was bloodshot. A phone call distracted her.

'Good morning Miss Evelyn' came Jubril Lawal's

cheerful voice.

'Good morning sir' Tarasha managed to sound

calm.

'How are you?' Jubril asked.

'I'm fine sir, how about you?'

'I'm doing great Miss. I spoke with your father

this morning and we had a pleasant

conversation. I'll like for us to meet and conclude

the deal terms'

'Oh! Okay. When can I come to meet with you?'

'Let's make it tomorrow morning, 9am prompt'

'That's okay sir'

'Good, we'll see tomorrow. Take care'

'You too.' With that the line went off.

Tarasha got up and wiped off the sweat forming

on her forehead. She began to take off her

ruffled gown slowly. Henry's calm voice sounded

in her head again.

** Flashback**

~~ December 20, 2020 ~~

'Tarasha, Tarasha' A voice sounded in whispers

through the window. Tarasha's eyes popped

open, it was Marvin calling her.

She rolled down from the hardwood quietly and

buckled her bra well. She sniffed and began to

tiptoe carefully in a bid not to wake the other

occupants of the room.

She s.h.i.+vered as the door creaked while she tried

to open it. She turned to see if anyone was

woken by the noise but no was awake, only a

few itchings and turns, she proceeded outside

slowly, careful not to make any other sound.

Marvin had turned from the window side to the

door.

'Come' she grabbed Marvin's hand and they ran

behind the lodge to a hidden place.

'Tara' Marvin who was bare chested and was

covered with a torn towel-like material called her

name softly.

'Yes?' Tarasha urged him, already getting

impatient, staring around from time to time to

see if anyone was coming.

'Tarasha' he called again.

Tarasha stopped to stare into his eyes. He never

called her full name except that was something

really very serious. 'What happened?'

'I've come to say goodbye to you' Marvin began.

'I may not have the opportunity to say it

anymore'

'What? Goodbye? Where are you going to?'

Tarasha bombarded him with questions.

'I'm not going anywhere. I may die tomorrow' He

said in a sad tone. 'I overheard our Tent Lord

saying that there would be a zonal bloodbath

tomorrow and they plan to eliminate fifteen weak

ones'

Tara stretched out her hand and touched his

face. 'Fifteen weak ones? But that has nothing to

do with you, with us'

'Tarasha' he removed her hand from his face.

'Let us be real, don't let us pretend as if I'm

strong'

'You're strong Marvin, you can scale through'

'No, I'm not strong' Marvin argued. 'We all know

that I only managed to escape death the last

time. Now it's here' Marvin said as he turned his

back on Tarasha.

'No, you won the battle, you didn't manage'

Tarasha turned back his body to face her. 'And

you are stronger now'

Marvin stared into the darkness for a moment,

tears formed in his eyes. 'Tara, I'm not scared to

die. I'm scared of leaving you. Ain't we even

dead already. I think it's better we die before

these people finally turn us to animals who kill

without thinking'

'Don't we kill without thinking already?' Tarasha

asked him.

'I kill on orders and I feel remorse for every time I

had to do it' a tear dropped off his eyes as he

spoke. 'But the Nefary clan is not comfortable

with that, they are taking us to the level of killing

without feeling any remorse. Imagine, they

made you kill your friend, the cook.'

Tarasha sighed and turned away. 'I had no

choice, I had to do that. He was already changed

into a beast too'

'I know but they're going to make us do more. I

heard that they do send some inmates to

murder their families'

'Do we have families?' Tarasha turned suddenly

to ask him.

Marvin was about to answer her when they

heard a noise coming towards their direction.

'We have to go now' Marvin's eyes shone in panic

as he peeped to see who was coming. He quickly

grabbed Tarasha's hand and they hurriedly

tiptoed away.

* Next day

Tarasha could hear the loud chants of male as

thirty of them girls were led into the "Hardness

hall". The boys were already been lectured in the

hall.

The hall was a very large one, it was made of

thick brick high walls. It had no widows in it but

was unroofed. The floor was made of natural

rock, hard, cold during evening and early

mornings but hot in the afternoon.

'Love is a sin committed by weak people and it

makes them weaker. Any object of love that is

found beside you has to be eliminated' the voice

in the thick Russian accent continued to shout.

'The day you start to love someone is the day

you start to die'

Tarasha could spot Marvin where he stood,

blindfolded. He was number two on the line in

his group. That meant that he was the second

person to battle. Tarasha looked around trying to

locate Marvin's likely contender but before she

could, the tent lord had already returned to

blindfold her and the other girls. The girls were

later arranged on two line but none of them

knew their position on the line.

The battle was to take place in a cage and the

enemy was not known until they got into the

cage.

The first battle began and the first two fighters

were sent in. Shouts and groans were what

notified the other young a.s.sa.s.sins that the battle

had begun.

After about ten minutes, the first battle ended

and a winner with a bruised face emerged. Then

the first set of girl fighters were sent into the

cage. After another ten minutes, another winner

emerged.

Then it was Marvin's turn. Tarasha knew it, she

had seen him stand in the second position on

the line. But she didn't know his contender until

she felt a hand on her shoulder. She was then

dragged and pushed into another section. Her

blindfold was taken off and she found herself in

the cage with Marvin. Several fighting weapons

laid on the floor for their use. The bell rang for

the battle to begin.

The lovers stared at each other for a while

without making any move. The whole hall

became as silent as a graveyard.

'Come on, attack' Vladimir, the zone lord

shouted angrily.

Tarasha just couldn't move. Just few months

ago, she had been made to slaughter a dear

friend of hers, Stanley Bob. Now she was being

asked to fight Marvin whom she loved.

She sniffed and rubbed her nose with the back

of her hand. 'Love is for the weak ones, the

stupid ones without a strong heart. Kill him

before he kills you' she could hear a voice say

to her.

'No, don't kill him. If you do, you'll be totally

losing your good heart' another voice argued.

'Who needs a good heart?' The first voice

laughed. 'It would only make one become a

fool who can be manipulated by feelings'

'There's nothing wrong in letting good feelings

take control over you' the good voice began but

was interrupted.

'Shut up! Remember who you are, nothing

should take control over you. You were made

to kill and nothing should stop you from killing.

Nothing including love or any feeling you have'

Tarasha was awoken to reality when she heard

a clang sound, Marvin had picked up a sword.

It seemed he had finally made up his mind on

what to do.

Tarasha picked up a sword too and positioned

herself for the fight. The duo began to move in

a circle, each one trying to set a trap for the

other.

Marvin was the first to strike, his sword went

in direction of Tarasha's forehead but was

stopped by her sword. The battle continued

and the murmurings among the other trainees

increased as the sound of continued clanging of

swords filled the air.

After about four minutes of the sword battle.

The two warriors s.p.a.ced themselves. Both of

them already had sweat dripping from their

body. Marvin threw his sword away and

clenched his fists. Tarasha understood the

message and dropped her sword too. It was

time for a battle without weapons. They moved

close to each other.

Marvin sent a blow to her but she ducked

down and he missed her face. She stepped

aside without returning his attack. They stared

into each other's eyes as they vibrated their

bodies from side to side, moving in a circle.

Marvin launched the same attack again and

Tarasha ducked again but this time sent a

heavy blow into his belly. He winced as he

grabbed his belly and staggered forward.

He recovered quickly and stood straight again.

He stared again into Tarasha's eyes, she

seemed to be less interested in the battle. He

remembered saying to her that he wasn't

afraidof death, but he really was. Now, he

was desperate to live even if it meant taking

her life.

Marvin was an handsome boy, two year older

than Tarasha. He stayed with his parents in

Ghana until the day he was kidnapped

alongside with four other boys and brought to

the clan. The reason for his kidnap was not

known to him until he spent two months in the

clan.

Marvin was a soft person in nature but the

four other boys which he walked and played

with were bullies. Due to their big stature and

strength, they maltreated everyone they could.

Marvin was close to them because of one the

leader of the boys happened to be his next-

door neighbor. The kidnappers had observed

the boys' cruelty for sometime and concluded

that they had the tendency to become great

a.s.sa.s.sins. Marvin was only unlucky to be with

the bullies on the fateful day.

Back to the battle. Marvin carefully observed

where Tarasha was standing, the weapons

were out of her reach. He seized the

opportunity and he picked up his sword again.

He smiled at her wickedly as she looked at him

in surprise. Maybe she thought her love was

still in his head, he thought. But this was a

matter of death or life, he still wanted to live

for some more years and probably get out of

the Nefary City alive. He shouted on top of his

voice as he raced towards her, targeting her

belly.

Tarasha was scared and undecided for a

second but the adrenalin rush in her body

made her react. She turned back immediately

and made a short run to the wall where she

took three steps on and projected herself over

the attackers head, she landed at his back and

he almost fell as a result.

A blow hit Marvin's face before he turned to

her with the sword. Another hit his jaw when

he tried to raise up the sword, it fell from his

hand. Tarasha continued to deal him more

blows on his face until he was bleeding

profusely. He was too weak to defend himself.

She held his neck and tightened her grip on it

until he was he was out of breath. She was

breathing heavily as she let his body fall to the

ground. She stared at him on the floor for

some seconds, murmuring inaudible words to

herself.

'Bring his head' someone shouted as she

turned, reminding her that her job wasn't

completed until she presented his head as her

trophy. She motioned towards where the sword

was and picked it up. Then she went back to

Marvin and detached his head in few seconds.