by Mark Neiser (aka
nouseforaname)
Commentary
| 1 | 2 | 3
Never
hesitate. Stay
focused. I have been trained to do this. But why am I.....nervous. No
not nervous because I have no emotions. That's why we take Prozium.
This is what I have trained for. It will be all be over soon.
John Preston
watched as
the squad of Sweepers formed a perimeter around the building that he
was fixing to enter. On the other side of the building he knew that his
partner Partridge was waiting to enter from the back. John Preston was
a Cleric and this was his first sense offender raid since graduating
from the monastery. He had trained for years for this but... ...
... .no. I
am a cleric.
I am trained for this.
Preston
heard the
Commander give the go and as he burst through the door into an entry
way he spotted two men to the right in which he quickly took down, then
another three were to the left. Preston turned and took them down as he
somersaulted into the room ahead. He could hear gunfire from the other
side. His partner he presumed. This room was empty with another door on
the right side of the room. The schematics showed the entry hallway,
this room, the room to the right and two in the back in which his
partner was to take care of. Reports had been that these men were
selling outlawed items to people in the area, which means they were
sense offenders spreading it to others. The worse kind Preston thought
to himself.
Preston
breathed in and
ran towards the door. He lunged his foot forward kicking the door open
and somersaulting in one motion. He spotted five..no six...men as he
leaped upward firing his guns outward to the left and right.
One, two,
three down.
He
landed and took one out immediately in front of him and then turned to
take down the last two.
Preston
looked up to see
his partner and mentor watching him. Partridge was everything that
Preston strived to be in the Grammaton Clerics.
"Well done
John," said
Partridge. "Well done indeed. You move very fast, maybe the fastest
I've ever seen."
"You're
being modest
Cleric. Everyone knows you are the fastest on the move and on the draw.
Besides this is my first time out since graduation I think it is a bit
to early to evaluate my skills compared to yours."
"Yes John
but I'm
getting old, you are the new blood of the Clerics. Trained since you
were what....one year old. Your whole life to be a Cleric. Faster and
better at what we do. We will rid this world of the things we have
deemed unnecessary and it will be because of the work of Clerics like
you John."
"Yes we
will. It is what
we are trained to do."
As the car
approached
Cleric Headquarters in the heart of Libria, the city in which the
Father lived, Preston thought of his first outing. He felt nothing
about what had happened. He was not satisfied that it was successful,
he was not happy or feeling guilty that he killed eleven men. He was
thinking about the work that awaited tomorrow when they had to process
the well over 100 items rated EC-10 that were found in the storage room
of the building they raided. All items that were deemed offensive to
society by Father and all would eventually be destroyed. His thoughts
then turned to his wife at home. Would she be awake to wait for him
this time of night? Preston could not even answer this question because
he realized that it did not matter.
"Something
troubling you
John?" asked Partridge.
"No of
course not why do
you ask?"
"Well I've
been in your
shoes, I know what you are feeling."
"Feeling
sir?"
"Thinking, I
meant to
say, I know what you are thinking."
"Well I was
thinking
about....well nothing really because I feel nothing over what we did
tonight but yet I want to do it again soon. To stop sense offenders is
what we are trained for."
"Well said
John. And we
will soon."
Then the
bells of the
city rang letting people know it was time for their daily dose of
Prozium. Preston and Partridge took out their satchels, filled their
injectors, and injected the drug into their necks. It was so routine
they could do it with their eyes closed. The car was pulling up to
headquarters as they finished their injections. Their work was done for
today but tomorrow there is more to be done.
