Corporate Body by R.A. Busby

When impoverished college dropout Nick signs up to be a DrugCorp test subject, he’s glad for the easy money. A few inpatient stays, and after too many blood draws to count, Nick can actually pay the rent on the backyard shed he lives in. Best of all, he doesn’t have to be a burden to his father. He’s disappointed the man enough already.

That’s when his friend Charlie lets him in on some classified information: a highly experimental forty-week study at the isolated DrugCorp compound. Nick knows this study involves improving the human genome to extend life, and he knows it involves some minor abdominal surgery, but he isn’t prepared at all for the strange…aftereffects. The nausea. The itching. The unusual abdominal swelling. The internal squirming.