The Reaping Read Online Free

climbing, climbing, climbing until we’re ten, then twenty, then thirty feet off the ground. The bark scrapes at my palms, digs into my fingers and makes me wince, but I grit my teeth and climb. When I look down, I can barely make out the forest floor beneath us through the pine needles. If I look out beyond the tips of the branches, I can see more around us.
    The voices come closer, and Jack and I press ourselves against the tree trunk, trying to blend in as best we can. My lungs are screaming at me to take a deeper breath, but I can’t. Not unless I want them to find us.
    Through the filtered moonlight, I can make out our campsite, and three shapes come into the grove. Each one has a gun pulled up into a shoulder. I can recognize the posture even in the dark—I could recognize the posture anywhere. I’ve seen too many of these soldiers with their night-vision goggles and their ubiquitous weapons. They’re in a triangle formation, and the figure in the lead motions the others forward. They’re silent now, stalking through the woods with only the crackle of twigs to give them away. They know they’re close to their prey. They know we’ve been here. But how? We were so careful.
    One of them stops and snoops around our campsite, digging through the leaves with the muzzle of his gun. He turns around and prods some more, then looks at the leader and the glint of moonlight on his goggles tells me he’s shaking his head.
    Jack and I haven’t lost our touch—we still flawlessly cover our tracks.
    The soldiers slowly turn three hundred and sixty degrees, covering every inch of the grove. They find nothing. They don’t even think to look up. I could laugh at their stupidity if we weren’t in such a precarious situation. It’s cold, but my hands are sweating as I cling to the tree. Jack hasn’t moved an inch since we found our perch, and his lips are tight. He won’t even look at me. He just stares at the soldiers below us.
    One of the soldiers finally risks speaking. “Nothing, sir. There’s no trace of her.”
    A crackling voice answers back, tinny through a walkie-talkie. “Check again. We know she’s out there somewhere. She made a drop yesterday.”
    Jack finally looks at me, worry worn deep in his eyes.
    So the government does know what I’m doing. They’ve figured out where the nomads are going. And they were so close to finding me, too. If I were just a few minutes slower, if the soldiers were just a bit smarter, they would have caught me.
    The soldiers shrug and look around for a few seconds more before disappearing across the grove to cover more ground. The helicopter lifts into the air and flies above the forest. Our tree sways under its down draft. My foot loses its grip on the branch and I slip, my hands grappling the biting bark as my legs flail out from under me, and Jack catches my hand just in time to keep me from falling. We stay that way—me with one hand on the branch, Jack clinging to my other hand and the tree for all he’s worth—until the sweat is pouring into my eyes and both of our muscles are screaming for relief.
    I haven’t heard the soldiers for probably five minutes, and the helicopter sounds at least two miles away. I finally let myself relax and Jack pulls me back up onto the branch, and I let my cheek rest on the bark. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
    Jack sits down on the branch, his legs dangling on either side as he leans against the trunk. “I knew it would be like this. I knew it would be. I just didn’t imagine it would start so soon. That first week in the colony, I checked my back after leaving and entering every room.” His shoulders slump. “It was so strange to feel safe again. Jessa teased me every time I did it.” He looks at me and arches an eyebrow. “For being twins, you two are completely different. After a couple of weeks, I finally relaxed. I’m going to pick up the habit again pretty quickly.”
    I nod, and the tree bark scratches my cheek. I