Kicked Around

"Maybe you should take it easy tonight," Bret said watching Erik struggling to find his way out of the closet with the shirt over his head.

"I'm fineeeee," Erik said as he finally poked his head out of the sleeve of the shirt. "Oh... that's the prablem. Thisy fucky thing isn't mineee." Erik kept looking around the room. "Where'z minez knife?"

"Hold on, let me help you," Bret said pulling the shirt back over Erik's head. "Let's call it off with the girls tonight, and we'll meet up tomorrow."

"No wayyyyy!," Erik said defiantly. "Look... man... I need tooooo... showerz take... and then I can... eat shit and shave."

"What?" Bret asked confused.

"Just go andz eatz yourz foodz... I'll seez youz guyz laterz," Erik said.

"Alright man," Bret responded. "Be safe." Bret opened the door and walked out.

"Tootle you!," Erik said sitting down on the chair. Erik looked around confused. "Where's the foodz?" Erik continued to look around until he saw his shower caddie with his soap and shampoo. "Oh ya... I needs sa shitz showerz." He picked up the shower caddie and carefully put on his shower sandals. After several attempts, he finally put them both on. Then he grabbed his towel and opened the door.

Erik stumbled down the hall to the bathroom. He walked inside and dropped the shower caddie in one of the shower stalls. Then he turned on the water and undressed. After he was completely naked, he realized that he needed to use the bathroom. He put his towel on to cover himself up and walked over to a toilet stall. Then he closed the door, hung the towel on a hook in the stall and sat down. Erik leaned up against the wall and passed out in the stall.

Erik slowly awakened from his self-induced drug-fueled coma. He looked around and realized he was completely naked with his head against the stall wall, sitting on the toilet. He rubbed the sleepiness from his face as he searched for his clothes. He saw nothing. He remembered that he walked in with a towel, but he couldn't find it.

Erik stumbled to his feet and opened the stall door. He walked out to the sinks and saw his face in the mirror for a brief moment and then looked down at the sink. Then, he looked back in the mirror again, realizing that there was something on his face. There was a picture of a penis drawn on the side of his cheek as if it were being inserted into his mouth, with the testicles running down to his lower jaw. On the other side were the words: "I love cock." On his forehead were the words: "Dick Head." These new facial features were in addition to his bloody nose bandages that were peeling off.

"What the fuck," he said softly, but panicked. Erik began running the water and tried washing his face, but it wouldn't come off. He scrubbed and scrubbed, even those his nose and face hurt, but nothing happened. "Fuck."

He slowly stumbled from the bathroom sink area and walked out the door. As he opened it, several flashes went off. Erik saw Bret, Steve, and Lexi taking photos of him as he exited the bathroom.

"What the fuck!" Erik said holding his hands up. Then, realizing that he was still naked, he put his hands down to cover himself.

The three were laughing hysterically as Erik ran to his bedroom and locked the door.

Erik's head was swimming. He couldn't see in the dark bedroom, and fell over his desk chair, onto the floor. The fall knocked the wind out of him. Erik struggled to breathe. After a few seconds, he finally caught his breath. Drained of energy, Erik passed out on his floor for the night.

Chapter 19

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Erik and Jessica are sitting at a table at a very nice upscale restaurant. The room is lit by candlelight at each table, and the servers are wearing white, button-up shirts with black bowties. Erik is wearing a suit and tie, and Jessica is wearing an elegant blue dress. They are enjoying a nice dinner and having a good time. Both of them are smiling at each other as they eat. The waiter comes over and apologizes but says he has something that Jessica should see. The waiter shows her a blue tablet with several pictures. Jessica looks appalled as she swipes through the photos on the tablet.

Erik can't see what Jessica is looking at on the tablet, so he stands up and walks behind her. Erik sees photos of himself, at his desk jerking off to porn of "fake pornstar Jessica," getting a blowjob from Lola, in the bathroom naked being written on, Steve teabagging him passed out, and various other embarrassing photos of Erik. Everyone in the restaurant starts to laugh. Erik looks around and sees that everyone is pointing and laughing at them. Jessica's face has a look of embarrassment. She sets the tablet down the table, and she tries to cover her face with her hands while looking down. Erik grabs the tablet and tries to delete the photos, but the tablet is giving him error messages. "Error: Can not delete photo.," "Error: You can't remove this!," "You can't delete pictures from the internet dumbass!"

The tablet continued to report errors. Finally, it displayed a consistent message that said: "ERROR: PC Load Letter." "What the fuck???" Erik said. Suddenly, black vines grew from cracks that were forming on the floor. The vines wrapped around his wrists and ankles, pulling him down to the ground. Erik was struggling to free himself. Then, Erik heard a loud repeated stomping noise. The screen of the tablet went black. Erik looked at it and could see the reflection of a cow's head on fire in the glass of the tablet. Erik turned to look. The entire world screeched to a halt, turning red.

Erik's phone chimes that he has a text message. The sound of the phone jolts him awake. It's Monday morning, and he's still on the ground, in his room, alone. Erik gradually pulls himself to his feet and gets to his phone. Erik reads the text messages: "Need some help, I'll make it worth your while...," "Blowjob for your thoughts?", "Help me, Erik, you're my only hope," "My mouth, your cock... just pick up the phone!"

Erik looks at the time. He missed his Psychology class. "It's probably just a review of the midterm, anyway," he thought. Erik puts on some clothes and leaves his room. He pounds on Bret's door repeatedly. Erik can hear rustling in the room. He keeps pounding on the door until there is an answer.

"What the fuck man?!?" Bret says as he opens the door slightly, sticking his head out. He sees Erik and smiles. "Oh hey, now's not a good time. I'm kinda busy."

"You took pictures of me," Erik said angrily.

"Noooo," Bret said. "That was Lexi."

"You, Lexi, and Steve," Erik countered.

"He was so high," Bret said. "He couldn't hold his phone straight. Lexi is the only one that got a good photo."

"What did she do with it?" Erik asked.

"Sent it to her family," Bret responded. "Showed her mom, masturbated to it, I don't fucking know."

"Hey!," a girl's voice says from inside the room. Bret leans in then back out.

"I gotta go," Bret says pulling his head back in, trying to close the door.

Erik puts his foot in the door to stop it from closing. "Is she in there?" Erik said. "Did she send it to Jessica?" Erik peaks in and sees a topless Lexi now covering her chest.

"No!," Lexi yelled out. "Jesus, asshole!" Bret puts his hand on Erik's chest trying to push him back out.

"Whoa!" Bret said, raising his voice as he was pushing Erik.

"Get out!" screamed Lexi. Bret pushes Erik back out of the door and steps out with him.

"Don't pull something like that again," Bret says calmly. "That's not cool." Bret is standing outside of his room wearing nothing but his boxer shorts.

"You guys took nude photos of me!" Erik says, still angry. Erik's phone sounds again, indicating he has another text message.

"I didn't, they did," Bret said. Erik reaches for his phone and starts to read the message.

"Look, man," Bret starts. "Go straighten that shit out with Steve, and you can talk to Lexi about it later. But don't barge into my room like that. That's not..."

"I gotta go," Erik says cutting him off. Erik walks back to his room.

"Don't do it again!," Bret states. "Asshole." Bret opens his door and walks back into the room.

Erik closes the door to his room behind him. He's staring at the text, which is an asshole selfie picture of Lara's bare ass spread out, her pussy below and her tight asshole visible in the center, like a bullseye. On the right cheek of Lara's ass, there was an outline of a white rabbit embedded in her skin. Lara's skin was darker from tanning, except for the rabbit which was white from Lara's untanned skin. Erik didn't know how she was able to do this; he was just mesmerized by the picture of a white bunny staring at the beautiful site of Lara's asshole and pussy. Erik had never heard of a tanning sticker.

The message on the text said: "I'll let you fuck my ass again cowboy." As Erik was staring at the image, another text came through: "Call me." Erik's mind went blank. The only thing that was on his mind right now was to follow the white rabbit. Erik closed his eyes and pushed the "Call" button. Erik's phone dialed the number. He pressed the phone to his ear and opened his eyes as the call connected.

"So I finally got your attention?" Lara said.

"What do you want?" Erik asked.

"I need help," Lara responded.

"And what's in it for me?" Erik asked.

"Umm, sex and money?" Lara responded. "You know what's in it for you."

Erik takes a deep breath as he closes his eyes. Lara's selfie image flashes in his head. "Alright," Erik said. "What do you need me to do?"

"I'm in trouble," Lara said. "Some guy hacked my website."

"What?!? How?"

"I don't know," Lara said. "Come over, now."

Erik looked at himself in the mirror. He could read the writing on his face even from a distance. "Give me an hour," Erik responded.

Erik showered and scrubbed off the lettering the best he could. Then, he walked to Lara's apartment. Erik's nose was still swollen, but it didn't require the bandages anymore. Erik knocked on the door and went inside.

"So what happened?" Erik asked.

"A week ago," Lara started. "This new guy starts paying me for private sessions. But he wants to book me for an hour a day every day. He had me doing all kinds of shit, but the money was good, so I kept doing it. Then, he wanted me to do some sick shit, and I said no. He told me to do it or else. When I told him no, my website went down, and he told me he did it."

Erik shook his head. "That doesn't sound right at all," Erik said. "Are you sure it was him?"

"Yes!," Lara said. "He said he did it!"

"That doesn't mean anything," Erik said shaking his head with a condescending smile. "It could have been anything that brought it down."

Lara punched him in the arm.

"Ow!," Erik said. "What was that for?"

"Pay attention!" Lara said. "I'm losing everything, and you think it's cute!"

"No, I don't," Erik defended himself.

"My whole fucking livelihood is at stake here," Lara started in. "This is how I make my money Erik. I don't have parents that support me. I have no scholarships. I don't have help. I have this." Lara motioned to her body. "And the only way I can make money with this is gone." Lara turned away, the rage she unleashed was now making her emotional, and she looked like she was going to cry.

Erik stared at her feeling guilty for not being more compassionate to her situation. After a moment, he walked to her desk and opened her laptop. Erik opened a web browser and navigated to Lara's site. Immediately, he noticed that the whole site was different. At the top, there was a new message that says "Hey fuckers, here comes Dr. Love Dong! Enjoy the free porn wankers!" There was a picture of a penis with a hat and a stethoscope. Pay only videos were available for free, all of her private photos for subscribers were on display to view. At the bottom, there was a ransom note demanding that Lara films a "live donkey show in front of Tominova Gallery, across from the bridge."

"A Donkey Show?" Erik asks reading the ransom note.

"Yeah!," Lara says. "Where the fuck am I going to find a donkey at?"

In addition to the noticeable site changes, there were client-side scripts attempting to execute on the site. The popup blocker looked like it was preventing some of them, but they just kept coming.

"Tominova Gallery?" Erik questioned. "That's on campus right?"

"Yeah," Lara responds.

"He knows where she lives," Erik thought.

"Have you talked to this guy since he did all this?" Erik asked.

"Yeah," Lara responded.

"And what did he say?" Erik asked.

"He wanted my real name and address," Lara said. "Then he wanted me to meet him."

"Did you give it to him?" Erik asked.

"No," Lara said. "But, he said that if I just upgraded my website, it would all be fixed. He sent me a link to do it. So I opened the link. Like 15 minutes later, he sends me my name and my address."

"Fuck," Erik said. "He probably hacked your computer too." Erik held up his hand, covering the webcam.

"How could he do that?" Lara asked.

"He probably found some vulnerability in the website and took control over it," Erik said. "Or maybe he started with a session hijack to take control of it. After that, you wouldn't do what he wanted, and he convinced you to click on something else that you shouldn't have. From there, he probably installed some type of rootkit or something like that to access your computer. While in your system, he probably looked at the name on the Account and just looked you up in the student directory."

Lara was stunned. "You make it sound so easy."

"Unfortunately, it is," Erik said. "If you know the right tools and you know what you're doing, it doesn't take much effort."

"Now what?" Lara asked.

"Get a piece of tape," Erik said. Lara walked over to the kitchen and pulled out blue painter's tape from a drawer. She walked back to the desk and handed a piece to Erik. Erik covered the webcam with the tape so that the camera couldn't watch them.

"If he has total control of the website," Erik started. "We'll need to wipe it and start over. Same with your computer. It'll take a few days to get everything back to normal, maybe a week."

"I don't have a week!" Lara was getting upset again. "I'm supposed to cam tonight."

"I don't know what to tell you," Erik said, trying to remain calm.

"FIX IT!," Lara yelled. "Fix it, fix it, fix it, fix it, fix it..."

"I'M TRYING!," Erik yelled at her.

"What do you want Erik?" Lara asked desperately. "You want me to fuck you? Blow you? Let you fuck me in the ass? Take a shit on my tits? What is it?"

"I... I'm not... Wait what did you say?"

"Stop fucking with me," Lara said. "You want something, just say it."

"I'm trying to help you," Erik said trying to calm her down.

"And what do you want for your 'help'?" Lara asked making quotes in the air with her fingers.

Erik paused. Lara's lack of trust in him when he was trying to help her soured his resolve. After trying to change his appearance to be what he thought Lara needed him to be (hurting himself for days during the process) and now Lara not even taking his sincere desire to help her seriously, he was really upset. At this moment, he just wanted to fix this and move on with his life.

"Just pay me for my time, and we'll call it even," Erik responded. "But after I clean this up, we're done."

"What?"

"After I fix this, I don't want this to keep going," Erik said. "I can't keep this going."

"And what happens if he comes back?" Lara asked.

"I'll make sure everything is clean," Erik responded. "If he comes back, you need to be smarter in how you deal with people."

"Oh, well fuck you too Mr. Computer Man," Lara said sarcastically. "I didn't know you were an expert in customer service."

"This guy isn't a customer," Erik said. "He's messing with you, and right now he's holding the power. It's going to take a lot of time to get him out of here and figure out how to keep him out."

"It's your fault he's here in the first place," Lara said. "You should have done more to keep everything safe."

"I didn't choose to click random links that people sent me," Erik said. "That's all on you."

"Fuck you, Erik," Lara said. "The link was to my fucking website."

"That makes no sense Lara," Erik said. "Clicking a link that takes you to your own website shouldn't have done this."

"Well it did," Lara said coldly. "So that means you didn't secure something. This is your fault. Fix it."

"What a fucking bitch," Erik thought to himself. "I don't have to do shit. But here I am, trying to help you and you treat me like this? Seriously, what the fuck?" Still, Erik was intrigued by the idea of finding out who this guy was and why he targeted her.

"I need your laptop and any CDs or software codes you got when you bought it," Erik said.

Lara opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a packet full of stuff. She handed it to Erik.

"What do you want first, the website back or the laptop?" Erik asked.

"Do I have to choose?" Lara asked.

"I'll work on both," Erik started to say. "And while I have downtime on one I'll work on the other, but I need to know which you need most so I can spend my time on that."

"Laptop," Lara said. "So I can email my customers and tell them what's going on."

"You can do that at the computer lab," Erik said. "And you should go change all your passwords, like right now."

Erik picked up the laptop and followed Lara as she walked to the door. That's when Erik noticed the cat, sitting on the floor and staring at Erik, grinning. Erik paused and stared back at the cat uncomfortably. Then, he walked past the cat and followed Lara.

Erik and Lara left her apartment. Erik took the laptop back to his dorm room, and Lara hopped a bus headed toward one of the campus computer labs. On his way back, his mind raced through several scenarios: "If he has access to her email, then he knows everything about her. There's nothing I can do about that now. But, I never emailed her any of the VM passwords or site passwords. She could have emailed those to herself, who knows. When I bring everything back, I'll use new passwords. I have to find how he got in though. If it was by hacking her email that had access to the passwords, then that's an easy fix: she uses new passwords and stops clicking on stupid shit. But if that's not how he did it, then I need to find out what he did on the site to get in. Otherwise, I'll wipe everything, and he'll just do the same thing all over again."

When Erik got back to his room, he went to work. Erik had some minor experiences on the offensive side of computer security, so Erik understood that the hacker could have infiltrated in any number of ways. In addition to his amateur offensive security experiences, he had some very minor experience with defensive security on a desktop which came from friends and family that Erik had to support whenever they did something stupid and infected their computers with a virus or malware. However, none of these experiences adequately prepared him for an attack of this scale. This was new territory for him. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time. If he made one mistake, he'd have to start all over again. Erik needed to think through every action and be very careful.

Erik started with the laptop. "Let's see if I can find out who I'm dealing with," he thought. There were multiple windows open all over the place, and the laptop was running very slow. Erik rebooted it into safe mode and tried to look through the System and Security logs. Everything was blank. "Looks like he was smart enough to cover his tracks. Well, this isn't going to be very helpful," he said. Erik saw multiple processes spawning with strange names. He looked at the firewall logs, and he could see that they were attempting to connect outbound. Erik did a reverse lookup on the IP addresses and found they were connecting to entrance nodes on the ROT network.