5ive: sorry for the sudden onslaught of these chapters and new stories ^^ I've written a lot and I want my projects I'm actually working on to get posted. I've been much more active with THIS story - writing a chapter every few days - so keep a look out for more of this!

The night went on long, but then again so does every night. Working at the city dump wasn't always my first idea of a good job; though it does pay well and the work isn't anything extreme. Mostly what I do is walk the grounds and make sure no one steals anything. You'd be surprised exactly how many people love to rifle through the garbage, and because the numbers are so high my manager took away the junkyard dogs. Pitty. They were the one thing that kept me company.

I finished with my last rounds and headed back to the guard house. No use staying out in the cold when I had a thermos with hot coco waiting for me. Being from the north I had kind of a knack for making the best hot chocolate. Put some coffee creamer in it to thicken it up a bit, add some peppermint extract – just a few drops cause that shit is strong – and a cinnamon candy to melt in the bottom. Something my older sister taught me.

Nonchalantly kicking the door open I took a seat and pulled my thermos out from under the desk. Obviously still warm, I poured a mug full and turned on the cameras around the junkyard. No one in site.

I worked from nine o'clock until six thirty getting paid $12.70 an hour to sit on my butt and drink coco. Once in a while I got to go out and tase people, but that was a bonus.

I flipped around through the cameras on my monitors. Sadly we only have the two monitors and about ten or eleven other cameras so it was a hassle to flip around through all of them. Working here for the few years that I have made it easier on me. I knew where each camera was located and how their routes went in case I did see someone so I could follow them.

Still nothing so I sat back to relax only to fall out of my chair when a dark shadow entered my peripheral vision.

"Haha! Sorry Mikey. Didn't mean to scare you." Riley had popped her head in when I wasn't looking; long, red hair in a ponytail falling over her shoulder. "Just wanted to check on ya."

I scowled. "Do you really need to NOT make noise when you walk around? Seriously I'm going to put a damn bell on you." Now with only half the cup of coco that I'd had, I sat back in my chair to check on a few cameras to avoid eye contact with her.

"Not my fault that I'm a ninja." She stepped into the room and over to me, looking at the cameras as well. "Joseph is going to be putting in a couple new cameras tomorrow."

"Really? We have a million already! Why do we need more?" Joseph is our manager – the big boss man. He was a real pain in the ass sometimes making up stupid rules and what not. But I wasn't a manager so I couldn't really judge his actions too harshly.

"Something about new trash coming in tomorrow. Some place closed down so now we get the spoooooky mannequins or something like that."

"Wait, so we're getting new cameras just to keep an eye on some stupid statues? Are they valuable?"

Riley shrugged. "No idea. He kinda told me really fast and then scurried off to his hidey hole."

That just meant that he was back in his office in the big building by the entrance to the dump. Joseph always seemed to go running there when he didn't have anything to say to anyone. The dude was always a little off. But, again, I couldn't judge him too bad. I always figured he was just socially awkward. Or maybe he couldn't stand the smell out here.

"Just a few more cameras for me to get used to. No biggy." I'd already gotten use to the ones we had so a few more couldn't hurt.

She laughed. "Yeah, you're the king of the junk heap alright. But these cameras will be on this little thingy right here," and Riley produced a tablet from behind her back. It was a regular iPad tablet with a blue protective case.

"Is that…"

"Yep! It's Joe's tablet. That thing he keeps plugged in all the damn time."

"Oh god no…"

She was smiling from ear to ear. "Yep! This is what the new cameras will be on!"

"Don't I get a power cord or something? The battery life on this thing sucks! He keeps it plugged in ALL the time!"

"There aren't any plugins in here, stupid." It was true. The cameras were on special extension cords that connected directly to a generator out back. "So nope! Just get it from Joseph's office before you shift tomorrow, kay?"

I let out an exhausted sigh. Looking at the clock it read only 3AM. A rock set in my stomach – an uneasy feeling that felt like something more than just being upset about the tablet. I looked up at her feeling very tired suddenly but smiled anyway. "Okay."

Joseph hated when we couldn't get footage. If the generator died, I'd have to go and start it up quick or he'd flip his lid about not getting some of the footage from those cameras. With the crap life on that tablet, all I could mutter as Riley left the guard house was, "This tablet is going to be the death of me."