Every morning has been the same for as long as he could remember. Wake up, get ready for the day, grab breakfast at the small coffee shop just located on street level from his apartment. Then he'd head to the government facility just three train stops away, get his assignment, and then go about the day. On a good day, he only had to collect three or less people. However, there have also been days where he's been assigned only to collect one.
Those days were always the harder ones, because he knew that it meant that his target isn't an easy one. It usually resulted in death for the individual, and he always felt a little sorry for them. Luckily, today was not one of those days. Today his assignment was for four people. All of which were celebrating their 25th birthdays. Always, the individuals would be celebrating their 25th birthdays, and he couldn't ever seem to place why they were collected then. However, Tomas always figured he too would find out on his 25th birthday. Each day, he would get closer to obtaining the answer. Today marked 30 days for him. 30 days until Tomas finally found out what his job was for.
He had never really thought to ask the people about it. Usually because they always seemed reluctant to go, or they would have some unusual force of hatred towards him. Besides, he wasn't really comfortable with the idea of going back to finding them just to ask a question. The idea of a conversation was also not on his list of good ideas.
Walking down a long grey concrete hallway with obnoxiously bright fluorescent lighting always gave him the chills. Forcing himself to walk faster, Tomas rounded a corner that abruptly ended to a steel door. For some reason, every time he brought another person down that hallway, they always seemed to beg him to take them back. It was always then that the hardest part of his job persisted. He'd have to force them down the hall, by any means necessary, his boss had explained to him on training day.
A small pin pad rested just above the handle on the door, the top of it occasionally shimmering a flash of red. Punching in the four digit code almost mindlessly as he glanced from the list in his hand, Tomas swung the door open to another long hallway. However, unlike the previous hallway that was more like a concrete tunnel to hell, this hallway had marble tiled floors, with warm yellow walls. The lights above were gorgeously hand painted stained glass chandeliers in the shapes of flowers, all of them guiding one's way further down the hall to one more door. Along the walls, there were series of steel doors, one after another. Each one, a small number rested above them.
Glancing for a moment at the door behind him as a shut, his blue eyes flicked up to the number atop his door. 12. As it has always been. The last door, at the end of the hall. Almost like clockwork, other people dressed in the same uniform as him stepped through the remaining 11 doors. The group always walked out together, something they had simply done since day one. However, some of the faces have changed over time, always replacing familiar ones. As Tomas made his way down the hall, the man at door number 1 waited for him. "How many do you have today?" He asked as he laid a patting hand onto Tomas' shoulder.
"Four. What about you?" He recognized the man, however, he wasn't sure what he recognized him from. He was definitely one of the newer faces of the morning shift, and this question was the same every morning since the man had started. The man who's name he always seemed to forget.
"I've got six. Maxed out again. I guess we're a full lot today- well almost. 2 short." He said with a shrug as they continued their way out of the hall. There was a pattern to the system that most employees have picked up on by the end of their first week. If you had six people, you had the maximum number to collect for that shift. Typically when you had six, it would take you nearly all day. Sometimes only 3/4 of the day if you were lucky and the people lived relatively closer than usually. Something the bosses were good at was giving you a general location rather than sending you on a wild goose chase.
Just around the bend of the hall, passed Door 1, was an open room with doctor's office waiting room style seating in it. Against the back wall, windows were lined up against it. Through them were desks with people seated at them. The waiting room for the most part, was always empty. Depending on when the night shift would finish their tasks. However, this morning, one of the seekers was waiting on one more person. They were at the far window, talking to the person from behind the desk. They were shaking, no, they were sobbing. The seeker must have deemed it necessary to cuff the person, because their hands were restrained behind their back. Tomas let out a small sigh, it really couldn't be that bad, people must have spread rumors about whatever is behind the doors. He thought to himself as he turned his attention back towards the next set of doors he was approaching.
The seekers in front of him were already in the process of opening the double doors of steel, and by the time Tomas stopped walking, the doors were swinging open. Typically, when one brought an individual in, they only used one door. But when the start of the shift came around, both doors were necessary. The sound of the opening doors caught the sobbing individual's attention and it was like a beacon of light went off in their eyes. They took off, full sprint towards the doors and attempted to barrel through the hoard of seekers. The two up front managed to catch onto the commotion before the young male made his way all the way through. Grabbing him by the elbows on either side they brought him back into the room, only to wait for the rest of the seekers to exit before they dragged him back over to the Seeker responsible for him.
Tomas, having watched the whole display felt his skin crawl with goosebumps as an odd feeling tugged at the back of his mind. The touch of the Seeker's hand- whose name he could not recall landed on his shoulder in an effort to move the older man from standing idle in the doorway. Running a hand through his hair as he shook off the idea, Tomas nodded a thanks towards the shorter, blonde male.
Through the doors was a bustling central area, pumping like central arteries with traffic of people. All of them receiving paychecks from the building they were all standing in. Nearby faces glanced at the cluster of Seekers, many of them brushing them off as though they were meaningless garbage. Some of them even responded to their sudden appearance with looks of disgust. A normal daily response Tomas and the others received. The Centre Hall was the access point to all of the subsections and offices of the Bureau of Citizens Informations. Whatever all of them were, Tomas only knew of his own- the Department of Human Affairs.
By the time they had all crossed the Centre Hall, Tomas had found himself on his own once more. Pushing his way through a set of glass doors, out onto the somewhat busy streets of Albany, New York, Tomas found himself glancing at his list again. The addresses seemed familiar to him, and he figured it was because he had probably been there before. One of the benefits of his job was that he didn't need a GPS after working there for so long. Rather, he had a mental GPS that worked better than any technology based platform.
Making his way in the direction of the first name on the list, Tomas simply hoped it wouldn't be a tough day. Although he hoped all he wanted, he knew there was never an easy day. Which was definitely something he could do without.
--
By the time Tomas reached the location of his first individual, he had walked for at least an hour; definitely not an upside to being an environmentally conscious person. Thinking that it was finally time to consider investing in a car, Tomas approached the building slowly. It was a large complex of some sort, and he hadn't thought to read the sign that was posted at the edge of the road before walking down the path to enter the facility. Too late, oh well. A surprise wouldn't hurt.
Pulling back the glass door at the entrance, he entered the building to find a few women standing at a desk just ahead. They were talking about something that seemed to be decently interesting, however, Tomas assumed if he was in the conversation, he would be plotting ways to get out of it. The foyer area had a very old country-style look to it. Floral wallpaper, oriental carpeting... definitely his least favorite style of decor. Thank god he wasn't here for long.
Approaching the desk, he looked at the women, waiting for them to pick up on his presence. Tomas used the time methodically to prepare the words he wanted to say. God, he hated talking.
RPG
