Chapter XII

Chapter 12 of the novel Reapers

It had been another long night shift at Scottie's. November's feet throbbed in almost unbearable pain as she forced her way out of the exit door, two hulking bags of revolting garbage in hand. It took everything she had to heave the heavy sacks into the dumpster. November was intent on making the trash run as quick as possible since being out by the dumpster alone gave her a heavy case of the creeps. It sat adjacent to a thick tree line that submerged the surrounding land in a blanket of eerie darkness. Besides, someone always got attacked out alone by garbage dumpsters in scary movies, and November had no desire to become part of the horror movie cliche. The metal door of the dumpster suddenly came hurling down with a long, painful creak and the sound of metal crashing into more metal, startling November as she made her way back inside.

"Oh my God!" She blurted out, grasping at her heart as she turned around to see that the metal pole holding up the lid to the dumpster had fallen out and caused the lid to come crashing down. "I think I just wet myself," November muttered to herself, turning to make her way back in.

"Did someone say wet myself? So sexy," Ezekiel mocked, appearing abruptly in front of November's path as she let out a horrified scream from being surprised, yet again.

"AHHHH!" She bellowed, tossing her arms into the air in utter fright, clamoring backwards out of instinct. As she did, her heal caught a crack in the asphault which sent her flailing to the ground in a sudden, unpleasant motion.

"Sweet Jesus, are you okay?" Ezekiel's eyes widened as he reached down and helped November up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Scout's honor!" He teased, placing a hand over his chest.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! What on earth are you doing here?! Why are you hanging out behind a closed bar in the middle of the night?!" November ranted, shoving his hand from her as she brushed herself off quickly, the tidal wave of embarassment flooding over her as she did so. "Who is that under there? Is your name..Zeke, right?" She asked, trying to get a good look at her attacker. He had half his face hidden under a hooded jacket.

"Yeah, it's me. I apologize again, really. I just..needed to talk to you about something. Something very serious," Ezekiel said, his tone switching from playful to stern.

"Huh? What are you talking about? We met like, once. What could you possibly need to tell me?" November asked, bewildered.

"Look, I don't have time to explain everything to you right now, it's very complicated. I came here to warn you, November. It's about your family," Ezekiel explained.

"What? My family...?" November simply stood there, utterly confused.

"Someone is after you. Those people, from VAMP Corp, who came to your house the other day, they're after your brother. They'll do whatever they have to to take him away for their little science experiments. It wasn't just a coincidence that they showed up out of nowhere and then so did we. We've been trailing them for weeks. These people are dangerous, and I fear they won't hesitate to harm you or your mother to get to Nathaniel. In fact, I have reason to believe they're planning to come into your home and take your brother away tonight. You need to get your family and get out of here, now," Ezekiel warned, his foreboding gaze fixed on November from under the hood.

November could do nothing but giggle. She wasn't sure if it was out of total fear of how he knew that there were people from V.A.M.P. Corp. at her home or out of the fact that everything coming out of his mouth sounded like a bad episode of the X-Files.

"Alright, you seriously need to sue your drug dealer. He's clearly giving you the s****y stuff that turns you into one of those basement dwelling conspiracy theorists. How you even know about the people who were at my house is creepy enough. But, I think I've had enough of your seriously left-field sense of humor tonight, so I'm going to go finish up here and go home, if you don't mind," November brushed it all off as though he was completely insane. Surely there was no way what he was saying had any truth to it. She just assumed he was another simple stoner who had way too much free time on his hands to dabble in conspiracies.

"Wh-What? This isn't a joke, November!" Ezekiel roared, grabbing her arm as she tried to rush past him. "I'm serious! I know it sounds crazy but your family is in danger! You guys need to run," Ezekiel warned, his stare hardening as he leaned into her face.

"Let me go, you psycho! You're hurting my arm," November grimaced, reaching into her apron for one of the pads she took orders with. She harshly slapped Ezekiel in the head with it as he released his grip from her arm. "Jesus, get some help, you crazy b*****d."

"Is..everything okay out here?" Emery had emerged from the back door to witness the assault with the order book.

"Yeah, just peachy," Ezekiel grumbled, fixing his ruffled jacket from the slap. "Just be cautious, please," He left with one final plea before turning and stomping off into the darkness.

"You just don't even want to know," November groaned, rubbing her forearm where he'd snatched her arm. "I think he was on some seriously bad drugs or something."

"Meth is a powerful drug," Marielle concluded, shrugging her shoulders and following November inside. However, she found it strange that the type of person who would step in and save someone from being beaten to death would take part in dangerous narcotics.

"I think we're pretty much done in here, want me to walk you out?" Marielle claimed as she folded a towel and placed it under the bar.

"Sure, I'm ready. I'd like to get home before any more lunatics decide to warn me of my impending doom," November joked, receiving worried looks from her. "Oh come on, you seriously think someone's after me? Please."

"He said that?" Marielle asked, unaware of the majority of the conversation. She was only going off of the faint observation she'd made from watching through the heavily fogged window. "That's pretty intense."

"Yeah, but let's be real, no one is coming out to backwoods nowhere to come after me, he's probably just high or something," November said with a faint chuckle as they crossed the damp parking lot.

"I'm sure you're right. Pretty creepy though, huh?" Marielle questioned. "Just be safe tonight. Lock your doors!" She advised cheerily, hopping into her vehicle as they made their separate ways.

Ezekiel arrived back at the warehouse, pulling his Ducatti up alongside Cavanaugh's. Removing his helmet, he hung it lazily on the handlebars of the bike before turning to make his way to their sleeping quarters.

"This is just a game to you, isn't it? Defying my direct orders. You just want to see what buttons you can push before I just snap, don't you?" Ryker said, the dark outline of his figure coming into view in the shadows of the open building. He simply stood there, his intimidating eyes fixed firmly on Ezekiel.

"It's not like that, Ryker. They deserved a fighting ch-" Ezekiel's words were cut off abruptly as he felt his entire body slam into the thick steel support beam behind him.

"WE ARE THEIR FIGHTING CHANCE, YOU MORON. WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'RE DOING HERE? OUR JOB AS A TEAM IS TO PROTECT THEM!" Ryker roared, his fists clenched tightly around Ezekiel's jacket as he held him pinned against the steel beam, which was beginning to give under the pressure of Ryker's force. "You may have very well just cost those innocent people their lives with your unparalleled stupidity! They were probably watching your every move! God knows what kind of mess you've just made of this! No one asked you to go out and play the hero! What does that say about you that you would go out and jeapordize everything so you can feel better about yourself?!" Ryker continued, pulling Ezekiel from the beam only to slam him into it yet again at the end of his statement, the bolts holding it to the floor beginning to pop from their braces. "I've given you nothing but chances and you do nothing but show that your painfully pathetic immaturity is still the only quality you continue to embrace! And that s**t is not going to cut it, here. I will not fail because of you and your petty conscious." Ryker took a breath to continue his tirade but was cut-off as a female voice decended upon them.

"That's enough of this bullshit! From the both of you!" Aurora called, approaching them in a half jog. "Let him go, Ryker. This isn't going to solve anything. Yeah, he may have made a mistake, but it was all with good intentions. You never made a mistake? It's nothing we can't handle," She explained as Ryker released Ezekiel and he fell to the ground, the wind knocked from his throbbing body. "C'mon, let's get going," Aurora beckoned, offering a hand to help up Ezekiel. "And you, are you off your meds or something? Christ, we don't treat each other like this," She said angrily to Ryker. "A team doesn't act like this, get it together."

"Just... get him out of my face," Ryker warned, waving them both off as he turned to let out a long exhale. He ran his hand across his pained face, knowing his temper had once again gotten the best of him. Ryker took a moment outside before he made his way to the RV to check in on Michael.

As he stepped into the large vehicle, he was met with a flustered Michael who, naturally, had a lit cigarette dangling from his lips. His eyes turned to meet Ryker's as he spun around in his chair before the wall lined with screens.

"How are we looking, Mike? Everything on schedule?" Ryker asked, his eyes wandering from screen to screen.

"Uh, Ryker..serious problem. They're moving on the house, now." He said.