Mantras Ch. 01

The hunt itself was easier than I thought it would be. Was this due to luck? Providence? Or just my determination and hours upon hours of preparation? Regardless, I was amazed how everything just seemed to work out in my favor.

I had called several schools over the past 3 weeks, many of the calls from different phones. Payphones (they still exist) and library phones with what I hoped did not leave a pattern. I had taken several day trips in several directions, with a couple overnight, just to make my phone calls. It was surprisingly easy to act like a flustered parent whose late teen hadn't been organized enough to find the details on move-in. When day does move-in start? When do the dorms open? How do they get their key? The front desk workers who answered the phones reported their script in bored tones that I'm sure they had used 100 times already that day.

I was just another parent. Nothing about me stood out in any way amongst the thousands of others calling schools all over the country.

Now I found myself in early August, sitting in my car, 2 blocks away from the freshman dorms, checking, double-checking, and re-checking my gear. If everything wasn't perfect, I would bugout, fix the problem and come back tomorrow. I had a 3-day window at this campus, and if I needed to, would migrate north to a school with a later start. The 3 days was just to start. Once I started the hunt, I gave myself 3 hours to either be successful or to abort.

Three schools. Three days. Three hours. Those were my constraints. Failure in any one of those three would send me home for a year.

I likened my task to climbing a mountain. I had heard stories of hikers climbing and climbing and climbing, only for the weather to turn, or equipment to fail just before reaching the summit. Continuing on had a significantly higher risk of death. Better to back off, admit defeat, and come back in a year with more preparation than to fail forever.

It was hotter than I had suspected it would be. The two blocks, while necessary, put more of a strain on me than I had planned. I could feel my backpack pushing on the sweaty t-shirt I was wearing, holding it damp against my skin. The suitcase I was pulling behind me was starting to drag, even though I hoped it would be much heavier before the day was through. At least the hat and sunglasses were keeping my eyes from straining.

Everything I wore was nondescript. Plain black t-shirt. Dark blue hat with no logo. Slightly larger than normal sunglasses.

I crossed the street into the loosely organized chaos that was the dorm parking lot. There were girls everywhere. The dorm looked like it held 300-odd rooms. Add a roommate to each of those and 600 girls all trying to move in at the same time was a sight to behold. Some were dressed practically, some obviously wanted more attention, with low-cut blouses and shorts that would flash the bottom of their ass if they took just the right kind of step.

I paused for a minute to catch my breath and to start hunting for prey. There were several potentials that stood out to me, though all but 3 I dismissed immediately. The 18-year olds were on the whole reasonably fit; the vitality of youth that hadn't yet succumbed to time, exercise, and diet being abused for years. It always amazed me however that a person could eat themselves over 200 pounds before they made it beyond high-school. Big bones don't take up that much mass.

I had decided not to cross through the parking lot, and instead took the sidewalk around. This gave me time to observe. Thank God I did -- my first potential had a friend come by and give her a hug. It looked like they were already slated to be roommates. While the double-catch would have been delicious, it was beyond my abilities and planning.

The second girl was parked close to the dorm, so I had a long walk to watch her struggle to get her bags out of her car. Girl number 3 looked like she was being joined by her parents.

I kept walking to finish my circle. No others stood out. I started to angle toward the second girl I had noticed. She was a light brunette, dressed casually, which was likely why the few freshman men around hadn't yet pounced on helping her get settled in. She was cute. A nice waist, pretty breasts, not too large, but still big enough to be noticed. I plastered the grin I had been practicing on my face as I got closer. By the time I made it to her car, some older Kia, she was on her knees in the back seat trying to pull something over the rest of the pile, with only her calves hanging out the door.

"Hey!" I said in that forced cheerfulness one uses when meeting new people. "That's a lot of baggage to pull out for a single trip. Can I give you a hand with it?" I gestured to everything sitting on the ground by her vehicle.

She backed out of her car and looked over to me. She didn't have a hat on like I did. Sweat had plastered her hair to the front of her face. She was perfect. Her eyes were deep brown, I was hoping for something more exotic, but they fit her so well. Her nose was a cute button, and her lips were inviting, just the slightest shade of pink added to them.

She blew hair out of her face and gave an exasperated look when she had to wipe it from her eyes with her hand. I loved the look of frustration on her face when several wipes lacked the results she was after. After a moment or two she gave up and started gathering up her hair for a messy ponytail.

"Oh my god, yes, please that would be amazing! I got here early to park close to the dorm, but apparently my room is about as far away from where I parked as possible. I was going to try to make it in as few trips as possible so I could stay out of the heat, but I think it's going to do me in before I make it up the steps."

I laughed convivially at her reply. I struggled to control myself. I could feel my excitement rising and took an extra second to try to steady my breathing. She had just the slightest southern lilt to her voice. I passed me hesitation off as a response to the heat.

"Let me grab a bag or two," I said. "I have a free hand at least and I'd be happy to help."

I stood up my suitcase and moved closer to her to help her sort the bags she'd pulled out already. We ended up putting a few back in her car. She had packed several cardboard boxes which would take two hands. She ended up with her backpack and two rolling suitcases, each smaller than mine. I slug a bag over my free shoulder and grabbed a duffle-type in my free hand.

"Lead on!" I said and gestured as best I could with my hands full. She gave a little laugh and offered a "follow me." I let her get a few steps ahead and started to follow. I struggled to look ahead and to catch up rather than watch her ass as it swayed in front of me. "What room did you end up in?" I asked.

"I'm up on the 4th floor. I went up already to check it out. The stairs were going to kill me if I didn't get help hauling this crap up." She turned her head slightly to look at me as she finished her sentence, I had caught up by then and was just about abreast of her.

I smiled back at her again and told her she would do just fine. The guys would move on from the girls in the short-shorts before long and they wouldn't hesitate to show off just how strong they were.

She gave a tinkling laugh. It was lovely. We kept making small talk on our short trek between the occasional panted breath. I wanted to hear that laugh again. She wouldn't be casually laughing again for a while and I had a desire to enjoy it for a little while longer.

"What do I call you, by the way?" I said as we mounted the steps to get inside. The rush of AC was a welcome balm and goosebumps immediately stuck up on my sweaty skin.

I saw her shiver in the cold air as she responded with a simple "I'm Chloe. What's your name?" She turned to the left and started down the long hallway.

"Mike." Not my real name, obviously. I had a passable student ID in my pocket. As long as nobody checked the glovebox in my car, nobody would see two other school IDs with two other names prepped.

By the time we got to the top of the stairs, we were both struggling for breath. We looked at each other and both gave a bit of a helpless chuckle before she gestured down the hallway. "447, this is me!" Her grin this time didn't quite reach her eyes.

She unlocked the door and we squeezed through to the empty room. It was your typical dorm. The size of two normal bedrooms squashed together with a bed in opposing corners. Nothing indicated that a roommate had made it here yet.

"Which bed do you want?" I asked as I stepped fully into the room. At her gesture, I dropped her bags onto the bed farthest from the door. She leaned over to get a drink from the sink as I stood up my suitcase and dropped my backpack next to it on the floor asking, "Did you want to take a minute, or are you ready for round two?"

"Oh, you don't have to..." she began only to have me interrupt with a wave of my hand.

"Don't be silly! I saw the size of some of those boxes! You'll be passed out on this unmade bed in another couple of trips. Besides, I have nothing but time on my hands today. If you'll let me leave my stuff in your room, I'll help you lug the rest up."

We sat for a moment before she was ready to go again and I asked her why she was here moving in by herself. She was sweet and had an easy character, I was on the lookout for any bad weather that would keep me from the peak.

She informed me that she was moving 3 states over to get away from home. check. Her mom was a drunk and her dad out of the picture. check. Chloe and her best friend, Jenny had applied to schools together and up until a week ago were setup to be dormmates for the foreseeable future. When I asked when Jenny was going to make it in, she scowled. "Jenny was at a party last week and got busted for underage drinking," she said. "She lost all her scholarships and is now fumbling to get a job. That leaves me out to dry with some future pot-luck roommate." Check "When I asked at check-in, they even told me they hadn't filled the empty spot, but not to sweat it because they would be assigning somebody soon." Check. She gave a huff of annoyance, "I can't believe that stupid..." she fumbled for words, "whatever. Anyway. That's why I'm here, ALONE, on move-in day." check. She closed her eyes and took a moment to calm herself. "What about you? You don't look like you're moving in for freshman year."

I gave a short laugh at that. I'm just about to start my 30's. "Oh no, I'm just here for a 6-month contract. The school needed somebody to do some programing work and I saw they needed a residence advisor for the fall semester. I opted for the one while I get paid for the other. I live just a couple blocks off campus, but needed to move a few things in today since they wont just let me live at home while being an RA.

"You looked like you were struggling though, so I'm glad I was forced to make the trip."

We grabbed the next load of items and trudged back up, dropping them off and heading back down. Just one more trip and I'd be done. I was still ready to abort if I needed to, but once the last load of boxes were in her room...I could feel my pulse racing with excitement.

"Thank you so much!" Chloe said with a groan as she sat on her bed, just shy of exhaustion. "I always think I'm in really good shape, but then get my ass handed to me when I have to do something in the heat!"

I laughed and made a non-committal noise. Nope. Don't get weird. Stay on your script. I blew out my breath in an exaggerated show of weariness "you bet. I haven't felt this out of shape in a while either."

We both idled for a minute, not knowing how to simply exit the conversation and end our brief, but sweaty, encounter.

She started to say "well..." but I had interrupted her as soon as the sound left her mouth. She needed to be off-balance for this.

"I don't want to pry or anything," I said, "and let me know if I'm out of line here, but I'm sorry the way things worked out for you. It's a great school, but college is hard enough when it starts the way you're expecting it to. Are you doing ok?"

She didn't answer me for a good 20 or 30 seconds. "It's not what I had in mind. I'm likely to kill Jenny next time I see her. If I see her again. We had a huge blow-out fight. She blocked me on everything, Insta, Facebook, twitter...everything. We've been best friends since middle school." She was starting to get emotional; I could hear the slight hitch in her voice, her eyes were getting moist, though nowhere near to crying.

I waited for her to continue, and when she didn't, said, "I'm sorry. Look, I know it's not my place, but if you need anything, please let me know. Here, let me give you my number, you can keep it or not, but text me if you need help with anything." I stepped closer to her and reached in my back pocket.

The bulge in my back right pocket was not a phone or wallet. From my hesitant approach of her, I swiftly pulled the taser out and touched the diodes to her arm. She grunted and collapsed back onto her bed. I kept it on her for 2 or 3 seconds before taking a step back. I quickly crossed to the door and closed it, making sure it was locked.

Chloe was still twitching on the bed when I grabbed my backpack over to her, pulled her down to the floor, and rolled her onto her stomach. I opened the main pouch and pulled my prepped zip ties out, slipped them over her hands and tightened them around each wrist behind her back. They were heavy-duty and were connected by a 3rd zip tie. I did the same to her ankles.

She had mostly stopped twitching at this point and was starting to groan. I rolled her over again so she was facing up and opened her mouth. She was looking right in my eyes. Apparently, I had knocked my sunglasses off at some point, and she had a look of shocked betrayal in those deep browns. I wasn't sure if that was directed at me or Jenny, since I didn't think she had any coherent thoughts going through her head just yet.

When I first started practicing for my hunt, I tased myself several times; put the taser on a timer and taped it to my skin. I needed to know how long I needed to tase myself to make me unresponsive for a full minute. I was glad that my trials had succeeded. I had never been around a taser before I started testing, and I didn't know how easily a person could just get back up again, or how long until speech returned. Doing this on my 200-pound frame was of course going to be different for what I assume was a 110-pound victim, but I couldn't exactly put it out there that I needed people to hold field tests on, could I?

Before speech was able to return to her, I opened her mouth and slipped the ball between her teeth. There was a tongue depressor on one side of it that went almost all the way to her throat. Even making moaning sounds was going to be difficult for her until I removed it. She was flopped back onto her stomach so I could get the straps attached in the back of her head. She was starting to come to fully at this point, most of the twitching had stopped. Since she was mostly secure, I started the on the long-term bindings.

I strapped the first of the harnesses around her biceps. Pulling them uncomfortably behind her shoulders and latching them together. I did the same thing above her elbows.

Now confident that should couldn't really use her hands to fight me, I kneeled over her thighs with my feet crossed just below her knees. I was afraid she might start kicking and alert whomever might be downstairs, but hoped if anything, they would just hear heavy thuds of people moving in.

I cut the ties around her wrists and started wrapping her forearms together behind her back, laying them against each other. This what the part I was most nervous about. How tight can I make the bindings so that she can't move because of the tightness, but can't escape from the looseness. I shouldn't have worried too much. The nylon stripping I wrapped her with was soon bound again with leather straps.

At this point her brain had caught up to what was happening. I turned around before she could start kicking for real and leaned my shin across the backs of her calves. I wasn't worried about her arms or torso at this point. I grabbed the tops of Chloe's feet and forced her knees to bend until her heels were against her ass, moving out of the way as I went. Using the same nylon stripping, I started wrapping her right leg, taping her ankle to the top of her thigh in a kneeling position. I moved to the left and did the same before cutting the zip ties and proceeding to wrap the rest of her calf against her thigh, all the way up (down?) to her knee.

Again, I rolled her onto her back. Her eyes had a wild panic to them, hair was escaping her ponytail. Those tears, initially for Jenny, were flowing from her eyes, staining mascara down her face. She was hyperventilating, making noise through her nose. "Shhhhh," I said to her as I cupped her head in my hand. "We're almost done here." Her eyes got somehow even wider.

I had drilled a hole in the ball gag in her mouth, larger than a straw, but still not what you would call "large" or "comfortable to breathe through." I pulled out a swimming plug and plugged her nose, now she couldn't do anything but gag at me, with her tongue held against the bottom of her mouth. I fished the rubber tubing from my backpack and worked it into the hole in the gag. Now she had an 8-inch-long breathing tube.

I got off of her at this point and realized I was as hard as a rock. We hadn't been wrestling much, but the thrill of the chase and all that...

Finally, I dragged my suitcase over and opened it up. Inside it was not clothes. It was another suitcase, padded on all 6 sides, completely empty. Chloe was trying to inch-worm herself away from me. I took the two steps over to her and rolled her over to face me.

"Here's what's going to happen," I said. "I'm going to put you in this suitcase. And then you and I are going to take a trip. We're going to head down to my car, we're going to drive away, and then we're going to have a little bit of fun. We're going to go camping for a bit. You, specifically, are going to be uncomfortable for a little while, but it will be worth it in the end." I grinned at her, her eyes danced wildly between mine. "You have probably noticed that you can't make a lot of noise right now. To make sure you don't suffocate, this little tube," I plugged the end of it with my finger and paused; she really started panicking now, her cheeks and lips blowing past the edge of the gag as she struggled to breathe, "is actually going to be outside the suitcase. I want to make sure you have fresh air, after all. It wouldn't do for you to make it to our destination under undue duress."

I lifted her struggling body and folded her into the suitcase. Pulling an earbud from my backpack, I slipped it into her ear then closed the lid of each suitcase fishing the tube between the zipper.

I was so Goddamn horny, I thought I was going to explode. The whole thing, start to finish, had taken me under 4 minutes. Returning to my backpack, I pulled a handwritten note that I had practiced and practiced at home. "Met a cute guy," it read, "going to hang out with him for a while. Maybe I'll meet you in a few days 😉" It had taken me hundreds of drafts to get the appropriate girly-handwriting down. I placed the notepad on the empty bed. I was starting to push my 3-hour limit at this point.

I pulled a Bluetooth speaker out of my backpack, clipped it to the outside, and started to play whatever pop music at a moderate volume. With Chloe's circumstances, I figured I could indulge myself a little bit.

I started pulling Chloe's suitcases over to me and opened them. There was nothing surprising in them. Nothing shocking. Her panties we just that. Panties. I found a couple of modest thongs, I slipped these into my backpack, they might be useful later. No fancy bras or anything, not that I expected different or had a need for them. Her other suitcase yielded a couple of bikinis, again, reasonably modest. I also grabbed these.