by J R Hogan
She searched my eyes, then lowered her head. “Fine.” She tried to step past me.
I didn’t move. “I need more than a ‘fine,’ Chastity.”
Her shoulders fell. “You’re right. I’ve been a bitch. I’m sorry.” When she looked up, the first hints of tears were in her eyes. “I need you, Mark. Please don’t leave me.”
My stomach felt like worms had replaced every organ. I stepped aside, nodded, and started walking again.
Just up ahead, the three woman moved in a mild flurry, as though they had been momentarily quiet and were suddenly spurred into action in an attempt to disguise their stillness.
I smiled.
“I’m prouder of these four students than anyone I’ve ever taught,” I noted.
“You’re clearly very drawn to them,” Chastity answered softly from behind me.
“I, ah, tried to deny that, but they quickly figured out that I was only fooling myself.” It felt good to admit the truth aloud. “They’re very insightful, and much more intuitive than I am. Even if they did mistakenly think you’d been trying to have sex with me.”
Chastity stopped at another fallen log. I had reached out to pull her over when I paused.
She was staring at me with a look that was somewhere between hunger and sadness. She quickly glanced down and bit her lip.
“Ah,” I began, “I’m – I’m sure Ling was mistaken about your intentions, of course.”
She remained still.
Then Chastity slowly crawled over the log again, deftly spreading her legs as she alighted on the other side. I reached out to help, but it was too late. She snatched her arm away from me and walked ahead.
My head felt ready to explode. For a moment, I longed for a world filled with only the much simpler puzzles of dinosaurs and time travel.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
TOC
Nothing can compare with the experience of being surrounded by several women, all of whom wanted to fuck you at some point, and all of whom are varying degrees of pissed off at you for something you did or didn’t do. The problem is that no matter how hard a man tries to negotiate such a conundrum, he will always make things worse as a direct result of his efforts.
At least four wanted to hold me, more than two wanted to stone me, but I really could have used a friend.
I didn’t know what to say next.
I let my mind wander as we navigated the jungle terrain. Sweat built on my back as the weapons bag rubbed back and forth against it, and my muscles ached from hauling the gargantuan duffel. While I moved, I thought about each of the women in turn.
Ling seemed to be warming up to me, albeit slowly. Daisy was going to be a harder sell – but she was worth it a thousand times over.
Sarah hadn’t spoken a word the entire time. That’s a bad sign.
And I had no idea what to think about Jessica, who had yet to re-appear. My emotions were pushing me to explode, but my mind was stronger.
I knew the best course of action was to keep my mouth shut.
A warm wave of comfort washed over me as we rounded another tree to emerge on the beach. Our camp was just a few steps ahead. I closed my eyes and breathed in the salty air.
It was rudimentary, awkward, uncertain, and dangerous. But it held a burning spark of the feeling of ‘home’ that always remains a least somewhat elusive in our adult years.
The morning sun warmed us so placidly that it was hard to imagine dangerous dinosaurs were constantly nearby, just out of sight.
I staggered the final few steps to the fire pit and dropped the duffel with a grunt.
“Professor!”
I looked up just in time to see Jessica racing toward me, her golden locks flowing behind her like an image lifted straight from a shampoo commercial. She leapt into my arms, slamming against me and nearly knocking us both backward as my weight leaned into the backpack I was still wearing. She linked her legs around my thighs in a vice grip, locking her ankles behind my waist as she wrapped her arms about my neck and kissed me. I grabbed her ass to support her weight; my fingers kneaded liberally into her bare flesh as the hem of her short skirt slid away and only her panties blocked the smooth, silky skin that radiated so much heat it bordered on pain.
She kissed me without holding back, and I threw myself into her hunger. I hadn’t truly realize how much I needed to be touched until she’d broken me open and left me completely defenseless. We kissed each other greedily, and I only pulled back when I realized that I’d forgotten to inhale and was on the verge of passing out.
We pressed our foreheads together and breathed each other’s air. “You came back,” she whispered, her wide, green eyes devouring me.
“Always,” I breathed before leaning in to kiss her once more.
She reached around and pulled my fingers so they slid beneath her panties. The heat from her pussy felt ready to melt my skin; I knew that I had to stop her now, or I would be unable to resist her advances no matter how many of the others were watching.
I set her down and pulled my hands from underneath her skirt before looking toward the others.
All four of them had their hands crossed as they stared impatiently at me.
“Ah. Yes. So, we’re back,” I began, stepping away from Jessica so that I could think straight.
“And you’ve brought baggage,” Ling added, staring at Chastity.
I sighed, ran my warm fingers through my hair, and dropped the weapons bag to the ground. “Could we all have a seat and chat about what’s happened, and what the next step is?”
Chastity stared at Ling and Daisy without moving; they returned the favor.
“Right. We’ll just get started, then.” I cleared my throat and shifted my weight in the sand as the morning sun grew hotter. “As you know, Chastity said that only I could return home. I was willing to do so on the condition that I could return. Well, the… transportation didn’t happen on the schedule that I expected.”
“You mean she lied to you?” Daisy snapped, still eying Chastity.
“Ah, only for the ‘going home’ trip. That’s why I left without – I would never intentionally disappear without saying goodbye, I – I would never leave you.” My voice trailed away at the end.
Daisy’s shoulders relaxed just a little.
“So why leave at all if you were just going to come back?” Ling interjected. “Did you think the only thing we need from you is two hundred pounds of tampons?”
I knelt down and opened the toiletries bag. “No – I knew we’d also need soap, toothbrushes, more shampoo and hand sanitizer-”
I hadn’t realized that Chastity was standing over my shoulder until she reached into the bag and snatched something. “Oh my, Mark, I see that you prefer Magnum condoms. Mazel tov.”
Jessica angrily grabbed the box from her grip. “How have you advanced this far in life without being taught proper boundaries?”
Chastity’s nostrils flared. “I didn’t know there was anything to hide. He’s got enough prophylactics in there to eradicate herpes.”
Damn it, my face was making the red-to-purple shift at breakneck speed again.
But then Jessica knelt beside me, ran her hand over mine, and gently placed the box back into the duffel. Her touch softened the harsh edges of the moment, and I could almost taste the cotton candy flavor that overtook my brain as her fingers intertwined with mine. “Please show us what else you have in here, Professor.”
I cleared my throat. “Um, yes. This bag should provide for all of our toiletry needs for quite some time. I was even able to find several pairs of panti – um, underwear and a couple pairs of socks.”
Ling, Daisy, and even Sarah stepped forward to get a closer look.
“Then there’s the kitchen bag,” I pressed on as I reached for the other duffel. “Pasta, flour, and sugar are pretty boring on their own, but they’re our best bets for calorie-to-space ratio. I bought us some utensils as well.”
; “Pasta?” Jessica leapt up and pulled open the bag. “Professor Swift, I’m starving and will gladly eat spaghetti off a dead raptor at this point!”
Ling chuckled for just a second before stifling herself.
“What’s in that one?” Daisy pointed to my camping backpack.
I jumped to open it faster than I had intended; I understood then just how dearly I wanted to get back in her good graces, and felt disoriented to realize how vulnerable I was to her inscrutable emotions.
I stood, pulling the backpack upright. “This is my camping bag, which I keep filled with everything I need when – well, um, camping.” I winced. Daisy was making me feel off; I wasn’t myself while feeling like I had failed them, and the tension was having a powerful and illogical effect on me that I hated. I didn’t want the effect gone, which made me feel like I didn’t know myself.
“Professor?” Daisy broke my reverie.
“Pardon?” I responded.
“You slipped into a daze,” Ling explained. “It’s like you didn’t know who you were.”
I shook my head. “Imagine that,” I whispered. “I have a sleeping bag, mat, and pillow,” I explained aloud as I pulled the items out, “and, uh, a two-person tent. It could fit three in a pinch, I suppose…” I looked around at the group. The tension was still thick enough to spread on toast. “So we’ll have to figure that out later. I’ve also got a couple of flashlights, some lighters, another first aid kit, matches, a small hatchet, and a trowel.”
I quickly glanced at the weapons bag and balked. They needed to see what was inside, but I wanted to give everyone a chance to take things in before pressuring the women to arm themselves. The bag was large enough to keep its contents subtle and hidden away for the moment, so I decided to come back to those later.
“So you’re a Swiss Army camper, ready for any occasion,” Ling cut in. “That’s great. But what is she bringing to the table?” Ling glared at Chastity. “We know two things: she brought a gun, and she’s hiding a lot of secrets. I think we should relieve her of both burdens.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
TOC
Chastity, to her credit, did not immediately pull out her weapon – though whether her actions were altruistic or strategic was a mystery beyond my threshold for certainty. “Let’s not force things,” she began.
Ling scoffed. “You kidnap us and have the audacity to request that we not force things?”
“I assure you,” Chastity pulled her arms in close, “that I would not be here if I had a choice in the matter. Given that we’re all in the same boat, what possible benefit could infighting have?” She paused, looking as though she were trying to hide any display of emotion. If so, she was mostly succeeding. “I’m here for the same reason as you. I was tricked, and I don’t know how to get back home.”
Daisy stepped forward. “You’ll forgive the fact that we don’t believe you.”
“She’s telling the truth,” I interrupted, feeling every head turn toward me. “At least, about not wanting to be with us. She didn’t realize that Professor Stringer had tricked her until it was too late.” I stepped closer to Chastity. “But that’s the only part I’ll vouch for. Chastity, you’ve got secrets, and you’ve got problems. If you want to take advantage of our safety in numbers, you’ll be giving something to us in return. Otherwise, you can take your chances on your own.”
She glanced at the jungle before turning back to me. “You can’t be serious, Mark. Are you really threatening my life? This isn’t you.”
I shook my head. “No mind games, Chastity.”
“This isn’t a mind game,” she shot back, her anger rising. “You know perfectly well that sending me away is a death sentence.”
“And you,” I pressed, controlling my anger with great effort, “have been, and continue to be, perfectly willing to put all of our lives at risk through your suppression of crucial information. If our lives are fit to be bargaining chips, then so is yours.”
She gazed at me with a poker player’s stare. “Fine. I’ll tell you what I know.” She looked at each of us in turn. “Mark, for weeks Melvin Stringer has been planning to use you. He experimented by transporting dogs and cats, but there was no hope of retrieving creatures that couldn’t understand what we were saying, so we knew a human subject was necessary. That subject needed to have strong physical and mental attributes. Melvin sees himself as the pre-eminent intellectual of our time, but did not want to risk his own life. He thinks you somewhat stand out academically amongst your peers, Mark.” She tensed her shoulders and looked away. “And I’ve seen you at the gym, which made it clear that you’d be physically fit as well.” She smiled just a bit. “When I saw you with your shirt off last night, I knew we’d made the right choice.”
“Stop lying, I slept with my shirt on.”
“Don’t worry, we believe you, Professor,” Jessica answered. “It’s a shame for her, because her suspicions about how you look topless are entirely correct.”
I opened my mouth to speak, found that I had no words, and instead said nothing.
Chastity narrowed her eyes at Jessica. “Anyway. Since Mark thought that he and Melvin were friends, we both knew it would be easy to rope him in.”
I shook my head. “No, he thinks that we’re friends. I tolerate him so that other people don’t have to.”
“Melvin knows you’re not friends,” Chastity retorted. “He calculated that keeping you around would be strategically advantageous one day.”
“What?” I spat. “That just doesn’t make any-”
“Which is how you came to find yourself here,” Chastity continued. She moved the briefcase from one hand to the other, adjusted the weight on her clearly uncomfortable shoes, and smoothed her lab coat.
The sun continued to climb higher and hotter as the sweat gathered around my neck. I was about to take off my shirt when I became very self-conscious about being topless. I decided to keep my shirt on.
“So what about us?” Daisy pressed. “Why are we here, and how do we get back?”
Chastity pivoted toward her, shoulders tensed. “Transportation requires emotional vulnerability.” She closed her eyes. “I really, really should have seen this coming.” She opened them and stared at me. “Melvin calculated that my presence would make you emotionally sensitive. He’s an asshole, but he’s not an idiot.”
I looked down at the sand and shook my head. “So why them? You said that it was the five people I’d spoken with most recently, what does that have to do with emotional vulnerability? This whole thing could have spared them if only-”
“We were monitoring your vitals throughout the week before your transport. That’s how we discovered that the five people you’d spoken with most recently had provoked the strongest emotional reactions that we recorded.”
“You were spying on his vital signs?” Jessica roared.
Ling cocked her head at me. “Chad?”
I wrung my hands. “I mean – well, I certainly didn’t want him to die. But yes, he evoked quite the emotional response when I saw what he was doing to-”
That was a hell of an awkward silence.
Jessica slipped her hand into mind and rested her cheek on my shoulder. I kissed the top of her head.
“So what is this place?” Daisy pressed. “How can this… exist?”
Chastity half-smirked. “I don’t know.”
“You’re lying,” I responded without missing a beat.
“Am I, Mark? We know that black holes exist, but can only speculate on what we might find inside. Scientific exploration is fueled by not knowing what’s on the other side.” She crossed her arms. “Besides, how would lying benefit me now, when my own life is at stake?”
I squeezed Jessica’s fingers. “You predicted what we might find in the jungle. You were right; each of us encountered an emotionally significant object from our past.”
She looked over me once more with that poker player’s stare. “I ca
n’t say, because you know better than I. It’s exactly why we need to explore this place, Mark. We don’t know what happens here – or at least I don’t. I’ve always suspected that Professor Stringer only shares his knowledge when he feels that he has to, and that includes hiding things from me.”