The Side Effects

Stephanie’s heart attack came sudden.  The government went after her formula as soon as they heard of her death. Unfortunately, the formula they had obtained from her was mediocre at best.  She had kept a secret formula.  Mr. Jones was furious.

“The woman was evil.  She made people die from obesity.  She made the poor suffer while the rich survived. We could have made her products in abundance if she just shared, instead she threatened and profited.  All for what?  To die, leaving her money for no one, no charity, and no real formula.”  Jones had remembered his aunt and her suffering.  She had tried everything to lose weight, including fasting for days.  She didn’t deserve it, no one did.

“We are doing our best to replicate it, but she had to have synthesized the ingredients with something else.  It’s best we put out what we have for now.  It should help, but it won’t be as good.”  The R&D technician was talking and working, not paying attention to Jones snooping eyes.  “By the way, we found out there were people working for her who had spread the problem into other countries for profit.  It may be why it had spread into a worldwide problem sooner than expected. Either way, now we are in the same position before she became successful.”  He said.

“I’ve heard.  We can’t burn everywhere down.  And we can’t eat that shit too.  If I was in charge of that legal case, I would have sent everyone from that criminal company to death row.  It’s murder that they created.” Jones walked away furious.

The government mandated their version as a required vaccine.  People were lined up outside of clinics and hospitals in desperate attempts to save their lives.  Jones, himself, was running out of Stephanie’s supply.  He would soon have to take the government’s version.  The liquid version for crop control worked some, it slowed down the growth timeline, but not the abundance factor. They were still looking for improvements for their formula.

Weeks had gone by before Jones became desperate.  He was back in the lab.

“Where are we with this? We need improvements now!” He said.

“We’re doing our best sir.” A lab attendant said.

“Do you know what kind of hell we are dealing with?  Sickness is skyrocketing.  What are you guys doing?” Jones was surveilling the lab.

“We’ve heard.  We’re trying our best.  We were instructed to work on the sickness first.  Another team is working on perfecting the formula.” The lab technician said.

“This entire thing has gone to hell.” Jones coughed.  “There are scientists that believe that some people can pass their sickness onto others, because of the miracle plants.”  He coughed vigorously before continuing, “I think that’s what happened to me.  Now look at me, whooping cough.  Something that a child had at the clinic while waiting to be seen.  Who will go to the doctors anymore?  Even the doctors are having a hard time staying healthy.” Jones let out a coughing fit.

“We’ve heard, but it’s not everyone.  Some people are more susceptible to getting sick and can’t pass on anything.  They are the unfortunate receivers.”

“What?  You mean some people can pass their sickness to others while others receive it?  Shit!” Jones coughing, couldn’t believe it.  He left the lab realizing he had yelled at them one too many times.  He was a receiver and couldn’t give.  There was no way he could pass his sickness off onto another person.  It was a living nightmare.  All he could think about was forming a special team of receivers to work on a cure for themselves.  He wasn’t planning on spending the rest of his life sick from other people’s ailments.