Author's Note: Given that stopping the spread of the Chakat Virus or at least the punishment of Catherine Snow and Maurice Chakat... One could possibly see more of them in the future, but for the moment... the "front-lines" have moved.
Also, there is some adult language in this chapter, but there was no warning button for that...
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The warehouse that Juan and Manual worked in was a massive structure that stored goods for a distribution company called "Drugs Inc." It stored large quantities of drugs from various companies and shelved them for deliver to the Drugs Inc Store that was in the city's local mall, as well as running a shipping office for online shoppers. And it was tedious work for Juan and Manual as while both were good with a forklift, many of the pallets of drugs that came into the warehouse had to be loaded onto shelves box by box. While both of them wanted a bit more out of the life they had, Juan and Manual both got the sense that reason they were being called was because a new shipment had come in and needed to be stocked. They quietly walked up the metal stairway to their bosses office and knocked on the door.
"Come in," the boss's voice answered.
They entered to see the boss seated in his chair munching on a doughnut and watching a small television, tuned to a news station. On it a female reporter was making a report that both Juan and Manual caught.
"We're bringing you the latest update on the Chakat Virus outbreak that began three days ago in Fee City," the reporter stated, "It has been revealed that those transformed do not totally lose their minds, but that since their libido's rise so high due to the transformation, those newly transformed seem to lose their mind until all that sexual energy is burned off. In addition, it would appear that the Chakat Virus does not affect those with Type O blood with a Partial D antigens in their blood. This was presented to legal authorities outside the Fee City quarantine zone by a human woman, Jessica Cain, and a snow white Chakat of indeterminate gender, but likely female originally, Mary Wise. It means that life in Fee City will probably return relatively close to normal within the next few days as the population adapts to being hermaphroditic cat-taurs, and that there will be no war, but police and the FBI have both made statements that they intend to find out what was the true start of the outbreak in Fee City and determine whether or not it was done deliberately or by accident."
The screen then switched to show a helicopter view of Chakat Industries in Fee City.
"At present the main suspect is Chakat Industries," the reporter continued, "but the CEO Maurice Chakat has assured law enforcement over the phone that his company was not involved in the outbreak and would be interested in discovering who did unleash it so he can sue the pants off of that person for using his name."
"And he's probably right," Juan and Manual's boss grumbled as he then shut the television off, "Dumb hippies never seem to under stand that the boss never does anything wrong and that the boss is ALWAYS right, am I right?"
"Yes, sir," Juan said weakly, his earlier bravado and courage gone.
"Of course I am," their boss smiled and pulled another doughnut out from a box on his desk, "Come with me."
Their boss lead them back out of his office and onto a series of metal gangplanks that ran along the top of the warehouse and normally allowed the boss to come out and yell at people when he didn't feel like using the PA system. He lead them to a spot near the main loading door to the warehouse where three large pallets of boxes with the words "Chakat Industries" on them along with the image of a cat walking underneath the name of the company. Their boss then began to explain what he wanted done.
"That order there came in when all the mess in Fee City started, and since a bunch of yahoos from the Health Department got the panties in a bunch over people turning into furry freaks and had me leave the boxes there," their boss said, "but now with the fact that the Chakat Industries CEO saying its clear and the outbreak dying out in Fee City I want you to move those boxes over to the other end of the warehouse and put them on the shelves we have that's for immediate delivery to Drugs Inc."
"What is it, sir?" Manual asked curiously, "and can we use the forklift? That looks like a lot of boxes."
"According to the invoice I got it's supposed to be some cream for STD treatment, probably an antibiotic for Syphilis or Gonorrhea," the boss said with a shrug, "and no. You can't use the forklift on this one. You both know the area where they're to go is too narrow for it. Take a hand-truck or carry the boxes individually. I expect them all to be shelved TODAY."
With that, their boss departed and walked back to his office, leaving Juan and Manual to go down another flight of stairs to begin moving the boxes.
"Today... all those boxes?" Juan grumbled, "Our shift is half over!"
"Means we'll get overtime if we go over our shift," Manual responded.
"Man... you know, if I were gay or one of those Chakat thingies... I'd get him up the butt for making us do all this," Juan grumbled, "every time there is a tough assignment or a lengthy one... we get it and we don't get paid extra for it. You know he won't pay us overtime."
"That's sick man, and the Church will never forgive you!" Manual scolded.
The two were loyal Catholics and had been raised that way. The priests they had seen had always lectured on the sins of sodomy and so forth. And while they didn't have a television in their home, they had seen some of the news reports on what had gone on in Fee City with the sudden eruption of the Chakat virus and people turning into sex crazed animals. They remembered seeing what looked like two men get clawed by one with one turning into a lion-like Chakat while the other turned into a jaguar-like Chakat and then... They both shuddered at what they'd seen after that.
"Maybe... but then for those Chakats is it really gay for them? I mean the news said they're hermaphrodites," Juan answered, "I bet both male and female Chakats can get pregnant. And even if not, the boss being an asshole deserves to get it in the butt."
"I can agree on the last part, but let's just get to work," Manual sighed, "better to get this done and something better will come tomorrow."
"Always the optimist," Juan sighed.