Nathan rang up one customer after another. There were dozens of them. All of these people held a smile on their face. A smile which he couldn't reciprocate. The whiskey he drank earlier had resurfaced in his body as drowsiness. The young man at that moment could attempt to smile but he was already trying so hard to stand up right.
He had to ring up as many people as possible to meet the quota. The customers in this small shop didn't care about any of that. All of them were acting foolish with stupid wide grins on their faces.
Ironically, Nathan envied them. The young man only wished to be able to live in that naive period of joy once more. A world similar to the one in the past which held capability for widespread change unlike now where everything was the same.
He grabbed a strawberry donut from the glass display as a donut instantly appeared in that same spot to replace it. He placed the item in a small brown bag and handed the customer the sweet treat.
In the modern world, people couldn't even make food anymore. Every single piece of food was pre-made and practically endless in supply. Food was placed in a wide variety of different shops and when an item was taken, it would be immediately replaced.
This super natural phenomena was unexplainable like most events in this era of human history. Scientists once again all over the world came up with a possible theory for it labeled the Item Replication theory.
The theory in summary stated that the creator in order to cure world hunger created places where food was able to be taken without limit.
The young man gripped the side of the counter as his head began to spin.
Nathan muttered to himself with slurred speech, "Why must I live in a world where I can't change anything? What is the meaning of an existence that is essentially reliving the same day?"
He was almost in the middle of having a mid-life crisis but he shook off the feelings. The drowsiness on the other hand was becoming unbearable to withstand.
Nathan grabbed a cup of coffee and chugged it, receiving an odd glance from the customer waiting for his order in front of him.
There was a quota he had to make. Ivory and Abigail leaving early, meant he had to stay longer to cover for their unfinished work.
Nathan whispered to himself, "I want to go home. Why did I want to cover for them? They aren't even really my friends. Well, are they?"
Over the past week, he had been lying about the number of customers his coworkers had taken care of on the report sheet. This small gesture, even if it was out of kindness, could land him in serious trouble. He had to make up the work for their sake and his.
The old man with pale skin wearing a black fedora in front of him furrowed his brow, "Why are you just rambling to yourself? And wait… Did you just drink my coffee?"
Nathan wiped his eyes desperately trying to wake himself up, "I'm sorry si–sir. I'll make you another one right away."
He turned toward the coffee maker machine and glided his fingers across the screen quickly.
He thought, wait how much cream and sugar was in it?
Red cloud marks began lighting up on his neck which reflected across the screen. Small sparks slowly started to fly out of his fingers, turning off the machine momentarily, leading to a full system restart being displayed on the screen in front of him.
The old man with a fedora on says, "Great. Now you busted up the machine."
Nathan frowns, "I'm so sorry."
The young man had become lost in thought. Did the old man in front of him not notice how sparks flew out of his fingers?
Maybe he was more lucky than he initially thought. He didn't understand the full extent of his new ability but like many other super heros in comics he read in the past. He knew he had to keep it a secret.
The old man with a fedora on, points toward Nathan's neck, "What the hell is that?"
Suddenly two figures emerge from behind the old man brushing past him in line.
The old man mutters under his breath, "What the hell?"
One of the mysterious figures wore a grey cloak and a white frowny face mask. The other mysterious figure was a man with dark brown skin, who wore a black trench coat, a bowler hat, and seemed to be in his late forties.
The man in the trench coat says, "Young man, I couldn't help but notice those markings on your neck. Do you have a case of that sunburn that's been going around?"
The two mysterious customers who were confronting Nathan seemed to have some kind of an authoritative and dangerous aura to them. He knew he had to be careful.
Nathan looked taken aback, "I might. I was going to put the sun screen on it. I swear. I really want no trouble."
The man in a trench coat takes out a brown mechanical cigar from his coat's pocket. He presses a red button to the side which cuts the cap and lights it for him. The tip of the cigar turns from a dark grey hue to vibrant orange as the mysterious man takes a long drag from it.
Smoke begins to rapidly fill the coffee shop.
Nathan peered over at the figure with a frowny face mask on. This person, unlike the man in the trench coat, almost seemed to want to jump at him from the way its body was shaking looking at him. There was something very wrong with this person.
The man in a trench coat waves his hand dismissively at the cloaked figure, "Not yet."
Nathan quietly says to himself, "Not yet, for what? Am I imagining all of this? I'm asleep right now, probably right?"
He pinches himself with doubt festering in his mind but pinching himself hurt. This meant that he was awake and this was real.
The customer behind them at that moment raises his voice, "YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST CUT IN LINE AND GET AWAY WITH IT? I'VE HAD TO WAIT TEN MINUTES FOR A FUCKING CUP OF COFFEE. GET OUT OF THE WAY."
The customer tries to place a hand on the man with a trench coat on as they are quickly lifted with one hand on their neck by the figure in the frowny face mask.
Crack. Pop.
The old man dropped to the floor and lost the life in his eyes. The black fedora that was once on his head slowly glides in the air and finally falls to cover his face.
Nathan stares with his mouth agape. The customer he was serving not too long ago was now on the floor with his neck now looking as thin as a straw. A pool of blood started to leak beneath him.
The cloaked figure shook blood off its fingers resulting in the frowny face mask it was wearing falling off. The supposed human was revealed to be a faceless.
The fact that the cloaked figure was a faceless had caught Nathan off guard. These entities were the true enforcers of society. If one was here that meant that he was in danger.
The rest of the customers behind them in line rushed toward the door and ran for their lives. Nathan wanted to yell for them to take him with them but he couldn't. The words hung in his throat as his eyes kept staring at the dead body on the ground.
The faceless picks up the frowny face mask and places it back on their face.
The man in the trench coat looks over at the creature with annoyance, "Keep the mask on, Ada. Though, I suppose we already have blown our cover here."
The man in the trench coat presses the red button on his cigar once again, cutting the flame and putting it back in his pocket.
Nathan's voice shakes, "I— I really don't want any trouble."
The man in a trench coat says, "We know. That's why we can use you."
Nathan says with apprehension, "Use me for what?"
The man in a trench coat says, "Tracking down where the roots of this disease lay."
Nathan shrugs as drops of sweat fall off his face, "I really couldn't tell you…"
The man in a trench coat says, "Oh did I say that like you had a choice? You don't. Now to begin, Ada sensed another sunburn user was here. Where are they?"