Chima, a male hyena cast a scornfull glance on the crowd of theme park guests below. He adjusted his grip on the rifle in his hands. He looked to the wolf perched on the roof of hall. She was dressed in a leather duster, same as he, and carried a similar rigle. His eye caught hers and she smiled. She made a rude gesture toward the crowd. He mimicked her; she laughed.

He glanced back down to the street below. The crowd watched an open stretch of dirt road where two figures stood facing one another. Chima dropped to one knee and raised his rifle. He trained the gun on the larger figure in the street. A polar bear male, Chima knew from the dossier earlier. He wouldn't have been able to tell otherwise for the large brim hat the bear wore. A nice size target, anyway. Chima lined the gun up with the bear's chest and barked a quiet laugh.

He swung the rifle to the smaller figure of the ferret male, similarly hid by the faux western garb. One bullet through the hat and into the brain and that would be that. He prayed one of the two would take half a step out of line. Chima had been here six months and still hadn't killed anybody.

The bell rang. Damn, Chima thought as the bear drew his pistol and shot the ferret. The ferret fell hard on his back. Well, good kill anyway, thought Chima as he stood

The bear waved frantically. Damn it, you fuckwit, went through Chima's head. The crew of medical furs ran to the ferret's prone body and began checking him. They hoisted him onto the 'stretcher' of wood and canvas and carried him off.

Chima brought his rifle up and trained it on the bear. If you weren't going to kill him, what did you shoot him for, fuckwit? Should have just let him blow you away and given us a damn show. Chima wished he could end the damn bear for being such a pussy.

Chima looked over at the wolf on the opposite roof. She mimed yawning. He put a paw to his mouth miming a feared look. The wolf laughed. Chima liked her already. He'd be tapping that before long.

He walked across the roof to the access door. He climbed down the stairs into the linoleum lined and LED lit halls of the Tunnels. He made his way through the passageways that undercut the amusement park to the security office.

He turned in his rifle and bullets, signing the paperwork that they had been returned. The clerk verified and dropped the verification forms in a safe by the desk.

The guns were strictly regulated here. Only active security, active judges, and of course, the duelists had access. Every change of hands of a weapon was double verified. Every bullet counted and verified. Every spent round on the practice ranges or on the duel grounds had to be recovered and accounted for.

Chima worked his way back through the Tunnels to the main cafeteria. He purchased himself some fried chicken, a double helping of mashed potatoes, and a cola. He sat down in a large red booth in the corner.

The hyena ate his meal slowly, daydreaming about violence and a wolf girl, poking his trousers with his free hand.

"Hey, how's it going?" Chima shook his head and put his leg down, hoping the wolf didn't notice his activities.

"Good, good, you?"

"Not bad. You working later again?"

"Yeah, have to patrol the streets.

"I've got to go babysit in front of the theatres. 'Can you tell me where the bathroom is?' Yeah it's through that door underneath the giant sign that reads 'Restrooms.'" The wolf giggled.

"Yeah, 'I dropped my cotton candy, can I have another?' I thought this place didn't allow kids?" Chima laughed. "Of course my favorite is, 'Can you take our picture for us?'"

The wolf looked puzzled, "Cameras aren't allowed here."

"I know, I get to confescate them!"

"Ooh, you're terrible. I've never had that one."

"I get it every once in a while. Usually around the clocktower."

"Yeah, I've been working the theatre district pretty much my entire time here. Just got my rifle training. This is only my third time guarding the duels and only second on the roof."

"Did ya hear if that ferret survived?"

"Yeah, he survived."

"Nevrus saved him, huh?"

"Nah, Nevrus is out today. That other guy Kelly got him. I hear he's almost as good."

"That the human? The gay guy?"

"I don't know."

"Boggles my mind," Chima put his paw to his chin, "Why would you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Be all, 'Oh, no, I shot him, what have I done?'"

"Oh, the duel, yeah, right?"

"I mean, what did you think was going to happen, you shoot him and he turns into a big beefy boar with a five foot cock for you to suck?"

The wolf was cracking up. Chima chuckled along with her. She stopped and sighed, "I hate this place."

"Eh," Chima showed indifference.

"What? You like it."

"Eh, the work sucks, but at least it's short hours and long breaks. They pay good, buy half your food, and don't charge you rent on the apartment. And I did alot worse for alot less when I was in the military."

"Military?"

"Sniper."

"Ooh, no wonder you came here."

"Yeah, don't talk about it much. Actually the work isn't that bad. Customers are dumbasses and it's hot as hell but it ain't hard. Bosses are a pain in the ass, though."

"I don't know, Therin's nice."

"She the coyote? Don't know her. I mean creepy cat. Fucker does not like security."

"How so?"

"He's all, 'now you have to protect the guests and the employees both and make them feel secure. You can't throw your weight around with anyone, you're here to protect them, not bully them.' Damn cat just doesn't want anyone looking tougher than he is. And it ain't hard to look tougher than that cat. Guy's got balls the size of peas."

"Yeah, I'd like to see him up on the roof."

"Probably couldn't figure out which way to point the rifle."

"Probably not." They laughed again.

Chima stood. "Well, got to get back to it. I'll see ya 'round."

"Yeah, you to."

Chima headed off. Damn, he forgot to get her name. Ah, well, he'd see her again. And he'd lay her out eventually. He was a military sniper after all, and you didn't get to be a military sniper without a lot of patience.

He headed out to the street and relieved the cheetah that was out there. "Good luck, you'll need it," was all the cheetah had said.

Chima worked through the afternoon. The whole day was just the same old crap. He didn't know what the cat had been complaining about. Yeah, it's fun to pick on that stuff, but it ain't worth being all 'woe is me.' Dumb bastards, more iritating than the customers at times.

He had to help guard the next set of duels. He was stuck doing crowd control keeping the idiot guests back so they didn't get themselves shot. At least the morons who ran this place were smart enough to send out extra security personnel at these times.

He glanced over at the duelists getting set up. One was a racoon female and the other a dingo male. The racoon was pudgy but cute. Coons were one of the few species that could pull that off. He looked to the judges. The male jaguar judge caught his eye and made some hand gestures. Chima understood those signals perfectly. Three to left, two back, and there was a grey tom cat trying to hide a camcorder in a popcorn bag.

Chima snatched the thing out of his hand.

"Hey, that's mine."

"Nope, sorry, can't have these. Not period authentic. Got to be period authentic. You understand." Chima laughed as he walked off.

He kept his attention on the crowd until the bell rang, then snapped his head back just in time to watch the coon put one in the dingo's chest. The dingo's gun clattered to the ground. The bell had barely rung it's three times before the coon put two more in him, dropping him dead. Chima smiled; now that was how it was done.

The white cat judge checked the body of the dingo after the set time had passed. The cat stood and gestured the dingo was dead. Yep, that was how it was done. He looked over toward the racoon, already surrounded by admirers. He might get a shot with her in a week or so after the hype died out.

He looked over at the cat judge walking off through the crowd. Now that was a nice ass. Chima would trade all the wolf girls and coon girls in the world for a night with that pretty kitty.

The rest of the shift ended as usual. Had to deal with the crowds around the various food and gift stalls for an hour or so then everything started dying out. The crowds got progressively thinner until this section closed at the six o'clock sunset.

Chima walked back to the cafeteria and helped himself to a couple slabs of meatloaf, some more potatoes, and some cheesecake. He even ate a few green beans. And a couple glasses of cola. Then he took the subway back to his apartment and settled in for the night, dreaming of a hot racoon, a dead dingo, a sexy cat butt, and a cute wolf girl. It had been a good day, all in all.