Reign of the Reapers

Chapter 2

(PHOENIX’S POV)

     I opened up my eyes and stared at the ceiling. Eventually getting up to look out the window. It had to be at least three in the morning. Great, I thought, now i’ll be tired and grumpy in the morning. So much for making a good first impression on this group.
   
     There was no point in trying to go back to sleep, it just wasn’t going to happen. I layed there and wondered what the rest of the day would be like. Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a cry. Yuno’s cry! I ran over to her room and saw that she had been crying in her sleep. Just another nightmare probably.

     “Yuno?” I said as I shook her awake, “Yuno!”

      “Huh?” she said groggily, not quite realizing what was going on.

      “Yuno, are you okay? I heard you crying.” I replied. This wasn't the first time she had woken up crying. She had constant nightmares about the death of her family. I was always having to come settle her down.

    “I- I had the dream again.” she stuttered, “I saw them all die, again and-”

    “Yuno,” I said as I wrapped my arm around her, “I’m so sorry...” She leaned into me and continued crying. Then Mark was standing in the doorway.

    “Ummm are you guys okay?” he asked.

    “Yea, I’m fine.” Yuno replied as she wiped away her tears pretending nothing had happened.

     “No, you’re not. What’s wrong?” He asked as he walked over to the bed.

     “Nothing. Please leave….Now!” Yuno said harshly. Mark faced changed slightly showing that he was kinda hurt by this. But he eventually ended up leaving the room.
           
     Yuno and I sat there on the bed while she cried. Eventually she stopped and I went back to my room. There was still no point in going back to sleep, so I took a look around the room. I started sifting through a bookshelf and behind some nonfiction novels I found a journal. Every single page was filled with words and stories written by a woman named Taryn.

     In it she wrote detailed accounts about the death of her husband, and later the death of her children. Afterwards she wrote that she was leaving because she had found a group of people that she was going to be staying with. So she could still be alive?

              Interesting.
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    In the morning none of us spoke about what had happened the previous night. It made things slightly less awkward. Apparently Mark had been to several places getting supplies, so we helped him pack it all into an SUV.

    “So have you really been dying your hair this whole time?” Even I didn’t do that.” he said referring to my bright red hair that ran down my back in small waves.

    “I don’t dye my hair, this is it’s natural color.” I replied.

    “Impressive.” he said. We made awkward conversation like this for about an hour and a half before finally arriving at an old motel. The bottom floor looked completely deserted, but the second floor wasn’t too bad. A couple of rooms on the second floor were lit up by candles shown in the window and I could see some shadows moving around in them. As we arrived I immediately went to unpack the supplies but Mark insisted that Yuno and I met the group first. We went up to the second floor and Mark took us to a room. He left for a couple minutes and then came back with a group of people.

    “Yuno and Phoenix, this is Nate, Mat, Stephanie, and Sean. Guys, this is Phoenix and Yuno. They’re gonna be staying with us.” he said. I smiled awkwardly while taking note of the people in the group.

     First came a young man with a teal guitar slung over his back and slits in his ears where I assume gages used to be. “Hey, my name’s Nathan. Nate for short.” He leaned in close. “by the way, I’m probably the sanest one here.” he added with a wink and a smile. I grinned back at him and he walked away to introduce himself to Yuno.

     Then came Sean. And boy, would I need to get used to Sean. “How you doing lass, my name is Sean McLoughlin!” He said in a loud, thick accent.

     I cringed slightly and he noticed. “Meh, it's an Irish accent. Ya learn ta love it.”

     Next I met Stephanie, the only girl in the group. “Hi I'm Stephanie” she said welcomingly, “and this is my husband Mat.”

     Mat stepped up next to her, and he seemed to tower above her. Even though he was shorter than Mark, who was shorter than Nathan. Mat gave a goofy smile and an awkward wave. “Hi, uh, I'm Matthew. People used to call me Matpat.”

     “I think I've heard of you.” I said. His name sounded vaguely familiar. Who could forget a silly name like Matpat.

     After introductions we sat around and started talking.

     “So how did you guys end up finding Mark?” Stephanie asked.

    “Well we, uh, were in a military base that is now… nonexistent.” I replied.

    “Ya guys sound like ye were lucky to escape.” Sean said in his thick Irish accent that would definitely take some getting used to.

    “I’m surprised none of us had heard of it considering how much we were moving from place to place” the man dubbed ‘Matpat’ said.

    “It really wasn’t all that great. Lumpy potatoes and cold showers, not my thing.” Yuno joked and everyone laughed.

    “Sounds like Matpat would definitely not have survived a day there.” Nate remarked. Matpat gave a look of offence and hit Nate in the shoulder. Nate just gave a little shrug.

    “I think he’s right Matthew you definitely are a little high maintenance.” Steph said.

    “Am not!”

    “You hogged all the shampoo that was in the rooms!” yelled Mark.

    “Yeah, that lasted a month at most.” Mat replied.

    “Old Matthew here complained for the longest time about not showering everyday!” Sean said. Yuno and I were laughing so hard we were almost falling off the bed.

    “Yuno over here was ready to die of starvation when they were serving canned beans for dinner!” I added.

    “Uh oh looks like you can’t stay here I don’t think we could handle another diva, we already have Matpat.” Nate said. This got a bunch of ‘Oooooh’s’ from everybody.

    “Diva? You’re the one who insisted that we needed to stop at your apartment for your guitar!” Matpat said back. We went on talking like this for a couple hours. Then Mark led us to a bedroom with twin beds for Yuno and I. Steph gave us some shorts and tshirts for us to sleep in. “It’s nice to finally have some other girls here.” she said before she left.

    Everybody here seemed pretty nice. My only hope was that I didn't blow my chance and get kicked out.

    “So what do you think of the group?” I asked Yuno.

    “I think… I can work with them.”

    “I’m glad.” I said. Then Yuno and I both went to sleep feeling hopeful of the days to come.

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Hello Readers! Its Starlei. Thank you for reading Chapter 2 of Reign of the Reapers. Make sure to go to Sherbertquake 's profile to read the story from Yuno's POV plus read about her nightmare. Check back on my profile to find out when the next chapter comes out.

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                         -Starlei