Quitters, Inc.

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"Quitters, Inc." is a horror story by Stephen King, collected in the Night Shift anthology. It was dramatized as a section of the film Cat's Eye starring James Woods and Alan King.

The main character is a middle aged man who would like to quit smoking. A friend advises him to go to the Quitters, Inc. firm for treatment because they have already helped him quit. The firm is said to have a 98% success rate with their clients and guarantees that no one of them will remain a smoker. In fact, it was founded by a gangster who had died of lung cancer and left all of his money to the noble cause of saving others from smoking. That is why once the main character has enrolled for treatment, he may no longer smoke -- or else...

The main character soon finds out about the brutal tactics used by Quitters, Inc., which include electrocuting (non-fatally) his family members if he is caught smoking a cigarette, and that these electrocutions would get more intense, and eventually include him, if he continued to smoke. The president of Quitters, Inc. even reveals what happens after the ninth time, which would result in someone breaking the main character's son's arms. The tenth, and final time, would result in someone killing the main character.

The main character finds out that even though he quit smoking, he now must deal with other aspects of the firm's brutal tactics. If he does not lose the gained weight, then someone would cut off his wife's finger. At the end of the story, he realizes that the friend of his, who sent him to Quitters, Inc. in the first place, has a wife who is missing her pinky finger.