“Come one come all! Try our newest concoction freshly made daily! It’s been formulated to boost vitality, reverse aging and treat most common illnesses!”

The people of Haile walked by the raving man without making eye contact. The regional con-man had set up shop in their sleepy little town and was spreading his lies again.

“Free samples of our skin toning creams with any purchase of today's special vitality tonics! It's a steal in any economy! Ladies and gentlemen, don't miss out!”

The peddler shouted to the crowd of passing citizens in the market.

The Apothecary traveled all over the nation selling tonics, concoctions, and elixirs. He was a medicine man though everyone believed him to be a fraud as he had never been seen using his medicine to save a life.

This plague doctor never healed the sick but rather seemed to always infect more with his poisons and drugs. They also seemed to corrupt the souls of once good people.

Dressed all in black he roamed from town to town dragging a busted up, and worn out cart full of potions, struggling to sell even one.

“Mister! You look like you have something troubling on your mind!” he shouted into the crowd at a middle-aged man with dark circles under his eyes.

“Who me? No no no! I don't want what your selling!” the man shouted as he broke eye contact and quickly left the market.

*Sigh* “Not the one, I guess. How about you sir! How would you like an elixir to make you strong enough to face down a fiend with no fear?”

The people shuddered. Fiends were broken humans that roamed the countryside preying on livestock and lone travelers. They were ghastly creatures whose processing capabilities died off and couldn't maintain their radiation resistance. They became twisted violent killing machines that were a blight on rural towns like Haile.

“Fend off fiends by the flock with the newly crafted fiend fragrance bomb. The caustic cloud released by this concoction will burn up a fiend's neural network, rendering them harmless! For just 5 sacks of wheat, you could own this rare potion!”

A man stepped out of the crowd and locked eyes with the merchant of death. This man was the local bounty hunter and often killed fiends for sport.

“I'd like to take as many as you have!”

*Gasp*

The townspeople looked on, shocked at the bounty hunter. He of all people should know not to trust a vagrant merchant.

“All I have sir is 30 sacks worth. Are you sure?”

“I said I'd take them all. I'll have the wheat brought to you in the morning, agreed?”

30 sacks of wheat! The townspeople nearly shouted in shock and horror at the wealth the bounty hunter had accumulated. He treated half a year's worth of food as pocket change.

“Thank you kindly, sir. I look forward the exchange.”

The Apothecary went back about his business for the remainder of the day until the sunset and the shadows grew darker.

Shade crept out of alleys and enveloped the town. Dim candle lights illuminated the blackened streets from windows above.

The Apothecary closed up his shop and made his way toward the town's tavern to rent a room for the night.

Within the tavern, a lively celebration was taking place. The bounty hunter companies had returned with fresh meats from their hunts. Nearly the whole town was present to take part in the celebrations.

“Wealth, meat, woman! And good booze! What more could a man want from a town!” The hunter leader shouted as he raised his cup of ale and drained it.

In the corner of his eye, he spotted a man in black with piercing eyes glaring at him through the lenses of a gas mask that closely resembled a bird. It was that merchant from before.

‘Strange, that man never stays anywhere but his beloved trailer’

The underlings to the hunter took note of the man as well. Something was off. Something they couldn't narrow down; that man was not one to join in a celebration.

“Hey boss, this almond ale is pretty bitter do we have anything better in stock?” a worker asked the bounty hunter.

“Are you drunk? This is a peach infused honey mead.”

That was it. The hunters face paled as he realized what his instincts were warning him about. As his gaze swept the room he could see others beginning to slow down as if they were becoming drowsy.

“My head.”

The man next to the hunter dropped his head to his hands in pain. There it remained.

The Apothecary smiled under his mask as he waltzed out onto the floor admiring his own work.

“Ladies and gentlemen! You have sinned in the eyes of God, and I “Death's Messenger" have come to demand you answer for your sins!”

‘What was this’ the hunter thought. His hands began to shake slowly. No matter how he tried to stop the shaking it wouldn't stop.

“You bastard! What have you done to these people?!”

“What have I done? You, sir, are the one who leads these sheep off the path and into the shadowy valley of death.”

The hunter's vision started to blur as he cursed toward the man before him.

“I'll kill you bastard! I've done nothing wrong! How dare you or your gods judge me!”

“I was contracted to eliminate one… bounty hunter of Haile… for the crime of murder, rape, theft, and extortion. You, sir, may believe what you've done was pure in your twisted heart but to me, you're rotten to the core. Greed corrupted your heart and poisoned your mind.”

The Apothecary adjusted his mask as he opened a can of gas from his pocket and tossed it into the air.

“Nano-genix, a potent combination of acidic compounds like sulfur and carbonated alkaloids and a short-life nano organism. They will devour everything in this room before sun up. They are my greatest invention. Research funding all thanks to the families of the young women you and your men have murdered. So in a way you doomed yourselves to this fate a long time ago.”

“I did ….”

“You did nothing wrong? Was that what you were about to say? Bounty hunter… it's too late for you. The poison you ingested hidden in your food and drinks will cripple your organ functions and disable the nanites in your bloodstream. Your body will degrade in a matter of days and you will become a fiend. No matter what you say, your fate is sealed.”

The hunter's eyes had completely lost sight and his hearing was failing. He barely had the strength to hold his head up. As the cloud descended and began to burn his lungs.

The Apothecary walked out of the tavern as the lights went out. Outside in the streets, the first man who had broken eye contact in the market was standing with a sack of gold.

“Death's Merchant. You've killed again. This time for more than money. Thank you, those men were scoundrels and deserved nothing less” he said as he tossed over the gold.

“Thank you, Sheriff, but it's always for the money. I'll be going now, I wouldn't enter the tavern till sunrise those nanites are hungry little bastards.”

The sheriff let out a nervous laugh at the thought of the micro-organisms devouring bodies within meters of his person. The thought disgusted him deeply.

“Oh, merchant? How did you manage to hide a poison from everyone in there?”

“I didn't. From the moment I entered earlier I've been emitting an odorless poison which once inhaled and begins breaking down the body's nervous systems, the afflicted will taste bitter almonds and spoiled peaches. The alcohol both served as an accelerator and distraction from the poison they were breathing. They just noticed far too late.”

The sheriff shivered at the apothecary's explanation. But before he could ask another question the apothecary turned away and began to walk toward the center of town.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Sheriff, I have medications to sell and a cart to empty before I have to move towns. There's no time to continue idle chatter.”