Reign of the Reapers

Chapter 11

(PHOENIX POV)

Yuno had been giving me a stink eye all day. She glared at me as we ate breakfast. She scowled at me as we packed into Taryn's RV. She refused to talk to me as Taryn drove us to pick up Scott and Alli. Each time felt like a blow to the chest.

We had come to a group decision that we would pick up Alli and Scott and then head to the safe haven. If the safe haven even still existed. And the thing was, we didn't even know where the safe haven was anyways. Ontario was.... I don't know how big and we had no specific location for where it was actually at.

In fact, I seemed to be the one who was most opposed to finding the safe haven. Would they be mad at me if they left only to find that there was no safe haven? That I had led them away from a safe spot to a place I heard rumors about several months ago? I couldn't bear to have Yuno even more mad at me than she already was. I wanted to talk to her, but it was no use. I'd wait until she cooled down and then maybe we could talk like regular people.

We pulled up to Gavin's old place. Taryn, Yuno, and Nate went inside to get the others and gather any supplies they could. I stayed in the car, I couldn't possibly bear to go back into that horrible place.

Mat and Steph sat in a side seat while Steph lay her head on Mat's shoulder. "Hey, could you hand me a granola bar or something." Steph asked.

"This is, like, your fourth one today, we don't have much left."

"Please," she said making a sad face.

"Ugh, fine," I said, rolling my eyes, "But only because I'm counting on Taryn finding some food inside."

She smiled cheesily as I handed her the bar from a small box next to me. We sat in awkward silence as we waited for the others to come back. The only thing I could really hear was the reapers groaning outside... and Steph's chewing. It was kinda bugging me but what's the point in saying anything. Mat silently tried to take a bite of Steph's bar, but she wasn't having it.

As we sat, a reaper started banging on the windows. It beckoned to me with it's rotting teeth. Let me eat you, Phoenix, it seemed to be saying. "I'll go take care of that." Mark said, grabbing his knife and ducking out.

Mat and Steph whispered to each other something I couldn't hear. "Is there something going on that I should know?" I asked, "You guys have been acting... off."

"Nothing serious." Mat promised.

"Okay, I guess," I said. I still wasn't convinced though. They had just seemed a little bit strange since I've come back. They're always right there together, whispering to each other. We all flinched as we heard a thump on the RV and knew that Mark had succeeded. He walked back in wiping specks of blood off his shirt.

"Look at this," he said, pulling something out of his back pocket, "this guy had a wallet on him."

"You searched him? Don't you need a warrant for that?" Steph joked.

Mark ignored her and took out his ID. "Rob Parker. Born- '83. Died- about 2 minutes ago. Blond hair, blue eyes, 6'1. And then the only other thing in here is some money and a picture of his kids. Such a shame, his kids probably lasted 2.5 seconds after the outbreak."

"Oh come on, they could've made it, maybe they're with their mom or something." Steph hoped.

"Doubtful."

Not too long after Taryn, Nate, Yuno, Alli, and Scott walked out of the station and towards the RV. Alli and Scott carried grocery bags of clothes and other personal belongings. Taryn and Nate carried cardboard boxes of food, and Yuno carried several weapons in her arms, probably so that she could have first dibs on the knives. I chuckled at her, then remembered that we were 'fighting'.

"We're back," Nate announced in a song-songy voice as he led the group in.

I took it upon myself to go and talk to Alli and Scott. "Hi, it's, uh, nice to formally meet you. Last time we met it wasn't exactly under good circumstances"

Alli shook my hand and smiled, "Yea we're pretty sorry about that, even though it wasn't us. We're glad you escaped, though." she said pretty awkwardly. "Right, Scott?" She elbowed him in the ribs and he snapped out of whatever thought trance he had been in while we were talking. He goofily fixed his glasses. "Sure, yeah, we're super glad to be here... nice to meet you....... Do you hate us?"

"No, no, no, I don't hate you guys, I promise. Let's just forget about all that and start over. Agreed?"

"Agreed," they both nodded.

Everyone organized the new supplies and situated themselves into seats, Taryn behind the wheel, "Alright, ladies, buckle up. We're headed to Ontario."

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I remember I never used to be able to sleep on road trips because of how difficult it was to get comfortable in a seat. This was one of those times. The RV had two tables surrounded by long seats on each side, Alli and I were in one, Mark and Nate were in the other. Scott sat in the passenger seat and Mat and Steph were squished together on a couch towards the back. Yuno, however, was in a luggage compartment above the driver's seat covered by a curtain. She was small enough to fit but she was screwed if Taryn had to make a quick brake.

I looked out the window and watched as reapers noticed us, but ignored us after we got too far. Taryn was driving shockingly fast but, hey, that's what happens when civilization falls and traffic laws are a thing of the past.

"Hey Taryn?"

"Yes?"

"You wanna switch? I could drive for a little while so you can sleep."

"Meh, sleep is for the weak. I'm used to being up all night, anyways, I like it." she said, though I got the sense that she was just saying it to be polite.

"All right, if you insist." I put my head down and started to try and sleep again, when Taryn started a coughing fit. I rushed over to help her and she pulled over to the side of the road.

As she coughed she wiped her mouth to reveal splotches of blood dripped onto her sleeve. The other started putting their heads up in concern, half asleep.

"Oh my god, Taryn, what's wrong are you okay?" I asked. I finally got a look at her face as she turned away from the road. Her eyes drooped downwards and her face was pale. Mark ran over and helped Taryn get up and to a seat. Mat and Steph stood up so that Taryn could have the couch, and Yuno climbed down from her little compartment all dazed.

"I'm fine, I promise." she said groggily.

"Um, you don't look fine," said Steph, "Guys, we have to find something for her, she could have something serious."

"Maybe if we found a store or something we could load her up on antibiotics and hope something works?" Yuno suggested.

"As dangerous as that sounds it may be our only chance, does anyone know where the nearest pharmacy is? Nate asked.

"No, but we're not too far from a town. I'm sure we could find something up there." I suggested.

"Phoenix and Alli, watch Taryn for right now. Steph get her a baggie in case she throws up. I'll drive. The rest of you, just sit tight. There's nothing we can do until we find some antibiotics."

Scott emptied out his bag of clothes to use for Taryn, and Alli and I sat next to her. Mark took over driving duties and the rest of us went back to normal. Yuno climbed on top of a seat to reach her little hideaway, she made no eye contact with me as she closed the curtain and shut herself away.

Alli turned to me, "All we can do now is wait, just... wait"