Chapter 7: The Harvester
"Run girls!" Grace screamed, dashing off on the trek with her friends following.
Riding on top of the tractor combine was a plump, evil looking farmer, brandishing a pitchfork he used to point at the girls still making a run for it.
"What is chasing us in that machine?" Mrs. Calloway hollered.
"I don't know and I don't wanna find out what!" Maggie hollered back.
"Less talk, more running you two!" Grace shouted, keeping a firm hold on the key.
There was no time to think about what that thing was or how it knew of their presence. This was now the time for them to make a run for it, dodging rocks and jumping over holes and logs. Their running came to an end once they skid to a halt in front of a gate with a large lock.
"The key, Grace!" Maggie shouted. "Use the key!"
With the machine about to close in, Grace quickly used the key on the lock, opening the gate as they all were able to make it through just in time and lock the gate again. With the tractor combine trapped on the other side, the undead farmer cursed at the girls as he watched them race back onto the open road as fast as their legs could carry them.
"Whoa!" Maggie said in between breaths. "I don't think I've ever run that fast before in my life!"
"I hope we never see him again," agreed Mrs. Calloway, breathing hard. "Whatever that thing is, he sure could use a good night sleep."
The next road ahead lead to a working windmill. The blades of the windmill were spinning…except with the way it was set up. The blades were actually spinning across the road like giant sharp knives.
"Oh isn't that just great," Maggie cursed. "How are we gonna pass through that thing now?"
"Get a grip Maggie!" Mrs. C said sharply. "See that blade up there?"
The girls looked carefully to see that one of the blades was broken all the way.
"If we could time it perfectly, I'm certain that we can jump through the windmill quickly before the rest of the blades catch us."
"Aha, good thinking Calloway," Maggie wanted to give her a pat on the back if she could. "But who goes in first?"
"Mrs. C turned to look at her friends. "I'll do it. Wait here until I call for you two."
Maggie and Grace stared timidly when Mrs. Calloway got closer to the windmill, waiting for the first three to pass by.
"I can't bear to watch," Grace whimpered, turning her head away. "Tell me when it's over."
"It's alright Grace!" Mrs. Calloway called out. "I'm right over here, see!"
Both of them saw Mrs. Calloway safely on the other side of the road without a single scratch.
"Time it carefully and wait for the three blades to pass! But do it quickly!"
It still seemed awfully dangerous to brave and pass through, even for Grace. But she volunteered to go before Maggie, remembering that she was a fast runner after all. Following Mrs. C's warning, she timed the movement as carefully as she could and succeeded at passing through. It was Maggie's turn to give it a go without arguments. The sight of the large blades shook her timidly, but she kept her eyes on the broken blade carefully.
Relax cowgirl. She thought to herself. Don't think too much about those three blades, just go for the hole.
"Come on Maggie!" Grace's cry broke her out of her thoughts. "You can do it! Don't look up, just look at us!"
With one last timing, Maggie made a run for it, never looking back after she made it back to where her friends were standing.
"You did it Maggie!" Grace cried in joy. "You made it!"
Maggie looked back to see the blades still turning, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Well that wasn't so bad," Maggie admitted. "Now where to Mrs. C?"
Mrs. C studied the map for a second, and answered. "It appears that our next stop would be walking through this area known as the…Fields of Terror."
Grace swallowed hard in fear, not wanting to know anymore. The same went for Maggie who only stared at her friend in silence. Still, if that was where they needed to go, Mrs. C led the way in following the next road before them. In the next area, there were golden hayfields nearby scattered about.
"What the hay is all this?" Maggie joked, trying to keep her fear at a low level. "Hay, get it."
Grace laughed weakly. "That's a good one Maggie."
"Speaking of hay, I sure could go for a snack right now," Maggie was moving toward one of the haystacks close by. "Excuse me for a moment."
Mrs. C was about to decline as she saw how Maggie was about to take a bite. She was right to be alert by the sudden shivering movement of the haystack. The girls jumped back in alarm when a plump evil green skinned man popped out, brandishing a pitchfork.
"Oops, we're sorry," Maggie apologized. "Was that your home we almost ate?"
The undead creature growled and slashed at the intruders in front of him. But the girls were able to dodge this move of his. With the power stone of protection still around her neck, Maggie was able to use it against the creature. To her surprise, her eyes widened when it caught on fire and turned to dust within seconds.
The girls couldn't believe their eyes at what that crystal did. If it could easily drive off those creatures, maybe it would work best against all other undead creatures in the rest of this level. Looking ahead at the rest of the haystacks, the girls knew just what to do. Usually it wasn't in their nature to kill or destroy anything in the land of the living, knowing how terribly wrong it was. But in this case, these creatures were nowhere near innocent or living. There was no doubt that other undead pitchfork carriers waited in ambush for them, so with the stone of protection, all haystacks were set ablaze one by one, destroying the rest of the horrid creatures until there was nothing left but dust.
After the creatures' demise, the girls stood for a while, staring in awe at the sight of the burning haystacks.
"I can't believe it," Grace muttered timidly. "What have we done?"
"We did what we had to do Grace," Maggie answered firmly. "Think about it. Those guys weren't even alive to begin with. Do real people try to eat you like that?"
"No, unless they were sick with an incurable disease."
"A horrible way to die it was indeed," Mrs. Calloway piped in. "But I must agree with Maggie here, it was either them or us. Remember that Grace. As long as we're stuck in here, remember that."
Grace could only nod her head in response, understanding how right her friends were. Whatever else those creatures were, they were indeed nowhere near being human. After leaving the haystack area, the girls were on their way to the Fields of Terror, where they were greeted by a flight of nasty crows to pick their sharp beaks at them. Yet fighting them off was a piece of cake when Maggie swung the crystal widely until all the crows flew off out of sight. Before the entrance of the vast cornfield, the girls stopped at another sign and became aghast at what it said: Beware of those that infest the Fields of Terror. Unspeakable nightmares wait from within. Stay on the trek in between and do not under any circumstances slouch in the fields.
As if to add emphasis, a scarecrow from above dived down on the girls, but instead flew inside the corn where the girls heard screeching, which they guess was the horrid sound of death. All three of them cringed as to what might have happened if it was them instead of the crow.
"And to think that might have been us if we were in there," Grace proclaimed.
Putting that behind them, the girls continued walking through the trek and spotted some kind of object up ahead that caught their interest; another key on a stump.
"Look you two, another key," Maggie pointed out.
The girls moved their way to the stump to grab the key and see what it would unlock next. But when Maggie had her hoof only an inch away from the object, she felt the tip of her tail had been grabbed and she was suddenly pulled inside the cornfield by an unseen force.
"Maggie, no!" Grace screamed in fright. "COME BACK! BRING HER BACK YOU BEAST!"
"Grace, don't do it!" screamed Mrs. C.
She was jumped on by Mrs. Calloway just when she was about to jump in those deadly fields without even thinking. Grace struggled and kicked wildly from below.
"LET GO OF ME!" She hollered. "MAGGIE'S IN TROUBLE. WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING MRS. C!"
"IF WE STEP ONE FOOT IN THERE, WE'LL BE DEAD MEAT AS WELL!" Mrs. Calloway shouted back. "I CAN'T LET YOU RISK IT!"
Mrs. C and Grace stared in horror and sorrow, believing that there was nothing they could do for Maggie in those deadly fields.
What the two girls didn't know however was that once Maggie got pulled inside the fields, she was not exactly as annihilated instantly as they had feared she would be. Whatever was dragging her through, Maggie did not know, but guessed that it was vines that brought her here. She could feel her whole body being snagged and scratched by twigs from the ground, barely noticing her state of panic. She screamed in horror, swatting and kicking at whatever else might have pulled her through the cornstalks in vain. The pain of the rocks and twigs hitting her body was so unbearable that she almost didn't notice that she was actually being yanked a sinister being, which grinned hideously at her, opening it's "mouth" in anticipation. Her eyes bugged from her head as the unseen force pulled her close to the spirit.
Back outside the deadly fields, Grace and Mrs. C had refused to leave their spot, mourning for the loss of their friend in silence.
"Oh Maggie," Grace muttered sadly. "How can we go on without you?"
"What more can we do Grace?" Mrs. C responded sorrowfully. "We can't give up. Maggie wouldn't want us to quit too soon."
"Suppose we won't make it before the last mission?"
Before Mrs. C would reply, the two heard another rustle in the deadly cornfields which caused them to jolt back in fear, thinking that the same force had come back for them as it did for Maggie and were preparing to make a run for it.
"Hey wait for me why don't you!" a voice called out from behind them. They turned to find that it was Maggie, alive and safe, escaping only to be covered with dirt stains.
"Maggie, you're alive!" Grace cried.
The two rushed happily to their friend, not knowing how she had survived in that field, but were too relieved of her survival to think about it.
"What on earth happened in there Maggie?" Mrs. C chuckled. "We thought you were a goner."
"So did I," Maggie responded. "But I'm here now so let's not talk about it. We gotta get going."
With everything settled, it was time to move on. Grace held the next key with her tail safely, hoping that she wouldn't lose it. To Mrs. C, there was still something quite odd about Maggie's survival in the deadly cornfields where she would just pop out of that place without being dead in an instant like that other crow that attacked them. Perhaps it was a coincidence, or maybe there was more to it. She did not know. That was why she kept her eyes on Maggie, noticing the strange smile on her face that almost started to creep her out.
Her suspicions about Maggie were about to be revealed by the time the girls stopped in front of a forked path on the road with a big sign pointing left and right. The sign on the left pointed to Corn Starch Hill while the right sign pointed to the Vegetable Garden.
"Look, we're almost there you two," said Mrs. C, looking to the left path. "All we have to do is…"
Turning around, she was cut short to see that Maggie had instead followed the opposite path to the vegetable garden without even listening to what her friends were talking about.
"Maggie, come back here!" Mrs. Calloway demanded. "You're going the wrong way. Corn Starch Hill is this way! Come back here this instant!"
The two girls followed their friend into the opposite path, unsure of why she would take off like that. They found her of course, but not the way they expected. She was munching and snacking on crops that she picked from the garden.
"What are you doing?" Grace cried nervously, now feeling that something was wrong with Maggie. "We're supposed to be at the other end, not this way!"
Maggie didn't answer. She just kept on eating away at the crops.
"Earth to Maggie!" Mrs. Calloway shouted, irritated. "This is no time for a snack. We have a game to finish, you were almost annihilated, and you're thinking with your stomach again?" There was still no answer from Maggie, and Mrs. Calloway repeated, "Maggie, what's come over you?"
All of a sudden, the two cows could hear her munching and crunching coming off in a non-animal manner that became nauseating to listen to. Both of them stepped closer to their friend slowly. Step by step, Grace took a quick glance at the crops that Maggie was eating. It was vegetables, but the most frightening and shocking sight was that these crops were crawling and infested with…bugs! That would explain all the crunching going on. Maggie was eating bugs!
Both of them could see a few bugs drop off the ground from her mouth, including bitten off halves of insect legs and wings. Then came an evil chuckle from Maggie, although her voice did not sound like her own.
"Maggie, are you alright?" Grace said, scared and worried.
Finally, words came out of Maggie's mouth. "What's the matter girls? Don't like the taste of…" she turned around, laughing evilly, her face was deathly pale, and her eyes were yellow and glowing. "…BUGS!" her voice seemed to be distorted and deeper as she spoke, and her mouth was dripping and drooling with bugs.
Her two friends gasped, jumping back in total fear. The thing in front of them was not Maggie. It looked like her, but it was not her at all. And if it wasn't her, there was only one thing for them to do. And that was to run!
Grace and Mrs. C sprinted blindly out of the vegetable garden and back up the trail to the forked path, screaming for help, or just screaming in general depending on one moment to the next. They ceased screaming when their voices became hoarse, taking the path up to Corn Starch Hill, still running and dodging other undead farm animals that jumped out and were now chasing after the girls.
Grace couldn't take any more of what happened recently and turned to Mrs. Calloway. "What could have happened to Maggie back there Mrs. C?"
"I have no idea Grace!" Mrs. C shouted back. "Just don't even think of fighting through that many enemies! After this mission is over, we're going to have a firm talk with Willie about bringing Maggie back!" Mrs. C felt unsure, but she could see that their own terror at the situation was forcing them to realize that nothing more could be done until they defeated the Harvester, even without Maggie. Miraculously there was another locked gate up ahead in which Grace used the second key on. The girls raced through, then slammed it shut after them. Seconds later, with a loud crash, the zombie animals hurled themselves against the gate and fell away.
The two girls heaved a sigh of relief, their hearts beating furiously. It pained them to move on to Corn Starch Hill without their friend, but they knew there was no other choice to make. As horrible as it turned out to be with Maggie being possessed, Mrs. C refused to believe that she was gone for good and that there was still a way to snap her out of it before she dared to eat her own friends as well.
"You…you horrible vile beast!" Mrs. Calloway yelled, angrily in hopes that Willie was listening somewhere wherever he was. "WE'RE NOT AFRAID OF YOU!"
But she noticed Grace sitting on the floor, on her hind legs and close to crying.
"Grace please," Mrs. Calloway said softly. "We can't quit now. We're almost there."
"I…I can't do it Mrs. C," Grace choked. "It's all too much. We'll never see Maggie again."
Mrs. C frowned and stood in front of Grace, looking into her eyes, and said, "Now you listen to me Grace, look at me while I'm talking! Stop saying we'll never get out because we will! Just because Maggie isn't with us doesn't mean we should give up. Why, because that's what Willie wants us to do. Think about how Maggie would feel if she saw you like this. She'd be devastated. Wherever Maggie is, she's counting on us to finish this task and to get back home! So I don't want to hear another word about never getting out of here. It's all up to us for now, so no more self-pity you hear? Get that ruby necklace ready!" Then Mrs. C added, glaring darkly at the tallest hill in the valley up ahead. "We have a silver lantern to find."
Grace nodded, and smiled. Soon they were on their way to enter the boss fight.
Forgetting about the incident with the zombie farm animals, Grace and Mrs. Calloway were finally at the heart of the fields within Corn Starch Hill. Chills began to creep down their spines as both of them recalled Willie's clue message before the second mission started, sensing that the Harvester would be expecting them. At the top of the tallest hill in the valley was the barn. The ruby necklace around Grace's neck had been shining brighter and brighter the closer they walked. The second key, found before in the Fields of Terror, was used to unlock the gate leading into a large arena where they followed the red beam from the necklace pointing upward at the barn.
Peering down from the tallest hilltop in the entire valley, a creature watched it all, expecting them from the very beginning as promised by a ghoulish outlaw. Although it had been expecting three visitors entering his domain, it didn't matter as long as it meant fresh souls to collect for itself.
It waited until the two visitors were in the arena. In an instant like lightening, a great scarecrow like monster jumped all the way from the hilltop to the arena, its face resembling a skeleton. The creature had an enormous hunchback, wearing a black pointed crooked hat, having legs unlike the average scarecrows they encountered. White fangs snarled in its mouth. In his bony stick-like fingers, the creature held onto a large scythe.
The two girls backed up, only to find that the openings had been sealed off by magic. This monster appeared to be creepier than the Red Queen from the museum level.
You made it already? I'm quite impressed with you ladies. By the way, looks like you've managed to awaken the Harvester here!
The voice of Willie broke out, to which the girls stayed alert by keeping their eyes on the Harvester.
Welcome to the second boss fight of the games. To defeat the Harvester, you'll need to find his weak spot in the back of his head. But can you reach it that easily? Only one way to find out, good luck!
Hearing his voice disappear, the two girls shook like crazy as the Harvester leaped at them screeching its terrible cry. Two more times it pounced, but Grace and Mrs. C were able to scramble out of the way. While running from the creature and dodging the scythe, Grace screamed, "Listen Mr. Harvester, you don't seem all that bad to me in my opinion. Don't you wish to reason with us first before you use that thing you're holding?"
The Harvester jumped to the middle of the arena, raising the scythe in the air as it called upon a flock of crows from the sky. The girls ran around the arena as they were chased by the crows, having their bodies and faces pecked at. If it weren't for this much, they would have been able to fight them off easily. Frantic screams and grunts were all they could muster at this time, several seconds before the crows disappeared altogether. When that was over, Grace charged the beast from behind, but bounced backward.
The Harvester cackled as it picked up Grace by the neck and swiped her towards the other end of the arena.
"Grace!" Mrs. Calloway screamed, rushing to her side.
As Grace shook the stars from her head, she and Mrs. C saw the Harvester rear one of its hands back, with one quick wave, a volley of sharp wooden stakes came at them. Grace scrambled herself up as she pushed Mrs. C out of the way in which the stakes hit the ground instead. The Harvester jumped at them in hopes of crushing his opponents, only to have missed.
"He's too heavy to knock down Mrs. C!" Grace cried. "How will we know when to...?"
The creature then slowly raised his scythe above the girls, which actually gave them time to move out of the way. Seeing how he was struggling to lift his weapon out of the ground, the girls saw his black hat slip upward, revealing a sore red spot.
"There, that's it," Grace murmured, hoping that's the weak spot. While the Harvester was still trying to get his weapon unstuck, Grace used this moment to jump up and kick the back of its head with her hind legs. The sore spot flashed, and the creature growled in irritation. Two more kicks followed, dealing more pain.
Eventually, the Harvester finally pulled his scythe out and raised it up high to call upon the crows from the sky again to attack the girls.
"OH NO NOT AGAIN!" Grace moaned, preparing for the worst.
This was the worst part of the challenge, running from small enemies that proved to be too many for them to fight off. There didn't seem to be a better way out of this until the crows disappeared. The Harvester lunged at the girls again, but missed. The girls had dodged this one and sprung off to the other end of the arena, their breathing becoming labored.
This was a tough opponent to handle, but the girls knew they couldn't give up too soon or else they'd be finished off just like Maggie. They hoped for the next moment when the Harvester got his weapon caught to the ground again.
Their prayers were answered when the creature had its scythe raised high up again to throw it down, only to have it stuck all the way. Its hat slipped from the back of its head to reveal the same sore red spot. Grace took aim as the creature was distracted, causing even worse pain than ever.
"Where are you girls!"
Glancing over her shoulder, Mrs. C found to her horror that it was Maggie, still possessed by whatever was controlling her. How did she get inside the arena if it was sealed off? That was a question that would remain unanswered.
"Why would you leave me behind in the dirt?" Maggie's mouth said her voice still distorted and deeper. "I thought you were my dearest friends!"
She was starting to come closer, and before Mrs. C knew it, her possessed friend threw herself at her with the force of a wild animal.
Mrs. C jumped out of the way, and saw that Maggie had instead caught her teeth onto the head of the Harvester, tearing it off its body. Red streams began to grow out of the creature, writhing for a bit screaming in pain. Then it dropped to its knees, dissolving into dust before it disappeared along with its scythe, leaving behind a small black key.
"How did I get here?"
Grace and Mrs. C looked to find that Maggie no longer appeared pale, nor were her eyes in a yellowish sickly color. She was staring at her surroundings, and the sack she held in her teeth, spitting it out in confusion and looked up at her friends.
"Have I been sleepwalking again or what?"
Her two friends just gathered around her in a huge embrace, happy and relieved to find her alive and well, this time for real. Although Maggie did not remember everything that happened in that cornfield, she hugged them back and didn't want to ruin anything. Everything would be explained later. For now they had a quest item to retrieve up in the barn.
With the black key, the girls walked up quickly to the hill and unlocked the doors to the barn where they found the lantern painted in shining silver. As Grace moved over to pick it up, just like the museum, everything turned into a grayish color, freezing up.
"Well done girls, now follow my voice!"
AN: Here is another update as promised for my fellow readers. The Harvester creature was inspired by the animatronic figure I had seen at the Halloween store last year and thought it would be a great idea to include something like that in the farm valley level as a boss fight. Soon the next chapter will focus on the girls about to start on their third mission which will be revealed later. I would also like to thank yamimakai3 for help with ideas and future ideas that will happen later, but will be a surprise.
