The Others abandoned the medical bunker in a hurry - why?

In the medical bunker (station?), that nursery setup was there for a long time - the decorations on the walls left patterns. But maybe it was cleaned up recently?

The operating room looked mostly clean and new, like it was recently remodelled vs. the outside hallway - weird.

I thought it was odd that the vaccine storage box was knocked over. Empty, sure, but why knocked over?

Anyway, the reason for this thread is to ask the question, Why did the Others abandon the medical bunker in such a hurry, leaving quite a few small items behind?

Were they afraid Claire would lead the Losties back there?

Did letting the counter go to zero in the Hatch have anything to do with it?

Okay, and one more question, What is that door in the medical bunker marked "ESCAPE HATCH" all about? You can see these words in Claiire's flashback memories, even in the previews, and they just walk past it in this episode.

Well Zeke's beard is in there, as well as their "costumes," which makes me think that they haven't abandoned it completely. It did go from a perfectly clean, sterile environment to a filthy mess, though, so they must have been gone for a while. I'm thinking they panicked when they lost Claire (or maybe something else panicked them), and they packed up fast and ran.

Maybe they were kicked out when "he" found out they failed with Claire.

it just puzzles me at how "old" the bunker looked. it wasn't all that long ago that claire was in there being prepped for her delivery. that place looks like it could have been abandoned by hitler himself. very strange.

i'm aslo kind wondering about ethan's keychain he used to unlock the vaccine storage. they showed it for a reason. it would be interesting to see a still shot of it.

Wasn't Claire back when Jack, Locke, Sawyer met up with Zeke in the Jungle. Either it was a goof or Zeke has more than one fake beard.

Zeke might've gone and put his costume on before meeting the guys in the circle of fire. I think he has one fake beard...and some fake eyebrows, too...if you look at the screenshots...his looks so groomed and normal in the medical bunker.

Okay, so Zeke's beard (which he used approximately 3 days ago in the meeting) in the locker means the medical bunker was either abandoned very recently, or that it was abandoned previously, but Zeke is still using it.

If it was abandoned recently, it could very well be related to the button not being pushed. I still think it was abandoned in a hurry. I think I saw a rocking chair left in the nursery.

The outer doors were covered over and hidden so someone left that way and covered it up. That does not mean that a bunch of people could not have come and gone through the "Escape Hatch" door - the exit could even be nearby somewhere.

As for the medicine cabinet being knocked over, that hints to me that someone else entered the medical bunker after it was abandoned looking for the medicine before Claire got there. That 'someone' pulled it over in a fit of desperate rage/frustration, perhaps? Desmond? (just wild guesses here)

And why have that HUGE door anyway? The one Claire discovered was big enought to let an ambulance in. Are they expecting throngs of pregnant women to walk in?