Chapter 7

"Annabelle?"

Lucy's pudgy finger nudged the girl's shoulder.

"Annaaaabelleeee," she moaned.

"WHAT?!"

Startled, she backed away at the girl's sudden aggression.

"I just-I just wanted to know…" Her mouth hung agape. "I wanted to know if you had any plans…you know, since 8 of us are dead."

"I know they're dead, Lucy," Annabelle snapped. "You don't have to remind me."

"I wasn't reminding you, I was just saying…well…what now?"

She sighed. "Just leave me alone…for a little while, okay? I can't deal with this right now."

"Deal with what? Deal with taking care of everything? Being in charge? Because that's who you are, Annabelle," Lucy tried desperately to explain. "You can't just get out of it now. It's your job. You signed up for it, and it's too late to-

"I can't deal with YOU, Lucy!" She shouted suddenly. "I can't deal with you bugging me all the time, it's so annoying! Now, I told you, leave me ALONE." Instead of waiting for her to leave, Annabelle shot up from the log herself, and stomped away angrily. Lucy could've sworn she saw a tear fighting its way out of her eyes as she disappeared into her tent.

Well, that wasn't exactly courteous.

Warm breath fumed out from her nose as she sat alone. What the hell? What had she done to make Annabelle go storming off? Nothing. She had done absolutely nothing. So why did everyone have to pour their anger out on her?

"Hey, Lucy," her only friend, Caitlin, said as she came from across the beach.

"I'm going to my shelter." Lucy didn't even turn to look at her. Eyes beady and narrowing with humiliation and fury, she made her way to her own shelter. Her friends' footsteps could be heard, and she quickened her pace. Caitlin couldn't see her cry. Lucy couldn't have her thinking she was weak and incapable, too. After closing the flap of leaves firmly after her, did she begin to sob silently into her arms.

All her life, she had been put down lower than everybody else. She had heard all the names: loser, nothing, moron, dumbass, freak…Having no parents didn't exactly help the situation. They had both been killed in a car accident when she was a baby, leaving her in the care of her worked-up aunt for 12 years.

Her aunt barely knew her. The only thing she cared about was that Lucy was brought up "properly", in her definition. She wasn't allowed to eat candy. She wasn't allowed to watch television. In short, she wasn't allowed to do much of anything. All she could do, under the watchful eye of her aunt, was read books and think.

Lucy did a lot of thinking-there was always something to think about. But apparently, thinking didn't get you anywhere in the real world. The real world known as school, or at least for her age anyways, was a cruel and violent place, she had learned. People like her weren't safe there: a wild, beastly environment.

In her head, the island and the mysterious jungle itself wasn't much different from her middle school. Only for her, Jack was the monster. As much as she hated to admit it, the boy was terrifying. His messed-up, hateful nature, with his bloodthirsty desire to kill pigs, contradicted with Annabelle's, which was purely honorable.

Right now, the leader was just in a mess-she had witnessed 8 of her people die in one week-but Lucy believed she was the right choice for their leader. Just imagining Jack in charge of them all made her shudder. No matter how clean and handsome his exterior was, with an innocent enough face and sunny blonde hair, Jack was dangerous. Lucy could feel that in her gut-and her gut was never wrong.

But even Annabelle thinks you're some annoying little child, a voice inside her head said quietly. She tried to shake it away, but it only got louder.

Face it, Lucy, it whispered, but the noise was deafening in her ears. They don't appreciate you. They mock you, humiliate you…Jack even tried to hurt you. They don't deserve you.

"No, stop it," she said to nobody, swatting away the imaginary voice with her hand. But it was only in her mind, and it had no desire to go away.

They think you're nothing. You are nobody. Everybody hates you…but there's a way they could all stop.

"What…what is it?" No, she had to stop this. This was crazy, talking to herself.

The voice was gone, all of a sudden. Lucy sat up, trying to get it to return by clenching her eyes shut as tight as she could, though it was too late. The voice had disappeared, leaving her frustrated and immensely curious about what it could be-what the ultimate solution to her problem could be.

Maybe she was insane.

Then again, maybe she wasn't.

The girl cried too much. Like a baby, Ruby muttered in her head, shaking it in exasperation as she watched her sister sit crying on the rock. She had been this way for days. Normally, Ruby wasn't one to be sympathetic to Rosaline; and in return, she never wanted her sister's sympathy anyways. But after the death of every single one of her friends, something seemed to have hit her hard, going beyond her skin-deep personality.

After eyeing the blonde pitifully for some time, she approached the girl slowly.

Her eyes flashed icily as she saw her sister. Sniffling, she glared up and snapped, "What do you want, Ruby?"
"Now, is that any way to talk to your sister?" Ruby smirked sympathetically. "Especially considering we're twins."

A waterfall of tears came rushing out. Sitting down next to the shrunken girl, she hugged her sister tightly. Rosaline wept in her arms; but she still didn't say a word to her. She simply stared, coldly and blankly off into the distance as she cried. In return, Ruby patted her shoulders. They both sat on the big rock in silence, one in grieving and the other in heavy thought.

Soon, Ruby said in her head. Soon it would be time. If everything went according to her predictions, she already had a safe place set up for the two of them. She had promised herself before, she would take care of her, and that's what she was going to do. Living among the rest of them wasn't going to be safe anymore. In order to survive, they were going to need a shelter, food, water, resources for themselves, and no one else. And she had just the place in mind…

Memories flashed in her head as she remembered all those times she used to spend in the forest, behind her home. The house was the last on the block, right by the woods in their green-filled neighborhood. Ruby could still smell the pine trees, feel the cones crunch under her boots. Black, waterproof boots she had worn this particular night, she recalled. It had been the first night she managed to make fire on her own, with no matches; it was also the first night she'd been caught.

"Not that you normally have somewhere to be. But at 12 in the morning?" Rosaline's voice rang loud and obnoxious the minute she stepped into the kitchen. Ruby barely had time to wipe the heavily caked dirt off her boots before she saw her irritating sister-beautiful face and blonde hair flowing down her back-leaning against the counter, arms crossed. She sat on the high stool, her eyebrows raised with every intent of an interrogation. Fuck.

"Where were you?" Judging from the tall mug of hot chocolate she was sipping from in one hand, this wasn't going to be quick and easy. Until that entire cup was finished, Ruby figured, she wasn't going anywhere. And even she couldn't come up with a good lie so fast.

"I was in the forest," she began nonchalantly. This was true. "I made plans with a friend. She wanted to meet me there." That was a lie. Her regular trips to the woods were always by herself.

"Right, like anyone would want to see you at midnight. In a forest."

"Alright…it's a guy." Giving it a romantic angle always puffed up Rose's sympathetic side. "He wanted to see me, in private. You know, meeting up in the woods, romantic night under the stars…that kind of shit."

Rosaline snorted. "Oh, please. Ruby, no guy would ever ask someone like you out on some big, adventurous little date in the forest." Glowering, Ruby fought the impulsive urge to violently grab and strangle her sister, right there. You little bitch, she thought. It's a wonder you have so many friends. She had no idea how on earth Rosaline was so damn popular with everyone-all the freshmen and sophomores worshipped her. All Ruby could see was a vain, shallow girl with absolutely no self-respect and golden blonde hair.

Of course, her parents were blind idiots; they adored and spoiled the brat mercilessly. They were both clueless, with a high-middle class income and plenty of time to spare for their precious baby. Naturally, the other twin was constantly left neglected. Ruby had never been their favourite child.

"Just tell me, Ruby." Rosaline began to get up from her seat, now with a tone of impatience in her voice. The blue eyes that had been twinkling with innocent curiosity only moments before narrowed into a glower. "Mom and Dad are going to find out eventually, anyways. So you might as well tell me, while I'm still somewhat on your side."

Such an ugly face for a pretty girl. It was a pity-the muscles in her forehead were only used for giving dirty looks and icy glares.

"You're not on my side, Rose." She simply stated the fact, and her lips pulled up into a pitiful smile.

"I could be on theirs, if I wanted." Her own lips curled up in disdain. "I can just tell them you came home at midnight, I could just tell them that and you'd be in huge trouble. They believe me. You know they do, Ruby. They'll believe my word more than they'll ever believe yours."

"Then rat me out, skank." Ruby didn't tell her a word. Not even looking twice at her bitch of a sister sitting across the room, she flew up the stairs, feet tapping silently as she moved. The house remained noiseless, both mother and father sleeping peacefully in the bedroom. Yes, her sister would eventually tell them about this late-night venture into the forest, and Ruby would be punished. She didn't doubt Rosaline's word on that. But everything she had been working towards had been achieved, she had mastered the most important skill in survival, and for that, she decided, she was satisfied. She went into her bedroom, closed the door behind her, and fell asleep easily.

"Clearly, she doesn't know what to do next," Jack began rather matter-of-factly. "The rest of us left need a strong leader. Someone who can take care of us on the island. Someone who's smart, can think quick on their feet; someone who's willing to take the risks to keep everyone alive."

He was holding a meeting; his hunters stood in a circle around him, listening intently. They would hopefully fail to see that he was promoting himself as he spoke. None of them, fortunately, were very bright or accusatory. Thayr, the blithering idiot, just blinked and nodded whenever his stepsister did. Fillip and Sébastien were worse-and better at the same time. Excited grins of support and enthusiasm never left their tiny faces. The pair was quite small and annoying, even for freshmen. Jack wasn't exactly tolerant of annoying people. But on the island, no one could annoy him as much as Lucy.

Chubby freak, he immediately thought. From her round face to her obnoxious little attitude, everything about the girl made him want to throw something. Preferably a spear-and he had plenty of those hanging around now that he had mastered the art of hunting. All of the hunters had to admit, he was the best thrower. Except maybe Roger, but no one cared about Roger.

And yet, the tall, jet-haired boy, as well as the rest of his crew, were all standing there, curious to hear what he had to say. Only Maurice, who was a bit of a sissy in Jack's opinion anyways, hadn't come. He intended to use every bit of this opportunity, and before Annabelle could come along.

"Are you saying someone else should take her place?" asked Thayr innocently, tilting his head lightly to the side.

"Obviously, Thayr," the hazel-eyed girl hissed, glaring at the boy.

"I think I'd be a good candidate for the spot," said Jack loudly. When no insults were hurled, no screams of objection flew at his face, he continued. "I've been leader of the hunters ever since we got here. I can take care of you. I can hunt for you, get food and water, keep us all happy and safe…especially from the forest." The word monster couldn't quite get out of his mouth. It was so ridiculous, but the seriousness of Mathalina's expression that first day stayed glued to his mind. But if there was something to be afraid of in the center of the jungle, it would give him something to protect them from. Something to ensure his control.

Hazell was, as usual, the first to support him. "Of course you are. You're way more competent than her." She stopped only to give a side-ways smirk. "We already consider you as the leader, anyways, Jack. And I'm sure everyone agrees." She craned her neck towards Thayr, who was frowning, his dark eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

Jack only grinned smugly. "Great. Because starting from now, I'm gonna take care of things. So all of you don't need to worry about anything. You'll be perfectly fine with me in charge. I'll make sure we have food, water, everything we need…and we can also have fun." Austen hooted at the suggestion, and Jack's two dronies followed suit, but Thayr continued to wear an expression of doubt.

"But…are we going to have to fight?" He said slowly.

"What do you mean, fight?"

"I mean…do we have to fight with, like, Annabelle? And her friends? Because she seems really nice, and she does know how to take care of things pretty well."

"But she won't let you have fun, will she?" The leader leaned into his face. "She only wants us to hunt for the food, and not for ourselves. Don't you want to hunt, and actually enjoy it? Instead of being bound to her stupid responsibilities and shit?"

"All she's trying to do is get us rescued," he argued.

"Yeah, but face it, Thayr, that's going nowhere. We're not getting rescued anytime soon, and as long as we're stuck on this place, we might as well have some fun. Right?"

"Right!" Sébastien and Fillip chanted simultaneously. Hazell, however, was giving her stepbrother a burning glower. Her almond-shaped eyes widened even further when he went on,

"Annabelle may be kind of strict, but she's only trying to help us. She knows what's best for us, and I think…I mean I think we should listen to her."

"Thayr! What are you doing?!" By this time, Hazell clearly couldn't just stand and watch-she hissed into his ears and grabbed the boy roughly by the wrist. Jack could see even from the distance the red marks her strong grip left on his pale skin. Blood flowed excitedly through his veins-that Hazell could even scare him at times, but Jack knew she was useful in hunting. She had this amazingly wild, violent nature that could kill a pig in her sleep, stab it as easily as if it were a piece of paper.

"I was just-I was just saying…like maybe Annabelle…never mind." His voice grew quieter as he spoke, reducing to a low mutter, and Thayr was finally silent again, just as he had started.

A rustle in the bushes startled the group, breaking the circle as two people stepped in from the trees. Jack groaned as Lucy and Annabelle's faces peered around them, befuddled. Perfect. Just who he was waiting for.

"What are you guys doing out here?" Annabelle began, frowning.

"It's none of your business," he snarled back.

"Hey, she was just asking," retorted Lucy, crossing her arms as she always did. God, she was the most annoying thing ever. "And it is quite suspicious. Why are you all so far into the forest? Why not just talk out on the beach?"

"BECAUSE, dumbass, we don't want people like you barging in and listening to our fucking conversation!" Before anyone could stop him, Jack charged at Lucy, pinning her shoulders to the tree behind her. Only Annabelle screamed, "Jack, stop it!" as he fumed like a bull into her tiny face. "Listen up carefully, brat. You may think you're all safe under Annabelle's little roof, but she's not gonna be bossing everybody around for long. So you better get used to me, because I really hate your guts. I hate you! You are so damn ANNOYING! You're a know-it-all, and a bitch, and I just hate you so much."

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" shouted Annabelle.

"You'll know what it means soon enough," Jack spat back, now pointing a finger at the leader. "You think you're so much better than everybody else? Well guess what? Some of us are sick of it!"

"I can't stand you either!"

"GOOD!"

"FINE!"

As a heated Annabelle stomped away in shocked fury, Jack huffed, attempting to regain his breath. He noticed, however, Lucy still scrambling to her feet. But she was showing no signs of going away.

Out of impulse, driven out of complete instinct, he slapped the girl across the cheek. Red bled from her face, and for a moment she stood, staring wide-mouthed at the boy. A slow tear ran down from one eye. It was the first time, it seemed, that Lucy was giving into his abuse. Seeing her run, run as fast as she could away from the hunters and into the darkening forest put something satisfying in Jack's head.

Jack stood. He fumed and he fumed, heat coming out of his nose like fire.

Something was burning inside him.

Something just couldn't take any of the bullshit anymore.

Something had to be done, NOW.

A sudden smack came upon Thayr's bare back, causing him to jump 2 feet into the air in surprise. Loud and sharp, the fresh pain sprouted a blue bruise. Lovely, Hazell thought to herself. It was a beautiful color, and she loved seeing it spreading across her stepbrother's skin. The purple and blue hues mingled and swirled with the pure white, like paint.

"Ow!" Thayr, apparently, didn't see the artistry in the clod now forming on the side of his back. He rubbed it with his hand, and staring up at Hazell in astonishment, muttered, "What-what was that for?"

"For being a complete idiot," she replied harshly. "What the hell was that? God, Thayr, could you be any more clueless?!"

"I don't know…I don't know what you're talking abou-

"SHUT UP!" She knew her eyes were glowing by now, glowing like crazy with anger. "Why in the world would you take Annabelle's side? Are you trying to get us all killed? I mean, honestly, Theodore, I don't know what goes on in that tiny-ass brain of yours sometimes, but let me get this very clear." The boy's own eyes grew, frightened, as Hazell stomped one foot on a rock inches away from his body. "We are NOT on her side. We're on Jack's side, get it? Where he goes, we go. Remember Thayr, we're part of the hunters, NOT the goody-two shoes gang. Don't you have any bit of self-respect?"

"Of course I do!" Even as he exploded with frustration, his words were stammered and uncertain. "Hazell, you know I'd never-I mean I wouldn't do anything to go against Jack. It's just that Annabelle works so hard to keep us together, and stuff…so maybe, like, she's also a good leader?"

"She's an incompetent, self-righteous loser. Just like you." She raised an eyebrow and gave a look of disdain. "You're really good for nothing, you know that?" A sigh of exasperation hit Thayr on the face with warm air. "I don't know if you'd still be alive here without me."

"Um…thank you, I guess."

"Thank you?" Hazell laughed humorlessly. "Don't thank me. That's repulsive. Just…just try to stay out of trouble. It's tiring, having to have your back all the time because you can't stay on two feet." Then she walked away, not as angry as she had come but seemed to be simply put-out. Thayr sat, rubbing the blues and purples on his skin, and staring out blankly behind his stepsister. It was as if he had no emotions of his own. No response to anything. Like a robot.

But Hazell loved it.

Annabelle felt numb all over. Three days had passed since The 4th Week. Three days. And she still hadn't managed to get herself together.

Come on, Annabelle, she thought direly. Get up, off your sorry butt. Go out there. They need you. But nothing she tried to say to herself worked. Jack was already there, and he was parading around playing chief just fine. They didn't need her.

"Come out, Annabelle, I need your help," he had said three times now, popping his head into her shelter every now and then. Please. Take your pompous nose and rub it in someone else's face, will you? The hunter was only mocking her-trying to make her feel needed. They both knew she couldn't do anything right now. She resented the boy: for being so cold, having no emotional affect by the past week's events, whatsoever. And now he was declaring all-out war on her?

What the hell was that all about in the forest anyways? The way the hunters had all been gathered in a circle together, the way they had stared coldly at her…it was like they were forming a little army against her. An army led by Jack. To what, take her down? Were they out of their minds? In their current situation, living on a remote, deserted island, going against each other was not the best plan.

He's really an ass, Annabelle thought. A classic icy-hearted, irritating, son-of-a-bitch asshole. He couldn't even take care of them properly. Every day since the wipeout, his group had gone out hunting. For some bizarre reason, the hunters had regained their strength almost immediately, and become even more enthused about killing the pigs.

Jack was also obsessed with Mathalina-when he wasn't out in the forest, he was hanging around the girl 24/7. How was he supposed to even substitute for Annabelle when he was too busy chasing her around? Not to mention, Mathalina didn't reciprocate his feelings; that much was obvious. It gave Annabelle a headache, just thinking about the boy. He was corrupt, and he was selfish-clearly not a potential leader. And it annoyed her, the way he was always trying to take her place, fighting over everything. He just had to disagree with all of her ideas, just for the sake of being better than her.

She knew she had to get back on her feet soon. If she didn't, everyone's lives were at stake. Jack didn't care about the rest of them. He only cared about himself. Which meant that whatever they killed, whatever resources he found, weren't about to be shared. There were only 16 people left, and Annabelle was determined to get every one of those people home.

She made a mental list in her head of the remaining survivors: Herself, Jack, Roger, Joelle, Maurice, Ruby, Rosaline, Caitlin, Lucy, Tessarose, Austen, Thayr, Hazell, Fillip, and Sébastien. It would be easier to keep track of them all, since she knew each of them. Then she swallowed hard. Since she knew them by name, knew their faces-it was going to be much more painful to see anything happen to them. So now it was of the utmost importance to keep them alive. After everything that'd happened, Annabelle felt like it was her responsibility to do so.

But now, just for now, she needed to rest. The last few days she had spent either crying or losing sleep thinking about all of the problems they would soon face. Who was she kidding, to think she could lead a bunch of stubborn teenagers on her own? They wouldn't survive another month here.

Cold sweat ran down her back as she remembered the hunters' creepy gathering. And Jack, being absolutely horrible to Lucy. Ridiculously egotistic, as usual. But there had been something else, something more serious in his eyes, that bothered Annabelle. It had only been a glint, but the sincerity in his rough voice, his even icier glare, it almost frightened her. Almost. She wasn't the type to be frightened easily.

Still, there was something she had to watch very cautiously about him…very cautiously.

If she was any more emotionally unstable, she would say it was as if the "monster", from the jungle, was Jack himself.

She tried to sleep. But after that, it was just too difficult.