Ralph was certain he had lost it when he got his face out of the sand, and saw the legs of a man in military uniform standing in front of him. He was so desperate for a miracle, he must've been hallucinating. It hadn't even occurred to him that the island going up in flames would've been quite an eye catching rescue signal.
Ralph's eyes widened as he soon realized his imagination wasn't running away from him. His eyes met those of the Marine Corps officer who stood in front of him, staring down at him with judgement and confusion. Ralph brought himself to sit up and back away from the man fearfully. He'd forgotten what civilization looked like; what it smelled like; sounded like; felt like. The officer standing in front of him reminded Ralph of how he'd gotten here in the first place, and the life he'd be going back to now that it really was the end.
Ralph could hear the screams of the hunters following in behind him. Just as soon as they'd gotten loud, they were deafeningly silent. Ralph turned around to see the others gathered around behind him, their blood and charcoal painted faces stunned to their very cores; even Roger's.
"What are you guys doin'?" the Marine officer asked curiously.
Ralph finally released the pent up emotion he'd been bottling up since Piggy's death, since Simon's death, since he lost his friendship with Jack, since he'd arrived on the island all oozing out of him at once. Ralph couldn't keep it in any longer. He started to cry. Not just a little, but really cry, the way Piggy had when his glasses were stolen. The officer stared down at Ralph, confused and concerned. The other boys stood behind him, and some of them started crying too, Jack included.
By the time Ralph scanned the beachfront, a second helicopter was landing on the island. Behind the officer, Ralph could see who must've been the Commandant of the Marine Corps get off the second helicopter to go talk with a group of marine officers who'd gotten off the first helicopter. They all were in uniform, they all had guns, they all were clean, fully clothed and civilized. They had just flown in from a world Ralph had long forgotten still existed.
Ralph looked behind him as Jack and the other boys dropped their hunting sticks to the ground. Ralph felt silly all of a sudden for being so afraid of a bunch of school aged boys and some sticks. These men in front of them were trained, equipped adults with real guns. This was reality. Not only for the rest of the world, but for them now too.
In the distance, Ralph could see a third helicopter bound towards the island. It was really over. And yet he almost hadn't survived long enough to find out.
The Marine Corps officer who'd first made contact with Ralph directed the boys to sit where they were as the adults figured out what the next step was. Jack and the others sat down behind Ralph, whispering amongst themselves. He couldn't believe how quickly they'd gone from ruthless savages to obeying adults like school children sitting on a classroom carpet. Quite literally, this drastic shift had occurred in a matter of seconds.
"First and foremost, to your guys' knowledge, is there anyone else on this island?" the marine asked.
"No" Roger piped up immediately.
"Not anymore" Sam added quietly.
"Excuse me?" the officer looked to the twin, who struggled to hold his head up.
"There were others, they didn't make it" Eric elaborated for his brother.
"How many?" the marine asked.
Sam and Eric locked eyes with each other as everything began to unfold.
"Three" Ralph finished for them. "Our captain and pilot... and two other boys" his teary voice pigmented with a deep sadness.
"Did you arrive here by plane?"
"Yes" Rapper continued. "It crashed. We used the plane's emergency lifeboat to get to this island."
"Do you remember where this plane you were on was heading?"
"The United Kingdom" Larry confirmed.
"You're all from the military academy in Georgia, yes?" the officer assumed.
"Yeah" Tony confirmed, abandoned and forgotten memories of Bainbridge Military Academy resurfacing in his mind.
The marine officer nodded and walked away from the boys to consult with the rest of his team.
"What the hell are we gonna do? He's gonna talk" Ralph heard Roger whisper to Jack just behind him.
"I-I don't know" Jack spoke for the first time since the Marines arrived.
"He's gonna tell them everything. We can't just do nothing" Roger continued to insist.
"There's nothing we can do now" Rapper chimed in.
Another officer approached the boys. His uniform indicated he was the Commandant of the Corps.
"Listen up" the commandant spoke, earning the attention of all the boys. "I need each of you to state your full name for the record. Once we've completed the roll call, we will be distributing clothing, food, and water bottles while we wait on the remainder of the rescue helicopters. Does everyone understand?"
"Yes" most of them spoke in unison.
The commandant pointed at each boy as he jotted their names down with pen and a notepad, asking for clarification on spelling for some names; starting from the front to the back of the cluster.
"Ralph Langley."
"Larry Evans."
"Rapper Jones."
"Roger Conroy."
"Jack Merridew."
"Eric Brooks."
"Samuel Brooks."
"Maurice Kent."
"Tony Hughes."
"Andy Hall."
"Greg Collins."
"Peter Campbell."
"Percival Madison."
"John Parker."
"Rusty Stevens."
"Steve Foster."
"William Owens."
"Luke Armstrong."
"Sheraton James."
"Patterson Graham."
"Mikey Dixon."
"Tex Wallace."
As the names of all 22 survivors were recorded by the commandant, Jack realized he had never even known most of their last names before now. In fact, he hadn't even thought of any of them having last names at all since they arrived on the island. He'd barely thought about his own since he'd adjusted to life on the island. He was just Jack, up until he'd become Chief.
The other Marine officers stepped in when the commandant headed over to the helicopter he'd came in on with the list of names. They asked the boys to stand up and separated them into three groups based on size. The grade 2-3 boys and a couple of the smaller 4th graders were grouped together including Mikey, Peter, Will, Percy and a few others. The 5th and few 6th graders like Sam, Eric, Maurice, Larry, Tony, Andy, Patterson and Luke were put in the second group. Which left Ralph, Roger, Jack, and Rapper in the last group.
The youngest group were the first to receive a new set of clothing. Every set was the same; a pair of plain black sweatpants and a white t-shirt with a small Marine Corps logo on the top left. The words "UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS" were arched over the circular-shaped logo, and arched beneath it were the words "SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM." The smallest size of the t-shirts and sweatpants were still too big for some of the little ones. Once the second group got their clothes handed out and put on, the officers finished handing out the larger sizes to Ralph, Jack, Rapper and Roger. Another helicopter flew in as some officers talked among themselves out of earshot while others handed out apples, plastic water bottles and granola bars to the boys.
The little ones sat on the sand, and ate and drank. A few of the others stood around in groups and whispered among themselves as they ate. Ralph sat not directly with but not particularly far away from the others. His eyes met those of a Marine who stood across the beach next to a helicopter. The man he was speaking to looked over at Ralph shortly after. Ralph dropped his head as he shoveled the granola bar down his throat.
A few minutes later, the two Marines approached the boys; Ralph in particular. Roger nudged Jack as the two spoke quietly on the other side of the group of snacking little ones. Jack turned his head to see the officers stop directly in front of Ralph.
"Ralph Langley?"
"That's me" Ralph said, looking up at them from his seat on the sand.
"Come with us please" they demanded calmly.
Ralph rose to his feet, bringing the rest of his apple and water with him as he followed. He turned and glanced back at Jack and Roger as he walked behind the Marine officers.
The officers stopped in front of one of the four helicopters that were scattered about the beachfront. The commandant was standing there too, waiting for them.
"You are the colonel of this squadron, is that right?" one of the Marines asked.
"Yes, I was.. or am" Ralph stumbled through his racing, unreachable thoughts.
"Are you able to provide us with the names of those who have died on the island?"
"Not all of them... sir. I only know two of the three" he admitted shamefully. He now felt awkward referring to another person as 'sir' after spending so much time in an uncivilized environment.
"Okay, and they are?"
"Our Captain's name was Benson. Captain Johnathan Benson. The other is... or was, Simon Bennett" Ralph struggled to maintain his composure as he spoke. There was nothing he could say to make anyone here, especially not the Marines, understand how hard this was for him.
"The rest of those who were on board that flight and are unaccounted for did not survive the crash then?" the officer asked Ralph like he already knew the answer to his own question.
"I believe so" Ralph replied.
"Can you describe the other unnamed boy who died while on the island for us?"
"Sure" Ralph swallowed as he strained his eyes holding back tears. "He was in 6th grade, I think. He was a little overweight, and wore glasses. He was the only one of us who did."
The officer beside the one questioning Ralph was writing down what Ralph was saying as the questioning officer nodded in response.
"Thank you, Mr. Langley. You can return to the group, we will be airlifting off the island shortly."
Ralph nodded as the shock of leaving the island hit him like a ton of bricks. He'd given up hope of getting rescued what felt like a long time ago now. He walked along the beach back towards the others; the others who, less than an hour ago, were trying to end his life. Roger was eyeing Ralph up as he returned to the group. Ralph noticed the charcoal and blood stains peaking out of the necklines and sleeves of all the other boys' shirts. Surely, the Marines must have been wondering why he was the only one who wasn't covered in makeshift war paint.
Ralph sat back down where he'd been sitting before and kept his head down, refusing the possibility of his eyes landing on Jack's or Roger's. Or anyone else's, for that matter.
Jack looked over at the island to left of where he was sitting on the beachfront. The fire was dying out. The smoke was still heaving unsteadily over the trees and rocks. For so long, he'd planned to be prepared for anything and everything.
Except for this.
It had been so long since things felt quiet. Ever since Jack and Ralph separated the others onto sides, forcing a divide among the boys, it was always loud. The sounds of hunters chanting, screaming, hollering, singing, messing around. It had been constant. Even as the boys around him chatted quietly amongst themselves now, Ralph felt out of place. It was strange to be in an environment without the endless noise of chaos. When he lifted his head to scan the area, he noticed some of the younger boys were still crying. Others looked scared. Even Roger had a certain amount of concern about him.
As the commandant approached the boys, Ralph noticed some of the Marines who hadn't been directly involved with communicating with the boys going in and out of the central part of the island; where the smoke and fire was, where the boys had been living all this time. They'd find both camps. They'd find the river that kept them hydrated. They'd find what remained of the torn up shelters, and of the fire atop the hill next to the shrivelled up tree. They'd walk through where Simon was killed. They'd find the spot and the blood stains from Piggy's death.
"We are going to start loading up the rescue helicopters in just a moment here" the commandant announced to the boys. "We have four helicopters that will be transporting you all off the island. The rest of the helicopters you see is for the rest of our team here who will fly out later in the day once our part in the initial phase of the investigation is concluded."
"What investigation?" Maurice spoke up.
"There has been an ongoing investigation into disappearance of the flight you boys were on since it was discovered that the plane hadn't made it to England. What caused the plane to go down and everything that happened after that is part of the investigation. However, this isn't something we need to worry about right now. You will be travelling in one of the rescue helicopters with one of our pilots, and four or five other boys. The flight back to the United States will take about eight hours. Due to the urgency of this situation, we will be landing at the nearest airport in Virginia where you will be connected with your families. After that, you will all be transferred to the Sentarra Princess Anne Hospital in Virginia for a thorough medical examination before your families will be allowed to take you home. The United States Marine Corps, and the Flag State Jurisdiction will be involved in the continuation of this investigation after the island has been vacated, and you will all be contacted and expected to participate in the investigation."
A few marines worked to divide the boys into four groups. Two helicopters would transport five boys and the other two would transport six. They were first divided back into the size groups they were put in for the clothing hand-out. From there, only a few of them were separated to turn three groups into a more balanced four. Sam and Eric were moved from the second group to create the fourth group, along with a couple little ones from the first group. Larry was shuffled out of the second group and into Ralph, Jack, Roger, and Rapper's.
Ralph's anxiety was spiraling at the thought of having to travel back with Roger and Jack in that tiny little helicopter for eight hours after what almost happened before the marines showed up. Like Jack, Ralph hadn't been prepared to get rescued either. At least he hadn't been as of late. He couldn't request to be placed in another helicopter without raising questions and suspicion. And right now, Ralph wasn't yet sure what kinds of questions he should and shouldn't be raising. So he swallowed his fear and prayed that nothing would go wrong this time they flew over the North Atlantic Ocean.