The patrol passes a long row of commercial units, filled only with the ghosts of shops. Some windows are boarded over; some kicked in and not worth the cost of even caring about, filled with the huddled blobs of rough sleepers, drifts of windblown trash, and creeping water damage.
In the force, they call the PSLU-6 light urban walker the "Headstomper". On the street, they call it the "Pig Rig". They patrol in twos, ever since the first wave of food riots; the 6 is identical to the 5, except that it has two freely switchable ammo bins, and only the first packs less-lethal.
Tarragon thinks: at least I'm not one of the ones who enjoys it. She thinks: at least I'm not one the ones who looks for reasons to flick off the safeties. She thinks: I'm one of the good ones.
She's started smoking. She's started drinking every night. She thinks she might start drinking in the mornings, too.
She thinks: Everyone always knew there aren't any good ones.