Chapter 19
The Devil's Nectar
Jason left Leo still surfing the internet, and headed home. The most logical conclusion concerning his friend's vision was Leo was insane. But what if he wasn't, and it was real? What if the world became like his all-time favorite game, “School's Out”? That would be so neat. It was all he could do not to jump up and down from joy. Even a short run-in with Brick couldn't put a damper on his excitement.
After entering his house, brushing leaves and stickers from his clothes as he did so (Brick had pushed him into a pricker bush), he was attacked by a giant monster.
“HEY JASON! CHECK ME OUT I'M RIPPED!” Jason's older brother, Chris shouted as the 6-foot, 200-pound, eighteen-year-old effortlessly picked Jason up like he was a toddler, high enough to bump Jason's head against the ceiling, before dropping him, causing him to land painfully. “And I don't even exercise! Bio-Blessed is the greatest thing ever!” Chris ran out the front door.
Ow. Jason waited to be sure Chris was gone before he got to his feet and limped to his bedroom. If he'd somehow gotten really lucky and the world was going to turn into his favorite VR game next month, he needed to level up in the game, fast.
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It would also mean his older brother would turn into one of those fast-moving zombie Afflicted Leo kept talking about. Jason wasn't sure what to think about that.
***
Leo found the article after hours of online searching.
The God's House Church of Fellowship is a hate group of so-called Christians strongly disapproving of Bio-Blessed.
“Nothing blessed about Bio-Blessed. It's the devil's nectar,” this church's pastor, a small woman named Gretchen Whiteworth, said. “We had a cancer patient taking Bio-Blessed and... (passage removed due to the false and inflammatory nature of the statement)
The article went on to discuss how the sane denominations were trying (so far unsuccessfully) to shut this and other bad churches down.
The church in question was in the city, five miles from his house. Considering the pastor called Bio-Blessed “the devil's nectar,” just like Trent had, it couldn't be a coincidence. Trent had to be a church member.
That evening Leo moaned and kept ice packs on his face when his parents were around. So, after a long lecture from Dad about conflict management and going to the principal if he felt threatened, his parents let him take the next day off.