"Do you think they'll find the beast?"
"I don't care."
Piggy shifted uncomfortably at my response to him. He looked down at the sand, around at the littluns, then past me towards the campsite.
"They're back!"
I stood and turned to walk in that direction. True enough, I saw the group of scared boys. Walking straight ahead, I didn't blink as my shoulder hit Jack's. He winced, that arm was bleeding.
I didn't stop.
By the shelters, Simon waved to me. We stood together and watched the news spread of a terrible beastie.
Muttering angrily, I turned away. "I can't believe no one is listening to me!" He shrugged and looked at me. "This is all Jack's fault." The boy blinked and stared into space, clearly thinking.
"Well, you want to help everyone…" I nodded. "Maybe you should just let the story keep its path?" I frowned.
"Are you crazy?" Simon shook his head.
"That way, you could join Jack's tribe, and with the majority of kids on that side, you can help those people."
I thought about it.
And thought.
And thought.
And thought.
"You're definitely crazy." He frowned and opened his mouth to suggest something else, but stopped and followed my eyes to the insect next to us.
Without hesitation, I killed it with the side of my fist and looked up at him. "I'll still do it."
…
I glanced at the red-faced boy marching by, then smiled and looked down at my toes. I buried them in the warm sand and wiggled them up.
The sound of the conch abruptly began and I kicked the sand away.
Quietly, I leaned against a tree in the background of the meeting.
"This meeting…" "I called it." "If you hadn't called it I should have. You just blew the conch." "Well, isn't that calling it?" "Oh, take it! Go on…talk!"
Ralph stomped to the trunk in front of me and sat. Jack ignored the childish display and continued with his own.
"I've called an assembly because of a lot of things. First, you know now, we've seen the beast. We crawled up. We were only a few feet away. The beast sat up and looked at us. I don't know what it does. We don't even know what it is…" Conversation immediately broke out.
"The beast comes out of the sea…" "Out of the dark…""Trees…"
Jack yelled for silence.
"You, listen. The beast is sitting up there, whatever it is…" The yelling continued around the circle. I looked around and eyed the hunters' spears.
I wanted one.
A hunter?
A spear.
"Hunting," Jack continued. "Yes. The beast is a hunter. Only- shut up! The next thing is that we couldn't kill it. And the next is that Ralph said my hunters are no good." Ralph stood angrily.
"I never said that!"
"I've got the conch. Ralph thinks you're cowards, running away from the boar and the beast. And that's not all."
The children watched in silence at Merridew's meltdown. He became frustrated and began to walk away.
Ralph yelled to him. The skinny boy jumped down then ran into the jungle.
My eyes darted around. Everyone was still focused on him. I shrank backwards into the trees.
Walking at a calm pace, I proceeded to find my new chief.