34 Selfless
At Saint Rose of Lima Church.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"What did you people do to my daughter?!" Karin screamed and banged the ancient-looking wooden door.
"Sister Karin, please calm down. She is perfectly fine." Sister Deloris held Karin from banging further.
"You said she has been given a 'gift', so why don't you let me see her?!"
"I have told you, haven't I? She's in an important meeting with Father Vincent, Father Martin, Mother Grace and Bishop Clement."
"How can you not see the insanity in those words? She's 10 years old! Do I really need to stress that fact?!"
"Things are not always the way it seems. Logically speaking you're absolutely correct. But with the way everything has been going this past few days, this isn't supposed to come out as a surprise…"
Karin went closer to Sister Deloris' face and said with spite in her tone, "Remember what you told me? That here will be the safest. If this is what you mean by that I'll have you know it isn't too late for me to leave."
"Your daughter is needed right now in helping us send those wind creatures back to where they came from."
Sister Deloris grabbed Karin by the wrist, to the mosaic window.
"Look carefully. Have you forgotten what you felt when it happened? Or what you saw out the window?"
Sister Deloris held Karin's hands and said with a smile and continued, "Look, I understand. A mother's love is beautiful and can never be replaced, but please… be more generous. We're just trying to help save all the troubled souls that are affected by the crisis."
"...So when will they be done?"
"Soon. I promise."
* * *
After about an hour of driving and manoeuvring through cars, Mark arrived at his precinct, the 84th precinct.
The entrance door was tightly shut. The police vehicles in front were in a straight horizontal line, serving as a blockade.
Mark took a deep breath and came down from the truck, then raised his hands while showing his badge up.
He calmly went through the blockade.
The tightly shut door opened, "Get in! Fast!"
Mark paced up and as soon as he entered, the door was closed back.
"Welcome back, Officer. Good to see you."
"Thanks, Jeff."
Jeff went away to report Mark's arrival to the Inspector in charge of the precinct. He had a shaved head and wore a moustache, coupled with a buttoned white long sleeve shirt with the forearm folded up, a loosely worn blue necktie, black trousers and black shoes, with his badge necklace around his neck.
"Officer Jordan, oh thank goodness you're still alive. How'd you survive out there?" The woman at the desk, named Nancy, asked, looking shocked.
She was chubby, had black hair, fair skin and was about 5'6. She was wearing casual clothes.
"It…sigh…it wasn't easy." Mark said melancholically.
"What about Lieutenant Mayors?" She was asking about Curtis.
"He uh, he uh… died."
"Damn, that's too bad. If I knew this was going to be what we were going to deal with I would've rather stayed a waitress. We've been trapped in here for days now."
"He wasn't killed by the winged creatures…"
"What–"
"Officer Jordan, Inspector Jones wants to see you." Jeff cut her short.
"Oh, ok."
…
Knock… Knock… Knock…
"Come in."
A woman with brown skin and looked to be in her forties was sitting behind the desk. Her eyes clearly showed her fatigue. She wore a female corporate suit and had short brown hair.
"Good day ma'am."
"What's good about today? Officer Jordan, I was told you reported an ambulance case to the Director of NYC Central Health…"
"Yes ma'am. That is correct. He's in critical condition as we speak."
"Unfortunately, we can't do anything for him. President Vilin issued an emergency executive order, instructing all forces to lie low until we have enough information on the enemy."
"So you're saying we should just let innocent people die? Isn't it our job to protect?"
The woman picked up a remote and switched on the TV. She only stayed on each channel for about 2-3 seconds.
[We're here in Alaska and you can see the massive horde of these winged creatures. Civilians have been warned to stay indoors.]
[...upper panels show the current state of cities in China. The lower panels, Germany. This is a worldwide catastrophe and all the presidents have engaged in an emergency meeting that has lasted about 12 hours now…]
[...the words of President Markle H. Vilin to America, "In this time of crisis, I encourage all of American to stick together. Now is the time we strengthen our bonds. We will pull through this crisis but only if we work together…
Don't follow the games of the terrorists. That's their plan, to tear us apart. Stay indoors. Neighbours should help each other but be cautious and vigilant. We're working on a solution but we plead for your patience. God bless America." There you have it –Switch off!]
"...But we can't just sit and warm our couches. The second phase will start tomorrow. What are we going to do?" Mark wasn't pleased.
"You think I know?! My babies are at home and I don't even know if they're ok. I wanna storm out of here but if I go down, we all go down. How do we win against what we don't understand?!"
Silence filled the office. Mark came to crossroads in his life and he didn't hesitate to decide his path.
…She's correct, she is trying not to be selfish. She's the commander and I'm just a sergeant. It's harder for her to risk it…
Mark took out his badge and dropped it on the desk.
"Stay here and warm the couches with your asses. I'm out." Mark left the office.
"Officer Jordan! Officer Jordan! Get back here!" She stood up from her seat.
Mark peeped back in, "Inspector Jones, where do you live?"
…
Inside the truck, Mark picked up his radio transceiver.
"1765 to dispatch. This is my final transmission. Resumed duty 10th of February, 2012. 9 years of service. Y'all take good care of yourselves ok?"
Mark crushed the device with his hands and threw it out the window.
* * *
Arthur had already gotten himself something to eat.
He stood up and went out of the tent.
He walked around a bit before returning to his tent while avoiding David Dolan at all costs.
He stopped in his tracks as he noticed Michelle. She was playing hopscotch with some other kids, amongst which Harry was also part of.
Michelle quickly spotted Arthur, "This round has already started so you can't join yet."
"Who said I wanna play your dumb game?" Arthur went and sat down in front of Mark's tent.
He was still close to where they were playing though.
"Yes!" One of the kids shouted.
"Ah, haha, I guess I lost." Harry put his hand behind his head.
"Go away in shame and wait for the next round." Michelle said, playfully.
Harry came to Mark's tent and sat next to Arthur.
"Who the heck are you? What do you want?"
"My name's Harry... I just wanna know, why were you so, uh... scared of my dad the other time?"
"I... I wasn't scared. I was just startled..."
"Oh, ok. I thought it was something else." Harry stood up and was about to leave.
"What did you want to hear?" Arthur asked.
Harry looked around him and leaned closer, "I don't really know, but something about my dad feels off."
