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want to help or
that anyone would not agree to be scanned.
    The Guardian watched as Jericho was scanned
and the light remained green. As Jericho continued forward, he
heard a commotion from behind him.
    “Damn thing’s broke!” The old man said as the
scanner’s light glowed red, his hand still inside the scanner’s
dome.
    “Collin? What’s wrong?” The older lady behind
him asked as a siren began to blare. A Guardian quickly jumped down
in front of the man, as she grabbed her husband. “Collin? What’s
going on?” She asked again.
    “The damn thing says I’ve got the plague!” He
said, as the fear welled up in his voice. His hand was still in the
scanner. As the Guardian approached, a mist began to spray down
into the crowd from the overhead. People began to run away from the
older man, as they pushed one another in a panic. He began to pull
at his hand, as he tried desperately to free it from the scanner
which had clamped down as soon as it had been triggered red. The
crowd had become more hostile, as some stepped on those that had
fallen, just to get away from the contaminated man.
    “Be calm.” A loud voice emitted out of the
Guardian. “The plague has been isolated. You are in no danger.” The
Guardian, a full foot taller than the man before him, seized the
older man, and touched him lightly with the tip of his control
stick. His eyes still called to his wife, as his knees buckled from
under him, and he fell unconscious.
    “Collin!” She screamed as she broke down in
hysterics. Another Guardian jumped down and held her from going to
her husband as the first Guardian reached into a compartment on its
side and retrieved a small black object. With a flick of its wrist
the object opened into a large black plastic bag and in matter of
seconds, the Guardian quickly covered and sealed the man within.
Suddenly a large steel boom swung into view overhead from over the
side of the rusted road wall, and from its tip, a steel cable
ending in a hook was already being lowered. Within moments, the
Guardian had fastened the hook to the bag, and quickly and silently
the cable retracted. The boom swung the bag containing unconscious
man up and over the rusted steel wall. The man was gone. His wife,
now unconscious from a touch of the Guardian’s control stick, was
quickly lifted by the Guardian that had approached her, slung over
its massive shoulder, and removed from the area. Less than a minute
had passed and it was all over.
    Being next in line, Donovan stepped up to the
scanner and cautiously placed his hand in the scanner. He squeezed
his eyes tightly shut as he did. The scanners light continued to
glow green. He peeked through one eye, and sighed relief, as he was
pushed ahead by the others behind him.

Chapter 2
     
     
    At his station, Jericho couldn’t help but
smile about what had happened on the beach that morning. Though the
reaction of the man who had scanned red had shaken him up, it was a
commonplace occurrence in their lives. Not everyday, or even every
week, but it happened often enough that when it happened it was not
considered unusual. Just unfortunate. For as long as he could
remember, or even as long as his father could remember, or even his
father’s father, the plague had been rampant, but seemed only to
infect a few. Since forever, those that scanned positive with the
plague had been immediately taken to Quarantine. He remembered with
old sorrow, that his own mother had been taken there so long ago
that he did not think of it everyday anymore. It was for the best.
It was the rule. Isolate the plague and keep it from being able to
spread was what they were taught when they were young. One day he
hoped as they all did, that they would find a cure, and that was
why everyone worked so hard at the factory. They worked long twelve
hour days, every day, as each did their assigned tasks in finding
the cure for the plague. Jericho had been at his current station
for years now, and though he was not