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Flashback: Locke

John's flashback went as far into the past as possible, beginning with his birth. A rebellious young Emily Locke was hit by a car while running away from a fight with her mother. When she reached the hospital, Emily told the nurse that she was six months pregnant and gave birth to preemie John shortly after. Baby John survived pneumonia and other infections, and was dubbed a miracle baby by the hospital staff. Emily wanted nothing to do with her newborn son, special or not. Someone else was interested, though. Richard Alpert, eternally 40, watched baby Locke from the hallway.

Now in foster care, an older John received a visit from Richard Alpert. Alpert said he ran a special school and believed that Locke was a candidate for admission. He tested Locke by laying a series of objects before him: a book called the Book of Laws, a knife, a jar with grainy-looking contents, a comic book, a compass, and a baseball glove. Richard wanted John to pick the object that already belonged to him. When Locke chose the knife, Richard angrily said that it didn't belong to him and abruptly left.

The Freighter

The chopper made it back to the freighter, but the injured mercenary could not be saved. The ship's doctor, however, was alive and well. Keamy had bigger fish to fry, though. He wanted to know who gave Ben his name and personal history. When he discovered that Michael was the spy, Keamy beat Michael and tried to shoot him. Michael's island invincibility saved him, though; Keamy's gun wouldn't fire. Captain Gault protested when Keamy mentioned that he was going back to the island immediately and was ultimately going to torch it. The captain also learned that there was a second protocol that gave Keamy Ben's new location on the island.

Gault had a change of heart about his role in Widmore's mission and helped Desmond and Sayid get to the freighter's raft. Sayid wanted to get as many of his friends off the island as possible, and was taking the raft back to the beach. Desmond stayed behind; he'd had enough of the island and wanted to get back to Penny. Meanwhile, Frank found Michael and asked why he didn't trust him with his secret. Michael told him that Widmore was behind the 815 cover-up and begged him not to take Keamy back to the island.

As the rest of the mercenaries were loading up the chopper with weapons, Omar told the doctor about Daniel's strange Morse code message. Frank tried to refuse Keamy's order to fly the chopper, but ended up putting everyone's lives at risk. First, Keamy slit the doctor's throat to show that he was serious. He also shot and killed Captain Gault when he tried to intervene. During the confrontation, Keamy displayed something on his arm that looked like a remote for a bomb. Frank gave in, but hid a satellite phone in a satchel as they took off.

The Beach

Back at the beach, Jack ignored Juliet's orders to stay in his recovery tent. Everyone ran to beach when they heard the sound of the helicopter, and saw something fall from the sky. Jack found a bag with a satellite phone in it. The GPS tracking device was on, and Jack interpreted this a sign that they should follow the signal.

The Jungle

After making camp for the night, Locke had an enlightening dream. He still had no clue where Jacob's cabin was, but the man in his dream knew. Locke found Horace Goodspeed, Ben's old DHARMA friend, chopping down trees in the jungle. Horace was building a cabin for himself and his wife. Horace told Locke that once he found him, he would find Jacob. Jacob had been waiting for John for a long time. This vision inspired Locke to return to the DHARMA grave where Ben had left him for dead.

When they reached the pit, Locke searched the corpses and found the cabin's blueprints and a map in Horace's jumpsuit. Locke offered to let Hurley go back to the beach, but Hugo chose to stay. Ben teased Locke about manipulating Hurley into staying, but Locke said he wasn't like Ben. The two men had a discussion about their beliefs. Ben once believed that he was special, but his recent illness and Alex's death made him doubt his role on the island. He told John that there are consequences to being chosen.

Locke was the only one who wanted to enter the cabin, so Ben and Hurley stayed in the jungle. Christian Shephard was waiting for John when he came in. He was speaking on Jacob's behalf. Jack's father wasn't alone, either. Claire was sitting in a corner, all smiles. Naturally, John had tons of questions, but there was only time for one. How could he save the island? Locke returned to Ben and Hurley with the answer: he had to move the island.

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