Shudders: Reclamation Day

Chapter 1 - The Head Keeper

"I hope you all aren't planning on doing anything for the new year. We got a lot of work ahead of us."

"Yea, I figured..."

"They could've chosen another day besides the 1st? Ruined my vacation plans entirely."

"What about you, (Y/N)?"

(E/c) eyes snapped away from staring down onto a piece of paper. The woman looked up to her colleagues who all waited for her answer. "Oh, I uh didn't have any plans. A vacation sounds nice though."

She was currently in a meeting room with the Head Scientist, Saren, and the Chief of Security, Knox. All three waiting for the rest of the Heads to begin their meeting discussing this Reclamation Day conference meeting that recently played on the news.

Saren was a bit older than (Y/N). She was the top in her division and earned her spot as a Head after the last Head Scientist went into retirement. She was a rather tall thin woman with medium skin and straight brown hair she kept in a long fishtail braid. Despite her division being the most important within the labs, she always came to work dressed like she was always going out for a night in the city. With her Labcoat of course.

Knox however was way older than the two ladies. He's been the Cheif of Security way before (Y/N) became the Head Keeper and takes his job very seriously. He was a pale plump old man with a buzz cut and handlebar beard that he took care of with pride. Despite his tough looks, he was pretty much a friendly guy. But once he was on duty he was way too stone cold to deal with.

"Oh, I thought you were gonna go out or something. May do you some good considering you work all the time." Saren spoke as she filed her nails that were recently done.

(Y/N) smiled and shook her head. "Mainly just planning to stay home and watch movies like usual."

"Boringgggg" The Scientist dragged. It's weird how she was the youngest among them but acted like an old lady when it came to holidays.

"It may be boring to you but it's fun for me." (Y/N) giggled.

Knox watched the two ladies and shook his head. He agreed with (Y/N) though. What's there to do on New Year's besides count down from 12 and kiss somebody? He was gonna spend his New Year asleep knowing how much he needed it.

The door to the meeting room suddenly opened and in came the Head followed by Nuru, the Head nurse but the Cheif of the Capturers didn't show with them. (Y/N) watched the door expecting for him to come through but it seemed like he was still busy. They'll probably start the meeting without him if he isn't here yet.

"Good morning everyone! I hope I didn't keep you three waiting." The Head addressed the three who were already in the room.

"Don't worry about it." Saren replied while Knox nodded and (Y/N) simply smiled. Nuru took a seat next to (Y/N) and they both exchanged a greeting to each other before the older woman settled into her seat. "Jules isn't here yet?"

(Y/N) shook her head. She wondered where he was too. "I think he's still working. The Capturers have been super busy since the announcement."

"Anyways, let's get started." The Head took her seat at the front and turned on the screen behind her displaying all the information about this Reclamation Day.

After Mr. Fidero was arrested it took quite a while to find a replacement. Unlike (Y/N)'s situation, finding a new Head was way more difficult. They have to meet all the criteria the Hub lays out and even that was pretty high. Eventually, though they hired Mrs. Sitari after a year of Castor Labs being without a Head. She was a pretty serious woman that made others be cautious around her. She hated the way Mr. Fidero ran the lab when he was in charge and made it her duty to completely change the system entirely, effectively removing all traces of his work. But not in a corrupted way like him. Despite her tough attitude, she did manage to improve the lab and bring it back up after the break out incident six years ago. The amount of property damage, loss of demons, and casualties had Castor Labs in shambles for months. Many workers quitted or transferred to different labs which contributed to the lab's decline. But once Mrs. Sitari came into power, little by little she brought the place back up. Even better than before.