JACK THE KING (Lord of the Flies reimagined)

Part 33 - LIFERS

Maurice, Paul, Craig, Ryan, Liam, Darren, James, and the rest of the surviving boys were all standing in a court dressed smartly in shirts and ties. All of them stood head bowed

There were cameras in the court of course. The sentencing was being broadcast all around the world as the thrilling conclusion to ''The Island Games'' the worldwide hit reality TV series of 2023

''Do any of you boys repent for your sins?'' the judge asked them

The boys remained silent and just shook their heads and wept. Except for Maurice of course, a warrior until the end

''I want to ask YOU if any of YOU repent!'' he said furiously ''Does the army repent for setting this up? Do all the viewers around the world repent for watching it and being entertained by it? Do the tv companies repent for making money from it? I demand to know!''

''Be quiet now you little bastard'' the judge hissed at him ''Now, boys, you all played a part in the deaths of at least three people on the island and you all played a part in supporting Jack Merridews regime as King. You worshipped and obeyed his rules and when he pushed Ralph to suicide and when his regime led to the brutal deaths of Simon and Roger you all played your part. None of you tried to stop it, you were all complicit''

''We had no choice Sir!'' a desperate James pleaded ''Please Sir we were scared of Jack. He was our king and we had to serve and obey him''

''SHUT UP!'' the judge bellowed ''I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR FROM ANY OF YOU AGAIN NOW''

James bowed his head again and wept

''YOU'RE ALL GOING TO BE PUNISHED VERY HARD FOR YOUR SAVAGE BEHAVIOUR. I'M JAILING THE LOT OF YOU FOR LIFE, WITHOUT PAROLE, THE MAXIMUM PRISON SENTENCE!''

And the audience cheered and clapped

''YES JAIL THEM FOR LIFE, THEY ARE ANIMALS THEY DESERVE IT!''

''But we were set up'' Maurice said weakly as the boys were being taken away to start their life sentences ''Don't you see this isn't fair? We were set up, what punishment will the people who did this to us get? And anyway I was against Jack and wanted to be the leader myself. If I'd been the leader I wouldn't have let those things happen I swear  ''

But no one was listening and the boys were all taken to their grim future in prison. 

Maurice knew that if he had been king instead of Jack he probably wouldn't have been any better than Jack and he felt shame and disgust knowing that really he wasn't any better than Jack. His intention had always been to overthrow Jack and be the king himself and run the island the same way Jack had. Maurice knew that he and the other boys were all savages but they had been set up for it and now they were being punished for behaving the way they had been set up to behave. Maurice thought this was just unfair, any person could turn savage under the right circumstances. Humans were all one step away from it and people had watched ''The Island Games'' and been thrilled by it but now that it was over it was only the boys who got punished.  Maurice was angry and bitter about the sentence and decided that if he had to stay in jail for life he wouldn't make it easy for them, he would create a way to be a king in jail in the same way Jack had on the island and he would make life hell for everyone around him, prisoners and warders alike. He had nothing to lose and felt no mercy for anyone now, they had caused him to be in a situation where he was being put in prison for the rest of his life and he would make sure they paid. They wanted him to be savage? Well he wasn't going to disappoint them