40. VERMIN BROTHERS PEST CONTROL

This small building on the corner is the home of the Vermin Brothers, Ray, Otto, and Charlie Beemin.  The Vermin Brothers is the best pest control outfit in the Zone, and a much needed service.  With all the decay, trash, and poorly maintained properties, vermin has become a ridiculous problem in the Zone.  Rats, mice, roaches, beetles, slugs, ants… without city funds to keep them in check, most places have become overrun.  Feral cats and dogs are also a problem.  The Vermin Brothers are so good at their jobs that even the gangs tolerate them, even though its common knowledge that they will sell any info they think someone wants to hear, and have been known to be light fingered as well.  So while gangs do use them, they rarely go anywhere unescorted when on gang property. 

The brothers will use poison to eliminate insects, but prefer live capture for anything rat size or larger, so they can sell the animals for food. 

The biggest danger facing the Vermin Brothers is people trying to break in and steal their bug poisons, to get high on.  They use a custom mix, and apparently it’s very potent and causes intense hallucinations.  Users under the effects of what they term “Crunch” are generally in a waking dream.  They do not perceive stimuli directly, instead its interpreted and woven into the hallucination they are having.  It also causes sterility and the user to try to digest whatever they can get their hands on, wood, plaster, glass, in some cases themselves or others…

Written By Deric Bernier, Images from Super Mari Bros, Arachnophobia

For questions, complaints, criticisms and suggestions, e-mail the author:wisdom000@gmail.com