�Honey, I�m so proud of you,�  Robin said as she reached for William�s hand over the stick shift. 

And truth be told, William was more than a little bit proud of himself.  Today was the big day that he and his entire family had waited years for.  His quit day.  The last day that he would ever have a cigarette for the rest of his life.  And unlike the other �last days� he had lived through in the last twenty years of two-packs-a-day, he knew this was really it.  After today, he�d be smoke-free forever.

All thanks to a simple new product, called BeatNic.

William had seen the news reports and the infomercials for months now.  The �amazing  breakthrough.�  The �incredible testimonials.� The �one hundred-percent, guaranteed success rate in clinical trials.�  The media blitz that Maternal Pi Corp. had come up with to push their  product was nothing short of astounding.  BeatNic was in such high demand that people had to take a number at their local health clinic weeks before to guarantee there�d be a dose for them.

It was going to make Maternal Pi Corp a billion dollars, even if it did have possibly the stupidest name ever.  Roughly a quarter of adults in the United States were smokers, and most of them wished they could kick the habit.  It was a no-brainer.

At 35, William was going to at least give it a shot.  His body wasn�t bouncing back from the years of booze and smokes as well as it used to.  He had gained almost twenty pounds in the past two years, and spent each morning hacking and wheezing up globs of sticky brown phlegm.  Exercise was nearly impossible due to his breathlessness, and his teeth and fingernails were stained a sickly yellow.

It was time for a life change.

Robin downshifted the car and stopped at a red light.  She looked over at William, her  brown hair falling loosely around her pale face.  God� thirty-two years old, and she still didn�t look a day over twenty, William thought.  That�s what being a non-smoker will do for you.

�Did you tell your mother yet?�

William threw a broad smile back at his wife, shaking his head.  �Nah� I wanted it to be a surprise.  She�s gonna be pretty happy once she hears I�ve had my last smoke.�

�I think that�s an understatement,� she replied, shifting the car into first gear but holding  still at the red light.  �She�s going to freak.   It seems like she can�t leave the house these days before giving you the ten minute, �You�re-My-Only-Son, and-I�d-Hate-To-See-You-Go-Before-Me� speech.�

�Yeah, I know.  And I bet you�ll love not having any more hour-long conversations with her where she begs you to talk me into giving it up, huh?�

Robin laughed.  �You knew about all of those?�

�I just know my Mom.�

The car pulled into the lot of the health clinic;  William�s hands began to grow clammy as beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.  A line of clients streamed out the clinic door;  several were frantically puffing away on cigarettes� the �last smoke they�d ever have.�  William�s mind began to cloud in the midst of a Nic Fit;  he wanted nothing more than to join the line outside, deeply inhaling the blue smoke, melting away his current tensions. 

�What time is your appointment for?  Two?�

�Two-thirty.�

Robin checked her watch.  �Shit.  We�re forty-five minutes early.�  The car pulled up to the curb, stopping directly in front of the doors.  �Want to go grab something to eat before you go in?  I�m starving.�

�Not really,� William said, still eyeing the smokers outside.  One last smoke wasn�t going to kill him, after all.  �You go ahead and get something to eat, babe.  Just meet me here when you�re supposed to.�

�You sure?�  Robin said, looking concerned.  �The doctor said that you�re gonna be a little out of it for a few hours after the shot.  You�re probably gonna sleep the whole ride home and the rest of the afternoon.  I even got Tim from next door to agree to carry you into the house if you�re really out.�

�I�ll be fine,�  he said, grabbing the door handle.  �See ya in a few hours.  Love you, babe.�

�I love you too, honey.  I�m so proud of you.�

William opened the door and made his way towards the Clinic.

 * * * 

He first heard a siren through the haze.   William�s eyes wouldn�t open right away, so he moaned and twisted his head from side to side, struggling to pull himself  to the waking world. His eyes fluttered open and focused on a picture of he and his wife on the dresser;  he was home in his bed.  As he gained consciousness, he became aware of something moist and sticky in the covers near his feet. A dull buzzing sound filled the room;  his cell phone was vibrating over on the dresser.

�Robin?�  William cried out, waking a bit more.  �You there, baby?�

He shifted his feet; something squished at the foot of the bed.  What the hell was that?  Did his wife put a wet towel under the sheets?  Was this some kind of weird joke?  Who would put a wet towel in bed with their passed-out husband?

William sat up and reached down towards his feet, shifting them again.  He pulled his hand from the covers, holding it in front of his face.  It was stained with a crimson fluid, sticky and curdled.

William rose from the bed, rubbing his temples with his clean hand to remove the cobwebs from his brain.  Whatever the hell his wife had thrown into bed with him, she had better have a good explanation. He wiped his hand on his jeans and opened the door to the living room.

The room was utterly destroyed.  Tables and chairs lay in splinters on the ground.  Fist-sized holes gouged every wall;  one wall bore a set of scratch marks three feet in length on its face.  Blood stained the floor and ceiling;  two severed fingers lay mere feet in front of him.   A horrid stench hung in the air, biting William�s nostrils.

His knees buckled.  His gut began to work its way towards his mouth, eager to taste the air.  He staggered towards his front door, throwing it open and vomiting off his front porch.  Wiping his mouth, he raised his head slowly and gazed towards the distance.

A police cruiser screamed past his house, its siren losing pitch as it drew away.  Two thin plumes of smoke twisted in the distance, cutting into the clear daytime sky.  William could see a figure  pinning down another a few hundred yards away, raising its fists above its head and crashing them down violently over and over again. Faint screams were barely audible over the sirens and din.

William backed into his house, his hand over his mouth in horror.  He wheeled towards his living room again, vaguely aware that his phone had begun to ring.  His feet stomped on something soft and damp;  he peered down to see a naked torso;  its arms and one leg violently torn from their sockets, the head mashed into a bloody paste.  William looked at the body below him;  the tattoo over its left breast belonged to his wife.

The answering machine clicked to life in the living room;  his mother�s voice croaked  through the speaker. 

�Hello, William?  William, it�s your mother!  Please answer the phone if you�re home!  Whatever you do, don�t get the BeatNic shot!  I know I�ve asked you a hundred times to quit, but for God�s sake, don�t do it!�

William�s blank gaze turned towards the machine.  His mother�s voice rose in pitch, quivering with fear. 

�It�s all over the news!  Maternal Pi  missed a chemical bond when they created this batch of the vaccine! It suppresses your need for a cigarette, but it suppresses your brain�s impulse control centers too!  People are blacking out and devolving into animals!  They�re murdering each other in the street!�  A commotion came over the line in the background;  several voices frantically screaming,  followed by gunshots. 

�Son, stay indoors and don�t leave the house for anything!   And don�t get the injection!  Whatever you--� 

  The line went dead.