A/N: This is the last chapter! Following it up will be an epilogue, and then… sniffle … this story will be done! Anyway, this is a short bit, and enjoy it as much as you can. In reality, it probably should be combined with the last chapter, but that doesn't really matter.

Warnings: Nothing too objectionable.

…

Jack sighed miserably as he and Ralph neared the Platform. It brought back so many memories, he realized, as he squinted at it through the pouring rain. It was where the boys had first gathered many months earlier, when the weather was fair and tension on the island was low. It was where the tribe had held its structured meetings, with Ralph in the lead and Piggy contributing his wisdom to the decisions being made. The Platform was where they had passed the conch about, taking their turns and offering suggestions of how to go about being rescued. Since then, everything had been damned to hell, and the Platform had been abandoned, much like the boys' civilized way of life.

It's was where we first met, Jack thought to himself, and it may as well be the last…

"D'you have a plan?" Ralph asked, shouting over the boom of thunder.

Hesitantly, Jack shook his head. "Not at all." There was a pause, then he added quietly, "We're gonna die, Ralph."

"Don't be batty," the older boy shot back. "We'll work this out. Who knows, maybe Roger doesn't have to die. Maybe…"

Jack laughed, sounding strange in the situation. "You're putting off the inevitable, Ralph! He's as good as dead, and so are we. Maybe all three of us will die and then there won't be any complaining!" He shook his head, as if he was certain of what had to be done. "Don't argue. Look, there's the Platform, up ahead. We can't turn back now, and we sure as hell can't get by without any blood being spilled." He ran ahead, and Ralph, knowing that it was sheer suicide, followed.

…

"You were waiting for this, weren't you?" Jack shouted, his voice slicing through the rain. The air was chilly, and his hot breath formed a mist as he spoke. "In end, this is what it all had to come down to!"

Roger grinned. It was a cruel, ruthless, sick smile, something that sent shivers waltzing down Ralph's spine. "You are so right, Jack."

"Go ahead, call me that. I'm not your chief anymore." He raised the spear, clutching it tightly. "You've killed four boys on this island and you've helped kill a fifth! You've raped one boy who's lived to tell of it, and you expect me to just dismiss that! You think I'll let you go ahead and murder Sam or Ralph or me?"

The savage rolled his dark eyes and picked up his own spear. "No. I figured you wouldn't. Not you, Jack. Not you and your pet of a boyfriend."

Ralph pointed at himself. "Me!" he howled in anger. "I am no pet!"

"That, my friend, is the last straw!" Jack spat. "We don't have to put up with this, this shit." The chief prepared to hurl the sharpened stick. He had perfected his technique over the months, whether it had been hunting pigs or a certain boy that presently stood beside him. Ralph, too, had his spear raised, his strong arm cocked and ready to fire. "Roger, you bastard…"

The hangman sneered. "I always knew you'd do this, Jack. I knew you'd be a traitor in the end. That you'd team up with your pet and become obsessed with him. No matter how much you said you hated him, I could always tell that inside, you wanted him. More than you wanted to be with your tribe. And now look. Look at yourself. Preparing to chuck a spear at one of your former conspirators." Roger spat into the damp sand. "It's disgusting. Are you the type to change sides that quickly?"

Jack edged closer. "You'd know all about being a traitor, wouldn't you, Roger?"

There came no response, and instead, Roger threw the spear that he'd been clutching. It sliced through the air like a knife, but Jack had already ducked and had pulled down Ralph with him. Using his animalistic instincts he had learned while hunting, the chief jumped up to his full height and hurled his own spear. It sailed over Roger's head and tumbled over the edge of the platform, into the sand and rocks twenty feet below. The savage grinned wickedly. "You'd better work on your aim, Jack."

Ralph was torn over what to do. In his right hand he had his spear, ready to send flying toward Roger. He could end it, right then and there, he knew. With one toss, he could vanquish the boy who had ruined everything. He gripped the stick even tighter, the muscles in his hand starting to ache. He could imagine the weapon hurdling through the rain, striking the bare chest of Roger. He could see the blood, the pain, the suffering… The death. And he realized that it would make him no better than the boy that had killed so many people. Ralph dropped the spear; it fell into the sand noiselessly, and Jack stared at him, bewildered.

"You see that, Jack? Even your pet won't fight! You're defenseless! You're weak! You've got no weapons!" Roger stooped to pick up a small, jagged chunk of granite. "Whose pitiful life should I end first? How about you, Ralph. I'll save the most satisfying for last!" He threw the stone, much like how a pitcher would throw a baseball. It careened through the air, and grazed past Ralph's arm, ripping some skin off with it.

The former chief cried out and fell to the ground, holding his upper arm in agony. Jack glanced down at Ralph as he writhed in the sand, then looked back to Roger. "You'll regret that!" He advanced on the savage, his fists raised, and Roger began to back away, a scowl masking his face. Behind Roger was the edge of the Platform, the edge where it dropped off twenty feet to the sand and rocks of the beach below. Roger didn't dare to stoop down and pick another stone up from the sand, not with Jack closing in on him. He decided he would stay and fight, hand-to-hand combat, like he had seen in all the movies back home. Just take a few more steps backward, the hangman thought to himself, and he did - then suddenly cried out and disappeared.

A split second later, there was a sickening thwack that sounded from twenty feet below.

Jack dropped his fists and noted a chunk of granite that was partially obscured by the sand, lying a foot away from the drop-off. He inched forward, then craned his neck over the edge of the Platform. "The fool tripped," the chief grumbled, having long-forgotten the torrents of rain that were cascading onto his back. He turned to Ralph. "Are you alright?"

The older boy nodded slowly, and climbed to his feet, still grasping his bloodied arm. "He… he fell?" Jack said nothing and pointed to the rocks twenty feet below. Joining the chief on the edge of the Platform, Ralph looked down, down… Amongst the boulders and palm trees lied Roger's crumpled body. The fair-haired boy tore his eyes away from the bloody scene and shuddered. "Maybe it served him right… To be killed by his own doing." Still shaken, he took a seat on the mossy trunk of a fallen palm. The rain had started to let up, and it turned into a normal, healthy rainstorm, the kind that the boys were used to in experiencing in London.

Jack took a seat beside Ralph. "We'd better put something on your arm."

"It's not as bad as it looks."

"Still, it must be painful."

"I can manage."

The chief sighed and let his gaze fall onto the sea. "What are we going to do now?"

Ralph shrugged and shook his head tiredly. "I don't know, I don't know…" He put his good arm around the red-haired boy, bringing him closer. "There's nothing to do now. There's no threats, no Roger, no danger… From here on out, it'll be… bland. There'll be no more adventures, Jack."

"It seems strange."

"A lot different than what we've been used to."

Jack's eyes didn't move from the whitecaps rolling across the ocean. "I don't want to be the chief anymore."

"Then don't be."

The younger boy turned to Ralph and smiled, slightly. "I'm not anymore."

"Good." Sighing, Ralph stared, transfixed to the angry sea. "I want to go home."

"Don't worry." Jack returned his eyes to the endless water and put his arm around the boy seated beside him. "You'll get back, somehow."

…

The End.

…

A/N: Not really the end - sit tight for the epilogue! But tell me what you're thinking, alright? Dare I whisper the word sequel? Thanks so much for reading this story, stay tuned for the very last bit where loose ends are tied and we see what happens to our boys on the island!

-mo