Disclaimer: No, I do not own any of the characters from Lord Of The Flies, they belong to William Golding. And sometimes I wonder how he'd deal with them if they were real. I only own anyone that doesn't belong in LOtF.
Summary: While the boys are on the island, they discover a time machine which takes them to the present. What does it have in store for them? Read on ...
A/N: I know the fic seems a little weird, but it's not a futuristic fic, it's about the boys right now in present. Also, it's comparing the characters to modern day situations. Thanks for any reviews, btw, and enjoy! -
Chapter Two
Broke In London
The fair-haired boy and the redhead sauntered in the cool, cloudy streets of London that day. The buildings were much different from before - instead of using lumpy bricks most of the time, the bricks were soft, smooth and sharp and the buildings were much more complex than before - and somehow looked quite plastic. They looked around at the adults and kids around them.
The dress sense must have changed an awful lot! Instead of stockings, dresses and ankle length trousers, most women wore what looked like denim trousers and long-sleeved shirts, and men wore loose T-Shirts with strange cartoons on them. A girl that walked past the boys was wearing a strange pink suit with white stripes and a white top saying, ''You've been a bad boy - go to my room.''
''That's a dirty joke,'' Ralph said, screwing his face up in disgust, as he eyed her chest disapprovingly.
The girl looked around and glared at both boys. ''Wot? Ya want some?'' she sneered. ''Fat chance! I've got a b.f, now eff off!'' She turned and headed off. Ralph shook his head in confusion. What the girl was speaking was a completely different language.
''She's batty,'' Ralph muttered to Jack, who smirked.
''We should of bashed 'er in,'' he laughed.
''Jack!''
He said nothing, but looked amused. ''This place is wacco,'' he smiled. ''Everything is different!'' He began to look around in amazement. ''I mean, look at that building! It's so big! I mean, look at that! It's round! We didn't get buildings as round as that!''
Jack and Ralph peered around, in amazement. It was like being on a different planet - everything was so interesting and new. The people around them were talking so casually, saying a lot of unusual words they didn't understand (''minging,'' ''homie'' and ''lush'') and loads of women seemed to enjoy wearing strange, stripy suits in pastel colours like sky blue and light pink. One girl even walked past them with amazing dark brown streaks in vivid, bright blonde hair wearing a skirt that hardly got past her bum, wearing big, furry boots up to her knees.
''Is that real fur?'' Ralph whispered to Jack.
''Could be!'' Jack giggled. ''Maybe she killed an animal and wrapped the fur around her boots! She could be a good hunter!'' Without another word, Jack pulled Ralph by the arm and rushed up to the girl. She stopped to a halt, and eyed them curiously.
They were both probably twelve, but looked much older, to to their height. One had soft, golden collar-length hair and the other had shoulder-length, matted ginger hair and was wearing an extraordinary black cap with a golden badge at the top. He was also wearing some rather provoking face paint on his face - one half of it was red and the other was white, marked with black charcoal. One eye was ringed with white clay and one cheek too. They smiled at her, but it seemed somewhat menacing.
''Is that real fur?'' Jack asked, in an unusual saccharine sweet voice. The girl, raising her thin, plucked eyebrows, looked down on them.
''I said is that real fur?''
The girl shook her head, looking somewhat confused.
''If it's not real fur, how come it looks like real fur?'' Jack asked.
''Oh, of course,'' the girl said ironically, and the boy misinterpreted her sarcasm.
''You should join our tribe!'' Jack cried, feeling the fur of her shoes with awe. ''You would be a great hunter! We kill pigs and eat 'em! We feast! If you can strip fur off a creature, you could kill the beast! What d'you say then, eh? Seems fun, eh?''
The girl looked shocked. ''First, the fur is fake!'' she gasped. ''Second, I'm a vegetarian! Third of all, it doesn't seem like fun at all!'' She writhed away. ''And get off my boots!'' she yelped, rushing off.
Ralph glared at Jack. ''A fat lot of good that was.''
''You shut up!''
''No, you shut up!''
''No, you!''
''No, you!''
''Hey, guys!''
Piggy was behind them, along with Samneric, Simon, Roger and Bill. They were all smiling as they marched up to them in unison, Piggy leading them.
''How did you lead 'em here?'' Jack snapped at him.
''I said I'd give them a piggyback ride,'' Piggy mumbled, as Simon clambered on top of him. ''Okay, umm, Simon, where d'you wanna go?''
''To the sweet shop!'' Simon cried, and Piggy (ungainly) rode him there. The others followed.
''So, the littluns know what they're doing?'' Ralph asked Samneric.
''Dont worry, they were - ''
'' - sent to a playbarn - ''
'' - we'll go back for 'em.''
''How have you got used to all this so soon?'' Ralph asked in confusion.
''Oh, Piggy lived in them streets,'' Sam said. ''Y'know. The suburbs. Back then.''
''Mmmkay,'' Ralph muttered, licking his lips. He felt a bit confused, as they entered the sweet shop. But instead of the old traditional mix-ups, there were bars wrapped up in shiny, bright wrappers and packets with cartoon characters on them. The boys looked around in curiosity, wondering what to buy.
''Let's buy this!'' Piggy waved, waving a huge family-sized bar of Dairy Milk.
''You would, Fatty!'' Jack snapped. ''No, let's buy this!'' He flashes a Sherbet dip-dab in Ralph's face. ''Let's take it!''
''We haven't got any money, though!'' Ralph exclaimed.
''Let's steal it, then!'' Jack whispered. He shoved the Sherbet dip-dab into his pants and shoved a Yorkie under Piggy's top. He shoved a handful of sweets into Ralph's pants, and some into Samneric's. Then, while the shop keeper snacked on a chocolate bar while no one was looking, Jack hissed, ''Now!'' The boys then scampered, as fast as they could out the shop, Piggy fumbling behind them. As a Twirl escaped from his shorts as he had just got out, it was then the shopkeeper had noticed.
''Hey!'' she snapped. ''You dropped something!''
The group of boys met up with Henry and the others. ''This place is wacco!'' he exclaimed.
''Wizard!''
''Like a bomb!''
''Bong!''
''Doink!''
''Thing is,'' Piggy said, ''where will we stay? And who will look after us?''
All the boys, including the littluns, were taken in by the police, after Piggy claimed they couldn't find their parents (''It's different timing, if you know what I mean'') and sent to a foster home. As the police drove Ralph, Jack and Simon in their car, the police asked them, ''What's with all the face paint, then? Pretending to be a tribe?''
''We are a tribe,'' Jack said, ''and we hunt for pigs. We're going to kill a beast soon.''
A women's voice cackled. ''Yes, that reminds me of how I used to be as a child.''
''Hey, you're a women!'' Jack pointed out. ''Women aren't supposed to be policemen.''
''Who said?'' she said, in a sarky voice, and turned around. Despite her hair being tightly brushed back into a messy ponytail and wearing a plain grey top and trousers, she was actually quite a pretty women, with pouty dark lips and big hazel eyes. ''And I'm not a policeman. I'm a police-woman, for your information.''
''You can't get those,'' Jack grumbled.
''Actually, you can so,'' Ralph interrupted. ''My father worked in the Navy. He knew some policewoman. And he says that some of them were better working than the men.''
The policewoman nodded, mouthing See! at Jack, but Jack barked at Ralph, ''You shut up about your dad!''
''No! My dad was wizard!''
''Wizard?'' the policeman asked, confused. ''Isn't that an old-fashioned phrase?''
''No, of course not!'' Ralph smiled. ''We use it all the time, yeah.''
The two police officers gave each other odd glances. ''They're rather strange children, aren't they?'' the policeman muttered, as they pulled in at the foster home.
''You're telling me,'' the policewoman laughed. ''I wonder how they're going to cope here.''
As the boys got out the car, Ralph nudged Simon. ''You all right?'' he mumbled to him.
''Umm, yes,'' he said quietly. ''But I think people find us a bit strange with, what, the way we talk and look.''
''Who cares what they think?'' Jack said cheerfully, slapping Simon on the back. ''We're
hunters and we're going to hunt a beast!''
''Well, not anymore,'' Simon said humbly. ''We've went about ... fifty five years later into the future. We're back in the town we live in. The beast has probably ... died of old age.''
''Or maybe someone else killed it,'' Ralph shrugged.
Although he didn't comment, a boiling surge of blood flooded straight to Jack's head. How dare they steal our glory!
As the rest of the boys got transported off here (lots of police cars had to collect each small group of boys), Ralph looked up at the ''foster home''. It was dumpy and plain - a greyish colour seemed to loom around the brown-bricked building and the windows were clear and blank. Ralph sighed, remembering what his old house used to look like ...
A woman staggered out, carrying a wailing baby. ''What's this, then?'' she sighed, cradling the baby in her arms, trying to sooth it.
''School boys, lost in the city,'' one policeman panted.
The woman gasped. ''I'm not going to look after that lot!'' she shouted. ''I've got enough on my hands as it is! Don't they know where their parents are?''
The boys looked down at the feet. ''We think they're dead,'' mumbled Piggy.
The woman looked as if she was going to faint of exhaustion. ''I can't look after more boys, and twenty five other kids,'' she gaped. ''You're gonna have to send them somewhere else.''
Jack snapped. That was it! He marched straight up to the woman and growled, ''Listen you. We've been hunting for pigs and we've been crying on this island 'cause there was a beast there. We've been trying to light fires and making up ideas to get rescued. But you say no - you can't let us in, 'cause it's too many people! Well, that's just unfair, isn't it?'' Jack grabbed a spear and threatened the woman with it. ''Let us in, or we'll do you in!''
The woman looked shocked. There was a long silence, except from the baby in her arms sniffing. Then, finally, she grumbled, ''Fine, but only a limited number of you can come in here. The rest of you'll be sent to the other homes very close by in this town, so you'll be together.''
The boys brought back the littluns and stayed in the foster home. As they headed indoors, they noticed two boys, about their age, playing some kind of game on the television, with this black, square machine laying in front of them, with links to the remote controls they were holding, which were in the shape of a boomerang.
''Wacco,'' whispered Simon, as he watched the two boys race each other in flashy, exciting stripy cars.
One boy, wearing a baseball cap, turned around. ''What you lookin' at?'' he snapped.
''That game,'' Simon gasped, pointing. ''How d'you do that?''
''It's a PS2, duuurr!'' the boy sneered.
''We didn't know that, duuurr!'' Jack imitated, and the boys laughed.
''Bunch of retards!'' the cap boy snarled, as he turned to the game. ''Why're you wearing all that make-up? Are you, like, cross-dressers or somethin'?''
Again, the future race were talking in a completely different language.
''We're not cross-dressers, or whatever that is, we're hunters,'' Jack said coldly, ''and if you don't watch it I might just poke my spear into you.''
The cap boy gave the group of boys odd glances, as he turned away to play his game. Simon shook his head. ''They don't understand us.''
''It's 'cause they're stupid,'' Jack said playfully. ''Stupid, stupid, stupid.'' He made a crazy face at the cap boy, and Simon giggled shyly. As they headed upstairs, they heard a row going on.
''You're ruining my life!'' they heard a girl scream, and a tall girl with raven black hair in a black dress with lots of black make-up around her eyes, white foundation masked on and red lips flounced downstairs, tears streaming down her cheeks. Simon was startled. ''What kind of place is this?'' he asked in a hushed voice.
''Let's find out what's wrong with her.'' The boys followed the girl downstairs into the kitchen. ''Hey, are you okay?'' Simon asked softly, sitting beside her at the table.
''Okay? Okay? Do I look okay!'' the girl yelled, as she sobbed into a mug of coffee. ''They won't let me do anything here! They won't let me be here!''
''Would you like to join our tri - '' Jack began, but Piggy hushed him with a look. He then turned to the girl. ''Hey, try not to cry so hard,'' he said. ''What's the problem?''
''They won't let me visit my mum,'' she sniffed.
''Why not?''
''Because I've got to look after the brats here!'' she snapped.
''Oh, that's harsh!''
''Unfair!''
''Nasty!''
''Hey, I'm not a brat,'' Piggy said, looking hurt.
''No, it's not you ... it's the other kids,'' the girl spat, as the boys were impressed by her use of bad words. ''All they ever do is fight and cry and yell and I'm sick of having to babysit them, because half the time they're so ungrateful and they all hate each other. I'm sick of it!''
''I'd be sick of it too,'' Jack began. ''In fact, I'd be so sick of it, I'd have to kill 'em and cook 'em for food.'' Somehow, someway, the girl burst out laughing into a fit of giggles.