The Last Day on the Island
(Chapter Twelve: Cry of the Hunters)
Sam's point of view
I sit on the rock, next to Eric and rub the bruise I gained from Jack. Looking over at Eric I see him running a dirty finger down the cut on his chest, that Roger had given him. Jack and Roger terrified me. I shiver and so does Eric. Either because he's cold or he's thinking about the same thing I am. As we sit on guard I here the feast starting. I feel torn in two, part of me wants to be down there; accepted and sitting by the warmth of the fire, the other half of me wishes that I was in the jungle with Ralph. Poor Ralph. Alone out there, soon to be hunted like a pig. Pig. Piggie. They killed him; Roger killed him; Roger crushed him. Why? Piggie wasn't a real threat. How must Ralph feel? Piggie and Simon were his closest friends on the island and they were…were murdered. And now Eric and I are part of those murderers!
"Samneric-" I hear a voice whisper from the gloom. I jump and grab, who was whimpering. "It's me. Ralph" Ralph whispered, hauling his body up onto the rock with us. We peer at his face. His good features were buried under dirt, cuts and scratches from the forest.
"We thought it was-" I begin
"-We didn't know what it was-" Eric cut in
"-We thought-" I repeat, and then stop. Ralph's not our leader anymore; we're not supposed to talk to him. We should call someone. We should, we could, but we won't. Someone's going to come soon, I just know it. I tell Ralph to leave, and Eric agrees. Why won't he go? It's for his own good. We continue to tell him to leave. Saying anything we can to get him to go. We tell him that tomorrow he's going too be hunted, and we whisper constant warnings, but still he won't go. I freeze, there are footsteps coming from the feast, its Roger, coming to check on us. Why does it have to be Roger? Roger's the worst! We tell Ralph to leave again. He starts to lower himself off the rock, but stops. My eyes widen, please Ralph, just go! He tells us where he's going to hide, then asks what they're, what we're going to do when we catch him. We stay silent; the idea of what they're going to do is horrible, horrible and disgusting. Ralph climbs down the rock, I let out a breath of air I didn't realise I had been holding.
"What are you going to do-" Ralph repeats in the darkness.
"Roger sharpened a stick at both ends," I say quickly. Though I know that Ralph doesn't know what that means, he doesn't know about the pig's head. But I don't want to have to actually say what's going to happen, I think his imagination will say it for him. A few seconds after we could know longer see Ralph, Roger appeared. Even through the darkness I can still see his gloomy face and malicious eyes.
"What you looking at?" Roger snarled I quickly turn away, Eric starts shaking; he's absolutely horrified by Roger.
"Nothing much" I try to say casually, I walk over to Eric and sit next to him and his shaking subsides.
"So I'm nothing am I?" Roger growls, cocking his head to the side. My jaw drops and Eric starts shivering again.
"That- That's not what I meant!" I stammer hurriedly. Roger leaps forward, and is in my face in seconds. I fall backwards. Roger sneers.
"So, so what's…what's happening, R-R-Roger" Eric stammers, trying to help me out. Roger stops, trying to remember what he came up here for.
"If you guys want more pig go get it, there's some left over" Roger stated, then sniggered "If you go down, we need someone to play the pig" he whispered. My eyes widen for a moment, and then I look away, if I was the pig, they probably wouldn't hesitate to kill me. Roger looks at us suspiciously, but leaves. Eric and I simultaneously sigh, Roger has lost the plot. We lie down, back to back, and try to sleep. Though images of Ralph keep popping into my head, I doubt I'm going to get much sleep tonight.
I get shaken awake by strong hands. I open my eyes and gasp. Roger was too close for comfort. I quickly stand up. He grabs my wrist and drags me away from Eric. Eric is still fast asleep, but was groaning slightly at the noise. I get dumped in front of Jack. Who grins evilly.
"So, you going to tell us where Ralphie is?" he growls
"Why would I know where Ralph is? I haven't seen him for ages" I mutter
"To bad for you then" he smiles at Roger, who advances on me. I squeal unwillingly and shut my eyes. I feel a painful blow in my stomach, and double over.
"Do you know where Ralph is now?" Jack smiles
"No, Chief" I gasp, Roger kicked me in my side. I groan. And Jack grins
"How 'bout now?" At least someone's enjoying himself, Roger probably is too.
"I haven't seen-" I feel Roger's foot collide with my shoulder, and moan. I can't betray Ralph. Ralph doesn't have anyone left to rely on.
"Sam, just tell him!" I turn to see Eric standing a couple of meters away. Jack walks over to him and whispers something in his ear. Eric nods and starts to walk away, with Jack following. Roger grabs the back of my neck and leads me back to castle rock, dropping me near last nights fire. I sit there quietly as Roger leaves, he then looks back and winks. Sending shivers down my spine. A couple of minutes late Eric gets chucked down beside me.
"I'm sorry Sam, it's just-" Eric began to mutter, but he got cut off as the savages yell in the distance.
"It doesn't matter. Lets go see what's happening" I get up begin to walk away, hearing Eric's footsteps behind me. We catch up to the hunters in no time, seeing as they had stopped. Looking over Maurice's shoulder I gasp. It's Ralph. Ralph talking to a grown up. We're saved. Everyone starts to cry, I can even feel tears running down my face. We're saved.