Prologue, Part Two
Of course, it was hard to 'enjoy' the silent dreadful anticipation that life as they had always know it was about to disappear like ashes upon the wind. The scratching of pencils and clattering of keyboards gave way to muffled sounds of warfare just beyond the horizon and quiet sobbing from the corner office. As the minutes dragged on, Constable Ken Ohmura found himself begging for it to finally end; the hand of fate already dealt, he'd rather not wait to see it. If there were ever a good time to pick up smoking, it would likely be right now.
This terrible silence continued on for nearly an hour, predictably uneventful until finally there was a commotion at the front desk; just out of view of them. Then, a dozen camouflage and balaclava clad men funneled their way into the back offices; the foremost three lazily pointed their rifles among the desks while those behind didn't seem to bother. "Surrender your weapons, do not leave yours seats." The only bare-headed man among the gaggle of soldiers ordered, his accent thick; his blocky, stone-hewn face belying his sharp gaze. He affixed himself on Ken, not having to speak a word to reaffirm his message.
Ken raised his five-shot revolver above his head slowly, eyes stuck on the NQF officer the entire time. Slowly but with a recurrent grace, he swung the cylinder open, giving his pistol a small shake as to let the bullets scatter across the floor. He felt half-tempted to punctuate it with a spit, but felt that his mood was adequately conveyed already.
The officer clicked his tongue in turn, though his face remained unchanged. With one swipe he took the revolver and carried on without looking at Ken twice. The soldiers converged on the captain's office as they collected weapons from Ken's disheartened comrades, most disappearing inside while a handful of those armed with rifles stood watch outside.
Minutes passed and the soldiers soon departed, a terrified looking Captain following them out of the office to see them out. When the last soldier stomped out the front door, the Captain turned back to them; forehead now wholly glazed over with sweat. "Take Tomorrow and Tuesday off, we all have big things to discuss when you come back." He said meekly to his staff. At first simply encouraging them to go home, but soon the Captain was frantically trying to kick the last few policemen out of the office.
Ken spent the next two days wide-eyed and sleepless.