I felt terrible. I'd never kept a secret from my family before. Never before. No matter how delicate the situation was. This was the first time. And how the heck was I supposed to keep a lid on this thing?! I mean a cure for cancer!

That's not just a piece of everyday gossip you get from junior high school. That's the kind of thing that will change billions of lives and the very fabric of society in all it' elements: social, political, economic, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

I went up to my room and threw myself on the bed. I stared at the ceiling. I didn't know how much of this I could take. The pressure was mounting like sand on the beach. Larry walked in. "Well, I have to congratulate you."

I scoffed. "For what?"

"For not telling. I know how hard this is for you. Believe me, I know. I'd like to tell everyone. But there's some things that even our loved ones can't know now because it would hurt them. It's better if they find out for themselves."

I sat straight up. "I know you're right. I just wish I could convince myself of that."

"Sure, you can. You can…" At that moment, Larry's phone beeped. He answered it. "Yeah. It's me. What?! When? Oh, my…keep me informed. All right."

"What happened?"

"Not good or bad, but worrisome. One of our boats which was carrying the rose petals was about to dock off the coast of Brazil when they were stopped by some Brazilian soldiers. They demanded to speak to the captain and check the cargo."

"What happened?"

"They had to Stage 2."

"Use of aggressive force, huh?"

"Yep. It's take out your guns, swords, and bayonets. So, our contract with Brazil is pretty much over."

"I hope the no other country starts to suspect, especially the U.S. You know4 how nosy they are. They're always meddling in other countries' affairs and are always suspicious of everyone."

"Yeah, I know. Fortunately, we can get the flower under other contracts. And from other places."

"What about the Democratic Republic of the Congo?"

"Well, they don't really have too much of that kind of flower. Mostly we just get seeds."

I stood up and started pacing. I quickly checked the hallways to make sure nobody was listening. Then I closed the door and locked it. "Do you think they're getting suspicious?"

"Who?"

"The Congo?"

"I don't think so. But this whole thing has affected our logging industry, too. As you know, we do allow some logging. Limited."

I wasn't too happy with that arrangement. Even if it was limited. "Yeah, I know."

"And of course, not all of Amarkia is forest or woods. The whole eastern third is desert, where there's no trees. And so, we have to give in, you know."

"I know, I know."

"But now, we've decided to shut down all logging industry in Amarkia and start importing wood. Which I must say is costing us quite a lot of money." Now, he started to sound concerned.

"Yeah, that's why I don't like to import or export. I prefer to be self-sufficient. You know, get everything from home."

"Yeah, but it's necessary. And economists have already mentioned their opinions on the news and on TV. They've said that they think it's a bad decision and that it will damage our economy. Especially since a lot of men are going to lose their jobs and that the logging companies might sue for ending contract early."

I didn't like the sound of that last thing too much. "That doesn't sound pretty. It's a good thing you're my lawyer."

"Yeah, I know. Otherwise, where would you be?"

I threw a pillow at him and we had a good laugh. A few hours later, it must've been almost eight. I was reading in bed and Larry was going over some reports. He got a text message. "Hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"Our planes and helicopters just arrived with the supplies."

"Oh, good!"

"One of our choppers nearly went down, though. And it had the most amount of petals and seeds."

"What?!" I sat straight up. "It went down?!"

"No, it nearly did."

"Why did it almost go down? Where the ships too heavy?"

"Uh, that and the motor suddenly turned off."

"Oh, no!"

"Fortunately, our choppers have wings and it was able to glide some distance and the motors reactivated."

I sighed of relief. "That's good to know."

"And also, our trucks have arrived with other things we need. Bacteria, the brewers, all that. But now the question is, where do you want the operations to begin?"

Now it was up to me. Hmm. I walked across the room, pacing back and forth. "Where do you think we should?"

"Well, that's something that only you can say. You're the only one with the authority to say it."

"Well…we obviously can't do it in a major city."

"Obviously. But we can't do it in some small town in the middle of nowhere. We're going to have a lot of trucks coming back and forth. That would arouse suspicion."

"True. Where then?"

"Hmm. What's the place in Amarkia with the least population?"

Then it hit me. "I got it! In the Norther Plains region. In the prairies and grasslands. There's a lot of abandoned farm areas. They'd be perfect. And they're far away from highways, interstates, cities and towns. And there aren't any roads, paved or unpaved that lead to there. It's rough terrain, but it'd be perfect."

"Sounds good. I'll give orders for them to do right away. It's easier at night." He texted them back on his phone. "Well, now that's taken care of…" he turned out the lamp. "Goodnight."

I laughed. "Goodnight, Larry."

(TWO DAYS LATER.)

Spiny's Office

2:23 pm.

I'd just finished my lunch. Homemade fried chicken, biscuits, and mashed potatoes with gravy. Mmm. Just saying it makes my mouth water and my stomach growl. I was about to get back to work when Larry came in, bursting through the door, running and waving his hands in the air.

"Spiny, Spiny, Spiny!"

"What? What's happening? Who am I killing?"

"You're killing one man."

I stood up and ran to my gun and grabbed one of the handguns and loaded it. "Okay, just one question."

"What?"

"Who exactly am I killing?"

"James Robert."

"Oh, yeah…who's James Robert?"

"He's a traitor. And a thief. He was in our Anti-Cancer Operation."

"Well, what did he do so that I have to end his life?"

He leaned closer to me and whispered. "He was going to sell the recipes to make the medicine."

"He…wha…uh…HUH?!"

"And he was planning to put poison in it, too."

"He WHAT?!"

"Yeah. But we caught him in time."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Shoot him or something!"

"Nah, I didn't have to do that."

"What'd you do? Cut off his head?"

"No! I tied him up and put him in a tunnel."

"And…"

"Slowly filled it with boiling, churning lava."

I sat down. "Oh. A slow, agonizing death, huh? Well, that's all he deserved!"

"Let me tell you something. Those who were watching were trembling like vibrators and said to them, 'No funny business!'"

I scoffed. "You said that?! They must've been scared to death."

He laughed and sat at his desk. "I do have some good news besides that horrible news. We have three more gallons of the stuff. Our operations had started in Sauropolis, but we've already moved them to that Secret Location. And we're expecting to have more by tomorrow."

"Really? Wow, that's what I call progress."

"Yes. In a month we should have 50 gallons. The reason that it's going to be so little is that we have to ration the petals and make the right amount of liquid proportionate to the bacteria."

"Just the right amount, huh? And have you come up with a name for the bacteria?"

"We're calling them Too-Morhs. Not Tumors, Too-Morhs. Different pronunciation."

"Appropriate name."

"They have a Latin name, but this is the common name."

"Yeah, a lot easier sounding."

"Yes, and we expect to make more bacteria than we actually need. These are the kind of bacteria that reproduce at very high rates. We've actually drawn up futuristic plans that we'll be able to make bacteria produce their own medicine. But that's a long-term goal."

"Yeah, I think we're a little bit far off that one."

He nodded. "Yeah." He got and grabbed a backpack. He started stuffing it with canned goods, some weapons, gear, boots, and other stuff.

"Where you going?"

"Oh, we're going on a scout mission to get more of the plants. I need to go to the deepest parts of the jungle. And in the caves, too. As you know, some of those caves have their own jungles too."

"Yeah, I know that."

You may be wondering how is it possible that jungles exist inside caves, right? Well, as for water, it flows down from the ground above. And in terms of light and heat, there's a vast system of underground crystals that reflect enough sunlight to make stuff grow.

"How long you going to be gone?" I asked.

"Not sure. A few days. Maybe a week or two. Let's see. Today's the 11th. Thursday. I should be back by Saturday."

"You're going now?!"

"Yeah. I need to. The faster I go, the faster we'll have the operations up and running."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"Oh, and you should now. Once I enter those caves, I won't have any contact with the outside world."

"Not even satellite phones?"

"Not even satellite phones."

"Not even emergency back-up phones?"

"Not even…well, yes, I'll have those. But only in case of an emergency." He looked at his watch. "Well, I have to go now. The men are waiting for me. I'll see you in two days, hopefully. If not, then it means trouble."

He must've noticed my worried face, because he laughed and said, "Kidding! See you around." He walked out the door.

I know he'd meant it as a joke, but somehow I wasn't taking it as a joke. My mind had said that if he wasn't back by Saturday at 4 pm, then I should start to worry.