Stranded

Chapter 11 ~ Cassie

"Cassie! Cassie!" a voice hisses through the night. I unwilling open my eyes. If the boys did something....

I get up and go out of hut, stepping over other girls. It's almost morning.

"What is it?" I mumble at the entrance.

"There's something at the signal fire," she says. I think it's Jenna. "It's the Beast."

"Very funny," I mumble before realizing that they know nothing about what happened at last night's meeting being that they were already at the signal fire when we got back. "Wait, what happened? No, tell us all, get the other girls up."

"Sophie's already working on it," she replies. We quickly wake up all the older girls in my hut and we move to the larger hut.

Once there, Jenna, Claire, Sophie, and Allie tell us all what they saw. Everyone sits quietly, first from sleepiness, than from fear. It is dead silent after wards.

"You four don't know," I start, breaking the silence, making sure to chose my words carefully, "but just last night, the boys had a talk about an imaginary beast, it seems that it is not imaginary. That is what that little boy must have seen when we first arrived.... We must find out what the boys are doing and send a hunting party up immediately to see if this animal is a true threat. We may need to work together to defeat it. I'm sure Ralph will agree, and Jack will be willing." There are no protests despite the increasing hate of the boys. "We must go now. Who are the best hunters?" Several girls raise their hands. A few that are excellent at tracking, others that came up with weapon designs, and the few that have successfully killed a pig. We all hunt, but some are better than others. "The hunters get in paint, Selene, you're with me. Everyone leave with spears and bows. Those with paint stay behind and follow us, they won't like it if we are obviously bring our own hunting party. The rest stay and watch the children. Dismissed."

Everyone leaves. Selene and I grab weapons and immediately head towards the boy's camp. The boys can deal with us not being in our uniforms.