Vapor

Chapter 1

“Well, I thought I had heard everything that could bring this company down. I thought that we were on a path out of this but no, more legal problems, why did my Grandfather have to invest in tobacco of all things my fortune is nothing but a disease empire. Talking about markets what market do we have anymore at all? Huh? Can you tell me that because I see no market our ratings are going down faster than ever; we are losing our most loyal customers and then this…. Well I want you to all know I resign effective immediately it’s not my problem anymore you can deal with it since you know it all already”. This is Jon Sliver III aka Jonnie, arrogant grandson to the founder of Sliver Corp., he is short tempered and lives for money which has not been coming in like it used to, he is now dealing with an issue unlike any company has ever before. “This meeting is over, and so am I this is it I have nothing left so goodbye”. “No wait sir, we need you we need you to tell us what is going on, what is this that you speak of” said aide Robby. “THIS! Is the end of our company, the end of us all”? “Wait one second son” stepping in was Jon’s father Jon Sliver II. “I may be old and I may be retired but I am not going to let you give in just because you are afraid of losing a little money, here give me the report”. His face grows puzzled and he begins to sweat. “What is this is this joke?” “No it’s no joke the only joke here is us anticipating making any money with this run down company”. “Silence, I am reading and don’t talk about this company like that you are the CEO have some pride”. “OK” says Jon, we are not going to be around much longer if we don’t get this straigtned out, here take the keys were going to summon the board”. He throws the keys to Robby. They drive in there freshly painted black limosine to the head quarters Sliver Tower. “Get Johnny on the phone, he needs to here this” said Jon. Johnny was an old friend of Jon they met in college over there names being similar, it was then that they relized they not only had similar names but they also had similar interests. Johnny was a manager of a local resturaunt at the time, Burger Shack; it was the city’s premier fast food joint. Jon was a straight A student in the university, Donkel University that is. They both were extremely passionate about business. They did not have any interests other than buying and selling products it was then that Jon’s Father died suddenly in a car crash and Jon was given the entire company at the age of twenty one years old to run, to many people’s surprise he raised its earnings the following year, doubled them in ten years and had by the time he was fifty turned the company into a top five company in the world. Johnny was hired by John as a permanent member of the board of directors. Johnny is arguably more intelligent than Jon although he didn’t get to serious about his school work, he was more interested in other things, music for one, but he didn’t care much for school he was the laid back one where as Jon was very rigid. Anyways Johnnie, Jon’s son was made CEO after Jon had a heart attack at the age of 60; he retired and made his young thirty year old son the CEO, hoping he’d have the same flame for selling that he had at a young age. However Jonnie wasn’t interested in business at all he was only interested in the making money part at any cost, he had no time for the constant struggle of business meetings, and the normal work dealings that a CEO had to undertake. The health risk of smoking and the public opinion of cigarettes hurt the company extremely over the last thirty years or so. This was Jonnie’s fifth year as CEO and he was already ready to quit. Jon was interested in buying or merging his company with a Japanese entertainment company both hoping to get their names out more in foreign markets but Jonnie rejected that idea stating it was too much trouble and he did not want to share the spotlight with another company. It was a little after this that the news came out that something horrible took place with products made from the company so horrible that it made one city into a death zone and that is not something any company can come back from.





Chapter 2

It was a typical fall day in Des Moines, Iowa. Far from the huge Metropolitan city that Sliver housed in but a very big city in its own right. It was a busy day lots of traffic and four residents of this sleepy mini metropolis would forever have their lives changed. Ronald Suffolk, a Chinese-American man with gelled black hair, a ladies’ man driving in his new red corvette to work, he had worked at Vainter Center for nine years now, Vainter Center is the headquarters for a food company who produce mostly hot dogs, they are the largest type of company for that in the U.S. now and he has a high up management job in the company, this is the same company that the other three people work for as well although the other three aren’t as high up as Ronald they all have small time factory jobs and they are Garland Percy, Gena Patrik, and Treluna Fabrik. Garland is an upper middle aged African American with a moustache, he is rather large and is also one of the most loved workers in the plant due to his comedic personality. Gena is a thirty-five year old lady, white, with red hair, she is a more serious type and really hates working there but she has to as she is a single parent and most make ends meet for her small son back at home. Treluna is a very beautiful Indian-American lady who immigrated to the U.S. five years ago she hopes to get a better job soon but enjoys the group she works with. The four of them are all chain smokers and often gather together on their break to smoke at least one cigarette. Days are normally busy in Des Moines and even busier once at the company as with many fortune 500 companies there is much to be done especially since the factory and offices are in the same building. Something would be different about today and that something would start with a man named Harrick Feltun, a formally homeless man, he spent much of his life on the streets of Des Moines, he is also a chain smoker but not just a chain smoker he is a chain a lot of things. He has had a small following in the streets of Des Moines because of his claims to heal others. He is a man who would intimidate most people who saw him he stood almost seven feet tall. He has been a fixture on the sidewalks of Des Moines for ten years or so now he doesn’t seem to do much other than lay around the streets however, it is much different than it appears. Not only does he live somewhat of a double life he also has many secrets in his past that no one knows. Although most people don’t care about him he has gained sort of a cult following in the streets of Des Moines for his strange speech which is said to hypnotize people, one man spoke of this in the local news just a week ago after telling him he didn’t have ten dollars to spare he began saying a long speech on various random topics making no sense and he said he began feeling dizzy and he nearly passed out. There have been a number of people disappearing in the city leading many people to believe that there is a serial killer on the loose in Des Moines but no one knows for sure and many people even dismiss the idea although especially now that the new police chief has been extremely tight with the budget not wanting to investigate too far into anything he doesn’t have to. As far back as most people knew Harrick had never worked anywhere, he has never been reported to have been anywhere but on the street there in the city usually sleeping or asking for money. This week that changed for him, he asked for a job in the factory of Vainter and was given the job, as it was a relatively low skilled job he didn’t need an education for it he really didn’t need any credentials and they were short on help so he got the job with ease. So he showed up at work for the first time, he had cut his trademark long beard and even cut his long hair which made him not even appear as the same person, still with a strange look in his eyes and a rather evil face all together, most people welcomed him with open arms and didn’t even consider the idea he was once a homeless man. No one knew he was the man who lurked on the streets of Des Moines, scaring locals and begging for money. He sported this new look for that reason exactly, he didn’t want anyone to know who he was and he defiantly didn’t want anyone to think he wasn’t one of the peacekeepers that followed the rigid rules of the city. He made himself off as a polite, humble, and unsure of himself man who just wanted to be one of the gang. He put in a hard job in the early block working the factory and briefly speaking with Garland telling him he was new in the city just moved here three weeks ago. “Really?” asked Garland.”Well we are a loving city, we welcome you and I hope the city takes you in with love”. “Thank you” said Harrick with a smirk. Garland said “Hey do you smoke man?” offering him a cigarette. “Well yes on occasion” said Harrick taking the cigarette and having it light. The two smoked and continued their job until the lunch break where they all met in the hallway near the snack and drink machines”. As he walked out with Garland to the hallway he introduced Harrick to his group of friends which was the other three mentioned earlier, Ronald Suffolk, Gena Patrik, and Treluna Fabrik. “Where are you from Harrick?” asked Ronald. “Well I am from out near the place you know near that city”. Confused the group figured Harrick was nervous and Treluna offered him a cigarette which he took and smoked with the group. He noticed all four smoked Sliver Cigarettes and that all four were rather chain smokers it seemed, he took note of the generosity they gave with offering him cigarettes and considered it a custom of friendship a way for someone to gain their trust. He finished the day and went back home which was the streets of Des Moines, he was a nomad he didn’t stay in one place at the time, so most people thought he was always on the streets but he normally slept and spent his private time down in the sewers underneath the city. He wasn’t just a homeless man; he was in fact the one responsible for the disappearance of over four hundred citizens in the span of ten years. He was very sly with his motives and was able to make several murders look like house fires and other disasters. The truth is he would lure his followers believing he could heal them of whatever ailments whether it was worry or disease by a session with him underneath the city, the true soul of the city he called it. He then murdered them in various ways over the years getting bored with one method and changing to another. He was a millionaire from stolen money he had stored down in the sewer in a small area dug out by him that no one knows about except the dead that he had pilling up down there. He did not kill for no reason he killed for one reason and one reason only, and that was for a meal. He ate people, but he did feel guilty however his urges kept him from stopping and as his guilt grew and grew he came up with the notion of if other people do this too then its ok. He had always felt this way ever since the first time he tried human flesh at the age of twelve, he was out for the summer and walking in the woods near his house when he found a body of a young girl, he didn’t know what to do he froze, but he soon found himself in a trace with the body of the young girl, around nineteen years old, he could not stop staring at her and he didn’t want to leave her alone so he began holding her and got the idea that she was his girlfriend. He came back to that spot in the woods every evening and kissed her, held her and brought gifts to her until she began rotting. He had told nothing of this to his parents and in the back of his mind he felt this was wrong but he was in love with this body of a young girl who had been murdered in the woods. Her body began to decay more and more and he became more and more depressed over this and felt he was losing her. He came up with the idea that if he took part of her with him that she would be with him always. So he broke of a finger and put it in his pocket, he then felt this wasn’t enough he went back the next night and began hallucinating that the dead girl was telling him to eat her that it was the only way for them to be together and one. So he bite into her and began eating her flesh, he did this until there was nothing left of her but bones, which he then took back with him telling his parents it was rocks he was collecting in the woods. He didn’t do anything of this degree for a span of ten or so years finishing up school and going on to college where he studied anatomy, becoming obsessed with the human body. He was highly successful in college he got a doctors degree in anatomy, he was as intelligent on the human body as that was his passion. His parents were so proud of him and called him at Drake University which is where he was going to invite him back home in Connecticut to have a family party for his success in school. He however declined a party telling his parents he was very sick and did not think he could make it that weekend, it was the last time they ever heard of him. He never returned to Connecticut he began instead meeting many people in Des Moines mostly girls, who he would make lay into the woods near his house and pretend to be dead, he would then murder them and consume of their bodies just as he did the other girl. He every night would place the finger of the first girl he consumed of and talk to it almost as if he was praying to it and tell it how much he loved her, and how thankful he was for all the other girls he had met but that she was his favorite always. Later he stopped being selective in his choices of targets instead going for anyone and everyone he could kill. He had a craving for human meat that he couldn’t resist he felt. He then ran out of money he had saved by spending it lavishly to get people interested in him and to get them to stay with him. He was completely broke and he then applied for a job at the school he went to Drake University. At that time he realized he had traded one of his targets his identity for a night together in his house. The man who he had sold his identity to ran out of the house after Harrick had left the room to go show him his bones. This man was ironically the only person to ever escape the grip of Harrick’s plots. He did not remember this as he was a heavy drug addict another reason for his loss of money. The company did not believe he was Harrick Feltun the prized student the pride of the anatomy department of the university mainly because he did not resemble the man he once was, he was wrinkled, scared and had a long beard and very long hair and all these together made him look completely different than he once did. Most people would have been devastated at this but Harrick said nothing to the Chancellor of the school he walked out and back home not aware that this had even occurred until he woke up from a night’s sleep in a panic search for his diploma, he instead found a coupon for a local pizzeria thinking it was his diploma he ran to the university in the middle of the night to give it to the Chancellor only to see the college was closed, he then in a strange state of mind thought the building was on fire he busted in and found no one inside he fell asleep in the hall way and was found the next morning by students. He told the story to the police and Chancellor who called the psychiatric ward and where he spent the next five years of his life. Recovering or so they though he was let out of the insane asylum, Worchester Asylum that was. He left and went straight for the streets as he had no place to stay at that point and no source of income. That is when his current life started and that brings us to today. After a long day at work and the idea of an income Harrick became obsessed with a way to relive this guilt he had from consumption of people, he searched the libraries of Des Moines and found a plant that was said to smell like human flesh decomposing, it was only found in a remote forest in England but seeing as though he had no way to contact anyone about this plant having no computer, phone, or mailing address he was left in a state of despair and confusing, he went back home with a note he had written about this plant and retreated to his area of the sewer to go to bed.



Chapter 3

The next morning Harrick awakes to find that he has a strong urge for human flesh a compulsion an addiction on like any he had before. Harrick however has been growing more and more troubled by his past and his crimes against humanity, this is in part why he got off the streets and into a job but this is now part of him its part of his dna now he continued with the notion that if other people smoke too then he is not this monster this freak everyone claims he is. In a bit of anger under this urge to murder and dine on human flesh Harrick mutters “I have had it this plant has to be the cure for this horrible addiction.” He knew deep down this was wrong all along he knew it was wrong but he had a very low will power and he didn’t know how to control his urges he had never experienced anything like that night in the woods with the murdered young girl he was consumed by this image of a girl in his arms a girl who wanted him to be a part of her. He obsessed over this notion to the point he believed consumption of human flesh was merely becoming part of another very romantic and very loving. This sprang to random cravings and urges though and this was one of those. He did not show up for work that day instead calling and telling Ronald to tell the boss that he was very sick that he would try to be in soon he was very sorry but he could not make it in it was contagious. He began research on this plant in the library once again compiling a folder of documents on the plant, he found that a flower shop Premier Flowery, had a reputation of ordering rare and unique plants on request, so he headed for there. His urges and cravings grew deeper and he becomes no long the man able to act himself as a sane man now he was a twisted version of himself. He panted heavily his eyes grew watery and he lost the ability to walk right struggling to keep his balance. He entered the flower shop and was greeted by a man asking “Can I help you today sir?” “Ya…ya uhhhh, yea yea help me wont you.”, said Harrick. Harrick grew into unbearable temptation and lunged forward at the man he bite the man’s chests ripping the skin leaving him bloody, the man much bigger than Harrick began fighting him and beating him Harrick took his elbow and broke out the fire axe and jumped at the man in the flower shop slicing off one of his arms then as the man clutched himself he beheaded him leaving nothing but a corpse. Next Harrick began eating the raw meat of the corpse this was the first time since that evening when he was 12 that he had ever consumed raw human flesh, normally he would go back to his home and cook them and even down in the sewer he would roast them with a lighter. He realized he had delved into a new level of horrorible addiction. He took the axe and locked up the front door. He panicked of what to do next he decided to take the man’s head back with him he put it in his bag and took a catalog of rare plants he also stole the laptop there on the desk and fled the scene. He ran threw the back alley ways of the city until he reached a manhole in the street which he ran into. He now had a recipe for disaster, he crawled into his space and placed the head on a table he took the catalog slightly stained with blood and sat it next to the head and then he took out the laptop. He researched extensively this plant until he read a couple of legends on the plant. According to the legend in the middle ages a young jester to the king had mysteriously disappeared in a forest near the castle, years later numerous people began disappearing leaving behind only ravaged body parts, originally the jester was thought to have been a victim but later became thought to have actually became lost and starving and ingested some of this plant the mireikolus plant which gives off the odor of a human body decomposing, it uses this to attract flies similar to a Venus fly trap but the difference is this plant it grows rapidly consuming entire trees killing them in the process. It is also called the conqueror plant. For good reason as the plant would destroy anything in its path, however the population of the plant began dying as it is often eaten by skunks who are said to have an immunity to it. This plant attracts various bugs and usually you know if you are getting near one of these plants as enormous amounts of bugs gather around the plants. Harrick found a number of a man in the U.K. who was in the business of selling rare plants that could not be sold legally. He found that there was an ability to order online but as seeing he had no credit card or anything, he emailed the man offering him various things for a shipment of four of these plants. The man finally agreed that he would give them to him if he came to the U.K. to work for him for free, a crazy offer but not to Harrick as he was obsessed with reliving his conscious and finding a way to easily do this over and over again, Harrick asked for the man whose name was Harvey Top to allow him to take many plants weekly of that type if he came there which he agreed on and the deal was done. Within a week the plants had arrived, by this time Harrick had gone back to work and had worked a few more days now getting more and more of the four co-workers respect and trust, also telling them that he was taking up smoking but hasn’t bought a new pack in a while, Ronald gladly gave him one of his, he noticed also another Sliver, he told them all “one day I will repay all you for all these cigarettes and I’ll buy you all a pack. Harvey Top called Harrick later that evening in a frantic rant telling Harrick that he does not need to have those plants that they have been found to cause urges to violence such as murder and it is possible it even causes urges to consume human flesh as its smell resembles a dead body closely. The reports on the BBC were coming in today, ironic yet perfect for Harrick, he though well instead of using these for me I could easily use this as a way for others to enjoy human flesh too and get him off the hook. He quickly put together if he was able to get these plants into cigarettes then the rest would be a breeze. He walked down the street to a local store and asked for five packs of Sliver cigarettes. He then scurried home to his spot in the sewer and began tampering with the cigarettes stuffing some of the plant into the cigarette finely tuning them to his approval until it appeared as if they were normal a normal pack of cigarettes, he then made sure the packs looked as if they were just bough, he saved one for himself he planned on smoking them after this was all a success. The next morning he walked to work as he did every day. Time went by until the break was almost there he watched his clock steadily, sweating and nervous. Would this go right? He thought. He hoped to finally for the first time since he was twelve be able to be free of this guilt and finally not be the only one who consumes human flesh.

Chapter 4

Once he arrived at the massive sprawling building that he worked at he walked on to his normal stall where he was ready to once again start a day in the hot dog factory just this time he knew something was about to go down and it was most likely going to either be the greatest thing to ever happen to him or the biggest disaster of his life either way he was ready to take the chance. The morning went by like any other long and tiring and when the time for break came rolling around he was so relived. Although this time he was quite nervous in fact he was trembling somewhat which was ironic given that he was a serial killer but his mind was so messed up he did not feel what he was doing now was wrong but he felt his role similar to that of a solider at war, yes they are killing people but those people are the enemy and he justifies it in his mind. Harrick was a master of justifying his actions in his mind but he wasn’t the cold monster he appeared to be he did in fact have feelings and these feelings were showing now as he was scaried of what was about to happen but as the group walked up together to spend their break, Harrick pulled out his brand new pack of cigarettes. He then told everyone “here have one it’s on me, after all these times you gave me one I have finally paid you back” he said with a ha-ha. He was staring at Treluna as she began to put the cigarette in her lips, she began to light it and so did the others, he looked around seeing everyone doing it and he said “will you excuse me I forgot my coat in the factory I’ll be right back”. The four looked at each other kind of weird but kept puffing on the cigarettes. By this time Harrick was running down the hall way out of sight of the four people who felt of him as a new friend. He was headed for the exit as if he just planted a bomb and the building was about to explode. He reached the door tumbling hanging on he saw from the hallway Treluna beginning to look at Gena as if she was a steak just cooked and she hadn’t eaten in days. He watched the others began to look that same way, he then headed to the main room, where the bosses are and the button that would lock the whole factory if pushed, he then pulled out a gun he had and put it behind his back and knocked on the bosses door. The boss opened the door and said “yes how can I help you?” Harrick pulled out his gun and whispered by helping me be free, he shot him In the head and the other board members gathered near him and tried to tackle him he shot them all, then he pushed the button locking the building and barricaded himself in the bosses room then, he threw a chair out the window and crawled out, he began climbing down the skyscraper, and then police surrounded the building, he had began shooting at the police from above the building he then was shot and fell to his death. His terror was far from over, inside the building he just fell from were four hungry cannibals, they smelled the dead bodies of the bosses they went up and fed on them, and eventually began chasing the entire work staff of the building. The police arrived and busted down the building’s main entrance and found hordes of half bitten corpses lined up inside the building. Treluna escaped the building as the police came inside, she then ran into the city. Gaylord ran towards the police as they were the only live “meat” left in the building at that point running straight into the bullet that killed him. The police officers looked at each other wondering what in the world has occurred here, this is like a nightmare and how can a whole factory, a whole skyscraper of employees appear as if some massive bear came in and slaughtered everyone there. So by this time some five hundred plus people were dead, many there entire bodies bitten on as if they were part of a buffet and everyone took a bite of what they wanted like a box of chocolates. Blood was gushing down the elevator as the police tried to open it blood came out to their knees. The two officers boarded the elevator to the top floor which is where Harrick had tried to escape from. So the other two were still in the building somewhere. As soon as they reached the top floor what they saw was even more horrifying, there was Ronald chewing on the corpse of a young lady who was one of the management of the company one of the highest ranked people, and she had been earlier killed by Harrick himself. As the police officers stood there Ronald looked up and began crawling in an inhuman way towards the two officers, one of the officers then shot. Ronald fell to the ground. The two officers kept walking and as they passed Ronald’s corpse he bite one of the officers legs and tore out part of it, blood began gushing out of his leg. The other officer then shot Ronald some fifteen times killing him. He took part of his shirt and wrapped it around his leg. They entered the main room of the bosses. There were mounds of corpses laying there with blood all over. The two officers were more and more scared by what they saw. Then in the corner they saw something move across really fast and it was Gena she pounced on one of the officers and began to talk, the first time they had heard one of these people talk. She began trying to seduce the officer; he was on the ground and could not do anything. She then opened his shirt and rubbed it and then ripped out his heart, and began eating it blood all over her face. The other officer screamed in horror and she looked over at him smiling. She then picked up his gun and pointed it to the other officer and said shall I make seconds out of you? He ran as fast as he could to the elevator which was blocked by bodies lying around he kicked the bodies out of the way but the elevator was not working. He then took part of someone’s clothing and wrapped it around and hung himself as Gena was running towards him like a leopard. The building full of dead meat for Gena. The police force was horrified and they closed off the building they were unable to enter. That was five months ago, since then the building was blocked off for a few weeks until it was demolished by bombs detonated because of the inability to enter it to kill Gena. Gena is believed to have died in the explosion but no one is sure. Treluna escaped and her whereabouts are unknown, although numerous people have gone missing in the months since. This city will never be the same again and neither will Sliver Corp, who was blamed for the cigarettes containing this product, and Harrick was never thought to be a murderer let alone a cannibal. The police force thought he was an innocent person who was tried to escape the terror of the people who were craving his meat. Injustice and horror two things that became the future of Des Moines, Iowa after this incident.