Brave Pills

The Midnight Ad "Brave Pills" was written by u/RoseBlack2222 and posted to r/MidnightPaper.

The text of the post and Ad was as follows:

This is a warning. You see, something happened with my friend a few days ago. I don’t want to get into too much personal shit of his. To make a long story short, he and his wife are divorced. He’s been depressed because he’s supposed to see his kids on the weekend but with quarantine, he hasn’t been able to other than over the phone or through Skype.

Anyway, we happen to live close by. He asked me if I wanted to come over. I could tell he was feeling down, namely due to the slurred way he was talking. Both of us have been pretty good about washing our hands and stuff so I figured it would be okay to pay him a visit. Now, I don’t want to give the false impression, Carl is an alcoholic.

However, when he gets in a down mood, he can hit the bottle pretty damn hard. I rang his doorbell. The smell of whiskey hit me when he opened the door. Carl was standing in gym shorts and a plain white shirt with stains I did not desire to know the origins of. He gave me a drunken smile.

“Devon,” he laughed. “Come on in. Sorry about the smell.”

“It’s alright,” I said, trying to keep my nose from wrinkling at the smell but not being too successful.

Carl’s tone suddenly became less cheery.

“No, it’s my fault. I wasn’t able to see them again.”

“Didn’t you call them?”

“Yeah, I did. It’s not the same, though.”

I’m going, to be honest. I’m not what you would call the counseling type. At most, if somebody airs their grievances to me, I’ll listen. I’ll offer to the best of my ability something that may cheer them up and will give some words of advice. However, if they’re looking for some profound words of wisdom, I’m just not the person they’ll get it from. Still, I did my best to lift Carl’s spirits.

“I know. It sucks that they can’t come over with everything going on. Why don’t we do some things to get your mind off this for a little while?”

“That sounds good right about now. I actually made some brownies I want you to try.”

He said brownies in a way that let me know he meant they had weed in them. Carl has dealt with anxiety issues throughout his life and it helps him with that. He’s become a bit of a stoner as a result. A couple brownies later and we were sitting together on his couch, playing some games and laughing at something that probably wasn’t that funny. Hours went by and we fell asleep.

I woke up on the floor the next morning. Carl was still asleep. Not wanting to be a dick, I tried being silent while getting up. I was able to do this until I tried going out his front door so I could get to the store. I tripped over something.

“Shit,” I yelled, managing to catch myself on the door frame.

“Are you alright?” I heard Carl ask, having been woken from his sleep.

“Yeah, I just tripped over something.”

I glanced down at the object in question.

“The Hell?” I said.

“What is it?” Carl murmured, rubbing his eyes.

“I think it’s some kind of newspaper.”

“Huh?”

“See for yourself.”

I pointed to it. Bound by string, was a black newspaper.

“Wait,” Carl said. “This doesn’t make sense. I live in an apartment complex. We don’t even get regular newspapers, let alone weird black papered ones.”

The circumstances of exactly how the newspaper had come to be in front of Carl’s front door puzzled us. For one, you need a card or for someone to allow you access to be let in. For another, the apartment curfew is at ten, and because noise in the hallway tends to get amplified. This means we would’ve heard the sound of it getting dropped off or the creaking of footsteps at the very least. Carl grabbed it and placed it on his kitchen table.

“Maybe someone put it there as a prank?” I suggested.

“Not a very creative one if it is.”

“Are you going to open it?”

“Yeah but you read it.”

The reason he requested I do is that after nights of heavy drinking his hangovers cause him to get headaches when tries to read anything for a lengthy period of time. He pulled on the string, causing it to come done and the paper to unroll.

“Alright. Let’s see what we got here,” I said, picking up the paper.

I cleared my throat and began reading.

Brave Pills Nov 8, 2020 ''Folks, I’m here to tell you all about a revolutionary new product that’s sweeping the town! Yes, that’s right. It’s Brave Pills! Unless you’ve been living under a rock then you’ve probably seen this product in stores.''

At this point, I should mention neither of us had ever heard of this product. We even checked online for it and couldn’t find anything. I was ready to dismiss the paper as a prank feral. However, Carl insisted I kept reading it, He seemed genuinely interested in these pills.

''If for whatever reason you haven’t heard of this miracle of modern medicine, I will be happy to tell you all about it. You see, I’m a man that likes getting straight to the point, Therefore, I named my product after what it does. Brave Pills can give even the most cowardly of people guts like iron. All it takes is a single pill and lasts for three days.''

''Now, if you haven’t heard of them you may be understandably skeptical. As a matter of fact, I’m picturing you rolling your eyes right now. That’s why I’m saying not to just take my word for it. Listen to these satisfied users of Brave Pills. Trust me when iI say there are plenty.''

Underneath the paragraph was a list of quotes and names.

''“I thought I’d never work up the courage to ask a girl out. Then I found out about Brave Pills and now I have confidence like you wouldn’t believe.”- Henry Stevenson.''

''“Before I took brave Pills I didn’t think I would ever get the courage to tell my boss of and quit my job. Now, I have my own business.” - Gina Harlenson.''

There were a number of comments similar to these. Below them, the sales pitch continued. I really wish I hadn’t read this last part to Carl.

''Now if that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will. If it did, you may be wondering where exactly to get such a fine product. That’s simple. All you have to do is fill out the form below, cut it out, and put it in the mail. We’ll send you your first bottle.''

Underneath this was a cutout section with different questions. They asked for the name of the person ordering, their address, and their reason for ordering the pills.

“Well, I’ll give them points for effort. This is pretty elaborate for a prank,” I said, placing the newspaper back onto the table and yawning. “Welp, I’m going to head out. Want anything?”

“No thanks.”

Carl seemed to be studying the paper and lost in thought.

“Okay, well, see you in a bit then.”

A short trip later and I went back to the apartment. I knocked on the door to be let in and got no response.

“Carl?” I called. “Can you let me back in? I got bagels.”

I held a large bag of it in my hand along with some cream cheese. I began to wonder if maybe he had gone into the bathroom when I heard him call out to me.

“Sorry, Devon, I didn’t know you had already gotten back.”

“It’s fine. Where were you, though?”

“At my mail slot.”

“Oh. Well, make sure you clean whatever you got from it.”

He nodded and unlocked the door. You ever get that feeling when you step into a room that something is different but you can’t quite place your finger on what it is? I got that feeling almost immediately when I stepped back into Carl’s apartment. My eyes scanned the room and fell upon the newspaper. I went over to it.

“Carl?” I said, placing the food on the table and opening the paper back up. “Did you actually cut out that part of the paper?”

I glanced at him and he was visibly embarrassed.

“Yeah, I put in my mail slot when I went to check it.”

“No offense but this seems like really odd behavior for you. Why would you play into such an obvious hoax?”

He shrugged.

“I don’t know. It happened to be more of an impulse thing, to be honest. Don’t get me wrong. I know it probably won’t amount to anything. Still, I figured what harm could there be in trying?”

A lot as it turned out. Although, we didn’t know that at the time. We talked for a little while and I left around eight. The next day I woke up to my phone ringing and saw Carl as the caller. I answered it.

“Hello?” I groggily said

“Devon, guess what I got today?” Connor excitedly asked.

“I don’t know. Hopefully, something to justify waking me up this early.”

“I promise you it does. Look, just get here when you can. Okay?”

“Yeah sure.”

Carl hung up and I got ready. When he answered the door he an enthusiasm about him that I had not seen in a long time.

“Alright, this better be worth it,” I said when I was back in his apartment.

“Check the table.”

Although his excess giddiness freaked me out a little, I did what he said. To my surprise, I saw a medicine bottle on it. The label read “Brave Pills” in bold lettering.

“Those are…”

“Yep.”

“How did they get here so fast? I don’t think it’s even been a full day since you mailed them.”

“Beats me. Express shipping maybe? Anyway, this stuff really is as good as the ad said.”

“Wait. You already tried it?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Can I take a closer look at the bottle?”

“Knock yourself out. I have this newfound energy now. It’s like someone injected lightning into me.”

Carl talked more about how full of energy the medicine made him feel as I inspected the bottle. I didn’t see anything regarding ingredients used to make the pills. Aside from the name of the medicine I only saw two things on the label. The first being the directions and the second the words “Made by M.I.” in gold cursive. The words were located above where it said Brave Pills and I wondered what those initials meant.

“There’s no list of ingredients on here,” I said turning to face Carl.”Why did you take one of these pills? Wherever they came from it doesn't seem like they were FDA approved. God knows what side effects those pills might have.”

“Relax, Devon. Don’t get me wrong. I was hesitant to take them. Then I thought if these pills make people brave maybe trying them without knowing what’s in them is a test of bravery.”

“Or gullibility,” I thought.

“So I figured why not take a chance? Life is about risks after all.”

“Okay...Well, have you noticed anything wrong since taking a pill?”

“Not at all. This stuff is great. You can try it if you want.”

“No thanks. Actually, do you mind if I take a pill with me? I just got the idea to have someone take a look at it.”

“Like who?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe I can call someone at the hospital about it. Did you already throw away the package the pills came in?”

“No. It’s on the couch.”

The package turned out to be a black manila envelope. I couldn't find it at first since it practically blended into Carl’s couch. I inspected it and once again saw the golden cursive M.I. initials in addition to Carl’s name and address. I didn’t see any return address on it, though.

“Carl, do you mind if I take this too?”

I waved the envelope to him.

“Sure go ahead. Do you need to leave right now?”

“No. Do you want me to stay?”

“If you don’t mind. I’m feeling competitive.”

In terms of gaming ability, he and I are at roughly the same level. However, that time he played circles around me. To be honest, I was stunned. It’s as if he had been granted some kind of supernatural sense of reflex. Of course, I suspected the medicine to be the cause of this.

What confused me though, is the fact these other attributes weren’t mentioned in the ad. It certainly made Carl more confident. However, it never mentioned anyone suddenly gaining faster reflexes from taking the pills. At first, I theorized that perhaps the pills weren’t actually anything special. This would mean the cause of Carl’s boost in confidence to be a placebo effect which I didn’t see any harm in.

Seeing how he behaved then shot down that theory. I began to wonder what other side effects those pills might have. I didn’t see any on the label and asked Carl about it. He said that he didn’t see any but not to worry about it. I pushed my thoughts of concern down and stayed for a little while longer.

“I should be leaving,” I said with a yawn. “I’ve got chores and shit that I’ve been putting off.”

“No problem. I’m probably going to be busy too.”

“With what?”

“Just a project I’m thinking about starting. Anyway, thanks for coming over, Devon. Have a good night.”

“You too.”

I didn’t hear from him for a few nights after that. When I did he asked that I come over again. He wanted to show me something. What it turned out to be, I was shocked by. Carl had become ripped.

“What do you think, Devon? Pretty neat, right?”

At first, I couldn’t speak.

“How the hell did you manage to do this?”

I practically had to force out the words.

“Well, if you must know I went out and got a home gym the day after you left. I set it up in my room and I’ve been using it a lot.”

A thought occurred to me then.

“Carl, has it occurred to you that those pills may be some kind of steroids? No, actually I don’t think even steroids can do this.”

He laughed hard.

“You worry too much. I already thought of that. If it were true, wouldn’t I be having mood swings?”

“Yeah…”

“Yet, you can attest to the fact that I have been in a good mood.”

“That’s true but…”

“And I haven’t been seeing any other signs that would indicate I’ve been taking steroids. I haven’t been seeing any hormonal changes so what do I have to worry about from taking them?”

“I understand what you’re saying. It’s just that, you don’t find this weird? I mean this usually takes someone months to do and you managed to achieve this in under a few days.”

Carl had been in fairly good shape, albeit a bit on the scrawny side. The way he looked at that time, though I barely recognized him.

“That shows how effective Brave Pills are. Come on. I want to show you some other projects I’ve been working on.”

His sudden bodily transformation wasn’t the only surprise I got. In his kitchen were several paintings. All of them had been beautifully painted and were of him and his kids. Paint tools lied on the kitchen table.

“What do you think? I got some more drying in the other room.”

“Uh, Carl, how long did it take you to paint all these?”

“Two or three days. Why?”

“It usually takes hours for someone to do one painting and you managed to do…” I counted to myself. “ Four in such a short amount of time.”

“So?”

“So? Carl, have you slept any in the last few days?”

“Actually, I haven’t needed to. I haven’t felt tired since taking the pills. I guess it’s another side effect.”

“Yep. They’re full of surprises.”

“I take it from your tone that you’re still iffy about them.”

“Yeah, I am. I know you wanted to take more risks but are you sure you’re not headed down the wrong path? I mean, who knows what else they do.”

He considered my words for a moment.

“Well, if you’re so worried then have you called anyone about the pills?”

“I did. As a matter of fact, I sent the pill I got from you to a lab. I’m still waiting on the results.”

“I see. Why don’t you wait on that then and let me know what they say? I’d welcome you to do that here. I’m going to be working on more paintings, though and it’s going to get pretty fumey.”

“That’s fine. See ya around.”

“Later.”

The day after that my phone rang. Instead of Carl’s number, I saw the one belonging to the research lab I sent the pill to. I answered it to be met with an urgent-sounding man.

“Is this Devon?”

“Speaking. Is this about the pill I sent you guys?”

“Yes. You said your friend has more of these, correct?”

“Yeah. Is there something we should know?”

“There is. Before we do, though I have to ask you something.”

“What?”

“How much time would it take you to get to your friend's house from where you are?”

“Not much. Why?”

“ The results of our tests uncovered some unsettling things which may affect your friend. I think it’s for the best that you start making your way over to his place while I tell you what we learned. Are you able to? Time is important here.”

“Yeah, of course. Just give me a sec.”

I quickly got ready and headed out the door. My state has a no cell while diving rule so I put mine on speaker.

“Alright. I’m on the road now. What exactly did you guys figure out?”

Our research found that a high amount of radiation was contained in that pill you sent us.”

“What?”

I became more alert due to those words.

“We’ve never seen anything like it. The amount of radiation we found from that one pill was equivalent to a reactor.”

My blood ran cold at that. Not only had Carl been taking those pills over the last few days, I had one of them in my pocket when I took it home and had placed it on my nightstand when I went to bed. I slept with the pill equivalent of a nuclear reactor beside my head. Honestly, at that moment I thought the fact I didn’t experience any illness was nothing short of a miracle. Then I noticed something about what the professor had said.

“Wait. You just said from the pill, right? Don’t you mean in it?”

“No. Actually, that’s another peculiarity I wanted to discuss. You see, the radiation didn’t become detectable until we split the pill up and gave it to some of our rats. Then we noticed it in blood samples we took.”

I became slightly relieved after hearing those words. They meant I would only have been affected if I had taken the pill.

“What happened when you did?”

I was afraid to ask that.

“We gave them to the runts of our rats and noticed astronomical changes when we did.”

My grip tightened on the steering wheel.

“What kind of changes?”

“They varied. One rat became stronger, nearly doubling in size the next day. Another became a lot smarter. It was able to solve a maze in record time. We also saw one who seemed able to read and another who picked up on basic math. The only common change they all shared is the fact they became a lot better at finding mates. Before they would shy away from any competition. After the pills, however, they seemed to have stopped fearing that.”

I relaxed a little when I heard. None of those effects sounded bad. That changed when I asked my next question.

“Did any negative side effects occur?”

He didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Yes. Extreme aggression.”

My blood chilled.

“In what way?”

“It’s odd. There weren’t any signs of their behavior changing. One moment they were fine and the next we saw them leaping at other rats and tearing out their throats. No. They weren’t tearing. They were eating. Their fur fell out and their teeth grew. We had to put them down and the rats they bit.”

“I thought they killed them?”

“They did...Until they came back.”

“Oh shit. I think I already know what you’re going to tell me next but go on.”

“The rats we thought were killed got up again and attacked the rats who hadn’t been harmed. We think the effects of that medicine caused their bites to become infectious. One nearly managed to bite one of our researchers. I don’t want to think about what would’ve happened to him if it managed to.”

“Do you think something similar is going to happen to Carl?”

“Humans and rats are obviously very different from each other so I can’t say for sure. All I can say is that there is a possibility he will experience a similar event.”

“If that’s the case, I hope I can get to him before that happens.”

I got to Carl’s complex and saw that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. I informed this to the professor.

“Well, that’s a relief. Now, all you need to do is put me on the phone with him.”

I went up to Carl’s apartment and lightly knocked on his door.

“Hey, it’s me. Sorry to drop by unannounced but I have someone on the phone who needs to speak with you.”

No answer. His car was parked outside so I figured he was at home.

“Did he go on a walk?” I wondered.

I called his name louder and still got no response so I knocked on his door a bit harder.

“This is impor-”

It turned out the door hadn’t been closed all the way and my knocking caused it to open. My eyes widened at what greeted my eyes upon looking inside. Carl’s place was a wreck. Bits of glass and trash had been scattered across the floor. I could see several holes in the walls, his TV with a now cracked screen, and his art station in taters with paint spilled on both his kitchen and living room floors.

“Shit…”

“What’s wrong?”

I quietly summarized to the professor what I was seeing.

“Devon, I know you want to help him but I think it’s in your best interest to get out of there and call someone.”

I agreed. Before I could leave, though, I heard the sound of footsteps and of something coming from the bedroom. From around the corner of the hall emerged Carl. I don’t know what caused my heart to stop first, his appearance, or the disembodied leg he held. I mentioned previously that when I saw him again after the pills, I barely recognized him since his physique had changed so much.

Now, though he doesn’t even look human. He only stood a few feet from where I was. He looked in my direction with sunken eyes. His face was hollow, giving him a very skeletal appearance. In contrast to that, he had put on more muscle.

It was as if I was looking at a walking paradox. The arm he held had several bites taken out of it. I didn’t want to know where the rest of the body was. I dropped my phone and took out a knife I bought from home. I figured something like this might happen so I prepared as best I could.

“Devon, what’s going on?”

“I found Carl,” I replied, not taking my eyes off him.

Despite the animalistic look in his eyes, I could see an acute focus in them.

“Carl…” I said, backing slowly away with the knife raised. “I’m not here to hurt you. I just have somebody who wants to talk with you.”

He tilted his head and for a moment I thought my words had actually gotten through to him. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. He let out a loud growling roar and lunged forward. I attempted to escape out his front door. Unfortunately, his speed far exceeded mine.

“Shit,” I yelled, feeling Carl pull me back by my leg as I nearly made it out of his apartment.

Not having another option I tried stabbing Carl in areas I hoped he could recover quickly from. To my shock, the blade shattered upon hitting his skin. It was at that point I thought I was royally fucked. Carl pinned me down and reared his head back, getting ready to feed. Several gunshots then rang throughout the room and Carl fell back, clutching his face and roaring in pain.

I looked back to see an officer with his gun drawn. I could tell he had acted on instinct. His gun shook in his trembling hands. He demanded to know what was going on. Before I could answer, Carl made another noise.

To our horror, he sat up and his wounds began healing. The cop fired at him again but Carl just shrugged it off. Knowing the officer didn’t have a chance against him, I grabbed my phone off the floor and told him to come on. He seemed to be in too much fear to heed my words. As I fled Carl’s apartment I heard the cop radioing for backup.

“Are you still there?” I asked the professor breathlessly once I had made it outside the apartment.

“Devon, what the fuck happened in there?”

I explained what I had seen.

“Did you try to warn anyone about him?”

“I tried. I didn’t want to stay in there, obviously. I shouted for everyone to go outside and knocked on some doors. I don’t think it did any good, though. I don’t see anyone coming out.”

Just then I could hear a scream coming from within the building. What followed this is Carl's roaring. The next thing I knew, the tenants of the apartment came pouring outside. They were understandably panicked and didn’t notice me right away. I barely managed to avoid getting trampled.

“Did something else happen?”

“Yeah. everyone’s outside now and I think I can hear sirens off in the distance.”

Several more police cars and a swat vehicle pulled into the complex. They parked beside the patrol car of the cop that had fallen victim to Carl. A barricade was quickly formed in front of the entrance to the building. The cops told everyone to stay back while the swat members rushed inside to deal with the threat. The gunshots that rang out from the area were enough to let the professor know the situation without me talking to him.

The tenants demanded to know when the situation would be taken care of.

The cops assured them it would be resolved as soon as possible. I didn’t think it would be that simple. The loud screams from inside were evidence of this. The officers’ radios cracked to life.

“Come in,” a panicked voice said from it.

One of the officers responded.

“What’s the situation?”

“Get more back up, right the fuck now.”

His screaming voice got cut off by a sound that I can only describe as a squishy crunch. My stomach lurched upon hearing it. I looked and saw everyone wore horrified expressions. Things only got worse when the building caught fire. From what I gathered one of the cops fired at something flammable because the fire happened right after we heard more gunfire.

More swat members were called. The fire department was as well but since they were on the other side of town, getting there would take them a bit. The swat members arrived shortly later in far greater numbers than before. The people still inside had caught fire and were jumping out of the windows. Everyone else thought they were committing suicide out of desperation but I knew better and told the police to fire at them.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”

People gave me dirty looks. I couldn’t fault them for that. However, when the presumed dead people started getting back up, their attitudes changed.

“What in Christ’s name? An officer said as the blackened charred corpses began shuffling to their feet.

I didn’t see Carl among them and wondered if he’d been killed. The burnt ones stared at everyone.

“Devon, are you still there?” The professor asked.

“I’m going to have to call you back,” I solemnly replied and ended the call\ as the burnt ones started growling.

They charged forward. The crowd dispersed and began fleeing while the police fired their weapons. The pursuers stumbled back. Then resumed charging.

“Why won’t they go down?” A cop asked.

“I don’t know.” Another replied.

It became clear that pistols weren’t going to do the job. The automatic rifles, however, did. The burnt ones went down in a spray of bullets. Satisfied the danger had been taken care of, the police decided to stand back and wait for the fire department. That was when he showed up again.

Some cops were circling the area to check for anybody else who may be a threat. Two stayed behind to watch after everyone. I wanted to check the area for Carl but wasn’t allowed to. When the other cops returned, one seemed to be missing. When asked about it, they said they didn’t know where he was.

They tried radioing him only to get no response. My gut sank because I knew what happened to him. I searched for possible hiding spots. By the time I realized where Carl had been hiding it became too late. His hand shot out from under a truck and grabbed the ankles of two cops standing by it. He was so fast that I barely saw it.

They of course screamed for help. It did no good, though. They were silenced as indicated by that same squishy crunching sound like the one I heard before. The bodies of the cops spilled out from under the truck. What had been done to them, caused people near me to vomit. The top halves of their heads had gotten bitten off.

I don’t know why I didn't throw up as well. I think shock may be the reason. I just couldn’t process it. I’ve known Carl for most of my life and to see him doing those things was harrowing. Gunshots were fired at him. He let out grunts of pain as some managed to hit him.

The tenants fled the complex. I stayed behind because I needed to see what would happen. Plus, I felt that if I ran I’d be abandoning Carl. I couldn’t do that. I had to see this through. I hid behind a tree and watched things unfold further.

He made use of the other cars and moved from one to the other. The police had to be careful about hitting the car in case the gas tank of one happened to be in their line of fire. Eventually, Carl was going to run out of cover and they would have better aim on him. Unfortunately, he turned out to be smarter than they thought.

The sound of glass shattering came from the last cars. I jogged over for a better view. The back windshields of two were busted. Unfortunately, the police chose the wrong one to search first. From within the other van, Carl broke through the windows and grabbed them. He killed them as quickly as he had the others.

He bit their faces off and let their corpses drop to the street. The other cops fired at him in the car. The bullets certainly were hurting him. Unfortunately, they weren’t as effective as I thought they’d be. The longer I looked the more I realized that his muscle mass had increased.

“How can he be getting even more muscular?” I wondered.

I knew the pills caused this but even they didn’t cause it that quickly. Then I got a disturbing thought.

“Is he getting stronger whenever he eats someone?”

This seemed to be evidenced by what I had seen before. The police were dumbfounded as to how Carl was able to take so many rounds and still keep moving. I began to worry that he may be too much for them to handle. I could only think of one thing I could do at that moment to stop him. It started when I spotted a gas container, a lighter, and some rope in one of the cars.

More of the cops were killed. I did my best to block out their screams of pain as I worked. I soaked the rope in gasoline. Then put one end of it in the gas tank. It was pretty long, allowing me to back away a safe distance with it. Carl had the last office who was struggling r in his grasp.

He ripped his head off and started munching on it. Then faced my direction. If my plan didn’t work, I was fucked. To be honest, part of me didn’t want it to. Still, the Carl I knew was gone and I had to at least try and take care of the thing he’d become.

He let out another roar, much louder than his previous ones, and charged at me. I used the lighter to set the rope on fire. The flames traveled on it to the inside of the car’s gas tank, causing it to explode as Carl got close to it. Not only did it, but the cars beside it did as well. Even though I was far away, the force of it still knocked me back.

I would’ve been content to lay there and were it not for the groaning I heard. I got to my feet. I barely managed to. The pain made my vision double and I had to limp to get around. To my shock, Carl had survived but just barely.

Some of the debris from the explosion had become lodged into him. Despite his increase in strength, the bullets along with the explosion had done significant damage to him. I could tell that he barely clung to life. My foot hit something.

I looked down and saw a pistol. It wouldn’t take much to put him down. I knew that it would do the job. I picked the gun up and reluctantly pointed it at his head. I could see a different look in his eyes. It told me that in a way I was freeing him.

“Sorry, Carl,” I said before pulling the trigger.

He fell back, dead, and out of exhaustion, I fainted. I woke up in the hospital and was told I’d been there for two days. While there some government agents visited. They asked if I knew anything. I got the professor on the phone. He told them everything he knew and was asked if he still had any of the pill left.

He said that he didn’t. The agents told me to keep quiet about everything I saw and left. I didn’t need to be told to. I wanted nothing more than to forget about it. The official story is that a fire broke out at the complex.

Annie, his ex, and his kids were informed about the event. Needless to say, they’ve been taking it hard. Sure, they didn’t part on the best terms. However, they got along well enough for their kids’ sake and even still chatted occasionally. I still couldn’t believe he had died even after his funeral.

When I got home which was close to midnight I punched a hole in my wall out of frustration. I wished with every fiber of my being that I could wring the neck of whoever made those pills. That didn’t matter, though. I couldn’t do anything to change the fact that he was dead. At least that’s what I thought.

At midnight, I heard knocking at my door. Understandably, not in the mood for visitors, I went over to see who the hell needed my attention at that time. I opened the door to see nobody there. I got ready to dismiss this as some kid pulling a prank when my foot hit something on the porch. It was a black newspaper like the one that appeared in front of Carl’s door.

Looking at it, I felt as though someone was mocking me. If Carl hadn’t heard the story from it and….If I hadn’t read it to him, he’d still be alive. I brought the paper inside just to burn it. When I saw the headline, though, I paused and decided to read the article underneath it which I will now post part of here.

Don’t Try Brave Pills Nov. 12, 2020

''This article is to share urgent news regarding the product Brave Pills. If you are currently taking them or know anyone who is, we are encouraging you to stop. Reports have been coming in about people changing drastically after taking them. The rate at which they change varies from person to person. However, those who take them end up succumbing to violent urges.''

The article then listed reports involving Brave Pills. They detailed reports similar to mine. Reading it made me wonder who else had taken those pills or knew someone who did. Here’s what’s really odd, though the events about people who knew people who took the pills seemed malicious. There was one about me and Carl that is the last event listed.

''This one is a real shame. A man named Carl took them and ended up killing some of his neighbors and some policemen. This was all because his friend, Devon failed to help him through his problems. If he’s reading this he must be feeling really guilty about that.''

I couldn’t believe it. How dare whoever the rotten piece of shit who wrote that is, say that I tried my hardest to help Carl. I yelled in rage and threw the newspaper against the wall. I wanted to pick it up to burn the damn thing or rip into pieces. However, something on it caught my eye.

It had landed on its opposite side. On it, another headline showed. The title of it practically jumped out at me. I’m not sure if I should read it. The title only consisted of two words.

Help Wanted.

Description:

"Brave Pills" are Object-Type Oddities. They were advertised in a Midnight Paper delivered to Carl (last name unknown). They were advertised as doing what their name suggests, giving whoever takes them a boost in confidence and bravery, allowing them to do things they would otherwise be too shy or wary to try.

Purchasing Process:

The process for receiving a bottle of Brave Pills is quite simple. The Midnight Ad that features them includes a form that can be cut away, filled out, and mailed to the mysterious M.I company. Carl received his Pills the day after sending this form off.

The Brave Pills Bottle:

Devon described the bottle that Carl received in the following way: "Carl talked more about how full of energy the medicine made him feel as I inspected the bottle. I didn’t see anything regarding ingredients used to make the pills. Aside from the name of the medicine I only saw two things on the label.  The first being the directions and the second the words “Made by M.I.” in gold cursive.  The words were located above where it said Brave Pills and I wondered what those initials meant."

There are no ingredients, manufacturer information, FDA approval information, or warnings of any kind on the bottle. This goes against several dozen laws in the United States and other countries, as any kind of product that advertises itself as a kind of medication or supplement must include a list of ingredients, warnings, and recommended dosage on all of its packaging. Even if a bottle with a vitamin, supplement, or medication comes in a box, the bottle itself also comes with those same indications, list of ingredients, and warnings, so that even if a person throws out the box, they would still have access to this important information. These laws exist because users might be allergic to an ingredient in a supplement or medication, or they might be taking another medication that would react dangerously with the components of another.

The bottle came in an envelope addressed to Carl, but had no information about the sender.

Laboratory Study:

At this point, Devon took a few of the Brave Pills and the envelope they came in. He sent the Pills off to be studied, so that their components could be identified. A professor at the lab that analyzed the Pills then called Devon and expressed some concerning discoveries: the Pills themselves had an incredibly high concentration of radioactive material, roughly equaling that of a small nuclear reactor.

Devon became concerned, because he had been in close proximity to the Pills, but the professor assured him that, whatever radioactive material was present in the Pills, they only "activated" and became radioactive when ingested.

Indeed, the parts of the Pills were fed to several laboratory rats, and they experienced varying results. Some of the rats grew in size, others became immensely intelligent.

Soon, however, it became apparent that the rats were experiencing a worrying side effect: a vast increase in aggression and violent tendencies.

Effects on the Body:

After ingesting the Pills, Carl soon began working out excessively. In only a few days, he had developed significant muscle mass, with Devon remarking that he had developed a muscle mass equivalent to several months of working out every day.

The Pills also heightened Carl's healing abilities to such an extent that he could heal most wounds in only a few seconds. Carl's skin also hardened to the extent that a knife broke against his bare flesh.

Effects on the Mind:

Carl immediately began experiencing a boost in energy and confidence. He went out and purchased a home gym and began working out religiously. It is not known if he had an interest in working out or fitness before this. He also began painting, having finished several paintings in only a few days. Carl's skill was such that Devon remarked that they were painted "beautifully."

It appears that, at this early point, a Brave Pills user will be flooded with confidence and adaptability. They will be able to try hobbies and activities that they may have never had an interest in, and that may have a steep learning curve or adaptability window that would weed most people out. Carl was able to not only become an expert body builder in days, but also a masterful painter. Both of these skills take a lot of work and dedication to master.

After being called by the researcher, Devon rushed to Carl's home, only to discover that it was in disarray after having being wrecked from the inside. When Devon found Carl, Carl attacked him savagely, with his eyes being completely devoid of humanity. Carl soon went on a rampage, murdering several tenants of his apartment building and several police officers.

Carl seemed to develop an overwhelming hunger for human flesh, with a particular taste for human brains or simply their heads. Carl was so monstrously strong that he could simply rip off a grown man's head with his bare hands.

Why, or how, consuming these Pills could warp Carl's mind to the extent that he became a savage killing machine is unknown. There is, however, a condition that has similar effects on the mind: brain swelling. Swelling of the brain causes confusion, which easily leads to aggression if an affected individual is approached. Indeed, if a brain is swollen enough, spasm and violent outbursts become common, and the affected individual could perceive any person as a threat.

There is, however, a more horrifying explanation for the reason why Brave Pills cause their users to become violent: it simply removes their fear of being caught. Brave Pills, as advertised, give their users the confidence to try out whatever they want, without the fear of social stigma. What if an individual who takes these Pills realized that they could do whatever they wanted, even kill and eat other human beings simply to try it out?

This lack of fear of consequences, however is not enough to explain the destruction of a person's thought processes and personality. But, combined with the effects of brain swelling as a result of radiation, it is likely that an individual would devolve into little more than a violent animal.

Origins:

The origins of the Brave Pill are a mystery...but there is a company that apparently produces them: M.I. The mysterious M.I company is identified as the manufacturer of the Brave Pill in the Midnight Ad. Nothing is known about this company, not what their initials stand for, not where they operate, not why they manufacture and give the Brave Pill out freely.

Whoever M.I is, they are, without a doubt, morally bankrupt and frightening.

Midnight Ad Update:

At the end of Devon's post, he received a Midnight Paper with an update to the previous Ad. It described Carl's rampage and warned users not to try the Pills if they ordered them. However, perhaps the most interesting part of this update was the way that it focused on Devon and attempted to make him feel guilty about putting Carl out of his misery.