Howl At The Moon

Night was falling, it was snowing, again, Maggie pulled her Kia into the spot furthest from the office. She was in her mid-thirties. Weight was starting to creep up on her. She had to get her steps in, she wanted to look healthy for the dates that could potentially come her way. Dates…probably wouldn’t come. She was no plastic fantastic OnlyFans girl or a spring chicken. She was just average…average at best. Still, Maggie had hope. There had to be something better than this.

Parking far away, from the front door, added a few steps and burned a few calories. So Maggie cautiously made her way through the gray sludge and used her cell phone to look for black ice. The last thing she needed was to fall. She’d start her shift cold and covered in gunk. The ancient government office was always freezing.

Maggie sighed as she scanned her ID badge into the Defense Department’s check-in. She gave an obligatory “Hi” to Stan the night watchman. Maggie knew Stan watched porn and gamed instead of guarding the building.

Roughly a decade ago, Stan had been a high school football star. The highlight of Stan’s life was scoring four touchdowns in one game. It was an amazing achievement. Still, he’d failed high school and was unable to play college ball.

Mrs. Segar, a forty-year veteran of Cheyenne East High school, was fired for refusing to inflate Stan’s grades. So the “good old boys club” got Stan “a misunderstood football superstar” a job at the Defense Department. They understood his predicament. Mrs. Segar, like most strong women, was a bitch. She stood on principal and refused to help Stan out. People got into the college on their own merits or not at all. So Mrs. Segar was fired and mysogenistic Stan guarded the Defense building and judged all the women who worked there, as hotties, notties or bitches.

As Maggie entered the building, Stan looked her up and down. He was obviously assessing her. He seemed to have found what was wrong with her body. She would never go out with him. She would call Stan scum but that would be giving scum a bad name. Still, Maggie wanted to know what category Stan would place her in.

Stan gave her a little smirk. It was creepy but Maggie decided to let it pass. Still, men like Stan were the reason she still carried pepper spray.

Maggie had gotten this job in Cheyenne Wyoming because working for big tech in huge cities was stressful. They wanted her to work 24/7. The pressures and the consistent need for more were too much. They always wanted big and better. MORE, MORE, MORE…till all that was green and good in this world was gone.

Then there were the ethical implications of big tech. Big tech was a ravenous monster out to destroy everything in its path. Her parents told her she was missing out on a fortune plus the opportunity to live in Silicon Valley. (California dreaming was everyone’s desire…right?) Everyone could have what they wanted. Maggie wanted to enjoy and take control of her life, even if it meant earning less and not living in a posh city.

As an American in her mid-thirties, Maggie had student loan debt. Ivy League colleges were expensive. She often wondered if her college education had been worth it. Maggie walked deep into the bowels of the Defense Department. It was an ugly building designed in the Cold War. Probably, to be used as a fortress in case of a nuclear holocaust. A fortress for the “right” people.

“Fuck!” she sighed and thought to herself. Here she was in Cheyenne. She couldn’t believe it. Ten years later she was still paying her student loans off. She had a computer science degree from MIT. That was supposed to mean something…wasn’t it?

Her degree from MIT had meant something for a while, she’d worked at big tech in San Francisco for three years. Maggie received good performance reviews. But, big tech expected her to be at work twenty-four seven. Maggie wanted to have a life outside of work. Plus, Maggie wanted to make a positive difference in the world. That was NOT going to happen at Big Tech.

They seemed hell-bent on destroying the world like a pack of hungry wolves. So Maggie had come to Cheyenne. Here, hopefully, she could start anew and find peace. Here a government job could provide security. She would have a stable life which she could enjoy.

But, Maggie found Cheyenne to be bleak, cold, and boring. There was nothing to do. Other than antiquated German traditions, such as Octoberfest, polka dancing, or quilt circles. In Cheyenne, there was no multiculturalism. Here Maggie would kill for a decent Pad Thai, that wasn’t peanut butter and hot sauce, or some sushi. Cheyenne’s supermarkets did have sushi but it was so rife with parasites you’d spend the next week in the bathroom.

At first, Maggie had loved the pure white snows and how they’d lit up the prairie. It didn’t feel so cold and wet when fresh snow was scattered about with sunlight upon it. She’d loved seeing the stars that in the Bay Area were invisible thanks to light pollution.

Maggie’s honeymoon with Cheyenne soon faded. The snow had turned to thick, gray sludge. A fierce north wind had brought in bone-chilling cold and black ice. It was the sort of weather that seeped into your bones and made it so you want to sit in your apartment drinking hot chocolate, eating potato chips, and watching Netflix.

No matter how much Maggie wanted to Netflix and chill, she had a job to get to. Her job would pay off her student loans and then…well Maggie didn’t have a plan for what would happen. After that Maggie could live her dream.

As the coffee brewed Maggie thought of how proud she was of her apartment despite its dilapidated appearance. She’d never had an apartment of her own. Big Tech had owned her apartment. They had ordinances on what she could do to it. It reminded her of college dorm rules.

But this dilapidated apartment was HER apartment, she could do whatever she wanted. She could watch TV all day and leave the dishes in the sink overnight. There was no roommate to complain about! She could and frequently did air dry. No one was there to watch.

The coffee stopped and Maggie poured herself a cup. With her teeth, Maggie ripped open two sugars and dumped them in. The coffee still sucked. She did miss big tech companies’ coffee. Workers at tech companies had fancy coffees like lattes and cappuccinos brought to them. But, here Maggie had sour coffee and chemical sweeteners. If Maggie requested something like “almond milk” she would have been kicked out of the supermarket.

Sighing, she took her terrible cup of coffee and walked down to her office. The further she descended into the building the darker it got. Her office only had one window. Now it was half covered by snow and grime. Still, at least it was her office. She didn’t share it with anyone. Still, Maggie pouted. Surely, she deserved better than this. She had gone to MIT.

Maggie hadn’t been first in her class at MIT. Her grades were in the lower middle. But, there’s no shame in the lower middle. MIT was a respectable university.

The condensation on her office window was building up. Maggie tried to scrub it off, attempting to see the stars. Gloomy weather like this made her depressed.

She half-heartedly looked at her phone to see if any friends were online. No one was. It was late in Cheyenne so it was even later on the East Coast. Maggie was going to be staying in Cheyenne. So she’d better get out there and meet people because that’s what adults were supposed to do.

But, Maggie was a shy person and hated getting “out” to meet people. Every day she just went to her job to pay off her student loans and lead a decent life. The Defense Department paid an average salary. However, it wasn’t bent on destroying the world like big tech.

Maggie had scruples. She also wanted a life of her own. That was why she’d taken the job. In an effort to cheer herself up, Maggie tried to tell herself she had a duty to her country. She was being patriotic. However, at the end of the day, it was just a job. This is what she had to do for now. She had to keep on keeping on because that was what people did…for some reason.

Still knowing she had to meet someone in Cheyenne, Maggie decided to sign up for Tinder. She’d go on a few dates, meet some guys and explore Cheyenne. What was the worst that could happen?

The internet in the Defense building was terrible and the signal dropped. Maggie sighed in frustration, there was no use in complaining if she couldn’t do anything about it. After all, improving the internet reception was one of the reasons she was here. Maggie continued working. It didn’t matter how much she hated it. She worked for three hours and then took her lunch break. Needing to get more steps in and out of boredom, Maggie decided to explore the defense base she was on.

It was going against direct orders. Maggie had been told to stay in her office by the men who hired her. The building was largely underground. The base was one of the places, humanity…well “the right” Americans would have been sent to survive a nuclear holocaust. So with no internet and throwing all caution to the wind. Maggie set out to explore.

The bowels of the Defense Department were worse than Maggie could imagine. Neglected for years by budget cuts not only were the computers outdated but it was alive with vermin of all sorts, and the scant furniture was rotting. Maggie was sure it was also full of lead paint and asbestos. Still, both boredom and curiosity drove Maggie on. What was the worst that could happen? It was a military base. So it must be safe.

Maggie went down five flights of stairs. She snooped around for a while and opened doors to windowless rooms. A lot of them were dusty and uninteresting. Maggie th~!ought that if humans ever had to survive in these rooms, they would have chosen death over boredom.

Soon Maggie grew tired of looking at rooms that lead to nowhere. She was just on the verge of going upstairs back to her office but decided to try the hall’s last door. It was there in a small windowless room she saw a HUGE dog.

The dog was locked in a cage. As Maggie approached, she realized it was a wolf instead of a dog. There was an ancient video camera pointed at the cage. The camera was recording. The wolf stared angrily at her. Suddenly, it bared its jaws and snarled.

Maggie jumped back; she was startled and alarmed. Still, Maggie had always loved animals, especially dogs. Wolves were sort of like dogs but wilder. Who could be cruel enough to put a wolf down here in the godforsaken basement? There was no light, fresh air, or food! Who would treat an animal this way and why? Nothing shouldn’t have to survive in a forgotten cellar! Maggie couldn’t abide cruelty to animals.

Knowing she had to help the poor creature, Maggie took a deep breath, gathered up all her courage, and walked trepidatiously up to the cage. She figured the wolf couldn’t get out. Upon a closer look, the wolf was in an abysmal state. He was emaciated and his hair was falling out from stress. The wolf barked and snarled again as she came closer.

“You poor poor thing. Living down here with no sunlight or friends. You need a friend. You need help.” Maggie said to the wolf. She wanted to take the wolf in her hands and comfort it. But, who knew what kind of twisted government project it was?

In the 1950s and 1960s, the US government had run all sorts of barbaric experiments. They’d happened to both animals and humans. Maggie didn’t need to be attacked by a wolf. Her shitty government insurance wouldn’t cover it. They’d also put the wolf down and she didn’t want that. Still, the emaciated wolf needed help. Maggie knew it was best to be cautious around strange animals. Maggie would take her time to befriend the wolf. After all, the job for the Defense Department was simple. She had nothing but time.