Church's Crusade #9: The Rebirth

Darkness…

All he saw was darkness, as he floated in oblivion. Then finally thought returned, "This is really boring…"

It was this that made Church realise that he was perhaps not as dead as he'd expected. Well what else was new? He'd spent years not being quite as dead as he should be. Of course he wasn't quite alive either. On the whole he tried not to think about it. It would have been a painful subject if he could still feel pain. He had always been a bit uncertain as to whether this was a good thing or not. Granted pain was unpleasant, but with the loss of that sensation he lost one more connection to his humanity. However he became aware that he could feel something, a sense of belonging, at one time new yet still maddeningly familiar. What was it? And then it hit him. It was his body, changed yet functioning once more. He hesitated for a moment, deciding whether he really wanted to exist again. However that decision was made easy when the thought returned again, "This is really boring…"

Anna sat by the work bench, eyelids heavy, head lolling as she fought sleep. She knew that Paul would be by to relieve her in a few minutes and was looking forward to falling into her bunk in the barracks. She looked at the still, shrouded form on the bench in front of her and wondered, "Would he come back?" It was the question they had all been asking since Church collapsed in the drop ship. She thought back over the months and saw again what had happened in the moments after the shot had found its mark…

…as the power left him the sergeant had fallen forward, to be caught by the three squad members. Rourke and Stevens had fussed about, removing Church's helmet and checking against obvious evidence whether the sergeant had survived. Anna stood over them and watched, not wanting to believe it. It was not until Rourke proclaimed, "That's it. He's gone," that Anna acted. Taking two quick steps to the weapons rack, she picked up her sniper rifle and aimed it at the troops still firing upon the slowly rising drop ship. She fired again and again, each shot cutting down another man until they began to run and jump behind cover. She reloaded and kept up the barrage of fire until she had once again emptied her magazine. It was then that the sniper who had shot Church broke cover and began to run for a nearby building. Anna watched, calmly reloading, then raised her rifle and took four precise shots, each hitting the man in the head and completely shattering his skull. With that she turned and replaced here rifle on the weapons rack, then looked up. Rourke and Paul were staring at her in amazement. Finally Paul found his voice "Was that really necessary?"

"No', said Anna, 'but it made me feel better."

She walked past and sat down at the side of the seat in silence. The others didn't disturb her further…

Anna was brought back to the present by the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. She stood up, turned and was about to open the door when she heard a voice speaking quietly behind her.

"Typical. I'm away from this thing for a few months and someone starts remodelling."

Anna spun around and stared at the shrouded figure on the bench, hardly daring to believe what she had just heard. She stood perfectly still until the figure said; "Could you get this table cloth off me. What do I look like, furniture?"

Anna rushed over and pulled back the cover as Paul entered the room. Church sat up and stretched. "So what's new?"

Paul looked on in surprise for a moment then finally said, "Well for a start you should look in the mirror…"

The characters Church, Caboose, Tucker, Simmons, Sarge, Grif, Sister, Donut and Doc are owned by Rooster Teeth Productions.