Coger

Chapter One

It was a normal day in Cityville. The sun was hidden by ugly, grey rain clouds. Car sirens rang in the distance as the owners of the cars sat inside, used to their cars being robbed. Plants drooped due to the lack of attention they recieved from their manic depressive owners. It was just a normal day in Cityville.

Sitting in the center of Cityville, a bank, and inside that bank, a man.

"Hi, welcome to Cityville Bank! How can I help you?" Christian Coger sat at the desk and with as much fake enthusiasm as he could muster welcomed a man standing in line.

The man approached the desk. He was the polar opposite of everything Christian was: old, heavy, bald, and dressed worse than the homeless man that was found dead behind the Cityville Bowling Alley last week. His heavy jacket with too many pockets had too many pockets. His sunglasses were on his face crooked. And there was something about that cowboy hat that just seemed a little off.

"Christian Coger?" The man asked as he read directly from the name plate on the desk.

"That is I!" Christian smiled as he wandered in his head why he didn't just quit his job already.

"Come with me." The man turned and began walking out the door.

"Sir, I can't just leave here."

The man stopped in his tracks and pulled out a cigarette.

"Sir, you can't smoke in here," Christian spoke from across the room.

"Are you coming with me?" The man asked.

After a moment of silence, Christian began creeping toward the secret "security call" button that was behind the counter, but in a quick move, the man pulled out a gun, aimed at Christian, and fired.

A loud bang echoed through the bank as Christian's heart jumped. The man put the gun back in his jacket.

"Wait..." Christian breathed heavily, "Was that just a cap gun?"

The man nodded, the cigarette still hanging from his mouth.

"What good was that supposed to do?"

"It allowed my men to sneak in through the back door." The man smiled a crooked smile.

"Your men?" Christian turned around to only catch a glimpse of the butt of a rifle being forced into his nose. He blacked out.

*****

Christian awoke in a large, metallic room with no visible entries or exits, just a mirror which he assumed was a one-way window. His head pounded as he inched closer to the mirror where he could see that his nose had been heavily bandaged. He reached up and touched the wrapping before wincing in pain.

"Yeah. Sorry about that," a voice spoke from above, "He may have hit you a little too hard."

"God?" Christian looked to the ceiling.

"No. David." A panel on the wall next to the mirror slid open to reveal a large man wearing a sweater, pajama pants, and flip flops, "I kept telling them they need to use the knockout spray, but no one wants to ever do anything simple around here."

"Where am I?" Christian began to get a little light-headed.

"You're at the headquarters of the Cityville United League of Taxpayers."

Christian raised his eyebrow. "C.U.L.T.? Really?"

David frowned, "Yeah. I didn't get to name it. It was called that when I was recruited too. Now follow me."

"Hold on," Christian didn't let him get far, "Recruited?"

"Scott mentioned that to you right?"

Christian threw his arms up into the air, "Who is Scott???"