Chapter 35

She found Marc first. Alone now, his cock laying soft and limp. He wore a blissful smile below the headset, and his arms were relaxed at his side.

“Marc,” Sam said.

He didn’t reply, just sat there with a dopey smile. She walked up to him. The room was empty, everyone else must have been taking a break or in a meeting.

“Marc, can you hear me?”

“Mmm,” he said.

She reached for the headset and peeled it off of his head. “Marc, wake up.”

He blinked, adjusting to the light, and looked up at her. “Hey, Sam.”

His voice sounded distant, hollow. He sounded as though he were exhausted, but calm and content.

“What did they do to you?”

“What do you mean?” he said.

“Marc, you're in CaliaCorp, wearing a headset, with your dick out. Does that sound normal?”

“Does it matter?”

“What?”

“Sam, this is what I want. I’m learning the most advanced stuff on top of the line equipment. We’re working on things that are going to change the world.”

“You’re working here? When did that happen?”

“I don’t remember, I’ve just been with Nari and she’s been training me.”

“You mean fucking you?”

Marc took a long, deep breath and his smile widened. “That too.”

“Come with me, please, let’s get out of here.”

Marc shook his head. “Sam, no. I’m valued here. They appreciate my talents. Nari is going to help me be the best there is.”

Sam took a step back and bumped into a desk, sending a mug full of pencils to its side with a thump. “Marc, please, this isn’t you. You hate CaliaCorp.”

“It is me, Sam. I wanted to do this for years, you guys never understood.”

Sam sighed. “Please. Please come with me, you can go back if you change your mind in a few days or something, I just think you’re being brainwashed or something.”

Marc reached for the headset. “Brainwashing me to get what I want, Sam? That doesn’t even make sense. Now, Nari asked me to finish something, I need to get back to work. If you aren’t going to join us here, maybe you should just leave.”

“I don’t want to join you. You’re under the spell of that girl.”

Marc looked up to the ceiling with a blissful expression. “Nari.”

“What the fuck did she do to you?”

“Oh Sam, she’s so sweet, you’d love her.”

“No, Marc, I wouldn’t. She’s just another CaliaCorp bitch.”

“She’s different Sam, it’s not what you think. It’s so much more.”

Sam’s mouth was agape. She didn’t want to believe it. Marc was so strongly against everything about CaliaCorp. “Why, Marc? Don’t you remember what you said before?”

“I was wrong, I didn’t understand. Now please, Sam, I have to get back to work.”

“No, Marc, please,” Sam pleaded, but he already had the headset back on, and the same smile on his face. She walked away slowly, looking back as his cock grew hard again and his smile grew ever wider.

Once out of the room, she went down the stairs, rushing from floor to floor, hoping to find the others. Everywhere she looked CaliaCorp workers walked around or sat at their desks with smiles on their faces. They chatted to each other with laughs, they hugged. They seemed genuinely happy, normal.

Was Trish like that too?

She bounded down another set of stairs, dripping with sweat, and opened the door. There, in a corridor walking toward her, she saw a familiar face.

“Theo!”

“Sam! At last. I came looking for you!”

“Theo everything is fucked. Calia’s not real, Marc has lost his mind, and I don’t know what’s happening to Trish.”

“It’s ok,” Theo said with a warm smile, taking Sam in his muscular arms. “You’re safe now. I told you I’d look after you, didn’t I?”

Sam snuffled and rested her head on his chest. “Thanks, Theo.”