Piggy and Ralph waste time walking around the new curious place until dinner, which consists of roasted meats cooked on a giant bonfire, drinking coffee and tea that was grown in the farm area. The large group of boys laughing and cutting up, teasing each other about one thing or another.
"Hey newbie," a boy with silver running shoes on says after throwing a turkey bone far into some wood, not Roger, but some other boy with a less hardened face. "Come over here to the grappling patch," he starts toward a sandy spot in the grass and makes a wrestler's pose. Ralph looks to Piggy who is sitting next to him.
"Go," he says. Ralph jumps up from his seat, walks over to the sand, and takes a pose. Before he knows it he gets tossed to the ground and put in a choke hold. All the boys are standing around the two grappling boys, cheering: "Get 'em, get 'em Maurice!" Ralph grabs Maurice's wrist and escapes from his hold. "Good job," Maurice says, then slips Ralph's leg right out from under him. Ralph finally calls that he is done when Maurice started choking him with his own arm.
The Gladers turn in for the night, Piggy gets Ralph a bed roll to sleep on the floor in the house with, next to Samneric and Bill. With curiosity, he peeps through the windows at the great stone doors, sliding shut with an awesome grinding sound. Large metal spikes on the right wall, going into the corresponding holes on left. He lays back down after the sight. What would such thing be built for? He asks himself.
"Wake up noobie," Bill shouts, kicking Ralph.
"You don't have to kick," Ralph snaps, surprised at himself as he rolls up his bed.
Ralph follows Samneric to the kitchen shelter house for breakfast of brown rice and pink plums. He looks over toward the house and sees Jack and Roger walking towards the kitchen area.
"Hey, Ralph, finish your breakfast. You got work to do," Jack shouts, leaning against the table Ralph is sitting at. Now, he didn't need to tell him twice because Ralph was starving.
After eating the rest of his food and follows Jack to the farm area. Full of pigs, cows, chickens, and crops to eat. Jack slams a bucket to Ralph's chest.
"Milk the cows, collect the eggs, fertilize the plants with the manure. Come find Roger when you are done, he'll tell you what to do next," He says in an unimpressed tone as he starts toward a wood to the east.
Ralph gets a small splintery stool from the tool shed next to the barn. Someone should have thought these lads some basic carpentry. He thinks and goes to work milking the cow. Every now and again the cow exhales hard and looks around, as if it sees something.
"What's wrong Bessy." Ralph gets up and looks around the corner of the barn, but sees nothing. He turns back around and gets tackled to the ground by some sickly looking boy with gray skin.
"Jack! He not what he seem!" he shouts almost sounding unable to breath. Bleeding from his mouth.
Ralph grabs the stool and smashes it across the insane boy's head. It doesn't shake him. He just keeps screaming into Ralph's face.
"Help! Someone help!" Ralph shrieks, feeling his stomach churn and flip in fear.
It was all a flash of light to Ralph. Jack came running up, grabbed the back of the crazy boy's head. Kneed him in the head really hard. Hard enough to make a loud popping sound. The sick boy sprawls on the ground like a ragdoll. Ralph notices how he looks quite a bit younger than himself.
"Bill! Get over here," Jack shouts with a hint of fear. Bill comes running up and picks up the crazy boy who is knocked out.
"I'm telling you. We gotta banish him," Bill says with the knocked out boy over his shoulder.
"Let me think about it," Jack replies as he helps Ralph up from the grass. "We'll hold a vote. Majority vote wins."
"What is wrong with that kid?" Ralph asks out of breath.
"He went through the changing. It is what happens when you go outside the walls, and get stung by one of the beasts," Bill replies, readjusting the unconscious boy on his shoulder.
The four start back towards the house, Jack tells Ralph to take the rest of the day off because of his scare, while Bill throws the knocked out boy into the slammer. He lands on the frumpy arm chair and it smashes into several pieces.
"Please let me out!" He shouts when he wakes up a second later.
"Percival! get away from the gate!" Jack snaps as he whacks Percival's hand with a switch stick. The sickly boy starts shrieking like crazy. Bill smashes his fingers with a wooden club really hard. Percival cowers in the corner of the slammer next to a rat skeleton.