Cyberpunk 2077 - The Ballad of Lost Souls

Aldecaldos camp, it's evening. Panam is sitting on a rock, holding a heap of sand in her hand, watching it slip through it, thoughtful, as the wind caresses her face. A muscular man, covered with tattoos, with long black hair and a mustache walks past her, she suddenly stands up.

Panam: Saul…

The man continues walking, ignoring Panam. Beside him there are two other men holding rifles.

Panam: SAUL!

Saul stops and nods to the other men. They go away, leaving them alone.

Saul: What?

Panam: Saul, you can't leave me stuck here doing nothing. I'm fine, really.

Saul turns slowly toward Panam, looking at her serious gaze.

Saul: No Panam, you are not. Right now you are a danger to yourself and the others. You'll stay at the camp until you recover, then we will discuss it.

Panam gets closer to Saul, angry.

Panam: HOW THE HELL DO I RECOVER IF YOU LEAVE ME CONFINED HERE, UHM?!

Saul: You'll remain here until I'll say so. Tomorrow we will leave for California and you will help the others pack. And that's it. UNDERSTOOD?!

Panam lowers her gaze, sad. 

Panam: Yeah.

Saul: Yeah what?!

Panam stares at him with a mocking smile.

Panam: If you expect a "yes sir", you can go to sleep peacefully.

Panam walks away toward the camp, turning her back on Saul. After a while she arrives at a kind of van set up as a bar. At the counter there is a girl who smiles at her.

Barlady: Hey Pam! Good to see you! How are you?!

Panam: Been better, honestly.

Barlady: What can I give you?

Panam: The usual. Maybe a couple…Maybe more.

The bartender throws a beer at Panam and she drinks it in one sip. A man with a hood sits on a stool next to her, while she continues to drink.

Panam: Hi Scorpion.

Scorpion: Well Panam, now I'm really sure you've recovered. How many are you planning to drink?

Panam: Don't know. A dozen, a hundred... Who cares?! That jerk of Saul wants to keep me stuck here, anyway.

The bartender gasps, Scorpion begins to look around, concerned.

Scorpion: Panam, you...You shouldn't talk about him like that, really.

A man rests his hands on Panam's shoulders. She gasps and turns around.

Mitch: Hi, Pam.

Panam smiles melancholically at Mitch.

Panam: Hey Mitch.

Mitch: Following the doctor's advice, I see.

Panam turns to Mitch, smiling.

Panam: Fuck you.

Scorpion: Eh Panam, lucky you that you can sit here and drink quietly. We'll have to keep the early hours.

Panam: Really?

Scorpion: Yeah. We have to pick up the last load of weapons before we leave tomorrow morning.

Mitch looks at Scorpion, annoyed.

Panam: Mmm.

Mitch: All right Panam, we leave. Don't do anything too stupid, got it?

Mitch walks to his car, escorted by Scorpion, both sit inside. Mitch starts the car and drives off in the desert, while Scorpion turns on the radio.

After about half an hour of travel, the two reach a small deserted town in the middle of nowhere.

Mitch: You just had to tell her, didn't you?

Scorpion rolls his eyes, annoyed.

Scorpion: C'mon...What can she do? As long as the old man doesn't budge…

Mitch lowers the window and rests his elbow outside it.

Mitch: Listen Scorpion, it's difficult for her. Last thing I want, is to make her feel like a burden, okay? It just takes her time, but she's still Panam.

Panam suddenly rises from the back seats, placing his hands on Mitch and Scorpion's heads.

Panam: OH MY GOD, GUYS!

The car skids, Mitch hits the brakes before going off the road, then both turn toward Panam who laughs.

Mitch: What the fuck...WHY ARE YOU HERE?!

Panam: Well you said it, I'm still Panam. Thank you for the kind words, by the way.

Scorpion turns worriedly toward Mitch.

Scorpion: Mitch, we have to get back to the camp…

Mitch: How?! We are barely making it already…FUCK!

Scorpion: We're in a sea of shit.

Panam: Guys I swear, I just want to get some air, really. I'll shut up and be good, I promise. Just roll down my window.

Panam leans on the back seat as Mitch rolls down her window.

Panam:You know, if you had turned off the radio, you would have noticed that…

Both Mitch and Scorpion turn to Panam, angry.

Mitch: Panam!

Scorpion: Panam!

Panam raises her hands and then crosses her arms, looking out the window.

After a while, the car comes to a hill in the middle of the desert. Mitch parks it, turning toward Panam.

Mitch: We'll take it from here, got it?! Stay inside, be quiet and do nothing.

Panam rolls her eyes, leaning back in her seat as Scorpion and Mitch get out of the car.

Scorpion: Hope we are not too late. The old man will tear us apart if we don't get the load back.

Three guys wearing leather jackets emerge from behind the hill. One of them taps his watch, bored.

Stranger: You guys are such fuckin' amateurs. Almost twenty minutes late.

Mitch: We had a little problem. The weapons?

The man smiles at Mitch.

Stranger: They are close. The money?

Mitch nods to Scorpion, who starts walking back to the car, Panam gets out as Scorpion looks at her, stunned.

Panam: I have them.

The three men stare at Panam. Mitch does the same, ashamed.

Stranger: The fuck is she doin' here?!

Panam: Forgive me, do we know each other? Do you have the goods or not?!

Scorpion approaches Panam, whispering something to her.

Scorpion: You decided to get our asses kicked out, huh Pan?!

The man draws out a black gun, holding it, arms crossed.

Stranger: I've really had enough of this bullshit. I'll give you ten seconds to get the eddies out. Otherwise we'll flatline you all.

Panam walks up to the man, smiling at him.

Panam: Fine. We're all going to get out of the car again and start this conversation…

Panam begins to stare at the man's gun, getting lost somewhere in her thoughts, with an astonished expression.

Mitch quickly gets between the man and Panam as Scorpion pushes her toward the car.

Mitch: Here. Count 'em, they are all there.

Mitch hands a packet to the man, he quickly stuffs it into his jacket, satisfied. The man nods to the other two, who start walking toward a rock, from behind which they drag a large metal crate, handing it over to Mitch. He struggles to drag it toward the car, while Scorpion still holds Panam near him.

Stranger: It was a pleasure doin' business with you. Enjoy your trip to California.

The three men start down the hill.Mitch finally manages to get the crate into the trunk of the car while Panam breaks free from Scorpion.

Panam: HEY!

The man stops, while the other two continue walking.

Panam: Where did you get that?!

The man turns to look at Panam, smiling while she stares at him, baffled.

Stranger: 'Bye, Panam.

The man turns around laughing and walks toward the others. Mitch lowers his eyes, leaning on the roof of the car, while Scorpion puts a hand on Panam's shoulder.

Scorpion: C'mon Panam, let's go.

All three of them get into the car, Panam stares blankly for a while then leans back on the seat. Mitch drives for a while, then turns worriedly toward Panam.

Mitch: Panam, are you okay? You've never been so quiet.

Panam: Yeah. I'm fine.

The car arrives at the camp. Panam quickly gets out of the car and runs away. Mitch and Scorpion get out and look around.

Mitch: Where's Pan?!

Both are hit by a wave of sand as Panam's Torton speeds away, passing them.

Scorpion: Now we're really in a pool of shit.

Panam accelerates into the desert, traveling the same path back to the hill where the exchange took place. She parks and gets out of her Torton, grabbing a small pair of binoculars.

She walks down the hill for a while until she sees a small plain with tents below her. She leans on a rock and starts looking around inside the binocular. Suddenly she lets them go on the ground, petrified. Her dismay quickly gives way to an irrepressible pain that shakes her, causing her to burst into uncontrolled crying as she collapses to the ground.

The pain suddenly turns to anger as she runs back to her car, starting it up and driving to the camp below her.

After a while Panam returns to her camp, finding Saul with his arms behind his back, looking at her, menacingly. Behind him, there are Mitch and Scorpion who are quickly joined by a man with a long white mustache and a cowboy hat and a muscular woman with a pair of sunglasses and a right arm full of wires and circuits. She stares back at them with her face streaked with makeup mixed with tears, clutching the steering wheel, as if she wants to tear it away. After a few moments she opens the door.

Saul: I SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU…

Panam violently hits Saul in the face, he falls to the ground while she continues to hit him until the man with the cowboy hat block her.

Cassidy: PANAM, THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

Panam stares at Saul, who stands up, silently, his lip quivering while Cassidy and the woman with the sunglasses hold her by the arms.

Carol: Damn, Panam! Stop!

Panam: DID YOU KNOW?!!! DID YOU KNOW?!!! TELL ME!!! TELL MEEEE!

Saul: I WAS TRYING TO PROTECT YOU, PANAM! I was trying to protect you.

Cassidy and Carol stare at Saul, bewildered, then let Panam go, as she turns to Mitch and Scorpion, looking at them with pure hatred.

Panam: You too, right?

Mitch and Scorpion lower their gaze, Panam closes her eyes and does the same, devastated.

Panam: Yeah.

Panam slowly opens back her eyes and looks at Saul

Panam: Family…Watching each other's backs…Bullshit, Saul. All bullshit.

Panam walks slowly toward the camp, then stops, turning back one more time.

Panam: You're losing it, old man.