The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Never Have Colourful Outfits Heralded A Hivemind Incursion

By Mr. Scade

Chapter 7: Sickening Delight

Lore felt like a whore, or a thief. She couldn’t decide on which. She felt guilt, alright, but it was a sort of guilt that could be mistaken for shame. Lore had a conflict of ideas, but Amanda’s voice told her exactly what to think, “You’re haigure.” Lore agreed that she was haigure acting as a whore and thief to further help haigure. It made Lore feel better about what she was doing.

After transforming so many girls in her studio she felt utterly aroused, more aroused than she had ever been in her entire life. It was as if the act of corrupting people (prey) reminded her of the best sex she ever had. But Lore needed to get off so she could focus on spreading haigure. So Lore drove to the pub she and her friends liked so much and got in a mood to pick someone up. Luckily at this time of day she found just what she needed: a lonesome guy drinking depressively.

She quickly sat next to him, ordered a drink and started to talk to him. Lore was horrible at picking up people; she just couldn’t get along with them. Except those she knew, like Bor and Amanda. She always said something wrong at the wrong time or just simply didn’t say anything at all. But now she was haigure, and she could just let Amanda or Cosette or Alexxa or any other person help her.

So, in five minutes she was guiding the man into one of the bathrooms. They started by kissing and then she made him lick her down there. He was surprised at the brown leotard she was wearing underneath, but started licking dutifully. Lore came several times before she decided to convert him into haigure.

Obviously, that led to more conversions.

She was happy, regardless.

Soon enough she got Bor’s message that he was in Carrera. Smiling, she was about to answer but a loud, distant shriek made her stop. Immediately she felt Cosette scrutinize her mind on everything she knew about Bor.

“Haigure. Go to his work place and look for a book called Blissful Arathmica. Haigure.” Cosette’s voice echoed through the webbing network that was the growing hivemind.

“I haigure and obey.” Lore said, happy to obey the queen’s commands. Hmm, when did she become a queen? And when had she started referring to her as a queen? Someone in the collective thoughts must’ve called her that at one point, hence why she was calling her that. Inside the collective hivemind, no one had private thoughts. Though, it did make sense to call her that. After all, she was the one who brought haigure upon the world. She must be the queen.

To gain access into Bor’s office at the library Lore had seduced a guard, a closeted lesbian librarian who would just not give in, and then a random fellow who wouldn’t go away. In the process she had turned them all into haigure.

Life was good.

It took her a while, but finally Lore found that Bor had a copy of ‘Blissful Arathmica’ amongst his wall of books. The moment she found it she felt a pleasant, warm feeling course through her body. She didn’t even realize when she had discarded her clothes, but she didn’t care. She just haigured her heart’s content for a long while. Such was a reward from haigure.

It was not until Lore had recovered from an onslaught of pleasure that she heard a message being passed down the hivemind. “Find Bor. Apprehend him. Convert him. Stop him.”

Lore wanted to feel bad about the idea. She really liked Bor the way he was, but haigure was better than Bor. If she converted Bor into haigure then he would be perfect like herself.

Lore decided that it would be a great gift to her friend.

* * *

Down a street by the local department store walked a group of six girls. They were young, happy girls without a care in the world. Of course, nothing in the world mattered when you had haigure. They were disguised, of course. The voices inside their heads all agreed that it wasn’t the time yet to show their beautiful leotards to the world; even though wearing their school uniforms over their leotards felt almost painful.

The six girls walked in a line of blue and white into a small café that was known as a hang-out to the skating crew of Fairmouth. The cafe was small and close to a small skating park some streets east of the department store. As soon as they walked in some kids turned to look at them; in their eyes—at least in those who gave two squads about who came into the cafe—they saw a plain question: what are they doing here?

The six girls made a mental sweep. The mental link of haigure was growing stronger by the hour, each new voice helping them reach farther and wider. When a day ago six haigure girls would only be able to communicate with one another, today they were able to talk to all the haigure people in the vicinity. Sadly, inside the cafe they heard no blissful haigure.

They had to correct that.

* * *

Jenny and John were swimming at an indoor pool when they heard a commotion in the changing rooms. They ignored it and continued swimming.

Twenty laps late, Jenny stopped as did John. The two looked at each other, smiling between pants. Jenny was wearing a red bikini, a blue swim cap and goggles. John was wearing black jammers, a similar swim cap and goggles. They looked content dressed like that.

They were about to leave the pool when they noticed that the lifeguards were missing, as well as the five other people who had been swimming and the group of little kids by the kids pool. The two big lifeguards had seemingly retired; a curious thing, since they always had at least one pair of eyes on the pool.

The two shared a look and decided to be careful. They got out of the pool, picked up their bags, and went their separate ways into the changing rooms.

Jenny didn’t walk five steps before she felt a pair of strong hands seize her arms from behind. When she looked around she saw one of the lifeguards standing behind her smiling like a maniac. Jenny was more surprised than fearful—the big man had never given her reason to distrust him. But as soon as she saw that three of the other women that had shared the pool moments ago were standing in front of her, along with two little girls. She began to freak out. They all looked as if they were about to molest her in a very awkward fashion.

The three women’s swimsuits had somehow grown long sleeves, Jenny noticed, and they had acquired a shine and clinginess that wasn’t there before. What was more disturbing was that the swimsuit of the fat lady to the right actually fit her now. The two little girls’ swimsuits were more dramatically changed; where they had been two-pieces before now they were tight one-pieces, and the cloth swim caps they had been wearing that fit so terribly before, leaving loose strands of hair flapping in the wind, now completely covered their heads in rubbery perfection that made them look like thumbs. “Haigure,” The six persons in the room said in unison.

Jenny felt utterly terrified then. She made to scream, but a calloused hand wrapped around her mouth. She started to kick and punch, but they held her down.

“Haigure, haigure,” They said in whispers. She could feel the lifeguard’s member pressing against the back of her thigh.

The older of the girls came to wrap her arms around Jenny’s waist. Her head reached just to her belly button. The women held her legs and arms while the little girl started to rub her chest up and down Jenny’s waist and crotch.

Jenny whimpered. What the fuck’s going on? She kept thinking. She was too terrified and freaked out to make sense of the scene.

Suddenly she was conscious of everything touching her body. She felt her bikini bottom ride between her butt cheeks and slid down her legs thanks to the girl’s rubbing. She felt the big man’s hands holding her down and the women’s caressing of her legs, arms and chest.

She was also conscious that she was starting to feel aroused. No, no, no. She felt ashamed. This sort of scenario was exactly the sort she had always imagined and hoped John would play with her... but she never wanted it to actually happen.

Something started to dribble over her chest. She moved her eyes all over and saw that something blue was dripping over her from one of the women’s swimsuit. It took her a while to realise it was the swimsuit.

Her arousal started to grow with every rub the lass was giving her. She kicked the girl away and wailed into the man’s hand.

Suddenly they let her go. She hit her head when she fell to the hard, wet floor. She started to crawl away from the assaulters, but found herself crawling towards them. She stopped. She made to turn around and escape, but instead just changed directions to another woman. Jenny looked down at where the girl had been rubbing and saw a smear of... of what? She touched it with a finger. It was sticky and white like the girl’s swimsuit.

“Haigure and obey,” The man whispered in her ear.

“Haigure and obey.” The women whispered back.

“Join us. Obey. Just ignore everything and be happy.”

Again Jenny started to shake, but whatever she had been thinking disappeared as the smears of colour started to be absorbed by her bikini. She watched with wide eyes as her bikini top absorbed the black drops, slowly growing shinier proportionally to the amount of liquid it absorbed. It turned shiny! She started to rip off her top when she felt her bikini bottom grow over her belly. She lost all sense of reality then.

Her bikini morphed, growing over her chest, belly and arms. The bottom turned obscene, showing off her butt cheeks. Her breasts were pressed together and outwards, as much as the small tits could.

Jenny gasped for breath, feeling claustrophobic. She was trapped, utterly trapped. She couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, couldn’t... couldn’t help but enjoy it. It felt delicious, the leotard (how did she know it was a leotard?) forming over her body. It turned from white and blue to red, her bikini’s colour taking over. It hung to her skin so tightly she thought it might squish her to death. She liked the feeling.

Jenny didn’t know when she stopped fighting it, but she just did. She stopped fighting haigure and accepted it. Her assailants helped her to her feet and she saw, for the first time, how beautiful their leotards were. Haigure is so perfect, she thought in unison to them. She moaned then, happily.

A pressure on her scalp brought her attention to her swim cap. She touched it with trembling fingers and smiled. It is tightening, she thought. The swim cap swallowed her hair, pulling in whatever was outside and flattening it completely against her scalp. She looked like an alien, with the shiny leotard and the shiny head and the goggles.

Some... whatever it was, dribbled over her goggles. She shivered as they stopped being uncomfortably tight and turned just tight. Perfectly tight. They felt fun, really. Jenny felt fun and happy and like she needed to giggle incessantly.

Haigure is you. You’re haigure. You must haigure. You must spread haigure. You will obey haigure. Foreign thoughts entered her mind and remained there, forever trapped by the layer of latex covering her head.

“I must haigure,” Jenny said in a truly happy tone. She bent her knees, outstretched her arms, and began to dance just as an image appeared on her goggles.

“I haigure and obey,” She said to no one in particular as she became one with the hivemind.

* * *

John had fought a little harder.

It was not every day that he was held down by three grown men and two teenagers dressed in girl’s swimsuits and with their dongs as erect as if they had been expecting the fuck off their lives.

He wasn’t particularly aware of the young boys in swimsuits clapping merrily and doing silly dances. He just wanted to get the creeps off of him.

But John couldn’t fight them, not this many.

Eventually he grew tired, but he didn’t stop kicking. One of the men, a tall blonde in a black girl’s one-piece, started to stroke John’s cock through his jammers.

John made to scream, but a hand held his scream down his throat. I am being raped!

No, no, no, it can’t be. John thought, terrified as the men started to give his body too much attention.

He kept his conviction that someone was going to help him until he felt his manhood start to react to their touches. It slowly grew under the jammers, and then faster when they started kissing it. Fuck, no. I am not... please, no.

He then realized he couldn’t speak. The words wouldn’t come out, they just wouldn’t. John decided to close his eyes and block out everything that was happening.

Drip, drip, drip, he felt on his skin. But he wouldn’t open his eyes. So the drips continued, covering his arms and chest and swimsuit. The liquid started to move and twist, it swallowed his swimsuit, turning it a psychedelic mix of rainbow colours.

Haigure, came the first thought as the leotard started forming. And still John wouldn’t open his eyes. His swim-cap tightened, his jammers pushed his erect member against his belly and held it so tight that for a second John wondered why they were duct taping him. Haigure, came again and John started to understand.

I am being converted.

He smiled, and haigured to himself.

* * *

From Carrera they spawned, shiny-dressed, bliss-minded, obedient to one thousand voices, and with the desire to convert others. All but the ones that brought the glory of haigure upon the world, for they had to stay at its birthplace to ensure it wasn’t compromised—to protect it. The dozens of infected, converted, transformed and enlightened walked, drove, rode or simply took buses out of town and into any and all settlements for miles around. They had only one mission.

Convert.

From town to town they went. From farm house to farm house. From city to city. From a hovel where a homeless man was sleeping to an abandoned train. The whole town of Carrera, all of their small population went forth to spread the glory of haigure. They walked alone and in pairs, in threes and fours, but never more than five. The bigger the group, the less conspicuous they would be; but their strength would be reduced. Yet if they went alone, they could more easily spread haigure.

First to fall were the scattered farm houses and bird-watching huts. Then came the roads and on the processions walked towards the towns and cities.

In time, the glory of haigure would spread all over the land.

* * *

John and Jenny left the pool just as the sun was setting, smiles on their faces. They didn’t worry about putting on clothes; they had all they needed in their leotards—high-cut and exposing—and their goggles and their swim caps. Haigure was all that they needed.

The two got into their shared car and drove back home, whispering to each other all the way, happy to start converting others.

* * *

Bor reached Fairmouth two hours before sunset. He was tired after another long bike ride, yet not as tired as he would’ve been had he not brought in supplies. Grigori had shown him the wisdom in carrying supplies.

He sighed, thinking of the huge man. He had not managed to convince him to accompany him, no matter how much he pleaded. Cursed sense of honour, he thought. He could have really used his help.

Bor left the bike well outside of town—he would be seen and he had no idea who was already infected and who wasn’t. He needed to remain anonymous as long as possible. He started walking through the most deserted back alleys, rounding his way through Fairmouth. He was specifically mindful of windows and corners; even though he didn’t think... that word would have already spread to the outskirts. But it didn’t hurt to be careful.

Bor knew what he had to do: first, find Cosette, then scare the shit out of her. But how? Neither he nor Grigori knew what Cosette was afraid of, and he had no idea where to find her. Besides, Bor wasn’t entirely sure that his plan would work. He had not been able to test it on Grigori’s former companions since they had no idea what scared them.

Bor decided he first had to see if his plan actually worked. If not...

Bor decided not to think about it.

* * *

The students got quiet as soon as the teacher walked into the room. She seemed different, slimmer today than she did yesterday. She was dressed in a plain business skirt suit with pantyhose and sensible heels. She wasn’t the sexual fantasy of anyone in the room.

She walked up to the whiteboard and wrote a single word in black marker: haigure. Most of the students gave confused murmurs.

“Who knows what this is?” The teacher asked when she turned around. She was smiling broadly.

One student at the back stood, a chubby boy who barely fit into his uniform. “Bliss.”

An anorexic-looking girl stood. “A raison d’être.”

The cheerleader type stood. “Obedience.”

“Perfection.” A quiet boy whispered happily.

The rest of the classroom of thirty who had not answered just looked at each other in confusion. Was the teacher playing something? Did she make the ones that answered play along?

“Good kids,” She told the ones still standing.

“We haigure and obey,” They said in unison and then sat, their faces smiling broadly and staring at nothing but the word written on the board.

The other kids started to wonder what the hell was going on, obviously.

“What is going on?” A girl on the back whispered to the person to her right.

The kid shrugged, “No fucking idea.”

The teacher went on, “Today we’ll focus our attention on this word. Haigure. It sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? Haigure!” The teacher giggled. She never giggled. “We will find out what is so great about it, what is so right about it, and why everyone should know about it.”

“Haigure is blissful perfection,” The small group of kids whispered.

“Exactly. Now we’ll show the rest of your classmates the glory of haigure.”

The rest of the class was truly uncomfortable now. They fidgeted in their seats, some cracked jokes, and others just decided to ignore the teacher.

“Everyone, say the word. Hai-gu-re.”

“Haigure,” The small group said happily, while others just mumbled.

The teacher frowned. “No, no, no. Everyone repeat.” She placed her hand under the letters and moved them.

“Hai-gu-re,” This time she got more voices, but not all.

A loud noise and all the class jumped in their seats. The teacher’s hand was hurting after she slammed the desk.

“Now, EVERYONE repeat after me: haigure.”

Now everyone in the classroom said ‘haigure’ in crystal clear voices.

* * *

Jo Kleiner had been hiding at a friend’s house for two hours before she realized something was wrong. Her friend had given Jo free reign of a small game room while he went back to his room to do some homework. But at one point his rock music had died off and Jo could hear a faint conversation going on at the back. Curious and wary after what had happened during the day, Jo knocked on her friend’s door.

No answer.

Worried, she opened the door and saw her friend sitting extremely still in front of his computer. He had headphones on and was staring zombie-like at the screen. Slowly Jo approached and hung beside him like a silent pixie.

Jo’s eyes widened and she felt a warm shiver go down her spine.

Someone was on a webcam, dressed just like Aizan had been, and doing that dance. She was saying something, but Jo didn’t need to hear it to know what it was. Her friend was staring mindlessly, his eyes blank, his mouth moving in unison to the girl on the screen.

Jo backed away when she saw her friend’s shorts were skin-tight when two hours ago they had been jeans. Without alerting her friend, she ran out of the house.

Shit, Jo thought as she pushed herself off the ground and cleaned her jeans of dirt. Not doing that again anytime soon, I hope. She stretched her back and yawned.

Jo Kleiner had fallen asleep on a park bench way out of town, but had woken up under it. She had bumped her head when she woke.

She was hungry, cold, aching all over, and scared out of her mind. Well, not scared. Jo had a cold, calculative mind that dressed everything down to the most interesting detail. At least when she wanted to. Other times she was just lazy. But now Jo had given everything a good six hours of thinking and had decided that she wasn’t afraid, just utterly freaked out. Mostly because she had no idea what was going on.

Jo made a note to find out what was going on, but the rumbling of her stomach told her she first had to eat.

* * *

During lunchtime everyone was going over the new idea. Haigure. On every table there were heated debates on what it was, what it meant, and what it would do. Some said it was a silly experiment by the school heads, other said it was just something that happened and the teachers wanted everyone to discuss it (which was proving to be the case) and some said it was the deliverance of pure bliss. Whatever the case, everyone was talking about it.

By the end of lunchtime all the kids and some of the school staff were all too eager to start discussing haigure. A strange occurrence, considering it was Friday afternoon—no kid would be eager for class on a Friday afternoon.

The teacher had remained in the classroom and she had written the word over and over and over again on the whiteboard. When all the kids sat down they read out loud the word twice for every time it was written in the board.

“Now, what do you think haigure is?”

Most, if not all, of the kids had a glassy-eyed expression on their faces, as if they were experiencing their first drink of whiskey after being awake for three days surfing for their first taste of internet porn. The ones that were not so afflicted were confused, blinking constantly and feeling overall strange, as if someone was drilling a hole into their minds to sneak bad habits inside.

“I think that...” A girl began in a held back tone. But when she said the word she relaxed. “Haigure is bliss and happiness and everything that is right with the world.” Her voice turned dreamy.

“Yes, haigure is beautiful, just the word makes you feel so relaxed.” A boy at the back said.

“So peaceful.” A wishful voice said.

“So happy.” Another joined in.

“So aroused.“A girl at the front said.

Silence befell the classroom. Everyone turned to look at each other and then they all nodded in unison. Even the teacher gave them a proud smile.

“Haigure is arousal.” All kids mumbled agreement. “Haigure is happiness.” Everyone agreed. “Haigure is obedience.”

The teacher was panting, aching to bend her knees and just show them the true glory of haigure. But she couldn’t do that, not in school. If they found her in her leotard they would expel her, or worse! She couldn’t risk her future as a teacher, not even for haigure. They’re already on the right path, besides. She shared the thought with her fellow haigure in the room and they all agreed; soon enough haigure would take over the entire classroom.

“Haigure and obey.” The kids said in unison.

The day went on and they discussed haigure. By the time the last bell rang all the kids had sickening smiles on their faces, their sexes overly active, and their minds going in circles around the word and its many meanings.

Some older students found each other at the back of the school. They stared at each other with glassy eyes.

“I want to haigure.” One said out of the blue.

“Me too.” The other four said.

“We must haigure.” One of the girls in the group said dreamily.

“We will haigure.” Everyone answered.

They had been told what they had to do. They stood in a circle, crouched, outstretched their arms, and started to haigure. They felt true happiness then, just bliss coursing through their veins. They remembered their first Christmases and first kisses, their favourite movies and their best jokes. Haigure was pure happiness and bliss and it just felt right.

But nothing happened. The group accepted haigure, but were disappointed that nothing happened.

It will happen soon. A voice echoed in the minds of every student and then every kid under the influence of haigure decided to wait.

That afternoon all kids sat on their beds, still in their school uniforms. Somehow they all had agreed to wait for haigure in their uniforms. Some parents had questioned their children, but then they were shown the glory of the word and left their kids alone.

By 5pm all the kids’ uniforms had turned into beautiful leotards. Blue from the waist up, black from the waist down, and with white leggings disappearing into their crotches.

After that it was a chant of obedience and bliss.

* * *

An elderly couple passed inches away from where Bor was hiding under some bushes. He waited ten minutes before he came out, looked about, and continued walking down the dirt road. Five minutes later he came upon pavement. He was officially in Fairmouth, officially in haigure-converted territory.

Bor felt sick.

“They can’t all be infected... But I have to play it safe.” He sighed and scratched his head. He hated being this paranoid; it felt wrong to distrust people.

He kept walking down the dirt road with two things in his mind: first, he had to eat (he had been so busy with researching what was happening that he forgot about being hungry) and find out how he was supposed to scare Cosette. He though back, remembering when he met her, the conversation they had over breakfast and... that was it. They never talked, not really, and he never asked her fears. And with good reason. Who would ask someone that the moment they met?

Dirt gave way to pavement and soon enough Bor was in the town proper. He had not seen anyone in a while until he rounded a corner and walked down the street where he would find a restaurant. He froze in place as soon as his eyes swept over the street.

“People,” He whispered in horror. Bor was about to run, to hide, to save himself, but he realized no one was acting out of the ordinary. They were just walking up and down the road, doing nothing.

If that was the case, then it meant that the haigure was spreading in secret to avoid mass hysteria. Which meant, he would be safe, as long as he didn’t bring any attention to himself.

But I’ll be helpless if they actually come for me, he thought as he made his way straight to the restaurant. He opened the door, went straight to the counter and ordered a double order of mushroom and cheese hamburger with fries and a soda. While that was being prepared he sat down and realized just how tired he was.

It was then that he realized what was going on in the far corner of the establishment.

His eyes went wide, and the sound of plastic hitting the tiled floor echoed as he pushed himself to his feet. He held his breath, as if hoping a tiger wouldn’t catch his scent. In front of him were three people. Two of them converted—he could easily see their leotards through their open blouses.

Bor quickly got to his feet and took long strides towards where the haigure girls had cornered a third girl, who slowly fell to her knees, her eyes glazy from tears and fear, her mouth slightly open. As the two girls turned their smiling faces towards him, Bor pulled out two small, black devices from his pockets. Thoot. The two girls started shaking and then passed out.

Bor pulled the pins out of their chest and smiled at his new tazer guns. “Thanks, you bloody cunt.” He whispered to no one before he placed them back inside his pockets.

He turned towards the girl. She was small and thin, with matted black hair and clothes caked in dirt and dust. Her eyes were unfocused, but there was still brightness behind them. Bor had arrived just in time. He kneeled and gave the girl’s shoulders a harsh shake.

Jo’s eyes went wide and she pulled back, shoving Bor aside with a hard kick. She started to rise and realized that her assailants were knocked out and smelled like burnt hair. Blinking she gave the strange man before her a curious, suspicious look.

“Don’t worry, I am not one of them,” He waved his hand over the unconscious bodies.

Jo held her gaze over him for a while and then sighed. “I... I knew they were haig—” All of a sudden a soft finger was pressing tight against her lips.

“Don’t say the word. If you say it, it’ll corrupt you. It will transform you. Understood?” Bor’s voice was quick and strong, his gaze made the girl hold her breath for a while.

Jo nodded once and the finger was removed.

“Sorry,” He held his hands in the air. “It is just that you cannot risk being in contact with the idea. It is already dangerous to just look at them.” Bor cocked his head towards the unconscious girls.

“Thanks, though, for saving me from... those things.” She sighed a lopsided smile. “My name is Jo, though.”

“Bor,” He smiled and slowly pulled himself up. He then helped her to her feet. Bor was easily three heads taller.

“Like the deity?” Jo found herself smiling at the idea.

Bor attempted a tired smile. He failed. “Yes. My father liked mythology.” He rubbed his face and looked at Jo over. “You didn’t react as I expected.”

Jo frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you didn’t jump or scream when you came out of the trance. You calmly followed instructions as if you already knew what was happening.”

Jo smiled crookedly. “It is not my first rodeo, if that is what you mean.”

Bor gave her a searching look, sighed, and walked back to sit on a chair. Jo reluctantly followed.

“So, you know what is going on?” Bor said, looking around the establishment. It seemed like nobody had noticed anything wrong, but Bor just knew he wasn’t safe in this place. Yet he was starving.

Jo shrugged. “I don’t have a clue what is going on. I just know I have to stay away from the leotards. Call it a hunch.”

Bor nodded. “Have you met any more of them?”

Jo averted her gaze and was silent for a long while.

“Jo?”

“I... I turned my sister into one.”

Bor’s eye grew wide. Could she be infected? “What!?” He hushed as soon as eyes fell on him.

“No, not that way. No... I accidentally bought her a leotard that turned her into one of those.”

Bor frowned. “A leotard?”

Jo nodded.

“An object that transforms them... fuck, this is worse than we imagined.” He saw a clerk coming towards his table with his meal and went silent.

When the person left, he continued. “You say you ‘bought one’? Like, in a store?”

Jo nodded again, staring at the two burgers in front of her. “There is this store I walked into... bought my sister a swimsuit and left it on her bed. When she tried it on it turned her.”

Bor digested the information as he grabbed one of the burgers. He noticed how Jo looked at his meal and offered one. She quickly tore at it.

“So, the thing has spread and it is evolving. That makes things much more difficult and perilous.”

“What things?” Jo said with a full mouth.

Bor gave Jo a hard look. “I could tell you, but I need to see your chest.”

Jo placed her burger on the plate and pulled back. “What?” She whispered.

“I need to know you don’t have a leotard growing. That you’re clean.”

“Oh.” Jo felt a shiver go down her spine. I don’t have one, no. I would be feeling it already. “Okay, but don’t look at anything else.” She leaned closer and pulled down her shirt’s neckline. Her chest was clean.

Bor seemed relieved. “Great, so I can tell you.”

Jo nodded.

“Look, this thing is a virus. It is spreading faster and faster and soon enough everyone will be converted. I need to stop it.”

“Well,” Jo began, eating some fries. “I can agree with that.” Hopefully. “But how are you going to do it?”

“Fear,” Bor whispered, looking about. He drank some soda and realized that Jo had already finished her meal. He smiled.

“Fear?” Jo looked doubtful.

“Well... it is a long story, but just say that I found out that with fear you can break the infection and free somebody from its hold...”

He isn’t sure. Jo thought. “But?”

“But I haven’t tested it. I found a good source that tells me that if a converted person is truly scared the hold of whatever turns them will break and they can be freed.” Bor placed his head on his hands. “I had an opportunity to test it, but I didn’t know what they were scared of. So, I am jumping around town, blindly looking for someone I know, hoping that person is converted so I can scare them.”

Jo was simply taken back. Who was this guy who showed up out of the blue and saved her? How come he knew so much about... whatever it was? It was against all probabilities. Jo was not one to so easily trust anyone, but he had saved her and fed her. She at least had to give him some credibility.

“So, you need to test it?” Jo said suddenly.

Bor looked up and nodded.

“Well... I heard those two talk about something happening at my school. I didn’t go there today, fearing you know what and it seems that I was right not to go.” Jo smiled. “Maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll find my friends and prove your theory.”

“Well... That could work but what if—”

“Look, mate. It is the only thing you have to go on. My school is nearby and I can call my friend and see where she is. Easy.” She gave him a stern look. “Besides, I may be able to take a shower there.” She ran her fingers over her black hair. “I need one, desperately.”

Bor was about to say something when a loud moan filled the restaurant. Bor froze in place for a second, his hand going towards his tazer gun. He scanned the room, seeing how everyone was looking at the counter.

Jo slowly rose from her seat. “We have to go. Now.” She whispered and then shivered. Her hand was shaking slightly.

Bor slowly pulled himself to his feet, the world moved as if in slow motion.

The moment he took a step, six haigure people poured out from behind the counter, chanting, crouching, moaning, kissing. They seemed to move and think on their own, unlike the ones he found in Carrera. They looked around, some pointed at him and others concentrated on the other three people in the restaurant.

They are... stronger here. The realisation came unbidden, from who-knows-where. He made to point with his tazer, but he felt a hand wrap around his wrist and yank him forward.

“Move!” Jo cried, pulling Bor forward.

Bor woke, grabbed part of the burger he had left uneaten, and started to run away with Jo.