New World

Perching on the edge of the abandoned warehouse I watch as my partner stands in the opening between the building and the woods four stories below waiting for our contact. I triple check to make sure I am sufficiently concealed by the shadows.

Focusing my attention downwards again I see a blur approaching from the east through the vast expanse of trees, still about a half mile away. Training my eyes on the blur I can depict the short hefty figure of our contact dodging in and out of view.

2 minutes and 43 seconds late. Typical.

“East, half mile.” I whisper through the headset. I catch the briefest nod from him.

I continue to scan the area for any outside threats while my partner readies himself for our contact.

Less than two minutes later our contact was slowing to a halt below. I did a quick scan of our contact. I don't like the idea of my partner standing in front of a threat and not knowing.

I immediately went back to watching the surroundings after I was satisfied with the readings I received. The conversation flits through the headset as I keep watch. Our contact spoke first.

"There has been reportings of servere Thrawl activity in the lower east side and a vague Shiek sighting by the Haddern Docks. Homeland wants you to take care of it."

"Done. Any more news on the Cavats?"

"Last report was that they're still a good sixteen hours away. Take care of these two and then fall back to Homeland. We will need all the man power we can get."

My partner nodded his head before the contact took off sprinting again. After three more minutes of scanning I lept over the edge of the building and quickly lowered myself with the handholds in the brick wall. I landed lightly before turning to him. I saw a smirk play on his lips.

"Looks like old Mitty isn't happy we are still on field duty with the Cavats coming."

"I can't say I blame him. I feel like they're still trying to act like it isn't going to happen, like there's no real threat." I replied.

"Yeah but we will be back in time, don't worry, Cam. Besides they can't start the festivities without me!"

A huge grin stretched over his face at the prospect of kicking some Cavat ass. I could only giggle in response. His ready-to-rumble approach to life was one of my favorite things about him.

"Come on twit-ford. We have some Thrawls to kill first."

~

The rush of the subway car in front of me snapped me out of the memory. That was six excruciatingly long years ago. Life was simple back then. I had a great partner, an amazing job, and I was happy. But good things never last.

The day after that the Cavats came. We deeply underestimated them and we paid the price. My partner was killed while watching my back and the whole Homeland operation was obliterated. I don't know how many people survived beside me.

The world took a turn for the worst after Homeland was destroyed. Thrawls and Sheiks numbers went through the roof as they ran free.

The Upside fell into what the humans are calling the Recession. Though it was caused by the fall of Homeland and the mass outbreak of Dark Creatures that threw the humans into the economic and global downturn.

I'm not sure what happened to the Cavats after their uprising but they seemed to disappear. I guess they just didn't want us around. I can't totally blame them.

We were the Dark Worlds police force. And nobody likes to be told what to do. But we did it to protect the two worlds from each other.

The Upside, the world humans see, doesn't know about the Dark World. If it did then there would be a mass panic and the Dark Worlds inhabitants would end up getting hurt.

We, the Reapers of Homeland, kept the Dark World inhabitants from revealing themselves to the Upsiders. We take on the form of normal humans but we are equipped with more highly adapted senses to be able to live the life invisible to humans.

We can see the Thrawls and Sheiks and Cavats and Grimies and other such creatures that humans mistake for ghosts and demons.

Thank god they're not though, or else we could have a very serious situation on our hands. Ghosts and Demons are the most deadly and destructive of all Dark Creatures. Thankfully they aren't very interested in socializing with the rest of the world so they often stay comfortably in the shadows, occasionally aiding Reapers if we're lucky.

Whenever a Thrawl would slip through our defenses it would often go and haunt either an individual or house. Humans mistake them for ghosts. Way back in the day they were given false information and it was never corrected. Oh well.

The train screeched to an ear splitting halt. I quickly boarded, keeping my eyes downcast. I didn't want any unnecessary attention today.

You know that saying "eyes are the gateway to your soul"? Well that couldn't be more true. Reapers eyes are different from humans. No they don't flash gold in the dark or anything, but they are colorless.

They range from black to white an all grays in between. Yah yah make your '50 shades of grey' jokes now. The lighter the shade, the more rare it is. And guess what shade lucky little old me got?

Nearly pure white in the middle fading to a thin rim of black at the edges. Joy.

To say I'm tired of the stares is an understatement. I shake my hair a bit with my hand to casually block a bit of my face and keep my head down as I sit. The train lurches to a start and thunders down the tracks.

Most people detest the subways but I find something comforting in the intricate underworld maze. I lightly close my eyes and lean back, letting the rumble of the train and the mutterings from other passengers fill my senses. I feel my hearing, smell, and touch sharpen immediately at the loss of vision.

That's another Reaper trait. We were built to not only survive, but dominate in battle. Our bodies constantly adapt to changes in our surroundings and ourselves, almost like chameleons.

We also have a very powerful sixth sense. Instinct, intuition, whatever you want to call it. And mine was buzzing with the feeling of eyes watching me. I usually only feel it that strong when a Dark Creature is nearby.

I cracked my eyes open a slit to scan the area. But the only thing I saw was a boy, about two or three years older than me in looks (Reapers also age a lot slower so I'm a good few years older than I look, cliche I know but watcha gonna do?) staring intently at me.

His eyes were a dark shade of amber, semi-obscured by a pair of square glasses. He had a dark grey beanie pulled over his vortex black wavy hair. Little bits of it flicked out from underneath the cap. His face was angular but not too sharp, with high cheekbones, a well defined nose, and perfectly sculpted eyebrows. Can we say ATTRACTIVE.

The whole time I watched him his gaze never faltered. Finally I pretended to "open my eyes" and I flicked them over to him with a harsh look. Usually this intimidated people enough to flinch and look away but he just held my gaze and smirked. I narrowed my eyes as the train slowed. My stop.

As soon as the doors were wide enough I grabbed my bag and and flew out the door. Glancing back I saw through the window the boys eyes still on me. The train was gone in the next instant.

I don't know who that boy was but he definitely unnerved me. Deciding to shake it off I continued up the stairs to the street above.

I quickly maneuvered through the overcrowded Chicago streets until I arrived at my office building.

After the fall of Homeland I had no means of support. I had to find a job in the real world. And with very little Upside work experience I had a bit of a downgrade from my previous job. I became a secretary.

Not a huge fan of the job but it gets the bills paid. Thankfully I was able to get in with a decently large company located here in the city so the pay is above average. And the parties aren't half bad either.

Given, I would choose my old job over this any day but Upside work isn't as bad as I always thought. I went to my desk and prepared myself for the onslaught of the day.

END