A/N Look how fast that was, wow! That should make up for neglecting this story for so long… right? (no) This is the longest chapter so far, however, it is mostly filler until the last quarter or so. Anyways, enjoy! Also, beware, there's a long Author's Note at the end, but read it! It has some important stuff.
Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Flies.
Beast: The crude and animalistic nature common to humans.
It turns out, that with Jack and his hunters gone, life went on. Ralph, Simon, Piggy, the twins and I had begun and maintained a small signal fire near our campsite on the beach. It was hardly big enough to start smoke, never mind cook anything, but with the hunters gone that wasn't an issue. Only once we encountered the boys since they left, after a few painted, unnamed savages came to our camp and stole a burning branch right out of the makeshift fire pit. Ralph seemed awfully disgruntled about the whole incident considering the fact he claimed he would've given them fire had they just asked. The way I saw it, though, was that as long as they only had the one branch, they would have to keep the fire going. That meant one signal fire on our side of the island, and one on theirs. It doubled our chances of rescue.
I had decided I wanted to go home after all. Not home home, but back to England. I was sure I could find some other living arrangements, but life on the island was getting increasingly difficult and increasingly dangerous.
Currently, Ralph and I were sitting by the fire in broad daylight. His eyes were trained on the flickering flames as he poked a branch with a twig in a vain attempt to keep the smoke soaring high enough in the rare case a ship passed by. The few littluns left in our camp splashed about in the water. Piggy sat on the shore of the ocean with his feet in the water watching to make sure there wasn't any trouble. Even if there had been, he wouldn't have been of much use. I could see it perfectly enough in my head – a littlun is beginning to drown, Piggy realizing and wheezing for Ralph's help. Ralph, of course, would be the hero who swam out to the little boy and dragged him safely to shore. Logic indicated that Ralph should really be sitting by the tide, but I wasn't going to complain. The twins were in the forest collecting fruits as they were our only option for food now. Simon was off on his own somewhere – I assumed his secret clearing. It was a peaceful day.
Ralph and I were quiet. After my big confession to him a few nights back, we hadn't talked a lot. I guess there was nothing left to say. I pulled my knees up to my chin to rest my head. Ralph turned his head towards me and opened his mouth to speak, but a rustling from the trees to his right made him snap his neck away from me. From the forest walked out four demonic looking boys painted red and black. The leader of the group was only recognizable by his shock of red hair and the way he walked, full of confidence. His lieutenant was only recognizable by the dark venomously brown eyes that shone with absolute hatred – the eyes that I knew once matched my own. I broke the staring contest with my brother, feeling almost sick. I couldn't have recognized the other two savages if my life had depended on it.
"Ralph, Riley," he acknowledged us.
"Jack," we replied in unison, nodding politely. I could see him bite back a snarky remark before continuing on.
"My tribe has caught a pig!" He exclaimed, the other savages whooping and cheering behind him, "So we're having a feast. If you'd like to bring your tribe, Chief, feel free. You're all invited. And maybe, just, maybe, if you beg I'll let you all join my hunters."
With that, Jack turned his back on the fair haired boy and I and sauntered back into the forest, his minions in tow. Roger gave me one last death stare before disappearing right behind his Chief. Ralph sighed and went back to poking the fire. We continued to sit in silence.
Eventually Samneric came out of the forest, through the same clearing the hunters had. They held bananas, coconuts and a couple more exotic looking fruits.
"Hey guys-"
"We brought-"
"Lunch!" They finished, grinning identical grins side by side. With promise of food Piggy jumped to his feet and immediately made a run for the bananas. I noticed he forgot about his job watching the littluns as they were still splashing about in the ocean. I stood up, walked out to the shore to call them back.
"Boys!" I yelled, "food!" They came racing in and began bashing coconuts against a rock faster than I could blink. I myself grabbed a banana and a coconut, then reclaimed my place beside Ralph.
"Do you want to share the coconut?" I asked the Chief who was munching away at a banana.
"Sure," he grinned at me. Left without a knife, he grabbed the coconut and began his attempt to break it open, much like the littluns. The coconut I had given him broke open before the young ones had even made a dent in theirs yet, so he traded the one he had broken to one of the littluns. In no time, he had smashed the coconuts of all the young boys. He was left with just the one, broke it open and placed it between us. I smiled and took a sip.
Night came faster than usual. There was a large storm brewing overhead. The clouds ranged anywhere from dark grey to black, and they occasionally covered the moon, depriving us of our only source of light. Ralph, Piggy, the few littluns and I sat around the dying fire. Piggy's stomach rumbled. The littluns moaned in hunger. But no one dared walk into the forest to get some fruit.
"Where has Simon and the twins gone off to?" Piggy asked the open space.
"The twins? Off to Jack's fire I suppose," Ralph responded.
"Simon, not so much," I finished answering the question.
Piggy's stomach rumbled again. I sighed in exasperation. I was hungry too but Piggy's stomach constantly reminding me was not helping.
"You know, Ralph," Piggy started, "we could go to Jac-"
"No, Piggy," Ralph stated adamantly. As if on cue, his stomach rumbled. I was hungry. The littluns were hungry. Piggy was hungry. Apparently, Ralph was also hungry. Even though it would make us look weak, maybe it was best to go to Jack's fire.
"Ralph, perhaps we should go," he turned to look to me, "I mean… we're all hungry… and if we go, we could always keep an eye on things. Make sure the feast doesn't get too out of control." Piggy enthusiastically nodded along to my sentiment.
"Yes, Ralph, we ought to go keep an eye on things."
I could see Ralph's resolve wavering. I knew we were going to the feast.
"Fine," he said after a few moments of silence, "but don't act too excited when you get there."
By the time we got to Castle Rock, what the hunters were now calling their home base, the party was already in mid-swing. Boys danced around the fire, screaming war cries and generally causing chaos. Jack sat on a log, painted head to toe. He sat with an air of arrogance and power radiated off him in waves. Beside him sat his most faithful disciple, my brother.
When Jack saw our small group approaching, he smiled like a shark.
"Halt!" He yelled at his hunters. They stopped in mid-dance as their dictator put an end to their activities, "Bring them some meat."
Immediately, three painted savages began cutting into the hide of the roasted pig and brought the delicious smelling meat to us. Piggy ate like there was no tomorrow, as did the littluns. Ralph and I ate with slightly more integrity, but not by much.
"So, before we get back to the festivities, who will join my tribe?" Jack announced, his voice full of command. The three littluns we came with immediately shot their hands into the air. Ralph, Piggy and I stood still, continuing to chew our dinners. I caught a glimpse of the twins, sitting on a log, eating their meat, but not painted and without their hands in the air. I guess that meant they were still on our side.
Jack looked prepared to start a fight with Ralph. To question his leadership skills. To question his masculinity. However, he contained himself. Instead he began to speak to me.
"Riley, come sit with me would you? The rest of you, continue your dance," he glanced quickly at my brother, "that means you too, Roger."
Roger stood from his spot, submitting to his Chief's orders, however, passing by me, I could see his eyes full of hatred and fire. I was sure he was going to punch me right in the jaw, but he kept on walking. I walked straight past him to take a seat beside Jack. Ralph and Piggy stared in my direction before a savage – Maurice, possibly – walked up to the pair, handing them spears. He dragged them around the fire, trying to get them participating in the dance. They eventually did let loose and join in.
"So, Riley," he began, draping an arm possessively over my shoulder. I tensed up at the contact, "how is it over on Ralph's side? Obviously it can't be too good since you're over here."
"Actually," I said, removing his arm from my shoulders gently, "we're doing well. We're only here to keep an eye on things."
"Ha!" Jack barked out, "Hear that, Robert?" He stopped a savage who was running by.
"No, what's that, Chief?"
"Ralph's lot is only here to keep an eye on things," he drawled out sarcastically. The two boys laughed menacingly as Robert went back to the dance. Riley scowled.
"So, you sure you still don't want to join me? You could be my queen," Jack persuaded, "You would never go hungry. You would have power."
"No, thank you, Jack," I responded. He was tempting me, but I wouldn't let it work.
"One more thing," he leaned close to me, his breath hitting my ear as he whispered, "and, I could protect you from your brother."
My eyes went wide, mouth dropping in disbelief.
"How- how did you know about that?" I managed to stutter out. He just grinned. Standing up, he took my hands and pulled me to my feet.
"Just think about it. Now, though, you'll dance." He grabbed two spears off of the ground, handing one to me. I glanced at the familiar object remembering the time I hunted with the tribe.
"Bill's the pig!" Jack yelled loudly. Bill immediately dropped to all fours, leaving his spear abandoned and started snorting like a pig. The boys chased him around, pretending to stab their prey. Jack pulled me along behind him, attempting to get me into the game. I was hesitant, but the boys were using the dull ends of the spear and everyone seemed to be happy playing. I let go of my insecurities and jumped right in.
Soon, the game escalated. Now we weren't hunting a pig, but the beast. The beast walked on two legs, and scared the littluns. My brother seemed to be especially good at playing this role.
But as the night wore on, excitement and adrenaline grew higher. I could feel myself enjoying the game more and more each second. I wanted to be up at the front. I wanted to be a hunter. I could pick out Ralph, Piggy and the twins in the crowd, having as much fun as I was. I stabbed down to the ground beside Maurice's head in pure euphoria.
"The beast!" A littlun separated from the group screeched, pointing towards the edge of the forest. Every head in our pack of savagery snapped their heads in the same direction. From the forest, a large mass of shadows crawled through the night, right towards the tribe.
"Kill it!" Jack commanded his troops.
All of us began our chant, echoed by war cries as we ran.
"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"
We ran to the creature, thrusting our spears downward as the thing cried out in pain and agony. I felt the tip of my sharp spear sink into flesh over and over again. Blood stained the sandy beach as the thing made one last moaning sound. I saw Roger take one last go at the creature before slamming his spear downwards, movement ceasing completely.
As we all stepped backwards, the sky erupted, rain cleaning off the newly dead corpse. As the dark red liquid washed away from the face of the beast, Simon lay peacefully and unmoving, craters sickly lining his torso. The young boy's tears and blood washed away into the ocean, followed by his body. No one made a move to stop the cadaver from being dragged out to see. Everyone watched silently as their consequences for their actions was taken away from the island of horror, never to be seen again.
A/N So I didn't get many reviews on the last chapter – and thank you to all who did! If you're reading, please review! It is very much appreciated. Please give me feedback, tell me what you would like to see in the future. I knew how this story was going to end from the start and the sort of big plot points I was going to throw in there. The only thing I hadn't decided on was who Riley's ultimate romantic interest would be, but I've made that decision now. Anyways, we're closing in on the end, so if you want a little shoutout in the last chapter, better review soon!