Chapter 1
Had the camp not been in ruins, had everything not been almost as much of a fucking mess as it would have been had Ralphs till been in charge, Jack would have been pleased with himself. Enslaving all the non-Hunters had created a clear, two-class system where one group ruled and the other served. The little ones were learning that they got punished less if they obeyed faster, so they were practically killing themselves to rebuild the camp at the orders of the Chief. Mikey, that little whimpering runt, was useless at just about everything, so Jack had him standing nearby in case he wanted water or something.
Jack knew what the fuck he wanted. Apart from Ralph's head on a pike, he wanted Arianne Lovejoy, the dean's daughter, the beauty who only grew more desirable every time he saw her, every time she said no. She wouldn't say no once she saw this body Jack had now. He'd been stunning before, no doubt about that, but the blond looked like the teen bodybuilder he was at this point. Between that and his natural charm, Jack would get what he wanted. Something stiffened inside his loincloth just thinking about that. That was one thing about being a Hunter. You never, ever stopped thinking about fucking. But, once again, Jack had largely been that way before, too.
Pablo came stumbling out of the woods, a rather dazed look on his face. He wiped at his mouth a couple times, looked at Jack, then suddenly averted his gaze. He had probably remembered that slaves did not look directly at the masters, and certainly not at the master of them all. Pablo's stupid little cross was still around his neck, and he clutched at it as he hurried away, heading back toward the hill where the fire was kept.
Roger appeared a moment later, broad-shouldered and strong, looking flushed and pleased with himself. He headed right up to Jack and smiled.
"I got good news, Chief."
"Oh, yeah?" Jack asked. He wasn't in a good mood right now, but he'd hear Roger out, like he always did.
"I tried out Pablo. He also thanked me for letting him take shelter in the cave."
Jack wanted to laugh. Roger had fucked Pablo in the ass and gotten a blowjob. Well, good for him. But Jack was in a hurry to get the camp rebuilt, and he couldn't appreciate this quite as much as he might have if the storm hadn't fucked everything up.
"Was that it?"
"Oh, no." Roger looked quite pleased with himself, and he couldn't seem to stop grinning. "Chief, you're gonna love this."
"What the fuck is it, Roger?" Jack almost shouted, his short temper flaring up. He had never liked people who wasted time. He wanted no riddles, no stories. He wanted people to get right to the fucking point and not bore him, and the idea of Roger beating around the bush right now was intolerable.
"It's the traitors," Roger said, grinning still. "I know where they are."
That got Jack's attention. It got Andy's too, and Larry's. They all asked the same thing at once. "You do?"
"They're uphill, inland. There's another cave we didn't find, higher up the side of the mountain. They're in there."
"And you had to fuck around with Pablo before telling me that?" Jack asked incredulously.
Before Roger could respond, Larry shouted "Let's go kill 'em, Jack!"
"Yeah!" Andy shouted. "Let's go, Chief!"
Jack didn't even get time to answer before the rest of his Hunters were howling around him, screaming for blood, for revenge. The thrill of the hunt and the exultation of victory was addicting, and they loved the addiction so much that they didn't care if it was a pig or a person anymore. Just so long as the hunt was worth it, and this one most certainly would be.
"Then let's go!" Jack screamed at them. They loved that. Here was a leader who not only understood his men, but was one of them. Jack had always known he was a better leader than Ralph, more deserving of rank and prestige at that dumb school, and here was the proof.
But even as his Hunters whooped and cheered, Jack realized he couldn't just take them all and leave the slaves on their own. They'd inevitably try to run away, and even if they didn't, they wouldn't get anything done. Shit. Jack knew none of his Hunters would want to stay when there was killing to do, but someone would have to.
"Patterson!" Jack barked. "Rapper! I need you two to stay here."
"What?" Rapper blurted out. "Why-"
"You wanna rephrase that?" Jack asked.
"Uh, well, Chief, I'd like to go kick some ass."
"Someone needs to stay and make sure the slaves don't go anywhere."
"But why me? Why not Larry?"
"Because Larry's not staying," Larry answered for himself, crossing his powerful arms over his broad chest. He had grown up fast on this island, and while Rapper was stronger, more muscular, there was a good chance Larry might come out on top in a fight. He certainly didn't lack for motivation. Right now, Larry looked ready to turn on anybody who tried to force him to stay and watch over a bunch of worthless slaves while his Chief led the Hunters on the best hunt yet.
"Rapper," Jack said, "Think about how much ass you kicked when they tried to escape last time. These slaves know they can't fuck with you. And with Patterson with you, there'll be two of you." Jack grinned. "You guys can do anything you want to anybody who tries to escape. Anything. How about that?"
"Well," Rapper said, shrugging one muscular brown shoulder, "it's what I was gonna do anyway."
The Hunters laughed, and Jack nodded. "There you go, man. And when we overrun their position in a couple minutes, I'll try and keep somebody alive so you can kill them yourself."
"Thanks," Rapper said appreciatively. He turned and kicked Peter, sending him a few feet through the air. The small boy hit the sand and started whimpering, but scrambled quickly to his feet. "What're you standing around for?" Rapper yelled at all of the slaves. "Get back to work!"
"Yes, Master," Peter said, and the others echoed him. Not Luke and John, though, which was interesting. They approached Jack and bowed their heads.
"Can we come with you, Master?" Luke asked.
"Why?" Jack asked, simultaneously annoyed and amused that a slave was even asking that.
"We want to be Hunters, too," Luke said. "We'll fight for you like we are. Let us prove ourselves. We'll kill for you, Chief. Anything you want. And- Andy's been talking about The Wave. We're with that, too."
"The Wave?" Jack asked.
"It's this awesome idea I got, Jack," Andy said eagerly. "The waves out there, like the ocean? They're the only thing that's got more power than us. I think we should use that somehow. Maybe once we get back, we can make that the name of, you know, a movement or something."
"Maybe we can," Jack said. He looked at Luke and John. "You two stay here and work. I better not hear you complained about anything."
Then Jack turned to the Hunters who were going with him, all five of them. They were going to kill five guys. Ralph, Simon, Sam and Eric, and Piggy. Traitors, all of them. Dead men, all of them.
Technically, this would be an even fight. But when you considered that the enemy had only two Hunters, versus Jack's force, which had six, it wasn't even at all. Jack knew Piggy would never fight. He was too much of a coward, barely even worth killing. Sam was not much better. Ralph was nothing. None of them were, not even those pieces of shit who'd betrayed Jack. They were all about to die.
"All right, Hunters," Jack called. "Let's go! Let's go kill those motherfuckers!"
The Hunters roared out their approval, and they were right in step with Jack as he led them toward the side of the mountain.
XX
"They saw you?" Simon shouted the minute Piggy came into the cave and announced the bad news. "You stupid little cu-"
"Come on, Simon, take it easy!" Ralph interrupted.
"Oh, excuse me! Dumb shit just gave away our position, my mistake for not being cool with it!"
"Simon's right! We're in some deep shit because of you, Piggy!" Eric barked.
"Well, I'm sorry," Piggy said, looking both flustered and intimated as two heavily-muscled boys yelled at him. "Please stop yelling. They might hear you."
"What're we gonna do?" Sam asked.
"We gotta get out of here," Piggy said. "This is a big island. We should leave right now and go somewhere else we can hide."
"And then what? Where do we go except somewhere else, once they find us at the next place? And the next place?" Simon asked. "I say we fight."
"I'm up for it," Eric said instantly. "I can't wait to get some action."
"It's not that kinda action," Simon remarked.
"It's something."
"There's more of them than there are of us," Piggy insisted. "We got two Hunters and they got, like, eight."
"Jack's gonna have to keep somebody at the cove," Simon remarked. "He won't trust any of the non-Hunters to do it."
"It'll be six or seven," Eric said in his rumbling teenager's voice. "Almost enough to take me on."
"How can you be like that at a time like this?" Piggy asked. "We're thinking about survival here, not some macho stuff."
"I wanna live too, Piggy!" Simon shot back. "Best way to do that is to kill these motherfuckers as quick as possible! We run away, they'll just come after us."
"I can't fight," Sam said, sounding desperate and unhappy. "I'm-I'm useless. You and Eric're gonna have to do everything."
"We'll protect you," Eric assured him.
"We should just take everyone and disappear," Piggy said again. "We honestly shouldn't have stayed this close to 'em anyway."
"Well, I didn't see you bringing this up before!" Eric said impatiently.
"Look, what did I say?" Simon broke in. "What'd I say? It's us or them. It's gonna happen sooner or later. Might as well be now. They aren't ever gonna leave us alone. They weren't before, anyway, but now that they've found us once Jack won't ever stop until he finds us again."
Ralph found himself agreeing with Simon and Eric. He sat there, listening as the other boys argued around him, and the thought of fighting looked better and better. He thought of the rape, how it haunted him in his dreams. He was back there by the pond, getting raped by Jack because, hey, someone had to fill in for the girls and help Jack meet his 'needs'. Yeah, great reason right there. Ralph wanted to kill Jack and he didn't care if it got done fast or slow.
"We should fight. Whatever we do, we gotta get these motherfuckers."
The other boys turned and stared at him.
"Like Simon said, we're gonna have to fight sooner or later. Might as well be right now. But we better be clear on something, guys. If we fight at all, this is to the death. Jack isn't going to show us mercy. We've got two Hunters against eight. We can't be trying to be nice and knock them out. We're going to have to kill them. Especially Roger and Jack."
Fuck me in the ass, will you? I'll get you, Jack. I'll get you if it's the last thing I ever do.
"Well, Colonel, I didn't know you wanted to join the men." Simon said it with some mockery, some contempt, but also some approval.
"I just want to get this over with."
"Okay," Sam said. "Okay. So we fight. But what do we do? They outnumber us."
"We'll have to be smarter than them," Piggy said.
"We can't just set up to fight them head-on," Simon said. "We better set up some kind of ambush. We've got some spears, and there's a lot of fucking rocks."
"We could throw them at them," Sam suggested.
"Yeah, we could," Ralph agreed, nodding. He liked that idea a lot. He found he loved the mental picture of a good-sized rock caving in Jack's skull. Ruining that handsome face he loved so much.
Simon and Eric started drawing lines in the dirt on the cave floor. They were hurriedly talking, swapping ideas back and forth.
"Well, what do the rest of us do?" Sam asked.
"Anybody can throw a rock, Sam," Eric said.
"I think I saw a bunch of them above the cave entrance. On the mountainside."
"Yeah, we're gonna need 'em, too," Eric replied.
"I bet we could do more if we had, you know, more time to work with," Sam said.
"Oh, you think?" Eric asked. He looked at Sam and seemed to realize how that had sounded. "Sorry. We're just gonna have to set up for this as best we can."
"Then we'd better get moving," Ralph said. "Jack's not going to wait very long once Roger tells him about this."
XX
Simon might have changed greatly in temperament since the berries had begun to take effect, but as the boys got ready to fight, it became clear his views were not so different. Simon worked tirelessly to dig holes on the side of the mountain above the cave, taking advantage of the rich volcanic soil that had accumulated in countless places over the years. Eric was doing the same, and each of the powerful fighters that had defected from Jack's Hunters made a point of reassuring the others and reminding them of what the plan was.
Enough rocks lay on the side of the mountain that the piles made for Sam, Piggy, Ralph, Simon and Eric to use looked natural. They had spears, but the plan was to use those only if they didn't manage to drive the Hunters away. Hopefully, they would be able to stay hidden and make it seem like it was just a bunch of rocks coming down off the mountain.
Simon did not seem entirely concerned about what would happen if the Hunters weren't all fooled- or killed- by the rocks. "Eric and me have something in mind," he said, when Ralph asked him about that. "Eric and me got some extra spears set up, about a hundred feet up, in this little depression there. We fall back there and hold them off. They'll have to charge up to get us, and we'll have the high ground."
"But we're not going to be able to run up the whole mountain if they overrun us there, too," Ralph said.
"I know that, Ralph," Simon replied.
It was strange. After so many weeks of being tense, irritable and brusque at best with the others, Simon and Eric had calmed down remarkably. Even with his burning hunger for revenge, Ralph was terrified. He knew Piggy was barely holding himself together; the fat boy's survival instincts were telling him to run, run, run, and here he was staying instead. Sam was just as scared, but he refused to even consider leaving Eric's side.
As they made final preparations, Eric said, "You can go, if you want. Stay out of the way and you'll be safe."
Sam just shook his head. "I'm not letting you do this yourself. I go where you go."
"Even if that means-"
"Yes," Sam said with surprising strength. "Whatever happens. We go together."
Eric stopped his work to hug his brother, and the twins were suddenly coughing and sniffling as they embraced. They didn't have long, so they soon got back to work, but Ralph was happy to see the twins really remembering how close they had always been.
A few more minutes of work, and they had the holes dug as well as they had the time for. Simon moved quickly and quietly up the mountainside to check the fallback position, and then returned, nodding to Eric and Ralph. "It's good."
"We're gonna settle this, guys," Ralph said, once the holes were dug and the rocks placed. "We're gonna take them down. Then we're gonna go free the others at the beach."
"We're out to kill them," Simon added. "Everyone remember that. It's us or them."
Sensing time was running out, Ralph turned things over to Simon, who had tactical command. They all took their positions and lay as low as possible in their holes, waiting for word from Simon to start rolling and tossing rocks down on the Hunters.
"You know," Sam whispered to the rest of them, "this school trip really sucks."
No one saw a reason to contradict him.
XX
There was no discussion for a plan of attack amongst the Hunters, no real briefing before the mission started. There was no need for one. They had the advantage of strength and numbers. They were the best fighters on this island, and they couldn't be beaten. So this was not even going into battle or anything so dramatic as that. It was a hunt for a pest, an extermination of a nuisance that had been barely tolerated until now.
Jack led the guys uphill, looking eagerly for the first sign of the fugitives. Oh, they were going to be so sorry they had ever helped Ralph. There was going to be a slaughter in a minute or two. But as much as Jack looked forward to that, he hoped there would be someone they'd be able to knock out, or better yet, someone stupid enough to surrender. They'd take prisoners if they got the chance, just so they could make it worse. Jack knew Roger would enjoy tormenting anyone they managed to take alive, and there were so many ways it could happen. They'd devise something special for whoever it was that they managed to capture.
This was going to be so much fun.
As they headed up past the first cave entrance, Jack turned to Roger. "You take point, Roge. Lead us right to 'em."
Roger grinned and wordlessly moved up front. After just a couple more minutes of climbing, Roger pointed and the rest of the group saw another cave entrance, just coming into view.
"Hey!" Jack called out. "We know you're in there, girls. Come on out and suck some dick and we'll let you live."
No sound came out of the cave. There wasn't anyone in sight.
"I mean it," Jack shouted. "I'll let anybody live who comes out and gives up now. This is your chance."
Nothing.
"I bet they pissed themselves and ran for it the second they realized we were coming," Larry said.
Jack smiled and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "That's a good bet, Larry."
Larry beamed. He idolized Jack, but in a different way than most of the Hunters did. He was like a kid brother, and the more Jack taught him, the more Larry worshipped his leader. It was fun getting to be a mentor. It was going to be even more fun going back to civilization and watching Larry fuck every pretty thing that moved.
When nothing happened after a few more attempts at bullshit 'offers' of taking prisoners, Roger strode forward, laughing. "Those losers probably all ran for it. Watch, guys. I'll check the cave. We'll just have to hunt them down later."
XX
Behind the double protection of the bush and his hole, Piggy waited.
"Easy," Simon whispered, his voice barely audible. "Easy."
No one moved. No one made a sound. Anything at all could give them away. Anything done wrong right now would mean death.
They had to out-think those Hunters, and this ambush, if it worked, would go off without the bad guys even knowing it was more than just rocks rolling down a mountain. If.
Piggy could hear everything, every sound. His heart hammered in his chest. He had never felt so alert, so intensely aware of everything around him. Knowing you might be dead anytime now did wonders for the senses.
Through the leaves of the bush, Piggy saw Roger moving forward, calling something back to the other Hunters. Piggy didn't catch all of it since Roger was facing the other way, but he was thinking that the Hunters' quarry had already fled. Piggy wished they had, but he had to do his part now that they'd stayed.
"Okay," Simon whispered. "Go."
Piggy took the biggest rock he had, the one shaped kind of like a football, and tossed it. It took tremendous effort, but he managed. For the first time in his life, Piggy prayed that someone would be killed by something he did.
XX
The throw was weak, and the rock dropped just after clearing the bush. It hit the hard stone over the cave entrance, bounced into the air, and the path it took from there could not have been better had Piggy's aim been truer.
Roger had stopped just short of the cave entrance. Just like he'd suspected, there was clearly nobody inside. There looked to be some stuff in there, though- maybe whatever scraps of food the little cowards had managed to hide away. Roger seriously doubted they had any meat.
It was hilarious that these poor, dumb bastards had not even been smart enough to hide a decent distance away. They'd hidden right on the camp's doorstep. They'd fled and barely even gone anywhere.
This whole thing was going so well. Roger couldn't wait until he caught up with those fugitives. Then the games would really begin. Ralph was going to get it in ways he had never-
Crack!
The sharp sound of stone hitting stone made Roger look up, which meant that he got a front-row seat's view as the rock came out over the cave entrance and slammed into his forehead. The ability to bench-press his own body weight couldn't stop a stone from caving in his skull. Roger felt an instant of blinding pain, and then nothing. His knees folded under him and he collapsed like a puppet whose strings had suddenly been severed.
XX
Jack saw what was happening and screamed out a warning, but it was too late. The rock hit and Roger collapsed. The blond leader of the Hunters rushed forward, not even thinking to say anything to the other Hunters. "Roger! Roger!"
The tall, brown-haired boy's powerful muscles, of which he'd been so proud, had been useless against a fucking rock. Jack felt his knees starting to give way as he looked at that face, at the face of the boy who'd been with him ever since he'd arrived at Bunker Hill, who'd backed him always. They'd been partners, the best of friends. Some rock had slipped and rolled down the mountain, and it had killed the biggest badass Jack had ever met, apart from himself.
"Roge," Jack said, his voice shaking. "Roge…"
"Jack!" Larry suddenly shouted, and he sprinted forward, grabbed Jack and threw him with surprising strength. Jack flew a couple feet and landed, still gripping his spear. Larry was already moving as more rocks began to fall, but he took one square in the back right where Jack had been standing. Larry cried out and staggered, but stayed on his feet. He'd managed to go into a crouch, so the rock was deflected off him somewhat.
"Larry!" Jack shouted. "Larry, get out of there, man!"
"We should get outta here!" Steve called out, ducking as a rock bounced, rolled, and almost hit him on its way further down the mountain. "Come on, Jack!"
"Take cover, you dumb bastards!" Jack yelled. "Keep your fucking heads down!"
Just a second after that, Larry pointed and screamed, "It's an ambush! Look! They're up there! They're throwing rocks at us!"
Jack snapped his head up, and sure enough, Larry was right; the rocks were not all rolling down from higher up the mountain. They arced up, out and down, and Jack caught a glimpse of a hand, an arm. He bellowed with rage and sprinted forward. As he neared the stone wall outside the cave, Jack bent his knees and sprang upward. Weeks ago, he would have needed someone else to boost him up. Now, he made the leap himself, and beside him, the others were doing the same.
"Come on, Hunters!" Jack shouted, aiming his spear like it was a long musket with a bayonet on the end. "There they are!"
The fugitives had dug fighting holes in the soil on the side of the mountain. Each of them had set up a pile of rocks, camouflaged amongst the various ones that naturally lay there, and had started bombarding the Hunters with them. They'd gotten Roger. Roger, who had never known fear in his life, who had been Jack's right hand man from the start of his military school career. There was payback coming. A lot of it. And the opportunity was right. Fucking. There.
They were getting up, taking up spears. Piggy, of course, was falling back, hurrying away up the hill. He held a spear, but it was laughable to even contemplate him using it.
Simon and Eric, though; Jack's charge faltered for a moment when he saw them. They were strong, as strong as Roger had ever been, as strong as Jack was. They were ready to fight; every inch of them promised a hard fight, fierce resistance to whatever the Hunters offered. Sam, that little runt, picked up a rock and hurled it. Andy shouted and fell. Steve hauled him to his feet, but the redhead sported a long, bloody gash on the right side of his head, and was a little less steady on his feet as he resumed the charge.
And then there was Ralph. Jack and Ralph locked eyes as the two sides faced one another, and Jack was momentarily startled by the amount of hate he saw there. But he laughed it off, like he always did, because someone always hated Jack Merridew. People always hated those who were better, stronger, more talented, more fit to live. Jack was going to settle things right here.
He dug his feet into the soil, the moss, the rocks, using it all for the same purpose: to propel himself forward as fast as he possibly could. Andy had fallen because of one of Sam's thrown rocks, and Will tripped while avoiding another. Steve had slowed down to help Andy up, so that meant that only Jack and Larry were up front as they collided with the escapees' defensive line.
Simon and Eric brought their spears out, holding them sideways, and there was a loud crack as they sharply swung them and deflected Jack and Larry's initial thrusts. Larry grunted and tried again, and he came incredibly close before Eric smacked the weapon away again.
Ralph lunged forward and tried to stab Jack in the leg, but the leader of the Hunters reacted in less than a second, displaying reflexes that surprised even himself. Under heavy duress, Jack felt time seeming to both speed up and slow down, and Ralph seemed to almost be moving under water as he made an attack that would have likely been deadly back before Jack turned into the virtual titan he was now. Jack moved just enough so the spear missed, going into the ground. Then he yanked the spear from Ralph's hands, threw it away, and replied with a thrust of his own. Ralph sprang back, but the spear cut into his side. It would have skewered him had its aim been only a little better.
Andy, Steve and Will had caught up by now, but Jack had moved farther ahead than the others. Jack lashed out with one hand and shoved Ralph to the ground, drawing his spear forward to kill him. There was no escape this time, and Ralph was going to know pain like he'd never imagined.
"Jack! Jack!" Larry shouted, but it seemed distant, like the other boy was yelling from the other end of a tunnel. Jack turned his head, distracted, and saw Sam, a grimace of absolute focus on his face, thrusting a spear toward his exposed side. There was no time. Sam was too close. Jack couldn't believe it; he'd broken through the line and exposed his flanks, one of the oldest mistakes out there. Now he was gonna get killed by Eric's runt brother.
But then Larry was there, beside him, protecting his Chief. Sam had thrown himself completely into the attack he was launching. Jack saw what was happening, knew he wouldn't be able to stop it. Larry was about to take the fatal blow for him.
Larry, though- he had other ideas. Even as Jack turned and tried desperately to do something about Sam, Larry twisted and just barely blocked Sam's spear with his own. The sharp point of the weapon cut a gash along the side of Larry's left cheek, but he shoved Sam back with an open palm and ran him through. Sam screamed and crumpled as Larry ripped his spear free.
"SAM!" Eric howled. He slammed into Larry and put his hands around the other boy's neck, meaning to either strangle him or simply break Larry's neck. Jack didn't intend to let either one happen. He charged at Eric and crashed into him, spear first. The wooden weapon sank into Eric's shoulder and he shouted, but he kept fighting. Jack yanked the spear out and tried again, but Eric blocked him.
Larry struggled to his feet and together they ran their spears into a wounded Eric. He still fought, still stayed on his feet, but Andy made it through the weakened defense, with only Simon holding off him, Will and Steve, and ran his spear into Eric's back. The brown-haired boy cried out, staggered, then fell as Larry stabbed him in the leg.
"Eric! Eric!" Ralph shouted. "Simon, we gotta fall back, we gotta go now!"
Simon thrust his spear at Will, then Steve, forcing them to jump backward. He turned, saw what had happened, and sprinted towards Ralph. "Come on!" Simon shouted. The two boys bolted for the fallback position Piggy had already gone to.
"Come on, Hunters!" Jack shouted. "Let's go get 'em!"
Will, Andy, Larry and Steve shouted and charged after their Chief. Larry, although battered from the melee combat above the cave, stayed with Jack all the way. It was amazing how much the little kid had grown up. Even amidst the bloodlust and rage, Jack felt a surge of pride as he watched Larry hurl himself upward, pursuing their targets.
They caught up with Ralph just as Simon was trying to pick him up. Larry stabbed Ralph in the right calf and shoved him down, then landed on top of him. "I got 'im!" Larry shouted. "I got 'im, Jack!"
"Will! Keep him down! Larry! Let's move!"
Steve immediately took Larry's place, and Larry resumed the charge. There was a beauty to it, Jack noticed. They didn't think, either of them. They just obeyed. As Chief, Jack decided everything, and with only one will, the group had direction, focus, purpose. It was perfect, just like it was meant to be.
Simon, meanwhile, had made it to where he was going and had dropped out of sight. While Jack was momentarily slowed by directing the guys, Steve put on a burst of speed and ran up and over the edge of the depression, hole, or whatever it was, and suddenly two spears came up and rammed into him. He screamed and fell, grabbing at himself, trying to stop all the blood from coming out and failing.
It was now down to Jack and Larry versus Simon and Piggy. Lucky for the Hunters, the fight more than leaned their way.
"Simon, you fucking traitor!" Jack shouted as he sprang down into the hole the fugitives had fallen back to. He thrust his spear, then swung it at Simon, but the other boy blocked it both times.
The other boy did not reply with words. He fought ferociously, not even letting Jack near him or Piggy. He fought with all his strength, and was more than a match for Jack even when Larry got into it. But then Andy charged in to join them, red mane of hair flying behind him. Simon battled all three with everything he had, but he started to take hits. First glancing blows, then more serious ones. Finally Andy stabbed him hard in the leg, and Larry got him in the stomach. Then Jack thrust his spear forward and got Simon in the throat.
The rush of blood was immediate, and yet, incredibly, Simon still tried to fight. He swung his spear clumsily, then dropped it. He fell to his knees and then forward onto his face, and didn't move.
"Hey, Piggy," Jack panted. "Hey, little Piggy. It's your turn now."
Piggy, still balled up, didn't move. He just sat there trembling. Finally, Jack turned to Larry. "Would you, Larry?"
"Yes, Chief," Larry said with pride, and he stabbed until Piggy's screams echoed off the mountain. Then he kept going until Piggy stopped, and more. Larry was splattered with the blood of multiple boys, and he looked pretty terrifying with all that hardened muscle and a half-red spear in his hand. His loincloth had fallen or been pulled off in the fighting, and he didn't look anything like the little cadet he'd been once. He was a warrior, a savage. A Hunter.
The Hunters stood there over the broken bodies of their last enemies. Each of them had cuts, bruises, scrapes and scars. But they were alive.
Jack thrust his spear high and howled. It was a primitive cry of triumph, and nothing in the world had ever felt this good. He screamed and screamed, and the Hunters screamed with him, yelling out the exhilaration of victory.
After that, Jack let himself take a breath. The adrenaline rush of the fight faded just a bit, and he looked at Steve, who had fallen victim to the trap the fugitives had planned. It had been startling to see that, and… if more of those guys had made it to the top of the hill, that little trap of theirs might just have worked.
But it hadn't, and that was all that mattered.
"Pick him up," Jack said, pointing at Steve's body.
"Yes, Chief," Andy and Larry said, and they lifted the fallen Hunter. As they started back down, Larry looked at Ralph, who was struggling fiercely until Will hit him in the head with a rock and knocked him out.
"Chief," Larry said, "Can I?"
Larry was eager to get started, but Jack just laughed and patted the younger boy's muscular shoulder. "Don't worry, Larry. We got plenty of time. We won."
"We lost Roger, Chief, and Steve," Andy said.
"They knew what the risks were," Jack said firmly. "If they were here they wouldn't want us to do any crying."
"What do we do with the bodies, Chief?" Larry asked.
"Tie rocks to 'em with vines and throw 'em into the sea. All of them, except Roger. We'll bury him on the hill with Benson and bring him back when we get rescued."
"Why do we need to do that, Jack?" Andy asked.
"No evidence of what happened here. None. Roger, we can explain. We'll say a rock just folled off the mountain one time and got him." Jack looked around at the Hunters, his expression growing serious. "Guys, none of this happened, you got it? Nobody can ever know we did this. Be proud, but keep your mouths shut."
"So what's the story, Jack?" Will asked, picking up Ralph and slinging him over his shoulder.
"We'll say we had two camps so we could try and have two signal fires. When the storm blew in, a big fucking wave or something came in and took the other guys in the camp and we just barely made it to shelter in the cave.
Andy nodded and swept his right arm towards his waist, then held it there and made a brief motion with his hand.
"What the hell was that, Andy?" Jack demanded.
"It's the salute I came up with. I read it in some book once that this was how they did it. It can be our group once we go back. We can be The Wave."
"Why The Wave?"
"Because it's the only thing stronger than a Hunter. And if we become The Wave, nobody'll ever stop us." Andy grinned. "We rolled over those pussies like a wave, Chief! It's perfect!"
Larry smiled. "I like it."
Will nodded. "Me, too. It sounds cool."
Jack nodded, also. "Yeah, sounds pretty good. Let's talk about it. Okay, boys. Let's get outta here."
"We should have a hunt, get a pig so we can have some meat," Larry said.
"Right on, Larry," Jack said approvingly. He set a hand on the younger boy's shoulder again and smiled. "I'm proud of you."
Ralph woke up and had to be tied up and gagged. The guys taunted him mercilessly as Will carried him. After moving all the bodies into the upper cave for now, the Hunters marched back to their camp in triumph. As they did so, Larry looked up at Jack with something more than respect and admiration. He looked at Jack with something like love.
A/N: 12-13-2017.
First post for the alternate story ending to "Survival of the Fittest". All reviews are welcome, and my sincerest thanks to AM83220 for being such a steady supporter of my work on this.