"The Shape Of Things to Come" ~4x09~

Act 1

[Sitting by the shore, Kate lowers the strap of her tank top to sponge herself with water. She sees Jack and waves at him. Jack waves back and keeps walking, holding his side. In a tent, he opens a suitcase holding the prescription medications.]

KATE: You got a prescription for that?

[Kate peeks in the tent.]

JACK: Yeah. I wrote it myself.

KATE: You look terrible.

JACK: Well, thanks.

[Jack takes some pills with water.]

KATE: What are those?

JACK: Antibiotics. I just got a... a stomach bug.

KATE: You should eat some crackers. Crackers always make me feel better.

[Jack chuckles, and Kate chuckles.]

KATE: Why aren't they back from the boat yet, Jack?

JACK: Well, Sayid said the engine was down. My guess is they're trying to fix it and wondering why the hell they can't get in touch with us.

KATE: And you're not worried?

JACK: No. My gut says we're getting off this island.

KATE: I thought your gut was sick.

[They laugh. They hear Vincent barking. A man shouts.]

BERNARD: [Off-screen] Help! I need some help! Help!

[Jack and Kate run down to the shore. Vincent barks.]

BERNARD: Help! I need help! I need some help down here!

[Bernard has found a body washed up onshore. Juliet comes running too.]

BERNARD: The dog was barking. I didn't see him.

[Sun and Jin and Daniel and Charlotte arrive at the scene. Jack, Bernard, Juliet and Jin hoist the body ashore. Jack turns the body over. It's a man with a small cut on his upper cheek and a larger one across his throat. Daniel and Charlotte look on apprehensively.]

JACK: Do you know who this is?

DANIEL: He was on our boat. He's the doctor.

HURLEY: We're all gonna die.

[Inside the Barracks, Sawyer, Locke and Hurley sit around a table in heated deliberation.]

SAWYER: Calm down, Chicken Little. The sky ain't falling just yet.

HURLEY: This is exactly what he wants--to fight amongst ourselves. You're making a big mistake, dude.

LOCKE: It's his to make, Hugo. [To Sawyer] Let's get on with it.

SAWYER: Right... I'm attackin' Siberia.

[A loaded board game of Risk sits on the table. Hurley holds Aaron in his arms. Sawyer and Hurley roll the dice, and then Sawyer laughs, picking off some of Hurley's pieces.]

SAWYER: [laughs] Sorry.

HURLEY: Can't believe you're just giving him Australia. Australia's the key to the whole game.

SAWYER: Says you.

[Sawyer rolls again.]

[In the jungle, the military team from the freighter leads Alex, her hands bound and her eyes blindfolded.]

KEAMY: Stop here. On your knees. Get on your knees.

[He shoves Alex to the ground, then removes her blindfold. She's at the edge of the sonar fence, a numbered keypad before her.]

KEAMY: Hey. Turn this thing off.

ALEX: P-please. There's a baby with them. Just promise you won't—

[Keamy cocks a pistol at her head.]

KEAMY: Turn the fence off.

[She enters 1-6-2-3.]

ALEX: Okay. It's off.

[We hear the woosh of the fence deactivating.]

[Back in Ben's house in the Barracks, a black telephone rings in the room where the game of Risk is taking place. Hurley, Sawyer, Locke and Aaron turn their heads toward it. Locke gets up and picks up the phone. He hears a beep and an automated female voice.]

AUTOMATED FEMALE VOICE: [Over phone] Code 14-J. Code 14-J.

HURLEY: Who is it?

LOCKE: I think it's for Ben.

[In a different house, the one where Jack stayed, Ben plays the piano. Sawyer and Locke barge in.]

LOCKE: What's "code 14-J"?

[Ben's eyes go wide.]

BEN: Where did you hear that?

LOCKE: The phone rang. I picked it up. A voice kept repeating, "code 14-J."

[Ben jumps to his feet, opens up the piano bench, and extracts a shotgun. Sawyer steps back in threatened shock, going for his pistol. Before Sawyer can draw, Ben cocks the weapon and hands it to Sawyer.]

BEN: We need to get to the other house. It's easier to fortify, and we'll have better position on the tree lines.

[Ben rushes for the door.]

LOCKE: What are you talking about?

BEN: They're here.

[Ben opens the front door and walks out.]

Act 2

[Flash-forward - Ben comes to consciousness, lying sprawled supine in cracked, dry beige earth. He's wearing a parka with an as-yet-unseen DHARMA Initiative logo patch on the right chest, and a "HALLIWAX" nameplate on the left. Some sort of mist dissipates around him. He sits up and scans the horizon. Brown earth and mountains. Not another living thing in sight — not even a plant. No footprints can be seen around him.]

SUBTITLE: Sahara Desert

[Ben gets to his knees, and becomes sick, vomiting a little. A gash on his right arm leaves that part of the parka blood-soaked. Unsteadily, he gets to his feet and looks around. Ben hears the galloping of horses. He looks around. There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Suddenly, two Bedouin men ride up, turning a corner around a low ridge of earth. The shout at each other. They both wield AK-47s. Ben raises his uninjured arm in salute. One Bedouin wears a red keffiyeh on his head, the other, a gray one.]

BEN: Hello.

[Red speaks an unintelligible language and cocks and points his weapon at Ben.]

BEN: No, no, no, no. Wait.

[Red and Gray talk to each other in Arabic.]

RED: [Unintelligible]

GRAY: [In Arabic] Look around! He doesn't have any trail.

[Red looks around and sees no trail in the sand.]

RED: [In Arabic, agitated] Where did he come from? Fell from the sky?

BEN: Wait. I can explain. D-do you speak English?

[They do not answer. Ben tries different languages.]

BEN: [In Arabic] Do you speak Arabic? [:تتكلم بالعربي؟]

[Still no reply.]

BEN: [In Turkish] Do you speak Turkish? [:Türkçe biliyor musunuz?]

[Red looks at Gray. Gray dismounts and moves toward Ben.]

GRAY: [In Arabic] Do not move! [:!ما تتحرك]

BEN: Sure. Sure.

[Ben unzips his parka. Gray pulls it off. Ben winces as the parka pulls his injured arm. Gray pats Ben down. Coming to his right pocket, he feels something hard. Gray motions to Ben to remove the thing by patting it with the barrel of his gun.]

BEN: Ah. Okay. Okay, okay.

[Ben smiles and waves innocently as he removes the object. A small metal cylinder. He holds it up. Red shakes his head uncomprehendingly.]

BEN: [Chuckling and gesturing] This...

GRAY: [To Red, in Arabic] What is this? [:شنو هذا؟]

[Red gestures "I don't know".]

GRAY: [To Ben, in Arabic] What is this? [:شنو هذا؟]

[With a press of his thumb, Ben telescopes the small cylinder into a baton and whirls around, hitting the off-guard Gray in the head. Before Red can react, Ben has twirled Gray's body around in front of him as a shield and commandeered his weapon to fire into the chest of Red. Red's horse takes off in the other direction as Red's body slips limply to the ground. Ben flips Gray to the ground and Gray puts his hands up.]

GRAY: Surrender! Surrender!

BEN: Oh, so you do speak English.

[Ben knocks Gray unconscious with the butt of the rifle. He tears off a piece of Red's keffiyeh to use as a makeshift tourniquet on his injured right arm, pulling it tight with his mouth. He mounts Gray's horse]

BEN: [to the horse] Yah!

[He rides off the way they came.]

[On-Island - Ben leads Sawyer and Locke across the grounds of the Barracks.]

SAWYER: Let me guess. "14-J" ain't the code for the pizza boy.

BEN: It's an early warning system.

LOCKE: Warning for what?

BEN: Somebody tripped the panic switch at our security fence. That means one of my people's been captured.

[They arrive at the front of Ben's house.]

BEN: How long did you guys debate amongst yourselves whether or not to ask me why the phone rang?

LOCKE: [Shrugging] Five minutes.

BEN: Well, so much for our head start.

[He turns to go inside the house.]

SAWYER: Hold up. If we're hunkerin' down, I gotta grab Frenchie and the kids.

BEN: Don't bother. They're safe. I sent Rousseau, Alex and Karl away yesterday.

SAWYER: [Indignantly] Away where?

[Ben remains silent.]

SAWYER: Whatever. Claire's still sleepin'. I'll grab her.

[Sawyer tosses the shotgun to Locke.]

BEN: There's no time!

SAWYER: I'll make time.

[Locke turns to go with Sawyer. Ben stops him.]

BEN: It's very important that you survive what's about to happen here, John. So I need you to stay close to me.

LOCKE: And why would I do that?

BEN: Because the people that are coming won't risk hurting me. You want to live? I'm your best chance.

[On the beach, the living doctor examines the dead one.]

JACK: His throat was slit.

[No one speaks.]

JACK: Know anything about that?

[Charlotte stays silent.]

DANIEL: No. Uh, he was fine when I last saw him.

JACK: Which was when?

DANIEL: When? "When" is kind of a relative term.

CHARLOTTE: We don't know anything about this.

JULIET: Any luck fixing the sat phone?

DANIEL: Uh, yeah. Sorry, no. The, uh, the mic was... smashed up pretty good. Best-case scenario, we'd only be able to broadcast tone squelch. Beeps and boops.

BERNARD: Well, yeah, but you could still use it as sort of a telegraph, right?

DANIEL: If I had some strips of ferrous metal, uh, a 9-volt battery clip and some ... wiring.

KATE: We got a bunch of stuff that we salvaged from the plane.

DANIEL: Great.

KATE: I'll show you where it is.

[They go away, leaving Jack, Charlotte and Bernard.]

JACK: Bernard, you got a second?

[In Ben's house at the Barracks, Ben and Locke move furniture around to block doors and windows.]

LOCKE: These people who are coming — you're scared of 'em, aren't you?

BEN: That's right, John. I am.

[Aaron cries. Hurley rounds the corner with the baby in his arms.]

HURLEY: What's going on?

[Ben and Locke move a bookshelf, tipping it over, dumping its contents.]

LOCKE: Get away from the window, Hugo.

HURLEY: How's Sawyer gonna get back in?

BEN: He's not.

[Outside, Sawyer comes around to the front of a house to find a redshirt in a plaid shirt gathering firewood.]

SAWYER: Hey! You see if Claire left her house this morning?

DOUG: What's going on? Why do you have that? [Indicating Sawyer's pistol]

SAWYER: [Shouting] Just get back inside and wait until--

[A gunshot explodes the air, hitting the redshirt. He falls backward, dropping the firewood. Sawyer steps back as red blood splatters across his beige shirt. He points his pistol toward the tree line and fires a few shots. Gunfire erupts from the treeline. Bullets ricochet off the swing-set, causing sparks. A female redshirt runs out of the house in the midst of the commotion.]

SAYWER: [Shouting] Get back inside!

[A bullet cuts the woman down. Another man runs out to check on her.]

SAWYER: [Shouting] Get inside!

[But too late — another gunshot, a third dead body. Sawyer fires another shot into the treeline. Machine gun fire erupts from the jungle. Dodging a hail of bullets, Sawyer makes a run for it. He briefly takes cover behind a picnic table, lifting it up as a shield. He gets up to fire at a man firing a machine gun from the jungle.]

SAWYER: [Shouting] Claire!

[Sawyer ducks down behind the picnic table again, then makes a dash toward Claire's house, bullets impacting all around him, the pickets of the short white wooden fence he's running along flying off ahead of him as he runs. He fires off a few more rounds before taking refuge behind a barbecue grill. From the trees, someone launches a rocket toward the Barracks. Sawyer sees where it's going and runs the last few yards toward Claire's house.]

SAWYER: Claire!

[The rocket strikes the house, which explodes in a fireball and collapses. Sawyer dives and rolls. He gets up to see little left of the house.]

SAWYER: CLAIRE!

Act 3

[Flash-forward - Grizzled and dirty, and still wearing the red keffiyeh tourniquet, Ben steps into the open-air lobby of a busy Tunisian hotel. He steps up to the desk, where the attendant, a young woman in an orange headdress, has her back turned. Ben rings the bell. She turns around; her nametag gives her name. She speaks with an English accent.]

NARJISS: Good afternoon, sir.

BEN: Good afternoon. I'd like a room, please.

NARJISS: Of course, sir. Is this your first time in Tunisia?

BEN: No. But it's been a while.

NARJISS: Your name?

BEN: I'm actually a preferred guest. It should be under "Dean Moriarty."

[Ben hands her a passport. She looks through the register, then up at him in a bit of shock.]

NARJISS: Certainly, Mr. Moriarty.

[She hands him a key.]

NARJISS: May I help you with anything else?

BEN: Yes. Um, today's date is...

NARJISS: October 24th, sir.

BEN: [Embarrassedly] 2005?

NARJISS: Yes, sir. 2005.

[He shakes his head — "silly me" — and turns away.]

BEN: Thank you.

[As Ben climbs the stairs, new footage playing on a television set attracts his attention. The footage, narrated by a female newscaster in Arabic, shows Sayid hounded by cameras as he tries to get into a car.]

SAYID: [On television] I just want to bury my wife in peace.

[On-Island - In Ben's house in the Barracks, Hurley, holding a bawling Aaron, peers through a curtain at the smoldering wreckage that was once Claire's house. Locke and Ben stack a couch in front of the front door. Locke shouts and points at Ben.]

LOCKE: Right now, I need you to tell me what's going on.

BEN: I think the technical term is "shock and awe." They're trying to frighten me into surrendering.

LOCKE: Well, why did they stop shooting?

HURLEY: Was that Claire's house?! Claire was there!

LOCKE: Hugo, get the baby away from the window. Put him in the back room.

[Hurley goes. Ben reloads a pistol.]

LOCKE: You said I need to survive this. Why?

BEN: Because there's only one person that can help us now, and that's Jacob, and we have to go to him together.

LOCKE: What makes you think I can find him? I—I don't even know where the cabin is.

BEN: I know, but Hurley does.

[Outside, Sawyer shouts, searching for any trace of Claire as he goes through the wreckage.]

SAWYER: Claire! Claire! Claire!

[He spots legs sprouting from under a blanket.]

SAWYER: Claire!

[He pulls the blanket away and examines her bloody face.]

SAWYER: Are you okay?

CLAIRE: [Coming to] Charlie?

SAWYER: Okay.

[He hoists her into his arms.]

CLAIRE: Where's Aaron? Where's Aaron?

SAWYER: He's with us. It's okay. We're gonna move now. Let's go.

[Inside Ben's house, Hurley takes a laundry basket and sets it on Ben's bed, placing a pillow inside it to create a makeshift cradle for the baby. He sets the crying lad in it.]

SAWYER: [Screaming from outside] Open the front door!

[Hurley looks out the window to see Sawyer running with Claire in his arms. He hastens to the front door and tries to move the couch away. He hears a weapon cock.]

BEN: Hugo, you don't want to do that.

[Outside, Sawyer rounds a corner and comes to the front door of Ben's house. He tries kicking it.]

SAWYER: Open the damn door!

[Inside, Hurley becomes determined.]

SAWYER: [Shouting from outside] Open the door! Open the damn door!

[The door pounds with a kicking sound. Hurley lifts a large ottoman and chucks it through the front window. Sawyer runs to it and deposits Claire inside, handing her to Hurley.]

SAWYER: Careful.

[Sawyer climbs inside.]

LOCKE: Is she all right?

SAWYER: She got her bell rung, but she's gonna be all right.

[Locke pulls the drapes shut. Sawyer crouches in a doorway, trying to catch his breath.]

SAWYER: They just started shootin'. Why? Why slaughter people without even telling us what they want?

BEN: Those people were murdered to make you angry, James. So you'd be more likely to come storming in here and throw me to the wolves.

[Sawyer grabs Ben by the lapel.]

SAWYER: Yeah, what's wrong with that? Sounds like a great plan to me. [To Locke] What do you say, on three?

[The doorbell rings. Ben is saved by the bell as everyone turns to look at the door. They all point their guns. Locke runs to the door.]

BEN: [Sing-song] I wouldn't if I were you.

SAWYER: Shut up!

[Sawyer peers through the drapes, pointing his pistol. He nods, then runs to the door and helps Locke move the couch and bookshelf away. Ben points his rifle, Locke cocks his pistol as Sawyer opens the door and pulls in the man standing outside. Sawyer slams the door shut again and points his pistol.]

LOCKE: Miles?

SAWYER: Who the hell let you out?

MILES: The people who gave me this. [He shows a walkie-talkie.] They want to talk.

Act 4

[Flash-forward - An American military truck rolls through a dirt street, with an American soldier guarding it as he walks along behind. Arab women in black clothes and headscarves clutching their children line the edges of the street. More American soldiers follow. Behind them, a funeral procession on foot, with a wooden coffin being carried on the shoulders of pallbearers, all Arab men. Up on a balcony, a woman lifts her son up so he can watch the procession. A man in front carries a framed picture of the deceased. It's Nadia. The men in the procession chant the shahadah in Arabic. Women in the procession carrying a framed photograph sob. A white van with the word "Press" painted on the corner of its windshield pulls up.]

SUBTITLE: Tikrit, Iraq

[The van stops. Out of the driver's seat steps Ben Linus. He crosses the street, turns a corner, and goes up the stairs of a building, passing a man in a turban as he climbs the stairs through a chain link gate to the roof. He removes his sunglasses, scans the street below, and pulls out a camera and a telephoto lens, assembling them with a snap. He first focuses on a dark-skinned bald man enjoying coffee leaning up against a corner of a building as the funeral processing goes by. Snap. Snap, snap. Then Ben focuses on a pallbearer in a black Western suit. Snap. It's Sayid, who looks up directly into the camera as Ben takes the picture. Startled, Ben ducks, hides, then runs down the stairs, across the street, making a beeline for his van, but before he can get there he is tackled to the ground and mounted by his assailant in a black suit.]

SAYID: You vultures, you followed me to Tikrit? You spy on me?

[Sayid lifts his fist to pummel the paparazzo, then realizes who it is. He lifts Ben up by the collar.]

SAYID: What are you doing here?

BEN: I'm here to find the man who murdered your wife.

[Sayid lifts Ben to standing, and leads Ben to a corner strewn with debris.]

SAYID: How did you get here?

BEN: I came across the Syrian border. It's really not as difficult as you might—

SAYID: How did you get off the island?

BEN: Your friend Desmond had a boat. Remember? The Elizabeth. I followed a heading to Fiji. Then I chartered a plane.

SAYID: Why now?

BEN: You remember the name Charles Widmore, don't you? The man who tried to convince the world that your plane was on the bottom of the ocean?

SAYID: What does it have to do with me? With Nadia?

BEN: There was a man at her procession. He goes by the name of Ishmael Bakir. He's one of Widmore's men.

[Ben extracts a photograph from his pocket and shows it to Sayid. It looks like it's from an automated traffic camera. The man behind the wheel is the one Ben took photographs of from the rooftop moments earlier.]

BEN: Bakir was last seen five days ago in Los Angeles, caught by a traffic camera, speeding away from the corner of La Brea and Santa Monica.

SAYID: That's three blocks from where Nadia was killed.

[Ben nods.]

SAYID: Why would these people want to murder her?

BEN: I don't know. But they did.

[Sayid crumples the photo in his fist.]

[On-Island - Back in Ben's house, Sawyer pats down Miles while Locke interrogates him. Ben is in a corner, thinking quietly.]

LOCKE: How many of 'em are there?

MILES: Maybe six. I'm not sure.

SAWYER: The hell you mean, you ain't sure? You came over on the same boat with 'em, didn't ya?

MILES: They told me they were just security.

LOCKE: Security for what?

MILES: [Indicates Ben] For him. Once they got him, to escort him back to the mainland.

BEN: Well, Miles, sounds like you're not gonna collect your 3.2 million dollars.

MILES: Just take it. [Hands over the radio]

BEN: Why would I talk to them?

MILES: Because they have a hostage.

BEN: Well, then they've badly miscalculated, 'cause every single one of my people is prepared to die in service to this island.

MILES: It's your daughter!

[Ben looks, frightened. He takes the walkie-talkie.]

BEN: Hello?

KEAMY: [Over walkie] Am I speaking to Benjamin Linus?

BEN: That's right.

KEAMY: My name is Martin Keamy. I'm an employee of Charles Widmore.

SAWYER: [Whispers to Locke] Who's Charles Widmore?

LOCKE: Later.

KEAMY: I'd like you to go look out your east window so we can talk about this face-to-face.

[Ben goes to the window, peeling back the drapes.]

KEAMY: To the left. You see me?

[Keamy stands outside on Ben's front lawn, just paces away.]

BEN: Yeah, I see you.

KEAMY: All right, Mr. Linus, these are my terms: You're gonna step out the front door, put your hands above your head, and you're gonna walk straight to me. Once I have you in my custody, then I promise you that no one else in that house will be harmed.

BEN: You and I both know that once you have me, there's nothing to stop you from killing everybody else on this island.

KEAMY: [Smiling] What kind of guy do you think I am?

BEN: Martin Christopher Keamy — former first sergeant, United States Marine Corps, served with distinction from 1996 to 2001, but since then, you've worked with a number of mercenary organizations, specifically in Uganda. So I know exactly what kind of man you are, Mr. Keamy, and we can dispense with the formalities.

KEAMY: Okay, Ben. You got it.

[Keamy whistles. Another man in fatigues pushes Alex forward.]

KEAMY: Get down.

[Keamy pushes Alex to her knees.]

KEAMY: [To Ben] Get your ass out here right now... or I'm gonna kill your daughter.

[Ben thinks.]

BEN: I'd like to present a counterproposal.

KEAMY: I'm listening.

BEN: You and your friends... you turn around. Walk back to your helicopter. You fly away and forget you ever heard of this island.

KEAMY: Tell your daddy goodbye.

[He hands Alex the walkie-talkie]

ALEX: [Sobbing] Dad... they're serious. They killed Karl and my mother.

BEN: Alex... I have this under control. Everything's gonna be okay.

ALEX: Please, daddy! Just please, please...

KEAMY: You have 10 seconds, Ben.

BEN: Okay, listen.

KEAMY: Nine...

BEN: She's not my daughter.

KEAMY: Eight...

BEN: I stole her as a baby from an insane woman. She's a pawn, nothing more. She means nothing to me. I'm not coming out of this house. So if you want to kill her, go ahead and do it—

[A muffled gunshot interrupts Ben. Alex falls to the ground, limp, Keamy standing over her, his gun pointed down where her head was. Ben is shocked, dumbfounded. Keamy steps away.]

Act 5

[Alex's dead body lays in the foreground, Claire's house burning in the background. Still looking out from the window, Ben stares in horror. Sawyer paces.]

SAWYER: I don't see 'em. They just left her body there and disappeared into the jungle.

LOCKE: They won't be gone for long. It's gonna be dark in about 20 minutes, and then they're gonna come for him.

SAWYER: Then let's just hand him over.

LOCKE: I don't think these people have any intentions of letting us walk out of here alive, James, no matter what we do.

SAWYER: Well, I ain't got no intention of dyin'.

BEN: He changed the rules.

[Locke approaches Ben. Ben gets up and walks past him. Locke closes the curtains.]

LOCKE: What? Who? What rules?

SAWYER: [Whispers to Locke] You know I'm right.

[Ben bolts.]

SAWYER: Our best chance here is to toss him out and fend for ourselves.

[Sawyer and Locke turn to see Ben pulling aside a bookshelf to reveal his secret room.]

SAWYER: Hey! Where you goin'?

[Sawyer chases, but too late. Ben vanishes inside, triggers a switch, and a steel security door comes down over the opening. Sawyer pounds.]

SAWYER: Open this damn door! Open up!

[Inside, Ben pulls aside a rack of suits and removes a false wall to disclose an ancient stone portal with ancient markings. The thick door gives to his body weight as Ben pushes inside.]

[Flash-forward - A calm Tikrit cafe. Ben sips a cup of pale tea at the counter, eyeing Bakir, who sits outside reading a newspaper, through the cafe's large mirror. Bakir gets up. Ben abandons his beverage and follows. He looks around through the streets, and gives chase through a crowded marketplace, pushing aside shoppers and a beaded curtain, finding himself in an empty alleyway. Suddenly, Ben feels a gun at his back.]

BAKIR: Walk.

[Bakir frisks Ben, pushing him into a corner.]

BAKIR: Who are you and why are you following me?

BEN: My name is Benjamin Linus...

[The name seems to mean something to Bakir, who lowers his gun slightly.]

BEN: ...and I need you to take a message to Mr. Widmore for me.

BAKIR: And what message is that?

[A silenced gunshot, and Bakir falls forward, dead, revealing Sayid behind him with a gun. Sayid turns the gun down, away from Ben, toward Bakir. Another shot, and another, and another, and another, and another, click, click, click, click, click, click, click.]

BEN: That should do it.

[Ben walks away.]

SAYID: Wait. Where do you think you're going?

BEN: We're finished here, Sayid. Turn around and walk away. Mourn your loss. Get on with your life.

[Ben turns to leave again.]

SAYID: I have no life. They took it from me.

BEN: Go home, Sayid. Once you let your grief become anger, it will never go away. I speak from experience. This is my war. It's not yours.

[Ben tries to leave once more, by Sayid catches him.]

SAYID: I spent the last eight years of my life searching for the woman I love. I finally found her and I married her. And I buried her yesterday. So don't tell me this is not my war. Benjamin... Who's next?

BEN: I'll be in touch.

[Ben walks away. As he does, the corners of his mouth curl upward.]

[On-Island - Back in Ben's house, Sawyer pounds on the closed outer secret door.]

SAWYER: Open the damn door! Son of a bitch just left us here. Open the damn door!

[Hurley emerges with Claire, who's carrying Aaron.]

CLAIRE: What's going on?

LOCKE: Claire?

SAWYER: You all right, sweetheart?

CLAIRE: Yeah, a bit wobbly, but, uh, I'll live.

MILES: Well, I wouldn't be too sure about that.

[The secret door slides up, and Ben emerges, pushing past Sawyer.]

BEN: Excuse me, James.

SAWYER: 'Scuse you?

[Ben picks up the walkie-talkie from the couch and pockets it.]

SAWYER: What were you doing in there?

BEN: Okay, listen to me very carefully: I need all of you to do exactly as I say. In a minute, we have to run from this house as fast as we can. At that moment, when I give the order, I want you to head straight for the tree line.

HURLEY: You mean towards the guys with guns?

BEN: No, we want to be as far away from them as possible.

[The house starts to shake. An earthquake? Glass shatters. Ben peers out the window. A giant billowing centipede of smoke barrels out of the tree line like a freight train bound for hell, lightning arcing inside the black smoke. It roars and chitters and sweeps up a little tail of smoke behind it as it passes Ben's house.]

BEN: Okay, outside. Outside now!

[Locke, Ben, Sawyer, Hurley, Claire, and Aaron rush outside. Ben leads and watches as the muzzle flashes and lightning bolts light up the night in strobe. Gunfire can be heard, and shouting, and the terrible deep roar of the Monster. Black smoke curls and twists around in the jungle. Distantly, men shout orders in chaos.]

LOCKE: What did you do?!

[Ben does not answer. A tree uproots.]

HURLEY: Did you just call that thing?!

[A man in fatigues carrying a machine gun runs toward the group. Sawyer readies to shoot him, but no need. The soldier kneels down and fires his weapon vainly into the smoke. The monster envelopes him and shoots a tentacle at him that knocks him to the ground, wraps around him, and drags him away, clawing at the turf, leaving his gun behind. The man disappears into the jungle screaming in terror. Miles looks on incredulously, then turns chicken and runs the opposite direction.]

DISTANT VOICE: Fall back!

SAWYER: [To Claire and Hurley] Go! Go, go!

BEN: Head for the trees. I'll catch up with you.

LOCKE: Hey, where are you going?

BEN: I have to say good-bye to my daughter, John.

[Ben extends a hand. Locke hands him one of the shotguns he carries, then runs off. Ben solemnly staggers to the dead body of his daughter Alex, and turns her over. He kneels down and sobs, then kisses her tenderly on the forehead, which is streaked with blood.]

Act 6

[On-Island - On the table under the kitchen awning at the beach camp, Daniel taps on a jury-rigged telegraph key. Little electrical sparks inside the apparatus supplement the torchlight.]

DANIEL: I can't believe it. Might actually have a signal.

[Kate smiles approvingly.]

JACK: What are you sending?

DANIEL: [Tapping] "What... happened... to... the... doctor?"

[Dits and dahs come back in reply.]

DANIEL: Okay. They didn't exactly say what happened to the doctor, but your friends are fine, and the helicopter's coming back in—in the morning.

JACK: [to Bernard] Well...

BERNARD: He's lying. What the message said was, "What are you talking about? The doctor is fine."

DANIEL: [Discomfited] You know Morse code.

JACK: What does that mean, "The doctor is fine"?

DANIEL: I don't know.

JACK: Why are you lying? Why did you say that the helicopters are coming back?

[Jack grabs Daniel by the shirt.]

KATE: Jack!

JACK: Were you ever... gonna take us off this island?

DANIEL: ...No. No, no.

[Jack looks like he is about to cry, then doubles over in pain.]

KATE: Jack.

[Jack pushes Kate away and staggers off, clutching his lower side.]

[In the jungle, at night, the survivors gather.]

SAWYER: I think your chopper buddies ran that way, if you wanna catch up.

MILES: Yeah, I think I'll stay with you guys for—for now.

[Sawyer hands Miles a torch. Locke and Sawyer draw their guns as footsteps approach. It's Ben.]

LOCKE: Sorry about your daughter.

BEN: Thank you, John.

LOCKE: That being said, you lied to me. You told me you didn't know what the smoke monster was.

BEN: You can ask Jacob all about it when we go to the cabin.

SAWYER: Hang on. "Jacob"? Who the hell's Jacob?

BEN: He's the man that's gonna tell us what to do next, James.

SAWYER: You know what? I'm done with all this. I never should have followed you wackos in the first place. I'm goin' back to the beach, and Claire and the kid are comin' with me. [To Claire] You good with that?

[Aaron begins to cry.]

CLAIRE: Yeah, I'm good with that.

MILES: I'm coming with you.

SAWYER: Let's go. You too, Hurley.

[Sawyer takes off. Locke cocks his gun and points it at Sawyer. Sawyer stops in his tracks, exasperated.]

SAWYER: Have you lost your mind?

LOCKE: Hugo stays with us.

[Sawyer whips around and cocks his gun, pointing it at Locke. Locke doesn't shoot him. It's a Mexican standoff.]

SAWYER: Not a chance.

HURLEY: Wait. Leave me out of this.

LOCKE: I'm sorry, Hugo. We need you to find the cabin.

SAWYER: He ain't goin' anywhere with you, you crazy son of a bitch.

HURLEY: Stop! Put the guns down. I'll go with Locke.

SAWYER: Hugo.

HURLEY: It's okay, Sawyer. [To Locke] Please, put your gun down.

[Locke puts his down.]

HURLEY: [To Sawyer] You, too.

SAWYER: You don't have to do this.

HURLEY: You guys go back to the beach. I'll catch up sooner or later.

[Sawyer desists.]

SAWYER: [To Locke] You harm so much as one hair on his curly head... I'll kill you.

LOCKE: Fair enough.

[Aaron starts crying.]

SAWYER: Let's go. Go. Move.

[Sawyer, Miles, Claire and Aaron move off through the jungle.]

LOCKE: Which way?

BEN: Follow me.

[Flash-forward - A black taxicab pulls up to a curb on a city street. Ben steps out. He looks up at the building that is his destination.]

SUBTITLE: London, England.

BEN: Thank you.

[He hands payment to the cabbie, then, putting his hand into his coat pocket, walks through the gates of the building. Ben opens the doors and steps inside. A gray-coated doorman leans over a front desk. Ben walks right past the doorman. The doorman halts Ben with a few words.]

DOORMAN: Good evening, sir. May I help you?

BEN: [Whirling around] Oh, yes. I'm here to see Mr. and Mrs. Kendrick in 4E.

DOORMAN: [Incredulous] At this hour, sir?

BEN: [Shrugging with his eyebrows] They're expecting me. [Challenging] Feel free to call up.

[Ben smiles. In his hands, behind his back, he clutches the closed baton we saw him use on the Bedouins in Tunisia. As he is speaking, he moves the baton further outward, as if in cautious preparation for opposition to his plan to go upstairs.]

DOORMAN: No need, sir. Good night, sir.

[Ben, hiding the baton deeper into his hand again, turns and heads toward the elevator. He steps in, and the door closes on him. He pulls off his black gloves and inserts a lockpick into the lock next to the P button: Penthouse Suite. It lights up, and the elevator begins moving. With a ding, Ben steps out of the elevator into the darkened penthouse. He steps into a bedroom.]

BEN: Wake up, Charles.

[Charles Widmore pulls on a bedside lamp.]

WIDMORE: I wondered when you were gonna show up. I see you've been getting more sun.

BEN: Iraq is lovely this time of year. When did you start sleeping with a bottle of scotch by the bed?

WIDMORE: When the nightmares started.

[Widmore pulls back the covers and pours himself a glass of MacCutcheon.]

WIDMORE: Have you come here to kill me, Benjamin?

[Widmore sips the whiskey.]

BEN: We both know I can't do that.

WIDMORE: Then why are you here?

BEN: I'm here, Charles, because you murdered my daughter.

WIDMORE: Don't stand there, looking at me with those horrible eyes of yours and lay the blame for the death of that poor girl on me, when we both know very well I didn't murder her at all, Benjamin — you did.

BEN: No, that's not true.

WIDMORE: Yes, Benjamin, it is. You creep into my bedroom in the dead of night — like a rat — and have the audacity to pretend that you're the victim?

[Widmore leans forward.]

WIDMORE: I know who you are, boy. What you are. I know that everything you have you took from me. So... once again I ask you: Why are you here?

BEN: I'm here, Charles, to tell you that I'm going to kill your daughter. Penelope, is it? And once she's gone... once she's dead... then you'll understand how I feel. And you'll wish you hadn't changed the rules.

[Widmore shifts in his bed.]

WIDMORE: You'll never find her.

[Ben turns to leave.]

WIDMORE: That island's mine, Benjamin. It always was. It will be again.

BEN: [Turning] But you'll never find it.

WIDMORE: Then I suppose the hunt is on for both of us.

BEN: I suppose it is. Sleep tight, Charles.

[Ben leaves, pulling the door shut behind him.]