II: JAGUAR
On the dashboard Margot could see that it was 1:35 a.m., she opened her coffee thermos and kept her hand on the wheel. They drove across fields of ferns and old black trees, the Bison Shuttle headlights casted a bright white light across the ferns. The forests spread across most of Houston now, the sky was a deep purple and orange with white streaks of clouds. Margot yawned, blinking away the stinging pain in her eyes.
It was dark in the shuttle, the control panels for the old truck laid out in front of her illuminated red, orange, blue and green. She held onto the steering wheel with her left hand and the coffee with her right. She was going as fast as she could and the semi rattled.
They knew a village was a few miles north of their base, but their radio signals were strained when they went beyond the bounds of the Pegasus Territories, or the proximity of Galveston or within the walls of Houston.
She worked as a security officer for the Pharmaceutical department in the Pegasus Corporation. She was one of four on the Bison Shuttle. In her squad she was the Junior Officer, trusted with driving the shuttle and second in seniority. Kurt, their senior officer, sat behind Margot with a toothpick in his mouth as he scrolled through news articles on his phone. Their sophomore officer sat beside Margot, named Yvonne, she struggled to keep herself awake.
Kurt let out a small, excited exhale from his nostrils and held his phone screen up to Yvonne, “Look, have you seen this?” he asked. She blinked rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the light of the screen, she strained to read the article and Kurt pulled the phone back, “What a drug bust, they caught five entire shipping containers. All together they say it was worth twelve million dollars.”
“Did they make any arrests?” Yvonne asked, she took out her earbuds which made a clicking noise when she put them back in their case.
“Did you interrupt my podcast to tell me anything else?”
Kurt thought for a moment, “No, guess not.”
Yvonne put her earbuds back in, she was listening to a dating podcast called “Date Robot” about women who have to choose between two artificial intelligence programs and one real man based on conversations between them. Margot thought the concept was unique but wondered why there weren’t any reversed gender episodes. Yvonne said it was because you'd be able to tell way easier who's real and who isn't, since men are simpler. Yvonne turned her eyes back to her monitors, a dot flashed on a map, symbolizing the asset they were assigned to follow.
“Not that I can tell, but it would be wild if they found someone in one of those cans.” Kurt laughed in the backseat, “Can’t wait to hear what the President has to say about this, he’ll have to mention it in his state of the union address for sure.”
“Did you interrupt my podcast to tell me anything else?”
Kurt thought for a moment, “No, guess not.”
Yvonne put her earbuds back in, she was listening to a dating podcast called “Date Robot?” about women who have to choose between two artificial intelligence programs and one real man based on conversations between them. Margot thought the concept was unique but wondered why there weren’t any reversed gender episodes. Yvonne said it was because you'd be able to tell way easier who's real and who isn't, since men are simpler. Yvonne turned her eyes back to her monitors, a dot flashed on a map, symbolizing the asset they were assigned to follow.
Kurt only scoffed and Margot kept quiet.
Their freshman officer sat in the back beside Kurt and said nothing still. He didn’t want anyone to know his real name, so he asked people to address him by his callsign, Tango. He didn’t seem offensive or anything, he was shorter, about 5’3” to be exact, and had blonde hair. Each officer wore a different colored peacoat, Margot wore purple, Yvonne wore a yellow coat, Kurt wore blue, and Tango wore an orange coat.
Margot saw light down the road, “Yvonne, where's the asset?”
“About two miles from the village, moving southbound.”
Tango chimed in, “Is that the village?” he asked, “How many people are there?”
“They live in communities of five hundred people or so,” Yvonne answered, “That is the village, and we have about an hour before it reaches the town… Doesn’t look like your Vegasi Settlements does it?”
Tango shook his head, “It's so small.”
The Bison Semi slowed down outside the village. They didn't want their Bison trucks to be seen by the villagers, so she turned off the paved road and onto an old gravel road that went around the village. They stopped above a patch of ferns and greenery outside the village, “Is everyone ready?” Kurt asked. Everyone nodded. He stood up and leaned over Yvonne’s shoulder, “Now where exactly is she?”
“Not sure, she's moving fast.”
Margot pulled a lever and the Semi was parked. The sides of the shuttle slid open, and everyone grabbed their masks and equipment off the back wall before jumping into the ferns and marching into the village. Margot locked the truck and followed Kurt through the forested land between them and the village, they heard strange noises from every corner. The village was illuminated by warm orange lamps that glowed under the violet sky.
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Two children looked down on them from the second story window of a house to their left. They looked to be about nine or ten, tired faces. On their right was an old general store, closed for the night. The kids watched as Margot emerged from the treeline and walked down the gravel road. The buildings were old, and the gravel road stretched off to the south, it connected to the main road that went all the way to the horizon. Margot peered in the general store, the shelves were scarce with food, and down the street was an abandoned Pegasus Pharmacy. Declan Johnson won the presidency and in his first acts he committed to a program of austerity, which included the retraction of many subsidies to the Pegasus Corporation. Downsizing the distribution chain was their best idea. Margot walked past dim glowing posters advertising anything from diapers to insurance.
They stopped at an intersection at the center of the village and stood in silence. They listened for the asset, but there was nothing that resembled the creature they were looking for. Instead they could hear music. Kurt's eyes caught two men crossing a street across the intersection, carrying something, “Nobody respects a damn curfew,” he said to Yvonne before he crossed the street and walked toward them, “Stop right there now,” he said, the men stopped in their tracks, cursing, “Whatcha got there?”
“Only some bread,” said the man on the right. Margot and the others approached the men.
“Why don't you two put your hands against the wall for us? Where are you twos going?”
“We were just…” the man belched, “On our way home from the bar.”
“The bar?” Margot asked, she started to pat down the man, Yvonne searched the other man. They weren't carrying anything incriminating, so they let them sit against the wall, “Is it still open?”
The man nodded.
“Shit,” Yvonne said, “Where is the bar?” she asked, the man pointed down the street, and they could see the lights coming from around the corner, “Do you want to get us all killed? You fucking—”
“Enough,” Kurt said, “You boys go home, we need to go close that damn bar.”
Yvonne looked at her watch, she pinched a map on her screen, “We don't have enough time.”
“We have all the time we have,” Kurt said, “We don't have much of a choice, come on now.”
Kurt crossed the street and Margot followed him, Yvonne and Tango followed them with nervous looks. Margot caught up to Kurt, “What are we doing?”
“They need to turn that damn music off, they're breaking policy.”
“We don't have time to talk to a bunch of drunk men,” Margot said. Come on, reason with me, she thought.
“It's the job, Margot.” Kurt turned the corner and they saw a man laying under an old lamppost, “Sir, you know what time it is?”
The drunk man looked up to Kurt, “What is you say?”
“There's a curfew, you gotta go home,” Kurt kicked the man's boot and turned to Yvonne, “You stay out here and keep an eye on this street. If you see something, tell us. Margot, Tango, come with me.” Kurt opened the tinted glass door of the bar, the bar was washed with a warm yellow light. There were ten men who wore overalls and thick beards in the bar. Music played, and two of the men sat at the bar, one man served them drinks, and all the rest lay asleep. Out cold.
Margot followed him in and stepped around some tables and men who leaned far back on the wooden chairs. Kurt approached the bartender, “You know it's against policy for your establishment to be open, don't you?”
The bartender stopped chatting with the patrons and glared at the pharmaguard, “Whataya want?”
“First I want you to close this place and send everyone home, fast.”
“Why?” one of the patrons asked, “What kind of pharmaguard are you?”
Kurt presented a badge to the man, “It’s late, folks. We got reports that there are jaguars in the area. I think it’s time you get back home and cleaned up. If there isn't a panic, then we shouldn't have to worry about anyone getting hurt,” Kurt said, he buttoned his peacoat and the bartender rang a bell, “Everyone up and out!” the senior shouted.
An old man laid on the ground and struggled to get to his feet. Margot walked over to him and helped him up, he leaned on her as they shuffled toward the door. The other patrons were slowly waking up, learning of the news, and quickly they all gathered their things and left. Margot waited with the old man for the rest to leave.
Tango stood at the door and looked at the old man for a moment, “What's up with him?” he asked.
“Apparently all the men drink in this village,” Margot said. The old man coughed, his head hung low. Margot led him through the door and Tango grabbed the old man's hand, “What're you doing?” Margot said.
“Look at him,” he said, “He’s totally fucked up, an addict.”
“Come on now,” Kurt said, “Tell him to go home and let's get out of here, what were you both saying about haste?”
The patrons stood around, drunk and stumbling in the street, Tango pointed to the old man, “This mans got something on him, put him against the wall.”
“We don't have time for this,” Yvonne said.
The old man stumbled over a curb, his feet scraped against the gravel as Margot struggled to keep him up, Tango helped her pull him back up. Kurt looked to Yvonne, “Are we okay, right now?” he asked, she shrugged and Kurt eyed the old man, his pupils were extremely dilated, “Tango may have a point here, where are you from sir?”
The old man only mumbled nonsense, Kurt nodded to Tango and had Margot let go. Tango guided the man to the wall, his legs shaking as he struggled to stand. Tango started to pat down the old man, Yvonne kept her eyes fixated on her watch, Margot watched the other patrons leave the street and go home for shelter in one of the old motel rooms.
Tango gripped the man's head and pushed him against the wall as he pressed his other hand against his pockets, “Throw away your stash, or you take it all?”
“Is this necessary?” Margot said.
Tango looked at her for a second and stepped away from the man, who leaned against the wall and crumpled back to the ground in a fetal position, “Keep your hands up!” Tango shouted, his hand went into his coat and he produced a pistol.
“Tango, we need to go,” Margot took a step toward him, her eye on the gun. The old man turned up and pressed himself onto his knees, he stared at Tango in confusion and tried to stand.
The first shot killed the old man instantly, his body folded on itself, his face planted into the gravel and blood pooled around him, Margot reached for Tango's hands and wrestled the gun from him.
“Are you fucking crazy?” Kurt said. Yvonne turned her wrist to Kurt and Margot, and the pharmaguards hid beneath the bar and waited. Yvonne jumped over the bar behind the others. They could hear its footsteps from the forests approach them.
Margot peered over the bar to look out the bar window. It wandered along the street haphazardly. Snarling as its eyes landed on the corpse in the street. Margot noticed it was smaller than a typical jaguar, but she still knew the animal was very capable and intelligent. The animal walked to the body and its snout pushed the man's head, it licked the blood off his face and smelled the body. It put its clawed foot on his back and opened its mouth, a roar shook the bar. Margot dived back down. She heard the animal tear at his clothes, then the crunching of bone.
Margot looked around the bar again and saw the animal was carrying the old man by the head back the way it came. She crawled out from behind the bar and brushed up against the wall, watching the animal walk into the woods, its long tail the last thing they could see before it was gone.