Surviving the Fog Read Online Free PDF Page B

with their spears.
    Ralph screamed in surprise and pain, and then
he struggled to his feet while trying to fend off the painful
blows. He stumbled away, and then he began to run. For an instant,
Mike started after him, and then a premonition caused him to
halt.
    He turned around, held out his arms, and
commanded, "Stop!"
    He was just in time. Jacob had his spear
cocked back by his ear, and he was about to send it into the
fleeing boy's body. His hazel eyes were angry. Shocked, Mike stared
at Jacob, and then he walked back to Jacob and clapped him on the
shoulder.
    "We’re cool," he said quietly.
    Mike looked at the other boys. Some were
still angry; some seemed troubled and startled at the sudden surge
of violence. Mike turned his attention to John who was using his
sleeve to stanch the blood trickling from his mouth.
    "You okay?" Mike asked.
    "Yeah, I'm fine. He got lucky." There were
chuckles from the others, more from relief than from humor.
    "Right," answered Mike. "All right, back to
practice. Who's up next?" The boys returned to their task.
    Ralph did not bother them again. A few days
later, he unexpectedly crossed paths with Mike when the younger boy
was alone. They stared at one another for a moment. Mike looked him
right in the eyes, not backing down. After a moment, Ralph turned
away.
    To the younger boys, Ralph had always been
somewhat of a bully, and word of what happened quickly spread. One
result, that Mike found rather annoying, became apparent the day
following the incident with Ralph. Nathan and Kevin, who were brown
haired twins, and who were also a couple of the youngest boys, came
running up behind him.
    "Hey, Chief!" Nathan said.
    When Mike glanced back at them, Kevin said,
"Chief, we want to go up the river to look for spear shafts."
    "So go," he answered, puzzled as to why they
were telling him.
    They looked at one another, and then Mike
realized that they were embarrassed.
    "Well, we don't know what kinds of things
might be in the woods," one began.
    "Can you send some of the Spears with us?"
pleaded the other.
    So Mike asked Pete and Eric to accompany the
two smaller boys. After that, he noticed that most of the boys and
some of the girls took to calling him, ‘Chief.’ When he complained
good naturedly to John, the other boy took the situation much more
seriously.
    "Mike, it's good that they're calling you,
‘Chief’," John said.
    "Why?" Mike asked, surprised to hear
this.
    "Because we need someone to be in charge,”
John answered. "We have to get ready, so that we can survive this
winter. To get ready, to have rules that get enforced, we have to
have a leader. You're the leader, Mike. I know it’s kind of crazy.
You’re one of the youngest kids here. But so far, you are the only
one that’s shown any kind of leadership. You think about these
things more than the rest of us."
    "But, Jackie..."
    John cut him off. "Jackie's sick, Mike. You
know that. You're the leader, Mike. It's good that the kids are
calling you, ‘Chief.’ Accept it, and use it so we can get on with
more important things."
    Mike felt that this was dubious logic, but he
didn't argue. There were definitely more important things to
consider, particularly their food situation. The Spears began
guarding the food, and they rationed the amount that people could
eat. There was some grumbling, especially from the girls, but most
of them recognized that they had to conserve, even if it was just
until someone came for them.
    Every night Mike held a meeting to discuss
the day’s progress. Some of the boys wanted to join the Spears.
Mike told them that they could practice with the Spears, and if
they got good enough, they could join. Most of them just wanted to
carry a spear. Few of them actually practiced enough to be allowed
to become one of the Spears.
    Mike's core group was John, Howard, Eric,
Jacob, Pete, and two other boys that quickly became proficient with
their spears, Ahmed and Rasul. Every night, two of the Spears