《Pharmaguards》 I: CONTAGION I: CONTAGION The container ship swayed on rough waters of the Gulf of Mexico, nearing what was left of Galveston. The deck was full of sea containers and crewmen in neon uniforms and face masks. Storm clouds raged above, rain came crashing down on the ship. The crewmen struggled to keep upright, holding onto any railing they could find. The door to the bridge bursted open, crewmen turned their eyes upward and watched as Captain Nigel dragged a young employee by his collar, the boy scrambled at his hands, trying to claw away and wheezing as his body attempted to fight the virus killing his lungs. The hoarseness of his screams made it clear to anyone who could hear it what was about to happen. Nigel walked the boy down from the top of the bridge, down the metal stairs and across the deck. He wrestled with him for a moment as he tried to escape, but Nigel still lifted the boy over the railing. He crashed into the waves, dying instantly, and Nigel buttoned up his overcoat and walked back up the scaffolding stairs, returning to the bridge. The crewmen resumed their work. He closed the door behind him, took off his gloves and mask. Nigel collapsed into his chair and watched the rain patter against the windows. The small red lights of their ship flashed in patterns, casting the crates in cold red light. The sea was black and endless. The Gulf could be seen on the horizon, the lights from the Galveston Plantation glowed amid the trees, below it the mass of tent cities and small establishments. Nigel glanced at his watch and one of his petty officers took a seat beside him, ¡°You wanna smoke?¡± Nigel turned to him with a serious face, then a grin that turned into a laugh, ¡°What? You¨C Step outside if you want a smoke, I don¡¯t want to smell that shit.¡± The officer put his pack away, ¡°Are you alright, did something happen? Did you know the kid?¡± Nigel shook his head, ¡°Nothing happened. I don¡¯t know him, Closer to shore a smaller vessel waited, a police boat of some kind. Nigel watched the ship through binoculars, it was approaching them. Mounted floodlights blasted their eyes and sirens blared. Nigel shielded his eyes and looked to his crew, ¡°What do they want?¡± ¡°Pharmaguards¡­¡± his petty officer frowned, ¡°They¡¯ll want to board.¡± Nigel kicked his feet up on the navigation station, ¡°Alright, drop ''em a ladder¡­¡± The petty officer relayed the order to the crew, and men got to work. Nigel took out a cigarette and closed his eyes. He listened to the rain and waves, he felt the boat sway as the container ship came parallel to the police boat. Nigel took deep breaths, then heard a knock at the door. His petty officer opened the door, and Nigel opened his eyes to see one man in a red peacoat and another in a blue peacoat, ¡°Who is in charge of this vessel?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Nigel stood up, ¡°Howdy, fellas. Is everything alright?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve a lot of cargo,¡± the red one smiled, ¡°We thought it¡¯d be best if we had a look before you came to port. You don¡¯t mind if we search some of these crates?¡± ¡°You take me for a smuggler?¡± Nigel scoffed. The red one looked to his partner, ¡°Y¡¯all are in Pegasus waters, can we see some identification?¡± Nigel took out his wallet and tossed it to them, ¡°What? You suspect something?¡± The red one walked around the bridge, the staff stood silently and kept their eyes forward. The blue one read his passport, ¡°Bangladesh?¡± ¡°We moved there with the Peace Corps, I¡¯ve worked out of there ever since, in Dhaka¡­¡± The Pharmaguard smiled, ¡°Policy still states that we need to have permission for a search. We can be in and out of here in five minutes.¡± Nigel sighed, grabbed an umbrella, ¡°I¡¯ll give you the tour,¡± he said. He led them down the scaffolding stairs and guided them along the sea containers. The pharmaguards eyed the numbers painted on the corners of the containers, on their watches Nigel could see they were looking for something specific and knew where to find it. His petty officer cleared his throat, barely audible amid the high winds and rain, ¡°Is everything alright?¡± They stopped, something was a match. The red one turned to Nigel, Do you have any keys for these crates?¡± he asked. Nigel¡¯s face turned red, he shook his head and took a step back, ¡°Oh, well nevermind the keys.¡± The pharmaguard in blue took out a pair of bolt cutters and pressed them to the chains. The man strained to cut them without falling over on the ship. Nigel heard a sharp sound and the chain rattled to the floor. The pharmaguards worked together to open the crate, finding tons of unmarked wooden crates. The red one pulled one of the crates out and used a crowbar to open it. Packed inside the containers were packages of pills, piles of pills. The pharmaguards turned to Nigel, ¡°What do you know of this?¡± Nigel shook his head, ¡°What is the issue?¡± ¡°These are not ours¡­¡± the pharmaguard in blue shook a bottle of pills, ¡°Why are these on your ship?¡± ¡°I contract with so many people, I don¡¯t have a record of every order in my head.¡± ¡°Sure you do,¡± the one in red said, ¡°But it would be faster to use a computer, I¡¯m sending you the files which we are hoping to investigate, given these contraband items.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how this got aboard¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯ve no criminal record, Captain, we have no reason to suspect you of anything. If you comply with us, we can get out of your hair quicker.¡± Nigel bit his tongue, cursing in his mind because he did know how those pills got aboard¡­ He watched the pharmaguards order his crewmen around, they drove one of their magnetic crane trucks to the container, they put the counterfeit medicine back in the crate, and carried the crates overboard. The giant containers smashed into the waves below, and Nigel watched under his umbrella with a sullen face. Twelve containers in total sank to the button of the ocean, and the pharmaguards were satisfied with their search. They wished Nigel a good night and climbed back down to their patrol boat. II: JAGUAR II: JAGUAR On the dashboard Margot could see that it was 1:35 a.m., she opened her coffee thermos and kept her hand on the wheel. They drove across fields of ferns and old black trees, the Bison Shuttle headlights casted a bright white light across the ferns. The forests spread across most of Houston now, the sky was a deep purple and orange with white streaks of clouds. Margot yawned, blinking away the stinging pain in her eyes. It was dark in the shuttle, the control panels for the old truck laid out in front of her illuminated red, orange, blue and green. She held onto the steering wheel with her left hand and the coffee with her right. She was going as fast as she could and the semi rattled. They knew a village was a few miles north of their base, but their radio signals were strained when they went beyond the bounds of the Pegasus Territories, or the proximity of Galveston or within the walls of Houston. She worked as a security officer for the Pharmaceutical department in the Pegasus Corporation. She was one of four on the Bison Shuttle. In her squad she was the Junior Officer, trusted with driving the shuttle and second in seniority. Kurt, their senior officer, sat behind Margot with a toothpick in his mouth as he scrolled through news articles on his phone. Their sophomore officer sat beside Margot, named Yvonne, she struggled to keep herself awake. Kurt let out a small, excited exhale from his nostrils and held his phone screen up to Yvonne, ¡°Look, have you seen this?¡± he asked. She blinked rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the light of the screen, she strained to read the article and Kurt pulled the phone back, ¡°What a drug bust, they caught five entire shipping containers. All together they say it was worth twelve million dollars.¡± ¡°Did they make any arrests?¡± Yvonne asked, she took out her earbuds which made a clicking noise when she put them back in their case. ¡°Did you interrupt my podcast to tell me anything else?¡± Kurt thought for a moment, ¡°No, guess not.¡± Yvonne put her earbuds back in, she was listening to a dating podcast called ¡°Date Robot¡± about women who have to choose between two artificial intelligence programs and one real man based on conversations between them. Margot thought the concept was unique but wondered why there weren¡¯t any reversed gender episodes. Yvonne said it was because you''d be able to tell way easier who''s real and who isn''t, since men are simpler. Yvonne turned her eyes back to her monitors, a dot flashed on a map, symbolizing the asset they were assigned to follow. ¡°Not that I can tell, but it would be wild if they found someone in one of those cans.¡± Kurt laughed in the backseat, ¡°Can¡¯t wait to hear what the President has to say about this, he¡¯ll have to mention it in his state of the union address for sure.¡± ¡°Did you interrupt my podcast to tell me anything else?¡± Kurt thought for a moment, ¡°No, guess not.¡± Yvonne put her earbuds back in, she was listening to a dating podcast called ¡°Date Robot?¡± about women who have to choose between two artificial intelligence programs and one real man based on conversations between them. Margot thought the concept was unique but wondered why there weren¡¯t any reversed gender episodes. Yvonne said it was because you''d be able to tell way easier who''s real and who isn''t, since men are simpler. Yvonne turned her eyes back to her monitors, a dot flashed on a map, symbolizing the asset they were assigned to follow. Kurt only scoffed and Margot kept quiet. Their freshman officer sat in the back beside Kurt and said nothing still. He didn¡¯t want anyone to know his real name, so he asked people to address him by his callsign, Tango. He didn¡¯t seem offensive or anything, he was shorter, about 5¡¯3¡± to be exact, and had blonde hair. Each officer wore a different colored peacoat, Margot wore purple, Yvonne wore a yellow coat, Kurt wore blue, and Tango wore an orange coat. Margot saw light down the road, ¡°Yvonne, where''s the asset?¡± ¡°About two miles from the village, moving southbound.¡± Tango chimed in, ¡°Is that the village?¡± he asked, ¡°How many people are there?¡± ¡°They live in communities of five hundred people or so,¡± Yvonne answered, ¡°That is the village, and we have about an hour before it reaches the town¡­ Doesn¡¯t look like your Vegasi Settlements does it?¡± Tango shook his head, ¡°It''s so small.¡± The Bison Semi slowed down outside the village. They didn''t want their Bison trucks to be seen by the villagers, so she turned off the paved road and onto an old gravel road that went around the village. They stopped above a patch of ferns and greenery outside the village, ¡°Is everyone ready?¡± Kurt asked. Everyone nodded. He stood up and leaned over Yvonne¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Now where exactly is she?¡± ¡°Not sure, she''s moving fast.¡± Margot pulled a lever and the Semi was parked. The sides of the shuttle slid open, and everyone grabbed their masks and equipment off the back wall before jumping into the ferns and marching into the village. Margot locked the truck and followed Kurt through the forested land between them and the village, they heard strange noises from every corner. The village was illuminated by warm orange lamps that glowed under the violet sky.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Two children looked down on them from the second story window of a house to their left. They looked to be about nine or ten, tired faces. On their right was an old general store, closed for the night. The kids watched as Margot emerged from the treeline and walked down the gravel road. The buildings were old, and the gravel road stretched off to the south, it connected to the main road that went all the way to the horizon. Margot peered in the general store, the shelves were scarce with food, and down the street was an abandoned Pegasus Pharmacy. Declan Johnson won the presidency and in his first acts he committed to a program of austerity, which included the retraction of many subsidies to the Pegasus Corporation. Downsizing the distribution chain was their best idea. Margot walked past dim glowing posters advertising anything from diapers to insurance. They stopped at an intersection at the center of the village and stood in silence. They listened for the asset, but there was nothing that resembled the creature they were looking for. Instead they could hear music. Kurt''s eyes caught two men crossing a street across the intersection, carrying something, ¡°Nobody respects a damn curfew,¡± he said to Yvonne before he crossed the street and walked toward them, ¡°Stop right there now,¡± he said, the men stopped in their tracks, cursing, ¡°Whatcha got there?¡± ¡°Only some bread,¡± said the man on the right. Margot and the others approached the men. ¡°Why don''t you two put your hands against the wall for us? Where are you twos going?¡± ¡°We were just¡­¡± the man belched, ¡°On our way home from the bar.¡± ¡°The bar?¡± Margot asked, she started to pat down the man, Yvonne searched the other man. They weren''t carrying anything incriminating, so they let them sit against the wall, ¡°Is it still open?¡± The man nodded. ¡°Shit,¡± Yvonne said, ¡°Where is the bar?¡± she asked, the man pointed down the street, and they could see the lights coming from around the corner, ¡°Do you want to get us all killed? You fucking¡ª¡± ¡°Enough,¡± Kurt said, ¡°You boys go home, we need to go close that damn bar.¡± Yvonne looked at her watch, she pinched a map on her screen, ¡°We don''t have enough time.¡± ¡°We have all the time we have,¡± Kurt said, ¡°We don''t have much of a choice, come on now.¡± Kurt crossed the street and Margot followed him, Yvonne and Tango followed them with nervous looks. Margot caught up to Kurt, ¡°What are we doing?¡± ¡°They need to turn that damn music off, they''re breaking policy.¡± ¡°We don''t have time to talk to a bunch of drunk men,¡± Margot said. Come on, reason with me, she thought. ¡°It''s the job, Margot.¡± Kurt turned the corner and they saw a man laying under an old lamppost, ¡°Sir, you know what time it is?¡± The drunk man looked up to Kurt, ¡°What is you say?¡± ¡°There''s a curfew, you gotta go home,¡± Kurt kicked the man''s boot and turned to Yvonne, ¡°You stay out here and keep an eye on this street. If you see something, tell us. Margot, Tango, come with me.¡± Kurt opened the tinted glass door of the bar, the bar was washed with a warm yellow light. There were ten men who wore overalls and thick beards in the bar. Music played, and two of the men sat at the bar, one man served them drinks, and all the rest lay asleep. Out cold. Margot followed him in and stepped around some tables and men who leaned far back on the wooden chairs. Kurt approached the bartender, ¡°You know it''s against policy for your establishment to be open, don''t you?¡± The bartender stopped chatting with the patrons and glared at the pharmaguard, ¡°Whataya want?¡± ¡°First I want you to close this place and send everyone home, fast.¡± ¡°Why?¡± one of the patrons asked, ¡°What kind of pharmaguard are you?¡± Kurt presented a badge to the man, ¡°It¡¯s late, folks. We got reports that there are jaguars in the area. I think it¡¯s time you get back home and cleaned up. If there isn''t a panic, then we shouldn''t have to worry about anyone getting hurt,¡± Kurt said, he buttoned his peacoat and the bartender rang a bell, ¡°Everyone up and out!¡± the senior shouted. An old man laid on the ground and struggled to get to his feet. Margot walked over to him and helped him up, he leaned on her as they shuffled toward the door. The other patrons were slowly waking up, learning of the news, and quickly they all gathered their things and left. Margot waited with the old man for the rest to leave. Tango stood at the door and looked at the old man for a moment, ¡°What''s up with him?¡± he asked. ¡°Apparently all the men drink in this village,¡± Margot said. The old man coughed, his head hung low. Margot led him through the door and Tango grabbed the old man''s hand, ¡°What''re you doing?¡± Margot said. ¡°Look at him,¡± he said, ¡°He¡¯s totally fucked up, an addict.¡± ¡°Come on now,¡± Kurt said, ¡°Tell him to go home and let''s get out of here, what were you both saying about haste?¡± The patrons stood around, drunk and stumbling in the street, Tango pointed to the old man, ¡°This mans got something on him, put him against the wall.¡± ¡°We don''t have time for this,¡± Yvonne said. The old man stumbled over a curb, his feet scraped against the gravel as Margot struggled to keep him up, Tango helped her pull him back up. Kurt looked to Yvonne, ¡°Are we okay, right now?¡± he asked, she shrugged and Kurt eyed the old man, his pupils were extremely dilated, ¡°Tango may have a point here, where are you from sir?¡± The old man only mumbled nonsense, Kurt nodded to Tango and had Margot let go. Tango guided the man to the wall, his legs shaking as he struggled to stand. Tango started to pat down the old man, Yvonne kept her eyes fixated on her watch, Margot watched the other patrons leave the street and go home for shelter in one of the old motel rooms. Tango gripped the man''s head and pushed him against the wall as he pressed his other hand against his pockets, ¡°Throw away your stash, or you take it all?¡± ¡°Is this necessary?¡± Margot said. Tango looked at her for a second and stepped away from the man, who leaned against the wall and crumpled back to the ground in a fetal position, ¡°Keep your hands up!¡± Tango shouted, his hand went into his coat and he produced a pistol. ¡°Tango, we need to go,¡± Margot took a step toward him, her eye on the gun. The old man turned up and pressed himself onto his knees, he stared at Tango in confusion and tried to stand. The first shot killed the old man instantly, his body folded on itself, his face planted into the gravel and blood pooled around him, Margot reached for Tango''s hands and wrestled the gun from him. ¡°Are you fucking crazy?¡± Kurt said. Yvonne turned her wrist to Kurt and Margot, and the pharmaguards hid beneath the bar and waited. Yvonne jumped over the bar behind the others. They could hear its footsteps from the forests approach them. Margot peered over the bar to look out the bar window. It wandered along the street haphazardly. Snarling as its eyes landed on the corpse in the street. Margot noticed it was smaller than a typical jaguar, but she still knew the animal was very capable and intelligent. The animal walked to the body and its snout pushed the man''s head, it licked the blood off his face and smelled the body. It put its clawed foot on his back and opened its mouth, a roar shook the bar. Margot dived back down. She heard the animal tear at his clothes, then the crunching of bone. Margot looked around the bar again and saw the animal was carrying the old man by the head back the way it came. She crawled out from behind the bar and brushed up against the wall, watching the animal walk into the woods, its long tail the last thing they could see before it was gone.