“Shut up, Boone.” The girl tossed her head and stomped off.
Looking vaguely embarrassed, the pen guy—Boone—turned back to Faith and George. “That—that commotion out there just now,” he said. “What do you think it was?”
Just then Hurley, Claire, and a slightly built bearded man in a gray hoodie wandered over to join them. “Okay, you all saw that, too, right?” the bearded guy said in a British accent. “It wasn’t just me?”
“Dude,” Hurley said. “That was crazy!”
“I know.” Claire nodded, her eyes round and anxious. “What could make a sound like that?”
George shook his head. “Well, whatever it is, enviro-girl here will probably want to declare it an endangered species and try to get some federal funding to save its habitat.”
Knowing that he had to be referring to her, Faith shot him a quick look. He grinned and winked at her and she smiled weakly in return, trying to be a good sport. She could tell he was only kidding around, probably trying to lighten the mood a little, distract people from whatever-it-was out there in the jungle—and maybe trying to make up with her for what had happened earlier as well.
Even knowing that, she couldn’t help feeling a little hurt and resentful about being the butt of his joke. How dare he make fun of her like that? He didn’t know anything about her. He didn’t know her past, or her hopes and dreams and beliefs, or anything else except the few bits of small talk she’d shared with him earlier. He certainly didn’t know how seeing innocent creatures—or people, for that matter—treated cruelly or carelessly made her heart feel all brittle and twisted, like the wreckage lying all over the beach. He just didn’t know…
The mysterious woman who had been sitting with Jack earlier wandered past at that moment. She looked as stunned as everyone else.
“Yo,” Hurley called to her. “You heard that, right? What do you think it was?”
The woman veered toward their little group. “I heard it,” she said grimly. “I don’t know what it was I heard, but I heard it.”
“Can this day possibly get any crazier?” Boone commented to no one in particular.
“Never say never, mate,” the bearded guy said. “We could still have an earthquake. Maybe a volcano…”
There were scattered snorts of nervous laughter. “Don’t even joke about that, man,” Hurley said, casting a nervous glance toward the mountains rising out of the jungle.
The others continued to discuss the incident but Faith zoned out, still brooding over what George had said. No matter how nice and easygoing he seemed on the surface, she couldn’t just forget the way he’d casually stomped on that harmless spider earlier. That had to say something about what kind of person he really was inside, didn’t it? Actions, not words, as Gayle might have said…
Realizing she was staring straight into the dazzling flames, she quickly shifted her gaze toward the cool darkness of the jungle. Bright squiggles of color danced in front of her eyes, and she squinted and blinked and shook her head, trying to chase them away. Lifting both hands to her eyes, she pressed her fingers to her eyelids for a moment, then opened her eyes again.
The squiggles were still there, though fainter. Beyond them she caught a flash of movement at the edge of the tree line—not big, scary movement like the crunch of falling trees, but something much smaller and friendlier.
Blinking again, she stared into the jungle. The individual shapes of the trees at the edge of the beach were barely visible in the moonlight. Beyond, the rest of the details of the landscape faded rapidly from view in the darkness. Had she really seen the bright flutter of feathers in there somewhere?
She took a few steps toward the jungle, suddenly recalling a similar feathery glimpse soon after the crash. As soon as she left the warmth of the circle around the fire, the chilly night air wrapped itself around her, chilling her to the bone. A wave of exhaustion swept over her all at once, making her legs shake and her head pound. Whether or not she’d just seen a particular bird in the jungle, no matter how unusual a bird it might be, suddenly seemed much less important. She knew she would be lucky to fight off sleep for the few minutes it would take to find a comfortable place to lie down for the night.
Claire touched her softly on the arm. “Hey, Faith,” she said as if reading her mind. “Hurley brought me some blankets from the plane. I have an extra if you need it.”
Faith turned and stepped back into the welcoming glow of the fire. “Sure,” she said gratefully, rubbing her eyes. She was more than ready to put this whole long, terrible day behind her. “Thanks. That would be great.”
6
FAITH STRAIGHTENED UP, RUBBING her eyes and arching her back as she pushed back from the microscope. Jotting a few notes on the pad beside her, she sighed and glanced at the clock on the laboratory wall. Lately she couldn’t seem to work up much enthusiasm for her part-time job at one of the university’s research labs. Part of the reason was that Oscar kept her so busy that she didn’t have much energy for anything else. She also felt guilty for continuing to work there at all, since Dr. Arreglo had been the one to get her the job in the first place. Still, what else could she do? She had bills to pay…
“I hit pay dirt, baby!” The lab door banged open, revealing Oscar standing there with a big grin on his face. A tall, vaguely familiar-looking guy with a thin goatee was right behind him. Faith scanned her mind, finally recognizing the tall guy as the Internet friend she’d seen her boyfriend talking with at the Q Corp rally the previous weekend.
“Hi,” she greeted Oscar, shooting Goatee Guy a shy smile. “Um, you’re early. I don’t get off for another hour, remember?”
Oscar made his usual impatient little waving-shooing gesture. “Never mind that, beautiful,” he said. “I have big news. Huge!”
“What is it?” she asked patiently, not really expecting much. To Oscar, “big news” could mean anything from a good weather forecast for the next protest to a marathon of his favorite show on TV.
He grinned and glanced over his shoulder at the stranger before looking at Faith again. “Pack your bags, babe. We’re going to Australia!”
“What?” Faith blinked, not really getting the joke.
“I got us a sponsor for the trip!” Oscar’s voice rose with excitement, echoing off the bare white walls of the lab as he jumped farther into the room. “See, all we have to do is agree to picket the Australian HQ of Q Corp for a few hours and the International Animal League will shell out for our plane fare and hotel and stuff.”
Faith shook her head, still trying to catch up. “The international what?”
Ignoring her question, Oscar plowed on excitedly. “Z-Man’s going, too,” he said, jerking a thumb toward Goatee Guy. “And a bunch of other peeps from all over the country. It’s going to be awesome!”
“Um, are you sure about this?” Faith couldn’t help thinking it all sounded too good to be true. “And what’s the name of the group again? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them. Are you sure they’re legit?”
Oscar’s grin faded and he glared at her. “What’s your damage?” he said impatiently. “Why do you always have to question and overanalyze everything like it’s one of your stupid science projects? This is good news! A chance to get involved, learn, make a difference, move forward. I thought you cared about that sort of thing…”
Faith could tell he was revving up for a good long rant. She didn’t want to argue with him in front of Z-Man, who was still watching silently from the doorway. Besides, even after only knowing Oscar for a month, she already knew that at least half of the things he said he was going to do never seemed to happen. What harm would it do to let him enjoy his moment of excitement?
“Sorry, Oscar,” she said contritely, forcing what she hoped passed for an enthusiastic smile. “You’re right. It sounds like an amazing opportunity.”
“That’s more like it.” Seeming mollified, Oscar grabbed her in a tight hug, planting a quick kiss on her forehead. “You’ll see, baby. This tri
p is going to be so awesome…”
Faith kept the smile on her face as she listened to him babble on about the details of the trip. Maybe Oscar had the right approach to life, she thought mildly. It was kind of nice to dream about something you wanted to do, even when you knew there was no way it was ever going to happen…
“Flight attendants, prepare for landing.”
Faith was startled awake by the sudden sputter of the speaker just above her seat. Turning, half-asleep, to the window beside her, she stared out at the clouds. She knew she must have been asleep for quite a while if the plane was already starting its descent into Sydney.
She blinked fuzzily as Oscar leaned toward her, the sour smell of beer wafting from his breath. “Can you believe we’re really here, baby?” he murmured.
“No,” she said honestly, clutching her armrests and staring straight ahead as the whine of the plane engines kicked up a notch. Her stomach jumped nervously. “I can’t.”
The last few weeks had been surprising, to say the least. Faith felt as if she was still trying to catch up to all that was happening.
A few minutes later the plane’s landing wheels touched down on the runway. As soon as it slowed to taxiing speed, Oscar leaped out of his seat, ignoring the FASTEN SEATBELTS sign, which was still lit up. Faith remained where she was, staring down at her hands, which were folded over her own properly fastened seatbelt. She could hear Oscar chattering eagerly to the other members of their group somewhere behind her.
When she’d imagined visiting Australia someday, she’d always pictured doing it with her sister. That was impossible now, of course. But she still couldn’t quite reconcile the image in her head with the reality, which was that she was here with Oscar and a bunch of…
Weirdos, she thought, feeling a little guilty for the judgment. She didn’t like to consider herself narrow-minded, but the other four people being sponsored by the International Animal League weren’t quite what she’d been expecting.
“Come on, you gotta wake up, sleepyhead.” Oscar leaned back into their seat from the aisle, smiling at her. “We’re here.” He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before straightening up and scrabbling through the overhead compartment.
Blinking and glancing out the window, Faith realized that he was right. The plane was sidling up to the airport, and the seatbelt sign was off. All over the plane, people were standing and grabbing their luggage. She yawned and stretched, then stood and straightened up as best she could in the cramped seat area.
“Come on, kids.” A short, stocky woman with unkempt frizzy hair and a loud voice was elbowing her way up the crowded aisle to Faith and Oscar’s row. She paused and grinned at Faith, holding up one fist in salute. “Time to get out there and attack the world tyranny of capitalism, sister.”
Faith smiled weakly in return, feeling embarrassed as several other passengers glanced over at them curiously. The woman, whose name was Rune, seemed to spend an awful lot of time complaining at the top of her lungs about the “world tyranny of capitalism.” She also talked a lot about armed revolution against that same alleged world tyranny, which made Faith rather uneasy, especially when she’d done it in the Los Angeles airport while they were all waiting to board the flight to Australia.
Rune disappeared up the aisle as passengers started to disembark. Faith climbed out of her seat and grabbed her carry-on, then followed Oscar off the plane and through the long tunnel leading into the airport.
They found Rune waiting for them just outside the tunnel, along with an overweight young man in his twenties with a fleshy baby face known only as Junior. “Where are the others?” Rune demanded loudly, sounding impatient.
“Chill. They’ll be here in a sec.”
Faith couldn’t help noticing that Oscar spoke to these strangers as if he’d known them for years. It was amazing how quickly they’d all bonded. As far as she knew, he hadn’t met any of them before meeting up at LAX—well, aside from Z-Man, who was one of the people still on the plane.
I guess Oscar’s a little like Gayle that way, Faith thought with a sharp pang of melancholy. She never met a stranger, either.
“Ta da! Here we are, yo. Let’s get this party started.” A lean, fiftyish white guy with a long brown ponytail and a full gray beard leaped out of the end of the tunnel, splaying his arms dramatically. Known simply as Mo—none of these people seemed to use last names as far as Faith could tell—he looked and dressed like a hippie throwback, though he usually talked more like a particularly foul-mouthed gang member.
Z-Man followed more slowly, dragging a wheeled duffel bag that looked way too big to be a carry-on. As usual he was silent, his eyes darting from face to face as he joined the group.
Faith forced a tired smile as the others started chattering eagerly about the flight and the coming visit. Through her haze of weariness, she found herself wondering if she and Oscar were going to have to spend all their time in Sydney with their new “friends.”
After a moment she realized that the others’ conversation had turned to Arreglo—a topic that made her very uncomfortable every time it came up, as it seemed to do frequently. At the moment they seemed to be inventing insulting names to shout at him during his speeches.
“What about Planet-Raper?” Rune suggested, her loud voice bringing a few inquisitive glances from passersby.
Junior let out a short laugh, making his double chin jiggle. He said something in response to Rune, but as usual his voice was so soft and rapid that Faith couldn’t quite follow it.
“Good one, man.” Mo grinned and high-fived him.
“Or wait, I’ve got a better one,” Rune put in eagerly. “Jungle Jerkweed.”
Oscar laughed. “I like. Or how about Wishy Washy Wuss.”
Z-Man finally spoke up. “I prefer Killer,” he said in his calm, controlled voice. “Simple and accurate.”
“Call him whatever you want, yo,” Mo declared. “Me, I’ll just call him…”
Faith winced as the older man launched into a string of curse words that would have made a rap artist blush. She was amazed at the depth of her companions’ hostility toward Arreglo. Was what he’d done really that bad?
Maybe it was, she thought, once again remembering the helpless snakes that would lose their only home because of what he’d done. Then again, he was only human…
“Okay, enough standing around.” Rune abruptly clapped her hands and then turned toward the exit. “Let’s go find our ride.”
Faith was surprised and relieved when she spotted the woman holding a cardboard sign reading “IAL SPONSOREES.” She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting their host to be like, but it certainly wasn’t this pleasant-looking, middle-aged woman with laugh lines around her eyes and short-cropped blond hair. With her intelligent eyes and sporty, conservative clothes, she could have passed easily for a professor in the Bio department back home.
“G’day, all,” the woman said cheerfully, stepping forward to meet them. She had an amiable voice with a strong Aussie accent. “Let me guess—you must be the mob of greenies I’m looking for.”
Faith was a little embarrassed. Were they really that easy to spot?
“You must be Faith.” The woman smiled at her warmly. “I’m Tammy. Welcome to Oz, my dear.”
Faith smiled back shyly, surprised that the woman knew her name. “Nice to meet you,” she said. “Thanks for coming to pick us up.”
Led by Tammy, they all went to pick up their luggage and then walked out to the van waiting to take them to their hotel. Faith and Oscar ended up in the backseat.
Oscar slid one arm around her as the van bounced out of the airport parking lot. “Isn’t this cool, baby?” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. “We’re going to have the time of our lives this week.”
That made Faith feel better, too. She had started to wonder if he even remembered she was there. “Uh-huh,” she agreed softly, finally beginning to believe it might be true.
“You’re finally going to see all
those cool poisonous snakes in person,” he murmured dreamily, squeezing her tightly. “Make your dreams come true. And we’ll both get the chance to make a difference in the world. A big difference. This trip will change our lives, you’ll see…”
7
“HEY, LADY. HAVE YOU seen a dog around here anywhere?”
Faith glanced up from poking at the embers of one of the smaller signal fires, which was sputtering and threatening to die out. Squinting in the strong morning sunshine, she saw a boy of about nine or ten standing in front of her. She’d noticed him the previous day—he appeared to be the only child among the survivors. She had been concerned when she first saw him, but to her relief she’d soon realized he was being carefully watched over by a kind-faced man who she assumed was his father.
The father was nowhere in sight at the moment, though. Faith smiled at the boy. “Sorry, I haven’t seen a dog,” she said. “But I’ll let you know if I do. By the way, my name’s Faith. What’s yours?”
“Walt. My dog’s name is Vincent.” The boy held up the red nylon leash he was clutching in one hand. “He was on the plane—you know, in the cargo hold. But I can’t find him. He’s a yellow lab, about this big…” He moved his hands to indicate a vaguely lab-shaped dimension.
“Sorry,” Faith said again. “I’m sure he’ll turn up soon.”
She winced as soon as the words left her mouth. Why had she said that? Chances were that Vincent would not turn up soon—or at all. As a child, she’d hated it when well-meaning grown-ups lied to her about important matters like life and death. Then again, she’d also kind of hated it when someone—usually Gayle—filled her in on the hard, cold facts…
Realizing that Walt was speaking again, she snapped back to attention. “Sorry, what was that?” she asked.
Walt shrugged, passing the leash from hand to hand. “I said, I bet Vincent could help those guys find the cockpit,” he said. “That’s where they are now, you know. They left a while ago.”
“Which guys? You mean someone went out to look for the rest of the plane?” Faith shot a quick glance at the closest bits of wreckage, which looked somehow even more tragic in the cheery light of morning.
Lost: The Novels Page 5
