CHAPTER ELEVEN

"The bigguns—"

"Are losing their heads! It's really—"

"Scary."

They kept their tone barely above a whisper.

"Do you think I should tell Jack?"

"NO!" Their voices boomed in the cave. Ralph nodded at their advice. "If people are disappearing, I guess Jack ought to have noticed it already. After all, he's now a caring Chief..."

"He..." Sam said but ended there. His brother had no idea what should come after that. "The Chief... I don't think so."

"What do you mean?" Ralph's voice shrunk into a hushed voice.

"I don't think," Sam started. "That Jack noticed the disappearances." Eric ended. They quietly licked their lips at same time then swallowed a ball of nervousness down their throat in unison.

"How—"

And Eric quickly barged. "The bigguns—"

"They do something, Ralph! It must be—"

"The meat!"

"Or the water."

They sighed together and lifted their left arm to scratch their own heads.

"You two better take care. You could be..." he faltered and daren't finish. The twins nodded, their hair bounced in the vigorous nodding.

"We'll—"

"Fight them."

And they grinned together, duplicating the smile they had on the other. "There are two of us." They said in unison. "We can handle them!"

"I hope you really can." He whispered to himself, watching them go out. Even if there literally is two of them, they work as one. He hoped they really could withstand those batty boys.

He stared around the rocks and felt the loneliness starting to creep in. The meat they boys delivered to him was a big piece but he didn't have the appetite. It was partly because of the loneliness and partly because of their bad news.

"The bigguns are losing their heads..." He muttered loud enough for himself to hear. "And Jack doesn't even notice some boys are missing?"

Though against Jack's orders ("You've got to stay in here. Let me do all the work. At the end of the day, I'll be coming home to you.") and against his own will to defy him, he just couldn't stay indifferent about this. Not especially when he didn't know what exactly happened to Henry. (Ralph couldn't discern if it was still part of a dream or part of reality.) He will have to try and solve the mystery.

He looked down at the piece of meat. His face creased in bewilderment. He picked it up and examined it. Confusion claimed his mind. Minutes later, he finally realised...

It wasn't just meat.

O,e"

So sorry, folks! I'm getting crappier at this. OTL