The bell rang, the teacher dismissed the class, the students were free to go to their next class, and in Jason’s case it was Physical Education. He went to the locker room, where the jocks were already naked and changing into their training clothes. As usual, Jason could listen to the provoking comments about him, the constant muffled laughter, or the frequent points and stares – “Here comes the Weird!” Every single day it was the same routine of humiliation.

“Albright you sissies, it’s time to work out” Coach Briggs yelled as he entered the gym – “I want 20 minutes of run, then you’ll do 100 sit-ups! NOW!” the big brute man blew his whistle and the boys started running around the court. Soon, the athletes were leading, followed by a few other boys, and at last there came the fat ones but the very last boy of the class, was Jason – he panted as his fragile body couldn’t keep up the rhythm of the other boys.

“Patterson, you’re a real loser! You can’t even run for a few minutes?” He yelled as he followed Jason, blowing his whistle at the boy’s ears, which caused the whole class to laugh at him. Similar situation happened while the boys were doing their sit-ups session, Jason could barely accomplish 20 full sit ups, and he already gasped for air, feeling his weak muscles cramping – “Come on, Patterson, be a man!” the coach yelled as he insisted on restarting the count down each time Jason stopped performing his sit-ups.

Finally the class finished and the boys went straight to the showers, some were laughing, others were just relieved they could go home at last, but Jason knew his miserable day was just about to continue – Jason Patterson’s reputation around the school was so lame, he wasn’t even worthy to pick on, he wasn’t a nerd, or a brilliant student, he was just a pathetic wimp, a weird guy lost in that school with no friend at all!

Jason felt his abdomen aching as he walked back home – the neighborhood was not very beautiful, not to mention that it was quite deserted and dangerous to walk around alone, but Jason couldn’t care less, he just wanted to get home and lay on his bed, where he would stay for the rest of the day.

The security guards were kept hostages inside the janitor room, all tied and their mouths muffled – the thin guy dressed in black clothes and a sky mask typed the laboratory security system code opened the vault and got out with the big metal case, rushing to the parking lot, where his companion waited with the runaway bike – “GO! GO! GO!” He screamed to the pilot as he jumped at the vehicle. They left the ChemTech Labs just before the alarm goes on, the remaining security guards fired their guns, but it was already too late – they had escaped.

The bike went on at full speed down the road; the pilot used his skill to pass between the moving cars with great ease, almost anticipating that the police cars would soon be on their tail, causing a great commotion at the usually quiet street. One of the robbers drew a gun and shot against the police car, aiming for the tires, but he missed the first shots, causing the policemen to fire back at the runaway duo. The chasing continued for another minutes until the policeman managed to hit the hand of the guy holding the metal case, who couldn’t hold the heavy object anymore dropped the stolen object at the road, which given their current speed, slipped all the way to the sidewalk, finally stopping right in front of young man dressed in dark baggy clothing.

“ARGH! MY HAND!” the robber yelled as he felt the sharp pain of the shot at his right hand, he could react fast enough to grab the heavy case…

“HANG ON!” the biker pilot shouted as he made a quick turn, entering a dark narrow alley, where the police cars wouldn’t fit – “This will give us some time!” he said as he followed into the labyrinth of corners and surrounding buildings. Finally, they stopped at one dark corner, where they got rid of the bike – the duo ran to the street – fortunately there was this fat man driving a mini-van stopped at a red light – the poor guy was forced to leave the car, soon the robbers were nowhere to be found by the police cars…

Jason watched the police cars disappearing at the end of the street – “Cool!” he muttered as he looked at the heavy case at his feet – “What the hell is that?” he wondered as examined the case – “ChemTech Labs, it’s that big company at the end of the road!” Jason pondered as he grabbed the heavy case – “Maybe, they offer a reward for that!” the greedy teen wondered as he left the scene as soon as possible before people could see him.

When he got home, he turned on the television to see if there was any report about the persecution he witnessed, but there was nothing there yet – the young man considered the object he had in front of him – the case was really heavy, with a modern locking system – “There’s no way I’m gonna get this open!” he thought, finally deciding to call ChemTech Labs and ask for a reward.

Suddenly, Jason noticed a small crack on the metal lock – probably caused by the shot - his curiosity spoke louder, the young lad grabbed some tools of his stepfather and tried to force the thing. After a few frustrated attempts, he heard something breaking at the inside – “Oh fuck! Now I’ve ruined the stuff!” Jason cursed, just as he finally broke the lock.

“BREAKING NEWS!” the TV announcer said with a serious tone – “Two men dressed in black leather clothes, locked the security guards and stole a metal case at ChemTech Labs this afternoon, the police still is looking for the robbers but the ChemTech scientist alert the citizens to be aware about the stolen material, because it apparently is Bio Hazard! The object represents a serious risk to human health! Anyone who might have found anything suspicious should immediately call the authorities and under any circumstance – I repeat under any circumstance - should try to open the object!”

Jason felt his spine freezing as he heard the TV news. He had just opened the dangerous case!! His first reaction was trying to shut it down again, but it was too late – from within the case he could see a thick green smoke spreading quickly around his room. The young man tried to cover his nose and leave the room, he saw the box had a lot of vials, each one labeled with a code and a different color.

The fumes were getting stronger and stronger, filling his lungs with intoxicating smoke, Jason couldn’t move anymore! He was doomed!

Just then, it started – Jason felt his whole body shaking, convulsing in very painful spasms, he doubled over as he tried to get out of that room, before it was too late! The young man rolled over the floor, but the cramps on his muscles only augmented his suffering.

He felt tight, imprisoned – Jason gasped for air, opening his eyes he noticed why he was suffering – his whole body bulged, his clothing – which was always very baggy and roomy – now seemed to be painted on his body – He was looking just as muscular as a regular jock!

Jason watched marveled as his body continued to fill with more and more muscles! His once flat chest now stood beautifully like a gymnast, his shoulders were full and round, his abdomen showed an increasing definition, his ab-packs popping out, getting bigger, cutter and leaner, his legs thickening, his veins engorging, his waist slimming down, his pale skin, suddenly becoming redder as the blood pumped his muscles even bigger, his whole body grew bigger and stronger just in front of his eyes…

He gasped as the growth made his flannel shirt so tight he could barely move his arms, and then, just as he tried to adjust his shift he heard the sound of his buttons popping out and flying around the room – he has just outgrown his big clothes! His muscles now were even cutter and bigger, his T-shirt underneath his ripped flannel. Jason grinned and pretended he was a bodybuilder, flexing his right arm, he just watched in awe as the biceps grew bigger, like a softball, peaking higher and higher, huge veins, the muscle grew bigger and bigger, until the fabric couldn’t restrain its freedom anymore! He yelled as the muscle broke free, revealing the amazing definition and beauty of that man!

“WOW! Bio Hazard my ass!” He said looking at his new reflection at the mirror – Jason was definitely bigger and more muscular, his short blond hair was still the same, so did his brown eyes, but the face seemed completely different! His look was brilliant, confident, fearless!

“This stuff is wonderful! That’s why they wanted to steal it from ChemTech!” Jason considered as he paid a closer look to the vials – many colors and different labels – “I just wish I could understand something about Chemistry!” Jason said as he carefully searched the case – noticing a tiny broken vial – “This must be the one I broke when I tried to open the stuff!” he carefully grabbed the vial on his hand – a tiny green drop attested the original color of the broken vial – “So, it means Green is for muscle growth!”

Jason smiled, going to the bathroom, he got up on the scale and read his new weight – “Cool! 175 pounds! I’ve never been so big before – considering that I was always at the 140 pounds range it represents a gain of 25 percent…” Jason concluded with extreme ease.

“Hey! I finally understood that stuff!” Jason asked himself, remembering that he never understood those percentages problems, the reason why he flunked in almost every Math test.

Jason paid no further attention; after all he was more interested in his new muscles than on solving simple percentage problems. He kept checking the treasure chest he found – “What else you got?” He asked noticing the vials and labels…

He grabbed a red vial and noticed the beautiful color of the oily liquid inside – “This vial must be pressurized, so once in touch with air, this liquid turns into fumes, which makes easier to be absorbed by the organism…”

Jason stopped once more, he could actually understand the whole biological system of Breathing, and how did the blood cells transport oxygen, and how anything else associated with those cells could be easily transported around the host organism – “This is weird!” He concluded as he closed the box – “Maybe I should rest a little, I’ve seen too much of weird stuff for today!” Jason kept the put the box aside and returned to his bed grabbing the TV remote – “what else is showing?”

The TV showed a quiz program – The announcer asked in his low serious tone “Now, Mr. Smith, to your final question – “Who was the first international authority to use Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone?” The nerd looking guy frowned and the typical suspense music played as his time passed. It seemed he would never know the answer…

“Don Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil” Jason casually said just as soon as the announcer asked the participant. When the bell rang, the guy answered “Napoleon” which caused Jason to bust into laughter – “Oh come on! Napoleon was defeated in 1815!”

The kid could actually remember the day when the teacher commented about the events which led to the Waterloo Batlle – “What the fuck is going on with me?”

Jason finally grabbed his knapsack and retrieved his Physics test – he just copied the questions to a blank sheet, and within a few minutes he had solved all the problems! He knew they were right, the only question he had was “HOW???”

“That stuff must have done something with my mind, besides my muscles! I feel great!” Jason concludes, reaching avidly for the precious metal case – “It made me more intelligent besides stronger and more muscular!”

He opened it once more looking carefully to the vials – “It has so many possibilities!!” Jason smiled as his eyes glistened with the treasure he had just found. •