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Judy rubbed the sand off her overalls. The wind on the edge between the desert and the city was unpredictable, and when it hit it brought annoying dry dust with it. It even muted some of the city’s loudest sounds – an impressive feat even for Mother Nature.
Judy glanced up at the air. A tinge of orange. A sandstorm was looming.
But she couldn’t be less bothered about that right now. Because today was the day she’d leave. Leave this hellhole called Night City behind, that great big clutter of people and neon and trash and violence. After all this time she’d be able to give it the middle finger and ride off into the sunset. And she’d do so with the person she loved most.
“Hey. How ya holdin’ up?”
Judy woke up from her daydreams and looked to her left. Panam Palmer, a woman she’d heard much about but only met recently, was standing next to her.
“The way anyone could feel in this situation,” Judy replied.
“Like shitting your pants from both fear and excitement?”
“Pretty much.”
Panam chuckled, and the two stayed silent for a while. They were at a makeshift Aldecados camp, one that overlooked Night City. In front of them rose an urban jungle, one slightly obscured by a haze of pollution and the first beginnings of an oncoming sandstorm. The sun had begun its slow descent into the horizon, but the neon signs and colourful advertisements never turned off. The faint sound of a dozen gunshots shot through the air from multiple different places, followed by police sirens. They were almost drowned out by the screams, moans, and jingles of a variety of increasingly absurd advertisements.
This, and so much more, was Night City. A place that enticed you, lured you in, then trapped you and made sure you’d never make it out. Grabbing you by the throat and wringing the life – and more importantly money – out of you. Folks often said that the lucky ones left the city in a body bag; at least they’d be unceremoniously burned in the desert.
And yet the view, with all its skyscrapers and flying AVs, was a sight to behold. The way the buildings rose and fell and towered over you, with streets and alleyways circling their way through and around them. Every square inch plastered with ads and storefront signs and corporate logos and blood and graffiti. A tantalising mess of your worst nightmares wrapped in the promise of your biggest dreams.
A glorious view of the worst place Judy had ever been in.
“It won’t be difficult to say goodbye.”
“Amen to that, sister.”
Another sandy breeze hit them. This time it was much thicker. Instinctively, Judy narrowed her eyes and tried shielding them with her hand. Panam did the same.
“Looks like the storm’ll be here soon,” Panam said as stepped back into the large tent behind them. “V better hurry up.”
Judy followed her into the tent and sat down on a dingy foldable chair. Suddenly she could feel the tiredness in her bones, a tiredness from and of waiting. Waiting for a day like this.
Panam walked over to her with a casual stride that Judy wasn’t sure was intentional, and handed her a cup.
“Drink up. Be the last drink you’ll have for a while.”
Judy looked down into the cup. Whiskey. She downed half the thing and sighed, her outbreath feeling slightly fuzzy.
“Thanks. Any word on V?”
Panam dragged a chair towards her and sat down on it in reverse. She was holding a cup of her own.
“Yeah, once her and Mitch are done checking the Panzer they’ll bring it over here and we can get going. Might be awhile, but we’ll be outta here sooner rather than later.”
“Cool, yeah…” Judy’s voice trailed off. Her thoughts were wandering. Here, now, at a crossroads, the presumed end of her life in NC, you’d think she’d be thinking only of positive thoughts; of how she’d leave the city with her best friend and start anew. She’d never have to go through the exhausting routines of her life again, at least not in the same way. The toll Night City took on your entire existence, your entire sense of being, was so great that you didn’t notice how tired you were until you stepped out of it.
And yet Judy’s mind was thinking about anything but that. Her mind jumped to random moments in her life: The evening she had tried cooking one of her abuela’s dishes and almost burnt down the apartment, that time she narrowly avoided being hit by a streetkid driving recklessy through Kabuki, the way she had laughed with Rita Wheeler at a patron’s expense. All of them seemed strange snapshots of fairly inconsequential moments.
Then another popped into her mind.
“Say, tell me…” she said, her words spoken cautiously.
“Hmm?” Panam said in the middle of drinking.
“You’ve known V for a while now, right?”
Panam swallowed and exhaled audibly. “Sure have.”
“So… has she ever, y’know, talked about…”
A slight pause. But Panam finished her sentence.
“Jackie?”
“...Yeah.”
Panam downed the last of her drink, sniffed, and let out a sigh. She put the cup down on the ground and crossed her arms.
“She has. Not too long ago, but all the same.”
“Did she talk about how we met?”
“You and V?”
“Yeah.”
Panam smiled warmly. “She did. Every detail of it.”
Judy felt her face redden. “That idiota …”
Panam laughed. “Don’t worry, she didn’t spill anything too spicy. But one of the first times you two saw each other, Jackie was there too, right?”
Judy nodded. “He was. V had asked me to tune up some of her cyberware since her usual ripperdoc was outta town. Ended up talking about some of the deets for some… stupid plan with a friend of mine. Jackie was… what a guy. Somethin’ about him just clicked instantly.”
“First off, how cute that she didn’t go to another ripperdoc but to you.” (That comment made Judy blush, again.) “Secondly, yeah, Jackie had a kind of energy about him that would make even the most heartless bastard soften up. He was boastful and overconfident, but damn it if you didn’t believe in him. His passion for life was infectious.”
Judy smiled. “It really was.”
The conversation sloped to a halt, and Judy looked towards Night City as she sipped her drink. The sun was halfway through setting, but there was enough light left to see that the sandstorm was about to hit. They had to move soon.
Judy was about to go into another stream of daydreams when Panam interrupted them.
“V really isn’t particularly good at talking about her past, is she?”
Panam was looking off into nowhere, as if she was looking at something burnt into her mind instead.
Judy took a second to think.
“She isn’t. Not always.”
“Can I guess when she talked about Jackie to you?”
“Sure, yeah.”
“It was at night, she probably called you, or at the very least you were in a quiet spot just with the two of you. Something had happened, probably bad, and while she hesitated to talk about it something in her still convinced her to do so. Then word after word started spilling out, until it was all out there, unbottled at last.”
Judy stayed silent.
Panam looked at her, a sad smile on her face.
“Bingo.”
“It’s like…” Judy hesitated. “Like her mouth couldn’t keep up with her mind.”
“I know what you mean.”
“There was one night where V called me, from Dogtown. Crying her eyes out, talking about–”
Panam interrupted. “Woah, hold up there. Dogtown?”
Judy shot a guilty glance at Panam. “Sorry, I…”
Panam scoffed. “It’s okay. I’ll wring that lore dump out of her on the way to the border. Go on.”
“She was talking about how she was always moving, always doing somethin’ , getting into dangerous sitches and whatnot… and that there, in Dogtown, being forced to sit and wait, she had been able to think about everything. And she’d gotten scared. Scared of… not being here anymore, not for herself but– but for me.”
“Wow.”
Judy let out a sad chuckle. “Yeah. I know.”
Panam turned to her. “No, I mean, wow . In that situation, away from everyone she knew and probably panicking to all hell, she called you . You, Judy. Of all people. You know how much that means?”
Judy looked away. “You really know how to embarrass a girl, huh?”
“Ha! Not the first time, not the last.”
The two of them looked at the incoming sandstorm through the gradually oncoming darkness. Not long now and they’d be riding through the vast desert in search of a new home, Judy thought. She’d seen what it was like out there. Not altogether great, but still so much better than in the suffocating atmosphere of Night City. She and V, they’d make the most of it. She knew they would. They’d finally, after all this time trying to balance themselves in this ever-maddening world, be able to breathe freely.
“Look who it is, my two favourite sons of bitches.”
Judy and Panam looked up. It was V. A big, hearty smile covered her face. Her eyes glistened with excitement.
“V…!” Judy quickly stood up, and the two of them practically walked into each other’s arms. A warm hug was all she needed right now.
“So.” Panam was standing at their side. “Everything in order?”
V pointed a thumbs up at her. “A-okay. Time to bounce.”
Panam smiled. “Fantastic. Let’s get out of this shithole.”
Panam had walked off to Mitch and the rest of the gang to get some final few things ready. Judy and V lingered outside the tent.
“So… this is it, huh?” V said.
Judy smiled softly. “It sure is. Finally.”
“It’ll be one long ass honeymoon!”
Judy chuckled. She gently took V’s hand and intertwined her fingers with hers. It felt comfortable, soft, like she belonged there. It was a sensation she’d had a thousand times since she and V had met, and she was pretty sure it was never going to stop feeling amazing.
“Let’s go get our fancy rides, then,” she said confidently. “You did get me a limo, didn’t you?”
The two of them started their walk to the rest of the Aldecados.
“Oh yeah, sure,” V said cheekily. “Top’a the line Militech model, made by the best for the best.”
They chuckled together as they walked away, leaving the view of Night City behind.
The ride to the border was tense. But as she sat in the car next to Mitch, Judy surprised herself with her own carefreeness. Something in her told her they’d be alright. And as they finally crossed the border and received happy cheers and laughs from V and Panam through the radio, Judy realised that for the first time in her life she was happy. The conversation with Panam had focussed her mind back to what really mattered: being with V. Night City took hold of you and refused to let go, but soon that, too, would stop being the case. Life outside the borders of the city wasn’t going to be easy, but with V it would be worth it. They were together, with Panam and the rest of the Aldecados and, hell, maybe they’d one day see some more familiar faces again. Vik, Misty, Rita…
And even though she had only met Jackie once, Judy knew he was looking down on them with a smile right now.
For all her hilarious faults, Judy thought, V sure was good at surrounding herself with the best people.
The darkness outside began to lift. Mitch tapped her on the shoulder.
“Look, there they are.”
Judy looked over to her left. The Panzer, steered by V and Panam, was riding ahead of them.
Judy smiled. Hours before she and V had said their goodbyes. Now the rest of their lives could begin.