The Chest

[Florida20]

As stated in another post, I've been asked to upload some of the stories I wrote for the old site. The one below was the first story I ever wrote...I may have been 17 or 18 at the time...and I could only find the first four chapters. It ultimately had 14 or so if I remember correctly but the forth chapter ends at a pretty nice spot so I figured a partial story was better than none at all. The other chapters are on the legacy site; I'll post them if I can get around to digging them up.

 

CHAPTER I: THE JOURNEY

 

 

THE SUN was just reaching its midday peak. Tyson, shirtless as usual, was taking the hard way up the hillside and climbing up a rocky crag while Jason lumbered up the leaf covered path to the side. Jason couldn’t help but notice the muscle rippling under Tyson’s tan back. “Showoff” was all he could mutter.

 

 

The two made an odd friendship but then again, middle school doesn’t see the segregation of cliques quite the way high school does. Both fourteen and days out of eight grade, Tyson and Jason had been friends since kindergarten even if it was apparent even then that they were destined for different futures. Tyson, then and especially now, visually screamed the word jock. He had featured a six-pack from the womb it seemed and throughout his life had never had a drop of fat on him. He was your standard muscle-kid: not thick but shredded enough to show every line of muscle that was roped on his frame. Tyson knew that description would be ending soon; over the last few months he had noticed Tyson beginning to thicken out.
 

 Although still thin in adult terms at 155 lb and 5’10, the telltale signs were there. His lats had begun to expand out when he strained them. Striations could be seen in his chest and back and his arms had begun to expand from their circular baseball shape to a more adult football shape. His body was begging to grow and beginning to get its wish. These changes had just begun and would be hard to notice at a casual glance but Jason knew his friend and couldn’t help feel a little helpless.
 

Jason was the opposite of Tyson. A little shorter at 5’8, he weighed a good eighty pounds more and all of it was fat as far as Jason was concerned. A portly child from a portly family, he had accepted his fate as being the cliché chunky, fat kid. He was active. In fact, he did almost everything with Tyson and he extended energy as much as anyone did. That made it worse, for Jason’s physique was not for lack of trying to change it. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt that made his arms look like upside down bowling pins for their lack of definition and pale coloring. His gut hung over the top of his shorts and sweat stains made a nice outline of what his less-than-friends called breasts. Jason seemed to be the only one of the pair who secretly assumed that high school would separate the two of them; he would join the chess club while Tyson became the star quarterback. In spite of himself, Jason smiled, for the time being he did have a great friend and had no real reason to feel sorry for himself.

 

 

“Don’t be hating, Jason, just tell me how awesome I am and hurry up.” He turned around. The overhead sun shined on Tyson, shading his body in vertical contrast and making him look larger that he really was. His pecs and abs cast shadows on the creases of his torso all the way down to the slight ‘V’ that tapered into his low hanging basketball shorts. While he patiently waited for his friend, Tyson began flexing his forearms. Jason wasn’t the only one who noticed Tyson’s growth spurt.

 

 

“Just taking the scenic route,” Jason said. The two of them were doing what they had done each summer since elementary school: exploring the seemingly endless wilderness behind Jason’s house. As far as any map insinuated, the woods were endless. There wasn’t a city or road to speak of in what was labeled as a government preserve, whatever that meant. Jason’s father said it had been such since after World War II.

 

 

The two continued their aimless quest deeper into the woods and the sun continued past its zenith and began to descent. They went through the lunch they packed themselves and lost track of time until mid-afternoon when Jason’s stomach started requesting more. “Ready to turn back, Ty?” Jason asked through his panting.

 

 

Tyson turned around, looking at his watch, and his eyebrows rose. “Wow, we’ve been out here for eight hours. That’s got to be a record.”

 

 

“Eight hours!?” Jason exclaimed. “That’s was in a straight line, man! It’ll take us just as long to get home.”

 

 

“Relax, Jason,” Tyson said in his carefree way. “It’s all down hill anyway and—What’s that?” Tyson looked past Jason’s shoulder towards a flatter spread of forest.

 

 

“What’s what?” Jason turned and saw a chain link fence that stretched off to the distance until hidden by hill or forest. “A fence? Out here? Looks old.”

 

 

The fence was completely brown with rust and in many parts was at an angle other than ninety degrees from the ground. The two walked up to an aged aluminum sign hanging on a section of the fence. Without the sign, the boys would have missed the fence completely since it blended so well with the wooded background. They had to strain to read the sign since most of the lettering was faded:

 

 

WARNING

Government Research Installation

Trespassers will be Prosecuted

!DANGER!

Fence energized with 10,000 Volts

DO NOT TOUCH

  

“Well that’s inviting,” Tyson chuckled as Jason reached for the fence. “Don’t touch that, you jackass, you’ll—“

 

 

He was cut off as Jason touched the fence and screamed at the top of his lungs, shaking from head to foot. Panic stricken, Tyson began screaming too and began setting up to tackle Jason away from the fence just as Jason’s scream transformed into laughter and he let go of the fence. Panic turning into anger, Tyson charged and tackled his still laughing friend to the ground anyway. “You fucker! I had images of having to drag your ass all the way home.”

 

 

Tyson, fending off his friend’s punches as best as he could, continued to chuckle. “I don’t care how buff you’re getting, you couldn’t drag my fat ass a quarter mile before passing out.”

 

 

“True, so I’d just have to heave you into a tree and hope the bears didn’t snack on your corpse, you ass.”

 

 

“Whatever. That fence is a shove away from turning into dust. You thought it was actually still electrified?” He started laughing again.

 

 

Throwing one more punch in the gut that cut Jason’s laughter off with a grunt, Tyson got off of his friend and helped him up. While Jason brushed the leaves off his sweat soaked shirt, Tyson walked over to the fence and did give it one solid shove. The fence broke off its stabilizing beam and fell to the ground with a clang. “Looks like a door to me,” he said and stepped into the recently forbidden territory.

 

 

Feeling that sense of adventure that only young teenagers feel, Jason followed, careless of the sun continuing its journey to the horizon.

 

 

CHAPTER II: THE DISCOVERY

 

 

At first their misdemeanor appeared to be about as exciting as two rocks facing each other. The world behind the fence was the same as the one they left: trees, foliage, and rocky hills. After about fifteen minutes, Jason’s hunger began to signal his sense that they should begin their return home. He was just about to voice it when they both saw the clearing. Once passed the trees, they stopped and stared at the stretch of seemingly abandoned buildings that clustered together at the end of an uncared-for road that ran off into the forest. Whatever the maps said, there apparently was once humanity here. The boys looked at each other and with sparkling eyes started off to the buildings.

 

 

The structures were anything but permanent. Perhaps five large steel buildings made up the ghost village, most missing windows. They went in and out of them at random. One building held what was once dozens of beds lining the wall. Another may have been a kitchen once. Another may have been an exercise room discernable only by what might have been a basketball court. The entire place had ancient junk strewn about. Here an old comb, there a clipboard. The place looked as if the occupants left in a hurry. The largest building was the last they came to. It was more sturdy but still in major disrepair. It also differed from its neighbors in that its now glass-absent windows were fortified with bars and the front door had a lock that had since rusted to a solid lump of brown.

 

 

Not one to allow anything to get in his way, Tyson grabbed the lump and began twisting. The muscles on his back once again began to dance. The striations in his shoulders made waves across his skin and the veins in his chest began to stand out as he flexed every muscle in his torso in a vain attempt to get the lock off. Regardless of the display, Jason knew his friend’s efforts were useless. Rusty steel was still steel and that lock was one of the few things in this area built to last.

 

 

After another few minutes, Tyson released the lock, gasping for breath. “It’s useless, man, that lock is on there pretty--” A crash cut Tyson off. He looked at its source where Jason stood about 10 feet away, smiling; the bars that once covered one of the windows lying at his feet in a cloud of dust.

 

 

“A half-inch bolt rusts much faster than a three inch lock, Ty,” Jason lectured.

 

 

“Who’s the showoff now?” Tyson snorted as he lifted him self up into and through the gaping hole without another word. Jason followed right behind.

 

 

The sun was at an angle now where it cast its fading light directly into the building. The disarray was magnified here. Everywhere lay what looked to be science equipment: broken vials, dusty stools, splintered desks, and translucent goggles scattered at random in the large room. It was like the people here left with the fear of god in them.

 

 

Tyson began rummaging in the back corner where it appeared a makeshift vault had been built into the wall and Jason went over to one of the desks. A manila folder lay on it, making it the only paper either had seen since coming here. On its spine, in letters to faded to make out completely:

 

 

HU-AN  GRO--H  INI--ATI-E :  MUSC--AR  DEVE-OP---T  D—ARTMENT

 

 

Before he could attempt to make out the words, he heard a scream. Turning towards his friend, he saw Tyson grabbing his forearm as a weasel darted across the room. “Fucking rodent!” Tyson moaned as blood started trickling from between his fingers. Jason watched as the animal darted to a hole in the wall and as the sun caught its black leathery tail he gasped. That was no weasel; that was the biggest rat he had ever seen. It had to be the size of a mailbox. He turned to his friend, who was wiping his arm off on his pants. Aside from where a few teeth had punctured his skin, there wasn’t much to see.

 

 

“You ok?” Jason asked. “Animal bites can get pretty nasty if you don’t treat it.”

 

 

“It’s fine,” Tyson shrugged, obviously embarrassed he had made anything of it in the first place.”

 

 

“Dude, I’m serious, we need to get back now.”

 

 

Tyson looked at him then out the window. “Jason, it’ll be dark in a couple hours. We’re crashing here for the night.”

 

 

“What?” was all Jason could retort.

 

 

 They argued for a few minutes but in the end Jason knew his friend was right. Walking home under the darkness of night was a good way to break a leg or get lost. He sat down hard on the ground in defeat. At any rate, their adventurous spirit died with the sun. They made a camp of sorts in the vault at the back of the room, Jason falling asleep against a chest shoved in the corner. His last thought was whether or not he’d have to drag a rabies infected friend home in the morning.

 

 

CHAPTER III: THE BOX

 

 

Jason awoke to the crackle of a fire. The vault was dark but through the open door he could see Tyson sitting over a fire. He stretched and walked out to his friend. Over the fire was a makeshift spit with what looked to be a dog roasting on it. Closer inspection showed it to be a rabbit, if the largest he’d ever seen. Then again, if rats could get so big in the wild then why not rabbits. Off to Tyson’s side were the bones of at least 2 other rabbits. Another lay ready for the fire nearby.

 

 

“Where the hell did these come from?” Jason asked in shock. “And how did you gut them? And…” He didn’t really know what to say.

 

 

Tyson turned around, swallowing a mouthful. “Morning champ. It was the strangest thing; I woke up with my stomach growling something crazy. At first I thought that rat bite got me sick but then I just realized I was jus starving. It got so bad that I had to get up and find…something. It took a while but a few well-thrown rocks was all it took to bring these massive bunnies down. Want one? I got one for you too.” He gestured at the corpse lying next to him.

 

 

“No thanks, I just lost my appetite.” He sat down across the fire from Tyson. “You feeling ok?”

 

 

“Actually, I feel great. Like I could run a marathon or push over a tree,” Tyson said as he tore into the third rabbit and got the forth on the fire. Jason’s jaw dropped. If the other rabbits were as big as these two then Tyson was about to devour the equivalent of half a cow.

 

 

I guess he is feeling fine, Jason thought. He stared at his preoccupied friend across the fire. The light danced across his body, casting shadows over his muscle His shoulders were as striated as ever, completely separated from his biceps. His chest bounced with every moment of his arms and his abs were clearly defined even while sitting down. He must be flexing every muscle in his body, Jason thought. He’s going to be trouble… I’ve never noticed how defined his traps were, either.

 

 

It was true. A slab of muscle now rose up out of his shoulder and connected halfway up his neck. He almost glowed.

 

 

After finishing his forth animal, they both got up. Jason had to convince Tyson not to go out for more food.

 

 

“I don’t care how hungry you still are, there’s plenty of food at my place. Besides, you just ate like thirty pounds of food. Look at your stomach for god’s sake.”

 

 

Tyson looked down at the now prominent bulge that stretched his abs. “Heh, heh, yeah, I guess I’ve had enough. Weird though, I’m still famished.”

 

 

“You’ll make it home before wasting away, I promise.” Jason stated as he turned to go.

 

 

“Wait,” Tyson said. “One more thing.”
 

Jason turned around, exacerbated, as Tyson raced into the vault. After a few grunts and thuds he emerged from the door with the same chest that Jason had fell asleep against. It looked heavy whatever it was. Each yank moved the thing about 2 feet. “What on earth are we going to do with that?” Jason demanded.

 

 

“Take it home of course,” Tyson said as he continued to drag it to the window. “I tried to get it open in there but it’ll take a screw driver to get that thing open.”

 

 

“Like hell we are,” Jason snapped back. “The two of us together couldn’t lug that thing a mile. We couldn’t get it through the window.”

 

 

Tyson stared at the window sitting just at chest level. “If I can get it out of here will you help me the rest of the way?”

 

 

Jason looked at the window too and smiled. “Sure, but I’m not helping you get it through the window.”

 

 

Tyson smiled and hoisted himself through the window. Confused, Jason looked out of it to see Tyson run to the door and grab the lock again. He twisted it with all of his might and within a few seconds the lock groaned and gave way, falling to the ground.

 

 

“Holy shit,” Jason gasped as he ducked back from the window while Tyson kicked the door in.

 

 

The sun silhouetted his heaving body as he stood smiling. “I never said HOW I was going to get it out.”

 

 

Now Jason was stuck in a promise he didn’t want to keep. They each grabbed an end and began hauling it the long track home. The chest must have been made of lead; it may have weighed over two hundred pounds. Not like Jason had much to go by. He wasn’t much of a weight lifter. Tyson did most of the work. He took most of the weight as they trudged down the hills.

 

 

“Man, look at this pump,” Tyson commented on his own body during one of Jason’s frequent breaks from the trek. Jason, now also bare from the gut up and using his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face, looked at Tyson as he flexed his arm. Pump indeed. His friend flexed a bicep the size of a baseball. Veins protruded from the muscle seemingly pumping with blood. Veins stood out everywhere, seemingly struggling to feed his body. Tyson flexed his chest, making them bounce like Jason had never seen in person. The sides of Tyson’s abs were absolutely shredded. Muscle could be seen clearly, everywhere. What was going on? Tyson’s eyes looked hungry. He put his hand over each muscle as he flexed it; flexed it harder and harder as if willing them to grow more. A they seemed to be doing just that.

 

 

Jason shook his eyes away and went to pick up his side of the box again. “Let’s just go,” he said with a sigh.

 

 

Tyson came up and moved him away. “Don’t worry, man, I got it.” And with that he hoisted the chest up and carried it himself.

 

 

Jason stood there awestruck. There was no way Tyson could have done that this morning. Granted, the chest was still heavy; Tyson labored under its weight as if each step would be his last. All he could do was follow though, and stare at his friend’s back as they worked their way home.

 

 

The hours rolled by without any conversation. They both knew their way home. Jason was lost in his own thoughts. He kept staring at his friend and his ever-increasing “pump.” He just kept swelling up. The veins snaked across his back and seemed to pulse with blood. His lats began to flare out. His back, constantly under the strain of the chest, swelled out with added layers of muscle. It was covered in rolling bulges; striations forming at his lower back. His traps continued to grow upward. His triceps, which shouldn’t even be feeling any strain, also started to bulge, every muscle defining itself as if he had trained only that muscle for hours a day, months on end. It wasn’t that he was getting massive, he was just nothing but skin and muscle and that skin was stretching to cover his muscle for all it was worth. His calves were shredded as well. They strained and seemed to grow larger with each step. What was going on? Suddenly he noticed that in the two hours they had been walking by in silence, Tyson had not put the chest down once. In fact, he walked as if he were carrying a box of books. He strained, sure, but not nearly as much as he had when he first picked it up hours ago. He couldn’t just stand there anymore. “Tyson, I-”

 

 

He cut himself off. Tyson turned around and put the chest down effortlessly. Pump nothing; his friend was growing. The veins had died down a bit, as if their job was done. Tyson looked at his body and touched it with both hands. “What’s happening to me?” He turned around and faced Jason,

 

 

“Holy shit!” Jason blurted out. Tyson was a different person. His biceps were, in a word, huge. No pump could explain it. What had been a baseball was now swollen from his inner elbow to his shoulder. He flexed it and it peaked up a good two inches it seemed. He touched his abs. “Dude! Feel this shit.”

 

 

Jason couldn’t help himself. His hand immediately went to Tyson’s abs and pulled away just as quickly. “Holy shit” he said again as his hand returned to Tyson’s midsection. It was like touching skin-covered metal. Not in a figurative sense, either. His body was as hard as any substance he had ever touched, covered in bronze skin. His hand, having a mind of its own, moved up to Tyson’s chest. All sinew and mass, they were two heaving slabs of beef. All in all he looked like an anatomic model of skeletal muscle that had skin vacuum-packed around it. He looked strong. Every movement of his body sent Tyson’s muscles dancing. Pulling his pant leg up revealed quads that rivaled a bodybuilder’s; each muscle separated with deep enough grooves to put a finger in.

 

 

Jason stopped and took his hands away. It was more than he could handle. Tyson was still enthralled with his new physique, his hands all over his new eight pack. “The rat bite,” he said suddenly. “It must have done something to me. And those rabbits. All those animals were huge. What was that place?”

 

 

“It was a government lab,” Jason answered. “They must have worked on human growth formulas and got shut down somewhere along the line. I guess those animals were decedents of the animals they tested. They—“

 

 

Their eyes suddenly went to the chest. “Let’s get home and get that thing open,” Tyson demanded. Jason had no hesitation about complying.

 

 

CHAPTER IV: THE EXPERIMENT 

 

 

They made their way home in record speed. A quick of his home told Jason that his parents were gone, apparently not worried about their son not returning home the night before as the letter dated for that morning told him his parents were off for a summer vacation for the next few days. How convenient.
 

When he walked back to the porch, he watched as Tyson strained to get the chest open. The miraculous growth had stopped about when they had first commented on it. It made sense; Tyson’s body had absorbed every bit of food he had eaten and even used every shred of what little fat he stored to give him the muscle he had. Question was: Was his body done growing or did it simply need more food?

 

 

Tyson meanwhile, was grabbing the handle with one hand, the base with the other, and was giving everything he had to try to get the chest open. His body was as tense as iron, every muscle pumped and flexed to its max yet nothing happened. The box was made of steel and so was the lock apparently. And this type didn’t rust.

 

 

With a last grunt, Tyson violently gave up, kicking the chest with a sigh of rage. He stood up, sweat soaking his taught body, gathering in the channels of his chest, abs and arms and running like rainwater down a window. A simple motion of turning his head even set his neck muscles to work, each one flexing and grinding against another like a pile of snakes. “I’m still hungry” was all he said as he brushed by him and into the house.

 

 

The next two hours consisted of Tyson consuming every bit of protein in the house, and there was plenty. An obese family of three knew their way through a grocery store. Tyson consumed eight cans of tuna, every pound of hamburger, chicken, steak, and turkey they owned and had even started eating peanuts before he finally felt full. His stomach bloated beneath his boulder-like abs as if he were 8 months pregnant. Hands on the countertop, Tyson stopped to take a breath, then rounded the corner to the bathroom. A quick look inside showed Tyson on the scale, the digital readout displaying 187 pounds. “Holy shit, you’ve eaten 30 pounds of food.”

 

 

“And twenty of it is still in my stomach,” Tyson said with a possessed gleam in his eyes. “I wonder—Man! I’m tired.”

 

 

And as if his brain was running solely at the demands of his body, Tyson, clad only in a pair of gym shorts, collapsed on the couch, asleep in seconds. Jason watched his friend lie there for a little while before his grumbling stomach pulled him into the kitchen. He hadn’t eaten since the afternoon before and only just now realized he was famished. He got a good way through a third Hungryman TV dinner before he heard Tyson moan from the couch. Jason scrambled to the couch and saw that his friend’s breathing had quickened and his muscles were twitching.

 

 

Within 5 minutes, his friend’s veins started swelling in that telltale precursor for growth. They started by just getting bigger, then they began to pump with every beat of his heart. And every beat made his muscles bigger. The bulge in his stomach slowly retreated as the energy inside it transformed him. His muscles involuntarily flexed and twitched as they swelled. His neck strained as it expanded, the cables in his neck expanding. His traps bulged and formed a peak between his neck and shoulder. His arms flexed and relaxed growing to the size of softballs while his triceps, every muscle protruding like it was trying to escape, pushed his arms out the other way. The grooves in his abs grew deeper as the rectangles of muscle that made up what was now a ten-pack pushed out. His lats flared pushing out his arms. The veins continued to pulse as they snaked their way down beneath his shorts and to his legs. His quads rolled in a never-ending battle as one set of muscle tried to grow over another. His calves looked perpetually flexed, shaped like diamonds and probably as hard. Tyson moaned in his sleep and his hand went to his crotch. That was when Jason noticed there was another bulge he had yet to see. His friends cock looked like it was already erect but when his sleeping buddy unconsciously adjusted to give it room he noticed that it was flaccid and probably over seven inches long.

 

 

Suddenly Tyson’s eyes groggily opened and he sat up, stretching. The movement sent his body rolling as the brand new muscle moved for the first time. He stood up, eyes fixated on the chest, walked over to the chest and picked it up. He tested its weight with both hands then in a solid motion grabbed the latch and the base separately and tore the box open.
 

“I feel so strong, Jason,” Tyson said as he put the opened chest down. His voice was dreamy, as if he couldn’t believe what was happening. “It’s taking all of my willpower to not try to punch a hole in a tree or even push it down. Because I feel like I actually could.” At that moment he looked down at his body for the first time since waking up. He grinned and looked at Jason before reaching down into the chest. He pulled out a smaller black chest with an intricate clasp. Placing it on the table, Jason pushed the button on the front and the top opened with a hiss. Jason walked over and looked in the 2’ x 1’ box. Inside lay row after row of sealed vials, each set in a perfectly shaped hole in a cork bed.

 

 

            Tyson pulled out one of the vials. ‘Serum 07D-54’ was stamped on the side. Tyson smiled, looked at Jason, and handed him the vial. “Your turn” was all he said. And it wasn’t a question.

[Mdlftr]

Awesome story!  Well written and well organized, with a compelling scenario - mysterious abandoned research center in the woods....

 

Thank you for resurrecting this story!

 

Mdlftr -- going for a walk in the woods.....

[asianman2410]

I hope there is more

[Aronymous]

There is

https://www.google.com/search?num=100&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHHJ_nlNL411NL411&q="the+chest"+site%3Aarchive.muscle-growth.org&oq="the+chest"+site%3Aarchive.muscle-growth.org&gs_l=serp.3...2210.5154.0.10237.5.5.0.0.0.0.79.355.5.5.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..0.0.0.Fgi6iYNdoIA

[m3atpuppet]

1 hour ago, Aronymous said:

There is

https://www.google.com/search?num=100&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHHJ_nlNL411NL411&q="the+chest"+site%3Aarchive.muscle-growth.org&oq="the+chest"+site%3Aarchive.muscle-growth.org&gs_l=serp.3...2210.5154.0.10237.5.5.0.0.0.0.79.355.5.5.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..0.0.0.Fgi6iYNdoIA

Bless.

[dickasauras]

Chapters 5-8 are here:  https://archive.musclegrowth.net/threads/22891-p1.html

[Xander12]

The archived parts on the old links are gone. Anyone happen to have or know if there’s a way to get them again? Just saw this story and it’s so good

[bobtimbob]

22 minutes ago, Xander12 said:

The archived parts on the old links are gone. Anyone happen to have or know if there’s a way to get them again? Just saw this story and it’s so good

You can fix a link by replacing the "archive.muscle-growth.org" with "archive.musclegrowth.net" in the URL. Or you can find things from the old forum in the "Old Story List" under the "Story Archive" tab at the top.