Chapter 12: Cry of the Hunters

Lord of the Flies

Chapter 12: Cry of the Hunters

“On the Run”

Perspective: Ralph

I feel like an escaped fugitive running and hiding like this, except I die if I’m caught. Those boys won’t stop at me either, they will kill until it’s only one of them left, and they’ll find a reason for it. I was hungry even though Sam had given me the meat the night before, and they had told me that Roger had forged a stick, sharpened on both ends. All I could do was ponder what sinister plot he would carry out with that stick. They had forced into hiding in the thicket, with the boulder that killed Piggy lodged in the center. It’s pretty dark inside it, and it would take days for the hunters to break through it if they found out that I was inside it. I stayed there overnight, and when I awoke, the sound of the hunters, manhandling Sam or Eric was next to me. They asked the twin if they were sure that I was inside the thicket and the beat and threw him around, and he told Jack that I was. The savages laughed at his misfortune, and I felt bad for whatever twin was being tortured, after they were tied up and forced into joining jack, who knows what he would have done to them otherwise. I heard some of the savages march off, but some stayed. I could see through a hole in the thicket, that they were climbing up to the top of the Castle Rock, and started to roll boulders off the top at me. They landed on the thicket, and stretched the roof of branches and vines down a good couple of inches, and a rain of broken sticks and ripped creepers showered down on top of me. Nonetheless, the roof remained intact. They dropped another boulder, and the roof refused to cave in. Jack descended from the top of the castle rock, along with the other hunters that had followed him. It was silent for a while, but then the hunters started bickering quietly, and one of the savages stuck their hand down through the vines in the thicket, and I attacked it out of fear. The wounded savage moaned and the other hunters started to bicker amongst each other louder, and Jack called them to silence. It was quiet for a little bit, and then smoke started to trickle through the creepers, and then billowed. One of the walls collapsed, and I lunged at the hunter waiting outside, and I beat him up.

I sprinted through the forest as fast as I could, and wondered if I should climb a tree, but if I were to be spotted, than there would be no escape, and the fire from the thicket was out of control. I could break the line like the boar, but that wild goose chase would end, I would need to sleep and eat, and I would wake up to the tearing of hands and stabbing of spears. I came across the clearing where the pig’s broken skull lay with its wide grin across the ground. I found a hiding spot where there was a mat of creepers on top of a foot of crawl space. I hid there, when Roger appeared from the forest, he had his stick sharpened at both ends. He came increasingly closer, and when he peeked under the mat, I remembered what Simon had told me before; “You’ll make it back.” Just as the thought left my mind lunged at him, and struck him with all my might. I ran as fast as I could, and dropped my spear, the fire caused me to change directions, and it had reached the treetops now. As I ran, Jack and the savages appeared on the right, I was caged in by the fires and the savages now, and as I approached the edge of the forest. I could see one of the shelters burst into flames. I tripped over the last vine before the sand and wheeled through the air, and turned around and begged for mercy.

When I opened my eyes, there was a man, a grownup, standing in front of me. It was a naval officer, I had seen one before when my dad showed me around the training base, and he looked at me curiously, and took his hand away from the revolver at his hip. He said hello, and I answered him shyly with the same word. He asked me if there were any adults, and I shook my head. He looked behind me and asked, judging by the fire, I guess we were having a war, so I nodded. He asked me if there were any killed, and if there were bodies. Simon and Piggy, both brutally killed during our time on the island, the officer was astonished when I told him that two people had died. He frowned at the thought of us killing two boys. Percival walked out and couldn’t remember what to say while greeting someone, and his name. Forgetting your name, that was how crazy our experience on the island was, Percival had forgotten his name, while in the beginning, he could tell you everything about him, and now he had forgotten it all, even his name. The officer asked who the leader was, and I spoke up before Jack could. He took a step forward, and then glanced at the officer’s revolver, and stopped. The naval officer asked if we had a head count, I always knew we should have had one, but we never did. They took us back to our homes in Brittan, and I cried the whole way back, the freedom, and carefree essence of childhood, stripped from me by the experience on the island. These events will haunt me for the rest of my days.