Harvest

# Book One: Runaway

## Chapter One - Aaron

I ran when the Reaper came. Ran faster than I ever thought my legs could carry me, faster than the wind, that attempted to push me toward my fate. The Reaper had killed my family in front of my eyes. I just knew it. Tumaiga, my town I had grown up in, was all murdered, except me. King Roden wouldn't have sent the Reaper, I hope. The assassin was stronger than any opponent, perhaps even the king. My hopes were dim as I ran. I had no time to get food or water, no place that I could sleep in a comfortable bed. My clothes were in tears from running through the forest, and I dreaded what I would see if I turned back. Suddenly, a hand grips my arm. I whirl around. My knife was in my hand, and I was about to stab whoever grabbed me.

“Aaron!” I pause and recognize the face. It was my twin sister, Morgan. I hadn’t seen her, so I assumed they had killed her alongside everyone. Her bob-cut brown hair was messy, but still somewhat styled. She held Father’s dagger, the one I couldn’t find. Her peach skin was covered in mud, but there was dirt, and some mud splattered on her tattered clothing. I look at her, and want to cry in relief, but I know better than to make a lot of noise.

“You’re alive,” I hug her, and she holds me comfortingly, “We mustn’t make much noise, the Reaper must be nearby,” She nods and lets go of me. She takes her dagger and inspects it.

“I never thought I’d need this, but Father was right. The Reaper would be sent, eventually.” She stares at me. “Father said I would consider it as a declaration of war,”

“Do you?” My curiosity gets the better of me.

“Of course,” Morgan’s nostrils flare, “They killed Mother and Father! Zahra and I witnessed Hana’s death,” She adds slowly and my shoulders slump.

“Hana’s death?” My voice wavers. Hana was only four. She was cheerful and charming.

“Is Zahra alive?” She asks

Morgan looks at me pitifully but before she can respond, we hear leaves crunch from behind us. We glance at each other and make our decision. Morgan starts to run. I chase after her. I hear the leaves crunching closer and I know the Reaper is following us.

I don't think about what I do next. I get a branch in my hands, and I hit the Reaper with the end of it, not letting go. The Reaper flies through the air, and I hear him land on the ground. He tries to get up, but I hit him again, and again. I hear a bone crack. I keep hitting the Reaper until my arm hurts, and his mask is crushed into his face. His cloak is burnt. I stop, and drop the branch. I take a deep breath, and try to steady my hand. I raise my dagger. The Reaper doesn't move. His mask is badly damaged, and he isn't breathing. I drop the knife, and walk away. I want to cry. But I won't. I can't.

Morgan stops and waits for me. She watches me as I walk up to her. I have to tell her the news. I clear my throat.

"Zahra is dead," I state. Morgan stares at me. I feel like I've given her the worst news ever. "The Reaper got to her." I feel my throat closing, "I'm so sorry, Morgan,"

"Zahra?" Morgan asks, and she doesn't seem sad. Just curious, "What did you hit the Reaper with?"

"I grabbed a branch," I don't look at Morgan. I don't want her to know that I didn't do anything. "He was following us."

"Did the Reaper kill anyone else?" Morgan's voice is low, like she's afraid of the Reaper, "Was anyone else there?"

"We should go back."

"Not until you answer my question," I want to shout, but I'm afraid of what will happen if I make a sound. Morgan's looking at me like she can see through me. "Was anyone else there?"

"There was another. It was a man. He didn't do anything. He just stood there, staring at us."

"I know who that is," I breathe, "He's a friend of Father's. He's always coming to see Father," Morgan seems to calm down. She turns around, and walks back in the direction we came from, "Come on. I want to see him." I follow behind her.

Morgan sees him when we round a tree. He's sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. His shoulders are shaking like he's crying. He's covered in mud, but I know who he is. He looks up, and I see that he isn't crying. He's bleeding. His face is bruised and battered, his shirt is torn, and his pants are tattered. There's a hole in his shoe. Morgan starts to walk toward him, and I stop her. She looks at me questioningly.

"We can't let him know we saw him," I tell her quietly.

"He won't know, he's too beaten up," Morgan argues back. I frown.

"Let me go first," I say, and she nods.

"He's probably hungry," She whispers. I don't answer. I take a few steps forward, and clear my throat. The man looks up. He stares at me. He stands up, but his leg doesn't work, so he falls to the ground. I rush over to him. Morgan does as well.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

"Yes," He replies, but he doesn't look alright, "Why are you here?" He asks. He tries to get up again, but I push him back down, and hold him down.

"We'll tell you," I promise, "But you need to stay here," I point at the ground.

"He needs a doctor," Morgan tells me.

"We can't take him to one. We don't have enough food to feed all three of us," I whisper. Morgan nods. She sits on the ground beside him, and she takes off her cloak. She pulls up her sleeve, and looks at the man.

"Do you know where we are?" I ask him, and he nods. I look at Morgan and nod at her.

"We can't stay here for too long," I add, and Morgan hands the man the cloak. She rubs it on the dirt, and puts it over him. "We can't make a lot of noise, do you understand?" He nods.

"Where are you going?" He asks. Morgan and I glance at each other.

"You won't tell anyone where we are?" I ask, and the man nods again.

"We need to find food. Do you have any food on you?" I ask. The man reaches for his pocket, and pulls out a large gold coin. It looks like a piece of metal, but it's shining.

"Thank you," I say, and Morgan stands up. I follow her as we leave. "We need to find somewhere to sleep," I tell her.

"The man is coming with us," Morgan whispers to me.

"I thought you didn't like him," I reply.

"I don't. But we can't let him die. Not after he helped us," Morgan's voice is firm. She stops in front of me, "He needs our help, Aaron. He wouldn't have helped us if we were strangers,"

"We can't let him find out where we're going," I try to argue, but I can tell that Morgan isn't going to change her mind.

"We have to be careful," Morgan insists.

"What do you want me to do?" I ask, "Do you want me to tie him up? If we do that, we won't get food,"

"We can make a rope from some of the trees," Morgan offers, "We have enough food, and we have Father's knife,"

"Do you know how to make a rope?" I ask. She smiles at me, and shakes her head.

"It's easy. Father taught me how to make one,"

"You're right," I nod. Morgan reaches for my hand. We continue to walk forward. The man walks behind us. He isn't making any noise, so I hope he's listening to me.I know that if I do, I'll make eye contact, and we'll be caught.

"Can we stop somewhere?" Morgan asks after a while. I think about it.

"We're nearly to the forest's end," I whisper.

"I need to get food," She replies.

"We can't," I shake my head, "The Reaper could still be here," I start walking forward, and Morgan follows behind me.

She argues, "I have Father's knife,"

"We can't," I turn around and hiss. Morgan crosses her arms. I turn back around.

"We have to," I hear her say. I take a deep breath, and start to walk again.

"There are many trees here," Morgan points out, and I look around. She's right, there are a lot of trees around here.

"What about that one?" She asks. I follow her finger. There's a big tree. It looks dead, but I decide to look up. The branches are long enough to support the three of us.

"Morgan, we can't do that," I warn her.

"We can," She whispers back. I look at her, and I don't say anything.

## Chapter Two: Morgan

"Are you sure you want to go up there?" Aaron asks me. I nod at him, and reach for his hand. He pulls me up the tree.

"Do you have the rope?" He asks me. I shake my head. He lets go of my hand, and crawls a bit. He comes back down, and drops a bundle of rope. "I'll go up," He says, and crawls up the tree again. I hear him shout when he reaches the top. I frown. I crawl over to the rope. I make a few loops with it, and I start to climb up the tree.

When I get to the top, Aaron is helping the man up. I walk over and help him as well. He puts his hand on his mouth when he reaches the top. I turn around and look at the forest. It looks beautiful from here. I don't see any dead trees. There's no one around for miles. The leaves look bright green and full. I close my eyes. I take a deep breath. It's peaceful.

"Aaron!" I call, "Look!" I wave my hands at him. He stares at me, and I hear him shout in surprise. I turn around to see what he's shouting about, and I see a huge field of green grass. There's a small cottage near the edge of it. It looks abandoned.

"We can sleep in there," I tell Aaron. He nods. We climb back down the tree, and I pick up the rope. The man stares at me.

"What are you going to do with that?" He asks. I stare at him.

"We're making a rope so we can get some food," I say to him, but I don't look at him. I start to walk, and the man follows behind me.

"What about the cottage?" Aaron asks, "It looks abandoned,"

"We need a place to sleep," I reply, "The cottage might be full of spiders, or snakes," I turn around, and glare at the man. "We won't be able to sleep there," I continue to walk. Aaron follows me. The man stays behind us. I know that Aaron doesn't like him, but we can't just leave him behind. I hear a noise, and I freeze.

"Did you hear that?" I ask Aaron. He nods. We both look at the man.

"I didn't hear anything," He says.

"The cottage?" Aaron whispers to me. I nod.

"It was near the cottage," I whisper back. We start walking again. The cottage is close by now. We walk closer to it, and we hear the noise again.

"What is it?" The man asks. I ignore him.

"There's a door," Aaron whispers to me. He starts to run forward, and I chase after him. He opens the door and I look in. There's a large bed in the middle of the room, and it's covered in cobwebs. There's a small table on the side of the bed. It's covered with dust.

"This is better than the tree," Aaron says. I nod.

"We need to go to sleep," I say to Aaron, "We can't keep walking. We're going to be too tired tomorrow," Aaron looks at me.

"You're right," He says, "But we have to get up early, and get some food,"

"I don't care if we wake up early," I turn around, and the man is gone, "We need food now," I walk back to the door, and see the man. I close the door, and walk back to Aaron.

"He's not going to run away?" Aaron asks, "I don't think he likes us,"

"He probably thinks that if he runs away, we'll kill him," I tell Aaron. I look at Aaron. "We should get some sleep," I take off my cloak. I use it as a pillow, and lay down on the bed.

"I'm going to keep watch," Aaron tells me. He doesn't take off his cloak. He walks over to the door. I close my eyes.

"Aaron?" I whisper to him. He doesn't respond, so I try again, "Aaron?"

"What?" He sounds irritated.

"Please don't leave me alone," I feel bad for asking this of him, but I'm not comfortable with being left alone in this new place.

"Why do you need me to stay here? You're safe in here," He tells me, but I hear him sit down.

"I know, but I don't want you to leave," I feel embarrassed. I curl into a ball and close my eyes.

"We should get some sleep," He says again, "It'll be better if we wake up early," I nod even though he can't see me. I try to go to sleep.

I wake up, and my cloak is on top of me. The bed is dusty. I can see dust floating through the air. I get out of bed. I put my cloak on, and walk over to the door. I see Aaron sleeping. I sit down on the ground. I stare at the floor. My stomach growls. I lean my head against the door.

"Morgan?" I hear a voice call out to me. It's a deep voice. I stand up and walk over to Aaron. I nudge him. He opens his eyes and blinks.

"What are you doing?" He asks me. I look behind me, but the man isn't there.

"The man is gone," I tell Aaron, "Did you see him?" Aaron nods, and sits up.

"I saw him run away when you were asleep," He says. I frown.

"We have to get food," I whisper to Aaron. He stands up and yawns.

"How do you feel about killing some animals?" He asks me.

"You want us to kill some animals?" I ask him, "They're probably innocent," I stare at him. He shrugs.

"It's either that or starving," I look down at the floor. I nod.

"Let's go then," I walk away. Aaron follows behind me. We walk around the field. I see Aaron looking at the plants, and I know what he's thinking. He wants to eat the plants, but I don't know how.

"What if we find a squirrel?" I suggest. Aaron looks at me.

"Squirrels aren't very tasty," He says. I frown at him.

"They're more filling," I tell him. He looks around the field.

"If we find a squirrel, you have to do something for me," Aaron says.

"What?" I ask. He turns around and stares at me.

"If I find a squirrel, you have to eat it," He tells me.

"You're not going to find one," I say. Aaron laughs at me. I glare at him. "I know you can't find one. That's why I want to go look for something else," Aaron doesn't stop laughing at me.

"It's either that, or nothing," He says.

"I'll kill you if you don't give me something else," I warn him. He stops laughing. He walks toward me. He stands so close to me that I can feel his breath on my neck.

"Are you scared?" He asks. I shake my head.

"Just tell me what I need to do," I say to him. He lets go of backs away from me. I turn around and start to walk again. I see Aaron looking at me. I stare back at him.

"Do you know where we are?" I ask him. He shakes his head.

"I thought I knew this place. But I don't recognize anything," He says. He looks down at the ground. "There isn't a lot of food here," He says.

"There isn't a lot of food anywhere," I reply. I continue walking. I see Aaron staring at the ground. I sigh. I walk toward him.

"What?" He asks me.

"Can you keep watch while I do this?" I ask him. He looks at me and frowns.

"You're not going to get food, are you?" He asks.

"If you don't do it, we won't eat anything," I reply.

Aaron rolls his eyes and exits the cottage, but about twenty minutes later, he hasn't returned. Has the Reaper got him? I think to myself. I grab Father's knife, and walk out of the cottage. I don't see Aaron anywhere. I don't hear anything. I walk around the cottage, and I don't see anything.

"Aaron?" I call. No answer.

I start to walk again, but I don't find anything. Where could he have gone? I walk around some more, but I don't see anything. I keep looking. I decide to head back to the cottage.

As I get closer, I hear something. It sounds like someone crying. I follow the sound, and I see Aaron sitting in the grass. I frown and walk closer to him.

"What are you doing?" I ask him. He looks at me, and I can see that he's been crying.

"I couldn't find any food," He tells me, "And I didn't know where you went, and I thought the Reaper got you," He sniffs, and wipes his face, "I'm sorry," He adds. I stare at him. I feel bad for him.

"I was in the cottage, doofus," I tell him. He frowns at me. I sit down next to him.

"Are you going to kill me now?" Aaron asks me.

"You don't deserve it," I say, "You did nothing wrong,"

"But I didn't find any food," He protests.

"There was nothing to find," I reply. I hold my hand out to him. "Come on, we should head back," Aaron takes my hand, and pulls himself up.

But behind me, out of the corner of my eye, there was a purple shape, the same deep purple as the Reaper's robes, and the iconic scythe that represented death.

## Chapter Three: Aaron

"Where did you go?" I ask her, angrily. She had been missing for over an hour.

"I needed some fresh air," She says. I shake my head.

"You could have left a note," I add.

"You wouldn't have found it if I left a note," She looks at me. I sigh. She's right. I walk toward her. I stare at her. She stares back.

"Did you see anything?" I ask her. She shakes her head.

"No, not really," She looks at me. She looks nervous. I look behind her, and I see someone standing there.

"What are you doing here? Who are you?" The stranger asks. He has blond hair, and he's wearing a tattered shirt and torn pants. He looks like he hasn't eaten for days.

"I'm Morgan, and this is Aaron," Morgan steps forward. She points to me. "Who are you?" She asks the man.

"I'm Liam," He says. He puts his hands on his hips.

"How did you know we were here?" I ask him. He frowns at me.

"This is my field," He says, "You're trespassing," I stare at him, terrified.