JACK THE KING (Lord of the Flies reimagined)

Part 2 -ENTER JACK MERRIDEW

After a while, more boys appeared, of various ages. Some were teenagers, some were just short of their teen years and some were much younger. Poor Dani was in despair, all these boys, and all she wanted to see was one girl, her missing sister, Jenny.

Names were taken. Ralph, already taking on the role of a leader, had assigned Piggy to the task of counting the numbers and taking names. Roger, Simon, Henry, Maurice, Ryan, Liam, Jake... so many boys.

Then everyone was startled. A large group of older teenage boys was marching along the beach, dressed in Army uniforms. They were led by a tall, very handsome, very masculine-looking blonde-haired boy.

''Who is in charge here?'' the blonde boy demanded ''who was blowing the horn?''

Ralph stepped forwards to introduce himself

''I'm Ralph'' he said ''and I was blowing the horn to call a meeting''

''Yes, a good idea'' the boy said ''My name is Jack, Jack Merridew, I am the leader of the army cadets My boys obey me at all times!''

Jack's army cadets all bowed their heads meekly, clearly terrified of their leader.

''Do we have a plan of action here?'' Jack demanded rather aggressively ''Does anyone have a plan of what to do?'' 

''Well no'' Ralph was forced to admit with embarrassment ''Piggy has been counting the numbers and taking names that's all''

''Piggy? Which ones Piggy?''

Roger, a badly behaved boy who was always grounded back home by his parents or in detention at school, pointed a finger at Piggy and laughed cruelly

''That one is Piggy'' he said and everyone laughed and taunted Piggy

Piggy was almost crying ''You promised not to tell anyone'' he yelled at Ralph and Dani

''Look I'm sorry but when Roger called you fatso I had to correct him'' Ralph said ''I told him he is wrong to call you fatso when your name is Piggy and next thing I knew Roger was telling Henry and Henry told Maurice and it just spread from one boy to the next. I'm very sorry Piggy''

''I thought I could trust you Ralph'' Piggy was nearly crying now

''Shut up Piggy'' Jack said aggressively ''the name suits you so shut up and accept your name is Piggy. Now shall we carry on wasting time or focus on the important issues at hand?''

Ralph was very intimidated by this clearly dominant boy, Jack, who ran his army cadets with an iron fist.     

''We need to find out where we are, how far we are from civilization'' Ralph said at last ''Some of us should walk and find out''

Jack looked very smug and superior ''While you lot were wasting time apparently doing nothing much at all me and my boys already found out that this is an uninhabited island. There are no other humans here and no escape, all there is the sea for miles around''

''Are you sure of that Jack?'' Ralph was skeptical

''Yes I can take you up the mountain and show you if you like'' the arrogant Jack said ''This is a small island in the middle of a vast ocean''

''Oh my god, what will we do then?'' one of the smaller boys said ''will we ever be rescued?''

The small boy began to cry and some of the other smaller boys joined in

''Stop that!'' Ralph demanded ''Crying will not help, we must all be brave and strong now''

''We need to find fresh water, I am so thirsty and without water, we will die'' Dani said

Once again Jack was smug ''my cadets and me found fresh water too'' he bragged ''there is a stream, and the water is fresh, we tried it''

''And what about food?''

''Well, there is plenty of fruit and nuts and mushrooms!'' declared Piggy ''I found lots and lots''

''Yes, but there will be meat as well'' Jack said ''we found pigs and piglets all over this island! We can hunt and eat these pigs!''  

''Well I'm a vegetarian'' Dani said ''I refuse to eat meat''

''Suit yourself but I intend to hunt the pigs and have a feast'' Jack said

''Ok but we want to figure out how we could be rescued too'' Ralph said ''I don't want to be stuck here for the rest of my life. We should light a fire or something as a signal for passing ships or planes to let them know we are here''

''Ok we'll light a fire or something then'' Jack said with a shrug; Jack was already appearing ambivalent to the idea of being rescued 

''We should have a leader'' the assertive Jack continued ''Rules should be made, and obeyed, punishments should be assigned to any boy...or one girl... who disobeys a rule or behaves badly''

''Well I think Ralph should be the leader'' Piggy said

''Who asked you?'' Jack demanded, showing open disdain toward Piggy  

''I agree with Piggy'' Dani said ''Ralph gets my vote for leader''

''But I should be the leader!'' Jack said angrily ''I am the best boy for the job, all my cadets will vote for me! I am a natural leader!'' 

''Well I say Ralph is a better choice'' Dani said defiantly ''Ralph found the conch and called everyone together''

''Stuff you stupid conch! I'll smash it to pieces'' Jack was very mad now

''You won't break the conch, you thug!'' Piggy yelled ''we must keep the conch and use it to call assemblies! The conch is very important!''

''Listen you, I've already had enough of you'' Jack said, getting up into Piggy's face and raising his fist ''Another word from you and I'll beat you severely''

Ralph pulled Jack away from Piggy

''Look man stop it'' he said ''Just leave Piggy alone, he hasn't done anything to you''

''He annoys me'' Jack was still staring angrily at poor Piggy ''Anyway I still say I should be the leader

''And I still think it should be Ralph'' Piggy said bravely, he was scared of Jack but still spoke up  

''We could have a vote for the leader'' Ralph said at last ''Isn't that the fairest way?''

''Suppose so'' Jack was forced to admit

''Who wants me as the leader?'' Ralph said, addressing the entire group ''put your hands up''

Dani and Piggy put their hands at once, followed by about half the other boys

''And who wants me?'' Jack demanded

His cadets all put their hands up at once, none of them dared face the wrath of their leader. Roger, Maurice, and a few of the other nastier boys also voted for Jack 

''Well it seems to be a tie'' Ralph said ''half and half''

''In that case, we should fight and the winner will be the leader'' Jack said

''Don't be silly, there is no need for us to fight'' Ralph replied

''Why not? scared I'll beat ya eh?''

''Listen, Jack...''Ralph started to say but then they were interrupted by a young girl running from the trees

''GUYS THANK GOD I'VE FOUND HELP''she cried

''JENNY OH THANK GOD YOU'RE SAFE I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!'' Dani cried and ran to hug her sister

The two sisters had an emotional reunion and a hug but Jenny had something important to say and had no time to waste

''Please I need help'' she said ''there is a boy on the top of the cliff, he wants to jump, he wants to kill himself. He won't listen to me, please someone help me talk him out of it''

Ralph, Jack, Dani, Simon, and one or two others immediately rushed off with Jenny to find the distressed, suicidal boy