Chapter 15: The Attack
False dawn bled gray light across the beach, and mist rolled in from the jungle like ghostly fingers reaching for sleeping prey. Mac's eyes burned from sleeplessness, but his senses crackled with electric anticipation. Every nerve in his body screamed that the waiting was over.
Then his tell-tales triggered.
The tiny constructions he'd built around camp's perimeter shifted in ways that spoke of deliberate disturbance rather than wind or small animals. Someone was moving through his defensive network with purpose and stealth, testing boundaries and probing for weaknesses.
Mac rose silently from his position beside Claire's tent, the crossbow he'd built sliding into his hands with practiced ease. His Prestidigitator senses flared to life, detecting movement his eyes couldn't track through the swirling mist.
There—a shadow flowing between shadows, impossibly fast and utterly silent.
Ethan moved like something that had never been fully human, his form blurring at the edges as he closed the distance to Claire's sleeping area. He was meters away when Mac's enhanced perception finally locked onto him with crystal clarity.
Mac stepped directly into Ethan's path, crossbow raised and aimed at center mass.
"No."
The word cut through the pre-dawn quiet like a blade. Ethan stopped, his friendly mask completely gone, replaced by something cold and predatory that belonged in nightmares rather than daylight.
"The builder," Ethan said, his smile terrifying in its complete absence of warmth. "I've heard so much about you. Your reputation precedes you."
His voice carried undertones that made Mac's skin crawl—recognition, calculation, and something that might have been professional interest. Ethan knew exactly who Mac was and what he represented.
"Step aside," Ethan continued. "This doesn't concern you."
Mac's finger tightened on the crossbow trigger. "Everything here concerns me."
He fired.
The bolt streaked through the mist where Ethan had been standing, but the Other was already moving. Twenty feet in a heartbeat, covering ground with inhuman speed that left Mac's enhanced senses struggling to track his position.
They collided with bone-jarring force, and Mac realized immediately that he was horrifically outmatched. Ethan's superhuman strength picked him up and hurled him like a child's toy, sending him crashing into his own defensive constructions with impact that should have shattered ribs.
But Mac's combat instincts kicked in—inherited knowledge of misdirection, terrain usage, and psychological warfare that belonged to someone else's training but felt natural as breathing. He rolled with the impact, using Ethan's momentum against him while his Prestidigitator abilities activated instinctively.
Suddenly Mac seemed to be three places at once—shadows and illusions confusing Ethan's supernatural senses while the real Mac circled for advantage. The Other's eyes darted between multiple targets, his predatory certainty disrupted by perceptions that refused to make sense.
"Help!" Charlie's voice cracked through the dawn air. "Everyone, help!"
The shout brought survivors running from all directions. Sawyer appeared with his revolver, firing a shot that grazed Ethan's shoulder without slowing him down. Kate tackled the Other from behind with desperate courage, her weight barely registering against his inhuman strength. Sayid and Jack piled on, trying to use numbers to overcome supernatural advantages.
But Ethan continued fighting toward Claire's tent with single-minded focus that overrode pain and tactical disadvantage. His goal wasn't victory—it was completion of mission, regardless of cost.
Mac's Master Builder abilities activated even as he fought, his hands working with impossible speed to construct traps on the fly. Trip wires appeared under Ethan's feet like spider webs materializing from thin air. A snare trap caught his arm, the rope and pulley system Mac built in seconds using debris and mechanical advantage that shouldn't have been possible.
John Locke watched from the edge of the combat with fascinated intensity, his eyes tracking Mac's impossible multitasking with the attention of someone witnessing a miracle unfold.
Finally, the combined assault overwhelmed even Ethan's supernatural abilities. They subdued him with numbers and Mac's improvised restraints, binding him with every rope in camp until he looked like a package prepared for shipping.
But his cold eyes promised this was far from over.
"They're coming for her," Ethan said calmly, as if discussing weather patterns rather than threats of violence. "All of you will die protecting something that was never yours to keep."
Victory secured, Mac felt his adrenaline crash like a building collapsing. He'd used all three powers simultaneously for an extended period—building, illusion, and healing his own injuries mid-fight. The backlash hit him like a freight train made of white-hot pain.
He collapsed, blood pouring from his nose in crimson streams while his body convulsed with feedback from abilities pushed beyond their safe operating limits. Kate caught him as he fell, her voice screaming for Jack through the ringing in his ears.
Mac's consciousness fragmented into kaleidoscope pieces. Claire was safe—mission accomplished. But the cost was devastating, his borrowed body paying the price for channeling power it wasn't designed to handle.
Jack worked frantically over him, checking vital signs and applying medical expertise to symptoms he couldn't understand. But it was Mac's own healing ability that ultimately saved him, knitting internal damage from the inside while his enhanced constitution struggled to process the supernatural feedback.
"This is what happens when I stop holding back," Mac realized through the haze of pain and recovery. "When I use everything at once, my body can't handle it. The powers come with prices I'm only beginning to understand, and pushing too hard could kill me as surely as any enemy. But Claire's alive. Claire's safe. That's worth any price I have to pay."
When Mac finally woke hours later, Claire was sitting beside his makeshift bed holding his hand, tears streaming down her face.
"Thank you," she whispered. "You kept your promise. You saved us."
Mac managed a weak smile through the lingering pain. "Always will. That's what family does."
But around the camp, he could hear survivors whispering about his impossible performance during the battle—building traps while fighting, seeming to vanish and reappear at will, surviving injuries that should have been fatal. His secret was fraying like rope under stress, and Mac knew the interrogation was coming.
In his fevered dreams, the island's whispers asked persistent questions: "What are you? Why are you here? What do you want from us?"
Mac didn't have answers they would accept. He barely had answers for himself.
Author's Note / Promotion:
Your Reviews and Power Stones are the best way to show support. They help me know what you're enjoying and bring in new readers!
Can't wait for the next chapter of [ Lost: The Ultimate Survivor ]?
You don't have to. Get instant access to more content by supporting me on Patreon. I have three options so you can pick how far ahead you want to be:
🪙 Silver Tier ($6): Read 10 chapters ahead of the public site.
👑 Gold Tier ($9): Get 15-20 chapters ahead of the public site.
💎 Platinum Tier ($15): The ultimate experience. Get new chapters the second I finish them (20+ chapters ahead!). No waiting for weekly drops, just pure, instant access.
Your support helps me write more .
👉 Find it all at patreon.com/fanficwriter1