Well, would you look at that, another chapter... and you're still here. This chapter will focus on Alpha Squad working on the shelter the same time Beta Team worked on weapons.
"Uh... um.. okay, I guess Alpha Squad will work on the shelter," Bart said, and thus the two groups dispersed.
The five members of Alpha Squad walked along the beach, looking for a location for the shelter. "Uh, where should we make the treehouse?" Milhouse asked. "How about this giant tree over here? It could be perfect for many stories of a treehouse." Lisa said as she pointed to a humongous tree near the beach landing campsite. Bart examined it and grinned. "Perfect!" he said. "Let's go find some branches," "I'll go find something to tie the branches together," Lisa said. For some reason he couldn't understand, Bart didn't want his starving sister to be in the forest by herself.
"Hey, Ralph, can you give her company?" He asked the dim-witted but kind-hearted boy. "Okay!" Ralph answered happily and walked over to Lisa. "I... ugh. Alright, come on, Ralph. Let's go find something for tying branches," she sighed. "Okay!" Ralph repeated and followed her into the woods. Bart looked at the two remaining Alpha Squad members, Millhouse and Wendell. "You two are coming with me to find branches for the treehouse," he said. The two boys nodded and followed the leader into the island woods.
"The doctor said my ears would stop bleeding if I put my fingers out of there," Ralph said. Lisa was silently shuddering at that. Why would he pick his ears to the point of bleeding?? Her stomach growled, causing Lisa to clutch her stomach in discomfort. Your tummy sounds like the angry dog that tried to eat me," Ralph said, having noticed Lisa's uneasiness. "I know, Ralph," Lisa said. "I haven't eaten since we left for the trip around three days ago." "We had some yummy pig earlier and yesternight, why didn't you eat any of that?" Ralph asked Lisa, he must have forgotten she was a vegetarian. Yesternight? Lisa thought, Are you kidding me!? YESTERNIGHT!? "That's because I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat meat," she replied. "Why?" Ralph asked. "Because I think it's inhumane," Lisa answered. "Why?" Ralph asked again. Lisa murmured loudly like her mother as Ralph continued to ask her meaningless questions.
"All right, men!" Bart announced to Milhouse and Wendell. "Let's go find the best damn branches for the treehouse!" Sir, yes, sir!" Milhouse said and ran off to look for the best branches he could find. Bart and Wendell looked at each other and shrugged.
Milhouse looked all over the ground and picked up as many sticks as possible. He ran back to the beach where the tree was and put them in a pile for Lisa and Ralph, and he ran back into the woods to find more sticks. Millhouse stopped to catch his breath. He wanted to get as much sticks as possible as he wanted to contribute so much to the group. He didn't want to be seen as useless as he always had been. He looked up and saw a tree with many branches that would be perfect for the treehouse. "Bullseye!" He said to himself and started to climb the tree. Except, the blue haired boy forgot one thing. He couldn't climb a tree really well. Yes, he could climb a tree house, but not a normal tree! There was a big difference between the two!
For the first time in his life, Milhouse did not give up and began to try climbing the tree. It took over five minutes for Milhouse to climb up two feet, and he was already getting exhausted. Eight more minutes had passed and Milhouse had climbed up near the top of the tree with six large branches in his mouth. He had grabbed many branches them and put them in his mouth as he was climbing up the trunk. He found one more perfect branch. Milhouse reached his arm out to grab it and started to break it off. Suddenly, he heard a voice whisper to him. "Milhouse..." it said. This startled the boy as he fell from the tree. The branches in his mouth and the one he was reaching for fell down onto the forest floor with him. "Ow!...My glasses..." he said weakly.
Bart and Wendell had found enough branches to make the floor of the treehouse while Milhouse was climbing the tree. They didn't say anything much to each other, except make a few exchanges on whether certain branches were good enough. They walked back to the beach where the tree was, noticing a pile of sticks. "Milhouse must have found some sticks already," Wendell said. Mm-hmm, Bart nodded in agreement. The two began sorting out the branches together to make the floor. Bart laid on the sorted-out branches to test his comfortability. "Wow," he said in a dull voice. "This is very uncomfortable," he continued.
Wendell looked around to find some cushioning. He saw moss on some rocks and decided to scrape it off. "Here, try this," Wendell said as he handed the moss to Bart. Bart set the moss down on the branches and laid on it. "Oh, this is much better! Thanks, Wendell," he said, satisfied.
"Okay, Ralph, I got enough vines. What about y-.. RALPH! WHAT THE HELL!?" The two boys heard Lisa yell in the distance, the voice getting louder and louder as if she was nearing the beach. "These lines have pricklies!!" They heard Ralph whimper in pain. Bart and Wendell saw Lisa and Ralph emerge from the forest. Lisa had several long vines around her shoulder, while Ralph had vines covered in thorns around his whole body. "I specifically told you to NOT get vines with thorns in them!" Lisa yelled in frustration. "I'm sorry!" Ralph replied as he tried to get the thorny vines off of himself, yelping in pain in the process. Bart and Wendell walked over to help Lisa get the thorns off of Ralph. It took them well over three minutes to remove all of the thorns. "I'm still covered in owies!" Ralph whined. "They'll go away soon, Ralph," Lisa said, trying to calm down from frustration.
Just as the four kids were about to work on building the shelter, Milhouse emerged from the forest carrying several large branches. I got giant sticks, he said, seeming to be out of breath. Lisa examined the branches Milhouse had arrived with. "Actually, these will be perfect for the shelter," she said. Milhouse perked up by hearing Lisa's words. "R... Really?" he questioned. "Yeah, here, let's set 'em down to line them up with the wood we have," the starfish-haired girl answered. Milhouse's heart skipped a beat as she took the branches from his arms, albeit struggling a bit due to the weight. EVERYTHING'S COMING UP MILHOUSE!! He thought, the strange whisper he had heard earlier was gone from his mind.
45 minutes have passed. The floor and one of the walls for the treehouse were completely done. Many branches were placed in rows and were tied together using the vines, the branches Milhouse found being used as the outline. Moss covered the floor branches for cushioning. The five members of Alpha Squad looked at the platform and wall for a moment as it was settled on the giant tree. "Man, that took so long," Bart said, breaking the silence. "Well, duh," Lisa said to her brother. "It's going to take a while to build stuff like thi-" She was cut short by a loud grumble. It was her stomach demanding for food that Lisa didn't have enough of for quite some time. Lisa whimpered as she clutched her stomach. Bart, Wendell, Milhouse, and Ralph looked at Lisa's discomfort in worry.
"What's wrong?" Milhouse asked. "I haven't eaten anything filling since we left for the trip that got us here on this island." Lisa answered. "Before you say anything, I'm not eating that meat!" she snapped. So you wanted to starve and die out here? Bart questioned his sister. Lisa looked at her brother, but didn't answer. Instead, she walked towards the forest entrance and said, "I'm going to find another slime rock. Continue working on this shelter without me. Don't even think about following me."And so, Lisa disappeared into the woods. The four boys looked at each other and then started to work on the next wall for the shelter.
"Bart, are you going to do something about it?" Milhouse asked his best friend. "About what?" The Simpson boy asked back. "About Lisa's... hunger issue," Milhouse answered. Bart paused for a second and sighed. "Yes, I am. I'll think of something. Just don't tell her. She'll get pissed." Milhouse, Ralph, and Wendell silently gasped at Bart cussing. "You said a naughty word!" Ralph cried. Bart rolled his eyes. Oh, please, he said. I've heard far worse words. Let's just work on this wall before she gets back. He continued to align the branches together. Ralph and Milhouse helped line the branches together with Bart, while Wendell tied the connected branches with the vines.
Several minutes have passed and the wall was done and place with the other walls of the treehouse. It took much longer because Lisa wasn't there to help. Bart was secretly getting worried that his sister hadn't come back yet. He was about to go and search for her until she emerged from the woods carrying a slime rock. Lisa was struggling with the weight, but she set the rock down as soon as she reached the beach. Her body was slightly shaking, whether it was from carrying the rock or her starvation, the boys couldn't tell, and they decided not to ask. "Sorry it took me a while," Lisa spoke. "It was difficult finding a slime rock." She examined the finished wall that was added to the treehouse. "Huh," she said, impressed. "You did a good job doing that without me," she continued. "Well, we actually just finished when we got here," Wendell said. Lisa nodded slightly. "I see. What are we doing now?" She asked. Alpha Squad looked at their leader on what to do next.
Bart thought for a moment. "Well," he started, "We've made a lot of progress building the treehouse. I say we take a break and see how Betty Team is doing," he said. "It's Beta Team, Bart, not Betty," Lisa corrected. "Right, right," Bart said, not really caring. "Let's just go back to the campsite," he said. Millhouse, Ralph, Wendell, and Lisa followed him back to the campsite where Beta Team was waiting for them, Lisa carrying the slime rock with her.
Lisa set the rocks some distance away from the other kids. Milhouse and Ralph were eating leftover boar for lunch while Bart and Wendell laid on the sand to sunbathe, along with the rest of Beta Team. She started eating her "lunch" as she scowled at the other kids. She couldn't bear watching them eat that defenseless boar. There they were, having the time of their lives, eating meat and having full stomachs. There she was, licking slime off of a damn rock and having an empty stomach. There was a caged animal inside of her, fighting to be freed.
Normally, Lisa would allow a caged animal to be free, but this animal was different. This animal inside of her was more of an inner beast that represented the desire to eat meat again, to be a savage like the other kids, to be an animal. Lisa couldn't let this beast escape from its cage. She won't! It would go against everything she stood for! Lisa had to stop licking the slime not long after. Her tongue was getting numb from the rock, and she could have sworn she was tasting blood in her mouth. So instead of continuing to lick the slime, she laid right on the warm sand beneath her and started the sunbathe like the other kids. The warm rays of the sun, the sound of the ocean shore, and the smell of sea spray unintentionally lulled Lisa to sleep, the inner beast not fighting for the time being.
Several hours had passed, and the sun was now setting. The rest of the afternoon was mostly uneventful compared to that morning. Alpha Squad had finished building the shelter. It was safe to say that it was much more successful than Bart and Nelson's first attempt when the kids first got stranded. It was surprisingly big enough to fit all ten kids, although some of them would have to sleep on top of each other, but they'd worry about that later. The kids mainly played along the beach, as if they never hunted and killed a boar that morning, and attempted to build sandcastles that failed because they had no buckets. At one point, when Milhouse was asleep, Sherri and Terri buried his body in the sand, except his head of course, and turned the surrounding sand into a mermaid.
Flashback...
Sherri and Terri spotted Milhouse sleeping on his back right on the sand. He was dead asleep, not going to be waking up anytime soon. The twins looked at each other in mischief. Sure, they wanted to be their own separate people, but it wouldn't hurt to do something mischievous together from time to time. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Terri asked, looking at her twin. "I am thinking what you're thinking," Sherri answered. They both looked back at the sleeping Millhouse and grinned evilly.
Milhouse woke up to hearing snickers around him. He opened his eyes only to see the other kids laughing right at him. "Wh-What's going on?" he asked. "The twins gave you a new makeover!" Lewis said between laughs. Milhouse raised a brow, confused by what Lewis said. He realized he could barely move, as if he was buried in sand. He looked down at the sand and screamed, "AAAAAAAHHH!!!!!" His face completely red. The scream only causing the kids to laugh even more, the sand covering Milhouse was shaped to be the appearance of a mermaid's body, including a seashell bra! "You make such an ugly mermaid, Milroy!" Nelson laughed. Milroy? Well, it was better than being called Dingus. "Oh, how much I wish I had a camera right now!" Bart said. The kids started to walk away, laughing and leaving Milhouse behind.
"Uh, guys?" He called out. "Can you let me out now? I can't feel my body... Guys?"
Milhouse was eventually dug up from the sand mermaid... two hours later. He had to continuously move his body around to get the blood circulation through his body again. Once all of the blood got back to his body, Milhouse joined the other kids around the campfire to eat the rest of that fat boar they killed that morning for dinner. Well, almost all of them.
Like last night, Lisa sat off to the side, a distance away from the other kids. She was shaking like crazy, not because she was shivering, but because she's been starving for almost four days now. Oh god, her stomach was probably going to digest itself any second. The inner beast was continuing to claw and thrash at the cage. The smell of cooked meat was making things much worse. Lisa gritted her teeth and brought her face to her knees, tears threatening to well into her eyes. She was going to die out here, wasn't she?
No slime rock, Lise?" Lisa suddenly heard a voice say. She looked up. It was Bart. He must have come over to see how she was doing. Not something he'd usually do at all. "No," Lisa answered. "It's not filling at all, and my tongue's been getting numb. I think I tasted blood at one point," she said. Bart secretly grew more concerned, something Lisa noticed but decided not to point out. Bart sighed. "Lisa," he started. "I know you're gonna say no, but-" He was immediately cut off by Lisa, who started to back away. "NO!" she shouted. I'M NOT EATING THAT MEAT!" Bart rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to help you out here! You're clearly starving!! You clearly want to eat that food!!" He yelled back. "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!" "I CAN AND I WILL!!"
The eight other kids looked at the two Simpson kids bickering at each other in shock. They'd seen them physically fight each other, but not bicker to the point of screaming matches. In fact, they've never seen Bart be concerned about her. "WHY DO YOU WANT ME TO GO AGAINST MY BELIEFS!?" Lisa questioned, continuing to shout. "BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU AS A SIBLING AND I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE OUT HERE!!" Bart yelled at the top of his lungs.
That did it. Lisa as well as the other kids stared at Bart wide-eyed. Everyone was completely silent. The only thing being heard was the crackling of the campfire in the distant ocean shore. Even Bart himself was surprised that he admitted about his worries. He took a deep breath and said a little more calmly, "Lisa, just take one bite. It's all I ask of you. If you don't like it, then just go eat some leaves or something. Please, just one bite," he said. Lisa continued to look back at her brother in surprise. This did not sound like him at all. She wanted to protest again, but her stomach was growling like crazy. The beast was getting enraged. Lisa thought for a long moment. He was right, though. She would die out here if she didn't eat the provided meat. Would she choose her beliefs over her own survival? She could live to see another day. She could live to when they could get rescued. Yes, she wanted to live. She wanted to forget about this island and when she ate meat when they will hopefully get rescued one day. Besides, other animals ate meat anyway.
Lisa let out a deep breath. "Okay," she said quietly. "I'll... I'll have a bite of meat." It sounded so strange to her to say. Bart smiled slightly and the two siblings walked back to the group where the others were, continuing to eat the rest of the boar. There was no turning back now.
Lisa sat next to Bart around the campfire. Bart handed her a piece of cooked meat. She shuddered at the texture. This was the first time she'd touched meat ever since she became a vegetarian. Her stomach was growling like crazy, along with the inner beast. The cage was starting to break. Lisa took deep, several breaths. She noticed the other kids had stopped eating and were looking at her. "Don't look at me!" She snarled. The nine kids immediately stopped looking directly at her and continued to eat, although they were looking at her from the corner of their eyes. Lisa's heart began to race. She squeezed her eyes shut. Let's just get this over with, she thought. And, with an internal leap of faith, took a bite out of the boar meat, chewing it profusely and letting it go down her throat and into her stomach. The beast she had been trying to keep away for such a long time had finally broke free from its cage.
Tasting the remnants of the meat in her mouth, Lisa's eyes shot wide open, her mouth slightly agape. She stared down at the meat in her hands for a long minute. The kids looked at her confused. "Uh, Lisa?" Bart said to his sister. Then all of a sudden, Lisa began to ravenously eat the rest of the meat in her hands as if she were a wild animal. Lisa then grabbed the remaining meat of the boar and began to swallow it down, her stomach finally satisfied after days of nothing. The kids, including Bart, could only stare in shock. "You were right, Bart!" Lisa said. "I was a fool for being a vegetarian!" "Uh, I never actually said that," her brother said, although this comment was ignored. "Thank you for reopening my eyes! Taking that bite of meat reawakened something in me!!" Lisa said triumphantly. She grabbed some of the soot from the campfire and painted stripes underneath her eyes.
Lisa walked up and stood on top of a rock to look down at the group. The said group could only continue to look at her in surprise. "Everyone!" Lisa announced, "I'm officially leaving my vegetarianism behind! I will no longer obey the laws of the model UN! I will be one of you!!" The kids looked at each other in surprise, but then began to cheer and chanted, "One of us! One of us!" Lisa was not done with her speech just yet. "We are no longer members of the Model UN that happened to get stranded on an island! We are no longer regular school students! WE ARE ANIMALS!!!" Lisa shouted.
The kids looked at Lisa and each other in confusion again at what she said. Lisa looked at them and said, "I meant it as a good thing," The kids then continued to cheer. The ten formal Model UN members and former elementary school students howled and cheered like wild animals around the campfire into the night.
Wow, quite an eventful chapter huh? Im honestly quite proud of that. Looks like Lisa's joined the dark side... and things will only get more crazy from here...