LOTF: Before and After

Phase 2: Chapter 10

"It's the division of the law that has jurisdiction over handling crimes that occur in the middle of the ocean, outside of any country's borders" Ralph explained to the younger boy.

"Crimes?" Larry questioned fearfully.

Ralph looked the boy dead in the eyes and nodded. Behind Larry, he could see Jack and Roger staring at him like hawks. He couldn't tell what they were thinking; if they were angry or worried. Perhaps it was both.

Ralph turned away from Larry and glanced back out the window. He used to enjoy watching out the window at the tiny-looking world below him as he flew. Now, he thought about how far of a drop it would be if the helicopter started to go down. He thought about whether or not he'd have time to put on a parachute, if he could find one. He thought about what would happen if there wasn't a lifeboat or lifejacket on board. He thought about all the things that could potentially go wrong with a helicopter that could cause it to crash. Ralph couldn't stand to look, but at the same time, he couldn't look away.

Ralph suddenly recalled the memory of the day they boarded the plane to England. He had graciously given Jack his window seat.

"Watch as we take off, it's super cool to see how everything gets smaller and smaller. It's like our world that seems so big, is shrunken down to a spec and it kinda makes it feel like your worries aren't as big either .... Once the sun comes up in about three hours, you'll see how pretty the ocean looks from here. It's incredible. You can see all the little islands like tiny specs in the ocean."

He remembered saying the words, but he couldn't remember what it felt like to believe them. Ralph was certain that Jack hadn't believed them for very long and certainly didn't believe it now either as he glanced out his own window.

That might be the only thing he and Jack have left in common, Ralph considered.

A few hours into the flight, Larry had fallen asleep. His heavy head rested unaware on Ralph's shoulder. The older boy wasn't sure how he felt about being close to one of Jack's hunters like this. But was he really a hunter anymore? Were any of them?

About halfway through the flight, both Rapper and Ralph had also drifted off to sleep. Ralph's head rested against the cold, hard glass window he'd been looking out for hours before. Roger had closed his eyes too, but Jack knew he wasn't really asleep. He doubted Roger would sleep at all before he was back home in his own bed. Jack peered over the others and watched Ralph as he slept. Jack glanced down at his United States Marine Corps: Search and Rescue Team t-shirt, the same one all the others were wearing; himself included. Seeing them all in matching clothing made Jack's stomach burn up inside. It forced him to look at Ralph like he was one of them; the way he used to back when they wore identical Bainbridge Military Academy training clothes, and identical cadet uniforms.

In this moment, Jack was struggling to remember why he had been so keen on killing Ralph. What exactly had he done that set him off? Was he scared Ralph would get in the way? Was he a threat to his tribe's security? He didn't know anymore. Jack was certain that he'd had a good reason at the time, but looking at the sleeping boy now, he couldn't put his finger on what it had been.

By the last hour of the flight, everyone had woken up at some prior time. Ralph only slept for maybe 20 minutes at the most. Both Larry and Rapper were out cold for at least a couple hours. Jack was surprised that Ralph didn't follow suit with them considering how long he'd been hiding and running at full speed during this last morning on the island.

"Prepare for landing" the pilot turned on his headset to announce to the boys not long later. "Make sure headsets are on properly in order to prevent damage to the ears and/or hearing impairment."

Ralph secured his headset in place and looked out at the heliport they were about to land on. He could see that the search and rescue helicopter that had taken off before them arrived successfully, and assumed it wouldn't be long before the other two came in behind them. He couldn't believe he was back in the United States. It had been over a month since he'd had any hope of ever being part of American civilization again. And here he was, back on American soil.

Once the helicopter was landed and turned off, the pilot removed his headset and instructed the boys to do the same. They unbuckled their seat belts as the pilot came around and opened the door. Ralph climbed out first, followed by Larry, Rapper, Roger and then Jack. Ralph couldn't even begin to process the fact that this was really happening. There was some nagging part of his brain that had him convinced it was all still part of some very vivid dream, a fantasy that would never be a reality.

The five boys followed the Marine pilot through the airport until Ralph saw Maurice, Sam, Eric, Andy, Will and Patterson standing huddled in front of their pilot. It would be hard to miss them in their matching black sweatpants and white Marine Corps rescue team t-shirts. Their pilot led Ralph's group to join the others as they waited for the last two rescue flights to come in.

"We have do something about Ralph" Roger whispered as quietly as he could so nobody but Jack could hear him.

Jack swallowed nervously as he turned to stand closer to Roger. "Now?" he whispered back.

"You heard 'im on the helicopter. About the flag state shit. You have any idea what will happen once the authorities are involved?" Roger pushed.

"The authorities already are involved" Jack argued in a hushed tone.

"We need to take care of it before it's too late" Roger pressured his friend.

"How do you suppose I do that? We don't have that kind of power anymore" Jack reminded him.

"Figure it out, Chief."