Chapter thirteen

Return to civilization

"So where are you from?" The navy solider asked.

"We are from the Fredrick rider's academy in Rushford England," Ralph answered. The navy officer nodded.

"I think I might have heard something about that. Well I'm going to figure out what to do with you so wait out here one moment." He went back into the cruiser. Jack's eyes landed on the waves of the sea. What's happening? He thought. He tried to process what was going on. He glanced back at the littluns who were still sniffling. Several minutes had gone by but the navy officer still had not returned. The other boys were all completely silent. So we will sail for a few days. Then they will put us somewhere and find our parents. I'll get to stay home from school for a few days. If the war is still going on we may be evacuated again. Jack let himself go in the realms of deep thought, a place he hadn't gone to for so long that he had forgotten that it had existed.

The navy officer returned after twenty minutes and all of the boys were now sitting on the sand. He looked quite irritated. He sighed. "Ok. I'm taking you off of the island now," he said.

He and Ralph helped the littluns on the cruiser. They were all placed on bench-like seats but some of the bigguns, including Jack, were forced onto the floor. Jack stared at a crooked nail on the ground silently. The navy officer gave them a few blankets while he muttered that is name was Charlie, how long he was in the navy for, and other things the boys didn't really care about. He said he would make some of the soldiers make them some food to eat after he counted them. In about ten minutes some soldiers came back with bowls and plates full of hot food. The soldiers began piling food onto everyone's plates.

The boys began scarfing down anything edible they could see. Carrots and peas that most of the boys would never touch would vanish before you got a second glance. "What did I not feed you guys enough?" Jack asked. The boys looked at him in surprise while stuffing their faces. "I worked so hard to feed you and you don't seem to appreciate it at all. Your eating as if I didn't provide for my tribe." Fear darted between the boys' eyes.

"One pig between all of us is not that much. Look at how thin we look. We've hardly had anything to eat at all," Ralph said. The boys looked relived.

"What do you know? You weren't even part of my tribe!"

"You never had a tribe. You only caused havoc. You burned down the island and your food supply." Jack rose sharply. That mad gleam darted into his eyes. Ralph rose to. Jack was a few inches closer to the ceiling and this made him feel powerful. He tackled Ralph to the ground and took a wild swing at his face, which move to the left and out of the way. The next punch hit him in the mouth and blood flew out.

"Hey what's going on here!?" a few of the officers came and pulled Jack off of Ralph back into the order of society. "What's the matter with you!?"

"Sorry," Jack mumbled.

"Go sit over there," the officer pointed to a window. Jack obeyed. He looked out of the window. His eye caught a place on the boat that looked different from the rest of the boat. He peered in closer. The boat had been patched up badly as if chewing gum held a chunk of steel in place.

"Hey what happened over there?" Jack asked a passing solider who carried away the boys' dishes.

"Oh we were hit by a cannonball. We didn't have time to patch it up properly."

"It looks as if a good kick could break it."

The officer chuckled. "I bet that if you shot it with a gun a few times it would. Luckily its not very noticeable from the out side of the boat so one wouldn't think to shoot it."

"How far are we from…" he wanted to say 'home' but that didn't sound right.

"Oh it'll be at least six days. We're only a mile from the island now. When night falls we'll be about ten miles from the island." The officer patted Jack on the shoulder then left him in a world of thought.

An hour had past and most of the littluns were playing. Most of the bigguns were talking among themselves. Jack stood up. He mad sure none of the adults were paying attention to them. "Listen up everyone." All of the boys froze as if they had been turned to statues. "When we go back home we will be stuck in society. We can no longer have the thrill of hunting. We can no longer paint our faces. We can never have fun. All we can do is schoolwork and chores. We will have to listen to whatever the adults say. Is that what you want?" Some of the boys began to murmur.

"I can save you from this. All you have to do is help me. There is a week spot on the boat. We can steal some of the men's guns, jump of the boat and shoot at the week spot. I saw that the current was sailing in the islands direction and we will only be ten miles away form it. We can swim back to the island and be free from the rules! Who's with me?"

All of the bigguns except the twins and Robert stood up. Half of the littluns stood up. "Why won't you join us?" Jack asked Robert.

"The beast is on the island," he said. His voice shook slightly. A few of the littluns stood down.

"You're a hunter! Get up!" The littluns stood back up. "We are gonna kill the beast! There was a hint of doubt in Jacks voice. Robert still sat. "All right, whoever wants to do it meat me over there," Jack pointed to a storage cabin. "Come by when everyone has gone to sleep."

Jack stood waiting impatiently. He ran his hand over his knife sheath. All of the boys who stood before and a few more littluns came closer to Jack. Jack felt the power he had felt on the island soaring through his muscles. This felling was precisely why he waned to return to the island. Jack told them the plan quietly. Ralph came forward with the rest of the kids behind him. Jack opened the closet and Jacks boys shoved Ralph and the others inside. Jack shoved the master key he had stolen into the lock. The boys' screams were completely muffled. Jack's lot went through the cabins and stole guns until they were all armed. They snuck up to the roof. The guards were tending to a boy who jack had scratched as a distraction far away. They stood at the edge, all of them shaking from head to toe. Bill looked at Jack.

"I can't do this." He said.

"What?"

"The beast is still on the island and we might drowned or make everyone else drown."

"You're a chicken."

"I am," Bill responded calmly. "And if you guys are smart you will be chickens," to he said to the others. "Let's go put the guns back and let Ralph go. If we are lucky he won't tell on us." He walked away confidently and the other boys felt encouraged so one by one they followed. Jack stuttered a few words to try to convince them to stay. He took a swing a Bill, who fell over. Maurice turned to Jack.

"We're not afraid of you any more. Society is here to protect us." He said confidently. The boys moved on after helping Bill up. Even Roger followed them. Jack was alone. The boys were too strong to bully now that they had civilization on their side. He could no longer control them through fear as he had before. He could no longer prey on the weak as he always had on the island. He was too afraid to do this on his own. He followed the rest of the boys into the clutches of civilization.