Midnight Happenings [The Others]

[Natanah Laurel]

<sup>Tonight, of all nights, there just had to be no moon. Of course, it was just their luck. They'd all just landed here in a plane crash, frightened, injured, and not really looking forward to spending a night in complete darkness. They wanted to be able to see any planes that might be passing overhead as well as hear them, to be able to glimpse boats motoring their way across the horizon. But without the help of the moonlight, there was no chance of that. So the survivors resigned themselves to a night of uneasy sleep in this stranger territory where they'd never even dreamed of being, even in their worst nightmares. It was ironic, how a place so akin to paradise could represent so much misfortune to them.

Despite the uneasiness Natanah Laurel felt at being stuck here on this island until rescue came, sleep was surprisingly easy to come by for her, and many others. The day had been exhausting, to say the least. She'd removed the metal from her shoulder, but without pain medication to complement the impromptu surgery, it was difficult to deal with without a constant grimace of pain. She would have given just about anything to have an actual, medical doctor do the removal, instead of she herself using only her bare hands and having nothing to clean the wound with except water. They hadn't been able to find any alcohol. If she was lucky, it wouldn't get infected, but there was always that risk unless the rescue teams arrived sooner rather than later, which she was really hoping. That whole ordeal, along with the simple stress of the crash and trying to group all the survivors together, had worn her out completely.

The girl was now stretched out on the sand beneath a thin airplane blanket she'd salvaged from the wreckage. She lay on her side, placing the weight up her body upon her right shoulder rather than her bandaged left. So great was her fatigue that even the soreness of that could not keep her from sleep. She was several yards away from the fire, really on the outer reaches of the group. It just happened to be where she'd landed when she finally collapsed from exhaustion as the sun was setting. In sleep, it made no difference to her how near or far away from the fire she was. Dreams danced in and out of her head, and in sleep she forgot where she was and imagined she was safe at home.</sup>

[Richard Alpert]

<sup>Although there was no moon that night, Richard had no problems of finding his way quietly through the jungle, making little to no noise. He knew the island and the jungle well and the absence of the moonlight did not stop or confuse his efforts to finding the tail section crash site. It was late, almost midnight when he approached the camp, acquainted by a few others. The clothings he wore were faded and dirty and he wore no shoes-it looked as if he had simply come out of the jungle having lived there for awhile rather than the community he was from.

Stepping easily over some of the large roots and moving aside the vines, Richard saw the fire ahead on the beach. Everything was silent, apart from the crackles from the fire. It was there that Richard hesitated near the beach, counting the figures he could see lying on the ground around the fire. There was no one up and no one watching. With a signal to the others with him he headed to the beach. He was not the one that held the list, as he knew the ones they were taking that night. Silently, Richard approached the beach. He stepped out of the jungle and onto the sandy beaches a bit further down from the camp so he could approach by the water. As he approached, he could recognize those who slept around the fire. He spotted the girl he was going to take that night-she was sleeping on her side beneath a thin airplane blanket. He could see she had some sort of injury-her left shoulder was bandaged.

Richard paused for a moment, glancing at the others as he waited for them to position themselves. Once they grabbed the victims of the kidnapping, they would have to act fast. It was very unlikely that the rest of the survivors would sleep through the kidnappings and they might put up a fight if they linger upon their crash site too long. However, these survivors were not aware that they were on the island-this was the first time they have come across their camp and were taking their people. It was likely that in the confusion of what was happening, they would make an easy escape. Richard did not have a gun-some of them carried knives for defense, but none of them would have any guns that night.</sup>

[Aldo Martinez]

Aldo was ready for this. He hadn't really met many of these survivors, but he'd gotten enough of an idea of who the people were. This was fine for his purposes; taking them didn't mean he had to befriend them. He held still as a few stragglers climbed into their makeshift shelters for the night.

Aldo had found his target. He didn't know the little girl's name, but he knew she was wanted. She looked about ten, and she held a stuffed teddy bear close to her as she slept, near her little brother. The Other waited a couple hundred feet away for Richard's signal. Harper was next to Aldo, planning to take the brother as well. This would be silent, and quick.

[Harper Stanhope]

It was dark and there was no moon, but she knew the jungle by heart. However, Harper followed the rest of their little group through the jungle. Harper tracked into the jungle not making any noise. It was hard to not make noise at night in the jungle, but she managed. Harper was wearing a brown shirt and brown pants. She like Richard was bare foot. Harper was told to dress like this and she didn’t mind dressing like this.

Harper stepped over some large roots of trees and using her left hand to move aside the vines that were in her way. She paused for a moment as she saw the fire ahead. Harper observed very carefully hoping that no one in that group of tail section survivors were awake at the time. Harper sighed for a moment and noticed that Richard had given them the signal. Harper nodded and followed quickly. She made sure not to make any noise as she emerged from the jungle environment to the sandy environment. The sand of the beach felt very soothing as she stepped in it. She stopped and stood a few feet from where the Others of their little group stood. Harper glanced around and quickly took the list out of her pocket as she glanced at it and looked up from the list putting it away. She glanced around knowing that this would be quick and she decided that she would take the boy named Zach that slept near his sister. She awaited Richard’s signal.

[Richard Alpert]

<sup>Richard waited a few moments as the rest of the Others went into position next to the person they were going to take. Noticing they were all watching him for the signal, he nodded. He grabbed the blanket that was over Natanah and tossed it aside and without any hesitation he grabbed the girl. Going through the jungle at night with no light would be difficult with the struggling victims, so they did have a few extra people to help out if any tried to get away. Then again, if any of them did give them a struggle, they would be knocked out. It would be difficult enough carrying them through the jungle to their destination, but the most important time was now, as the other survivors would not let them get away. As Richard could see with Natanah, she was already injured which would hopefully make it easier.

Within a few swift movements, Richard had picked up the girl and swung her over his shoulder, holding onto her legs so he would have greater control should she try to get away. Without any hesitation he quickly headed for the jungle as planned. It would be easier once they got away from the camp and the confusion of the survivors who were unaware of what was happening. Once they were away from the camp they would figure out better means of taking these survivors back to camp and tying up anyone that was struggling too bad unless they were to knock them out. Richard couldn't waste time in stopping to see if the Others had made their capture successful-they would meet in the jungle as planned but as of now they had to get away.</sup>

[Aldo Martinez]

Aldo checked the list again. The boy's name was Zach. The girl's was Emma. He approved. Normal names, nothing exotic or foreign, not like his own name. Aldo. He wasn't even sure what his name meant. He grinned, despite himself.

As quietly as Aldo approached the girl and her brother, he was visibly surprised when the girl sat up, apparently having feigned her sleep.

He paused, then whispered to her, "Hey, Emma. Remember me? I'm Aldo."

A bead of sweat escaped his brow. This was bordering on one of the stupidest things he'd ever done.

The girl nodded but held back, still unsure of his motives.

"This is my friend Harper," he continued, gesturing to the woman behind him. "Something's happening, and we want you two to be safe, so we need you to come with us, okay?"

Aldo had no idea if this would work. He hoped he wouldn't have to take the children forcefully. That would be terrifying to him and them.

[Natanah Laurel]

<sup>Tana's peaceful sleeping was sudden interrupted when she felt a rather severe jolt of pain run down from her shoulder and through her body in waves. She gasped involuntarily, and the agony she felt from the moving of the injured limb made her newfound vision swim before her eyes. Not that it mattered much, as she could hardly see anything anyway. The fire had burned down, and now it was nothing more than bright embers amidst the charcoal.

The second thing she became aware of was that she was no longer laying upon the sand. Natanah clutched for the blanket she'd had over her body, but all she found was air slipping through her fingers. It was like the world had fallen away from her, and she was suspended in the air somewhere. Through these brief seconds in which she might possibly have been able to do something passed by quickly, and she said nothing nor made any spastic movements, as she was overcome by confusion as to what was going on. And then the girl landed against something. Well, rather, she felt as if she were draped over something. It was warm and firm... it was a human body. A shoulder? And it was only now, at this point, that she realized something was terribly, terribly wrong.

"What the..." but the words were practically lost as she jolted into movement. Whoever was carrying her like a sack of potatoes had evidently begun to move. She couldn't understand this strange behavior. If she was in the way, or something, they should have just asked her to move. But at this point, the sluggishness of sleep began to drift away from Tana, and suddenly her brain kicked in. "Hey!" She shouted, though somewhat feebly, as her current position didn't really allow for mobility or threats. "Who are you? Where are you taking me?" There was movement around her, and she glanced to the side. She caught a glimpse of a man stooped next to one of the children before teh scene was swallowed by the foliage and the darkness of the jungle. "Put me down!" she demanded, and she squirmed within her captor's grip.</sup>

[Harper Stanhope]

Harper watched Aldo very carefully. She noticed that the girl Emma was already up and she shook her head as she heard Aldo say her name. She rolled her eyes and quickly thought on her feet as she carefully approached Aldo and Emma. Harper was going to lie to the children and she hoped that these children weren’t smart enough to know that adults could lie. She sighed and replied, “Hi Sweetie, I’m Harper, these people who want have been watching you all day are bad and they want to hurt you and your brother, Zach” She paused for a second, "We are good guys Emma"

Harper said as she gave a friendly smile to the girl. Harper was trying to gain the girl's trust so once they did gain Emma's trust. Emma would go with Aldo and if Zach didn't wake up, Harper would carry him with them away from the bad people that she was referring to. She hoped that being nice to the children they would come with them and she wouldn't have to use a needle on them. She really didn't want to use a needle on them. Harper looked at Emma awaiting a reply.

[Richard Alpert]

<sup>Richard stumbled slightly on a hidden log beneath some plants on the ground as Natanah began to squirm. He tightened his grip on her as he couldn't afford to let her get away. He could hear someone else running up to her but didn't see who it was. As he continued through the jungle, the sounds from the beach became rather muffled although he could hear distant yells from those who had awakened and discovered some of their fellow survivors had been taken. Once he was sure he was far enough in the jungle he stopped, now glancing behind him and recognizing the person behind him. "Put a hoof on her," he spoke quietly to his acquaintance, who had been carrying some hoods for them to use. As Richard's hands were full, the Other put the hood over Natanah's head.

Once Richard was sure none of the other survivors had tried to follow him, he waited for the others to catch up. If all had gone well, they should've been coming up soon now. "We are taking you to a better place," Richard spoke calmly in response to Natanah' question. He didn't give a response to who he was, or her demand to put him down in which he ignored. Once they got further in, they may end up having to tie some of them as it was a long trek through the jungle to the Barrack and wouldn't be easy carrying them the whole way.</sup>

[Natanah Laurel]

<sup>As she was carried, Natanah could feel a slight snag in her captor's motion, though he regained himself quickly and carried on. He was holding her firmly, and she knew that she wasn't going to be strong enough to overpower him, even with her military training. She was, after all, a young female, most likely with considerably less body weight and strength than whoever had taken her away. Everything around her was a blur of motion, and she was beginning to feel dizzy from watching the shadows and trees from an upside-down position. Suddenly, they stopped. Tana had ceased her struggled, and she held her breath without realizing it, waiting for whatever was going to happen next.

"Put a hood on her."

She froze, all the muscles in her body seemed to tighten. No way. She'd take the dizziness over being blinded any day. If she was going to be carried off into the jungle she wanted to at least have some sense of direction so that she might find her way back, if and when she escaped from these people. For, apparently, there was not just the one who was carrying her. He was speaking to a companion. She could hear faint shouts coming from behind her. Apparently, she wasn't the only one they tried to carry off. She wondered if she was the only one they'd succeeded in taking, though. And suddenly, there was a dark material in front of her eyes. Whoever her kidnappers accomplice was, they were now placing the previously mentioned hood over her head. She tried to struggled for a moment, shifting her head from side to side, but this only increased the pain in her should. She subsided, defeated. The cloth bag was slipped over head and tied loosely around her neck so that it wouldn't fall off.

She let out a groan of incredulity at the man's reply. He ignored the majority of her questions, supplying her with only a simple, vague statement that did nothing to ease her fears. "A better place? I liked the place I just was!" The idea that a group of people from the plane were organizing this whole thing was incomprehensible to her. What was their motive? Didn't they just want to get home, like everyone else? She voiced this opinion aloud, in a tone that was half pleading, half fearful. "Don't you want to get rescued? If we move into the jungle, they'll never see us." It felt sort of odd, conversing like this (or attempting to) with a person whose face you couldn't even see, who had just dragged you off into the jungle and as good as blindfolded you. But she really didn't know what else to do.</sup>

[Harper Stanhope]

Harper didn’t wait for the girl’s response as she took a needle out of her back pocket and looked at the girl. Harper didn’t want to be hostile towards the girl, but she didn’t know what else to do. She didn’t show the girl the needle yet and looked into the girl’s eyes as she gave her puppy dog eyes. She sighed and placed the needle back in her pocket. The girl looked at Harper and poked at her little brother to get up. Emma’s little brother opened his eyes and looked at his sister and Harper. Harper didn’t know what was happening, but she carefully watched the children get up and the little girl spoke to Harper holding her brother’s hand.

“We are ready to get away from these people” replied Emma.

Harper nodded and looked at Aldo as she rolled her eyes and looked back at the children. “Hold my hand and we will go off into the jungle, but you have to keep up with me can you two do that?” asked Harper in a clam voice as both children nodded in agreement. Harper took out her hand as Emma grabbed Harper’s hand tightly with that Harper lead the way into the jungle hoping to catch up with Richard and the Others. She wasn’t sure if they would were still in the same part where they were told to met prior to leaving the Barracks. The three ran towards where Harper assumed the meeting place was. Harper approached the located as she noticed that they were putting hoods on some of the people they were kidnapping. She and the children stood a few feet from the location. Harper was waiting for orders from Richard on what to do with the children. She could knock them out with a needle or she could place a hoodie over them. She just wasn’t sure.

[Aldo Martinez]

Aldo held his breath as Harper reached behind her back and pulled out a syringe. He decided to keep quiet for the time being.

The children stood, and Emma replied, "We are ready to get away from these people."

Harper shot a look at Aldo before leading the children a short ways into the jungle. Aldo would remain behind for further surveillance on the survivors that weren't on the list.

[Richard Alpert]

<sup>Richard heard the frantic questions Natanah gave, although he gave no answers. She obviously had no idea who they were and thought they were some of their fellow survivors, but she would learn soon enough that the survivors from the plane crash were not the only ones on the island. He remained silent, deciding to not let Natanah down yet. They couldn't afford to leave tracks in the jungle in case some of the survivors from the tail section attempted to follow them. At least, not until they got further into the jungle. He remained silent as he could hear some branches rustling, which was a sign that the others were starting to approach.

Richard raised an eyebrow slightly when he saw Harper arrive holding the hand of a little girl. He didn't know how she had been able to take them willingly-they were supposed to take the people on the list and get out of the camp as fast as they could to avoid confusion. However, her tactic seemed to have worked and hadn't upset the children. As the rest of them began to arrive, Richard scanned over their small group, making sure everyone had managed to get the people on the list.

"Hood them for now," Richard spoke up so the others could hear him. They would have to come quickly-surely the rest of the survivors would attempt to follow. "If they give you trouble, you know what to do." Before leaving, he had made sure they had enough of the drug to give them by needle if any of them gave them too much trouble. There was also the option of tying them up, but the less struggle would be easier. They would have to put hoods on them for now to prevent any of them from recognizing parts of the jungle if they ever managed to escape. Richard gave them a chance to get ready before turning around and heading deeper into the jungle. He would have to continue to carry Natanah for now-he had a feeling that if he let her down she would try to get away and it would be difficult for anyone blindfolded to walk through this part of the jungle anyway. The ground was uneven, covered in plants and large roots from the trees with large branches hanging in the way.</sup>

[Harper Stanhope]

Harper nodded as she heard Richard speak about hooding the people that they had kidnapped. Harper kneeled down in front of the children and spoke in a soft voice, “I’m going to put a hood on both of you, now I don’t want you to get frighten, but I’m only doing this for the safety of the both of you” She looked at the children as the little girl nodded at Harper and Harper stood back up and quickly turned around and grabbed two hoods from the ones that were carrying the hoods. She quickly turned back to the children and placed a hood on each of them.

Harper sighed for a brief moment as she thought of what she would do. She wasn’t sure if she could carry both children. She looked at the children before turning towards their small little group. She had an idea in mind, but she wasn’t sure if it would work. Harper sighed and glanced at one of the Others that was standing near her. “Adam” Harper announced as the man looked at her as she spoke in a whisper so the children wouldn’t hear her. “I’m going to carry the girl, Emma can you carry the boy named Zach, it will be a lot better for us to carry the children rather than have them wonder behind us, for they might trip or something” She stated to Adam as he nodded in agreement. Adam would take Zach and Harper would take Emma. Harper calmly picked up Emma and followed the rest of the group into the jungle.

[Paige Winterbourne]

Paige groaned as she kept walking. She never got lost. This was probably the first time in so many years that she could count. Losing her own trail probably a mile back probably had not been the best idea in the world. So she had tried doubling back on herself and had come up with dead ends. She was rather tired now, but then untold hours of walking did that to you. Slipping her hand into her pocket she retrieved a piece of fruit. Unable to see what it was due to the fact it was almost pitch black where she was, she took a bite to find out what it might be. Not that it matters, fruit was fruit was fruit... and even she was getting sick of it.

The smart thing to do about now would be to make a camp, but she was sure she’d find the camp if she just kept walking. I so prefer computers and Labs to forests that are thing big... few people would think that someone who could track and hunt could get lost so easily, but unless she knew the woods – it was what she was best at. Her woods back home – she knew every square foot. This place – she was kidding herself.

Whilst she was thinking on how stupidly getting lost in the woods was, her foot got caught. Dragging her down to the ground with a thump. She wasn’t injured, but it surprised her and it hurt a little. Damned roots. she cursed pretty loudly, not really caring for waking people up – she figured it might not be a bad idea if she was only a few minutes from the beach, they could at least show her back to the beach. Sighing and muttering she drew herself back to her feet to keep at her path.