(c) GratefulFred
Part 1
Working for the FDA wasn't the ideal job I set out to do, but it was a job like any job - it paid the bills. I was assigned to the poultry division and further categorized in the fried foods department. Seemed kind of boring considering that, off the record, we really couldn't go accuse any of those big chains of any wrongdoing and usually frying killed off everything including nutrients.
I still remember the day I got the call. There seemed to be a disproportioned number of people complaining out in Topeka Kansas at a new fast food chicken shop, so I was dispatched. I started interviewing the people who apparently had come down with something. People of all ages and sizes all had the same recurring story, which always seemed the same...
A few hours after ordering chicken nuggets, they started hearing some voice inside their heads telling them to take their life's savings and bring it to the same warehouse on the edge of town. The voice was that of someone who identified himself as "The Chicken Nugget King" and his orders were hypnotic in nature. The money totally vanished.
The fast food chicken spot had closed down and the owner had gone missing. With search warrant in hand, I found not a shred of evidence that chicken nuggets were even served. More so, the place was fingerprint free, which I found to be incredibly unlikely.
The owner was found in a nearby field brutally cut up in pieces with of course no fingerprint evidence. I had run into a dead end, and with such a fantastic story, I was sure I'd get myself demoted.
Arriving back in the office, the boss called me in. He didn't ask for any of the details from the investigation, but did manage to tell me that from this point on the case was closed. No explanations - just closed.
As I walked home that evening, I felt watchful eyes watching my every move...
Part 2
The suspense was simply killing me as I walked over to the shadow that was following me. He told me to stop where I was as he spoke from the darken Alleyway. A patch of cigarette smoke emerged from his darkened form.
"I know you have a lot of questions about what happened in Topeka, but I must warn you, if you delve too much into these matters, your life will be forfeited quite expediently" spoke the smoking man.
"A shop owner has been murdered, people have been robbed by some cockamamie chicken nugget king, and I'm supposed to be quiet?" I responded.
The smoking man stood there in silence as I walked away back to my apartment. Arriving at my residence, I hesitated before putting in the key to the building door. Looking back I saw two people in a car across the street. Some smoke came from the back seat.
A loud explosion threw me off my feet. The next thing I knew I was being pulled from a wreck and voices were coming in and out. My building had been blown up and some twelve people had been killed I later learned.
I spoke not a word as I lie there in the hospital bed recuperating from some minor injuries I sustained. I knew I was onto something - something big. Something that wanted me to be silent and was willing to kill me or anyone around to keep this matter closed.
But as I lie there in bed, I knew the truth was out there. And the truth was worth finding out.
Part 3
I had a friend from college that I knew I could trust. Her name was Chase, and though our paths kept us apart, we always shared a mutual bond of friendship. From a payphone I called her and explained what was up. She arranged for me to be picked up by a special cab, using a special password, and after being shuffled from one car to another I finally made it safely to her pad.
Chase was well connected and had some small amount of knowledge of what went on in Topeka from the newspapers, which only reported that people had gotten themselves swindled by some stockbroker types. That night we attempted to hack into a classified government computer to get some more answers. I had a theory on how I could access some additional information. When prompted for the password we typed in "Chicken Nuggets" which fit perfectly, and soon our mind exploded with much intensive information.