The Sweepers

     Chris stared blankly on her desktop for some time. She didn't understand why her fingers had slowed down from what she was typing till they finally stopped. Her mind floated in and out of very unreasonable things making her wonder what was really wrong. Suddenly,the door opened with a thud startling her.         " Am sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." The man who walked in said. She recognised him instantly. Though they had not been introduced to each other, his  face that kept going in and coming out of her boss office had become familiar. He was John and that is all she. No one really told of his second name. He might have noticed the stern look from Chris because he cleared his throat loudly.       "No problem. Can I help you sir?" He then told her of a book he needed help to find before leaving as swiftly as he had appeared not bothering to mention when he'd pick it up. She knew that John was either a close client of her boss Janelle or her lover. However fingers crossed, almost everyone in the organisation knew about Miss Janelle unfruitful relationships. Though the book had no title it wasn't so hard to recognise its unappetizing book cover. She had then perused a few of its pages for a second trying to figure out what made it so exceptionally different for someone so great to come looking for it.     " I'll have a closer look at it once I get home." She told herself once she realised that sir John had already left without picking it. However, no one had noticed it was missing even later that day when the Center was ambushed and some of its documents went missing. The whole of the CCTV cameras had been vandalized erasing all of the previous day's footage. Nobody paid attention to the trivial matters and neither did she since she had a hell of work in addition to the shambles in her office to complete by the end of the day.       It was only late in the afternoon and the police were quite done with the first investigation and a minute of interrogating each employee when she decided to take a walk to the backyard. No destruction had befell the plants since the aggressors' intention was the building. However, she still felt guilt building in her knowing the plants' future was truly known to her. They'll end up in the test tube for some kind of reason. The fragrant scent of foliage became intense as she brushed her way deeper into the green house making her sneeze.       It was then that she remembered the aged book she had intended to read was at her sister's.       " I can't believe it slipped my mind," she said fumbling with her coat for her phone. Her sister Tina had asked her the previous day to pick up Ryan from school since she was never going to make it on time for him. She couldn't resent since he was one kid who always kept her busy. Though he was only six years old his smartness astonished Chris making her enjoy his company . He truly was one of a kind. However, picking him up was a job on its own since Chris didn't have a car and also considering she had loads of papers and documents that needed to be done before the next day in addition to the heavy book she had under her armpit then. It was overwhelming. She had thrust the book into her nephew's backpack forgetting about it immediately .      Chris called her sister but she wouldn't pick up. She looked ahead of her and bit her lower lip silently. She had to drop by her sister's house again all thanks to her forgetfulness. She was about to head for lunch when a sharp sudden prick nearby caught her attention. It felt as if someone had been watching all this while. She quickly turned to see whoever it was but no one was there.      " Maybe it was a squirrel." She tried to compose her shaky self but the erected hairs at the nape of her stated otherwise. She hurried out of there but the creepy feeling walked with her. It gave her chills. *********************      The continuous swooshing of swords resounded in the air making most of the trainees uneasy. That was test day but they hadn't expected it to be so real. After a week's training in the savannah they were assumed to have grasped the necessary skills required for combat hence their abilities to be tested later at dusk.      " Do you really think we were born here?" Carl asked softly making sure none of the Masters upfront saw him. His unanswerable questions would drive anyone mad Vivie not being an exception. She thought for a second before whispering lightly back to him.      "What do you think about it smartass?" They both fell silent watching what was being demonstrated before them but Carl's mind had already taken off. Once he started his questions Vivie knew his mind was gone and he would get nothing out of the lesson. She gave him a quick shove and his reaction surely gave them away. One of the Masters noticed this and walked towards them. It was Master Three. He was one ruthless person one would never think of crossing paths with him. His punishments were so brutal but no one dared to raise a finger on him. Maybe because he was among the top in the hierarchy of masters. All masters in that place were named according to numbers. No one knew their real names. A rumour once spread out that they didn't know their names either. That was funny then but now that he had to face him, he froze from the tip of his head down.      Carl's mind ran blank the moment he directed his hard and cold eyes on him. He had no excuse.      "Is there something going on between you and Miss Beauty here?" He asked loud enough for everyone to hear making them all break in giggles. They all turned to face them. Carl could feel their curious eyes penetrate through his skin. He had nothing to say. Vivie saw him swipe sweat from his face clueless on what to say before she took it to herself.       " Well...... Sir. I had asked if he would be free in the afternoon to help me with my Math assignment." She stood with her head bowed low trying to look as desperate as possible. But no matter how one tried, no one could ever win against Master Three. Nothing against him ever worked. He smiled for a while.       " Mmmh." He smirked," I guess that's why you'll help him clean the hall. He'll surely be free be in the afternoon." Upon hearing that Vivie gasped almost loud enough for everyone to hear. This led to another set of chuckles including Master Seven upfront. That was not her intention of saving his ass. She sulked for the rest of the lesson wondering why she had broken her sole promise of never speaking to him again. He always gets her in trouble. Her intentions of sharpening her sword's skill over the long afternoon break was hopeless.         Everyone had  gone for lunch except for her and Carl. He sat quietly next to her not really thinking about the punishment but wondering why the masters never really told the whole truth of why they were the chosen few to train there. They kept saying that they were a special lot but the world never considered them as such. They were the dangerous type to live among normal human beings. Though the masters tried as much as possible to make them see the reality; Carl felt something had never been right.       " Why isn't he ever bothered?" Vivie mumbled dropping her books loudly on his desk.        " We've got a lot of things to do. Aren't you going to ever get up?"        " I know you are upset about your swordmanship." He said following her to the library where they were supposed to return all the week's books since the rate at which they had been losing them had been on high alert.       " So what?" She rolled her eyes as they placed their books on the table since no one was around and walked out.      " You know I can help you out. We'll have the hall to ourselves anyway." She stopped walking and turned to face him.      " I thought you knew the size of the hall but I bet you don't." She clutched more onto her bag.     " Let's meet after five," with that she disappeared round the corner. Having nothing much to do, he decided to wait at the hall for he knew for sure that his name and Vivie's were on the No Eating list till they were approved to be done with their punishment. Though he didn't get what she meant by after five he hoped she would turn up early since he just realised how huge the hall was.      " We need to speed up our training," a hushed voice barely left his ears as he sat his back leaning on the wall. The other side of the wall was a hallway not anybody could access.      " We're already stretched out,sir. We can't pressure them more. " The shuffling of feet became more vivid and rapid before a stern voice spoke:      " We still don't know what we're fighting. We need to be more careful ......." The voice drifted off while Carl's ears begun to hurt after being pressed so hard on the hard wall.     " Well you got something amazing?" Vivie asked seating next to him.      " Uuhmm not really, just thinking of a plan on how to finish this hall before the...." She rolled her eyes but pressed no further.      " What about we risk cleaning the visible parts in order to get time for training?" She proposed.     " Sure that's just the plan." He almost shouted knowing he had no idea at all as he went further to take off his robe only to instantly regret it. He had forgotten to put on his vest earlier that morning. He quickly wore it back his face flushed with embarrassment. Vivie stared at him with disbelief before her face slowly turned into a chuckle.        " I now get why those girls couldn't take their eyes off you at the river."