BioCorp Industries Part 1

**** In this story, taking place in the near future, men are offered a deal they just can't resist. Will Darren be able to stop BioCorp from fattening the whole city, or will the town follow in a downwards spiral into gluttony? ****

“No man, it’s totally legit.” Andre said, waiving his wrist over the cashier’s biometric scanner. “You’ll see, and you’ll regret you kept your boring job for so long!”

Darren rolled his eyes, tapping his outdated card against the cashier station’s scanner. “You’ll do anything that avoids you getting a legitimate job. I almost trusted the vids I’ve been seeing on this, but I know it’s fake if you’re getting involved.” Suddenly his method of payment was making him feel a bit primitive compared to his friend’s new tech.

“We’re not even the first city that BioCorp has helped, Darren. Didn’t you see what they did for Las Vegas a few years back? Completely revolutionary, it’s the way of the future. Universal base income, no job required, and it even includes an unlimited food budget. You gotta stop hating.”

Darren grabbed his turkey burger and sweet potato fries off the automated delivery tray. “Whatever you say, man. It’s your livelihood at risk if this whole thing falls through. And besides, Vegas’ obesity rates skyrocketed within the first year BioCorp took over.”

The two of them made their way back to their table to sit with their other friends. Together the four of them made a fairly handsome bunch, easily grabbing the attention of any man walking into the burger joint.

Andre’s biceps bulged as he set his ridiculously fully packed tray down on the table. Bruce’s dark eyes widened as he caught a glance at the shorter man’s overpacked tray. “Damn man, did you order for the whole table?”

“No but check this out.” Andre said, pointing at the bandage on his wrist with a scruffy grin. “Got injected by BioCorp today. This is just part of their free food package.”

“I still can’t believe you’re being their guinea pig,” Darren said, concern showing in his brow. “I just finished analyzing the data for the office last week. The average person gained over 200lbs from the time Biocorp showed up to the end of last quarter.”

Levi chucked, stealing a burger off of Andre’s stack piled high. While definitely leaning towards the muscular side, Levi was no stranger to piles of food himself. Him and Andre had always been the two who enjoyed food the most in the group; Levi’s smooth, fluffy stomach and hefty pecs showing beneath his tight tank top demonstrating his weakness for food. “Must be pretty good for your bulking season if this is the amount of food that the biometric injection gets you.”

Andre smiled even bigger. “No more temp work either, so I just get to hit the gym every day and try all the new food in town. This is going to be one hell of a bulking season.”

The boys got back to talking about life, how their jobs were going, how their dating lives sucked or how their fuck went last night. All the usual topics of a group of mid to late 20 year olds. They were so engrossed in conversation that Darren would be the only one who noticed that Andre was able to eat every burger and fry packed high on his tray without struggle.

Unsettled by the inhuman amount of food that an in shape, 5’7 man could stuff into himself, Darren went home to his modest apartment and looked more into BioCorps’ invasion of Las Vegas. The package seemed pretty promising on paper. You receive universal basic income equal to 150% of your previous year’s earnings, cost of living raises yearly, loyalty program bonuses, and unlimited free food. The only catch? You have to exclusively use their biometric injected chip for all transactions.

Darren dug a bit deeper into the depths of his internet search. Why was nobody outside of work talking about what happened with Vegas’ average weight increase? All the news stories he could find were singing praises of what amazing things BioCorp were doing for the city. After a few hours of research, he stumbled upon a forum with a link to a blurry video that would solidify his choice to never get the BioCorp injection. The low quality video, shaky in its filming, showed a nightmarish scene of a thin man walking through a dim hallway in an unknown building.

The audio was difficult to discern, but Darren could catch bits and pieces through his American accent. “... and that’s when the gyms closed. After that none of the clothes… and so much food everywhere… the kegs delivered… Look at this shit, look here.” The man came to the end of the hallway and flipped his device’s camera to pan to a bedroom sized room with 2 super obese men in nothing but small t-shirts that barely cover their plump and expansive man boobs. While otherwise naked, their manhood was hidden by the plumpness of their expansive thighs and bellies. Both men were apparently in ecstasy, sucking thick liquid from tubes coming out of kegs attached high on the wall. Their large, rounded bellies seemed to grow bigger by the second as they greedily sucked down the thick liquid. The video ended abruptly.

Darren quickly sent a link to the video to the group chat.

> Darren: *Attachment sent* You guys call me paranoid, but there’s a video of the weird shit in Vegas going on.

> Levi: You are paranoid. That video looks like it was filmed on a toaster and made for views

> Bruce: it’s still sketchy, i’m not getting injected anytime soon

> Darren: If at all. I’m telling you guys that the datasets we’ve been receiving at work are insane

> Andre: I’ll be sure to keep this all in mind tomorrow morning when I’m swiping for donuts :D

> Bruce: 🤦🏾‍♂️

—----------

A month later in his office cubicle, Darren’s personal phone lit up with Levi’s golden-locked, strong jawed contact picture.

He answered the call. “Hey what’s up?”

Levi’s voice was hushed in a whisper. “Yo man guess where Andre and I are at?”

“It is Tuesday at noon, but I’m guessing Andre didn’t come to pay you a surprise visit at work, huh?”

“Nah fuck that shit. Marketing was bullshit and it’ll always be bullshit.”

“So where are you two, then?” Darren asked, his stomach sinking.

“We’re waiting for my injection appointment at BioCorps. You and Bruce need to get your asses down here and get on this deal!”

“You can’t be serious. Go back and watch that video, do you really want our city to end up like that?”

Levi chuckled, “Guess Andre and I are goners! Hey I gotta go, but let’s meet up for sushi tonight.”

“Wait no, it’s only been a month and Andre’s already looking-” The call ended as Levi had hung up. Darren ran his fingers through his thick, dark hair and sighed. He looked over to his mini fridge containing a salad and sparkling water. ‘Maybe if I keep up my healthy routine not too much will change around here’ he thought to himself.

That night at the sushi restaurant, Darren immediately noticed how much more busy the place seemed to be than the last time they went. Servers darted around frantically, carrying trays filled with sushi rolls, tempura, and desserts. Darren found his friends at a table in the back, Andre and Levi already digging into their individual sushi platters with a few empty plates stacked on the table.

Bruce gave Darren a knowing side eye. “Apparently they came here after Levi’s injection and have been eating ever since.”

Levi looked up from his california roll. “Dude you’ve got to try this, here this roll is on me.”

“No thanks,” Darren said, eying the roll with suspicion. In that moment he promised himself to never eat anything bought from a BioCorp transaction. “I think I want something a little lighter.”

“Yea you two are making me want a side salad tonight.” Bruce added, his hand absentmindedly running over his washboard abs. “Especially Andre.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Andre asked, his chubbier cheeks full of fried calamari. In the last month Andre had gained a considerable amount of weight. His fitted t-shirt hugged his bloated belly, a thin sliver of pudgy, hairy flesh exposing itself down at the bottom. It was quite a change considering that his chronically unemployed status over the years had allowed for plenty of time in the gym and a toned physique. Now his scruffy cheeks were filled out and an inch or two of thickness spread all over his plumped body.

“It means you’ve gotten fat since you got injected.” Bruce said matter of factly.

“Hey,” Levi interjected, mouth half full. “He’s not fat, he’s just on a bulk. We are about to get shredded.”

“When does the cut start?” Darren asked.

“Well, I’ve had a lot to do this last month, but Levi and I start hitting the gym like crazy tomorrow.”

Darren looked to Bruce, Levi and Bruce had been living together for years. “Can you make sure that happens? We don’t need two Andres in this group”

“I’ll do my best,” Bruce promised.

—-----

A few months later ->

> Darren: Data just came in at the office for this quarter. Apparently over 50% of our city has the BioCorp injection

> Bruce: that explains a lot of the weird shit going on, didn’t realize the numbers were so high.

> Darren: How’s Levi been?

> Bruce: becoming less interested in anything but food by the day since biocorp mandated mandatory delivery service

> Darren: Oof. Still no gym?

> Bruce: still no gym

> Darren: I think I should check on Andre after work. It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve heard from him

> Bruce: good idea. keep me updated

> Darren: Of course, you too.

> Bruce: *Attachment sent* -a picture of Levi on the couch, shirtless and watching tv. His previously fluffy stomach had expanded out to a smooth, rounded and distended belly that sat on his chunky thighs. His once muscular pecs were covered in several layers of fat, and stuck out in either direction. He was surrounded by fast food trash, and had several open boxes of pizza in front of him.-

> Darren: Fuck, he’s fatter by the day.

> Bruce: unfortunately

**Part 2 coming next week