03:10 – Epilogue
Episode 3: Dog Days Mechanix
Epilogue
Violet lay on the flower-print couch in Laurel’s living room with Leeloo sleeping on her stomach. A Japanese cartoon about two scantily-clad young girls traveling the galaxy and blowing things up played on the television. Laurel came in carrying a a tray with a bowl of Leeloo’s food and a bottle of Grain Belt beer. Leeloo woke and her gaze snapped to the robot as she entered. A low growl filled with hatred rose in her throat. Violet reached down and scratched the dog’s head with her free hand. Leeloo settled back again. Violet’s other arm was bandaged to her side from shoulder to elbow.
“Settle down, girl,” Violet told Leeloo. “She’s got lunch.”
Laurel put the tray down on a low table next to the couch and stepped back. Leeloo jumped down onto the table and began to devour the food, her eyes glowing red as she did.
“This isn’t fare,” Laurel whined. “I saved her. She’s supposed to like me.”
Violet picked up the bottle of beer and took a deep swallow. She lay back on the couch with the bottle on her stomach.
“I don’t know what they did to her,” said Violet with a grin, “but whatever it was it was for the better.”
Leeloo finished her food and let out a long, sulfurous fart. Both women waved their hands in front of their noses and Laurel opened the front door.
“Fuck! That’s cold. Close it up!” Violet shouted at the robot.
“Better this than that stench. They broke the dog. You know that right? We can’t bring her back like this.”
“Oh Hell no!” protested Violet. “Not after what I went through. What was all that for? We saved Leeloo and Bitterman gets her back whether he wants her or not.”
“This is your fault,” shouted Laurel. “You didn’t take this seriously.”
“How was I supposed to know?” whined Violet.
“It’s our fucking job, Violet.”
“Dog sitting?”
“No. Protecting… things.”
Violet looked at the television.
No, that’s a hero’s job, she thought.
Leeloo let out another fart and Laurel fanned the door trying to push the stink out of the house.
“It’s just one week, right?” she whined.
Violet tipped the bottle up and drank off half the contents. She finished and let loose with a loud, long burp.
“Jeez. No wonder she likes you now,” said Laurel.
Leeloo chuckled.
“The demon escaped?”
The echoing piano of a Rachmaninoff concerto rang through the small suburban ranch house. So loud was the music that the young dark haired woman in a red shirt and black pants had to ask for the question to be repeated. With one hand she fiddled with the edges of a bandage on her upper arm. There was one on her cheek from her eye to the edge of her mouth and under her red shirt a third covered twenty stitches across her abdomen. Her left arm was in a sling and the hand in a plaster cast.
“The demon, Danielle,” repeated the blond, “It escaped?”
Danielle shook her head. “No. It is trapped.”
“Inside the dog?”
The middle aged blond sitting on the sofa threw her head back and laughed as if the idea of a demon in a tiny dog was hilarious.
“That must of just made its day,” the woman said.
Danielle stared at the woman for a moment, puzzled by what she had said.
“The dog?” she asked.
The blond considered the idea for a moment and smiled. “I suppose the dog would have been surprised, too.”
The blond put both her legs up on the sofa and adjusted her pink sweatshirt across her firmly-supported breasts.
“You have failed me, Danielle. Although I suppose the actual goal was technically met. At least that meddlesome corporation can’t get at the demon.”
“No ma’am,” said Danielle. “The woman and her robot have the demon. T&T won’t take it back from them.”
“And afterwords?” asked the blond.
“Af – afterwords the dog will be returned to its owner. He’s a collector of magic so the demon will be quite the catch for him. The dog won’t live more than a few months with the demon inside.”
“Good. Good. I wouldn’t want my little sis discovering all our secrets. Good work.”
Danielle smiled and bowed a little.
The smile dropped from the blond’s face. “But don’t ever fail me again or you will spend the rest of your short days wishing you had never met me.”
Danielle trembled and evaporated.
