//------------------------------// // Chapter 29: Police? What Police? // Story: Pandemic: What you are Meant to Be // by Halira //------------------------------// The pair retreated to a nearby building that overlooked the parking lot of the Wal Mart. Both were angry, but Rosetta was noticeably angrier. "I can't believe we failed at keeping this place safe. Where the hell are the police? If they're supposed to be coming where are they?" Rosetta growled. "There wasn't anything else we could do in this circumstance, we can't fight humans with guns. Not without one of us getting hurt or killed. I wasn't going to see you get shot," Remedy said as she looked back towards the Wal Mart. "And I wasn't going to see you get shot either. It still isn't fair, this is what we're supposed to be doing as night ponies and we had to let that bastard do what he wanted. Now I know how the earth ponies feel about not being able to do their thing," Rosetta continued to fume as she stomped her hooves and flicked her tail angrily. "Where is the police department at Summerville anyway? I know where some police departments are, but they are like county offices, or other cities not the local office," Remedy asked. "I don't know, I just know where the North Charleston office, and the Goose Creek office are, but not the Summerville one. I guess we can look it up, but we would have to abandon watching over here to go do that," Rosetta said as she glanced back towards the Wal-Mart still flicking her tail. "I can stay over here and keep an eye. I won't mess with that guy if he comes out, but can scare away any others that might show up. The pegasi managed to keep this place secure all day, there can't be that many armed robbers," Remedy said. "Urgh, don't remind me that the featherheads got the job done and we didn't. It's supposed to be our job not theirs, but they managed it and we didn't," Rosetta said with frustration. Her face softened as she gazed at Remedy. "Are you sure though? I don't want you getting hurt." "I'll be fine. I'm not going to go tipping over any humans who have guns. If you do find the police somepony will need to be able to tell them what they are walking into. You just find out where that station is and then get them over here," Remedy instructed. "Okay, I'll try to be quick. Nervous about it though; I haven't been separated from you since you came to me at the hospital. Maybe I sound a little clingy, but I'm still nervous about it," Rosetta said with lowered ears. "You weren't as upset when I suggested you go do something else when I dealt with my dad," Remedy said. "I wasn't leaving you somewhere some human with a gun had just threatened you before," Rosetta said as she walked over and nuzzled her lover gently. "You're being protective. Remember what we just said a few minutes ago about being aware of your instincts and not letting them get the better of you? I'm going to be fine. Not going to do more than shout at any others that come up. I promise," Remedy said as she nuzzled back. Rosetta pulled back and glared at her partner. "I don't think worrying about the safety of my marefriend is me just letting my night pony instincts getting to me; me fussing about the guy getting past us maybe, because that has me pissed, but not your safety," Rosetta said sternly. "Fair point, but I promise I will be safe. Just find where they are at and why they aren't out here doing their jobs," Remedy said. "Okay, I'll be as quick as I can. Flying back to the church to look it up and then going who knows where after that to find the office will take some time," Rosetta said as she unfurled her wings. "We have all night. I'll be right here waiting for you," Remedy replied. Rosetta took off into the air and was quickly out of sight. Remedy sat down and just started surveying the area again. After what felt like at least an hour Remedy spotted their robber exiting the building with a shopping cart. It was laden with two massive big screen TV's and what looked like a ton of medicine. The television sets were likely not a big deal, would annoy the company, but they didn't matter in terms of helping the humans. The medicine could be a bigger deal, but there wasn't much she could do about that right now. Once he cleared the area she took to the air and just started circling the parking lot; hoping that making her presence clearly visible would dissuade any would be looters. Time passed. At one point she thought she saw Rosetta cutting across the sky in the distance heading west, but her marefriend was too far away to call out too. It was probably best not to anyway, as she was likely heading to wherever the police department was. A few other humans did come into the parking lot of close by a few times. She made a show of dipping down in front of the entrance when they got close and they promptly adjusted their course away from the building. There didn't seem to be any others this evening that were willing to chance trying to get by her. There was one human she spotted trying to break into the gas station across the street. She briefly considered intervening, but eventually decided not to. This Wal-Mart was her charge to guard and the focus was on protecting food. The gas station might have some food, but nothing of significance. It was a concern for the humans when they tried to get things going again. She wouldn't be surprised if the place had already been looted anyway. Time continued to tick by and she started to worry. She didn't have a great sense of time, but the moon had crossed a significant portion of the sky. Rosetta was taking a very long time to get the police. All Remedy could do was keep waiting though. At least there didn't seem to be any more trouble to worry about for tonight. Finally, as the first rays of the pending sunrise could be seen in the distance, Rosetta came flying back into the area. She didn't look happy at all. "Any more trouble?" Rosetta asked wearily as she came close. "Nothing of note, a few that lost interest after they saw me. Our gun guy is gone, took off with non-food stuff," Remedy answered. "So just a common crook and not a person that was hungry. Not sorry I knocked him down on the ground," Rosetta grumbled. "So what's going on with the police?" Remedy asked as they continued to hover in the air. "Bad news," Rosetta said as her ears dripped down. "They lost a lot of their officers to ETS. They don't even have a proper skeleton crew of officers to cover all the shifts. They pretty much are only sending officers out on call at night for the biggest emergencies, like murder or something. The day shift has a little more coverage and they will get some coverage here then, though it is likely only going to be one officer." "Just getting a police car parked out front will dissuade a lot of would-be robbers," Remedy sighed. "So, mostly ponies huh? And unless they end up being unicorns they are just as helpless as us against armed robbers, if they even bother returning to work." "Yep," Rosetta said dejectedly. "What are we supposed to do? We can scare off most of them, but we clearly can't keep them all out," Remedy spread her forelegs wide as she spoke. "Maybe we can get the soldiers the government sent down to help out? I don't know," Rosetta said uncertainly. "There has to be a better way for us to do this. I can't believe we are just going to end up being helpless every single time a human pulls a gun. If that is so our entire race is in deep crap," Remedy as she flicked her tail towards the Wal Mart. "Perhaps the night ponies that are gathering up in Charleston have some clue? We can see if other night ponies have any ideas, see what kinds of things they suggest?" Rosetta asked. "Who knows? We can try it. Won't be tonight though. It would take at least forty-five minutes to fly down to Charleston and another forty-five to fly back. It is coming up on dawn now," Remedy said as she looked towards the south where Charleston was located. "We just wait here until we are relieved by the day ponies and try finding them tomorrow night. We can ask the humans about whether they can spare some guards when we get back to the church," Rosetta said. "That works I guess. It means we might end up having this place unwatched tomorrow night though," Remedy replied. "They weren't planning on us watching this anyway. We kind of took it upon ourselves," Rosetta said simply. "That's true I suppose. Still feels like it was our job. Guess that is just night pony instincts," Remedy lamented. "Yeah, instincts suck sometimes," Rosetta grumbled. The two settled in back to their earlier perch on top of the Wal-Mart and waited. The sun was well up by the time the pegasus that they had relieved earlier returned along with another pegasus stallion and a pegasus mare. The two night ponies were more than ready to see them by that point. It was going to be a late breakfast and late to bed. "There's supposed to be one police officer showing up later. So hopefully you won't be here all day," Rosetta informed them as they came in for a landing. "Any trouble last night?" The stallion from the before asked. "Mostly ones that were easy to scare off. There was one guy that had a gun though. We weren't going to be able to stop him from getting in. He took off with things that weren't food though," Remedy said with a hint of shame that the robber had made off with anything at all. "Can't blame you for not doing more in that case. Your lives aren't worth a bunch of human junk," the mare said. The other to pegasi nodded in agreement. "Still makes us mad, but no help for it," Rosetta grumbled. "We won't be back here tonight. We'll be elsewhere, hopefully the humans will figure something out so ponies aren't left guarding their stuff all night," Remedy said. "Hopefully," the stallion agreed. The two night ponies took to the air and headed quickly back to the church. On arrival back at the church it was again abuzz with activity. Most ponies had already been up for a while and eaten. As they came in for a landing they saw Sunset Blessing speaking with several ponies who all sat listening intently to her, Tonya among those. It was most likely Blessing making arrangements for how the daily activities were going to play out. They stopped briefly by the schoolhouse and let the guards know that the ponies guarding the Wal Mart could definitely use some relief tonight and informed them about the state of the police department. The guards simply said they would pass the information on to Agent Simmons. Remedy pressed to try to see Simmons now, but was refused flatly. The two didn't bother with stopping by the AV room to get the spices before eating. They were simply too tired as it was nearly noon by the time they were done dealing with the guards. They simply eat their breakfast quietly, and then retreated to the AV room to get their day's sleep.