Note: Here she comes again, bagheera, the ninja of fanfiction! My my.. last chapter's cliffhanger was not a very good one, eh? I'm just to obvious... * sends apologetic grin to whitethorn *

9 Opaque

The green darkness of the jungle engulfed him, the incredible weight of moist air and gloom pressing down on him. It made Ralph want to just fall down and close his eyes in defeat.

"Ralph," repeated the voice.

He just wanted to run. But his mind told him it was futile. Whoever this was, would have him in no time. Every single person on this island was stronger and faster than him.

And so he turned, very slowly, full of hope, full of terror, to see who this might be.

"Ralph," the person said again, with a voice that was neither loud nor low, neither aggressive nor friendly, that was indeed devoid of any feeling or quality. A dark foreboding rose inside him.

The figure he saw when he finally turned around was obscured by deep shadows.

"Ralph," it said again and made a step towards him. Without thinking he made a step back and instantly cursed himself for doing so. Show no fear!

The shadow had stepped into a dim ray of moonlight, revealing a familiar frame.

"Roger," Ralph said, not any happier now he knew who it was.

"Are you running away? Got lost?" The dark boy made no afford to hide the teasing.

"Or just gone batty again?"

Ralph's thoughts raced. What was Roger up to? What was he able to?

Roger killed Piggy.

But Roger had no reason to do such a thing again!

He needs no reason. He enjoys it.

But he wouldn't do it! He must know that Jack didn't want anybody to harm him . He even gave the order.

"Can't you even answer me?" Roger asked full of contempt.

"I clearly remember a time when you were so talkative.. 'Oh, let us call an assembly!'"

He made another step towards Ralph, threateningly.

"But do you want to know what I think? I think you never were a madman. It was all one big show! Oh, you certainly are clever, Ralphie. Clever enough to fool a bunch of kids!"

Roger, who usually was very uncommunicative, was currently enjoying himself so much, that he forgot to be quiet. Here, in the shadows, he let out all the thoughts that had been inside him for a very long time.

"I never believed in your 'madness'. And now, when you think it's save enough, you suddenly recover. Very suspicious."

"What do you want, Roger?" Ralph finally managed. He didn't even notice the tiny change in Roger when he said his name, but there was one. Roger was the kind of person who felt best as long as nobody even noticed him. Everything done from the shadows, secretive and furtive by nature, he hated to be called by his name.

"Finish something that should have been finished long before," he said coldly. He raised his right hand, and revealed a lengthy spear. It was not one of the humble sharpened sticks that the boys once had wielded in their war and hunting-games, but a long and deadly weapon and the hand of a determined killer.

Ralph considered his options. Screaming for help was one. If somebody heard him, they would probably be to slow to help him, but maybe Roger would be scared off by the prospect of somebody seeing them. But then again... would he?

"It's a pity Jack has gone so soft these days. I wonder, why doesn't he kill you?" Roger's question was full of hidden meanings, making Ralph shiver despite the warmth.

There was another option, and that was biding time by talking. He just had to find the right words, and the courage to actually talk. Roger had been right, there had once been a time when Ralph had talked with ease and pleasure, and when he had always found the right words. He just had to find them again!

"Because there is no reason to kill me, Roger." He said and took a deep breath. Yes, this was good. Go on, go on...

"Because we don't just kill each other like animals! Why should he kill me?"

Roger made and angry snarl and lunged at Ralph. The fair-haired boy already thought his last moment to have come, but Roger only knocked him down and straddled him with his knees, pointing the sharp wood at his throat. Obscured by a curtain of dark hair his face hovered over Ralph's.

"Why? Why! Because he is no fool. That is! He must know what you are! You are a threat to all we have. You always envied Jack. He was a great hunter and warrior and you were only a weak cheat who could nothing but lie and talk. You are too weak to be a leader! Only the strongest can be a good leader to his people. Come the chance and you will try to regain your old position and then we'll be..." Roger began to talk himself into a rage.

"Oh, I always saw through you, Ralph. You talked of rescue, rescue, but in reality you only wanted to use their hopes to make them subservient. Very clever. You and your stupid cronies would have ruined us! Remember how we discovered you on the day of the hunt? That was me! I discovered your little spies among us. And I had the idea with the fire... we would have got you! We would have put an end to this. If not for your little drama on that beach."

The last sentence he said with the bitterness of someone who had been cheated out of a great victory. But then a tight smile showed on his lips.

"I wonder what it was that made Jack change his mind about you.. he was suddenly very interested in keeping you alive, you know?"

He roughly seized the trapped boy's chin and leaned even closer, his voice only a hiss.

"What was it, that you gave him? Oh, I can imagine it... when your sweet words failed you.. how you gave him the other sweetness you had.. did you think I wouldn't notice it? How he looks at you? I bet it wasn't easy to give yourself to him... or maybe..." his grin widened, falling apart into a horrible grimace.

".. maybe you enjoyed it!"

Roger's face was so close that Ralph could feel him breathing, the ragged breathing of a very agitated person, hot and fast. He felt sick, and angry, and frightened and frustrated by his weakness, he felt contempt for Roger, he felt burning hate for Roger... he felt deeply ashamed. For Roger, unknowingly, had guessed a part of the truth that was Ralph's darkest secret.

"Poor Jack. To be blinded by someone like you... but I understand it only to well. Have felt it myself. That longing, that lust.. and nothing for release... and you are there.. seductive.. and, oh, you are also fairly attractive." He grinned, showing his teeth.

"You're disgusting!" Ralph pressed between his teeth, desperately trying to mask the truth.

Rogers face twisted and he earned a brutal blow with his fist. Then the boy spit at him.

"Now you may have him caught in your web of lies, but soon the Chief will thank me for freeing him!"

Ralph was horrified. Roger did, quite obviously, believe in his words. He was mad, madder than Ralph had ever been, because his madness was masked by devious reason, that, though twisted and bent in perversion, still worked for him.

So he lay, still and awaiting his fate, while not only Roger's but also the weight of humanities cruelty weighed on him.

But Roger seemed intent on enjoying his victory to the fullest. He wouldn't just kill him. He needed to cause pain, and he revelled in other's suffering. It was his thrill, his drug.

"When I'm done with you, you'll wish to have died that day," he whispered into Ralph's ear. One of his hands pressed down on his throat making Ralph wheeze. With the other he trailed the spear tip across his chest, scratching his skin, drawing blood. With utter fascination he stared down at the black glistening substance, while Ralph was desperately gasping for air under his firm grip.

He bent down and lapped at the blood, smiling at the copper taste and further ripping at the soft skin. Ralph made a choked cry and started to struggle against Roger's body, but he knew he was to weak to achieve anything. Roger laughed in amusement, pushing him down again, and suddenly, to the fair-haired boy's utter surprise, kissed him harshly on the mouth. For a short moment Ralph was too shocked to even react, or fight when Roger pulled down his ragged shorts. A sweaty hand pressed down on his mouth, nearly suffocating him.

"What's up, Ralph? I thought you liked this?"

Roger tried to spread his legs apart, causing Ralph to struggle until he finally got his mouth free and screamed. Roger didn't care any more so caught up was he in his cruel game.

And his sadism finally proved to be his downfall.

Neither of the boys on the ground had heard him advancing when his fist hit Roger so boldly that he literally was flying off Ralph's uncovered body. With a thump he fell against the ground, coming up again a second later, ready to fight. What he saw made him hesitate.

Jack stood, breathing heavily and seething with rage, between the two boys.

"You!" he yelled at his follower.

"What were you thinking...!"

Before Roger could defend himself he had him by his hair, yanking him up and kneeing him into his stomach, once, twice, until Roger collapsed on the ground, coughing up blood.

"Chief!" he groaned.

"He is a liar! Don't you see it!"

"You! You are the only liar, Roger!" Jack was blind with rage. Every grudge he had held for Ralph was gone, replaced by hatred for the boy who had all the years been his right hand.

He boxed and kicked, meaning not only to hurt, but to damage, to destroy, to kill. Roger didn't fight him, and soon he couldn't even if he wanted to, bloody and broken his body, on the ground and only whimpering in pain.

Jack would have ended this, if not for the hand that suddenly seized his leg, pulling weakly at it, trying to stop him.

"Jack!" Ralph pleaded.

"You'll kill him!"

"Yes! I'll kill him! He'll never, ever.."

"No! Jack! Don't you understand? You mustn't kill him! Please!"

Jack stopped dead, panting from his bloodlust. Slowly he turned to look at Ralph, who was still naked and on the ground, bleeding from the cut on his chest, and yet determined to save his torturer.

"But why?" Jack asked and went to his knees, pulling the shivering boy towards him, holding him, comforting him with clumsy hands made for hunting not caressing.

"Why, Ralph? He hurt you!"

"And he would have killed me. But if you kill him.. you'll be just like him. You'll be a savage again, Jack! You'll be nothing more... than him... please Jack.. please don't be..."

"It's okay," Jack said gravely. "It's okay. I won't kill him."

And in the dark heart of wilderness, two humans clung to each other.