People gathered around, haphazardly forming lines, rushing together in rge groups, all trying to make their way through the gates ahead. People shouted and argued or made small talk with their friends. It smelt like wet fur and body odors galore. Dim lights flickered with neglect. Shoulders rammed into my back, elbows into my ribs, it was a madhouse of people trying to board the rail cars ahead and head off to one of the few paying jobs left on this moon.

  I gnced around the crowd. We had split up to avoid suspicion, great idea, except it’d be nice to have Speck around at a moment like this. I saw him across the crowd. Everyone was giving him a few feet of space as he strode forward to the line. Dirty looks flew his way, but people quickly backed down when they got a better look at him.

  Damn, I was jealous. Most people just rose their eyebrows at me or made some lewd jokes. I’m pretty sure my ass was squeezed a few times by some perverts. My stress levels were going crazy now. Anxiety was at its peak. This was worse than war.

  Uwu’s eyes caught mine through the crowd. He was ahead of me, about to move through the gates. I blew him a kiss and winked. I crossed my fingers that his employment card worked out fine. I couldn’t see Echo anywhere. Maybe he already made it through?

  Finally, I made my way to the front, after a few shoves and gut punches. None of the guards seemed to care much about the rowdiness of the crowd. As long as no one was killing each other.

  Corpo guards stood at each of the terminal gates, SMG’s slung across their chests as they scanned credentials. Red uniforms with bck body armor. The security was heavy here. The Gellys had them on spook, along with the Meowtws running and gunning around the city. It was only a matter of time before they made their move on the outlying facilities. They were ready.

  I held the employment card in my hand. I hope the Meowtws didn’t screw me over here.

  “Move, you festering balls of puss! I should exterminate every sinner here.” A metallic voice shot out through the crowd.

  Everyone flinched and looked back at the massive figure pushing its way through the crowd. A missionary, battle suit polished to a shine, even in these dim lights, I could still see the battle damage it had. He must be a veteran. A retinue of Deacons in tow behind him, as usual.

  They had no regards for the anthros around them. The carved a way through the crowd, shoving their way through, or straight up tossing people aside. The crowd quickly made a path for them to move past. They didn’t use lethal force here. I gnced back at the Corpo guns. They moved to intercept the Gellys, blocking the rger entrance into the terminal.

  I stepped up to the guard, handing him my employment card. His uniform had a logo for Praxis Power, in a fancy little sporty look.

  I made eye contact and smiled, “The Gellical Collective? Crazy days here, huh?” I smiled at him, bashfully looking downwards. It worked every time.

  “You’re telling me. Those damn Gellys came crashing down on the city. Making it harder for everyone of us posted up here.” The guard leaned close to me, “You wouldn’t believe the transfer requests that came through. Every Praxis partner wants out of here. We can barely get the basic amenities. The pay isn’t worth it anymore.” He shook his head and scanned my card. “I don’t care about this moon one bit. Leave it to the Gellys if you ask me.”

  It let out a heavy beep. The Praxis guard pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. “Hmm.”

  I took a deep breath and held it, my hands inching their way to my jumpsuit’s zipper. I would need to fight my way out of here if this didn’t work out.

  “Sorry, miss, the scanner can get finicky sometimes, old tech, you know how it is.” He scanned it again. Heavy beep. More pursed lips, and now some angry comments from the peanut gallery behind me in line.

  The Missionary and his retinue made it to the front of the line now. The behemoth stopped as he heard the second heavy beep. His rge visor scanned me over, looking me up and down. I shied my head away from him, trying not to stand out.

  “Hey, are you big AND stupid, I’m talking to you!” A Praxis guard poked the Missionary in his chest.

  The lumbering giant looked down at the guard, and his six buddies that were baking him up. All their hands were nervously cradling their guns. A firefight here would be lethal. Too many innocent bystanders standing about. I just needed my card to work so I could get the hell out of here.

  The Missionary grabbed the hand of the guard with lightning speed, “You dare y your greedy finger on my blessed armor, knave?” He squeezed the hand in his massive gauntlet. The guard screamed out as every bone in his hand was crushed to dust.

  I winced as the sound hit my ears over the crowd’s gasps. A pain burned in my stomach where the Missionary had stabbed me clean through. I bent over slightly, holding my belly.

  A nice chime sounded out, the guard smiled at me and handed the employment card back, “Yup, old tech. What do you expect?” He gnced over at the guards pulling back their comrade, yelling swears and gesturing with their guns. “You’re free to go, miss. I have a situation to handle.” He flipped the sign on his gate closed to the mass of moans of people now fighting to move into other lines. “Hey! What’s going on here?” He approached the Gellys as I got the hell out of there.

  I took a few deep breaths, rubbing my stomach, just trying to keep my legs moving forwards to the terminal. Uwu and the guys should be there waiting for me. I just needed to find them. The noise of the crowd behind me faded as I entered the terminal. Steps dropped down to the rail docks terminal. The lighting was better here and it was more spacious. Food vendors lined the walls with bento boxes and fresh grilled food. The news stand was shut down and boarded up. People sat about, eating and talking.

  The smells, the sights, the mass of people waiting for the rail car overtook me. I felt dizzy and my stomach burned. The station vibrated as the rail car came into dock, humming and vibrating everything as it slowed to a stop. Cups rattled, stands rocked, and I was going to puke.

  A hand on my back pulled me out of it, “You okay, Vixie?” It was the raspy voice of Echo. His eyes were worried, his ears pulled back ft against his head.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, blinking my eyes into focus. “Yeah, I think so. My stomach was acting up. Some type of pain in my wound.” I gave the Anthro-Bat a hug, using him for stability. “Please don’t tell Uwu.” I gave a half-assured smile.

  Echo sighed and nodded, “I got your back. Just don’t let it get you into a bad situation. I can’t save your ass all the time.” He chuckled as he helped me to an empty bench.

  “What?” I pushed him back, “When’s the st time you saved me? Maybe you saved me a slice of pizza, nerd.”

  Our pyful spat quickly ended as the ground shook beneath our feet. The Gellys stomped past us, headed down the steps, towards the front car. The Missionary gnced over at me, staring me down once again before he turned his attention to the rail car.

  The doors opened on the rail cars and a mass of people surged out. They looked tired and beaten. Their eyes were hollow and deep, more like zombies than people. They quickly moved out of the way of the Gellys, even cutting back to a different car to avoid them altogether.

  The returning workers surged up the stairs, ready to get home and fall face first on their beds, if their houses remained intact. Some workers mumbled about pay cuts, and sick pay being revoked. I didn’t envy the people working here.

  “Hey!” I heard Uwu’s voice from below, “Hurry, it’s our turn to board!”

  Echo and I rushed down to join him. Speck was waiting by the car.

  I gave Uwu a nod toward the lead car, not trying to draw attention, “The Gellys here will complicate things.”

  Uwu agreed, “And a Missionary. Doesn’t up our odds. Just stick together and keep to our pn. Here, take some food.” Uwu handed us a small paper bowl with an earpiece in it, hidden under a napkin. “Use this and we can stay in touch, in case of emergency.”

  We made our way to the now empty rail car, standing aside other workers waiting to board. The speakers in the terminal opened with a “Now boarding for day shift.” It was our call to join them.

  Echo and I quickly grabbed some seats together before the crowds emerged onto the rail car. Uwu and Speck stood nearby, examining the crowd, looking out for anyone suspicious. It was a tight fit all around. I gulped hard, thinking of that Missionary looking at me. Something was up.

  Echo nudged me in our seat, handing me a small wireless headphone. I pced it in my other ear as some more of the Meow Growls started jamming out in our ears, invigorating us with a passion to squash corpo heads under our boots. We both headbanged our hearts out, jamming out together.

  Vixie sang her heart out for us, I’d crush corpos for her. It was a fair trade.

  The rail car doors shut and the car jolted forward. There was no turning back now. We were stuck in it.

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