Sector One

Chapter One: Notoriety

As average as a day can get in the small town of Columbia Falls, Montana, today was the day. Being around ten o'clock, the coffee shop, Topped Off, felt sleepy. Ironic, considering the idea of coffee is to wake yourself up, but most people were either at work or at school already around this time, so the lucky stragglers who did manage to find their way in were few and far between. The sun peeked through the clouds every so often, which didn't help the quiet, sleepy vibe, and the background music the shop played was even more sleepy. In fact, the barista, Lia, had cleaned the counter seven different times that day to look busy in front of the boss. Thankfully, she was almost off for the day, considering she started at 4:30 in the morning. The 10:30 strike of the clock was her cue to begin getting things ready for the next round of employees getting ready to come in.

As she began her ending shift duties, a group of men walked in. The first out of the ordinary occurrence to happen that day. Each of them wore suits, and looked like they were either from Men in Black, or some seriously scary business men. The five of them four of them seeming very out of place in the town. Growing up in a small town, you tend to know everyone.

Lia chose not to think about it too much, and smiled politely at them. "Hi," she greeted them, "what can I get for you gentlemen?"

The first one to walk up and take his order was a taller man, built almost entirely like a brick wall. He had short, blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes. The second man was also blonde haired and blue eyed, but not built quite as broad as the first. The third was an older gentleman, dark hair, and kind eyes, however Lia got the feeling that he could easily hold his own in a fight against the other two. The final one was a man about her age, early-mid twenties. Dark, short hair, wild brown eyes, and a smile she could tell girls must have killed to see in high school. Too bad Lia wasn't interested in guys anymore. Or romance for that matter.

After making their coffees, eleven hit the clock, and Lia was free to go. After putting her apron in the break room, and waving her manager goodbye as she clocked out, she started walking to the door, fishing for her car keys through her purse. A tap on the shoulders made her jump what felt like fifteen feet in the air.

"Shut the fuck up and suck it like you mean it." A voice said, bringing her back to an unfamiliar place. It was a place she never wanted to visit again. The feeling of panic started to overcome her as she backed into the door.

"What?" she managed to whisper through the air forcing itself in and out of her lungs. She was hyper ventilating, panicking, and no longer in the coffee shop, but in a different place, at a different time. A nightmare, created in a single night, starting with a drugged drink, and a devilish smirk.

"You... dropped your keys?" a confused voice suddenly brought her back to reality. Instead of staring at a pair of monstrous eyes, she found herself staring at confused brown eyes. One of the suited gentlemen from earlier, the one who happened to be around her age. He looked concerned, while confused as to why she reacted the way she did.

She quickly took the keys and walked out the door, but not before hearing a female customer, a girl Lia had been friends with once say, "Oh, don't worry about it. It's just Lia. She's so weird."

When she got into the car, she slammed the door shut, and rested her head on the steering wheel. Her cheeks felt hot with embarrassment. She felt like the laughing stock of the entire town. After a moment of cooling down, she started up her car and pulled out of the parking lot, to make her way back home, every so often feeling a tear roll down her cheek.

The drive home was quiet. As soon as she got home, she immediately went for a run. Ever since the incident, she had been running, and exercising daily to keep her mind present. She ran all the way to the gym, which was only about an hour's run down the road. Thankfully there weren't a whole lot of people in the gym at that hour, so she went almost the whole workout without having to acknowledge a single person. When all was said and done with, she ran home.