Mullins managed a weak smile. Johnson nodded at Sam. Cooper was asleep, his shoulder wound bandaged.
“Who’s this?”, Mullins asked, looking at a motionless Michael.
“This is Michael”, Sam replied grimly, these weren’t exactly the best people for Michael to be around. Suddenly Michael sat up and slumped against the cold, grey wall.
“How long have they had you in here?”, Sam asked.
Mullins shrugged.
“Time doesn’t exist in here”, he half-laughed.
“What about them?”, Sam looked out of the cell.
“We were told, that we were expendable to the project”, Mullins told him.
“What?”, Sam was confused.
“That’s what we said”, Mullins replied, smiling.
Sam couldn’t help smiling either. The grin was quickly withdrawn when thoughts of Kelvin re-entered his mind.
How was he supposed to tell them? He was about to start talking when he heard footsteps coming down the corridor. The men pressed themselves against the bars and watched as a young, slightly nervous looking man came towards the cell. He had a tray of food in his hand. Opening the cell door slightly he laid it down on the floor and quickly retreated, eyeing the men uncertainly. They stared back, they could sense he was intimidated. They remained silent until they could hear him leaving the cell block.
“Who was that?”, Michael finally broke his silence.
“That, was our ticket outta here”, Sam grinned.

Alexander Widmore explored the room he had been left in. Mittlewerk had stopped the film before he left, deliberately not wanting Widmore to see it without him being there. Mittlewerk had left about ten minutes ago, and Widmore was now looking at all the photos on the wall. There was one of a ship, the Black Rock, Widmore had heard of it before. It was captained by Alvar Hanso’s grandfather, Magnus. In fact, Widmore’s father had named one of his ships after it. That was back when all he did was build ships. All of that had changed now. Alexander wasn’t exactly sure why he was here. His father had sent him to meet Mittlewerk, so that he could be filled in on his dads latest business venture. He’d got on a plane with Mittlewerk, fell asleep and woke up in this place. Mittlewerk had told him he was out for the whole flight, Widmore wasn’t so sure. Something about it wasn’t quite right. He didn’t even know what country he was in! Mittlewerk had dodged the question, urging him to watch the film before he asked any questions. All he got was something about an Initiative and an experiment, what was his dad getting up to?

“What do you mean our ‘ticket outta here’?”, Johnson asked.
“You saw how nervous that kid was, we can use him to get out of here”, Sam replied.
Before they could discuss it any further, the cell block door was opened once more. The group fell into silence. A different guard appeared. He looked sternly at the men and opened the cell.
“You”, he said, nodding towards Michael.
“Get up, Mr. Mittlewerk wants to see you”, he finished.
Michael looked around at Sam and the others before getting up, as if to say sorry. The guard slapped a pair of handcuffs on his Mike and lead him down the corridor, at the end he stopped and blindfolded Michael. They both left the corridor, the guard shoving Michael in the right direction from time to time. Finally, the guard grabbed Mike to stop him. He could hear a door being opened in front of him, he was soon lead inside and onto a chair. The guard removed his blindfold, Michael squinted, his eyes adjusting to the light.
“Hello Michael”, Mittlewerk said from across the room.

“Where do you think they’ve taken him?”, Mullins asked Sam.
“That doesn’t matter just now, what matters is us getting out of here”, Sam told him.
“So how do we do that?”, came a voice - Cooper had woken up. Sam grinned, perfect.

Chester stood next to the cell block door, looking as nervous as ever. It was his second week in his new job for The Hanso Foundation. He’d been a security guard many times before but this place gave him a strange feeling. A research bunker underneath the Nevada desert was a lot different from anything he’d ever done. The place was so secretive. They’d even blindfolded him for the whole helicopter journey to the bunker. They said he couldn’t be able to know how to ever get back to this place. How would be able to memorise how to get to somewhere in the Nevada desert anyway? Nonetheless, he had a job to do. Opening the cell block door, he made his way back to the cell where the prisoners were being kept. Another thing that puzzled him, why would Hanso keep prisoners? Approaching the cell he could hear groaning inside. A call came from inside,
“Hey! Help!”, a voice cried.
Inside the cell a man was holding his shoulder and groaning in pain.
“You gotta help him, man”, one of the prisoners told him.
Chester wondered what to do, should he help?
“Uhhh . . .”, Chester panicked a little.
“OK I’ll help. Slide over to the cell door and I’ll take him to get help. I any of you try anything I won’t hesitate to use this thing”, Chester raised his gun, warning them unconvincingly. One of the men hauled the injured man to the door and retreated to the rear of the cell, his arms raised. Chester opened the door slightly and dragged the man out, shutting it again quickly. After locking it he turned and froze, the man had gotten to his feet. He wasn’t injured at all! Before Chester could react the man trusted a knee into his gut. Chester doubled up in pain, dropping his gun. Winded he dropped to his knees. The man picked up the gun and brought it down hard on the back of Chester’s head, knocking him out cold.

Michael spat at Mittlewerk. He despised the man and he didn’t know him. All that mattered was that they had his son.
Wiping the spit from his face Mittlewerk said,
“I’ll pretend that didn’t happen”,
“Where’s my son?!”, Michael demanded angrily.
“Walt is fine, he’s a very special boy Mr. Dawson”, Mittlewerk smiled.
“How do you know my name?”, Michael asked.
Mittlewerk laughed.
“All in due time my friend”,
Suddenly, an alarm rang out.
Mittlewerk cursed. What was going on now?
“Keep him tied up!”, Mittlewerk instructed the guard as he left the room.

Widmore had had enough, he’d been left alone for near enough half an hour now. And this alarm going off was the final straw. Getting up from his seat he made for the door, opened it and stepped out into the chaos.

Sam ran as fast as he could, the others had been forced to take a different route due to the presence of the guards so they were separated yet again. He couldn’t hang around waiting for them though. At least one of them had to get out of here. He was surrounded by twisting corridors, pipes lined the roofs. He got the feeling that if this was Hanso’s Island base, this wasn’t the main part of it. Suddenly voices came from a corridor to his right, people were running down it. He made for the nearest door to him and rushed inside. Luckily the footsteps ran past the door, heading off in another direction. Sam breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to make down this new corridor but stopped at the sight of a pretty bewildered looking man standing about ten feet ahead of him. Sam didn’t hesitate, he made straight for the man who stumbled back in fear. Sam didn’t break his stride as he planted a right hook on the man’s face, knocking him to the ground. He pulled back to strike again but stopped as he noticed the man was unconscious. He knelt down beside him, he was wearing an ID badge. It read,

Widmore, Alexander.
Business Associate.
All Access Pass.
V.I.P.

This guy was important. Too important to be ignored. Hauling the man over his shoulders he made off down the corridor again.

Mullins and Johnson hauled Cooper inside the room just in time, the guards were only a few feet round the corner as Mullins shut the door. Luck smiled upon them again as the guards ignored ran past, distracted by something else.
“Now what?”, A breathless Johnson asked.
Mullins looked at Cooper. He was in no state to keep going. Knocking out that guard had drained him.
The men were in a store room, it looked old, dust covered all the boxes inside.
“Wait here for awhile. Cooper won’t last if we keep going”, Mullins decided. Johnson wasn’t so sure.
“What if they come back?”, he asked.
“You’ve got a gun haven’t you?”, Mullins replied.
Johnson fell silent, he knew Mullins wouldn’t change his mind. He just hoped the guards gave up the chase.

Sam was beginning to wonder whether he should just leave Widmore. He decided against it, this guy could hold a lot of information. And besides, he doubted the guards would shoot if there was danger of hitting one of their own.
He turned another corner, there was a door at the end. It was old, much like the doors in the hatches. Scanning the door Sam could make out some faded stencilling.

TUNNELS TO ALL STATIONS
USE ONLY IN EMERGENCY

Sam pulled at the wheel on door, hauling it open. It was totally dark inside. He had to go on.
It was his only chance . . .


Chapter 15 - The Equation

Locke was fascinated. Another station, another opportunity. Desmond, with the help of the others, heaved open the door.
“It’s an elevator”, Desmond informed them. They all huddled inside, taking shelter from the rain outside. Desmond closed the door and the elevator lit up although Desmond wished it hadn’t. Kelvin’s blood stained the floor. They all fell silent, glancing at each other uncertainly. Reaching the bottom was a relief. Desmond lead the way to the door and opened it. He stepped inside and called out,
“Hello? Sam?”, he looked all around the bunker. No signs of life here.
“Anybody here?”, he called again, praying for a response. Desmond’s words echoed still without a response. He turned and looked at Jack, who was fuming. He charged at Desmond and grabbed him by the collar, pushing him against a desk.
“You said they would be here! Now where are they?!”, Jack demanded.
“I don’t know, brother! They were here!”, Desmond protested.
“You lied!”, Jack accused him.
“That’s right brother, I lied about my friend getting shot”, Desmond replied sarcastically.
Jack released his grip, turning away in frustration.
“Jack, maybe they left here”, Locke suggested.
“To go where, John? He said they would be here”, Jack pointed at Desmond accusingly.
“I don’t know, Jack”, Locke wasn’t interested in arguing, he wanted to explore this place. Sawyer had already taken to doing so, as had Kate. Entering a room they found it to be full of bunk beds, on the bed was a book - The Creative Writing Compilation.
“Well, I’ll be damned”, Sawyer grinned.
“What is it?”, Kate asked.
Sawyer held up the book.
“Just when I thought there weren’t no more reading material left on this rock”, He smirked.
Kate shook her head, laughing.
“Can you imagine living here?”, She imagined.
Sawyer looked around but didn’t answer. There was something he didn’t like about these places.
Back downstairs Jack had regained his calm, whilst Locke was trying to turn on one of the computers, to no avail. Kate and Sawyer moved into the pantry and began filling their bags with food. Desmond sat on the desk next to where Locke was working on the computer. Jack made his way up the other staircase and into the room with the TV monitors. One of the screens showed a corridor, the other was flashing now and again. Jack tapped the screen, hoping to get something. To his surprise it came on. On the screen he could now see a room with a massive chalkboard in it. Two people were leaving the room. A man and a boy. Walt?

Locke flicked a switch at the back of the computer and it came to life, a green DHARMA logo filled the screen. The text underneath it read,

Station 1 - The Eagle

Locke’s was suddenly filled with vigour, his curiosity now running wild. Desmond snapped out of a daze when he noticed the computer had been activated. He now watched it closely, almost as curious as Locke was. A menu flashed onto the screen. It listed options,

>: Station Classifications

>: Active Projects

>: The History of DHARMA

>: Board Member Profiles

Locke selected the first option and a another list appeared on the screen. His eyes lit up at the sight of it. Desmond was intrigued as well. The page listed the names and purposes of all the hatches!


>: Station 1 - The Eagle - Main Supply/Recreation Centre [COMPLETE SHUTDOWN IN EFFECT]

>: Station 2 - The Hunter - Zoological And Biological Studies
[COMPLETE SHUTDOWN IN EFFECT]

>: Station 3 - The Swan - Study Of Electromagnetic Anomalies
[STATUS: UNKNOWN]

>: Station 4 - The Flame - Marine Biological/Underwater Studies
[STATUS: UNKNOWN DUE TO CERBERUS ACTIVITY]

>: Station 5 - The Pearl - Psychological Studies
[COMPLETE SHUTDOWN IN EFFECT]

>: Station 6 - The Comet - Human Advancement/AH/DG HQ
[STATUS: IN USE]

>: Station 7 - ??? - ??? - ???
[STATUS: ????????]

Locke was speechless. He couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.
“Station 7?”, Desmond said, “I thought there was only-”,
“Six?”, Locke turned from the computer at last, a grin spread across his face.
Desmond nodded in reply.
Locke turned back to the screen for a moment before Jack came rushing from one of the rooms and hurried down the stairs.
“What’s wrong?”, Locke asked, getting up from the computer.
“I saw him. I saw Walt”, Jack told him.
“Walt?”, Desmond asked.
“Michael’s son”, Locke informed him.
“Where did you see him?”, Locke inquired.
“A TV monitor, up there”, Jack motioned towards one of the upstairs rooms.
“You saw Walt?”, Sawyer had appeared, Kate stood alongside, both looking as amazed as each other.
Jack nodded.
“Only for a few seconds but it was definitely him”, Jack continued.
They all looked at each other for a moment, this was a relief for them. Walt was alive. Now they just had to find Michael.
Locke broke the silence,
“Look at this, there’s a good chance he’s being kept in one of these”,
All eyes were drawn to the screen.
“It says Station 6 is still in use, so there’s a good chance that’s where they’re keeping him”, Desmond suggested.
“Well we can rule out 1 and 3”, Locke said, pointing at a small piece of text on the bottom right of the screen - Station 1 - The Eagle.
“See if there’s anything else”, Jack instructed Locke.
Returning to the main menu, Locke selected Active Projects.
Up came another list,

ACTIVE PROJECTS

The Valenzetti Equation

Electromagnetic Anomalies

Remote Viewing Project

GM Animals

Human Psychology

Clicking on The Valenzetti Equation saw a piece of text appear on the screen. Reading it carefully, they were all shocked by its contents,

> : The Valenzetti Equation

Sometime after the Cold War, the leaders of Russia and The USA met with the UN Security Council to discuss a claimed major breakthrough in human advancement. It was revealed that Enzo Valenzetti, an Italian mathematician, had devised an equation which predicted the exact number of days and months until Mankind extinguished itself. The results of this equation were chilling, predicting that Mankind’s time on planet Earth would come to an end on the 5th December 2004.

Here at The Dharma Initiative, our own mathematicians have been studying this equation for some time in order to determine the authenticity of its prediction. Our results so far have been inconclusive. But we shall not be disheartened, our research and experiments will continue until we have determined whether or not this prediction is to be taken seriously.

Updates shall follow in due course.

Namaste!

Dr. Marvin Candle. Log Entry #23. 16th August 1987.

The bunker fell silent. The group glanced at each other uncertainly, trying to make sense of what they had just read. Locke moved on quickly from the page. There were a list of log entries, entering another filled the screen with a message.

ERROR. INFORMATION UNAVAILABLE.

Locke tried the next log,

ERROR. INFORMATION UNAVAILABLE.

Again and again . . .

ERROR. INFORMATION UNAVAILABLE.

. . . Was all that the computer would offer them.
“What’s today’s date?”, Kate asked shakily.
“Hell if I know”, Sawyer replied. Even he was a tad stirred by what he’d just read.
“Surely you’re not all going to believe that?”, Jack half-laughed.
No one replied.
“It’s nonsense. An equation predicting the end of the world? Even Locke’s button is more believable than that”, Jack exclaimed.
They all glanced at each other again.
“We should get going”, Desmond said quietly.

Widmore hauled himself out through the hatch and lay sprawled on the floor. What the hell was going on? Sam followed shortly after, he recognised where he was. He’d been taken here when he broke his ankle in the jungle a few years ago - The Staff. A medical centre, he’d always wondered where the escape hatch on the wall led to - he wasn’t high up enough in the Initiative to know everything.
“What’s going on?”, Widmore was breathless, he was English, Sam realised.
“Just get up”, Sam instructed, searching for the exit. Where was he to go now?

“What now, brother?”, Desmond asked Jack as the elevator finished it’s ascent.
“Well, we go back to camp, tell everyone what we found, then figure out where to go from there”, he replied.
They stepped out into the jungle, the rain had stopped but it was pitch black.
“Lucky I brought these”, Kate piped up, producing two flashlights from her bag.
The walk back was silent, no one wanted to speak too much in the dark. The moon illuminated the trees as well as the flashlights did. Locke pondered what he’d found in this new hatch, as did everyone else for that matter. Was it true? And how soon was the 5th of December? It must be soon, they’d been here for almost two months now. All thoughts of the equation vanished as the bushes rustled, twigs snapped, someone was coming. Using the torches the survivors scanned the shadows, searching for movement. Sawyer raised a gun.
“Who’s there?”, Desmond called into the darkness. Suddenly a voice came from behind him.
“Me”, came a familiar voice. One that couldn’t be mistaken. It was Sam, and he wasn’t alone . . .


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