Joyride: The Signature
In 2249 every illness is curable. Children born with AIDS need only a small prick on the paw and the disease that killed countless people centuries ago is gone. Cancer is cured, the common cold is vanquished for good, aches and pains of the elderly are gone, yet the world still remains as beaten as it was before. Overpopulation and famine are discussed by world leaders on a regular basis, in some countries whole populations of fertile females are sterilized to stop what the government calls an outbreak of children. In the US however there are no restrictions on having children, but threatening glances thrown at families with more than two chances are a common happening, as is the murder of the extra children. The cities are run by the slick businessmen of the future, who disregard most of the lower class who make up 90% of the population in most cities. Most estimates say that the US will be overpopulated by the year 2315, so the government lets thing be as they always have been...
New York is a city of the future...
And a city of the past...
Entire buildings stretching into the sky lie vacant while others remain lit up. One such building looks as empty as the skyscrapers next to it, but is far from it. The entrance is in the back, and it's where our story begins.
Cover art and thumbnail credit to RUKIS
DELVE:
2248
"Eddie, just sign here."
Eddie's blue eyes focused on the contract of employment briefly, it was a paper he had seen several times before as the cheetah had been in and out of work for the past two years. Delve, the cheetah's could-be future employer sat across from him at a beautiful mahogany desk. A burly polar bear in a tuxedo stood behind the wolf. His big white paws were at his side curled into loose fists. Delve was anxiously tapping his fingers on his desk, the wolf's paws were a perfect grey, girls would always tell him that, usually right after asking why he managed an all male club. His answer was simple:
"Rich city folk want a way of release, they'll try drugs first and eventually OD or come to their senses and see that they need something different. Now maybe that something different is a nice girl like yourself, but a surprising amount of men have become more accustomed to spending the night with another man. Don't ask me to explain it, I don't understand it, I just manage it, and make a lot of money in the process."
Delve was the only son of the club's owner. Evern, the wolf's father was a cunning businessman who wasn't afraid of getting his paws dirty. Evern's white fur had red splotches of blood on it half the time Delve saw him. Delve liked to think he was better than his father. The grey wolf would have to punish employees on a regular basis, but he would always have someone else do it for him.
In his early years Delve's friends called him a pussy because he always ran away from a fight. When Delve turned eighteen his father invited him to join the family business as his one and only heir. Why his father chose to open a gay club as his first place of business, Delve would never know, somehow it was successful.
Delve had gotten his share of the earnings from the club in advance. He used a small percent of it to hire muscle to make sure his employees stayed in check...
Now two members of Delve's muscle crew were beating a cheetah to a pulp. Delve tried to figure out why he was thinking of Eddie as one of the two polar bears drove a huge paw into the cheetahs torso. The feline fell to the floor, blood was oozing out of several different cuts around his body and the cheetah was winded.
The second polar bear approached the beaten cheetah ready to give another blow, but Delve held up a practiced paw. The polar bear took a few steps back. Delve approached the feline with the gravitas of a parent getting ready to scold his bad child.
The wolf stood over the cheetah, and it dawned on him -why he had been thinking of Eddie. As Delve looked into the beaten cheetah's eyes he saw the same sky blue he had seen in Eddie's. He had hired Eddie based on his eyes, even he could admit they were beautiful. Dan's eyes were blue, but not like Eddie's. Delve squatted next to the cheetah and looked into his dark blue eyes.
"I have no pleasure in doing this." Delve started, his grey paw made its way to the inner pocket of his jacket. Delve could see the fear now in Dan's eyes, it felt good, it fucked the wolf up in a good way, it was this rush that made him love taunting these fuckers.
Dan was breathing fast now, huge gulps of breath, his eyes darted to and from the polar bears and Delve.
Delve wrapped his paw around the object in his inner jacket pocket. This drove Dan further into paranoia. What did he have in there?
"You could have fucked up our entire system." Delve went on.
"I- I- I am so sorry, Delve." Dan said in between tears and heaps of bloody breath.
"We have this system for a reason. If business is good for me, then it's good for you." Delve said pointing his free paw at the cheetah.
"Delve, please." Dan choked out.
"You think you're fucked don't you?" Delve asked the cheetah.
The wolf slowly laid the palm of his paw on the cheetah's chest. His fur was soft, but stained with blood. The wolf tenderly ran his paw along the cheetah's long torso. When he got to a particularly nasty gash in the cheetah's side he stopped. All the while the cheetah remained silent.
Delve got annoyed.
"DON'T YOU?" The wolf yelled moving his muzzle right up to the cheetah's, close enough to fully smell his scent, a mingled aroma of perfume, feline sweat, and blood.
Dan burst into tears.
"Please, Delve!"
Delve's paw moved over the gash and down to the cheetah's rear. He slapped it, then stood up quickly.
"Dan, why the hell would I kill you?" Delve asked, absentmindedly retrieving the handkerchief from out of his inner jacket pocket. He wiped both his silvery grey paws off as he waited for the cheetah's answer. Delve raised a paw and the two polar bears walked to the door.
"I-I don't know." Dan stuttered.
"Because you're merchandise, and you don't kill merchandise." Delve spouted to the shivering cheetah.
Dan rolled over and slowly sat up against the wall. He looked down, Delve flashed him a sharp-toothed grin and held a paw up. Delve didn't need to hear the door slide shut behind him to know the bears were gone.
Delve squatted back down and looked the cheetah in the eyes again. He put a paw on the cheetah's face, running his fingers delicately down until he reached the feline's throat. He pressed one clawed finger against it, just enough to draw blood.
"You may be merchandise now, but if you were fired, I'll have every right to kill you, and I will. Next time you don't comply with a client's needs, you'll be fired. Then I'll be coming for you."
Dan looked scared, so scared, and Delve loved it. This position of power he had. His father was never home during his childhood, and he was always at the bottom of the pack at school, to finally have dominion over someone else felt really good.
Delve stood up.
"Clean up and come back early tomorrow." Delve said as he started towards the door.
Dan cautiously stood up, wincing as he stood on his beaten leg.
The door slid open and as Delve walked out it closed behind him. As the door slid shut he turned to Dan.
"If you choose to stay home tomorrow night, you'll be dead, by the following morning."
Delve turned to find the two polar bears wiping their paws off professionally with similar handkerchiefs to his own.
"Tell HR to look into getting another cheetah," Delve said looking at one of the polar bears.
"Same build as Dan, but a lighter blue in the eyes." Delve pointed to his own eyes.
"Will do, boss." The bear said and walked away from his coworker.