Chapter
5 – Another Day of Duty
Sometime passes since the last riot.
The Sorrows have been passing their time by attending funerals and guarding church
services. Meanwhile, the intelligence divisions are keeping a close eye on both
government and civilians so something like the riot doesn’t happen again. Even
still, it doesn’t stop tragedy from striking as a Sorrow officer shoots an
influential priest during mass. Other Sorrows and police officers turn on their
fellow officers before Novus can retaliate. The civilians quickly exit the
building as a gunfight ensues between the two groups of officers with the ones
who were attacking retreating.
“Don’t let those traitors escape!”
Lt. Sterner says before radioing the station to tell them what’s happening.
Chasing after the traitors, the Sorrows
and police find themselves in trap after trap as they go from the back alleys
and to the sewers where the traitors are constantly reinforced by their
criminal allies. Several officers are injured during these traps, but reinforcements
from different Sorrow stations make up for this as the traitors are
continuously pushed back. To counter the increasing number of Sorrow officers,
parts of the sewer are blown up to separate the officers from one another.
Novus finds himself all alone and it doesn’t help that the communications are
jammed. He can hardly hear Lt. Sterner at the other end telling him to be
careful and find a way to regroup with the rest of the Sorrows.
“God, give me the strength to make
it through this day,” Novus says.
Somewhat unnerved by being alone in
this dire situation, Novus continues forward. Further into the sewers, he finds
traitors and criminals going a certain way, so he assumes they’re heading to an
exit and follows them as silently as possible. The path that he follows leads
Novus to an abandoned building in the center of the city. It’s a place where
these traitors and criminals are regrouping, arming themselves, and deciding
what to do next. This is also the place where the communications are being
jammed from as mentioned by one of the traitorous Sorrows. At first, Novus
wants to go back through the sewers to lead his allies and friends to this
location, but the way through the sewers becomes blocked off by a sewer grate.
Because of this, he changes his plan to get rid of the communications jam and
then calls for help.
“God, I am really going to need strength
in this challenge,” Novus says before heading off further into the building.
He manages to sneak his way through
the abandoned building until he makes it to the communications room where he is
discovered. In his panic, Novus shoots up the room destroying machinery and
killing its users. Thankfully, he is able to communicate with the other Sorrows
and tells them where he is and what’s happening.
“I hear you, rookie! We have your
location on our trackers. Hold out until then! Don’t you die on me!” Lt. Sterner
says.
Unfortunately, Novus is shot in the
side soon after and finds himself with his back against the wall. He bunkers
himself in the communications room where he throws flashbangs and grenades out
of. When he runs out of flashbangs, he throws smoke and tries to use this to
cover his escape but finds it difficult to because of the traitors who use the
same heat vision that he has in their helmets. In addition, they wield guns
that can pierce through his armor, which makes them priority targets. He also
prioritizes them because of their betrayal but tries to temper himself from
hating them. After killing twenty of his enemies, they stop coming after him. Novus
finds himself in one of the rooms they are keeping their weapons in and uses
this break in the fighting to barricade the room and rearm himself with more
explosives and ammo for his gun.
“You don’t have to keep fighting us.
Let’s talk,” one of the traitors says on an isolated radio communication
between her and Novus.
“Why should I? You shot first and betrayed
God and the kingdom. The blood of the faithful is on your hands,” Novus says.
“Because the kingdom doesn’t care
about its subjects. It keeps people poor and in harsh working conditions simply
because its leaders don’t think their families have done enough to make more.”
“Then you should’ve entered politics
or the clergy rather than murder the innocent.”
“As if we’re to speak about murder.
It’s our entire job. We even both think we’re doing the right thing.”
“The difference is that I actually
am.”
“Are you so sure about that?”
“I am sure. Unlike you, I don’t
step outside of my God-given vocation to do what I think is right.”
“Then I have nothing more to say to
you other than I hope you like dying like the cornered dog you are.”
“I prefer to think of myself as a
wolf or rather an angel of death.”
Novus then exchanges fire with the
traitors and criminals while throwing grenades and whatever else he can to get
the slightest advantage to tip the balance. During the gunfight, he is shot
in the arm, leg, and several bullets manage to destroy his helmet but only graze
his face in the process. Eventually, he runs out of ammo and the gunfire stops.
The other guns in this armory are further away from him where his enemies
already are, so there’s no safe way to get to them.
“I can give you a quick and easy
death if you step out and surrender peacefully,” the traitorous officer says.
Taking out his combat knife, Novus
leaps over his makeshift barrier and recites part of the Sorrow’s oath, “For
God and country, I offer my life, my sacrifice of love!”
He then proceeds to cut through
everyone he sees by slashing their throats, impaling their heads, and stabbing
their chest while being shot at, and doesn’t stop cutting and stabbing until his
body gives. Standing over him, the traitorous officer shakes his head and is
about to finish Novus off until the traitor is shot along with his allies by
Lt. Sterner, Sensus, and the other Sorrows. In his pained state, Novus can’t
hear what anyone is saying. The officers quickly patch him up as best as they
can before taking him to the helicopter they came in and flying him to the nearest
hospital. Lt. Sterner screams at the doctors to treat Novus immediately and
watches as he is operated on and eventually stabilized before he leaves and has
to attend to the other injured Sorrow officers.
While he is dreaming, Novus sees
himself in a light that feels welcoming. Ahead of him is a strange darkness
that is both bright and shadow at the same time that calls to him as if it were
an old friend. He is tempted to stay in the light, but he feels an obligation
to go to the dark.
“I am an Angel of the Shadows. That
is my vocation. God has called me to work in the dark to serve His light and
that is what I will do,” Novus says.
Moving to the dark, he feels uncomfortable
but also alive. Behind him, the light that once had him has disappeared. A new
light then appears ahead of him that is brighter than any light he’s seen. It’s
far in the distance and calls to him like the promise of a bright future. For
now, he rests in the dark as it carries him forward to this future and strengthens
him to continue on. Some days later, Lt. Sterner gives a speech on what has
happened.
As the speech goes on, he mentions
Novus and says, “Pvt. Novus cleared our communications that day in the secret
base of the traitors and held out long enough for us to save him from dying at
their hands. He’ll be okay and back in service next month. Even now, he’s
itching to get back to work. People say that he acted like a hero and that we
need heroes during these times, but I say that we have no need for them. What we
do need is people who accomplish the vocation God gives them. That’s what Novus
did.
There’s more honor and bravery to be found in that than going out of your way to be a hero. The traitors and criminals that turned on their own thought they were heroes and you know what happened as a result. It’s what happens all the time when we try to be more than what God made us to be. St. Opus, patron of the True Servants, exemplifies what it means to be more than a hero in our daily lives. He did nothing noteworthy in his life other than being a faithful officer and today he is a saint and example to all, so I pray that we all can fulfill our vocations and do whatever it is God wills of us.”
The End
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