(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.
Project "Chicken Nuggets" was a Chinese plot to steal the world’s supply of gold. Chicken -> Yellow -> Chinese Nuggets -> Gold. Furthermore it was the US Republican party that was in cahoots with the Chinese to steal this gold, if the Chinese would help them get reelected. The chicken processing plants that made the tasty nuggets for most, apparently all, the fast food restaurants had some drugs in them that opened people up to powerful hypnotic suggestions. Developed by the Chinese this could help the Republicans keep in power. The test case was in Topeka. Soon it would be used around the US and thereafter the world.
A notice that our computer's address had been spotted caused us to shut the computer off. Chase's security software system saved us that night as two fighter planes buzzed over the rooftops.
Huddled together we had realized that what we had stumbled across something that was bigger then life. We knew that we couldn't publish this information or even stop the distribution of chicken nuggets. Our only chance was to find the one being that could change the tides our way. To find that one mysterious being whom voice could save the United States and the world from utter destruction. Our quest before was to find - the one - the only - Chicken Nugget King!
Part 4
The phone rang once and stopped. We stared at it unwilling to pick it up. We closed the blinds and shut the lights. The phone rang again one time and stopped. Chase and I huddled together in fear that we had been found out. Holding her close brought back some good old memories. Feeling her next to me was something special - I forgot how special it was. We kissed in that moment of fear and found comfort in each other’s embrace. We made love right their on the office floor. It was something for the ages. Later I noticed that the cell phone in my pants pocket had accidentally called out. I didn't think it was a good time to tell Chase about that one...
Part 5
With access to the FDA computers I found out that the largest producer of chicken nuggets last year wasn't even figured in this year's calculations. That got me suspicious as I reasoned that someone was beginning to erase evidence, but not fast enough apparently. The other top ten companies had gone out of business even though they still were producing in the millions of tons. I told Chase that one company supplied the US and possibly the world. A facility that wasn't even inspected. The ramifications were clear.
We gathered our belongings and took off on that long drive at about 1pm. Chase had told me that no matter how things turned out, somehow, someway, we'd have to make the truth known. We took that oath together on that desolate stretch of highway.
2:30pm an army roadblock stopped us. They looked inside our car and explained that a fugitive had broken out from jail and they just wanted to be on the safe side. We wished them good luck as we went along our way. As I looked out the window I noticed that one of the largest chicken processing plants I had ever seen was over to my left even though the map we had showed that the plant we were looking for was some 50 miles away, I knew that this was our place.
We checked into a nearby hotel at about 3:15am. The owner said a lot of strange things had been going on at night. I tried to act conversational but not overly eager. He told me that there have been UFO sightings almost daily out by the old government nuclear plant. “But the thing is - it's supposed to be closed down” he told me. I thanked him for his time as he gave us our keys.
We spoke little that night as we got in bed. I detected a smell of some gas (not my own) as did Chase, but it was too late as we realized we'd been drugged.