Reign of the Reapers

Chapter 9

As Taryn drove the RV through the dark and empty roads, I shook with excitement at the fact that after I don't know how long of being away I was finally going to get back to Yuno and the others. At the same time I couldn't help but wonder if by some random chance, something horrible would happen and we wouldn't get there. What if the car crashed? What if Gavin found out and started coming for us? Oh no, I had forgotten about Gavin. He knows where we're headed, if he came after us... or worse, after the others. I had to get them out of there as soon as possible.

"Drive faster." I said nervously. "There are no speed limits anymore and we need to get them as soon as possible. No offense, but my grandma drove faster."

"If you're gonna act like that I could always drive you back," she warned.

"Sorry," I said, "I'm just nervous."

"It's okay," she said dryly. She sped up and turned at one of the corners.

"So how has Yuno been, since I disappeared?" I asked. I needed to know if I was coming back to a train wreck.

Taryn sighed. "Not great. Angry, fighting with everyone. But yesterday everyone disappeared, probably to go look for you."

"So they might not even be there when we arrive?" I asked, beginning to feel more nervous and anxious to get there. What if something had happened to her when they went out looking? I couldn't be responsible for the death of the one person that has always stayed by my side.

"Listen," Taryn said, "just stay calm, if anything happened we'll take care of it when we get there. For now, just... think about how happy Yuno and Nate will be when you get back."

"Nate?" I asked. She knew about that?

"Gavin mentioned that there was an incident between you guys before you were taken, trust me, Nate's gonna be happy to have you back."

"There's nothing between us." I tried to clarify.

"Right." she said sarcastically. (TARYN SHIPS IT)

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As soon as we arrived I ran up to the room that Yuno and I had been sleeping in, Taryn close behind, and knocked on the door softly, so only Yuno would hear me. I turned the knob and the door was completely unlocked. When I walked in Yuno was sitting there, awake despite it being the middle of the night. She sat on the edge of her bed, facing the door. I expected excitement, happiness, relief. Instead I got a look of terror as I walked in.

I ran at her and gave her a hug, and she accepted my embrace, a little too tight. "Help." she whispered into my ear as I released the hug. I lifted my head to see Gavin and Vincent walking out of the bathroom, giving a slow clap.

"That was an impressive performance. If I weren't here to kill both of you, I would almost feel sorry for your poor girls." (imma keep it cuz I like it. Now watch this flow.)

"Gavin."

"Hello there Phoenix, and Yuno we've briefly met."

"Stay away from her." I said.

"Phoenix, who is this guy?" Yuno asked.

"I don't remember saying that you could talk, now did I?" he asked, "Now, I seem to have taken the wrong approach when asking for information from you, Phoenix. I only had to come here and threaten Yuno, which, if you ask me, is much easier. Yuno does exactly what I say, right Yuno?"

Yuno gulped nervously, keeping her head forward as he walked up behind her. Vincent handed him a knife and he put it to Yuno's throat, with his arm wrapped around her neck.

"You have about 1 minute to decide whether you want Yuno to live to see the sun rise."

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At the sight of Gavin, Taryn quickly slipped away before he could see her, too. I could run, she thought, get away from all this right now and forget about it forever. Instead she sprinted to the nearest room and started banging on the door. It was opened by a half-asleep Nate.

"Nate, Phoenix and Yuno are in trouble. You need to come with me now."

"Who are you?" he asked groggily.

"Doesn't matter. Hurry, we don't have time."

He nodded, slightly more alert and ready this time, and they ran as fast as they could to the room to confront Gavin.

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"Time's a-ticking. And I don't think Yuno here would enjoy getting her throat cut open tonight."

I thought about telling him and just letting him go. We could survive without the safe haven. It would be difficult, but we could do it. Luckily, Taryn and Nate crashed into the room holding their weapons.

"Let go of the girl. Now."

"Oh Taryn, you were always a little spitfire. You never could learn when to shut up, could you?"

"And you could never learn when to let go." she replied. As she talked to him his grip loosened on Yuno. She grabbed his arm and twisted his arm so that the knife was no longer to her neck. The knife dropped from his hand and Yuno punched him across the face. Vincent ran at her and tackled her to the ground. I wanted to go help her, but Gavin had gotten his knife back and was lunging toward me. I had no weapons with me, they had been taken when I was kidnapped, and there was nothing to stop him as he lunged toward me with his knife.

Then came the gunshot. My head began to spin as the boom rang in my ear, but Gavin was no longer coming at me. He lay on the floor with a bullet in his chest, bleeding out onto the floor.

At the same time, Vincent stumbled back onto the bed with Yuno's knife in his chest. She looked at me in shock. I turned around and saw Nate, standing in the doorway, with his gun held up. He dropped the gun and ran towards me, sweeping me up in a hug.

"God, I missed you so much." he said. I closed my eyes and leaned into his embrace.

Taryn helped Yuno up from the floor, and I went and hugged her, "Yuno I'm so glad you're okay." I said.

"You too, Phoenix." she said. 

Mark burst into the room, "Yuno! What's going o-" He stopped short when he saw me, "Phoenix! You're here!" He ran over to me.

"Mat, Steph, Get out here! Phoenix, she's back!" I heard two sets of footsteps rushing down the hall to our room.

"Phoenix!" Mat and Steph said in unison. They all ran over to, but Mat stopped halfway there.

"Uhh... who are they?" Mat gestured to Gavin and Vincent on the ground, "And her too?" He looked at Taryn.

"They're hard to explain." I scratched the back of my head.

"I think you're going to have to explain a lot." Mark said.

"Yeah, you have a lot of explaining to do." Yuno looked up at me, I knew she would be mad, but I had to try to calm her.

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Well that's all the pre-written chapters I had in my drive. They're bad and unedited but I figured I'd publish them anyway. Like, comment, add, blah blah blah. Enjoy! Goodnight.