When a Brawl Happened

"You decided not to go back into the forest today?" Robert asks, as he sits across form me.

I nod. "There's only so many time you can shoot an arrow. I've improved, but what I gained in skill, I gained in callouses."

"No kidding. You got lucky. Anymore shooting and you would've lost a few layers of skin."

I drop the apple core on the ground behind me. I thought the table would have more boys at it, but the mornings are awfully quiet around here. Not much seems to happen.

"How's the Med tent been?" I ask.

"Not many boys are getting injured. Everyone is still a bit shaken up since the fight. It hasn't even been a full week yet. Give it a month and everyone will be back into the swing of things." He tells me.

I nod, wiping my hands along my cloak to keep the bandages from soiling.

"Do you think we will find the body?" I ask.

"Samuel's?" He asks. "No way, he probably burnt to a crisp in that fire. James told me-"

"I meant Jared's."

Robert tenses, and for a second he doesn't breathe. He hesitates a few times before speaking, and the words fall out slowly.

"No. I saw Lyle's body. I can only imagine something worse happened to Jared."

It hurts my stomach, and I don't want to breathe anymore. I don't like to think about Lyle dying, because it's so vivid in my mind. The screams, the grunts, the blood. Lyle was just an innocent boy. Jared wasn't as innocent, but he was good. I don't like to think about Jared dying, because I don't want to imagine Neverland without him. Lyle's death was gruesome, and unfair to him. Killing Jared is unfair to everyone. I want to hope he hadn't suffered, but knowing his killer, I don't know what to think.

"It'll be alright." I tell Robert.

James comes and sits down next to him. "Robert, we are out of milweed."

Robert nods, getting up. "I'll talk to you later."

I look up at James, before looking back down at the table. I haven't seen him since I abandoned him in a forest fire.

"You saved my life." James says.

I make eye-contact with him. "No, you saved mine. You stepped in while he was chasing me."

"I got myself hurt." He says. "I'm not going to say I had no part. I distracted him, even if for a second."

"I left you." I tell him. I don't feel bad about it, and he can hear it in my voice. It's a fact, one that I thought would make James more upset.

He shrugs. "You left me alive."

I suppose he's right.

"I suppose Pan knows to, and that's why he hasn't punished you." He says. "I mean, he punished Keaton and Gregory after all."

"What, that I killed Samuel?" I ask. "You think he knows."

He shrugs. "I'd be surprised if he didn't. If he doesn't know, than I'm just as guilty as you. I didn't kill him, but I know the truth."

"Do people get punished for keeping things from him?" I ask.

James nods. "Yeah, constantly. Don't worry though, you are in the right. It was self-defense."

He reaches a hand across the table, and puts his arm on my shoulder.

"Thank you."

He chuckles, getting up. "Don't mention it."

I get up too, after he walks away. I turn away, until I realise.

Thomas is in danger. Johnny and Thomas. They know the truth; about me being a girl. Pan could kill them too.

Would he?

"You haven't been around much lately." A voice points out.

I turn around to see Max. He has his arms crossed, and his face has a huge purple welt along his eye. That coupled with the split lip and the hair standing up in all directions, he look awfully rugged and tough for someone his age.

"You haven't been around much period, actually." He corrects himself. "Last time we really talked was when we first met."

"We've talked since then, a few times even." I correct him.

"Not enough. Without you, I've been forced to spend time with Marcus, and that kid is always picking fights." He says.

I gesture to his face. "He pick a fight with you?"

He shakes his head. "I don't like fighting, hate it in fact. But I ran into him, and couldn't turn down a swing at his face."

"Really think Marcus deserves a beating that much?" I ask chuckling, sitting down at the edge of the clearing. He sits on a log above me.

"Wasn't Marcus. It was Lyle's killer. Gregory." He says, nonchalantly. "I got a decent punch in before he got two."

I don't give Max enough credit. He's young, but calm. He sees the world like it is, and isn't all that emotional. He did vomit when Lyle was killed, but maybe that's what hardened him. Maybe the boy who first stepped here was soft and calm, and it's this one that's odd.

I wonder how much we've all changed.

I nod. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

He shrugs. "It wasn't the only one I saw. The sick boy, the coma one, he fell from a tree right at my feet when the storm hit."

I don't remember a storm. It must have occurred somewhere else on the island. I wonder how brutal it was. I wonder what else I missed.

I nod. "That must've really sucked."

He shrugs his shoulders.

He means to say it was nothing compared to Lyle. I feel that too; I stabbed someone to death and Lyle's death was harder on me.

"At least his friend, the insane one, made it back alive." Max offers. "Though he doesn't do much. I have to go meet Thomas. He's been really upset about the whole hunt. Won't even talk to his brother about it, just me."

"Thomas can talk?" I ask, surprised.

Max grins, before stepping backwards and walking away.

He certainly is an odd one.

I get up off the ground, adjusting the bandages on my hands as I step forward.

I notice a few boys gathering around the table in the center. The members of the Hunt. There's few boys left now, since the competition began, and I get the feeling Pan is moving towards his final group of boys. Who knows what they are for?

I recognise all the faces there; Felix, Alex, Harry, Robert, James, Johnny, Keaton and Gregory. Out of the total 20 who were invited to the Hunt, only 8 get to stay members. Which is fitting, because when I first arrived there were 36 people here. Unfortunately, the numbers have dwindled down to 29, and what would make the Hunting Party an elite circle, if over half the boys were in it?

Pan suddenly irrupts from nothing onto the table above them. None of the boys cheer; they aren't the cheering type.

I'm knocked aside as I watch Dominique; he storms forward. I nearly tumble but my arm is caught in another boys grip, Fred's. He pauses, opening his mouth to speak before turning around and catching up next to Dominique.

"So, we get kicked out for being ten minutes late, but these murders get to stay in." Dominique shouts at Pan.

Pan turns to him, a straight look across his face. "Hello Dominique."

"I was kicked off, because I was ten minutes after a deadline, and we publically punished those two for murdering people, but they get to stay on."

Pan steps down onto the ground, next to Dominique. I thought Dominique was tall until I saw him next to Pan. Pan is only slightly taller than I am, but he manages to tower over Dominique's small figure.

"These boys have already been punished for their actions." Pan says.

"They both barely got impaled." Dominique says. "They should be banished, yet they are rewarded."

Pan laughs. It's an eerie sound. Not his chuckle, but a full hearted laugh. "Is that so?"

I don't notice that Dominique's fist was swinging until I notice that Pan already holds the fist in his hand.

Dominique doesn't waste a second and with his free foot raises it up, and kicks Alex, in the chest.

He manages to pull his fist out of Pan's grip, and bashes Alex on the head, sending the boy on to the ground.

Dominique is starting a fight. He's starting a fight with the boys of the hunt, and he's winning?

I leap forward, rushing closer. I don't know what is happening, but it seems as though Dominique is like soap, slipping through Alex's fingers and ripping James down on to the ground.

My hand reaches Dominique's back as I feel Fred yank me backwards. As my back hits the ground I raise my arms to fight Fred. Only, he has turned his back to me, and is now wailing on James, along with Dominique.

Two other boys, both of whom I don't recognise, join in the circle. I look over and notice that Pan is gone, as well as Felix. Johnny has disappear too, and so have Keaton and Gregory. It's Dominique and his group of four against the four remaining members of the hunt. And me.

I stand back up, pulling back on one of the boys and knocking him square in the face. My knuckles burn as they collide with the guy's head. He teeters but swings back at me, but I duck out in the nick of time. Someone grabs hold of me and pulls me back.

I grab them and pull them down to the ground, and watch as Robert scrambles up. He pulled me back?

"You've got to get Alex out of here." He steps in.

I scoff. "Alex is our best fighter."

"He got bashed in the head, he's probably concussed. He's just taking a beating, he'll just get more injured. But he won't leave without Harry." Robert says, his voice stern. "Restrain him."

"I can take these guys, you do it." I jump in.

Robert shakes his head. "You're going to break your knuckles punching like that."

I roll my eyes. I turn away, heading up over the table, to where I saw Alex being hit. I leap over and pull him up on to the table. He groggily attempt to turn around, but succeeds in elbowing me straight to the eye.

I yank him harder over the table, pulling him down and dropping him on the other side. I hop up on the table, and look down. Only Robert, James and Harry are still fighting, the group of boys. Robert rolls on the ground with Fred, and James is attempting to pull a few boys off of Harry, who lies down in the middle, trying to cover himself from the boys kicks.

My feet leap off the table and I jump on top of Dominique. I sit on his shoulder and lock my legs around his body, as I begin pounding my fists down on his head.

He sways for a moment, before yanking my feet apart, and shoving me forward. I flip in the air, managing to land on my side, just thankful I didn't land head first. He kneels down over top of me, before being ripped away, backwards.

I stand up, and turn to see James next to me shoving forward one of the two boys I don't recognise.

He tumbles on to the ground at Felix's feet, and is lifted up by a new boy who I don't recognise. The boy next to him holds Fred, while Felix holds Dominique and another boy by their collars.

Pan stands on the end, and I barely see his face as he turns around, a procession of boys following him. A perp walk.

Robert steps forward to James, quickly wiping the blood out from under James nose, before tilting around to inspect it.

He looks at me briefly. "Your scab opened up, your face is bleeding."

I reach my hands up touching my face, feeling the blood trickle down. I wipe it with my bandages, unwrapping my blistering hands and quickly wrapping the bandages around my head. They barely circle my head twice, but it will do for now.

"Is his nose broken?" I ask.

James shakes his head. "No way they broke my nose. I'm too durable. Probably isn't even my blood."

"It definitely is." Robert corrects him.

I turn to Harry, who shakily lifts himself off the ground. He sits up, swaying slightly. I help him up, and he rests his weight on me, which is barely anything.

He nods, leaning back. I sit him down on the bench beneath the table.

Alex comes and sits next to him, blood staining his shirt and running down his face from his mouth. He carefully clutches his left arm; I hope it's not broken.

Robert comes and looks down at them from where he stands next to me. "You both feel fine?"

Harry leans back against the table, coughs once, and then nods. "Sore as hell though. Nothing feels broken, just bruised."

Alex leans forward, letting go of his left arm to wipe the blood from his face. It smears across his chin and lips. "Bit my tongue. Hard. Heads a little sore, but not concussion sore. I got lucky."

"Who were those guys picking fights?" I ask.

"You've met Dominique," James says, walking up next to me. "Mad he got kicked off twice and those demons got to stay on. Fred has his back no matter what, and the other two, Eric and Sam, who knows why they were here."

"They got kicked out of the Hunt too," Alex grinds his teeth together. "Mad as hell they aren't in it probably."

"Where are they being taken?" I ask.

Robert puts his arm on my shoulder. "Where all prisoners go. To the cages."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oooh, what's this? A conflict? Finally.

What do you think of Max's actions? Of Dominique picking a fight? Of the Hunt's dwindling members? Let me know in the comments! Your feedback makes me want to write more.

Anyway, as always look at the stars, and I'll see you Monday.