Animalistic

Gasoline

“You don’t have any beef with Animal Forces, right?”

The jackalope raps his knuckles on the vehicle’s console, waiting for Zandar’s response.

“Oh, Jesus, No.” the panther scoffs.

“Then let’s go.”

The park brake releases with a thunk, propelling the van backwards to head onto the road.

Max observes the happy canine sitting next to him, watching the wolf swing his legs and hum rhythmically. Next to Aaron is where Zandar rests, probably debating to himself why he got in the car.

   “Is anybody gonna die tonight?” He complains. “Cause’ I ain’t bailin’ y’all out of jail.”

“Of course not.” The jackalope replies with a smile on his face, pointing at the wolf next to him. “That’s his job.”

He’s surprised to hear the driver loudly clear her throat a few seconds after he says that. “You know, it’s not like I was the one who testified your innocence in court when that gas station was destroyed.”

“Y- yeah....” Max says, audibly reconsidering who the group’s level head was. “I don’t even know how I got in that situation....”

“Oh?” Chimes Zandar, “what gas station?”

“It was a Speedway, I think.” Aaron says, “Max never gave me all of the details.”

“Well,” begins the jackalope, telling the honest complete story for the first time. “It was only a few weeks after I had first joined the Key Studios, I was with Miambu and Monty, we needed to fill his car. I was talking with Monty inside the store, when I went to the bathroom. I come back out and all the goods are on the floor, and furniture is smashed to pieces. In my shock and confusion from all of it, I went to the register to find someone who worked there, and that’s when I noticed it.”

The dancer pauses, taking a minute to remember what exactly had happened in that incident. “The whole thing was in flames. I run out to see everyone standing outside, except Monty was nowhere to be found. I was arrested, though I SWEAR I didn’t do anything to it. Monty claims to have never been there, though Miambu and I swear it.”

Max has been suspicious of the small puma ever since that night. Every single time Max is blamed for something, it seems Monty is always there first, and gone without a trace. He still remembers the fire. He remembers being dragged by his neck into a police car, frantically searching for Monty to prove he was innocent. But she wasn’t there. Luckily though, with the help of Volio and camera footage, he was decided not guilty. He was still being watched very closely by the cops, and that was only the first of similar incidents. The fire, in Max’s mind, was decidedly the worst.
      Similar things happened, every time Max went somewhere with the dance crew. A person’s car window was smashed, or a lady’s purse went missing. Max was at first suspected for every one, because he was conveniently in the wrong place at the wrong time. Over all of those accidents, the yellow jackalope developed a grudge for the police force. That grudge combined with the fact that most of Max’s legal documents strangely went missing was the very reason he hadn’t called the police already.

Because clearly they can’t be trusted to protect people, he has to do it himself.

The rest of the ride was somewhat awkward, even with Volio’s music playing.