The Cleaner

The Guardians

The hours had seemed to fly by, the man had found food, little food, but food all the same. He couldn't help but think Oakley lived a very strange existence. If the man had not known better and had not seen Oakley in his lounge through the window, he would be hard pushed to say anybody lived there at all. The refrigerator contained a couple of bottles of water, some salad that had gone off and a couple of eggs. He racked the cupboards but found some pasta, some coffee, and some rice cakes. Eggs it was. He then spent some time scouring the house for any more information of just who Oakley was and came to very little. The only interesting thing he had found was in Oakley's study, one of the bottom drawers of the desk was open and inside he found several passports. They each contained the man's face, but a different name, birthday and location of birth was on each one. The man wouldn't have minded betting that there would be very little if any people out there who knew of Oakley's existence. Given the fate the man found himself in, it gave the man a sense of relief.

Before he knew it, the Casio watch beeped again, and the time read 12:00. He panicked; he had hoped to be out of there before then but settled himself as he looked out another set of windows once more. The snow still even, the ground still untouched and zero sign of vehicles on the roads. For the meantime that would sedate his anxiety, but he couldn't help but think that the silence was a little foreboding.

There was one thing he could now do however that he had been looking forward to since he had woken up. He unclipped the leather straps behind his head and lifted the mask off slowly. The air hit him, and he grabbed the tea towel that was hanging over the oven handle. Wiping his face he stared at the mask, once again revelling in the craftsmanship. It transfixed him for a moment before a noise he hadn't heard all morning rattled him to life.

A slick black jeep pulled up directly outside the house, the man noted the same colouring as the mask. Two men in full military gear stepped out of the vehicle and headed purposefully towards the front door. A sickness formed in the man's stomach as the heavy thud of the armed men's fist pounded on the door. He couldn't think straight and immediately vomited over the sink in the kitchen, rinsing the remnants of egg down the plughole, he dusted himself down and gave himself three seconds to pull himself together.

The three thuds occurred again; he drew out a deep breath. Rationalising his thoughts, he had told himself, "I was going to die anyway" and he pulled open the great mahogany door.

The two men were solidly built, and the handsome black uniforms only made them look more domineering. Their epaulettes had a silver set of wings on, a symbol that made him think this must be The Guardians. The one on the left moved to grab something from his belt, and the man in the mahogany doorframe flinched, "this was it" he thought.

The other soldier gave him a puzzled look for a moment before waiting for his colleague to produce a scanner and then for the first time he spoke, "Codeword."

For a second the whole world stood still for the man, "I should never have left the wreckage" he thought as The Guardian who asked him the question eyed him up and down.

He thought for anything and everything, but his head just buzzed. He didn't know what it was, how could he possibly know.

"Codeword," The Guardian asked again, reaching for his weapon this time.

As the panic began to set in, the man searched his brain and found the strangest thing he had uncovered this morning. He remembered the smeared mirror, Electus, it had to be this, and even if it wasn't it was a better shot than anything else he had.

"Electus" he said about as self-assured as he could manage.

The Guardian moved his hand away from his weapon, as the scanner the other Guardian held moved up and down his body. He was acutely aware of the sweat pooling on his forehead and upper lip. The man managed to let a small breath escape. One of the guys he could take, both however would be a challenge too tall right now. Neither of The Guardians spoke a word through the rest of the process, and the man was convinced this was not a good sign. After The Guardian had finished waving the scanner up and down his body he stepped away from the door, the scanner still in his hand. The man saw it flash green and the word Oakley appeared, he didn't know much else from this point.

The Guardians looked at one another, turned to the man, nodded towards the man, "Oakley."

The Guardians set off down the driveway. As they left the man felt a stinging sensation in his neck that turned into a ferocious burning. His hand leapt towards the part of his neck the pain was coming from, and he could feel the small metal pill he had taken last night under the surface of his skin. The pain was blinding but subsided as he swore, he could feel the pill unfold and a sheet of hard metal replace it. Once he could see again, he opened the front door and watched the vehicle pull away from the drive, it didn't get much further down the street when it exploded.

The man shot out the door to the smouldering wreck, it was hot to touch but he could make out the men in there. He couldn't tell if they were alive or dead, though believed they would need to be the luckiest men on the planet to survive. He surveyed the burnt vehicle again; the same wings the men wore on their epaulettes, were printed on the side of the Jeep in a matte grey colour to offset it against the black. Frantically he ran to the nearest house and wrapped on the door but was met with silence.

Where was everyone? Surely, he couldn't be the only one who heard and saw the Jeep explode? Equally as manic, he wrapped on the windows and peered through the curtains but could make out very little. It was apparent nobody was coming to help, and he ran back to the smoking vehicle again. It was then he noticed something in a pile of snow to the side of the road, the scanner they had used. The man picked it up and was met with a picture of his face and the name Oakley underneath.

A wave of realisation hit him, he needed to know everything he could about the life he had taken last night as his new reality was as clear as day.

He was Oakley now.