In alternate 2004, Locke returns home to his fiancée, Helen, but tells her he was on a business trip. His supervisor at work, Randy, confronts Locke about his abscence from the conference in Sydney and fires him. Locke runs into Hurley, the owner of the box company, who apologizes for Randy and refers Locke to a temp agency he owns. At the agency, Rose tries to help Locke find a job suitable to his condition and reveals to him that she terminal cancer. She helps place Locke as a substitute teacher at a high school where Ben also works at. Returning home, Locke reveals to Helen that he was fired and admits he went to Australia to go on a walkabout, but was not allowed to participate. She encourages Locke to call Jack for a consultation, but Locke doesn't believe in miracles. In 2007, the man in black tries to recruit Richard Alpert, but Richard refuses. The man in black goes after Sawyer next, who realizes Locke isn't actually Locke, but agrees to accompany the man. The two see a boy in the jungle and the man in black tries to chase him. The boy tells him, "You know the rules; you can't kill him". This angers the man in black. While Sawyer and the man in black are separated, Richard finds Sawyer and tells him the man in black will kill everyone on the island. The man in black leads Sawyer to a cave by the sea which contains names and numbers written on the walls. These names include Sawyer, Jarrah, Shephard, Reyes and Kwon. Littleton is crossed out and the man in black crosses out Locke's name. He tells Sawyer that they were all brought to the island by Jacob as candidates to replace him as the guardian of the island. Sawyer has three choices: do nothing, accept the job and protect the island, or leave the island with the man in black. Sawyer agrees to help him. At the four-toed statue, Ben claims that the man in black killed Jacob and Ilana's team. Ilana scoops up some of Jacob's ashes and they depart for the Temple, but first travel to the former Oceanic beach camp and bury Locke's body.
