Free The Boy in the Field by Jo Oram Page B

going to meet us at my house.”
    “All right. We need to move before more of them come.”
    You grabbed your coat while Noah fetched his mother. The
streets outside were full of people, running, fighting, screaming. Noah led you
through the garden, scrambling over hedges and between houses. Branches snagged
at your bare legs and you and Noah both had to help his mother over each
obstacle, the woman too stunned even to speak.
    Eventually, you were out of the town and on the road to the
dilapidated old house. Already partially in ruin, you were sure no one would
bother attacking it. If you lit no candles and stayed quiet, no one would even
know you were there. You pushed the door open and huddled inside.
    It was empty, the rooms all cold and quiet as you crept between
them, avoiding the creaky and rotting floorboards. Noah stayed in the kitchen
with his mother, his voice soft as he tried to reassure her. You shook your
head as he looked up at you.
    “You know what Ethan’s like, Ma. He’s strong. He’ll get here.”
    “I told him we would meet him by midnight,” you said. “We’ll
wait a little longer.” You placed a pile of blankets on the kitchen table. “Get
some sleep. He’ll be here before you wake up.”
    You sat in silence until Adina had gone to sleep, both staring
out of the window, eyes searching for Ethan. As dawn began to rise, Noah took
hold of your hand and led you from the kitchen into the other room.
    “He’s not coming, is he?” he asked.
    “He said he would be here.”
    “What am I supposed to do without him? He’s my brother. He
always knew…” Noah shook his head. “What if he’s been killed? What if I never
see him again?”
    You put your arm around his shoulder and pulled him close.
“He’ll find us.”
    But it wasn’t that night. Neither Noah nor yourself slept well,
both waking at the slightest sound, expecting it to be Ethan or the invaders,
finally tracked you down. No one came.
    By the morning light, you could each see how bad the others
looked. Adina’s skin was pale and heavy bags weighed under her eyes. Noah’s
face was streaked with blood and sweat and your own looked much the same. The
house had no running water for you to wash away the dirt and nothing to drink.
    “I want to go home,” Adina said. “Maybe he's gone back to the
house. I want to go.”
    Noah looked out of the window. A cloud of black smoke hung over
the horizon.
    “I don't think that's possible, mother.”
    “Then I want to go back to Ethigos.”
    You frowned. “Why Ethigos? Everyone will be fleeing. They’ll
close the borders.”
    “Mother was born in Ethigos,” Noah explained. “They will allow
her to return – and us with her.”
    Choice: 55. Go Back to the House or 58. Flee to Ethigos

45.     ESCAPE WITH ETHAN
    You pulled on the boots. “What about Noah? And your mother?”
    “If we find him, we’ll take him, but we’ll all be killed or
worse if we stay.” Ethan grabbed your hand and pulled you to the window. “Come
on.”
    The streets outside were full of people, running, fighting,
screaming. Ethan kept you away from them, scrambling between gardens and under
hedgerows. Branches snagged at your bare legs and caught on your clothes as you
fought your way through, all the while searching desperately for some sign that
Noah was still alive.
    Eventually, you were out of the town and on the road to the
dilapidated old house you once called a home. It seemed the perfect hiding
place, already fallen into disrepair – the kind of place nobody would bother to
attack. You hoped Noah would know to look for you there.
    You pushed the door open, the lock busted. The empty rooms were
cold and quiet as you crept between them, avoiding the creaky and rotting
floorboards. You gathered fusty blankets from the bedrooms, huddling beneath
them under the kitchen table. Ethan pulled you close to him, stroking your
shoulder as you cried.
    “What if I never see him again?” you whispered.
    “Don’t