The Reaper

Prologue

Revenge is barren of itself: it is the dreadful food it feeds on;

its delight is murder, and its end is despair.

-Friedrich Schiller

It's a cold and cloudy night in the slums of Chicago.

Trucks are pulling into the back of the warehouse, delivering their shipments from Mexico. The men are moving the boxes inside. Workers open them taking out ingredients of drugs, equipment, supplies, and weapons, organizing and storing them inside vehicles and storage. Women are in their underwear, wearing aprons, gloves, and masks while they make heroin in rows of tables.

In the office, the woman in charge, Garcia, sits in her big leather chair behind a desk. She is four foot eleven, fifty years of age, thick-bodied, and dark skin. One of her employees enters in an all-black suit.

Garcia asks in a heavy accent, "Is everything loaded and shipped?"

"We still have a few more to deliver."

Garcia looks at her employee with disdain. "How much money did we earn from the last shipment?"

The employee reluctantly answers, "Almost twenty thousand."

Garcia breathes harshly, realizing how low she has made. "Ship everything we have and increase the price."

"Ma'am, we're short on vehicles due to that last attack, and with the increased price of our goods, we're not gonna –"

"SHIP...THEM ALL...NOW!"

The employee leaves the office.

The phone rings. Garcia picks up and answers, "Hello?"

"Why is the latest delivery prolonged?" the woman asks calmly. "I need the money sent."

"Ma'am, you will get the delivery as soon as the end of this week –"

"I needed that delivery done weeks ago. The longer you delay, the more I think you're incapable of handling this. I'll have someone to replace you who can get the job done," the woman hangs up the phone.

Garcia sighs harshly after putting the phone down, pushing herself off the chair, and looks out the window seeing her workers and guards, feeling annoyed and frustrated with her scheduling falling more and more behind. Her temper builds and builds, trying to figure out how she can resolve her current predicament.

Outside, a guard casually patrols a rooftop armed with a black AK. Once he turns around, he abruptly stops his pace, dropping his weapon to his feet and placing his hand on his neck. Blood starts pouring over, coughing and choking. The man quickly loses consciousness and collapses.

More armed patrols from other rooftops continually scout around the perimeter, oblivious to the first kill. An arrow flew and shot through the chest of the second patrolman. He drops to his knees, groaning in pain until the next arrow penetrates through his head.

Another arrow shoots the third patrolman through the neck. Another man through the head and another man, and then another. All that is left are the ones guarding the front entrance of the warehouse.

A circuit breaker that connects to the warehouse was destroyed by an arrow. The whole building goes black. Everyone inside is shouting indistinctly, not knowing what is happening. The workers hide underneath the tables as the guards are on high alert, pointing their weapons in every direction.

Five men rush into Garcia's office as Garcia takes her pistol from the drawer and then hides underneath the table. Two of them are pointing their guns at the window as the three others guard the door after they lock it.

The rest of the men out in the warehouse cover all the entrances. Minutes passed, and no intruder attempted to barge in. Suddenly, one of the guards feels his entire body stiff and immediately lifted up into the ceiling shadows. His scream echoed across the warehouse. Everyone hears and see where he went. The man's body was chopped in pieces and then dropped to the floor. Workers are screaming in terror and running away as everyone points their weapons and fire at the direction of where he was snatched. Still unsure of where the killer might be, everyone starts shooting more scattered.

Another guard's body was sliced in an angular half. Some of the guards nearby saw and shoot at the shadows behind. But were killed by throwing knives pierced into their heads.

The rest of the men continue shooting until their weapons are emptied. They all hastily struggle to load their guns.

Garcia, still hiding underneath her desk, asks one of the guards looking out the window compulsively, "What is going on out there?!"

The guards can't answer, feeling unsure of what is happening despite seeing the men being slaughtered.

The last few guards managed to reload their weapons, pointing them upwards, trying to look hard at the ceiling.

"Did we get him?!"

"I don't know, just keep looking –!"

An arrow shot from above through the guard's head. Everyone else shoots at where it came from. But to no avail. A guard from behind has both of his hands cut off and then his neck stabbed through by a knife.

The last two guards, terrified, realizing the third man was killed behind them, start firing their weapons erratically in the same direction, still hoping they might hit something. Throwing knives are thrown, killing them both.

Back in the office, two men who witnessed it all are terrified. Their hands are trembling, shaking their weapons too hard, knowing that the killer is about to enter. Still unable to see the killer, two arrows are shot simultaneously through the window into the heads of the two guards. Two of the three guards watching the door shoot at the window while the third still watches the door, assuring no one gets in. But the one protecting the door had his neck slit by a knife, and the two remaining guards, reloading frantically, had both of their heads chopped off.

Garcia, the last remaining, terrified of what she witnessed, slowly forces herself to peek above the desk. There is no one she can see. She's hoping in her mind that there really is no one inside, but she knows there is someone there hiding inside the shadows. She points out her gun as she slowly stands. She shuffles back to a corner, begging him in a trembling voice, "Listen to me! You proved your point! Whatever I pay you, I'll give you everything I have!"

She gets no response.

"...Do you hear me?! There's a safe behind that portrait! I'll give you the combination if you let me live – AH!"

A throwing knife was thrown into Garcia's hand, forcing her to drop her gun. She looks up and sees a man slowly walking out of the shadows to her with a bloodied sword in his hand. He wears an all-black outfit with a facemask covering most of his blood-covered face and a black hood over his head. He wears a belt strap that holds his bow, an empty quiver and a few remaining throwing knives sheathed across his chest and hips.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Garcia shakily whimpers as the hooded man slowly approaches. "You were the one who's been killing my men and interfered with our business for weeks," the hooded man stands above her, looking at Garcia with intense animosity in his eyes. Garcia makes the same expression, trying to not show him fear as she shouts, "Just what makes you have the right?! Do you know who I am?! Who I'm working for?! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"...I am the Reaper."