Sector 21

Chapter One

Silence rained over Octavia's small apartment. She was sound asleep in her bedroom as the clock ticked steadily on the wall above the sideboard.

There was nothing special about Octavia's apartment, it was a simple, clean two bed on the 4th floor of the second biggest apartment block in the city. Every wall was pristine white with the odd photograph, over half of the photographs were of Octavia and her Father- Marcus.

Two years and 8 months ago Marcus did not come home from work in the morning, like he promised her. I know what you are thinking, why didn't she go to the police? Well, she did. Twice a week. Just to see if there is any sign of him, whether he be dead or alive.

If you work it out, she had been to the police station 268 times since he had gone missing and every single time she had left with her head held low and a pained look in her eyes. After a whole month of Octavia going to the station,they knew her by name and the way she took her coffee- black with one sugar. Just like her Father had.

At exactly 6.43pm an obnoxiously loud beeping banished the silence. As quickly as the alarm sounded it was silenced by a simple touch of a button. Just like any other reluctant 17 year old, Octavia quickly fell back asleep into another dreamless slumber.

At exactly 6.50pm the alarm sounded again, louder than before. Reluctantly, she turned the alarm off and crawled out of bed. Since it was early in the morning she dawdled into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. Her long black hair fell in front of her face, and caressed the side of her mug.

Out of annoyance she tied back her long black locks and carried on drinking her coffee. Unlike other girl her age, she didn't finish her education She was pulled out the day she had to replace her Father at work, this was not by her choice though. The Government wanted her of all people to take over her Father's position at work, this confused her as she had no qualifications or no clue what he even did all of the nights he was at work.

After glancing out of the window at the dull grey sky, she got changed into her work uniform. Technically there was no set uniform for her as she worked alone, there was no one to see her. She adopted a pair of black skinny jeans, black Doc Marten boots, a black jumper and a black coat. Although it was summer, working below the surface of the city was cold all year round.

Roughly an hour since she had rolled out of bed she left her apartment with keys and backpack in hand. Eight flights of stairs later and she exited the building and merged with the hustle and bustle of the city streets. As she weaved her way through the vast amounts of people on the busy streets the sun began to set. The setting of the sun meant she was about to start work. She worked from 8pm to 8pm, a whole 12 hours in dark, boring corridors with no one to accompany her.

Normal people would be at home watching TV and relaxing by now but she was about to begin another shift at work. Upon entering the modern building she swiped her key card on the pad next to the door and walked into an elevator. She placed the key card in her bag and pulled out a lanyard with a set of keys, ID and another key card. The elevator automatically went down to the bottom floor.

I suspect you are expecting some god awful elevator music to be playing as she descended below the city but you couldn't be wrong. All that could be heard above the silence was Octavia's breaths as she descended with the elevator. Elevator music would be nice.

The decent took exactly 108 seconds and afterwards she weaved through different corridors to her locker- although she regarded it as hers, M. RAYNE was still etched into the name plate. She slid the key into the lock and twisted it, a load click signaled it had been unlocked. She replaced her backpack with a torch, taizer and a walkie-talkie. After she grabbed the apple from her bag, put it back in the now empty locker and locked it.

"We've missed you Oc" A voice said from behind Octavia.

She turned around to see two boys walking towards their lockers.

"We thought you'd never come back" The other boy said.

"I missed one night because I was ill" She laughed as she hugged the two ginger boys.

The two boys were called Franklin and Charlie Edwards, they were 22- only 5 years older than Octavia- and trouble makers in the security department. They worked the 12pm to 8pm, only an eight hour shift.

"Yeah, and we had to take half of it. I was in the right mind to go and pay you a visit last night" Franklin joked

"But we were working so we couldn't" Charlie added

"I'm very glad" Octavia answered and then checked her watch. "I'd better start my shift"

"See you tomorrow then Oc" They chorused, hugged Octavia and watched her walk into the dark corridor.

She reached the familiar wire mesh door and unlocked it using her ID card. The door effortlessly slid open and she stepped inside. As Octavia walked down the concrete corridor the only thing that could be heard was the sound of her boots hitting the floor. A series of 21 doors were along the corridor and each one- par one- had something spectacular behind it.

Door One- Toilets/Canteen

Door Two (Sector One)- Every Government file in existence on Extra Terrestrial existence

Door Three (Sector Two)- Files on the assassination of President Lincoln

Door Four (Sector Three)- Files on the 'Kennedy Curse'

Door Five (Sector Four)- Files on the Bermuda Triangle

Door Six (Sector Five)- Relics from 'Atlantis': Burial Site

Door Seven-Twelve (Sector Six-Eleven)- Pieces of 'Noah's Arc': Burial Site

Door Thirteen (Sector Twelve)- War Archives

Door Fourteen (Sector Thirteen)- 'The Golden Fleece':Burial Site

Door Fifteen (Sector Fourteen)- Ancient Norse Mythology Files

Door Sixteen (Sector Fifteen)- Ancient Greek Mythology Files

Door Seventeen-Twenty (Sector Sixteen-Nineteen)- Ancient Egyptian Mythology Files

Door Twenty One (Sector Twenty)- Missing Persons Files

Each Sector either had files or some sort of relic behind it, each Burial Site was given a code name depending on what was found it. Apparently it was custom to name Burial Sites so they could be mentioned without disrespecting the dead. It was a clever idea.

She never really doubted what was behind them even though she never got a glimpse of what was behind them

The hours slowly rolled by, hour after hour nothing changed. Just the same as every other night. Nothing to report. As Octavia's watch reached 8 am, she let herself out of the corridor. After grabbing her backpack she signed out and made the short walk back to her apartment. Upon entering, she had a small meal before going to sleep so she could get up in 7 hours time and go back to work.

For Octavia everything was like clockwork.