9. The Eternity Injection

Complete story — includes the ending

A nurse Joan knew is missing. The woman's trail leads to an illegal human drug trial of EZM-77, a time-dilating substance. Five test subjects were injected. The higher the dose the madder they went (one killed the missing nurse, who administered the drug) and they die or are murdered. Carlisle, on the lowest dose, survives and his interview leads to Purgatorium, a company which paid the test subjects $150,000 up front and promised the same amount every year. The drug's inventor, Dwyer Kirk, takes responsibility for the deaths. His sponsor, James Connaughton, paid for Kirk's education and gave his aunt a stipend to help raise him. When Connaughton learned that he was dying, he approached Kirk, who agreed to try to develop a "pharmaceutical fountain of youth" so that its time-dilating properties would make his last days feel like years. The trial subjects were executed to cover it up. Connaughton's new nurse connects him with Purgatorium and with two hitmen he hired to murder the test subjects. The police come for Connaughton, who appears non-responsive; he has injected himself with EZM-77, hoping to "extend" what little time he has left to live.