Broken

Chapter 2

"Two Iced lattes and a blueberry muffin!" I called, placing the two paper cups and the bagged muffin up on the pick up counter.

Being a cashier at a coffee shop wasn't glamourous, but it paid the bills between raiding work. That, and the hours were somewhat flexible. It meant that, if I did get injured during a raid, I could just get someone to take a shift or two for me and all was good. It helped that these days raiders were given a little leeway in these matters.

Having set the last order up, I wasted no time getting started on the next, filling four cups with an assortment of creams and sugars before grabbing a pot of coffee off the burner. I filled each cup quickly, and stirred them just as fast, before popping the lids on each cup, marking them with the white crayon designed for that very purpose.

It might be strange, but I rather liked this job. It was constantly busy, the tips were alright, and I tended to work the mid day shifts, which meant I wasn't dealing with the un-caffeinated morning rush, and I avoided the cranky end of day crowds too. The lunch rush was far more up beat, and people were just happy to be out of work and eating something. So long as they got their coffees in a speedy enough manner, then they stayed in rather good spirits.

Currently, it was coming up on two o'clock and, therefor, the end of my shift. Good, I needed to go out and get food for the house, and the grocery store I frequented was a significant distance away. There were some closer to both my work and home, but they were the super expensive, organic type places, that I couldn't really afford to shop at. So it was going to be a train ride to a less expensive place for me.

I finished out the last customer in the line and started to clear down my station. I wondered what it was I should make for supper tonight as I started emptying out the pots of coffee and shut off the machines. My station would be closed for the next couple hours till the evening rush, so the coffee had to go.

Dump a nearly empty pot down the station's sink, rinse, put aside. The next pot was slightly fuller, but it was nearing the expiration time, so it too was destined for the drain. Just as I was about to tip the pot over and spill out its contents, there was a small cracking noise. I had just enough time to think 'Shit.' before the whole damn thig exploded.

I wasn't the only one to let out a surprised shriek, as both scalding coffee, and glass, sprayed allover my hand and work shirt. I let out another scream of pain, dropping the pot handle into the sink and stepping back from the mess on the floor, nearly slipping and falling in the process. Only the quick wits of Trent saved me from falling back and cracking my skull on the sandwich station.

"Holly shit, are you alright?" He gasped. The kid was only sixteen, but he was already twice my size. This was his summer job, and he wasn't overly good at it, but he did try. And when it came to minimum wage work, you couldn't ask for much more than that. Besides, the six foot tall, some what over wight, otaku was now my life saver. 

"Y-yeah..." I said, still a little surprised. Normally I wasn't caught so off guard when bad stuff happened to me. I wasn't able to level up much compared to other raiders with four years experience, but the status points I did get with my levels I used on either my agility or perception for the most part. Perception made it so that I felt when the bad stuff was coming, and the high agility made it so I could avoid the danger as much as I possible. It was all I could do to survive, really.

"Oh my gosh Aoife!" Gasped Naydeen, another summer part-timer. The girl was just fourteen and working with her parent's permission. "You're burnt!"

"Oh, um, I'm alright." I said, straightening up so that poor boy at my back didn't have to hold me up anymore. "Its not too bad..."