Reign of the Reapers

Chapter 4

     It had been days since Sean's soon-to-be fatal bite, and he continued to grow worse each day.

     First came the fever and the hot flashes. We constantly had to put wet cloth on his head. Then the nightmares came and each time it was the same. It was of him running through the forest with no way out. Then we find him, and the dream ends.

     After that he started hallucinating. Stephanie and I would be in there to change bandages and feed him and he would talk about other people in the room. He once started yelling about people watching us, and us needing to escape. It was nothing other than imagination, though.

     Soon we had a group meeting to discuss what would happen with Sean. In the room, Yuno and I sat on a table, Mat and Steph sat beside each other on the edge of the bed. Mark lay sprawled across the opposite bed and Nate stood pacing across the room.

     "We can't just let him lay there and waste our resources." said Nate.

     "Well we can't just let him die, what are we supposed to do?" replied Mat. Everyone was silent, refusing to say what we were all thinking.

     Nate broke the silence, "I think we need to kill him." he whispered. Nobody said anything. And nobody disagreed.

     "But, he's our friend we have to find some way to fix this." Stephanie said.

     "Steph, he's gonna die anyways."

     "But one of us would have to kill him." noted Steph. Everyone stayed silent once more.

     "After all he's done for everyone in this group I don't think I could handle that." Mat said.

     "Then what do we do?" I asked.

     After having been silent this whole time, Mark stood up and volunteered.

     "Are you sure Mark? You don't have to do this."

     "I have no choice," he said, "I'm the only one who will do what needs to be done."

     "So, when would we do this? Do we wait until the infection has set in?" I asked.

     "Depends how long you want him sitting on his ass eating our food and using our bandages!" Nate said with aggravation in his voice.

     "Nate!" Steph yelled.

     "He wouldn't want us to let him turn into one a reaper. Which, by the looks of it, seems to be soon. I think we should do it now." Mark said.

     I nodded my head in agreement. He wouldn't want us to wait until he had turned into a reaper, but at the same time it would so much easier to kill him when he had become a vicious beast.

     Yuno then stepped up to fight against this decision. "You can't just decide that he's gonna die and give him no say! He may be sick but he's a human being!" she yelled. I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down, and she backed off slightly.

     "Well then I'll go ask him." Mark said, then briskly walked out of the room towards where Sean was.

     When he was gone, Yuno shook her head. "I can't believe you're gonna let Mark go do this."

     "Why shouldn't Mark do it?" Nate replied in a slightly defensive way.

     "It's just that, Mark literally said that Sean should die as soon as possible. Who's to say that he doesn't just walk in and shoot him on the spot?"

     Nobody answered. We all sat there in silence waiting for Mark to get back with any kind of news. I twiddled with my fingers nervously until suddenly we all got chills. Something was wrong. Then we heard a gunshot and we knew what the decision had been.

     "If you guys don't mind, I'm going to bury the body on my own." he said.

     He walked back out and behind the building. We stayed inside and sat there sadly. Later he walked back in and sat down on the bed without a word.

     "So...?" Mat asked.

     "I think we should try to have some kind of funeral or memorial sometime soon. In honor of Sean." Mark requested. Everyone, including Yuno and I, nodded in agreement.

     "We should get some rest until then."

__________________________________________________________________________

     We were outside standing around Sean's grave, which was simply a large rock sticking up out of the ground where he was buried. It had rained earlier, so the sky was dark and gloomy and the ground was very moist.

     We were in a small patch of trees that stood near the motel. The grass held dew drops on them, and the flowers around them looked beautiful as ever.

     "I guess I'll start." Mat said. He told the story of when the invasion of the reapers had started. He had been separated from Stephanie. While the others insisted that it had been too dangerous to get her, Sean fought so that they would go find her, and with his help they did.

     Stephanie leaned her head on his shoulder and grabbed his hand, meanwhile her eyes started to tear up. Then Nate said a prayer for him. I had never been religious, but I know Sean would have appreciated the prayer.

     After that came Mark's turn to say something. "This is an Irish poem that I once heard about. It seems suitable for this occasion."

     We all looked at him in wonder, and then he began to recite it.

"Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there... I do not sleep

I am the thousand winds that blow

I am the diamond glints on snow

I am the sunlight on ripened grain

I am the gentle autumn rain

When you wake in the morning's hush,

I am the sweet uplifting rush

Of gentle birds in circling flight,

I am the soft star that shines at night

Do not stand at my grave and cry-

I am not there... I did not die"

     We pondered that for a while. Yuno began to silently cry and everyone else was near to tears, too. I thought about the words over and over in my head. I am not there... I did not die. I liked this poem. The thought that he was not dead, but all around us, was comforting.

     Afterwards, Yuno and I both talked about Sean. "We didn't know him for very long, only a couple days, but it was enough to know that he was a very brave and good person." Yuno said.

     "I would like to honor his bravery. For fighting even after he was bitten, and never giving up" I said.

     We continued and then we all stood there by his grave in silence. Eventually the sun started to shine on us, and a rainbow shone across the sky.

     "We'll miss you, Sean."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hello Readers! It's Starlei! Thanks for reading chapter 4 of Reign of the Reapers. Make sure to go check out Yuno's POV on Sherbertquake's profile. Also be sure to add to your library, vote, and comment what you think should happen next.

                                                                                                                          ~Starlei