Arran Harper

Arran Harper was the leader of the Waitrose crew, and co-led the Holloway crew alongside Blue after teaming up with the Morrisons crew. Shortly before setting out for Buckingham Palace, he was bitten by a sicko and became ill. He was killed on the journey after Sophie accidentally shot him.

Before the disease
Prior to the outbreak of the disease Arran lived the Holloway area and attended William Ellis School, where he was captain of the football team.

As a child, he played with Playmobil, and went on at least one beach holiday to Portugal with his parents. His main hobby was football, but he also enjoyed playing FPS games on his Xbox.

Waitrose was where his parents did their grocery shopping, hence why he went there in search of food after the disease struck. Other activities he did in Holloway were eating at McDonalds, shopping with his mum and going to the cinema.

The first year of the disease
Arran, like many other kids, went to Waitrose soon after the disease first broke out. He quickly established himself as leader with Maxie as his second in command, organising people and maintaining morale.

He was in charge of the running of the settlement and had to take responsibility of finding food, and therefore regularly went on scavenging parties. He and his fighters would occasionally get into skirmishes with Blue and the Morrisons kids due to their close proximity and the lack of food.

During The Enemy
The only book he physically makes an appearance in, Arran is one of the six main POV characters and also one of the main characters in the book. Despite the assumption that he is a main character of the general series, he dies early on in the book.

He first appears with his scavenging party as they go out to look for food. As they stand over a body a pack of dogs attack and they kill two and scare off the rest of the pack. Arran then carries one of the dead dogs to use as food for the day, and on Freak's, a member of the group, suggestion they head to the swimming pool to take its vending machine and the food within.

When they reach the pool, they see that its interior is covered in moss and green plants that have grown, causing the light inside to be a green haze. As they check the pool, Freak is attacked by sickos and Deke goes to save him. Arran and Ollie, a red haired skirmisher, are left to guard the entrance whilst Achilleus helps the other two. Arran, whilst fighting, is bitten on the neck by a grown-up who he believes to be his mother and they end up having to abandon Deke, who gets severely injured.

As the group makes their way back to Waitrose, they come across some of the Morrisons fighters, and the others prepare for a fight, but Arran continues on, uncaring of his dire wounds. He quickly establishes himself, however, and makes sure he looks tough in front of the other group. They greet each other and the leader of the other group, Blue, tells them of an attack at Waitrose. Arran and his group rush back to find out that Small Sam got taken by grown-ups, from Maxie, Arran's second in command. He, in turn, tells her of Deke's death, before they get a call from the Crow's Nest. They find out a boy is outside, surrounded by grown ups, and is looking for shelter.

Arran establishes a team of fighters and they go out face the grown ups and rescue the boy. As they are doing so they become surrounded and are only saved by Blue and some of his fighters from Morrisons. They all manage to make it safely into Waitrose and they ask the boy where he's from, and he reveals that he is from Buckingham Palace.

Blue goes to Waitrose and returns with its other leaders and they all listen to what the boy, Jester, has to reveal. He tells them he hopes to bring them back so they can live in comfort at the Palace, and that together they can rebuild London and maybe one day the country. Arran and Blue agree and the they plan to leave the next morning.

The following morning, as they go to leave Callum refuses and reveals he is staying. Arran tries to talk him out of it, but he won't move and so they leave without him. Along this time Arran's wound worsens and he becomes ill and delirious. This forces the group to stop so that he can rest for a bit and whilst they are waiting a small army of grown ups appear a bit further down the road, lead by a fat grown-up called St George. Arran, along with Blue leads a fight against the army of grown ups and when its clear they've won, he decides to continue on and try and kill St George who he chases down an alleyway. As he follows him, he is accidentally shot in the chest by a girl called Sophie with her bow.

He is still alive but the wound is too severe for him to survive for long, and it forces the Holloway crew to wait as their leader dies. He eventually does die, hours later, in Maxie's arms, his last words being "I love you, mum ." After his death Maxie has his and the other kids who died in the battle bodies cremated.

Physical appearance
Arran is described as good looking and fair haired with blue eyes. He is also strong and athletic. Arran is fourteen years old in The Enemy, making him one of the oldest kids in the Holloway crew. After being bitten by a grown up he becomes ill, being described as covered in a thin sweat and acting clumsily.

Personality
Arran is kind, considerate and takes great care of his kids. He is also understanding and quick to make friendships, such as with Blue and Jester. He can be slightly impatient, such as when Maxie tries to tell him of Sam's death, though this could be due to his wound from the grown up. After the bite from the grown-up, Arran's personality shifts. Arran was having strange hallucinations and thoughts. His personality grows considerably more insane until the moment of his death.

Arran is considered a good leader and many of the kids look up to him and respect him, including Blue, and despite their rivalry he tries his best to welcome the Morrisons crew. He is certainly charismatic, since everybody is cripplingly upset when he dies in the first book, but he is also supported as a leader by everyone's respect for him. He is also determined to help his friends in whatever way he can, no matter the risk to himself.

Despite the fact he looks strong and brave on the outside, inside he is terrified. He cannot help but insufficient as he keeps on losing people and he resents how everyone relies on him to do the right thing and make the tough calls. He feels a tremendous amount of pressure to the point he wishes he wasn't in charge. It is only the fact he doesn't have a choice that he carries on.

Equipment
Club - Arran's club is made out of a sledge hammer handle and is a heavy strong weapon. He uses it expertly and after his death Maxie inherits it along with his title as the Waitrose leader.

Torch - Arran along with the other scavengers carries a hand crank torch, which they use to explore dark areas.

Relationships
Maxie - His second in command, she respects and admires his skill and he respects her strength and resilience. Arran and Maxie both remain unaware of each others true romantic feelings for each other for much of the book, and it is only just before his death that Arran realises Maxie loves him as much as the other way round. Maxie often wishes Arran were still alive, so they could be boyfriend and girlfriend. Before going into battle in The End, Maxie thinks back to Arran and his wish to eliminate the grown-ups and live in peace.

Achilleus - Arran is shown to highly respect Akkie's fighting ability and his resilience, and trusts him to get things done. He seems to have given him some form of authority over the other fighters within the Waitrose crew and respects his decisions. Achilleus on the other hand, while holding respect for Arran and some care, freely pulls out an arrow from Arran's chest (as he says they need to continue the journey) causing him great pain and helping speed his death.

Ollie - Arran, like Maxie and some others, holds Ollie's views in high regard and takes his advice regularly, taking everything by him first. It is even said that the others don't consider it a weakness that Arran has Ollie's help as Ollie is so smart. Ollie seems upset by Arran's death, but not as much as other people in the Holloway crew.

Freak - Freak is extremely upset by Arran's death (partly because he was responsible for getting him bitten, which likely is the reason Arran went insane) and also believes that Arran carried a message, that they have to survive, and so he tries to carry on that message himself. He also knows Maxie's feelings for Arran and so tries to comfort her. Overall he seemed to be good friends with Arran.

Blue - Not a lot is shown of their relationship, but it is evident that it is not strong enough for them to overly like or dislike each other. There seems to be a mutual respect for each other and their abilities to survive and so they work well in quickly uniting their teams. Blue even states he wished they had united sooner.

Jester - Arran seemed to be quite suspicious of Jester at first, but quickly warmed to him and treated him fairly after he promised he'd take them to the Palace. He is unaware of Jester's malicious feelings towards him and his eventual happiness of Arran's death.

Death
During a scavenging mission, Arran is bitten by a sicko (who he believes is his mother) and slowly becomes more and more delirious. During the battle of Camden, Arran goes berserk and pursues the retreating adults. He is accidentally shot in the back by Sophie and dies several hours later due to his wounds.