The Collegeworld Ch. 08

"Genevieve, listen to me." He kneeled in front of her and grabbed her head between his hands. Her eyes were unfocused and her face was flushed.

"Yes?" she said with large, pleading eyes.

Thomas shook his head, trying to push out the primal urge growing in his loins.

"We need to go. This is not what you were told it was. Something bad is going on."

"Really?" she said. "Why don't you stay for a moment? I'm feeling pretty warm. Aren't you?"

"Come on," he said, pulling her to her feet. She was not helping but Thomas managed to get her standing.

He opened the window and took a deep breath of the cool outside air. "Come on, stay here, breathe deep." It wouldn't help cancel the effects of the pheromones, but it would prevent her from breathing in more. Either they sprayed all the rooms with a ton of this stuff or Bergenheist had wanted to avoid any resistance.

Thomas went to the bed and threw the cover off.

"Thomas...so you do want to?" Genevieve said, her mouth half-open.

"Not that. Just keep looking out the window. Can you count how many stars there are?"

"Stars...I like stars."

"Good girl," Thomas said as he ripped the sheet.

Thomas got to halfway through the sheet when the knob started to turn. The lock prevented it from turning all the way. Then, a moment of silence.

"Genevieve? It's professor Bergenheist here. Open the door."

Thomas lifted his finger on his lips and continued to rip the sheet into a long ribbon. Genevieve opened her mouth but ended up closing it without a sound.

"Genevieve! Open the door right now. Otherwise I will have to call to cancel that special opportunity I mentioned."

Thomas shook his head and continued ripping the sheet. After a few more seconds he heard Bergenheist yell Ivan's name and knew they would have less than a minute. The rope would have to be ready. He pushed a heavy dresser to block the door and tied one end to the rope to a leg of the bed. The rest of it he threw out of the window.

"Climb down. The bad men are coming any second now," he said.

"Where's the professor?"

"He's one of them. I promise I will explain. Just go, please."

Thomas said a blessing in his mind when she obeyed. She hesitated on the ledge but once she got going she went down fast and smoothly. Good body control. Those toned limbs weren't just for show.

Thomas waited until she got to the ground before following. The improvised rope probably wouldn't hold both of them at the same time. He heard a key rattle in the lock as he sat on the window sill. The door cracked open before being stopped by the dresser. After a moment of pause the door was starting to be pushed. Thomas climbed down as fast as he could, grabbed Genevieve's hand, and started running toward the forest.

There were shouts behind them but Thomas didn't slow down. After they got to the treeline Thomas estimated the direction where his cache was and headed there. They ran fast but Genevieve's breathing did not get heavy. That girl was in great shape.

It took a few minutes for Thomas to find his bag. He took the phone from a small side pocket and made a call.

###

"Sir! There is a call about McGoose mansion."

Sergeant Grayson had hoped this wouldn't happen. But now that it had it he had to go along with the plan."

"Thank you, Doug. There's no need to call it in. I will go there personally to check it out. We received information that there might be prank calls this weekend."

"Sir, it's not a 911 call," the operator, Doug, said. "It's from the TV station. They are asking whether the department has a comment before they go on air."

Grayson rushed to the phone and ripped it from Doug's hands.

"This is sergeant Grayson! What's this about?"

"We received a call about an illicit sex party going on in the McGoose mansion," a female voice said. "Rich guys, drugs, that sort of thing. Our TV crew is headed there right now to check it out. Is this something you are aware of?"

Grayson cursed under his breath.

"Yes, we are investigating. In fact, it would be better you didn't go there. It's a secret, uh, undercover operation."

"Sir!" Doug shouted and pointed to a TV screen. A shaky camera was running toward the mansion as several armed men were exiting from the front door.

"Any comment?" said the TV producer on the phone. Grayson ended the call.

The armed men saw the TV crew but continued to run toward the forest.

"Sir! I need to call this in," Doug said. "It's obviously not a prank."

Grayson collapsed to a chair. Maybe his involvement would not be uncovered. He hadn't done anything wrong, per se, other than accept money.

"Yes, call it in."

###

Thomas kept running deeper into the forest with Genevieve in tow. Multiple police sirens were rushing toward the mansion. He smiled.

They got through the forest to a cul-de-sac where there was an entrance to the command compound. Genevieve said nothing when they disappeared into the bright white corridor.

Thomas kept pulling her deeper into the compound. The goons should not be able to follow them there, but he couldn't be sure. This section of the compound was empty and he hoped they wouldn't run across anyone else. They didn't. A few minutes later he closed the heavy storage room door behind them.

They were both out of breath, Thomas more so than Genevieve, but at this point even she was breathing hard. Thomas sat on the floor and motioned her to follow.

"What just happened?" she said after catching her breath for a few moments.

"It's a long story." Now that his adrenaline was starting to wear off Thomas felt his desire rush back. One look at Genevieve told him she was feeling the same.

"To make it simple, you were lured there with a lie. The plan was to drug you, like the other girls, and make you have sex with some rich guy."

"But I was supposed to talk with professor Bergenstein."

"In this case he would have been the rich guy for you. He helped organize it. You were his prize."

Genevieve's face went from red to white. She swallowed hard a few times.

"I wouldn't believe it if it wasn't you, Thomas. So, you saved me? How did you know?"

"I'm working for someone who's tracking this kind of thing."

His dick was demanding him to stop talking.

"I see..."

She got on her knees and came to Thomas.

"Thomas, I want you. You saved me. You are my hero." Her voice was thick with lust.

Thomas slapped himself hard, trying to clear his mind.

"You've been drugged to feel like that. We both have."

"Shh...relax. Let me thank you." She stopped in front of him and in one smooth movement pulled her sweater off. Before Thomas could protest her t-shirt followed. Her black bra had a cute lace.

His hand closed on her face. Her eyes closed.

Thomas's bag started to wail as the tablet's priority message alarm went off.

The siren pushed through the wall of sexual desire into Thomas's brain and gave him the willpower to push Genevieve gently off him and reach into the bag. He accepted the call with voice only.

"2077! What the hell is going on in the McGoose mansion? Is that your doing?" came 207's voice.

"Yes, ma'am. There was a group of, um, tourists using locals for, well, I'm sure you can guess."

"Are you certain?"

"Absolutely. They were using extremely strong pheromones, plus other technology not available to the locals."

"And it was organized?"

"Yes, definitely organized and not an organic party as would be perfectly fine. The girls were lied to to get them there and then drugged."

"And do you think this is connected to what happened in that house party earlier?"

"I'm still investigating the connection. My intuition says it's a different group. Different modus operandi."

"I see. I will wait for your full report. Good work, 2077."

Thomas could see lust had weakened on Genevieve's face. In its place was curiosity.

"Thomas, what's going on here? Who was that? Why did she call you '2077'?"

"Uh, it was my boss. We just use numbers instead of names."

"Are you a spy?"

Thomas gave a genuine chuckle.

"Nothing like that. I'm just trying to help people here in town."

"And you saved me. From being raped."

"I did, but I could not save them all. I should have called earlier. Why didn't I?"

The realization hit him hard. He'd been too focused on Genevieve and being a hero to her. He should have called the cavalry in as soon as he saw the girls go in. The arrival of the cops had been too late for at least a few of the girls. Thomas just hoped it hadn't been so for every one of them.

Genevieve took his hand in hers. "You did what you could. It's not your fault these people did what they did."

Perhaps it was his sudden sadness or perhaps it was that the pheromones were finally starting to wear off, but for the first time in a while he felt his dick get softer.

"Let's get you home," he said to Genevieve.

###

The following morning felt like a strange, horny variation of hangover. His limp dick ached and his vision was blurry, but there was no headache and his appetite was great.

"Fun night?" Thomas's roommate asked.

"Yeah. You know, pretty normal," he answered between spoonfuls of cereal.

"I'm not stupid, you know."

"I know."

"So why do you keep lying to me all the time?"

"I'm not lying. Mostly. Just withholding details."

"Fine. At least you didn't wake me up this time."

###

Thomas had planned to do a morning run. The plan was interrupted two seconds after he stepped outside and saw Genevieve standing in front of his dorm. She was dressed in a knee-long skirt and a stylish leather jacket.

"Genevieve!" he said, rushing to her. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes," she said, her face stiff.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to stand here. And hopefully talk to you."

"I'm here. What's going on?"

She looked away. "About last night. About what happened. About how I behaved toward you."

"Nothing happened. Don't worry about it. You were drugged. Heck, I was drugged a bit too so I know how it felt."

"It should not have happened. I should have had better control of myself. I should have..." her sentence was cut off by her gritting her teeth and closing her eyes.

"Hey, are you hurt?" Fear rose within Thomas. Had they done something else to her? Was it a side effect of the drug?

She breathed deep and opened her eyes. "I'm fine. But I must stand here for punishment."

"What, no? What are you talking about? Punishment for what? Come on, it's okay to be upset but nothing about it was your fault."

She grimaced and exhaled sharply.

"I'm worried about you. Should I call someone? A doctor?"

"No...no doctor. It's not physical."

"Oh. I understand. Do you need a hug?"

"Please, no hug. I don't need it."

Thomas went for it anyway. She was shook, understandably. He should track the other girls and see how they were doing. It was his responsibility.

There was a thump at Thomas's feet.

"What was that?" he said, and instead of responding, Genevieve burst into tears.

Thomas broke off the hug and looked at the ground. Something had fallen. He bent on his knee and picked up the object. It was a lime-colored ball. No, an egg. Yuck? What was this? It was slimy. And it smelled like...a woman.

Thomas looked at Genevieve. Her face was buried in her hands.

"Did you...see it?"

"I picked it up. Is it yours?" Thomas said, already knowing the answer.

Quietly, she reached out an open hand and Thomas put the egg in it. She quickly put it in her pocket. Thomas wiped his hand on a napkin.

"Uh, Genevieve? Do you want to talk about this?"

She lowered her hands and looked at him, her face red and puffy. Next she looked around them and when there was nobody close enough to hear, she started talking.

"Now that this has happened I must explain to you what it was. Every detail, with full honesty. It is part of my punishment."

"Can we stop with this punishment..." Thomas started, but was cut off.

"Can I please finish? I don't think I can do this if I stop. So, I behaved like a bad girl so I must receive a bad girl punishment. This is a very useful teaching tool for bad girls like me."

Thomas opened his mouth again but closed it, realizing he couldn't come up with anything good to say.

"And so I am to stand in a public place, this heavy egg inside me, trying to hold it in. Only it is hard, so I fear it will fall out and someone will see. The embarrassment would be awful. Especially if it was someone I know. Someone like you, Thomas."

She took a deep breath. Then, she took the egg, wiped it with a wet wipe she dug from her jacket pocket, and checked her surroundings again. Next, she reached her hand down her skirt and when it came back out, the egg was gone.

"Only, it is even harder than that. See, the fear of embarrassment makes me hor...aroused. The more aroused I get the harder it will be to keep it in, which feeds back into the fear of embarrassment. I'm sure you can see the cycle."

Thomas nodded.

"The fear that someone will find out I'm such a bad girl with such bad thoughts is awful. I've always been a perfect daughter. Good grades, no boyfriends, gender-appropriate hobbies. If this became public I would die."

There was another thump and Thomas knew the egg had fallen out without even looking.

"See how worthless I am? I can't even keep a damn egg inside me. If I hadn't masturbated so much my pus...vagina would be tighter and this wouldn't happen. If I wasn't such a slut I wouldn't get so wet from this."

She burst into tears again and Thomas took her into his arms. With one hand he dug out his phone and dialed Lara.

"Hey, Thomas," she answered after the third ring.

"Listen, Lara, I know this is a really rough time for you, but do you have a moment? It is important."

"Oh no, don't worry. I actually feel much better than I did. I know what happened was terrible and it could have been much worse, but somehow that all is insignificant compared to the warm feeling that you were there to save me. Don't worry about me. What do you need?"

He was hugging Genevieve with one hand and holding the phone in another. "I have a friend, and she is having a serious breakdown. I wouldn't call you but there are some unusual circumstances here and I don't know who else I can trust. I'm worried about her."

"Is that her crying?"

"Yes. She's right here and I'm really concerned she will do something stupid."

"I understand. Can you bring her to my room? Christine is here so if you don't want to see her I can come downstairs."

"Don't worry. We'll be there in a few minutes."

Thomas made sure to scoop up the vaginal egg before they were on their way.

###

Genevieve was docile the whole five-minute walk. Lara and Christine were waiting in their room, sitting on their beds. Lara hugged Thomas, then she motioned Genevieve to sit and shooed Thomas and Christine out, pushing the door closed after them. Standing in the corridor seemed fairly boring so they went to sit in a lounge downstairs.

"How have you been?" Thomas asked.

"You mean between when you canceled our dinner and now?"

"Christine, I..."

"I'm just kidding. I was hurt but I believe you had something important. Is this girl...Genevieve, was it, related to that?"

"Yes. She was almost molested. I got her out barely in time."

"Really? That's awesome."

"Not so much. There were other girls, quite a few, and I couldn't get them saved in time. I'm sure more than one or two were abused before the cops got there. I've been thinking of how I could have done things differently and I'm angry at not thinking that before."

She put her hand on his arm. "I'm sure you did your best. You can never know what's the best course of action until after."

"I suppose you're right, but I still feel bad."

"That's okay. So, I have to ask. What is it that you do exactly that has you running around town, saving young women from predators?"

"Oh, it's this organization. I'm not supposed to talk about it."

"Come on, you can't say that and leave it there. What does it do? How did you get involved?"

"Well, it does quite a bit. My involvement is mostly doing this stuff, preventing bad things from happening. And honestly it was a pure random chance that I got involved."

"So you're like a superhero for college girls?"

"If only. I don't save them from trees if they're too afraid to climb down, and my abilities to rescue them from burning high-rises is likewise limited."

She didn't reply despite Thomas thinking his reply was quite funny.

"Christine? What's wrong?"

"It's just that...you've changed so much in such a short time. I used to see you as a friend, an equal. Now you're in some secret organization, saving people left and right. You're more fit, kind, mature. I just don't understand what happened with you, and it's scaring me a little bit."

"If it makes you feel better I don't understand it myself, and I'm scared too. Sometimes I wish I could get un-involved, but I feel it's too late now."

"You know, if we were still lab partners and you asked me out I don't know if I would decline. I would still think it's risky, but at the same time I would know I'd regret not taking the chance. Does that make me a hypocrite?"

"Maybe a little? Don't worry about it, Christine. In fact, everything that has happened to me is because of you. You encouraged me to better myself. I just want you to know that."

"Thomas, please stop. If you keep going on I don't know if I can maintain this platonic thing much longer."

Thomas was about to reply something witty when his phone rang.

"You better come upstairs," Lara said on the phone. "It's not good."

They walked up the stairs and entered the room. Lara was sitting on the bed, her arm around Genevieve, who was staring at the wall.

"Thomas, this is beyond me. I think she needs some kind of a mental hospital. It's like something inside her is broken. She has an overwhelming feeling of shame and guilt and she keeps channeling it into sexual thoughts, and the whole thing just keeps looping back to the beginning. Doesn't your organization have someone who could help her given you're involved with victims?"

"Uh, I'm kind of that person," Thomas said quietly.

"I thought you were just to get them to safety?" Christine said.

"It's more of a comprehensive duty. Safety and healing both."

"Can you help her then?"

"I think so, but..."

"What's the but? Isn't it our first priority that she's helped? The poor girl is almost catatonic," Lara said with a surprisingly loud voice.

"I agree. It's just that our healing methods can be a bit, let's say unconventional."

"But do they work?" Lara continued.

Thomas looked deep in her eyes. "Yes. Very well."

"What's the catch then?" Christine said.

"Honestly, if I told you about the methods you'd think I'm a creep, or crazy, or both."

"Don't say that, Thomas. I trust you and your training. You are clearly in the big leagues now," Christine said and turned to look at Lara.

"Yes, me too. Ever since that damned party, and especially the day after it, I've had a very good feeling about you. I believe you are good. Whatever it is, if you say it works, I'm fine."

"Okay." Thomas swallowed hard. It would be hard to put the cat back in the bag but they were right; he'd have to try to help Genevieve, consequences to himself be damned. "It's based on sexual healing therapy. Basically, override negative sexual associations by providing sexual stimulation in combination with other stimuli, whatever we want the patient to associate sex with. Usually it's with positive, safe feelings, but this is a bit more complicated."

Both of the girls were looking at him with wide eyes, while Genevieve sat there, motionless.

"Sexual? Like...touching her?" Christine said.