The Contract

Skai's eyes skim his translation book thoroughly as Jela takes him down the four lane road leading to a distant city. No word is left unread, no line skipped, no page missed. Every word read is spoken into his mind, mimicking the voice of Jela. The radio is also helping him gauge how Zebrican is structured in a more relaxed environment. Though, admittedly it is difficult for him to figure out what the musicians are trying to say in the songs played since the music is comprised of techno-thumping beats and fast talkers. He can only really pick up words and information when the radio hosts do their chatting session. So far it has been a lot of talks about weather, celebrity weddings and divorces, food, and President Honeypot being an awesome guy.

“And we're here!” says Jela.

Skai looks up from his book and sees a sign welcoming them to Harmony City. The sign is made of brick with bright paint and is surrounded by vibrant flowers. In the distance is a circle of towering spires made of brick and steel. The windows shine like hundreds of little stars and a disk of smog floats overhead.

When the pair reach the city the streets become cramped with motor wagons of all shapes and sizes spewing glittering, dirty steam and zebras wiggling their way through the crowded sidewalks. Tents with homemade goods, food or harvested crop line the sidewalks and merchants shout at paserbys, hoping their frantic yelling will get them a sale. In between the bizarre towers of brick and steel are squatty buildings made of wood or brick, or sometimes both, and plastered on their walls are posters of various events. But what surprises Skai the most are the zebras wearing suits and the fact that the crowd looks like they are brain dead. No life in their eyes whatsoever. Every step is rehearsed like obedient pets for a show.

“General Ilb will be making a public speech very soon at the Royal Crest Hotel,” says Jela. “Luckily the spot I chose gives you a clear shot of him.”

Skai nods and continues to look around the city. The roads and sidewalks seem to be okay, and a construction crew they are passing appears busy with their massive bulldozing machine pushing debris away from a crumbled building.

Near the construction site is a long building with a billboard on top of it and three doors each with an insignia painted on it. One is of a lion's head with a pair of spears crossing over each other behind it; the other is a swooping eagle; and the last is a shark biting an anchor. The billboard above the building depicts a zebra stallion with gray armor stabbing skeletal pony with the South Zebrican flag attached to a sharp pole. Money and food spills from the stabbed pony and behind the soldier is a vibrant field whereas the ground around the pony is decaying. Underneath the picture are Zebrican words, but Skai knows what it says.

PATRIOTS!
ONLY YOU CAN
END
THE
DISEASE!

Skai then hears a lot of terrified screaming and someone roughly shouting, and he looks towards the commotion and sees a tube of a vehicle pulled off to the side with a stocky metal plated vehicle with four fat wheels and a tank of water guarding it. A zebra wearing armor is manning its Gatling gun and two other zebras in armor with rifles on their saddles stand in front of a line of civilians with condemning gazes. The civilian zebras are sprayed with a hose by a third soldier, and they shout and sputter as the stream of pressurized water beats their faces.

When the water stops, they are forced to stand still, shivering and whimpering as dirty water drips from their baking bodies. The other two soldiers inspect each zebra carefully, but when they only get dirty water flowing to their hooves and terrified eyes staring at them they wave them back to the bus.

As the zebras are herded back to the vehicle the light turns green and Jela continues forward, ignoring the scene while Skai puts his eyes back in the book. He tries to keep his eyes on the page, but he cannot help but glance at the mirror, watching the bus gradually disappear from view.

“Is that normal?” asks Skai.

“What is?” asks Jela.

“The spraying.”

“Oh, that? That's very normal. The rebels paint themselves as zebras, sneak inside areas and do rebel stuff, so now zebras spray each other to see if they are ponies in disguise,” says Jela.

Jela turns into an alley and slows down drastically to where Skai can hear the garbage crunch under the tires despite the traffic outside. As the vehicle glides through the alley, Skai looks around, his talons flexing and eyes taking in everything that they can. From the stained brick to the graffiti covered dumpster, old newspapers and spilled garbage, and a wooden door with a rusted handle, nothing escapes him.

“By the way, we're here,” says Jela.

“Here?” says Skai, looking over his shoulder and down the alley, half expecting to see someone come out of the wall and chew on their necks until they pop.

“Yes. You go up top, shoot General Ilb and we go home. Easy job.”

Skai looks at Jela critically. “Right. Let me just use an air gun to ruffle his feathers.”

Jela forces a dull laugh and wiggles his way to the backseat. There, he uses his mouth to pull on a strap that lifts up the cushion to reveal a slender rifle with a wooden body, a long barrel, a scope and a muffler. Next to it is a box of ammunition holding twenty rounds of sharp, silver bullets with red tips.

Seeing this, Skai's eyes widen and he recoils in his seat slightly, and this time Jela's smile is genuine as he nods and points at the weapon.

“Here's your air gun,” says Jela. “General Ilb will take the stage in twenty minutes. Make sure his brains are all over the wall for best effect.”

“You had a rifle in the backseat the entire time?” says Skai.

“No~ I just made a wish to the gun fairy for a sniper rifle to appear in the seat cushions of my wagon.”

Skai growls inwardly and he snatches the rifle after he climbs out of his seat. He puts the rifle on the hood of the vehicle and quickly loads up the ammunition and screws the muffler on the barrel. When all is said and done, he looks at Jela and frowns when he sees the zebra is sitting in the driver's seat doing absolutely nothing.

“Are you coming up?” asks Skai.

“I'm your getaway driver,” replies Jela.

Skai hesitates. “Right... Keep the engine running.”

“No problem. Happy hunting.”

Skai grunts and checks the door, finding its handle to be loose. He furrows his brows and bashes the door with the butt of the rifle. The handle shatters and its pieces scatter on the pavement, and when he pushes the door open its rusted hinges squeak and the wood groans as it glides along the dirty floor. Thick, stale air rolls out and he coughs and covers his beak in a pitiful attempt to save his sense of smell. He's certain there are bodies in the building. Maybe a whole mass grave of gutted victims. No place should smell as bad as this particular place is without corpses being around.

“Shiv, it stinks!” says Skai, risking his nose so he can sling the rifle across his back.

“Having trouble, cub?” teases Jela.

Skai glares at Jela. “This cub will kick your ass if you push it.”

Jela holds up his hoof and looks down, still smiling. “Sure thing, cub.”

A growl rumbles in Skai's throat and he takes a step inside, feeling a thick layer of poisoned dust cling to him already, but he stops when Jela calls him.

“Aren't you going to fly?” asks Jela.

“I forgot how to,” replies Skai.

He then rushes inside and disappears into the dusty abyss.