Because You Left transcript

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Transcripts for Lost episodes up to and including "Enter 77" are based on the transcriptions by Lost-TV member Spooky with aid of DVR, and at times, closed captions for clarification. She and Lost-TV have generously granted us permission to share/host these transcripts at Lostpedia. Later transcripts were created by the Lostpedia community, unless stated otherwise below.

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Episode 1 - "Because You Left"

Written by: Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse

Directed by: Stephen Williams

---

Act 1

[A 1970s-era alarm clock sits at 8:14. The 4 flips to a five and the alarm buzzes. A hand reaches over and hits the snooze button, silencing the alarm. The hand belongs to a man, in bed with his wife. A baby cries in the distance.]

WIFE: Ah. Mm. Baby's awake.

[The crying continues. The man sighs.]

WIFE: It's your turn.

[The baby continues crying. The man sighs again. The crying continues. She kisses him. The man stirs awake. He takes a record out of its sleeve and puts it on a 1970s-era record player. Willie Nelson's "Shotgun Willie" plays. The man puts a bottle on the stove to warm, then picks up the baby from a crib. The baby coos.]

RECORD: Shotgun Willie sits around in his underwear / Bitin' on a bullet pullin' out all of his hair

[The man cradles the baby in his arms and rocks in a rocking chair as the baby feeds from the bottle.]

RECORD: Shotgun Willie's got all of his family there

[The man showers, shaves, brushes his teeth, and pulls one of a dozen identical black turtlenecks out of a closet.]

RECORD: Well, you can't make a record if you—

[The record skips.]

RECORD: Can't make a record if you— Can't make a record if you— Can't make a record if you— Can't make a record if you—

[Dressed, the man picks up the needle from the record, and it scratches.]

---

[Outside, the man shuffles toward a house in the DHARMA Initiative barracks. There are the indistinct sounds of conversations as people busy themselves like villagers all around. Birds chirp and squawk. Now inside the building, a man in a DHARMA Initiative jumpsuit greets the man.]

DIRECTOR: Morning. Here you go, Doc.

[The hairy-chinned director tries to hand the man pages.]

CHANG: I don't need a script. Let's go. I don't have all day.

[A sound man preps a boom mic, a cameraman readies a camera, and a wardrobe woman, with a choice of tan tweed jacket or a white DHARMA lab coat with a Swan logo on it, hands Dr. Chang the lab coat. This barracks building is, for today, a bustling makeshift film set. Chang puts on the coat and sits down in a leather chair.]

SOUND MAN: Speed.

DIRECTOR: Okay. DHARMA orientation film number two, take one.

[The director claps the slate. The camera whirs.]

DIRECTOR: And... action.

CHANG: Hello. I'm Dr. Marvin Candle, and this is the orientation film for station two, the Arrow. Given your specific area of expertise, you should find it no surprise that this station's primary purpose is to develop defensive strategies and gather intelligence on the island's hostile indigenous population—

[The door bangs open. A man in a hardhat bursts through.]

MAN: Dr. Chang! Dr. Chang?

CHANG: Damn it! What the hell?!

DIRECTOR: Cut!

MAN: Sir, we got a problem down at the Orchid.

---

[A blue DHARMA microbus pulls up to the Orchid, still under construction. A construction worker carries a sawhorse past as Dr. Chang and the hard-hatted man get out of the microbus and enter the Orchid.]

[The two descend in the elevator. When they reach the bottom, the hard-hatted man lifts the elevator gate, and Dr. Chang's attention is caught by the construction foreman, who leads Dr. Chang down a passage hewn out of the rock. All around, workers are busy, hauling rock and welding tunnel supports.]

FOREMAN: Over here. We were cutting through the rock, right on your specs. That's when the drill melted.

CHANG: The drill melted?

FOREMAN: Yeah, yeah. 3 meters in. We went through six carbon drill bits, and the last one just fried.

[A hard-hatted construction worker lies motionless on the rocky ground with a bloody nose. Other workers move to attend to him.]

FOREMAN: Then my operator starts grabbing his head and freaking out. We sonar-imaged the wall. There's an open chamber about 20 meters in, behind the rock.

[The foreman hands Dr. Chang a print-out in which the image of the frozen wheel is visible.]

FOREMAN: There's something in there. And the only way to get to it is to lay charges here and here and blast through it and take a look—

CHANG: Under no circumstances! This station is being built here because of its proximity to what we believe to be an almost limitless energy. And that energy, once we can harness it correctly, it's going to allow us to manipulate time.

FOREMAN: [Chuckles] Right. Okay, so, what? We're gonna go back and kill Hitler?

CHANG: Don't be absurd. There are rules, rules that can't be broken.

FOREMAN: So what do you want me to do?

CHANG: You're gonna do nothing. If you drill even 1 centimeter further, you risk releasing that energy. If that were to happen...

[Chang looks at the fallen workman and the blood all over his face.]

CHANG: ...God help us all.

[Chang hands his hardhat to the foreman and takes off back down the tunnel toward the elevator.]

WORKER: [Offscreen] All right, get him up.

FOREMAN: Come on. Let's go.

[As Chang charges down the tunnel, he brushes shoulders with a hard-hatted construction worker traveling the opposite direction. The worker carries a pressurized tank of gas.]

CHANG: Watch yourself!

TANK CARRYING WORKER: Sorry, sir. It won't happen again.

WORKER: [Offscreen] We need a doctor.

FOREMAN: Come on. I'll grab the rest of his stuff. Let's go.

[Two workers lift the fallen man away on a stretcher. The tank-carrying worker sets down his tank, and we see it is Daniel Faraday.]

FOREMAN: Did you hear that? Time travel. How stupid does that guy think we are?

[Faraday nods, and looks at the rock wall as the foreman moves off.]

FOREMAN: Let's go, guys.

---

[Off-Island - At Hoffs/Drawlar Funeral Parlor, the body of John Locke lays inside an open casket. A bearded, stoned Jack Shephard looks over him and sighs deeply. Benjamin Linus enters with a wheeled table and unfolds it.]

BEN: Why don't you close that up now, Jack? Come on. Let's get him in the van. It's out back.

JACK: Where are we taking him?

BEN: We'll worry about that once we pick up Hugo.

JACK: [Sighs] Hurley... is locked away in a mental institution.

BEN: Which should make recruiting him considerably easier than the rest of your friends.

JACK: They're not my friends anymore.

BEN: Oh, that's the spirit.

JACK: How did we get here? How did all this happen?

BEN: It happened because you left, Jack. Now let's get started, shall we?

[Ben slams the casket shut.]

---

[In a hotel room, Jack stands over a sink, having just finished shaving off his beard. A male newscaster speaks indistinctly on the television. Ben is packing his clothes. Jack splashes water on his face and dries it with a towel.]

JACK: So once we get Hurley... then what?

BEN: Then we get Sun, Sayid... and Kate, of course.

JACK: I don't see that happening.

[The newscaster continues speaking indistinctly. Jack sits down on one of the hotel beds.]

JACK: When was the last time you saw him? I mean, Locke.

BEN: [Sighs] On the Island... in the Orchid station, below the greenhouse. I told him I was sorry for making his life so miserable, and then he left. So obviously John's visit to you made an impression. What did he say to make you such a believer?

JACK: Sawyer, Juliet, everyone from the boat... and everyone we left behind—John said that they'd die, too, if I didn't come back.

BEN: Did he tell you what happened to them after the Island moved?

JACK: No. No, he didn't.

BEN: Then I guess we'll never know.

---

[Title card: Three Years Earlier]

[On-Island - Dressed in the Orchid parka in the frozen wheel chamber, Benjamin Linus grunts to move the frozen wheel. The metal grinds and creaks and centuries-old ice is dislodged. A buzzing and magnetic humming sounds starts to envelop the chamber, and the whole Island. Outside in the jungle, at the Others' camp, Richard and Locke look up. The buzzing and humming continue. On the beach, Sawyer and Juliet look up at the sky, and stand to face the source of the noise. On the open ocean, Daniel Faraday and his Zodiac raft full of Flight 815 survivors look toward the Island. Aboard the helicopter, flying above the open water, Aaron cries in Kate's arms, as Desmond, Lapidus, and the Oceanic Six look around and at each other. Back in the wheel chamber, the buzzing and humming grow louder. Ben continues to struggle with the wheel until he has turned it full and white light bathes the wheel chamber. The humming becomes a crackling, pulsating sound. Juliet and Sawyer shield their eyes. The light envelops the whole Island. The Zodiac passengers are struck by the light. Richard turns away and Locke puts a hand up to shield his eyes. The sound has become a loud rumble. The white light consumes everything, and then is gone, and the rumbling stops. Locke stands with his arm to his face, but it is raining. Thunder crashes.]

LOCKE: What the... Richard? Richard?! Anyone? Anyone?!

[Locke stands alone. Where the Others' camp was, there is nothing.]

---

[Aboard the Zodiac raft, the passengers look around to get their bearings. One of them yells above the sound of the motor whirring and revving.]

FROGURT: What happened? What was that light?

FARADAY: We must've been inside the radius.

---

[Back on the beach.]

SAWYER: What the hell was that?

JULIET: I don't know.

[Sawyer scans the horizon.]

SAWYER: Where's the freighter?

JULIET: Maybe it went down.

SAWYER: Unh-unh. No way. A minute ago, that boat was coughing black smoke. Now there's just nothin'?

JULIET: What about the helicopter?

SAWYER: It was heading for that boat.

[Bernard stumbles out of the jungle.]

BERNARD: Rose! Rose!

JULIET: Bernard!

BERNARD: Rose! Have you seen Rose?!

JULIET: No.

[Rose stumbles out of the jungle.]

ROSE: Oh, my God! Bernard!

BERNARD: Rose! Where were you?

[The two embrace.]

ROSE: I was over... [panting] by the church. Wh-what was that sound? What was that light?

BERNARD: I don't know.

SAWYER: Just calm down. There's no need to panic, all right? We'll just go back to camp and—

BERNARD: "Calm down"? "No need to panic"? We can't go back to the camp.

SAWYER: What the hell are you talking about?

BERNARD: There is no camp.

---

[Bernard leads Sawyer, Juliet, and Rose back to the camp where the rest of the 815 survivors mill about. Where there used to be shelters, now there is only jungle.]

BERNARD: The—the sky lit up, a—and then this. The—the kitchen? Gone. And—and all the tents, all the food and water... gone. Well, everything but us. All of it. It's gone.

FARADAY: It's not gone.

[Faraday and the other Zodiac passengers approach.]

CHARLOTTE: Daniel!

FARADAY: Hey.

[They hug.]

CHARLOTTE: I thought you were on the freighter.

FARADAY: No, we never made it. We were on our way out there when it happened.

SAWYER: What do you mean, the camp's not gone? Who the hell are you anyway?

MILES: That's Dan. He's our physicist.

FARADAY: Listen, we have no time. I need you to take me to something man-made, something that was built, any kind of a landmark.

JULIET: There's a DHARMA station 15 minutes from here.

SAWYER: You mean the hatch? The one we blew up?

FARADAY: That's perfect. We should get moving before it happens again, okay?

SAWYER: Before what happens again? And why is our camp gone?

FARADAY: Your camp isn't gone. It hasn't been built yet.

Act 2

[Off-Island - Kate's house in Los Angeles. A cartoon plays on a TV set. In the cartoon, a car climbs a cliff road. Brakes squeal, and a train rattles. Aaron, a little older than three, sits at a table and watches intently, his breakfast uneaten in front of him. Kate pours some coffee. A train horn blows in the cartoon.]

AARON: Choo choo! Tunnel!

KATE: Oh, I think Choo Choo knows better than that. He goes into that tunnel, he's never coming back out.

[Kate delivers Aaron a beverage and touches him cutely on the nose. The doorbell rings.]

KATE: Watch your cartoons, Goober. Mommy'll be right back.

[She kisses Aaron on the head and opens the door. Two men dressed in navy blue suits stand on the other side.]

NORTON: Ms. Austen?

KATE: Yes?

NORTON: Hi, I'm Dan Norton of the law firm Agostini & Norton. May we have a moment of your time?

[Norton holds up a business card. Kate does not take it.]

KATE: [Gesturing to the other man] And who are you?

NORTON: He's my associate. If I could just come in, I'll be glad to explain—

[Norton tries to enter, but Kate steps up to him and bars his entrance.]

KATE: No, you can explain right here.

NORTON: Okay, you got it. Ms. Austen, we're here to get a blood sample from you and one from your son Aaron.

KATE: Excuse me?

[Norton takes a folded paper out of his pocket.]

NORTON: Now, I have a court order signed by a judge for you to relinquish your blood upon being served these papers—

KATE: Why?

NORTON: To determine your relationship to the child.

KATE: I'm sorry. I don't understand. Um, who's the—

NORTON: I'm not at liberty to divulge the identity of my client.

KATE: Your client?

NORTON: Please, may we come in?

[Norton tries to enter again, and Kate steps up to him again.]

KATE: Get off my property.

NORTON: If you won't comply, then I'm going to have to come back with the sheriff.

KATE: Then come back with the sheriff.

[Kate slams the door in Norton's face, then turns around, her back to the door. Aaron has turned around in his chair to watch, ignoring his cartoons.]

---

[In the bedroom, Kate takes out a suitcase and hurriedly packs some clothes and shoes. From above a cabinet, she pulls a large stack of cash wrapped in paper, and from within a shoebox, a semi-automatic pistol.]

AARON: Where you going, mommy?

[Aaron is standing in the bedroom, watching.]

KATE: We're going on vacation, baby.

[Kate lifts the suitcase and takes the child by the hand. At the bottom of the staircase, Kate descends, Aaron in one arm and the suitcase in the other. She heads to the front door, grabs her keys from the desk, opens the door...]

KATE: Say bye-bye, baby.

[...and, pulling the suitcase through, slams the door behind her.]

---

[On-Island - Back in the jungle. Sawyer walks shirtless and shoeless at the front of the group, with Juliet behind him, and Faraday behind her.]

JULIET: Why did you jump off that helicopter?

SAWYER: I told you. We were runnin' out of gas. I wanted to make sure she—(sighs) I wanted to make sure they got back to the boat. Don't matter now anyway, does it?

[Faraday pushes past to the front of the line.]

FARADAY: Excuse me. I really need the two of you to pick up the pace. Okay? Thanks.

SAWYER: First things first. Gimme your shirt.

FARADAY: My shirt?

SAWYER: Yeah.

FARADAY: I really think we have far more pressing matters than me giving you a shirt. How about we just keep moving, okay?

SAWYER: How about we call a time-out so you can tell us what the hell is going on?

FARADAY: How about you trust me?

SAWYER: Trust you? I don't know you!

FARADAY: We really do not have time for me to try to explain. You have no idea how difficult that would be for me to try to explain this—this phenomenon to a quantum physicist. That would be difficult, so for me to try to explain whatever is happening—

[Sawyer slaps Faraday.]

CHARLOTTE: Oi! What in bloody hell do you think you're doing?

[She moves forward to defend Faraday.]

SAWYER: Shut it, Ginger, or you're gettin' one, too.

[Faraday sighs.]

SAWYER: Now talk.

FARADAY: The Island... [sighs] think of the Island like a record spinning on a turntable... only now, that record is skipping. Whatever Ben Linus did down at the Orchid station... I think... it may have... dislodged us.

MILES: Dislodged us from what?

FARADAY: Time.

JULIET: So that's why our camp is gone? Because the Island is moving through time?

FARADAY: Yeah, either the Island is, or we are.

SAWYER: What?

FARADAY: And it's just as likely that we're moving, your people and us. And everyone in your group—you're all accounted for, right?

SAWYER: [Sighs deeply] Not everyone. ...Locke.

---

[Locke traverses jungle terrain, passing over a stream. Birds chirp. He climbs a hill.]

---

[Now on a grassy prairie hill, Locke hears a motor drone in the distance. He charges up the mountainside and looks up in the sky. The droning grows louder as the Beechcraft, one engine disabled, plummets right toward him. Locke ducks just in time and the plane passes overhead and then down below him into the valley. Locke hears a crash and sees black smoke rise. Then, there is only the sound of a cricket chirping. Locke runs back down the way he came, and comes upon a small religious statuette. He picks it up and examines it.]

---

[Back down in the valley, still carrying the statuette with him, Locke finds the Beechcraft stuck up in the trees, one propeller creaking as it spins slightly.]

LOCKE: Is anyone there?!

[The creaking continues.]

LOCKE: Hello?!

[The creaking continues.]

LOCKE: Hello?!

[The creaking continues. Locke grunts and pants as he runs toward the vines that Boone had earlier ascended to climb up into the fuselage of the Beechcraft. The plane still creaks in its precarious perch in the jungle canopy. Then—a gunshot, and the bullet ricochets, just to Locke's right. Locke pants as he looks down. He is very high up already. Another gunshot explodes, again just to his right.]

LOCKE: Hey!

[A third gunshot gets Locke in the right leg, and he loses his grip and falls backward toward the ground, landing in some foliage.]

LOCKE: Uhh!

[Locke pants and grunts as he feels his wound, which is now bleeding profusely. Leaves rustle and footsteps approach. Locke tries to sit up, just in time to see a man with a rifle emerge from behind a frond. The man points the gun directly at Locke.]

ETHAN: Who are you?

Act 3

LOCKE: Well, listen, listen—

ETHAN: How many others onboard?

LOCKE: You don't understand. I didn't come on that plane.

ETHAN: Wrong answer.

[He raises the gun to aim.]

LOCKE: No, wait! Stop! Stop! I know you. I know who you are. Your name... your name is Ethan. Your name is Ethan.

ETHAN: Who are you?

LOCKE: My name is John Locke. I know this is gonna be hard to understand, but Ben Linus appointed me as your leader.

ETHAN: That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

[The Island starts to hum, and rumbling can be heard in the distance.]

ETHAN: Good-bye, John Locke.

[Ethan raises the gun again and prepares to fire, as he is engulfed in white light. Locke braces himself, but when the humming stops and the light vanishes, he is left alone, and it is now dark—nighttime.]

---

[Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Island...]

SAWYER: Great.

[The group looks around.]

SAWYER: So when are we now, whiz kid?

FARADAY: We're either in the past... or we're in the future.

---

[Off-Island - Sun descends an escalator in an airport, listening to her cell phone. It rings and she waits for someone on the other end to pick up. A woman with a British accent makes an announcement over the PA.]

WOMAN: Flight 23 to Paris will begin boarding at gate 15. Please have your boarding passes ready.

[As the PA announcement is repeated in French, Sun gives up, closes her cell phone, and approaches the ticket counter, where a female ticketing agent waits.]

TICKETING AGENT: [British accent] Evening, ma'am. Where you flying to tonight?

SUN: Los Angeles.

TICKETING AGENT: Of course. May I see your passport, please?

SUN: Mm-hmm.

[The ticketing agent scans Sun's passport and the scanner beeps as she does so. The passport image comes up on the agent's screen and a look of quiet alarm comes over her face.]

TICKETING AGENT: Excuse me. Could you wait here for just one moment, Ms. Kwon?

---

[A tall security guard ushers Sun, her carry-on in tow, into a holding room, then shuts the door behind her and guards the door from the other side.]

SUN: Hey! Where are you going?

[She tries the door handle, then bangs.]

SUN: Open this door. Open this door!

WIDMORE: Save your breath.

[Charles Widmore emerges from a door on the other side of the room and closes it behind him.]

WIDMORE: They only do what I tell them to do.

SUN: You. You had me brought in here? Why?

WIDMORE: You had the audacity to approach me in broad daylight in front of my business associates... in public. Why did I have you brought here? Because you showed me no respect. I will be respected, Sun.

SUN: Fair enough.

[She steps forward and sits down at a table. He sits too.]

WIDMORE: Since you seem to be worried about your plane, I'll get right down to business. You mentioned that you and I had... common interests. Why don't you tell me exactly what they might be?

SUN: To kill Benjamin Linus.

---

[Benjamin Linus watches TV in the hotel room. Jack is now fully dressed in a suit.]

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR: [On TV] The victim was found shot in his car on the grounds of the Santa Rosa hospital, a private mental health care facility outside Los Angeles.

JACK: Okay. Let's go get him.

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR: Police have now identified their suspect in the shooting as a patient at the hospital who escaped earlier this evening—Hugo Reyes.

[At the sound of the name, Jack pays attention to the TV, which shows footage of Hurley from the Oceanic Six press conference.]

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR: Now if that name sounds familiar to you, that's because Reyes was a member of the infamous Oceanic Six. As to why he may have murdered a visitor to the facility where Reyes lived for two years, that remains a complete mystery.

BEN: [Turning off the TV with a click of the remote] Well... looks like we have a change of plan.

[Ben turns to leave.]

---

[Exterior, the Rainbow drive-in. Night. Hurley and Sayid wait in a car, staking out the place.]

HURLEY: [Intensely] Here she comes, right now.

WAITRESS: Here's your order, sir.

[The woman walks up and delivers a bag full of fast food to the car.]

SAYID: Keep the change.

WAITRESS: Thank you.

[Sayid starts engine.]

HURLEY: [Looking into the bag, inspecting its contents] Awesome.

[Sayid shifts the car into gear.]

HURLEY: You want a fry?

SAYID: No, thank you.

HURLEY: You know, maybe if you ate more comfort food you wouldn't have to go around shooting people.

[Sayid pulls the car away.]

---

[The SUV pulls into the parking lot of an apartment complex. The two get out, and walk along the exterior balcony to the apartment door.]

HURLEY: So that dude you popped outside Santa Rosa—who was he?

SAYID: I don't care. He was armed and he was watching you. That made him an enemy.

HURLEY: Do you think he was gonna kill me?

SAYID: I'm not taking any risks. After Bentham died—

HURLEY: You mean Locke.

SAYID: Yes, I mean Locke.

HURLEY: I need a cool code name.

[They climb a flight of stairs and turn the corner. A dog barking in distance.]

HURLEY: So when'd you become so paranoid?

SAYID: If you'd spent the last two years doing the things I was doing, you'd be paranoid, too.

HURLEY: Oh, yeah? Paranoid like what? What kind of things?

SAYID: I was working for Benjamin Linus.

HURLEY: Wait. He's on our side now?

SAYID: Listen to me, Hurley. If you ever have the misfortune of running into him, whatever he tells you, just do the opposite.

[Horns honking in distance. Sayid looks up to see a piece of scotch tape on the door has been severed.]

SAYID: Wait here.

[Sayid pushes Hurley aside, flings the door open, draws his gun, and points it inside. But a man ambushes him and knocks the gun out of Sayid's hands. Sayid blocks the man's punch, grabs him, and flings him over the balcony, where the man falls three stories to the parking lot, screaming on the way down. Hurley looks down at the dead attacker, mortified. Two silenced gunshots whiz by Sayid's head as a second assailant charges Sayid. Sayid grab's the man's arm and pushes him inside the apartment, knocking over a TV and breaking glass, causing the man to drop his gun. Sayid is thrown and lands on a couch. The man recovers his weapon and takes aim at him, but Sayid throws a lamp at him, which he ducks. Sayid jumps the counter—topped by a pizza box—and makes a run for a kitchen cabinet, reaching for a hidden pistol taped underneath it, but too late. The man fires at Sayid. Three more silenced gunshots. Darts land in his shoulder and neck. Sayid pulls the dart from his neck and drops it in the kitchen sink, then slumps over the sink. The man approaches cautiously. Sayid springs up, grabbing a griddle pan from the dish-drying rack and hitting the attacker in the head with it, then Sayid tries to pry the gun from the man's grip. The gun hits the floor, and in the struggle the dishwasher comes open, its bottom shelf rolling out with several sharp kitchen knives sticking up from its silverware basket. The attacker pushes Sayid into the refrigerator and comes after him, but Sayid blocks his attack, hits him in the face, grabs his wrist with one hand and chokes his throat with the other, and kicks the man's foot out from under him. The man falls backward, landing right onto the basket of knives.]

[Outside the apartment, Hurley picks up the gun dropped by Sayid onto the balcony floor. Below him, several men have begun to gather around the body of the first attacker.]

FIRST MAN: Is he all right?

SECOND MAN: I don't know.

FIRST MAN: Is he breathing or what?

THIRD MAN: Who is that? Check him out.

[They all look up at Hurley, who peers over the balcony, still holding Sayid's piece in his hand, to watch the commotion below.]

FIRST MAN: Look out! That guy's got a gun!

[One of the men points his cell phone up toward Hurley and it flashes a picture of Hurley holding a gun up on the balcony above.]

SECOND MAN: Run!

FIRST MAN: Get out of here! Call the cops! Hurry!

[Inside the apartment, Sayid grunts, groggy and struggling to move. Hurley enters.]

HURLEY: Sayid! Whoa. You okay?

SAYID: Get me to the car.

[Hurley helps Sayid out of the apartment.]

HURLEY: Dude. Dude. Oh, man. I thought it was supposed to be a safe house. I never should've left the Island.

Act 4

[On-Island - In the jungle, it is night, and the survivors traipse on.]

CHARLOTTE: Hey, do you think he's looking for us?

MILES: Who?

CHARLOTTE: Widmore.

MILES: It took him, like, 20 years to find this place the first time. I'll start holding my breath now.

JULIET: Over here!

[They all look down at a great pit in the earth.]

FARADAY: Is this the hatch?

SAWYER: It was. Blown up, just like we left it.

FARADAY: Okay. So when we are now... it's now after you and your people crashed on the Island.

SAWYER: You sayin' our camp is back on the beach again?

FARADAY: It's possible, yeah.

SAWYER: Good. I'm going back.

FARADAY: Hey. No, no. It's pointless.

SAWYER: More pointless than staring at a hole in the ground?

FARADAY: We don't know when the next flash is coming. By the time you get back to the beach, the camp could be gone again.

SAWYER: Yeah, but what if it ain't? Hell, what if the helicopter hasn't even taken off yet?

JULIET: We could warn them, stop them from ever flying to that boat.

FARADAY: That's not the way it works.

SAWYER: Who says?

FARADAY: You cannot change anything. You can't. Even if you tried to, it wouldn't work.

SAWYER: Why not?

FARADAY: Time—it's like a street, all right? We can move forward on that street, we can move in reverse, but we cannot ever create a new street. If we try to do anything different, we will fail every time. Whatever happened, happened.

SAWYER: How do you know so much about this, Danny Boy?

[Faraday removes his backpack and removes his journal from it.]

FARADAY: [Sighs] I know about this because... I've spent my entire adult life studying space-time. I know all this because this journal contains everything I've ever learned about the DHARMA Initiative. This is why I'm here. I know what's happening.

SAWYER: So how can we stop it?

FARADAY: We can't stop it.

SAWYER: Then who can?

---

[In the dark jungle, Locke attempts to get up.]

LOCKE: [Grunting] Aah!

[Locke groans, pants, grunts, and hobbles his way into the shelter of the Beechcraft fuselage, now on the ground and burnt-out. He takes a strap and tightens it around his leg as a tourniquet.]

LOCKE: Aah! [Grunts]

[Footsteps approach. Locke unsheathes his knife. The footsteps grow nearer. Locke points his knife. Richard Alpert emerges from the darkness carrying a torch.]

LOCKE: Richard?

[Locke puts down his knife.]

RICHARD: Hey, John.

LOCKE: Richard... what is happening?

RICHARD: What's happening is that you're bleeding to death. Here.

[Locke grunts and groans.]

RICHARD: I need to get the bullet out.

LOCKE: How did you know there was a bullet in my leg, Richard?

RICHARD: Because you told me there was, John.

[Richard unzips his backpack and takes out a first aid kit.]

LOCKE: No, no. No, I didn't.

RICHARD: Well... you will.

[Panting.]

LOCKE: It was Ethan who shot me.

RICHARD: Well... [donning eyeglasses] what comes around, goes around.

[Richard pours some alcohol onto Locke's wound.]

LOCKE: Aah! When am I?

RICHARD: Well, John, that—that's all relative.

[Richard puts some tweezers toward Locke's wound.]

LOCKE: Wait, wait. When the sky lit up... where did you go?

RICHARD: I didn't go anywhere, John. You went. All right, this—this is gonna hurt. It'll be a lot worse if you move, okay? Hold still.

[Locke inhales sharply. Squishing sounds accompany Richard's probing with the tweezers.]

LOCKE: Uhh!

[Richard extracts the bullet.]

RICHARD: All done.

LOCKE: [Panting] Jeez.

[Instruments clatter as Richard packs up again.]

LOCKE: I don't understand. How—how did you know that I was here? How did you know where to find me?

RICHARD: I wish I had time to explain it, John. But you're gonna be moving on soon, and we need to go over a couple of things before you do.

LOCKE: "Moving on"? Aah!

[Richard presses gauze to John's leg.]

RICHARD: Sorry. The first thing, okay?

[Locke groans.]

RICHARD: You're gonna need to clean out the wound every couple of hours and keep as much weight off the leg as you can, all right? The Island'll do the rest, John, all right?

LOCKE: But I don't—

RICHARD: Second thing—no, no, pay attention. Next time we see each other, I'm not gonna recognize you. All right? You give me this. All right?

[Richard hands Locke something small, something we've seen before.]

LOCKE: What is this?

RICHARD: It's a compass.

LOCKE: What does it do?

RICHARD: It points north, John. Look, I wish I had time to be more sensitive about this because it's a lot to swallow, but you need to know it in order to do what you gotta do. So I'm just gonna say it, okay? [Sighs] The only way to save the Island, John, is to get your people back here—the ones who left.

LOCKE: Jack, Kate... The chopper was headed for the boat. The boat—

RICHARD: No, they're fine, John, and they're already home, so you have to convince them to come back.

LOCKE: How—how am I supposed to do that?

RICHARD: You're gonna have to die, John.

[A loud high-pitched humming turns rumbling, and Locke pulls an arm over his eyes to shield them from the light. The rumbling stops. Birds chirping. It is light, and Locke is alone again, on bare earth, unsheltered by the Beechcraft. He looks into his palm at the pocket compass, and pants.]

Act 5

[Back at the hatch. Birds call in the distance.]

MILES: So... what was this thing before you guys blew it up?

JULIET: A DHARMA station.

MILES: For what?

JULIET: There was a man named Desmond living down in it. He was pushing a button every 108 minutes to save the world.

MILES: Really?

JULIET: Yeah. Really.

[All hold their heads in pain as buzzing becomes magnetic humming, crackling, pulsating, loud rumbling...]

SAWYER: Son of a...

[The high-pitched rumbling continues, then the rumbling stops and the bright light vanishes. Birds are heard calling.]

SAWYER: ...bitch!

[Juliet notes that there is no longer a gaping hole in the ground before them, and bends down to spread apart some foliage and brush away the earth with her hands to reveal metal. She hits her palm upon it with a clank.]

JULIET: The hatch—it's back. I guess you haven't found it yet.

[Sawyer starts walking away.]

MILES: Hey! Where you goin'?

SAWYER: Back door. I'm gettin' some supplies.

[Faraday follows him.]

FARADAY: James, wait. Not a good idea.

SAWYER: The sky can flash all it wants, but I ain't startin' over, Dilbert. I ain't rubbin' two sticks together and starting a fire, and I ain't huntin' damn boar! There's DHARMA food, beer, and clothing in there. And I'm gettin' Desmond to let me in one way or another.

FARADAY: That's not gonna work, my friend.

SAWYER: Yeah? Why not?

FARADAY: Because Desmond didn't know you when he first came out of there. That means you've never met, which means you can't meet.

SAWYER: That would all be fascinating if I was listening to ya.

FARADAY: So how do you know Desmond is even in there? Think about it. It could be anybody.

[Sawyer stops and turns to Faraday.]

SAWYER: I don't care who's in there.

FARADAY: Wait. Wait.

[Sawyer pounds on the door.]

SAWYER: Open the damn door!

FARADAY: It won't work.

SAWYER: Sure it will. Yo, open up! It's the Ghost of Christmas Future!

FARADAY: No one—no one is gonna answer.

SAWYER: Open! Open the damn door! Open the door!

[Sawyer keeps banging.]

FARADAY: You're wasting your time.

SAWYER: Open up! I know you can hear me.

FARADAY: If it didn't happen, it can't happen.

[Sawyer tries pulling at the door.]

SAWYER: Open the damn door!

FARADAY: You can't change the past, James!

[Sawyer spins around and grabs Faraday by the shirt.]

SAWYER: Everybody I care about just blew up on your damn boat. I know what I can't change.

[Juliet steps up to separate the two men.]

JULIET: [To Faraday] We should get back to the beach. It's been a long day.

[Sawyer lets go and trods off.]

MILES: Why are we going back to the beach if there's nothing to go back to?

JULIET: So stay here.

MILES: [To Charlotte] That chick likes me.

[Faraday sighs deeply, looking at Charlotte.]

CHARLOTTE: What? Wh—what? What's the matter?

FARADAY: You... [sighs, signaling to her upper lip, which is dripping with blood from a nostril]

CHARLOTTE: Ugh. I haven't had a nosebleed since I was little. Dan, I'm fine.

FARADAY: Yeah. No, no, no, you're—um, of course you're fine. I'm, uh... you know, the sight of blood is...

CHARLOTTE: Yeah, well, it's a good thing you're a physicist then, isn't it? Shall we?

FARADAY: Yeah, um... my pack. Of course I left my pack back at the hatch crater. I better get it. Why don't you head back with everyone else? And I'll be right behind you.

CHARLOTTE: Don't dillydally.

FARADAY: I wouldn't think of it.

[Charlotte chuckles. Faraday sighs. He runs for his pack, and extracts the journal, then quickly leafs through it.]

---

[Moments later, Faraday bangs on the back door of the hatch.]

FARADAY: [Whispering, and stepping back] Please let this work. Please let this work. Please, please, please, let this work.

[He moves forward to pound on the door again. The door bursts open with a creak and a man in a HAZMAT suit emerges, pointing a rifle at Faraday. The gun cocks.]

FARADAY: Oh! Oh! Whoa! Whoa. Don't shoot.

MAN: [Scottish accent, filtered voice] Then you'd best explain why you've been bangin' on my door for the last 20 minutes, brother.

FARADAY: [Sighs] Desmond.

DESMOND: [Lowering the gun slightly] Are you him?

FARADAY: "Him"? Who?

DESMOND: My replacement.

FARADAY: No, I'm not.

[Desmond points the gun back at Faraday.]

FARADAY: I'm not. I'm not. I'm...

DESMOND: Do I know you?

FARADAY: Yeah... in a way. But listen, that's not important. What is important, Desmond, is what I'm about to say to you. I need you to listen. You're the only person who can help us because, Desmond... the rules... the rules don't apply to you. You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special.

DESMOND: What are you talking about?

[A high-pitched buzzing begins and Faraday looks at the sky. He pants.]

FARADAY: Okay, listen to me. Listen! If the helicopter somehow made it off the Island, if you got home—

DESMOND: What helicopter? What are you talking about?!

[As Faraday speaks, the humming gets louder.]

FARADAY: Listen, I need you to listen, or people are gonna die. My name is Daniel Faraday, and right now me and everyone else you left behind—we're in serious danger. You're the only person who can help us. I need you to go back to Oxford University. Go back to where we met.

[The humming is now loud rumbling, and the bright light is enveloping everything.]

FARADAY: I need you to go there and find my mother. Her name is—

---

[The rumbling stops. In a bed, Desmond mutters. A lamp clicks on. Desmond pants awake and looks over at his bed-partner.]

PENNY: Are you all right?

DESMOND: [Softly] I was on the Island.

[Desmond continues panting.]

DESMOND: I was on the Island.

PENNY: You've been off the Island for three years now.

[She kisses him on the shoulder.]

PENNY: You're safe now. It was just a dream.

DESMOND: It wasn't a dream, Pen.

[Desmond looks at her solemnly, then whispers:]

DESMOND: It was a memory.

[Desmond emerges from the inside of the sailboat the two are on, pulling on a shirt. Penny follows him on deck.]

PENNY: Desmond, where are you going? Des?

[Desmond fits a handle into a crank at the prow, and the chain rattles as he begins pulling up anchor.]

PENNY: Desmond? What are you doing?

DESMOND: We're leaving.

PENNY: Leaving to go where?

[The rattling continues.]

DESMOND: Oxford.