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Blinded by the Beast (A) (26k+ words)

TW: ‼️⚠️referenced/implied eye gouging, goreish, animal death, referenced/implied animal death, blood, violence, Jack in general⚠️‼️ (please let me know if I missed something)

Jack messes around with his spear too much and stabs himself in the eye. His eye has to be removed from the threat of potential infection. Vincent, my oc, is also there. I just forgot to mention it

Version A: contains the gore and violence

Version B: removes gore (the eye gouging part) but keeps the rest

Jack worked in silence, cutting away at his spear with precision. He huffed as the chunks of wood fell to the ground beside his feet. Jack looked up from where he was, looking up at the pale blue sky; the sun was shining down hard on him. He could feel the sunburns on his skin screaming to be let out of the sun's stare, but Jack stayed, ignoring what his body was telling him. Jack huffed as he looked back down at the spear in his red, freckled hands. He tightened his grip before wincing from the sunburns reacting to his skin stretching. Jack muttered angrily, which was rendered incomprehensible from the sound of the littluns playing loudly behind him. He had told them to shove off or shut up earlier, but it failed to work as the littluns only got louder and more rowdy. Jack glanced behind himself before glaring and turning back. The redhead adjusted the hunting knife in his hand and got his spear into position before he continued cutting at it. He watched as the wood shavings fell with a face full of pride and determination. Jack mumbled something about almost being finished with an arrogant smirk spread across his face. He cut away for a few seconds before pulling back and falling on his behind from the lack of balance. Jack’s hair fell onto his face as he sighed in relief, the feeling of his calves relaxing after being in the squatting position for so long was excruciating. He leaned back with his hands dug into the ground to stop himself from falling backwards again. Jack tilted his head back to look behind himself, the littluns still joyfully playing together, their clay markings became smudged the longer their playing went on. He sighed and looked back down at the ground in front of him where the spear laid. Jack had carved two pointed ends, like he had advised Roger; the technique first being used when making the sacrifice for the beast. The freckled boy smiled, not with arrogance this time, but with gratification. His hands were sore and weak, possibly having splinters in them; his palm having started forming calluses from the tiring work. Jack picked up his spear with the same grin as he began bounding to Castle Rock.

Jack strode towards his throne, as he called it, and settled himself down onto it with a wide happy smile. He propped the spear up by his side at a slight angle so as to not dull the tip.

“Hunters! Come here, there is an announcement to be made!” Jack declared as he saw the hunters gather up front. “I have made my spear sharpened at both ends, only the bestest of hunters do such things as I.” He boasted while motioning to the spear he held up in his right palm. Jack watched as the hunters muttered amongst themselves with several beaming up at him with inspiration. “I shall go hunting and catch a fat sow for us to eat to further prove my righteousness.” He suddenly stood up as the hunters cheered happily. Jack began to walk with obvious haughtiness, he heard footsteps behind him but didn’t care to look back, thinking it would just be a bumbling littlun. “Jack,” the person said, Jack recognizes it as the medic, “I don’t think this is smart, going off on your own and sharpening your spear.” The medic advised, slight concern in his voice. Jack turned to look at the fair-haired boy, “What are you, Piggy now? We don’t need another one of him…” he sneered. “You could get hurt, Jack.” Vincent paused, “what about the beast?”

“.. I don’t care, it won’t get me,” Jack spoke with brief hesitance before it turned back to arrogance, “it can shove off for all I care.” He grumbled and stomped off into the dark, creeper-filled jungle. The medic didn’t bother going after him. Jack walked silently before realizing he needed to redo his clay markings as it had smudged from being hunched over when making his spear sharpened. Being in the sun didn’t help either, as it had dulled the colors. Jack huffed quietly as he walked over to a source he commonly used to collect clay from. It was small and the water looked foggy. He could see that small fingers dug into the ground to scrape out either mud or clay to most likely paint themselves with. Jack glowered down at the puddle before squatting down to scoop out some clay for himself. He felt the water wash away all the dirt and grime from his hands; it was a rather distasteful feeling, he pulled out his hands and shook them off for a split second before driving his hands back into the pool. Jack stirred up more of the dirt, disturbing it as it made the water harder to see into. He dove his hand in deeper before pulling it back up to reveal a maroon colored clay. He smirked with satisfaction as the clay dripped from in-between his fingers and back into the puddle where once was its home. Jack carelessly plopped it onto the ground beside his foot; he settled down onto his behind so his legs were no longer strained, wanting to keep them in prime condition for hunting and chasing pigs.

Jack looked down into the puddle at his muddled reflection with unsatisfied hunger. His smirk turned more into a blank expression, he was rather unsatisfied with his looks but just continued to stare down at himself, lost in thought. Jack prided himself on his ability to hunt rather than his physical qualities for a couple reasons he did not like to bring up often, or really at all. He shoved the upsetting thoughts into the back of his mind as he dipped his pointer finger into the dark clay before carefully rubbing it onto the areas where the dried red terracotta once was. Jack carefully went over the dull colors with his more fresh and vibrant clay; he let out a sigh as he felt the cool, thick terracotta spread across his bumpy nose, then his forehead next. Jack looked back down at his reflection in the puddle, seeing a version of himself he much preferred. He let out a groan before scooping up another glob of clay, seeing that he had brought up more maroon clay made his blank expression turn to more of a scowl of agitation. He dropped it down into the puddle before trying again; after several unsuccessful attempts, he finally got the white clay he was trying to get to. Jack’s smirk returned as he placed it to his left side, he silently huffed before getting back to work of going over the faded and dull terracotta he had put on his body several hours ago. He felt the dried clay crack as his finger went over it with a fresh coating of white.

Jack stayed there for a while until he was satisfied with himself, he picked up a piece of charcoal near the puddle and lazily went over the old, dull charcoal lines. This was one of the puddles the tribe uses for painting themselves with. The usage of the puddle was often as the charcoal in Jack’s hand was starting to crumble into small bits. He finished self-decorating and looked back at his reflection in the puddle to determine if he was satisfied with his retracing. Jack grunted softly before leaning back and placing the remains of the charcoal back where it was previously. It was practically dust. He hopped to his feet, almost slipping at the soft, squishy ground beneath him giving away. His face flushed but his embarrassment was hidden under the clay. Jack picked his spear up and treaded back into the forest with a smile of satisfaction. He listened to the leaves crunching beneath his feet as he made past the creepers; the thorns and vines held onto his remains of shorts as if begging him to not go any further. Jack ignored the clingy plants and crushed his way through the thicket, several thorns were stuck into his legs which made him wince slightly. He pulled a thorn or two out before giving up and mumbling something about needing to visit the medic sometime soon to get the insistent thorns out. Jack took a quick second to stop walking and examined his legs as if to check for bleeding; before he was able to finish his inspection and determine it was nothing serious, he heard a sound come from the thicket alongside small cries. He snapped his head to look at the sound before readying it, accidentally poking the underneath of his right eye but quickly brushed it off as the soft cries continued. Jack carefully positioned his spear to be pointed at the origin of the sound coming from the thick bushes, before he was able to throw his spear, a head with messy brown hair popped its way out the bush and looked up at Jack. A couple more heads of different colored hairs popped out the brush.

Jack’s face scrunched up in agitation, “What are you doing here?!” he yelled, his voice laced with contempt. He lowered his spear but still gave off an intimidating atmosphere, his spear just barely brushed against the ground as he stared them down. One of the hunters hesitantly made his way out the brush before tripping over and falling face first into the mud. Jack glowered down at the hunter before placing his foot on the hunter’s head, forcing it upwards. The hunter flinched before quickly bringing himself back to reality, “W-we jus’ wanted to go huntin’ with you, Jack. To catch a fat pig like you said, ye?” The hunter faltered, keeping his body low to the ground as he looked up at their seething, sunburned chief. “I told you right on that I was going hunting by myself!” Jack barked at the group who just looked down with shame and humiliation. He took his foot off the hunter’s head before quickly shoving the head away; the hunter stood up with a red face as he looked to the rest. “Get on with you lot!” Jack badgered, “don’t want to end up like Wilfred do ya now?” The hunters’ faces turned pale before they quickly scampered off at the threat. The hunters’ shoved and pushed each other out the way as they struggled going through the thicket. Jack watched the bushes until the movement stopped and the panicked voice got a distance away, just to be sure they were gone. He grumbled angrily before he continued making his way through the jungle, kicking a rock in the process which got a quiet hiss of regret from him as the spot on his foot he kicked the rock with swelled a slight. Jack looked down at his foot which already showed signs of bruising, he muttered another thing about needing to see the medic later.

Jack continued to grumpily trudge his way through the thick undergrowth in a huff. His mood had been soured from the interruption from the other hunters. Jack looked back behind him to make sure he was not being followed, before glaring again and turning back to the front of him, still salty about the whole situation. He walked in silence, lost in his own thoughts until he came across a hill. The hill itself was halfway in a meadow and halfway in the wooded areas; it loomed over the trees in its still silence. Jack felt as if he recognized it but couldn’t remember from where– was it from hunting– or was it one of the places the pigs had taken refuge to after Jack scared them off? He grew rather frustrated as he tried to remember but he just couldn’t for a reason he didn’t know. Jack grumbled incomprehensibly to himself while looking down to the ground, then he looked back up at the hill to try again. It wasn’t covered in mainly grass like most of the other hills were, it was mostly rocks and loose dirt covering the way. It had a large opening in the middle, like it had been cracked open by a sharp knife. The inside of it was filled with lavish bright blue flowers that glowed in the dark cavern, it hung across the rocks and it continued on until it had reached the bottom of the pit, the flowers glown brighter during the night. Piggy had told him, Ralph, and Roger back when everyone was together, that what they saw was the flowers glowing in the dark, luminescent as he called it. Jack didn’t really care about what it was, he just thought it looked interesting but not useful and moved on from it.

He huffed, not being able to determine what it was he couldn’t remember. Jack looked back up towards the hill before taking his first few steps towards it, he felt nostalgic but couldn’t place it. It made him more agitated than before. The feeling of not being able to figure out what he recognized made him paranoid in a way, the unknown always kept him on edge. Jack began to climb up slowly with spear in hand, it occasionally poking his face as it is one of the longer spears he had made. He ignored it as it wasn’t his main concern, he was completely focused on figuring out what was so familiar to him now. Jack pushed himself up onto a rock, throwing his leg over top of it before belly flopping onto it like a seal and hitting his nose on it. He huffed with embarrassment before glancing around to make sure no one was watching him once more. After he had confirmed no one saw, he quickly turned back to his main focus, going to the top of the hill. Jack looked upwards in an attempt to determine how much farther he had to go, he glanced down to the next rock stuck into the side of the hill and continued his way up.

He sat down to catch his breath for a second and continued his way upwards with a focused and determined face. Jack rested his body against a soft patch of grass at the near top of the hill, he could not go any farther as he would fall into the opening of the hill. He looked down into it with a curiosity, he watched as the flowers hung down the rocks and would sway whenever a breeze made its way down. Jack began to stand up, his legs shaking slightly from the lack of balance he had before he looked down into the deep, dark cavern. He began to regain his balance, but not fully, his legs had a slight tremble which went neglected. Jack looked down into the cavern as an attempt to observe what was down there. His spear was pointed at such an angle that it would cause serious injury if Jack fell or moved the wrong way. He tried to make it feel like he was in control, the one to be feared, the predator not the prey with the way he stood. But there was this feeling that something was horribly wrong, his instincts screaming for him to leave as he was in danger, yet he refused to cooperate, hopeless determination keeping him there. Jack refused to move as he tried to figure out what was the cause of this sudden paranoia. He watched the flow of the flowers to see if anything disrupted it, he then spotted a shape. Jack’s face went white underneath his sunburns, paint, and freckles. An imminent sense of dread washed over him as he had spotted the thing he’d least wanted to come across, especially since he was by himself.

Jack lost balance from his legs giving out and tripping backwards, he lost control of his movements and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right eye before a warm liquid began to roll down his face, which was identified as blood and eye fluids. He felt tears beginning to leak from his eyes at the agonizing pain. Jack fell onto his back, only causing the pain to worsen. He still had a grip on his spear, which had stabbed him right in the middle of his eye; his pupil. Jack had adrenaline running through his veins, he ripped the spear out without thinking all the way through. He let out a sharp cry mixed with a scream, the small barbs he had put into the spear had only made it even worse. One of the spear’s ends had some missing barbs and were covered in blood and another unknown clear fluid that he would guess was from his eye. Jack began to sob as he scrambled to get up and run, his legs struggling to support him until he got another rush of adrenaline. He ran until he couldn’t, tripping on rocks, tree roots, and slipping on the ground beneath him. Jack slammed himself into trees and branches as he covered his eye with one hand, it was beginning to be covered in a dark black liquid too. His cries became high pitched, his voice becoming one with the squeals of a scared injured piglet. Jack rushed through the thicket, not caring for the scratches beginning to form on his arms and legs.

He finally broke through the shadows in the forest and into the light of the sun. The warmth of the sun engulfing his body and hitting his skin, his untouched eye struggling to adjust to the light and heat as he was just in the cold darkness of the forest. Jack’s weeping grew quiet as the disorientation threw him off balance. His wails suddenly picked up again at the sight of others. “Help! Get the medic!” Jack cried out which the other boy drew attention to rather quickly. A couple biguns, Robert and Bill, approached with fearful expressions, “Jack? What had happened to you?” Bill whispered as Robert ran off to go grab Vincent. More boys approached at the commotion, littluns saw and began to tear up at the sight. “The beast! It a-attacked me!” Jack hiccuped, as more blood ran down in between his fingers. Bill’s face quickly paled as he watched, not being able to reply out of fear and shock. Bill begins to speak, but is quickly cut off by the wailing of the littluns and the rushed footsteps of the other boys. “What happened?!” One of the hunters, Harold, asked, but it came more as an unintentional command. Bill was a tad taken aback but quickly got over it. “Jack says he got attacked by the beast!” Silence washes over the boys, only quiet murmurs and the choked sobs of littluns could be heard. The silence was rather quickly interrupted by the panicked footsteps of Roger, Robert, and Vincent. The medic rushed over to Jack and motioned for Roger to come help him out, Roger quickly got to it and supported Jack as the three made their way inside Castle Rock. The medic looked down at his feet to keep himself steady, ignoring the waves that crashed against the shoreline. Jack continued to bawl with tears, blood, sweat, and snot running down his face.

The medic led the way to his medical area, as he called it, and set Jack up sitting up against a wall. Vincent removed Jack’s hand so he could see the wound properly, which received a quiet hiss from the injured bigun. His face scrunched up at the gruesome sight but quickly got over himself when he remembered how much distress Jack must been in. Roger stood behind the medic with a curious expression, he looked over Vincent’s shoulder to get a look at Jack’s face, he watched with a curious unexplainable interest. “Roger, care to grab a… um, one of those cloths for me?” Vincent asked with a panicked tone of voice, he pointed aimlessly in a direction to signal he wanted some of the old black capes he reused as bandages. Roger looked to where Vincent was pointing, as it was in a rough direction of where the scraps of the choir uniforms were. He walked over quietly, the sound of quiet tip taps from his feet being one of the only things heard alongside the sound of Jack’s cries and whimpers. Roger picked up one of the longer straps that could properly wrap around someone’s head. He looked back over to the other two; his overgrown black hair moving to cover an eye of his own. Roger tilted his head back, letting the hair fall back to its usual position, but as soon as he turned his head back down, it got back into his face. He didn’t bother with fixing it, though it did leave a slight frown on his face as he walked back over to the startled fair haired boy. Vincent snatched the black cloth from Roger’s hand with a little mixed murmur of both an apology and a ‘thank you’ which went unnoticed given the current circumstances. Vincent began to wrap it around the right side of Jack’s head, who was looking rather out of it. The medic leaned back a bit and examined the redhead to make sure he hadn’t missed any injuries or any such things of the matter.

Vincent looked down to the sight of Jack’s legs and saw the amount of thorns sticking out his skin, he correctly guessed that Jack had previously ran into bushes full of thorns in his panic of getting back to Castle Rock in one piece. He let out a soft sigh before looking back to Roger and doing a quick motion with his fingers that Roger swifty picked up on. The dark haired boy walked back to the pile of scraps before picking up another piece, it being much smaller than the previous one which was being used as a wrapping around Jack’s head. Roger balled up the cloth in his hand before tossing it into the medic’s lap. Vincent flinches from the unexpected move but smooths over his annoyance with the thought of helping their leader, Jack. The medic glanced behind himself. “Roger,” he mumbled as he looked at the other boy, “care to get me some water?” The darker boy had a frown on his face but gave a quick nod, he didn’t have much to say on it as the leader’s health was on the line afterall, and dealing with Jack’s wrath once he would be able to pull himself back together was one of the last things he wanted to face on the bustling yet heartless island. Roger tiptoed his way past the two boys and made it to the opening of one of the caves connected to Castle Rock. The light showed its way down on him as he left the depths of the shadows, he looked back into the darkness; he could see the medic shuffling around in there. He could never understand how Vincent worked so well in his medical area, thrived, if you will, as he couldn’t see too much and the cape scraps were already hard enough to find as they blended right in with their dark coloring of the cave. Roger looked back down at his feet with a hum before he slowly made his way downward the slope that led up to the main areas in Castle Rock. The loose rocks beneath him crumbled and fell into the crashing shore that lay just a few feet below. He was surprised no littluns had killed themselves trying to make their way down or up the slope, at least none that he knew of.

Roger brushed his hands against the wall as small rocks glided against them, some of the sharper ones trying to slice but only leaving a minor scrape that could be easily checked off as harmless. He looked back downward with a frown, now realizing that he had forgotten to bring a piece of cloth along with him. Roger looked back upwards to the opening he came from before he began to climb his way back up. He walked back into the mouth of the cave and swiftly walked past the ruffled medic to grab some cloth before making his way back out. Roger walked down the steep-ish slope and to the shoreline as the water crashed against the rocks with hostility. He held out the cloth which was quickly greeted with a splash of water and quickly drenched. Roger looked back down into the water and reminisced about when Samneric had caught an unlucky pufferfish on one of their spears while they were trying to catch fish to eat. He smiled and pushed back the humorous memory before standing up and making his way back to the medic. Roger slightly tumbled as he had made his way back up inside the caverns of Castle Rock with only having a single hand available for use. He attempted to keep it off the ground but it was halfway successful as he had slipped several times because he couldn’t fully keep his balance with his hand lifted a bit in the air. Roger managed to make it up successfully with the sea water soaked cloth in hand. He walked into the dark of the cave to go give the medic the cloth he requested.

Vincent had seated himself beside Jack, he had propped up one of Jack’s legs on a nearby stone to make it more accessible to the thorns stuck into him. He glanced to Roger as he heard the cloth be placed next to him, but then picked it up. The medic began to dab one of the swelling areas where a thorn had stuck itself into Jack’s calve; he carefully removed it with his nails once he deemed the area to be softened enough for the extraction. Jack let out a soft, tired hiss in pain as each thorn was extracted while Roger watched with some curiosity on his face. The medic placed each removed thorn onto a dry cloth so it will be much easier to expose of the thorns once he finished the job.

Roger heard a quiet coughing sound, he looked to the medic for an answer but got none in return as he was far too focused on the thorn removal. He hears the faint sound once more, his eyebrows furrow as he looks in the direction of the sound before deciding to finally ask, “What’s that sound?” The medic quietly hummed as he continued his work, he tilted his head upwards to look at Roger for a second. “It’s that charred boy you found in the forest with Maurice and Jack. His names’ Philip if I’m so sure.” Vincent glanced back down to his work on Jack’s calve, “the poor thing has been getting a bit better in my care, bless his little heart.” He answered without a hint of concern or worry, leaving Roger with some uncertainty about Philip’s health. Roger tilted his head to the side, which went unnoticed by the medic. Vincent finished up with Jack’s left leg and was now moving onto the other one, “Roger?” He quietly spoke up, his tone more gentle but still held some authority, “mind to dump out these thorns?” Roger frowned at the request, he felt like he was a child being told to do chores, “I’m not your little lapdog, medic.” Roger silently grumbled without true anger, he went onto grab the cloth full of thorns and toss it out the mouth of the cave and into the open sea. Vincent started to wrap up the little holes the uncomfortably large thorns left in Jack’s leg before moving onto the next one. He stood up and moved to the other side of Jack and placed another small piece of square-like cloth by his side as he went onto taking the thorns out of Jack’s right leg. Quiet hisses and whines escaped Jack’s mouth as the procedure went on. Vincent kept on with his work like he had completely forgotten about Roger who was watching with a slightly frustrated look.

The medic soon finished patching up Jack’s right leg after several minutes of removing thorns from Jack’s body. He stood up quietly with a cloth, holding countless thorns in it as he walked to the mouth of the cave and tossed out the prickled cloth into the thrashing sea. The cloth opened mid-air and sprinkled the thorns onto the surface of the water before it sank down into the depths. Vincent watched carefully before walking back into the dim area he was in before; back to Roger and Jack he was. The rubber of his tattered shoes dragged against the cold flooring of the cave. He walked back over; he saw how Jack let out quiet pained breaths. Vincent’s face was blank, it displayed no emotion to the eye besides from a frown which could just be taken as how his face rested naturally. “Roger,” the medic suddenly spoke up, “care to join me in checking in on the others?” He didn’t bother looking back as he already knew what Roger’s expression was from previous glances, he just had his eyes on Jack; he examined him as one would with an insect. Roger looked up at Vincent, “Shouldn’t we be watching over Jack–” “He won’t die if we leave him alone for a few minutes.” Roger frowned at the defensive response but said nothing, as he too wanted to see what was happening with the rest of the tribe. The medic began to walk away before he looked back to Roger “You following?” questioned Vincent, “Hm, s’pose so” Roger mumbled loud enough for the fair-haired boy to pick up on, as he stood from the stone he was sat on and began to follow after the medic.

The fair-haired and dark-haired boys made their way down the slope, Vincent gripped to the wall while Roger carelessly walked down behind him, knowing that if he tripped downwards the medic would lessen the fall. After several slips and almost tripping a couple of times, the medic made his way down safely with Roger following suit behind him. The gravel beneath their feet crunched as they spotted a crowd of boys that was supposedly the loyal tribe of Jack’s. Vincent’s eyebrows furrowed as he glanced back to Roger, who just gave a slight shrug in return. The two boys made their way over to the group; both boys blending themselves right into the crowd. “What’s happening?” Vincent questioned one of the biguns, “they are trying to decide who will lead the hunts now that Jack is dead.” The response caught Vincent off guard. “But he’s not dead. He’s jus’ injured.” He scowled before making his way further through the crowd, mumbling quietly, which went indistinguishable with the loud chatter of the other boys. He found that there were two boys arguing, t’was much more chaotic than how the first election had gone between Jack and Ralph. The boys could be identified as Maurice and Bill, Vincent could recognize Maurice’s bright green eyes from a mile away. They were arguing over who was the best hunter rather than who was the best leader. Vincent’s scowl deepened at the pointless and most useless bickering, until he heard a voice speak up from the crowd that could only be identified as Roger’s, “Let’s hold a vote as we did with Ralph and Jack!” The thought made the boys chatter turn to small murmurs; boys in the crowd glanced to each other with hesitation and slight curiosity. The murmurs soon turned to nods of agreement as the group turned to watch what Bill and Maurice shall do now. Maurice was quick to speak, “Vote for me if you want me to lead the hunts!” Several boys had raised their hands as he quietly counted up the votes under his breath. “Vote for me if you would rather me lead the hunts.” Bill piped up as he watched the majority raise their hands.

Bill smirked to himself while Maurice just frowned at the outcome. The agitation was clear on his face, but he said nothing besides some few incomprehensible grumbles that were overpowered by the murmurs and quiet cheers of the hunters. The littluns were still startled and upset from what had happened prior, the threat of the beast attacking and the injuring of their leader had been haunting their minds. Bill smiled arrogantly as he glanced to the brunette, whose face had gone a bit red from the loss. Maurice glared back in return, he walked off the fairly big sized flat rock they stood on and to the distressed littluns. The littluns were sat down on the ground, huddled together in the middle of the platform. They did not want to stay too close to the jungle from the fear of the beast getting them, it had progressively sprouted from the earlier hours. Maurice was able to recognize that those fears were warranted, but he felt as if it had gotten to be a bit much from the constant tears and sniffles. If one starts up, the others follow suit with their cries. Everyone was now done with the agitating racket of the littluns. He ignored the rocks stabbing into his feet as he considered he had much more to worry about than some half-sharp rocks in his way. Maurice made his way over to the littluns and leaned over to get closer to their level, looking down at them with a lack of concern. The littluns trembled; they did not recognize the boy standing in front of them. They did not recognize the once silly and friendly boy in front of them as he had turned cold right before their eyes. “Is there anything that could possibly make you lot feel better?” Maurice asked, it came out as more of a demand which startled the young boys. The littluns looked up at him with big eyes and quivering lips, before one of them had decided to speak up. “J-Jack?” One boy sniffled before wiping his snotty nose on his sleeve. “Jack isn’t here, he’s… Recovering.” Maurice spoke with some hesitance before pausing, “how about I get you littluns fruit, that ought to make you feel better.” The littluns looked to each other before one nodded in agreement. It triggered a mob mentality as the other littluns began to nod and smile. They had completely forgotten about Jack and what had happened. Maurice let out a sigh of relief as the sniffles and cries came to a hopefully long halt.

“Good, me n’ the rest of the biguns had been getting tired of the weeping.” Maurice added, “I’ll be right back to get some of ‘em fruit.” He pointed to one of the bushes that held the small fruit and treaded off to the nearest fruit bush in view that wasn’t too hard to get to and access. Maurice glanced back behind him, the group of littluns had calmed while Bill was caught up in a small speech of what he shall do now with his higher role. It was most obviously unplanned and was just rambling about how good he was at hunting, even the littluns could tell. Regardless of the chaos, the other boys took every word of it to heart besides a couple hunters that knew Bill too well. He snickered at the thought of how mad Jack will be to find his role had been taken over, especially by Bill. He was known as one of the hunters that tended to interrupt the hunts for minor things and throw the whole planned hunt off. Maurice looked back to the front of himself as he walked to the bushels of fruit that laid lusciously against the gorgeous green of the leaves, the smell was quite alluring. Two types of fruits on the bush, one was an olive-grey and jelly-like with a less than pleasant taste, while the other had a delectable smell and taste with a firm, pale yellow skin on the outside of it. He smiled at the thought of satisfying the littluns, how the others might thank him for shutting them up by feeding them their dinner for the night. Maurice stopped once the hard rock platform had been replaced with the soft dirt covered in damp green grass. He looked upwards; the fruit looked plenty ripe. Maurice reached out for one of the preferred fruits and snapped it off the covered stems that hid in the foliage. He gave it a slight squeeze to feel for any soft spots, he had been given a little lesson by the medic to not take the unripe or mushy fruits for the littluns. Maurice, of course, didn’t listen too well, until Vincent explained the bad ones will make the littluns' stomachs upset which will just lead to them crying and being loud. Maurice understood afterwards. He picked out several more sturdy fruit and placed them on the arm he would be using to carry them. Maurice looked to the littluns again to quietly count how many there were, so he could gather the proper amount of fruit for them.

He let out a quiet huff after counting them up before turning back and gathering the amount needed. Maurice took just a couple extras just in case the littluns were still hungry after eating their pick. He walked back over to the littluns, who let out occasional sniffles, but they weren’t as notable as they were previously. The littluns looked up at Maurice with bright eyes and joyful smiles as they saw the delectable fruit that were laid in his arms. A couple stood up to try and grab some right from his arms but he managed to avoid them as the littluns were too short and stout to reach his tall figure. Maurice squatted down to the ground and carefully laid the fruit down in front of them. The littluns eagerly grabbed and began to munch down on the juicy fruit. Their teeth broke through the skin and flesh of the perfectly soft fruit as the juice spilled down their chins. Maurice licked his lips with hunger as he rubbed his mouth to wipe away the drool beginning to form from the sight, he wasn’t hungry but that didn’t make the fruit any less desirable. The scent it gave off was delectable as the flesh was exposed to the air, the smell prior was good, but this was something else. He snatched up one of the fruits in the pile, which went unnoticed by the littluns, and bit into it without a second thought. Maurice’s eyes lit up with a gluttonous joy and he continued to greedily leave more bites in the fruit. Soon, the fruit was eaten down to the core. He tossed down the stem and wiped his mouth so no hint of drool or fruit juice was left on his lips. One fruit was able to satisfy him as he had fed his curiosity and his stomach at the same time.

Maurice felt his agitation from before melt away as he patted one of the littluns on the head, before looking back to the others and walking back to the group. Bill had just finished his speech and stood with his spear in hand and his head held high before looking back down to capture what the tribe thought of him. He saw scowls from the hunters and relieved smiles from the others, as they were glad that the leader spot was filled before chaos was able to break out.

Ralph and Piggy sat on a log across from each other underneath a palm tree which protected them from the yellow sun, hot above them. Ralph sighed quietly as he took a small bite into a fruit that Samneric had gathered in the early morning before looking back up to Piggy, who was in the middle of lecturing him for doing something stupid earlier in the morning. Ralph watched with his eyes glazed over, not even attempting to make it seem as if he was listening to Piggy’s rambles. He looked down back at the fruit with a mellow expression as he recalled memories from the night of Simon’s death. Ralph’s finger tapped impatiently at the fruit held in his hands, he looked back up to find Piggy looking at him with a stern expression. “Ralph,” Piggy remarked, “are you even listening to me?” Ralph quietly sighed before shaking his head, “S’pose not.” Ralph paused, “I’m thinking about.. You know, that night with Simon….” Piggy’s expression softened at the mention. “It’s not our fault that happened there, Ralph.” He hesitated, “we didn’t know that was gonna happen of all things.” Piggy insisted it was Jack’s tribe that was at fault, not them. Ralph just looked down to his feet without a response as he continued to fidget with the fruit in his hand. Piggy sighs as he watched Ralph’s sad expression before looking off to the side, knowing he won’t be able to convince Ralph otherwise as they had had this conversation many times before. Bushes beside the log began to shuffle and rustle, a couple leaves silently fell to the ground before a pair of two fair-haired heads poke out of it. The two boys are recognized as Samneric. Ralph’s expression changed to a more curious one as he saw that the two boys seemed to have something to tell.

“Jack–”

“He got injured–”

“By the beast!”

Both Ralph and Piggy’s faces turn to shock at the sudden news. “Jack’s injured??” Ralph exclaimed, the revelation was evident on his face. Piggy showed no less emotion than Ralph, before his face turned back to a stern look. “I knew he was ought to hurt himself out there.” Piggy muttered loud enough for the other boys to hear. Ralph glanced to Piggy before looking back towards Samneric, “What’s the injury?” he whispered.

“His eye–”

“Right eye that is!”

Samneric answered back with a panicked yet rushed tone. They had not fully processed what had happened. “So.. He’s blind in that eye now, ye?” Piggy asked, his eyebrows furrowing at the thought. The two boys looked at each other before slightly shrugging. “We dunno, but probably.” Muttered one of the indistinguishable boys. “I’ll take that as a yes then.” Piggy mumbled, he always saw Jack as tough and expected him to get hurt in some way but not getting blinded. Ralph pondered for a moment, until the sudden realization came upon him. “That makes the beast real then?” He looked between Piggy and Samneric for some hope he was wrong. “H-He could’ve jus’ hurt himself and got embarrassed and ended up lying of course” Piggy doubted in an attempt of an explanation. Not either one of the boys wanted to believe it to be true. That the beast was real and a true threat. “I wouldn’t doubt that..” Ralph faltered as he looked down at his feet. A thin, pale yellow liquid dripped onto the ground besides his foot. He looked to see the origin of the dripping, he soon came to the conclusion that he had been gripping the fruit too hard in his anxiety. Ralph frowned before releasing the fruit in his grasp and looked back up at the group. He balled his hand into a fist before opening it back up, the sticky juice had begun to dry and try to stick his fingers together. Ralph quietly sighed as he repeated the motion a couple times subconsciously, as if testing the feeling, like he were trying to figure out if he were dreaming. “Ralph,” Piggy paused, “What‘re you doing?” His face displayed a confused expression as he tried to comprehend how Ralph was feeling. Ralph hums silently before looking back down at the fruit then back up at Piggy with glazed over eyes, “I dunno.. I just feel tired today, Piggy.”

“Must be the littluns, even with the small amount we have they’re still hard to care for, with Maurice gone and all..” Piggy huffed, unable to understand Ralph. Ralph didn’t say anything in response as he looked off to the side. The two fair haired boys beside them glanced to each other and said nothing, as they had nothing more to add. “Well, think of this, Ralph.” Piggy paused to wait for a reaction that never came, “we might not have to worry about Jack’s tyrannical power anymore now.” Samneric both looked puzzled. “Whats tyrannical mean?” Their question went unanswered as Piggy continued to insist. “H-He won’t be in power anymore, and I doubt if someone replaces him that they’ll be any worse!” Piggy’s jolliness was at fault for his stuttering, His expression had turned to one of joy as he picked up a fruit in the pile before carelessly biting into it. “Think about it, Ralph. This is really a good thing for us,” he went on, “we could take over there and potentially bring us back into one tribe.” Juice dribbled out of his mouth and down his chin. It quickly dried up as a breeze passed by the small group of boys. Ralph thought for a second before his eyes lit up, “that’s.. that’s not a bad idea.” He agreed, he smiled before he continued talking, “we could convince the littluns first maybe, like little sheep they are.” Ralph nodded as he talked of future plans to take back over what was once his. Piggy and Ralph smiled widely at each other while Samneric walked off to either go gather dry wood or to go nap with the littluns who are in the shelters. “Great idea you have, Piggy.” Ralph declared as he reached over to pat Piggy on the shoulder, which was more on the chest. Piggy’s face flushed red at the compliment as he waved his hand to pass it off as no big deal.

Night soon came to its peak, both tribes began to settle down into their dreams while two figures stayed up. Roger stood on the platform, looking back at the ocean as it tried to climb the rocks and reach his feet. He watched in silence until he heard the familiar sound of shoes scraping against the rock platform and pebbles being kicked out the way to not heed the shoes path. “Roger,” the voice identified as the medic, “I need help with something that might take interest to you.” Roger didn’t turn to face Vincent but he motioned with his hand for the medic to continue. “I believe we may need to remove Jack’s eye,” Vincent said before pausing to continue, “I know it’s only been a day but the threat of an infection is worrisome.” Roger perked up with interest and finally looked back to the fair-haired bigun. “How will the eye be removed?” He asked, the curiosity evident in his voice. Vincent hesitated, “.. Gouging, I’ll hold him down while you remove it.” His voice getting quieter near the end of what he had said, as if he didn’t want to face what will happen. Roger hummed, “Sure.” He backed away from the edge of the platform and turned around to face the medic once he was satisfied with the distance. “When shall we do it?” Roger mused as he made eye contact with Vincent who had hesitated at the question. “Now mayhap, everyone is asleep and you know how Bill is, sleeps like a log he does.” The medic simply stated with a nod alongside his proposal.

Roger walked toward Vincent before standing beside him, “Shouldn’t we start now?” Roger asked before he continued walking to Castle Rock. The medic didn’t answer but quickly followed after him. Roger led the way up the small slope up to the mouth of the cave to find Jack. Vincent kicked small rocks and gravel behind himself, looking back a couple times to watch it stumble down to the platform. The attempts at entertainment were just to distract himself from his next oncoming actions. The two boys contrasted each other’s physical forms like black and white, with Roger’s darker wardrobe and Vincent’s pale clothing. Roger stepped up to the mouth of the cave with the pale boy following behind him. The moonlight shone down on the two boys, calling them out in front of the cave. “I.. I need to do something first.” The medic muttered before quickly making his way into the cave, disappearing into the deep dark of the cave. He returned with a bandaged and sleeping littlun, Philip, who was resting against his chest in his arms. Roger furrowed his eyebrows, his confusion shown clearly on his face. Vincent looked up from the littlun back to Roger, “Need to put him with the other littluns, what if he wakes up and sees what we’re doing to Jack?” The medic explained his reasoning behind grabbing Philip, and made his way out of the cave without waiting for Roger’s response. Vincent walked down the slope to another opening in Castle Rock with the warm body against his chest, he looked down to see Philip drooling onto his shirt. His eyebrows contorted slightly in annoyance but quickly got over it as he walked into the area. He could hear the sounds of quiet weak breathing in the cave, it was coming from several different creatures in the dark. Vincent frowned as continued to walk in, he could hear the littluns crying and mumbling in their sleep. They had been really stirred up from Jack’s injury and his claim of being attacked. Few hunters laid asleep round the cave, being put on duty to protect the littluns from the beast. The littluns wouldn’t have stopped crying until they had been put under the protection of the hunters, a false security in Vincent’s track of thinking.

The medic walked nearby the hunters, his eyes had been long adjusted to the dark of the cave so he could make his way along it just fine. He squatted down, getting a small grumble in return from the littlun in his arms. Vincent laid Philip down next to the hunter after he unhooked Philip’s hands from his shirt. He adjusted Philip to be in a more comfortable position so none of his injuries would make contact with the floor and wake him up, that is one of the last things he would want in this situation. He dusted off his shirt before standing back up again, looking down at the small injured littlun. Vincent recollected how he first met Philip, it was just a couple days after the fire and Jack, Maurice, and Roger found Philip covered in burns. Piggy and Ralph took the littlun to the infirmary shelter which is when he first encountered Philip. He vividly remembered that it was Philip, given how major the injuries were compared to other ones he had treated previously, which were mainly scrapes and cuts. He also remembered Philip by the large mulberry colored birthmark on his face. The medic let out a soft sigh before mumbling about how he missed those times, before carefully stepping out of the cave and making his way back to Roger, who had been waiting impatiently for him.

The soft breaths of Jack could be heard, as the darkness wrapped around him like a blanket. He is in a state of deep sleep and appeared he would stay in that state for hours if left undisturbed. The medic took lead and sat down to the left of Jack, Roger followed suit by sitting to the right of the redhead. Roger quickly noticed that Jack’s clay markings had been washed off from his face but didn’t mention it. Vincent glanced back up to Roger with a knowing look before glancing back down at Jack. He noted that Jack was a lot paler than how he usually was, presumably from the lack of sunlight in the cave. Vincent slightly lifted up Jack’s head before reaching around to the back and carefully undoing the cloth that had once been carefully wrapped around to serve as protection for the eye. The medic peeled away the cloth, a damp circle was in the area where it was covering Jack’s eye. He knew what it was but chose not to say anything as he placed it down by his side. Vincent softly sighed as he looked back down to Jack. He leaned down a tad closer to the boy’s face before speaking, “Wooden splinters have embedded in his eye. I doubt the beast attacked him,” he didn’t bother looking back up towards Roger, “bet he jus’ accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his spear and it spooked him.”

The medic sat back up straight before looking back at Roger. “There, put your thumb there and try to push out the eye while I hold him down.” His voice slightly hesitated as he spoke, his uncertainty clear as day. The medic pointed to the fleshy pink bit just outside the white bulbous orb known as the eye, the pink bit goes by the caruncle which only he would know. Roger glanced at Vincent with a nod and placed a thumb where the medic had pointed. Jack let out a soft groan in his sleep but did not wake. Vincent stood up and walked into the dark before coming back with a fresher black cloth. Roger could barely see it, given it blended well with the shadows, it took him a second to register what the medic planned to do. Vincent sat down where he previously was and wrapped the fresh cloth around Jack’s left eye. “To blind and disorient him. So he can’t see us and know.” The medic answered Roger’s unspoken curiosity as he pulled his hands away from Jack. Roger gave a slight nod in return as he watched Vincent settle down on top of Jack’s midsection and pin Jack’s hands down carefully. He understood this as a way to stop Jack from moving during the procedure. Jack stirred slightly but did not wake. Roger looked up to the medic, waiting for the signal to start which was met with a brief nod. Roger looked down at Jack’s sleeping expression before he began to put pressure on the fleshy bit his thumb was pressed against.

Jack began to stir and whine a slight in his sleep yet he did not wake up until more pressure was added. He opened his eyes and saw a bleary figure looming over him, the spear had severely affected his vision in his right eye. Jack opened his mouth to ask what was happening until sudden pain erupted in his right eye. A choked cough left his mouth as his eye frantically looked around, which was met with more pressure against his eye. Jack tried to move his head away but a knee quickly met his lower jaw and pressed his head against the cold, rock floor. He coughed loudly as the knee was pressing against his throat. He tried to pull his arm away but it was just held down against the floor more by his wrist. A cold pair of hands were holding him down. Jack felt a warm liquid begin to roll down his face as the pressure had only gotten worse. The force was consistent as it increased more and more over the few seconds he could process things. Another choked sob came out as he registered his left eye unavailable due to the dark covering. His struggle increased as he felt cool air brush against the exposed area of his eye socket which was rather unpleasant and only made him feel sick. Jack tried to sit up which failed and the force only got worse and more of the chilly breeze met him. He convulsed as more warm liquid pooled down his face before feeling a small snap in the back of his head. Jack felt the cloth on his left eye being soaked, he was crying real tears. His jaw trembled and his stomach tightened as he felt his eye be emptied from his socket. Jack gagged at the foreign feeling as his vision went black in his right eye. He was still being held down as the threat of vomit made its way up from his stomach and to his throat. Jack gagged once more and the pressure on his midsection, wrists, and throat was quickly removed. Slight relief spread through him which was easily overpowered with pain.

He felt the cloth around his eye being removed. Jack was met with the sight of Vincent and Roger looking right back at him, they had settled to his sides, with the medic on his left and Roger at his right. He felt disoriented and confused but vomit had spilled out his mouth before he could properly speak. Roger’s face scrunched up at the sight, and saw the medic backing away slightly with the same expression as his, both sharing the same distaste for the sight. Roger followed suit and backed up a bit from Jack. He looked down to the squishy eye in his hand, it wasn’t exactly squishy but it wasn’t exactly inflexible either. Roger watched it curiously as he held it up to his face and gave it a slight squeeze, he saw a clear liquid mixed with a small drop of blood spill down out of it from the deepest part of the injury. Roger muttered about how amazing it was on how deep the spear had gone into Jack’s eye, it went ignored as the medic was wrapping up and treating Jack’s exposed, bleeding eye socket. Vincent had wiped up the vomit with a cloth from the pile and tossed it to the mouth of the cave, planning to toss it out to the ocean later when he had the time. The medic quickly stood up and grabbed his millionth piece of cloth and another just in case, getting tired of constantly going back and forth between the pile and Jack. He sat back down and began to wipe the excess blood from underneath the empty hole in Jack’s face before moving on to wipe off Jack's tears. Jack wanted to move but he felt paralyzed and was failing to recognize what was happening or going on around him. All he could do was cry, like a startled littlun. The medic could only wrap the cloth around Jack’s right eye like it was a bandage and try to coax Jack back to sleep. Roger didn’t bother to look up for anything longer than a minute, only glancing every now and then. He looked at Jack, slightly disinterested, before placing the fresh eye back into his pocket, as if it were something innocent such as a rock or something similar of the sorts. The motion went unnoticed by the other boys.

“W-Why did you.. you do that?!” Jack growled as more tears ran down his face. Vincent hesitated before looking back to Roger in hopes for some help, which was ignored. Roger was far too caught up in his interest in the eyeball, he had not taken his hand out his pocket. Just discreetly touching the eyeball so he won’t have to face the judgement of the medic and Jack. “Well.. I feared you would get an infection,” The medic faltered, “so Roger n’ I removed it..” Vincent fidgeted with his apron as he spoke, he looked down at his hands before looking back towards Jack, waiting for a reaction. Jack scowled in response as he readjusted his position to be sitting up. He rested his back against the cold, bumpy cave walls and continued glaring at the two boys. Silent tears went down his face, he stopped speaking entirely now, having grown tired from everything that had happened. The only sound being heard were quiet hiccups and sniffles echoing throughout the cave. Jack couldn’t help but cry, the pain was far too much for him. The medic looked behind himself to see if Roger was still there, “You can go now, I don’t think I need you anymore.” He muttered loud enough for Roger to hear. Roger didn’t mind being told to leave, it gave him more time to check out the eyeball and he had started to feel tired from all the energy that arose from the removal. With the fatigue setting in, Roger almost nodded off if he hadn’t started walking. The night completely washed over, darkness washing over everything that wasn’t in the moonlight’s range.

The morning sun rose up and covered everything in its reach. Vincent stirred awake, his stomach grumbled from hunger. The hunts had been failing and Bill’s popularity skyrocketed downwards. The several failed hunts over the days had left the tribe hungry, Bill’s failures had left a bad taste in their mouths and they craved to have Jack back. Jack’s recovery had been going well in the medic’s documentation of the now empty eye socket. He watched carefully for any sign of infection or something, anything to go wrong. The others would have figured the medic would’ve developed a couple grey hairs by now from how much he was stressing over Jack’s health.

Bushes rustled, Ralph walked through before he brushed off most of the leaves, too impatient to get the rest. He walked up to the fat boy with a determined look on his face, wanting to get a plan put together. “Piggy,” He spoke, and the other boy looked toward him, “how shall we get the others to join back into our tribe?” Piggy’s face lit up with an idea on the spot. “I know, Ralph!” He exclaimed suddenly with clear excitement in his voice as he told Ralph his idea, “the hunts over there aren’t going too well from what I’ve heard. Bill has taken over in Jack’s place.” Piggy got closer to Ralph. “We could start with the littluns and promise them food.” Ralph looked at him with confusion before interrupting, “Wait wait.. Start with what?” Piggy’s face flushed red with embarrassment at his failed explanation, “I meant to say Ralph, that we should go to the littluns of Jack’s tribe and convince them to join back into ours.” He continued, “we promise them food and protection, they listened to you well last time so they should join back if you tell them too.”

Ralph looked down at his feet, which had scrapes from the hidden rocks and shells in the sand that he stepped on too frequently. He thought for a second, “What good will anymore littluns do for our..” Ralph glanced around to the remains of his tribe that held up to a couple littluns and fewer biguns, “.. Tribe, the littluns can’t do anything to help us. At most they jus’ collect colorful shells and babble to us about cool fish they saw in the lagoon.” Piggy’s face began to turn to its normal shade, he fidgeted with his hands as he tried to come up with an answer. “Well.. If we get the littluns to join then the biguns might reconsider and join back with us, and then we can fulfill the promise of food to the littluns.” Piggy breathlessly went on, he let out a sigh once he had finished. Ralph watched Piggy before his expression softened, “That could work. Good job, Piggy.” Both boys smiled at each other, satisfied with the plan. “When shall we start, Ralph?” Ralph considered the question, his smile stayed. “Why not now? I don’t think we have much of anything else to do.” His hand motioned to their surroundings, showing Piggy how hopeless their main area was. Piggy fidgeted with his hands before pulling them away to his sides, he just nods in agreement with nothing more to say. Ralph gives a slight nod to show he shall be leaving to follow the plan they had made, “I’ll be back, with littluns.” Piggy just nodded once more as he watched him leave and go back into the foliage from where he was prior.

Ralph stepped in a thick puddle of mud, he shuddered at the feeling, but quickly pulled his foot out before it could sink in completely. He felt no annoyance besides the startle, as he cared for something else he deemed much more important. Ralph quickly made his way through the leafage, he could hear the giggles of some littluns and the whimpering of another. He approached quietly and crouched down before taking on the form of being on all fours. Ralph faced a bush in front of him, he moved slightly to the right to get a better view of what was happening. His eye peeked over the side and saw three littluns playing, the playing was cruel in the view of a matured adult. Ralph was able to identify the three littluns as Henry, Johnny, and Percival. Johnny and Henry were tossing rocks and pebbles at Percival, which would've been sand if they had the option for it, but Castle Rock had no sand nearby, just rocks and plantlife. Ralph frowned, he watched the pitiful sight of Percival’s whimpers turning to cries. Little bruises had begun to take color on his curled up form from the sturdier rocks. Percival ran off to Castle Rock, tripping over a couple times from not being able to see through the tears running down his cheeks. Henry and Johnny looked unamused as they knew he was going to run to the medic. Henry and Johnny looked at each other before muttering to each other about how Percival is no fun and does this every time they play together. The boys failed to realize the brutality behind their actions. Ralph glanced around one last time to see if any biguns were nearby, to his luck there were none.

Ralph quickly crawled his way over to the two with precision and caution, making sure that he would be able to have a route of escape if he was spotted. Johnny glanced over with curiosity and Henry looked over to Ralph after seeing Johnny’s expression. Ralph opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out, he hesitated before he tried speaking again. “I’ve heard your tribe has been having trouble gathering food.” He paused and waited for a response which he got two little nods in return from the boys sat in front of him. Ralph hummed, “Would you like to join my tribe, we have plenty of food so none of you could go hungry.” The littluns’ eyes brightened up at the thought of having all the food they could eat so they wouldn’t starve as they had been lately. The two boys, Johnny and Henry, nodded eagerly at the thought. “Good,” Ralph paused before coming up with an idea, a smile spread across his face, “now go tell the other littluns, we have plenty food for them too and you two could get the most you would ever want.” Ralph declared with an easy smile, it easily convinced them as they had shot up and quickly made their way over to the other littluns, who played with sticks and rocks. Johnny got over there quicker with his smaller and nimble body and started telling them. Henry got over there a few seconds after him and served as backup for what Johnny was saying. The littluns smiled joyfully and stood to go find Ralph to join back, their stomachs thinking for them in this time of gluttonous delight.

Johnny and Henry led the group back to Ralph, who happily smirked as the first part of the plan was a success. He lifted up his hand up to the height of his chest and began to count up all the littluns he had gathered. Ralph counted up to twelve littluns, he glanced back up to Castle Rock to make sure no biguns had spotted them, or him especially. He took a step back and made a motion with his hand for them to all follow him. Ralph turned behind himself and began to walk back to his camp with several small feet following behind him eagerly. The littluns whispered and giggled despite the attempts Ralph gave to shush them, he soon gave up as the littluns were far too jolly for their own good. Ralph approached closer to the camp, a littlun had taken hold of his hand as he was scared of the creatures that hid in the jungle. He pushes past a bush and the littluns follow suit and do the same as him, some kicking and trying to destroy it to keep it down. Ralph’s feet crunched against the sand as he makes his steps towards the main spot he keeps his tribe. The sound of twelve smaller feet against the sand follow behind. Piggy looks up from the group he gathered and a look of surprise is shown as Ralph gathered a much larger group than he did. “Wow! That’s impressive, Ralph” Piggy chirped before looking behind Ralph, “how many did you get? I got about five.” Ralph looked up at Piggy with a small smile, “got twelve.” Piggy looks more surprised before looking back to Ralph’s group of littluns before looking back to his own group with slight disappointment.

Piggy fidgeted and tugged at the hem of his own shirt, “How shall we go about getting the hunters on our side?” He asked, settling the littluns down on logs before turning back to Ralph. Ralph shivered at the feeling of the littluns behind him walking over to Piggy, not expecting the sudden loss of feeling. One of the littluns stood by Piggy’s side and tugged at his pant leg, looking up at him with bright eyes. “The hunts haven’t been going well.” The littlun repeated information the two boys already knew, Piggy just pats the littluns’ head before looking back to Ralph. Piggy opened his mouth to say something but is quickly interrupted by the oblivious littlun, “The hunters don’t like Bill, he fails at hunting.” The littlun yawned and rubbed his eye as he continued to hold onto Piggy’s shirt hem. Piggy perked up and looked to the littlun before looking to Ralph with a smile, silently communicating a plan to gather the hunters next. “I think it would be best if you went, Ralph. The hunters wouldn’t listen to me.” Piggy said, getting the littlun off of him and settled onto a log as were the rest of them. Ralph just nodded before walking back into the deep jungle to do the task he was given. He muttered to himself quietly, trying to plan out the potential consequences and what he should use to convince the hunters to join him. Ralph looked over his shoulder before looking all around him, the lush bushes hide things from view easily with its poofy volume. He walked forward and glanced down at a bush; it was covered in flowers. Bees happily buzzed around it, alongside the flowers, and one landed on his hand without stinging him. Ralph relaxed his body, he enjoyed his small moment of relaxation until a hunter bursted through a bush behind him.

“What’re you doin’ here?” The hunter hissed as several more hunters rushed through bushes. Leaves from the remains of the bushes fell to the ground and stuck to the hunters. “Ye, what’re you doin’ here… You’re not s’posed to be here!” Another hunter barked at Ralph, pointing the sharpened end of the spear at him. The other hunters surrounded and repeat the motion of pointing their spears at him. Ralph glanced around the group, seeing there was no Bill, he decided to answer. “I wanted to ask if you guys wanted to join my tribe, again.” Ralph said, one of the hunters scoffed and glared at Ralph. “And why would we want to join back with you.” He scowled at Ralph, it being less of a question and more of a taunt. Ralph felt a drop of sweat run down his forehead as he tried to explain it to the hunters. “I heard hunting hasn’t been going too well over at Castle Rock,” Ralph piped up, “I heard you didn’t like Bill.” The hunters looked at Ralph with a curious expression, now wanting to hear what he had to say now that Bill had been mentioned. “If you join me, then.. Then you won’t have to worry about Bill telling you to do things.” Claimed Ralph, whose voice hinted some hesitance that passed over the hunters’ heads as they considered the deal. The hunters glanced towards each other before a few lowered their spears to the ground, others followed with the motion. “.. I s’pose that’s a better deal than our current situation..” One of the hunters hesitated as he looked towards the rest of the group for some agreement which was returned with majority nodding along to what he was saying.

One of the hunters stepped forward, closer to Ralph as he lowered his spear to his side. “I don’t see a solid reason on why we shouldn’t join Ralph. He’d be a far better hunter than Bill.” The hunter declared with confidence, the sharpened point of his spear touching the ground. Other hunters stepped closer to Ralph to show their agreement. “What about Jack?” One of the more timid hunters asked, having not stepped to Ralph’s side. The hunters had seemingly forgotten about Jack in the moment so the reminder came as a startle to the group of boys. They looked at each other once more before one of them decided to pipe up with a question, “maybe he too could join us?” The hunters suddenly turned to look at Ralph for an answer. “If he has changed then I s’pose so..” Ralph vacillated as he looked between the boys and the flower bush behind him. He fidgeted with his hands before looking at the bees one last time, then looking to the group of boys in front of him, wanting to hear the final answer of the hunters. More stepped forward leaving a minority of undecided or reluctant hunters. The minority quickly step forward to Ralph with lowered spears, the pressure having made them give in and agree.

Ralph let out a soft sigh of relief at his success. “We should head back now, to camp I mean.” The recently joined hunters nodded along with what he said and waited for Ralph to start leading them. Ralph quickly noticed and began leading them to where he and Piggy were beforehand. Ralph and the hunters walked along, the boys behind him quietly chatted about how much better hunting will be without Bill. Piggy was seen in the distance struggling to contain the joyful energy of the littluns, Ralph’s face softened at the sight and approached quicker, some hunters running alongside him yet lack the same reason for their speediness. Ralph slowed down once he stood on a grassy patch of dirt behind a log that was in front of the small fire they had started up several hours ago. “Ralph, what did you tell them?!” Piggy exclaimed noisily, the littluns were running around with a few crying and clinging to him. Ralph smiled at him awkwardly, his cheeks turning a tad red. “I promised them food, that’s what they probably want.” Ralph felt embarrassed at how he had forgotten to tell Piggy earlier. The hunters watched from behind him, their chatter quieting down as they watched the scene. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier, Ralph.” Piggy chided, his expression showing his clear annoyance as he unhooked the littluns from himself. Ralph felt his face heat up more as he tried to come up with an excuse, “I just.. I just forgot earlier, I was too caught up in getting the hunters that I forgot to tell you,” Ralph looked to the side, “well now you do know which counts.”

Piggy doesn’t look any less annoyed than before, he in fact looked more agitated with Ralph. He doesn’t continue with the main topic with what they were talking about. “Care to gather some fruit for them then?” Piggy grumbled, looking down at the littluns who kept tugging at his pant legs before shooing them away. Ralph felt his face cool a bit before looking back to the hunters who watched the scene with curiosity. He quickly pulled himself together, as to not look a fool, and nodded quickly. Ralph looked to Samneric for some help, to which the two boys pointed to a flourishing fruit bush near the shelters. The thicket hosted colorful ripe fruit for the picking, the boys would have guessed it was spring if they didn’t know seasons didn’t change overseas. The fruit was banana-like but not the exact same; it was much smaller and was home to crunchy seeds in the middle, also tasted differently to a banana. Maurice said the seeds were crunchy like the ones in dragon fruit or pomegranate. The other boys didn’t know what those were of course, they just had to guess as they did not hail from Maurice’s background, or much anything similar. Ralph walked over to the tree with quiet steps, his feet making small sounds from the sand crunching beneath his shoes, trying to keep the littluns from noticing him as they would flock to him and cry about food or something of the such. He placed a hand on one of the firm fruit, his nose scrunching slightly at the strong smell it released. Ralph wouldn’t say it was bad, he just grew tired of the constant smell, even if he thought it was good, as he was near it daily. He gave it a firm tug and the fruit quickly detached itself from the stem that connected it to the bush.

The stem leaked an unknown liquid a tad from the loss of the fruit, Ralph began to snap more fruit off their stems. Samneric perked up at both the sound of the stems snapping and began to help Ralph out with his task of gathering for the littluns, as they wanted fruit to feed their rumbling stomachs and to help a friend of theirs. Ralph felt the bumpy firm texture of the fruit underneath his palm, he felt he recognized the texture of the skin but was unable to pinpoint it. He looked down at the ground as he attempted to rack through his memories, but quickly snapped out of it when he felt the eyes of Piggy burning deep into his skull. Ralph glances behind himself, he was right as Piggy was glowering at him with obvious impatience. He looked back to the bush to grab another fruit but found Samneric were already trotting off to the littluns, who had been mostly settled down by the fire. The littluns had stopped their playing as hunger had taken over and were either crying or throwing a fit. He glanced back to the fire once more before following after Samneric; he placed his pile of fruit down first as Samneric were slower from the larger amount of fruits they carried in their arms. Samneric reached the fire a few seconds late and mixed in their fruits with Ralph’s pile to his annoyance but looked away to Piggy. He looked less tense than how he had been prior as the littluns recognized the fruit and immediately flocked to it. The littluns happily giggled as they munched down on the fruit while the juice spilled down their chins. The crying and fussing stopped all together and was replaced with giggles and small chortles. Ralph let out a sigh and sat down on a log beside Piggy, the two boys looked to each other with the same tiredness.

Ralph lets out a soft sigh before looking upwards to the sky past the branches and leaves that hang above them. He looks to the ocean and sees the sun beginning to set in the distance, the orangish-purple hue washing over the sand to the littluns then the biguns. “Shelters gon’ be crowded, ey?” Ralph jested with a smile towards Piggy, who looked fairly unamused who let out a mix of a scoff and a sigh. “S’pose so.” grumbled the fat boy, pushing up his specs with just one finger as he looked to the sunset with furrowed brows. Ralph frowned, his humor not being returned and looked down at the ground. His hands meeting each other as he fidgeted with his nails, trying to clean the packed dirt and dried supposedly pig blood from under it which ultimately failed. Ralph looked at his nails as his subconscious took over his movements, his fatigue catching up to him as he closed his eyes. He suddenly felt a hand with chubby fingers shake him out of his unfazed state. Ralph’s eyes snapped open as he lifted his head up to look at who was shaking him. Piggy was looking at him with a concerned expression on his face as he took his hand off of Ralph’s shoulder. “Is there something wrong, Ralph? I haven’t seen you so out of it before.” Piggy inquired as he watched Ralph’s face with sleepy precision to figure out if he was upset. Ralph blinked a couple times as he came back to reality, quickly glancing around the campfire and noticing the competitive game the hunters were playing. The game being the hunters betting on which littlun could eat the most fruits the fastest, the littluns played along, few struggling while others ate like their life depended on it. The hunters held rocks and bits of seashells in their hands, whoever wins gets all the shells and rocks from what Ralph was being able to take of the situation. The former choir had placed all their spears behind the log that were sat on.

“I’m just tired, Piggy,” Ralph suspired breathlessly, “I’m going to go refresh myself in the lagoon before it gets too late.” He suddenly stood and straightened his back without letting Piggy reply. Only a hunter or two look back at Ralph before turning back to the betting competition which made sounds of happy cheers of reward and angry shouts of defeat. Ralph bobbed his head and closed his eyes as he made his way to the clear lagoon that was clear but now shone an orange light with few plants showing different colors from under the cool water. Ralph quietly approached, leaving his footprints in the sand before it was blown away by the wind that had started coming in with the night creeping slowly over the island. He stepped past a small sandcastle a littlun had made, a loose pebble having made its way under his foot and wanting to stick; he just carelessly lifted his foot a slight and flicked off the small stone as he made his way to the lagoon. Ralph set himself down in front of the bay, on his knees and leaning over to see his reflection in the water. It shone an unrecognizable view of himself, he lifted his hand to his face and watched his reflection mimic the movement. A soft gasp escaping his lips with a trembling hand on his cheek. His reflection shone a boy covered in an orange blanket of the sunset, the boy having matted dark hair and dark circles under his eyes. The reflection’s hand moved under the skin of his eye, looking at the dark spots that hung under them. Ralph felt he was staring at a stranger, a completely different person, this was not the him he once knew. His eyes were wide with shock, he could only wonder how long he had looked like this.

Ralph’s cheeks flushed red as he stared down at the reflection and how it stared back up at him with the same surprised expression. His finger felt the dark circles, believing they had some texture which he failed to realize was a wrong assumption. Ralph muttered about how he couldn’t believe he let himself look as such a mess as this, his mumbles full of self-loathing and doubt. The dark circles forming from the poor sleep he had been getting, it being crammed in with nightmares and nostalgic dreams he couldn’t get over when he woke up. Ralph leaned down further and blinked several times to really make sure what he was seeing was real and not another nightmare of his own. He removed his hand from his face and the shaky hand went up to tug at a pale hair he had seen in the reflection. Ralph pulled the hair down to eye level, he saw the strand of hair had turned grey. His face turned to alarm as he stared at it before looking back into the lagoon’s reflection just to be sure. To his horror, the strand of hair had turned grey as he had suspected. He let go of the strand, it fell back into place with a lack of springiness. Ralph anxiously looks into the reflection, attempting to check for more grey hairs that passed his vision. He pulls up his messy bangs, finding a couple grey hairs before checking the sides of his head. The grey strands hid itself into his hair like a white moth resting on dark brown bark. He pulled his hand away before feeling looking down at his hands which shown a thin layer of oil from his hair. Oh how he missed home, when he could bath when it came to the time for it.

Ralph found most of the grey hairs rested at the top of his head, showing in his roots and his hairline. The orange water began to turn a darker hue, slowly shifting into a dark purple and mellow magenta. He watched as his reflection turned from a hot orange into a calm, cooler colours. Ralph felt his anxiety well up slightly as the colors spewed his view and perception of finding more flaws with his appearance. He saw his reflection melt back into the lagoon, it displaying a frown and wide eyes of uncertainty before finally fading away for the night, returning from whence it came. Ralph pulled his hand away from his face and brought his only two hands together into a scoop before bringing it down into the lagoon. He pulled back his hands, both hands being full of water before he splashed it onto his face.

Drops of water trickled down his face and soaked his bangs in the process. Ralph pushed his wet bangs up onto the top of his head so it won’t be in his way as he tries to wake up from what he hopes is a bad dream. The water soaked the collar of his shirt as he looked into the bay, trying to get another look at his reflection which ultimately failed. He gathered up another scoop of water and splashed it onto his scalp. The cool water quickly soaked into his hair and few water collected at the ends of his dark hair and small droplets fell back into the now dark purple water. Ralph looked back into the water but only saw the glittery fish swimming at the bottom of the lagoon, brushing against the colorful plantlife. He felt slight envy of the fish, he thought about how the fish didn’t have to put effort and trouble into their appearance, only having to keep swimming along without a second thought. Ralph fidgeted with the hem of his shirt as he kept watching with childish jealousy, thinking of why it couldn’t be him with such an easy life like that. He felt resentment at the role he held in the tribe on the island, he just wished he didn’t have some many responsibilities he was given. Ralph sat quietly, lost in the mixed maze of his own thoughts. He was brought back after several minutes of staring off into the water at the bright fish until he had noticed something he thought peculiar, one of the fish had stopped moving. The fish that laid down near rough coral down by the bottom.

Ralph looked down with a confused expression, completely pushing aside his self-deprecating thoughts and stopped fidgeting altogether as the fish had his full attention. He watched as it twitched before it stopped moving as a whole. The fish’s mouth was open as it was laid on its side, Ralph spotted a small bug-like creature crawling out of the fish’s mouth before he lost sight of it. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to comprehend what he had just seen, he came to the conclusion that the bug-like creature must’ve been a parasite of some sort. Ralph sucked in his gut a bit, becoming a bit disgusted and uncomfortable at the thought of parasites, especially in the moment he had just been envying the now very dead fish. He pulled his mind away from the unsightly fish and looked up, back towards the fire. Ralph found that a hunter was cheering with shells and pebbles, while the others pouted and huffed. The small distraction left him slightly more relaxed, a subtle reminder to him that he was still alive and everything had been going well for him over the past days. He relaxed his shoulders and stopped subconsciously sucking in his gut. His fidgeting had reached a calm point and he stood. Ralph’s legs shook a slight before he was able to fully regain his balance. He looked down to his feet to make sure they were in the proper positions to walk, before he began to walk back to the shelters to check up on the littluns, as to make sure they didn’t eat past their limit.

The dark soon covered over the island, encasing it in a cool blanket of shadows and stars. Ralph settled into his shelter alongside Piggy and Samneric, the hunters settled in their own shelter, and same with the littluns too. The few exceptions of littluns sleeping in the same shelter with the hunters from nightmares and/or fear of the beast getting them, commonly it being both. He listened to the soft breaths and incomprehensible murmurs of the boys around him in order to lull himself to sleep. Ralph’s eyes fluttered closed, the fatigue from the excitement earlier in the day was taking its toll on him now. The breathing and murmurs muddled together and grew quiet as he reached his destination of dreams..

Ralph was rudely awakened to the morning sunlight shining down onto his face and into his eyes. Soft, quiet grumbles escaped his mouth as he sat up, leaves crunching and rustling from underneath him. The leaves having begun to dry up and turn to powder when enough weight was placed upon them, which was not a lot. Pieces of leaves stuck to his hair and body, he rubs his mouth to get a piece of the dead leaflet that was stuck to his lip before his eyes flutter open as the sunlight seeps through the opening of his eyes. Ralph used his arms to push himself upward and rub his eyes before looking around. He was able to see that Samneric were gone, along with Piggy too. Ralph rubbed his eyes as he adjusted to the brightness and tried to figure out what was going on. He sat up, pulling his knees to his chest and brushing more dry leaf off of him. Ralph let out a soft sigh as he came to the realization that the boys were by the fire without him. He stood too quickly and almost fell into another dry leaf pile that was recognized as Piggy’s. Ralph centered himself and looked out the shelter, confirming his suspicion about the rest of the boys being by the fire, it was seemingly relit by another boy while he was asleep. The flames were in bustling condition, the red and orange flames mixed together in a dance of pride. The dance extended and reached towards the branches of trees, trying to reach up to the contrasting ocean sky. The flames’ dance was mesmerizing as the littluns and biguns gathered round on logs to watch with bright eyes. The dance reflected across the brown and blue eyes of the boys as the flames reached up for a branch to only go back down, the wood supply being too little and the pit being too small to allow it to spread.

Ralph walked out to the fire, watching with the same fascination as the other boys were, before his reason came back and fear spread. He hurried and looked for something to calm the fire, “It’s spreading too far!” Ralph yelled, “make the fire smaller! Remove logs and toss them into the lagoon, now!” The demand caught the other boys off guard but they quickly got to it, the hunters being the ones to do most of the work as the littluns were pulled away as to not injure themselves or get burned. Piggy anxiously grabbed the littluns by the neck of their shirts and pulled them into the sand near the ocean, not willing for any risks or anymore littluns to go missing during overbearing fires. Several logs had been taken and tossed to the lagoon, some missing the water and burning out on the sand. Ralph pulled a couple littluns back before deciding the fire had been controlled properly. “It’s fine now! Stop taking logs,” Ralph declared as he cautiously let go of one of the littluns he had a grip on, “the fire would have spread too far and caught the whole forest to flames.” He explained his reasoning with a maintained tone. The hunters glanced to each other as they settled back to their logs. “If the forest was burned then you wouldn’t be able to hunt,” Ralph further explained before looking to the littluns, “that also means no more fruit.” The littluns look at eachother with worry now it had been explained to their terms, the hunters sharing the same expression of sudden understanding. Piggy nodded along to what Ralph said. “Ralph’s right, the fire could have gotten out of control and taken important things away.” Piggy chirped, he held the cream-colored conch close to his chest as he let go of one of the littluns he grabbed by the neck of the shirt. The littluns that gathered behind and beside Piggy began to return to their original spots by the fire, some still hesitant thinking the fire would grab them and burn them. Piggy sighed as he watched the littluns return to their original spots before returning to his own.

Ralph sat down in the spot he sits in during assemblies; the boys stayed quiet, aware of the impending lecture, but were surprised when it didn’t start how they had expected. Ralph motioned for the conch to be handed to him which was quickly achieved by Piggy leaning over and setting the shell in his hands. Ralph didn’t look at Piggy, the majority of his gaze taken up by the fire. He sighed once more before he started up, “Well, I assume we all know to keep watch over the fire to make sure it doesn’t break out and lose control. I was lucky enough to catch it before it spread,” Ralph’s finger moved over the creamy-colored conch before looking up to the other boys, “but, I have something more to decide than some silly accident.” He brushed small specs of sand off of the conch to reveal the smooth and pale pink glass skin. “Shall the other boys, Maurice n’ them others, join our tribe?” Ralph asked, looking up at the rest of the tribe. The hunters gave a quick nod, some muttering about not wanting Bill to join, but it stayed low and did not go further than the quiet murmurs. Piggy spoke up, “what about Jack? And the other boys like Roger n’ Vincent.” He received several confused glances from the other boys, even Ralph was among the bewildered faces. “The medic.. His name is Vincent, isn’t it?” Piggy grew confused himself now, not sure if he was correct about the medic’s name anymore. Ralph brushed over the moment of quiet doubt. “Yeah, what should we do with them? We need a medic but the only one available has a clear preference for Jack,” Ralph thought for a second before he continued with what he was saying, “we can only try with him, if we’re lucky that is.” The boys muttered amongst themselves, the amount of chatter layered over each other made it incomprehensible to understand.

Piggy reached out his arms and opened his hands in wanting the conch shell, Ralph looked to him and gave a slight nod. He placed the conch into Piggy’s hands before yelling to the rest of the boys to be quiet. Piggy looked down at the conch in his hands and looked back up to the boys crowded around the fire. “We should try and get the medic here, he knows reason well enough.” He briefly fidgeted with the pale pink shell, running his fat fingers over the protruding points in the delicate conch before handing it back to Ralph’s eager, waiting hands. “I agree with Piggy, we need to have the medic with us. It’s better to have him and not need him, than need him and not have him.” Ralph declared, the boys gave nods and mutterings of agreement. He takes this as an official agreement of getting the medic to join them, “it’s decided the medic will join us, or at least we’ll try to get him to join.” Ralph deduced before looking around to see if anymore protested the idea, he saw only a harmony of opinions. The littluns watched with wide, curious eyes before the silence was interrupted by the twister doing what it was given its name for, and tossing all the littluns sat amongst it to the ground. The littluns broke up into laughter, bringing other boys alongside them. Only Piggy watched unamused. “Quiet!” The laughter soon quieted down at the command of Ralph’s voice, “Quiet! Let me speak!” The littluns scurried to turn the log back upright and settle back into their seats. The boys turned their attention back to the boy with the conch with slight intimidation.

“Hunters, help Piggy watch the littluns and gather fruit.” Ralph maintained as the conch was held tightly to his chest, “we need to keep ourselves in line if we want to bring everyone back together. Watching littluns and gathering fruit are simple tasks that you lot should be able to do.” The hunters looked to each other with disappointed frowns and whispers of disapproval and annoyance. Ralph looked around with a strong hold, waiting for someone to speak against his word. None of the boys dared to try and protest upfront to him. “Good.” Ralph stayed standing before placing the conch to where he was sitting previously. He turned back to look at the confused faces that were watching him. “This assembly is over. Go do the tasks I asked of you.” He gave a demand, getting no childish disobedience in return as he had made himself clear of where he stood among the boys. The gathered ones watched as Ralph stood up and began to walk away. Piggy perked up, “Ralph! Where are you going?” He called out to the other dark-haired boy. Ralph glanced behind himself briefly, “Going to go get the rest of the boys.” Piggy did not object, he just sat quietly as the other boy treaded off into the dark jungle in the direction of Castle Rock.

Ralph took a step forward into the deep foliage, the leftover water droplets from the rain days prior spill down and soak the parts of the clothing they could reach closest to. His feet brush against the overgrown grass and tree roots as he makes his way along the forest floor. Ralph’s feet left indents in the mud as he passed through, his shoes, now rubbery scraps, were long forgotten from being chewed up by rough terrain of the island. He looked down at his footprints before he continued his march forwards to Castle Rock with a steady step and an unwavering gaze. The shadows of the jungle were shown through by colorful, warm sunlight of the morning breaking through the night sky. Ralph made his way through steep undergrowth and clingy creepers before he was able to see the recognizable view of what he knew as Castle Rock. He pushed past some small leafage and poked his head out from the trees to see if anyone happened to be in sight; what he saw left him with slight surprise but not disappointment. There were very few boys roaming in the area, just from what he could see; there was Maurice with some littluns, one recognized as Percival, and a couple other boys walking about, but not close enough to spot him. Ralph looked towards Maurice before shuffling through some bushes to get closer, not wanting to risk being caught so fast. Maurice stood by a bush as he entertained and fed them fruit, seemingly keeping them distracted from the pitiful atmosphere around. The littluns were none the wiser to the dark-haired boy encroachment. The few littluns laughed and giggled as Maurice faked a fall on his rear before suddenly stopping as Ralph came into view. Maurice’s face grew confused as he watched the littluns suddenly stopping with their chortles, he looked at them for a second before looking back behind him to where they were staring.

He perked up when he saw Ralph before looking back around and looking at him again. “What’re you doin’?” Inquired Maurice as he leaned over to get a better view of the boy in front, his tone being more playful than accusing. “I came to ask if you..” Ralph looked down at the littluns, who were sat down with fruits in their small hands, “.. And the littluns if you wanted to join back into my tribe.” Maurice looked around to see if any of the other boys were near to which he saw none to his relief. “I dunno, Ralph. What about Jack?” His face displayed a mix of emotions, most prominent being worry. “If he is better than before, then he can join back.” Ralph showed brief hesitance that was quickly drowned out by sureness. Maurice looked back again for what felt like the thousandth time before quickly nodding as certainty overcame his expression, “I’ll join then. I don’t want Bill to keep leading the tribe on like this.” Maurice affirmed his final decision and helped the littluns stand back up and brush themselves off. Ralph’s face came with solace, “Let’s get going back to my tribe then.” Ralph melded back into the foliage with Maurice following and littluns following behind Maurice.

Days and nights passed by quickly, Jack’s, now Bill’s, tribe began to grow hungrier each passing day while Ralph’s tribe flourished in success. The hunters had come up with a replacement for who would lead their hunts, the role would shift every now and then to determine who would be best qualified to be the hunt leader now that Jack was out of commission. Piggy had helped come up with the idea as he needed to eat too, just like the rest of the tribe. Bill’s tribe grew restless and tired as the hunts continuously failed. Roger stood down by the shoreline; his legs tucked into his chest as he rested his head on his arm that was laid across the tops of his knees. He could hear quiet steps behind him but was too distracted by the thrashing ocean to pay much attention, his thoughts were focused on how the waves have gotten somewhat more smooth and gentle as more boys left to join Ralph’s tribe nearer the other side of the island. A voice spoke up beside him, “Roger, can we discuss something?” Roger looked and saw the medic, who was not nearly as close to the shoreline as he was. “What is it?” Roger asked, his voice shown monotone as he looked up at the other boy. “It’s about this tribe.” The medic fidgeted slightly with his apron, Roger wasn’t sure if it was from the impending strenuous conversation or from Vincent’s anxiety around the ocean. He did enough observing of the other boys, people-watching if you will, to know the medic had some kind of paranoia when he got too close to the water. Roger took notice that Vincent was similar when it came to the lagoon and other similar bodies of water. “I s’pose we can chat.” Roger answered as he uncurled himself from his prior position, his legs dipping over the small cliff that led straight down to the sharp rocks peeking above the surface of the dark water.

Vincent gulped slightly as he settled himself down onto the rock platform, not getting too close to the water. He sat slightly behind Roger but still close enough to have a proper conversation with him. “Do you think we should both join back with Ralph? We’d have better odds that way.” Vincent suggested as he criss-crossed his legs with his white, stained apron laid over top of his lap. “It would be a good idea to do so, we’ve been starving for days because Bill can’t hunt.” Roger hummed, nodding in agreement to further add to the medic’s statement. “So, we both agree we should join Ralph’s tribe, right?” Vincent looked to Roger for confirmation, as he continued to mess with the strings of his apron. The dark-haired boy gave a small nod. The medic saw this as a go-ahead to keep talking. “What about Jack?” Vincent looked at Roger with wide, worried eyes as the subconscious fidgeting went on. Roger didn’t speak up, his mind tracing over thoughts as he racked his brain for an answer. “You could try to convince Ralph n’ the others to let you join, I dunno though.” Roger muttered, his voice slightly quieter with his hesitation as he looked back down to the slightly calmer waves that lay under his feet. The cool breeze brushed over and under his feet as it passed by the area. Roger let a soft sigh escape him as he turned to the anxious medic, waiting to see if he would receive an answer. “What if they don’t allow Jack to join back in?” The medic doubted, his paranoia only increasing as the conversation went on. “Then I s’pose we shall just leave him here.” Roger replied carelessly, showing no concern as he let his feet sway back and forth while they hung over the edge. “We can’t do that!” Vincent suddenly exclaimed, “he’ll die without external help.” His tone was far more panicked, his anxiety fully shining through now.

“I know he would probably die. What other reasons do you have to keep him?” Roger looked back down, going back to watching the waves hopelessly crash against the rocks. The medic’s tone suddenly shifted from anxiety to agitation, his mood flipping like a switch. “He lets you do what ya’ want.” He glowered at the other boy, “he lets you scare and hurt the littluns, and he won’t do a thing about it.” His tone turning slightly judgmental now. “Besides, he’s a good hunter and manages to keep the others in line even if the process is a bit brutal..” Roger could feel Vincent staring holes into the back of his head. “S’pose you’re right, I guess we do need him around,” Roger muttered in slight defeat but quickly brushed over it, “what’s your plan for getting him into Ralph’s tribe?” He looked back at the other boy again. “if we do have to convince them to let Jack join, we could provide reasons as to why he is useful.” Vincent began to list some reasons after thinking it through during a moment of quiet between the two boys. “He can hunt, he’s good at being a leader, catching attention, and..” The medic fails to think of something more to add to his short list. “I.. I don’t know what else to add.” Vincent admits bashfully, his face flushing as he looks down to his feet in defeat. “I guess we could go off of those reasons,” Roger pauses, “but what if they don’t accept our reasons?” This question was met with utter silence, both the boys not being able to comprehend what would happen if they would fail.

The boys both looked to each other in a silent agreement, an agreement in which they would not bring up what would happen if they were to fail. “How should we go about this? Just approach Ralph and ask if the four of us could join?” The medic huffed. Roger perked up slightly, “What do you mean ‘four’?” Questioned Roger, slightly turning his head to watch Vincent in his peripheral vision. “Philip I mean. Y’know, the littlun you found all burned in the jungle?” The medic sighed quietly, the dark-haired boy gave a slight nod of understanding and they brushed over it. The two boys both bounced ideas off each other to get a feel of what would happen or what they should put into their plan. Overthinking being the majority of Vincent’s points. “I dunno, I guess so.” Roger muttered, answering the question the fair-haired boy had first asked him. He curled his legs back up to his chest and rested both his arms onto the tops of his knees; going back into the position he was in when the medic found him. Vincent takes the answer as an agreement. “Well, I will go back to Jack and try to convince him now to be a proper part and do as the plan suggests.” The medic sighed, knowing how difficult it would be to actually be to do. Roger just gave a soft nod, his face displaying an apathetic expression as he looked out to sea, no longer caring for the dying conversation. He heard the shuffling of clothing and the sound of footsteps getting quieter as the medic walked further away to go have a chat with Jack.

Vincent made his way up the slope to find his way to his medical area he often inhabited. He was able to hear the echoes of Jack talking, he was confused at first until he realized it was probably Philip he was talking to. The medic reached his way to the mouth of the cave and peeked in to see if he was correct, and he was. Philip was sitting up, just barely though, as Jack carelessly held him like some stuffed toy. He grew confused at the sight and walked in to check he was seeing things properly.

Jack grew silent as he noticed the medic walk in. “What’re you doing?” The medic asked in a soft tone. “I was just talking to.. Err–” Jack glanced down at the littlun he held close to his body. “What’s yer name again?” He watched the small boy quietly whisper his name, which was barely able to be heard yet Jack was able to pick it up without issue. “Ye, I was talkin’ to Philip.” Jack said pridefully as he turned his head back up to look at the medic. Vincent looked worried but didn’t say anything. “Uh, Jack?” He spoke hesitantly, not sure how to word what he was going to say. “What is it?” Jack huffed as his arm loosened around the bandaged littlun’s waist. Philip winced slightly which went unnoticed by the older boys. “.. I think we should join Ralph’s tribe” The medic whispered, “but before you object.. I have my reasons.” He quickly got it out before Jack was able to yell at him. Jack glared at the medic, waiting for his reasons as he motioned with his hand for the medic to continue. Vincent correctly interpreted the motion and kept going. “Ralph’s tribe is prosperous while ours is failing and it’s only getting worse with Bill’s shortcomings during the hunts” Vincent answered truthfully. Jack perked up at the mention of hunting. “What do you mean Bill is hunting?” His face turned to anger. The medic realizes he completely forgot to mention that Bill was leading the hunts to Jack, he thought the redhead already knew. Vincent’s face spelled regret which only made Jack get more and more agitated with him. “Tell me, medic.” Jack kept up with his demand, staring hatred fueled holes into the fair-haired boy's head. “A vote happened during the day of your injury.. It was between Maurice and Bill, you know who won.” Vincent faltered as he fidgeted with his apron. Jack muttered under his breath angrily, his words being mushed together and incomprehensible. “I can’t believe this..” He kept on with his angry grumbles as Philip squirmed slightly, uncomfortable with the tight grip Jack had on him.

“I can’t believe the other hunters allowed this to happen.. What is wrong with them,” Jack got more upset the longer he went on, “they KNOW how poor of a hunter Bill is, he never stops interrupting me either.” He kept up with his not-so-silent sulking as both Philip and Vincent watched uncomfortably. “So.. Are we gonna join Ralph’s tribe or…” Vincent asked hesitantly, quickly being met with a scowl from the one-eyed boy. “Why would I join his tribe?” Condemned Jack as his grip tightened on the littlun tucked into his left arm. The medic sighed quietly, “Because they can gather food and hunt. They can make fire unlike us given the current state of our tribe..” He reasoned with him, wanting his persuasion to be successful. “Ralph’s tribe,” Vincent continued, “he has everyone on his tribe besides from the few boys left in ours.” He pleaded with Jack before Philip began to struggle against the redhead. The littlun’s squirming took both of the biguns away from the main issue they were discussing. Philip began to wail quite loudly suddenly which startled both the boys. The medic scrambled over to try and figure out why he was crying. Jack released his grip on Philip, letting the fair-haired boy take him back to which he did. Philip began to quiet down once being reassured and pampered by the medic, comfortably resting in his arms. Vincent carefully positioned his arms so that none of the bandaged burns had any pressure against them. Jack looked at the medic with a slightly annoyed and confused look, wanting an explanation. Vincent looked down at the small littlun in his arms as he gave him a small pat on the back. He looked down at the littlun once again, seeing Philip squeeze onto his shirt while his eyes flutter closed before finally going limp.

“I think you were pressing against one of his burns, or he was just tired and all your squeezing made him upset.” The medic answered with a small shrug.

Jack slouched his back against the wall with a small huff and grumble. Vincent felt the littlun fully relax against his chest, he gently laid Philip down onto a flat, smooth stone. The makeshift bed was large enough for the littlun to lay down comfortably. The medic dusted off Philip and put one of the bigger cloth scraps on top of him, covering about half his body, it wasn’t a lot when putting in consideration that Philip was one of the smallest and youngest littluns on the island. He frowned and turned back to Jack, “What were you saying before?” Jack looked up at the medic before exhaling loudly, showing his discontentment with everything that had him annoyed. “I didn’t say anything before.” He growled before crossing both his arms across his chest and crossing one of his legs on top of the other. Vincent’s face flushed in humiliation, feeling embarrassed at his own forgetfulness. “I s’pose you’re right..” He admitted, his accent that had once made him different from the other boys, had begun to meld in with the array of British accents of the others. Jack smirked when he noticed, the medic had especially started picking up his given how often the fair-haired boy was around him. “I guess I’ll consider joining Ralph’s tribe.. Not that I could even do much more than that.” Jack grumbled as he rested his head against the cave wall behind him. Vincent perked up at those words and let out a sigh of relief. “Alright..” The medic said, “just tell me when you’ve come to a decision.” Jack gave a quick, dismissive yet impatient nod in return as Vincent left the cave.

The one-eyed boy watched the medic leave before turning to the littlun, who laid helplessly in a deep sleep. Quiet breaths emitted from the small form while Jack watched with slight empathy, sharing the same feeling of what it was like to be so weak as he was similarly the day he got blinded in his right eye. Jack had been told by the fair-haired boy to not walk on his own, said that he needed to get used to having one eye before trying to walk again because his balance would be out of whack. He straightened his posture before looking back out the cave opening to be sure the medic had left. Jack moved one of his legs to be under him and grabbed onto one of the protruding rocks that were stuck into the cave wall. He slowly began to fully stand with some trouble, he hadn’t tried standing prior to this from Vincent stopping him every time. Jack’s legs trembled slightly and his vision went blurry. He clung tightly to the wall as he continued his struggle at regaining his balance. Jack tilted his head down, removing one of his desperate hands from the wall and rubbing his left eye in an attempt to help the blurriness go away. Jack moved his hand away after realizing it didn’t help at all. He tightly shut his eye for several seconds, his legs struggling to support him before he opened his eye again. Jack’s vision was slightly less blurry than how it previously was, it was still hard for him to get a grapple on his balance regardless. He looked towards the injured littlun, he felt he would go crazy if he were in the same position as Philip. Jack could barely handle staying still for days let alone months. He never realized how long Philip had been in recovery prior to the injury, Philip had been in the medic’s care for months, at least he assumed months as the boys lacked a calendar. Jack closed his eye again and rested his forehead against the cold surface the cave wall provided him.

Soft grumbles and sighs escaped his lips as he slowly gained stability in his body. Jack’s breathing slowed as he began to relax and get used to the feeling of standing. His body stayed leaning against the cave wall for support before opening his eyes again to look back at the littlun. Not many of the boys came to visit besides Vincent, Roger, and occasionally Maurice. Other outliers came in to check on how he is and sometimes gave him food that he didn’t need, as the medic and Maurice often came with food for either him or Philip, sometimes both. Jack lifted his head back up, looking up at the cave’s ceiling and realizing he never really looked around often despite being stuck in there. He straightened his back slightly before hunching back down, the suddenness of his action threw his balance off, so he went back to the easier method of staying leaned over. Jack struggled against the feeling of his calves screaming at him to sit back down into an easier position, the uneasiness in his calves was from him stretching them out. His legs grew sore and achy, having grown used to taking it easier and not moving as often enough as he should have. Jack’s face scrunched up and he let out grumbles of agitation and slight pain, before he tried to stand up straight again. This attempt was more successful than the last, having his body more adjusted to his position. His eyebrows furrowed as his back thumped against the wall, no longer hunched over and his side touching the wall. The redhead leaned his head back for the top of his head to make contact with the bumpy and jagged wall of the cave. Jack spread his arms out and supported his body against the cave wall, his legs spread slightly in order to further add to the support of his body. His hips slightly trembled while his feet forced small rocks out of his way as his back slid down the wall slowly but not gracefully. Jack readjusted his position to be more stable which went to no use.

He could make out his energy leaving his body even though he felt he barely moved. Jack’s back slid back down to the ground, where the floor and the wall met. His legs followed along in defeat. He curled his legs toward himself as soon as his rear made contact with the ground. Jack sharply exhaled, his annoyance clear with the small sound he made. He moved his legs to curl up into his chest, he lifted his hand to the covering that protected his right eye socket from the outside. The one-eyed boy moved his pale fingers over the soft cloth as he frowned, his face flushed red and hid his freckles. Jack grumbled in embarrassment about how clumsy he is to get such an injury he deemed as his own ignorance. His face softened as his annoyance was replaced with a sense of dread, realizing how severe the injury was the more he thought and the more he touched the gentle fabric. Jack moved his hand away, the thoughts made him more uncomfortable as potential outcomes rolled through his mind. He glanced to Philip, starting to think more about the injuries the littlun physically harbored. The littlun let out soft, shaky snores as small dribbles of drool came down from his mouth. Jack allowed his legs to relax and lay comfortably down on the ground before he himself laid down on his side. His head rested down onto a smoothed over rock and closed his eyes. His dark red hair spread along the stone in small groups, the sweat having made his hair stick together in clumps. The desperate need for a bath was dire and obvious. The warm, comfortable rays from the sun wrapped around his back and slowly rocked him to sleep despite it only being the day. The energy he took trying to stand for the first time in what felt like he was standing for hours. Small puffs of breath escape him as his heartbeat slows into a soothing rocking sound. A relaxing feeling comes over his body, going limp and his sight going dark.

Jack was rudely awakened from the feeling of his stomach’s hunger seeping into desperation for food. He curled inward, his arms wrapping around his midsection and his knees curling up to his chest before he was even able to open his eyes. A cool wind passed through the cave and ran over and through him as it went by on its journey to no specific destination. Jack shivered and opened his single pale blue eye and saw the cave had darkened. He had no idea on how long he had been asleep. Jack sat up, wincing slightly before looking down and realizing he had been lying on his right arm for hours to his guess. He flipped a small pebble that had tried to stick to the skin on his arm; the small rock leaving a sore spot from where it was dug into his arm. Jack glanced around himself as he sat up fully, slightly hunched over from fatigue. He was by himself practically as the medic was not there in the cave with him. Jack looked out the mouth of the cave to see if he could guess what time of day it was. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon, the deep purples and magentas reflected on the outward appearance of the ocean, the waters growing darker as the minutes passed. The sun slowly slinked down to hide itself until the next day were to arrive. He whined under his breath about sleeping for so long and how it will be hard for him to fall back asleep after sleeping for hours. Jack looked to the littlun that was rested on the other side of the cave. Philip had the appearance of being stuck in a deep part of sleep and fatigue. Jack frowned, he both disliked he had no one to talk to and his own condition had not improved. He felt his mind was wide awake while his body was slow and unstable. Jack glanced around once more, now fully processing how alone he was. His thoughts were quickly disrupted by his stomach growling loudly in hunger. Jack’s face scrunched as he curled up in pain.

Jack’s arms were wrapped tightly around his midsection and his forehead was pressed against his knees. The conversation he had with the medic prior to his sleep crossed his mind as he held his stomach tighter. The hunger brought up his consideration of rejoining Ralph’s tribe. He impatiently tapped one of his fingers against his own forearm while he thought about what he would say to Vincent. Jack huffed quietly and tightly shut his eyes. His thoughts were running a mile a minute as he considered the appeal of Ralph and his positive sides that could be of use to him. Jack rocked back and forth subconsciously while the continuous thoughts kept up. He knew he couldn’t last long on just fruits and poorly cooked crustaceans. The more Jack considered the deal, the more appealing it sounded to him. He wouldn’t have to worry about starvation, dehydration, and an even worse lack of supplies. Jack slowly came to be more agreeable on joining Ralph’s tribe as he continued to think about the deal. He didn’t notice the sturdy footsteps making their way up to the cave entrance before he heard the sound of unknown, firm objects gently roll across the ground into one place. Jack looked up, clearly startled from the suddenness but noticed it was just the medic bringing back a decent-sized pile of fruits. Not all of them looked quite ripe but his starvation made him shove past that fact. His eyes lit up with a wolfish hunger when he realized this was an offer to eat, and quickly launched himself to the pile of helpless fruit with a mindless eager enthusiasm. Vincent was startled at the sudden move but didn’t do anything to stop the starving, one-eyed boy. He watched with a raised eyebrow before turning and walking over to Philip. The medic picked up the littlun, who felt like he weighed about a pound, before sitting down with him in his lap. Vincent picked up one of the fruits that had just barely escaped Jack’s grasp. He picked up Jack’s hunting knife that he had been “borrowing” and cut the skin off one small part of the fruit and set the knife back down on the ground.

The medic gently shook Philip awake in his arm. The groggy littlun sturred unhappily in his trance before his eyes began to flutter open and look up at the fair-haired boy. The medic smiled at the sight, he found the expression to be cute rather than how it truly was. Vincent lifted the skinned part of the fruit to Philip’s face, to which the littlun just hesitantly bit into. He sighed in relief, glad that the littlun’s recovery had been going well and that Philip’s appetite came back. Vincent had former issues with feeding him before, especially during the beginnings of his recovery. Philip was rested on the medic’s hip and facing against his chest. Vincent kept the fruit held in his hand while the littlun nimbled on it like a timid baby animal having human interaction for the first time. He didn’t trust Philip to hold the fruit in his own hand, feeling the littlun was too weak for it as he basically weighed a feather on the bigun’s hip. Vincent kept his arm behind Philip in order to support his frail and small body; he kept his hand on Philip’s head and neck for extra support. He looked up for a slight second to see how Jack was doing; the one-eyed boy had torn through the majority of the fruits and now laid on his side, napping happily without a care in the island. The medic looked back down at the remaining fruits; only a few, about three, were left intact. The other fruits Jack thoroughly breached had barely any flesh, if any at all, that was left connected to the remaining stem. Vincent was slightly impressed and glad that Jack had an appetite and gave a small nod of approval. This meant he was getting better in the mind of the medic. He rubbed Philip’s back gently and looked down at the littlun again to see how much he had eaten. Philip had gotten about an inch deep into the flesh and barely had his eyes fully open.

Slight drool and juice mixed together rested on Philip’s bottom lip, truly showing his fatigue and illness. Vincent’s nose scrunched up in disgust before picking up the end up his apron and wiping the mixture up. The liquid quickly soaked itself up into the corner of the apron that the medic thought of as too fast. He sets the apron back down, it settles back into the place it was prior with a damp corner. Vincent quietly scolded himself for using his apron instead of a scrap of cloth. Unsatisfied and a little grumpy, the medic waited for the littlun on his hip to finish eating. Philip’s eyes tried to flutter closed numerous times but the medic kept pushing him to continue eating, wanting him to gain weight, a pound would do him good at least. Vincent pushed the exposed flesh to Philip's lips, continuing to try and pressure him into eating more which did him no good. Philip’s eyes began to tear up as he was beginning to get overwhelmed by the medic insistence to keep eating. Vincent frowned at the sight and pulled the fruit away before a tantrum was started, he wasn’t even sure if Philip was in the state to pull it off but he didn’t want him to try either. The medic stood back up with the littlun in his arms. He settled the small boy back onto his makeshift bed to which Philip closed his eyes and relaxed his body with a hidden happiness. Vincent watched him for a second before looking back behind him to see if Jack was still asleep. The medic grumbled under his breath, his tiredness from having to constantly care for the two was beginning to catch up to him. He sat down against the wall with his back against it, he silently reminisced when he had much more material to work with back then. Vincent remembered how many littluns would come to him on a daily basis when he was in Ralph’s tribe, the littluns were always coming to him for small things like themselves. It was usually a list ranging from cuts to bruises, it was never anything serious unlike the case with Philip, a major outlier out of all the littluns he has treated. He picks up the hunting knife Jack used and cut off the part Philip’s mouth touched. A small look of disgust was visible on his face.

The medic deemed that part of the fruit as “infected” and not to be touched bare. He was very picky about those things, a serious disgust for saliva and other germy things about the mouth. The medic tossed that part to the ground, pushing it away with the knife to get the infected piece farther away from him. There was a small look of annoyance before relief washed over when he looked back at the fruit. It was the best out of the ones Jack left. Vincent’s body relaxed in its place as he looked back down at the fruit to make sure it was truly good for consumption. The juice began to leak down from the open flesh, but didn’t spill downward onto his hand. He brought the fruit up to his mouth and bit into an unbroken area in the flesh. A soft sigh escaped Vincent’s mouth as the fruit refreshed him and moistened his dry mouth he didn’t even know he had. The medic continued to snack on the fruit as it rehydrated his throat and mouth. He got lost in the track of his own thoughts in his silent meal, his eyesight blurring as he unfocused his vision in both tiredness and relaxation. Vincent continued his quiet eating before his focus came back and he looked outside the mouth of the cave. The sun was slowly dipping itself back into the ocean as coolness washed over. Shadows began to take their place in the cave and expand gradually over the passing minutes. The medic sighed as he finished the fruit and tossed it out the mouth of the cave carelessly, ready to go ahead and be taken over by sleep. He laid down on his side, in the same position Jack was in, and closed his eyes.

Several nights pass by, the stars seemingly shining dimmer each time the sky goes dark and the sun hides away. Roger was out and about, lurking around the platform with annoyed boredom. He had no littluns to scare and taunt, he found it to be a fun game but they would differ. Roger stood around a few bushes, looking into them from a short distance before approaching closer. He thought he had heard noises inside of it. Hoping it was a littlun, he poked the foliage to test it before finally pushing some branches aside to peek in. Roger heard soft whimpers and quiet whines but wasn’t able to fully see the thing that hid inside. His eyebrows furrowed as he parted the bush increasingly. Roger squinted as he craned his neck to try and get a better look– It was a trapped piglet– it squealed and cried louder as soon as the light spilled onto its form. It struggled against the creepers and thorns that held it down in place. A glint of malice was tinted in his eyes as he watched the piglet struggle, it appeared to only be a few months old and separated from its mother. He hadn’t seen any sows in the area, or any other piglets for that matter. Maybe Bill caught them and hogged them for himself, he wouldn’t be surprised. “Look at what you got yourself into, too small to escape and no mum to help.” Roger sneered, glancing around to make sure there truly wasn’t any mother sow looking for her baby. He smirked when he saw no grown pig hurling towards him. Roger looked back at the small pig baby and opened the bush further to get more access to it. Cruel ideas on what he should do came into his mind. He had no littluns to scare and all the skittish biguns went back to Ralph; this piglet could make a good replacement for them. Roger tapped his lower lip as the piglet only cried out for its mother, a quiet huff escaped him as his ideas kept going in and out of his mind. He looked around in hopes of coming up with an idea from his surroundings, to which he just found the medic collecting fruit and berries. Roger would have to guess it was for his “patients” as Vincent was also grabbing coconuts, to which he was allergic to. The medic told him about his allergy before when everyone was all together and eating fruit, Roger made Vincent confirm it by making him eat coconut flesh to make sure he wasn’t lying. Luckily for Vincent, it was just a minor allergy that would just give him hives and an itchy throat. The medic tried to keep a little distance after that but they made up at some point, as they talk on the regular now.

Roger looked back at the piglet then the medic, planning out what he wanted to do in his head. His eyes were soon drawn to the knife that rested at Vincent’s hip. It was tucked between his belt and his pants, he was without a sheath to put the knife into from what Roger could tell. The fair haired boy remained oblivious to the other boy stalking up behind him as he picked an olive-grey fruit off its branch. He found it to be less desirable than the sweet yellow twin it shared its branches with but there were no more to pick. The other boys must’ve gotten to it before he could. The jelly-like fruit rested in his palm, slightly mushy. Vincent scrunched up his face at the feeling of the skin’s texture, he could barely stand the taste but the feel made it another level of undesirable. Quiet footsteps arose behind him before he heard a recognizable voice. “How’s he doing?” Roger asked apathetically, he didn’t care too much but decided that’s how it should be started. The medic turned to face the dark haired boy, “Jack? He’s doing better than before.” He muttered, crading the fruits in his arms; few of the jelly-like ones mushed up against his shirt, leaving an unpleasant stain to get out of his apron. A small silence carried out from the boys as they waited for the other to talk. Roger spoke up again with a shifted focus in mind, “at what time shall we go?” Vincent’s expression faltered before looking down in an attempt to conjure an answer. He hummed and mumbled to himself slightly while staring at the rock platform beneath them. “Mayhaps during night?” The medic shrugged marginally as he looked back up at Roger, wanting to hear his opinion. Roger tilted his head to the side briefly before giving a quick nod of agreement. “That could work. Ralph wouldn’t be in the right mind so he could be more agreeable then.” Roger said, the other boy nodding along to his words. “Or we could get the opposite if unfortunate enough.” Vincent added, the two boys grimaced at the thought and brushed over it. They spoke of their plan in more hushed voices as if it would make them plan any better until the orange hue of a sunset began to wash over. They hadn’t realized how long they had been talking until the land was tinted yellow, pink, and orange. The two boys scurried back into their usual places during nightfall. They waited for the shadows to take over completely, with only soft moonlight to guide them.

The imposing night stood over the land, leaving its murky silhouette to hide the things that didn’t want to come to light. Small shuffles were heard in Castle Rock; shadows danced among the floor lit with moonlight as the hidden figures stood clear of the light. Hushed whispers and continuous shuffles were heard and echoed throughout the deep cave. Roger and the medic were crouched down, gathering up supplies to go on their trip to find Ralph’s tribe. Vincent picked up Philip with caution of his injuries, he held the small boy against his chest. “S’pose you could help with my bow, Roger?” The medic tilted his head up to the silhouette of the other boy before the figure shifted around to behind him. Pulling at one of the parts of the bow which made it quickly come undone and fall to the ground without a sound. Vincent made a soft grunt of appreciation for the small deed. The medic was unsatisfied with the outfit he had gotten stuck with, he really didn’t want to wear such a thing. He felt it was girly and too feminine to be dressed as a nurse, a female one at that. His knee-length apron was supposed to mimic both a nurse’s dress and apron, while his long blond hair was for a white veil the nuns wore at church. Vincent didn’t really see his hair in that way before one of the littluns pointed it out to him when getting treated for a scrape. His bow served the purpose of further mimicking the “nurse” look and keeping his apron from getting in his way. The bow was a long scrap of the choir-boy capes that had been wrapped around his waist and turned into a bow. Vincent never really wanted the bow, he had another boy do it for him to which that boy made the excess cloth into a notable bow. He was quite agitated with the job but couldn’t do anything to change it himself.

The medic huffed in relief as he figured out where he should place Philip as he needed to help carry Jack too. He raised an eyebrow curiously as he looked at the small littlun, before sitting down with crossed legs. Vincent carefully maneuvered the sickly child under his apron to rest against his chest, just barely above his waist. He shuffled himself into the moonlight in order to put the scrap of cloth back around his waist. The medic muttered for Roger to come here and help him, to which Roger did. Roger slid behind the other bigun and wrapped the cloth around his waist. He tugged it slightly to make sure Vincent was happy with it, he received a nod in return and tied the excess of the scrap into a dramatic bow. The medic muttered a small “thank you” as he situated Philip to be more comfortable and secure. The littlun was rested against Vincent's chest like he was in a baby carrier; he was still luckily comfortably asleep. Vincent secured it more before looking to the oblivious Jack, who was comfortably asleep on his side. He subconsciously rubbed Philip’s back through the thin material of the apron as he tilted his head up to look at Roger, wanting to hear what he had in mind. Roger glanced at the medic then back to the littlun on his chest, he didn’t expect for Vincent to carry Phillip baby carrier style but he wasn’t one to complain. He was just glad it would probably save them the hassle of dragging Philip by the arm while he would probably be fussing, or even worse with crying. Roger quietly approached the passed out Jack before carefully putting his hand under his waist and gently lifting him up. Jack luckily didn’t stir in his sleep but did grumble to which he was quickly shushed by the other boy. Jack went back to his quiet snores and oblivious state. The medic watched nervously while rubbing his hand over Philip’s back. Roger cautiously sat Jack up and rested the boy against his chest, while he figured out how he should carry him. Jack snoring got somewhat louder as he was settled more against Roger, like a littlun. “He must be comfortable to snore like that.” Vincent muttered while Roger flushed slightly which went missed by the other boy. Roger shook his head but didn’t say anything to contrast the statement.

A cool wind ran through the cave, making the boys shiver. The medic has his back towards the open sea, the wind made his hair get out of order and messy. His hair wrapped around his shoulders and body as he kept Philip tucked in close to his chest. Vincent didn’t want to wake up the littlun with the chilly breeze. The littlun stirred and yawned before being soothed back into the sensation of sleep. Vincent gently rocked and pampered Philip back into his deep sleep before looking back at Roger. Jack was still asleep. The medic’s body relaxed when he felt Philip’s body go limp from being in the state of sleep. Vincent takes one of his hands from the littlun’s back and brings his fingers through his own hair in an attempt to tame it back into its usual position. Roger carefully positioned Jack in his lap before cautiously standing up, Jack’s head lolled over his shoulder. The medic followed suit by standing up and moving towards Roger’s side almost automatically. “I say we shan’t go down the..” Vincent started, trying to remember the word he wanted to use, “..The slope that leads to the platform, far too risky.” The medic said with a nod while having his arms around the littlun. His demeanor shown as if afraid Philip would fall despite being secure under the apron. Roger stopped in his movements and considered what Vincent had said. “I s’pose so, I have a different route we could go.” Roger said, the tone of curiosity was visible in his voice. “I guess we’ll go your route if suitable.” The medic muttered. The two boys began to head out with their carry-ons. Jack snored loudly while Philip only whimpered. Roger walked with cautious steps, still not having gotten used to the added weight; Vincent watched him impatiently. He looked upwards as he walked along the pathway that led to the small platform above Castle Rock. Roger walked up the barely visible makeshift rock-stairs, while Jack clung to him tightly in his sleep. The medic followed from a foot behind Roger; Vincent watched the figure in front of him carefully. Roger and the medic walked for a good minute. More struggle was put into their step from the uncommon path and passengers. Philip nuzzled against the warmth of Vincent’s chest, the cold night air bringing out his wants.

The two figures soon made their way onto the small, jagged platform. Roger stopped in his steps when he reached near the middle of the platform. The medic looked at him confused, “why’d you stop?” He asked, stopping directly beside Roger. The other boy did not answer as he looked out; the quiet was eerie and caused a shiver of anxiety in Vincent. “Is something wrong, Roger?” The medic muttered, his voice laced with hesitance. Roger snapped out of his trance, but didn’t look back at him. “Tryin’ to find the best way down from here.” Roger replied, his eyes darting around in hopes to find the most stable way down. The medic gave an understanding nod to which it went unnoticed by Roger, who was far too busy in his own world. He could not stand the silence, whenever there was quiet, he could swear he heard something. Vincent always chalked it up to his brain cruelly messing with him, but the paranoia often overlapped with his reasons. Roger glanced back behind him slightly. He saw how the medic kept inching closer towards him and holding the littlun closer to his chest. Roger let a soft hum escape him as he looked back to the front of him. Jack’s snores hadn’t gotten anymore quieter or any less louder than the starting point of the night. Roger went on forward with walking, not waiting to tell Vincent first. The medic quickly flinched then followed after him exponentially. Vincent glowered at the figure in front of him, somewhat upset at not being told to start walking. His face flushed; his face was luckily hidden by the night’s darkness, not that Roger would care regardless. The small tip taps of ragged boots and calloused feet were heard on the platform. Roger led the way, he held his body low to the ground while making his way down. Fear of dropping Jack was not the motivation; the unbalanced weight made him feel uneasy with falling. The medic did not follow with the same meaning, he was used to carrying the littluns. Vincent uncharacteristically stood tall, yet shyly while keeping a short distance between himself and the dark figure in front of him. Roger smoothed his way past larger rocks with ease as if he were a slippery snake by the rock shore. The medic inexpertly mimicked Roger’s movements until they reached all the way down to the bottom, where the large platform was. He scraped along the rough rocks, his mind wandered as he thought of how many times Roger went down this path.

Vincent’s thoughts were interrupted by his feet meeting with the much smoother stone of the platform, the amount walking down on it made it worn down over the months. The wear on the platform made it an obvious sign it was a commonplace for Jack’s former tribe. The medic watched Roger to determine what his next move would be. Roger let out a hefty sigh, readjusting the sleeping Jack in his arms. The former chief clung onto his only source of warmth during the unforgiving cold of the night. Upset grumbles escaped Jack’s mouth while his legs tightened their grip around Roger’s waist. Jack’s nails clawed at the skin of Roger while the cold sunk into his bones. The chilly wind shown him to not be a fan. Vincent watched with quiet hopes that Jack would not wake up. He stood up tall and straight in fixing his posture to his assumption of his proper form. The two boys watched quietly, not being able to move as Jack’s eyes fluttered open. His burnt orange eyelash revealed the baby blue that was hidden underneath. Jack tilted his head up from Roger’s shoulder and looked around with a glazed over eye. His eye refused to adjust and dilate to the dark of the night; his breath began to pick up as he was close to realization. The overwhelming shadows and unknown dark began to run his nerves. Jack roughly shoved himself out of the figure’s grip and fell to the ground. A small gasp had escaped the medic but it was unnoticed by the boys, including himself in that group. “What’s happening?!” Jack shouted, his tone showing how furious he is. Vincent fidgeted with his apron and looked down shamefully; Roger took a few steps back. “We..” The medic hesitated, “me n’ Roger were trying to go to Ralph’s tribe.” Jack grew more enraged. “With me coming along too??” He chided the medic’s simple answer while unknown to his own ignorance. Roger kept himself quiet and to the sidelines, listening to the disagreement. Vincent spoke up to mention the littlun in his makeshift baby carrier of an apron, but went radio silent. He felt like Piggy getting insulted by the other biguns back when the tribe was together.

“I assumed it to be the best if we went to Ralph’s tribe.” He said, wanting Jack to take his sorry excuse and go along with the plan he and Roger agreed to. “As you would not be able to walk well and I thought it would be easier in the night so we wouldn’t get spotted..” Jack glowered up at the shadowy figure he thought to be the medic. “Maybe you should have told me first.” Jack growled, his tone laced with malice. Vincent fidgeted anxiously, “you would have been upset if you were carried.” He reasoned with Jack, to which the other boy finally gave in. “Fine.” Jack grumbled with a flushed face. “You should have told me though.” Despite not being able to see Jack’s expression; Roger and Vincent would be able to guess easily that he's embarrassed. The medic calmed himself and glanced toward Roger, trying to see what he would do. “Do.. Do you still need to be carried?” Roger asked, unsure of what kind of reaction he would receive after Jack’s outburst. “I’m fine, I can walk just as well as before.” Jack lied, not wanting to show his vulnerability to the other tired boys. The medic watched with furrowed brows as the figure sitting on the ground began to get onto its legs. The figure’s legs wobbled and shook with each attempt at rebalancing itself. Its struggle was clear as day despite the dark cloaking most of it. The figure fell and tripped on itself, before finally taking its place back on the ground. “.. I need to be carried.” Jack grumbled, tilting his head down in shame. The lack of light acted as a concealer for his red, flushed face. Roger gave a short nod and carefully picked Jack up in his arms, being careful to balance the weight in his arms. He glanced back at the more noticeable figure that loomed behind him. Roger stood back up with some support from the other bigun, Jack was lanky and scrawny which made him more difficult to hold. The effort Roger had to put in was increased when Jack woke up.

Jack’s body went limp as he gave up and finally relaxed. Roger cautiously held the bigger boy closer to his chest as he tried to keep his balance in hand.

The medic’s dark eyes watched the sickly figure cloak itself around Roger’s smaller one. It was quite the humorous sight, seeing Roger struggling to carry Jack would have sent the littluns into a fit of laughter. But there were no littluns to laugh. The only littlun left was the one shakily breathing and weakly grasping onto Vincent’s pale pink patterned pullover. The medic and Roger walked together with the moonlight being the leftover guide from the former sun of yesterday. Soft crunches of dried up leaving were heard while they trailed their way through the forest. Soft mutterings of Philip and the angry grumbles of Jack were the only human sound to be heard. Jack was not fully awake nor fully asleep, stuck in a state of anxiety and agitation. The walk through the forest felt it lasted for hours; them having had to watch their step on every stone of the way. The medic watched the ground for protruding roots, sharp rocks, and startled reptilians in order for it to go smoothly. Roger depended on Vincent’s sight, as he was carrying cargo too large in his arms to see the ground below. He was only able to look forwards. Sounds of laughter and cheerful joy were heard past the trees, it came from the beach. Jack glanced around with a scowl and his muscles tensed up tighter around Roger. Jack’s perverse attitude only worsened when the small group only got closer. The medic muttered incomprehensibly about the plan going wrong as it sounded most of the boys were awake. The small group peeked through the foliage to understand the scene, with Jack being less than happy to do so. A couple biguns chatted and danced while several littluns, while sleepy, still danced and cheered alongside them. The rest of the biguns sat by the fire making small conversations; a few holding sleeping littluns. who were too tired to go to the shelters, nestled safely in their arms. Jack tensed up further when he spotted Ralph, how could he not? He was easy to spot with Piggy, who wasn’t one to easily blend in, was always next to Ralph. The small group of boys went unnoticed by the more cheerful and big group.

Vincent glanced towards the others, waiting for their signal on when they should approach. To which he was met with none. He shuffled around a bit and undid the cloth holding his apron in one place. The medic slid the littlun out from under his dirtied apron and set the littlun onto the ground for short-term. Roger, understanding the hint, set Jack down, met with angry grumbles, and got behind the medic to fix up his bow. The fair-haired boy mentally prepared himself for the impending interaction that was made to come. He scooped up the littlun, reluctantly ruffled up his hair with some dry sand-like dirt, and stood up. Jack and Roger watched the bold move, it often wasn’t in his character to do such things. Ralph tilted his head up and the laughter and dances paused. A familiar figure shuffled its way through the bushes, before the light escaping the fire revealed it to be the medic. A small littlun was held in his arms and he was quite roughed up, like he had gotten into a scuffle with a boar. “Medic?” Ralph muttered, a look of surprise was shown on his face and the others were no different. “I’ve come to ask to be a part of your tribe..” Vincent said, a false face of confidence. The other boys watched him curiously, while Piggy looked skeptical. “And to ask if Jack n’ Roger could potentially join too.” The medic held Philip just a bit closer to his chest as if to make himself appear more worthy. Vincent took in a breath of air, ready to give a long explanation as to why. “Fine,” Ralph stated suddenly, “where are those boys?” Vincent stood a bit disoriented, clearly not expecting just an abrupt acceptance. Piggy perked up and quickly whispered in Ralph’s ear words that could not be maken out. Ralph brushed off the anxious boy next to him and waited for Vincent to respond.

One lanky looking figure erupted from the bush. To which the boys of Ralph’s tribe saw what they would never expect, Jack being so openly dependent on another boy. Murmurs ran through the tribe as both Ralph and Piggy shared similar expressions of confusion, and even some relief. Jack scowled and began to unlatch himself from Roger’s body. He stumbled and struggled, leaning heavily and even brutally gripping Roger in the process. Ralph observed Jack’s crumpled face. Jack’s missing eye was throwing him off. Jack looked down at the ground, his face flushing from how much staring he was getting. The Jack the boys knew would boast and claim it to be how much, but the injury made him grow more quiet and timid. Ralph looked down at the ground; his feet held the cream-colored conch between them. His eyes traced over the ridges of the rough sea forged item before looking back up. Ralph looked to one of the shelters that no one was currently inhabiting and motioned for them to take home there tonight. The three boys walked their way into the quiet shelter; the littlun still happily napped. The last sounds heard being the crunching sand and the murmurs of a group.

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