Chapter 10

There was a long pause as Becky stood in the doorway, staring disapprovingly at me, Abby, and Cindy. Becky’s blonde hair laid silkily on her slim shoulders, highlighted by the hallway lights behind her. With her white dress and matching blouse, it almost gave her an angelic look. Just like her doubleganger back on my Earth, this world’s Becky was absolutely gorgeous. Even with Abby and Cindy most pleasantly positioned beside me, I couldn’t help but feel a growing desire for the stunning blonde woman.

Like a kid who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, I gave her a guilty little smile. I remembered Becky’s speech from this afternoon about pointless fornication. More than a little lecherously, I thought she could use some education on her viewpoint. Maybe, given some time around me, I could explain my peculiar condition. And as Becky remained at the supply room’s threshold, her lips slowly curled upward. But not in the way I had hoped.

Becky Walsworth, at least the version I knew, could give one of those most disarming smiles I had ever seen. It had a hint of delighted warmness wrapped around a coy, almost playful grin. Her smile never failed to leave me more than a bit tongue tied. Indeed, she had that effect on most men. The woman now standing before me also had a very similar look, but there was something twisted about the way this Becky wore the expression. A haughty sense of superiority, mixed with more than a little bit of menace changed her smile from charming to a cold smirk.

As for the three of us, we had not been caught at our best. We were sweaty, horny, and had lost a lot of our clothing. Abby had her hospital gown bunch up above her waist, the only other clothing she had on was a pair of socks. With one hand I had helped spread her bare slender legs while I cupped her sex with the other. My pants were around my ankles, and Abby had been in the process of yanking down my briefs when we had been interrupted. As for Cindy, her top was gone along with her bra. She had been pressing her soft tits into my backside while nibbling at my ear.

With my two very sexy, exquisite women pressed against me, I wanted to get back to business. I was finding Becky’s interruption as most unwanted. Still, I found myself frozen. Partly from the sheer awkwardness of our sudden exposure and a bit from Becky’s troubling smile. Abby was similarly immobile, returning a glassy-eyed stare at the intruder. But it Cindy, irreverent as always, was the first to break out of our stunned silence.

“Either get out, or join us, but whatever you do, close the door. You’re letting cold air in.”

Becky’s smile dropped a notch, and she shook her head ever so slightly. “I don’t think so,” she said in reply. Taking a step into the storage room, she then stopped as her nose wrinkled in disgust. “It stinks in here like a bunch of wet dogs.”

I had no idea what she was talking about. The room was filled with the sweet aromas of both my Abby and Cindy. I could easily breathe in their scents all day long. Becky’s new look of revulsion finally broke me out of my embarrassed standstill.

“Well then,” I said as I gave my naked-from-the-waist-up partner a grin, “like Cindy suggested, get out.” This resulted in Cindy giving me an appreciative nuzzle on my neck. A felt my pulse quicken. I really wanted to get back to my women.

But Becky was not so accommodating. Her crystal blue eyes narrowed, and her gaze traveled up and down my body. She gave no indication she apricated seeing my mostly undressed form. More like she was examining an unpleasant bug she had found. A look of surprise suddenly made its way onto her face.

“You’re wearing a nanoweave ... Why?”

I was surprised Becky both knew what a nanoweave was and that was I wearing one. I had thought Harold had said it was technology from his Consortium. How did Becky know about it?

Interrupting my surprised reaction to Becky’s announcement, Abby whimpered softly in my ear. “Jason ... please...” She wriggled her body, pressing her wet sex into my hand. The perfumed scent of her pheromones trickled deep into my brain’s cortex. Abby needed me. Concerns about Becky and whatever she knew started to fade. I turned to Abby, wanting to get back to the business of fornicating with my redhead. However, I quickly found Becky was in no mood be kept waiting for an answer. As soon as I started to resume stroking Abby’s most sensitive flesh, a yelp of pain came from right behind me, and the soft touch of Cindy’s bare bosom against my body vanished.

I spun back around to find Becky had yanked Cindy off me and with one hand was holding the short-haired blonde by the back of her neck. Then with almost no effort, Becky raised her arm and hoisted Cindy off the ground. Putting her a good foot off the floor. Cindy’s legs madly kicked but hit nothing but air.

“Let go of me, you bitch,” snarled Cindy as she struggled in vain get lose from Becky’s amazingly powerful grip.

“Fine,” muttered Becky absently. In one flowing pivoted motion, she tossed Cindy into a nearby storage rack. Cindy smashed into the metal framework of the shelving with a loud crash, sending the whole rack tipping backward until it slammed into the storage unit behind it. Then like a short row of massive dominoes, it crashed into the one behind it. The noise of metal striking metal while bottles and other medical supplies went flying in the small supply closet was deafening. As the racket from the metal shelves coming apart finished echoing around the room, Cindy slumped to the floor. She did not move.

“Cindy!” Abby and I both cried out in alarm.

I tried to get to Cindy to see how badly she was hurt, but Becky blocked my way. Her blue eyes had turned hard, and she drilled into me with a penetrating stare. “Who are you?” she demanded. When I did not immediately answer, she grabbed me with one hand and raised the other. The same hand that had picked up and thrown Cindy with surprising ease. With her palm out flat, she held it at a right angle to my head. All she would need to do swing down and hit me. Given how strong she seemed to be, she would likely crack my skull open like an egg.

“You will tell me who you are,” announced Becky with a frightening amount of cold authority. “And you will tell me where to find Professor Harold Williams.”

Before I could manage to stutter out a reply, a skittering noise came from behind Becky. The sound of something small and possibly ceramic sliding on the lament floor of the hospital. While my focus was on the very scary Becky, out of the very corner of my eye, I saw a circular disk skid into the room from the outside hallway. It came to a stop right behind the menacing blonde woman.

Becky heard it as well. She turned her head to see the source of the disturbance. Her eyes went wide upon seeing the small disk. “Oh shit...” she began and let go of me. Then the very air around her shimmered, bulged, and then began expanding outward in all direction. In the very center of growing bubble of air stood Becky, an angry glare frozen on her face. The undulated distortion rippled away from her. It was like watching a slow-moving wave crossing a calm body of water. And it was coming right at me. There was no possibility for me to get out of the way for the air around me had suddenly become as thick as tar. Then it hit me. There was no explosion or sound, but I certainly felt pain. Over my entire body.

When I was nine, I had visited my Aunt Pam during the summer. Her family had a big inground pool, and I had spent most of my time swimming with my cousins. At one point I had attempted to do a fancy backflip off the diving board. I messed up badly and ended up performing a spectacular uncoordinated belly flop onto the surface of the pool. The water had struck me like a brick wall, and I had ached all over. That is how I now felt, like every square inch of my front side had smacked by a giant wave of water.

My sense of balance had also been severely affected by whatever had hit me. I felt like I was on a boat in roiling sea. The floor seemed to rise and fall under me. I dropped to my knees as the whole room tossed and turned. Moving around appeared out of the question. It did not help that my pants were knotted up around my feet. I shut my eyes, trying to rein in the worst of the churning nausea I was feeling. After a few seconds, or maybe a couple of hours, the spinning sensation in my head began to clear.

Opening my eyes, I slowly got my bearings. The wave of air, or whatever it had been, had oddly not disturbed the room any more than it was already destroyed from Cindy crashing into the nearby storage racks. I found Becky had crumpled to the floor. She laid unmoving, her eyes closed, but the hateful twisting of her usually beautiful features still on her face.

I staggered back to my feet, trying to regain my balance. From behind me came a weak wail. Abby was on wobbly legs and was ready to fall over. I grabbed her and pulled her to me. She buried her head into my chest and fiercely held on. Somehow we both managed to keep ourselves upright.

Sobbing into my shirt, Abby sniffled out, “W-W-What’s happening?”

“I don’t know, baby,” I weakly whispered back.

More commotion came from outside our now ruined supply room. Holding Abby tight, I turned back to the doorway, uncertain what insanity would be coming next. Two figures came into view at the entrance - Mandy Persaud and Harold Williams. Both staring wide-eyed at Abby and me.

I was about to ask what had happened when a pained groan came from Cindy. My half-dressed lover awkwardly pushed herself off the floor. And rubbed her head with another low moan. “What ... the fuck...” she mumbled out.

At seeing her friend on the floor, Mandy darted in and went down on her knees next to Cindy. She immediately shot Harold an accusing glare. “You said that stun-disk-thingy of yours wasn’t going to hurt anyone.”

Still at the doorway, Harold’s face had turned a deep shade of red. With his eyes averted from us, he shifted his feet uncomfortably and said, “Um ... sorry. In an enclosed space ... um like this room ... the hydrostatic shockwave could inadvertently cause some pain outside the intended target.”

“Yeah, no shit,” I grumbled.

Still not meeting my eyes, Harold gazed at the floor. “Although I don’t know why it knocked your clothes off.”

“What!?” I blurted out. I was going to say more, but then I remembered both Cindy and me were half-dressed. And Abby wasn’t wearing much more than a nightgown. I started to realize Harold’s embarrassed posturing at the doorway was coming from our various stages of undress.

“It wasn’t your stun grenade that made our clothes come off,” I added.

“What then?” asked Harold with a confused stare. Finally, it dawned on him what had been happening here between myself, Abby, and Cindy. “Ah ... Oh...” said Harold as he blushed again.

Helping Cindy to her feet, Mandy sniffed the air. A somewhat dreamy expression came to her face, and she let out an almost inaudible “Mmmm.” She then forcefully shook her head, pushing away the faraway look. Mandy gave me a wry smile. “You must have been really pumping it out in here.”

“Could someone please explain to me what’s going on?” demanded Cindy as she stared with complete bewilderment at everyone in the room. Pointing a shaking finger at Harold, she said, “Who are you?” and then to me, “Why does Jason look so different?” And then her trembling hand went to Becky’s unmoving form. “And what the fuck is she supposed to be?”

She asked all her questions with her shirt and bra still off. Those soft, firm breasts of hers had nicely jiggled as she turned about, demanded answers. In another time and place, I would have gladly taken Cindy, held her, and explained everything I knew. Most likely while pulling off the remainder of her clothes and performing any number of lewd acts with my buxom blonde. But after encountering Becky’s frightening assault, and then Harold’s stun grenade, even my overpowered libido was down for the count.

Pulling up my pants, I then went to retrieve Cindy’s shrugged off sweater and undergarments. I handed them back to her, hoping this would knock Harold out of his uncomfortable unease at seeing our half-covered bodies.

“That’s Professor Harold Williams,” I said with a weary wave of my hand towards the bearded man with the unfamiliar face. “We came in ... disguise, hopefully so we wouldn’t draw too much attention,” I explained. Not wanting to go into the more complicated answer about Harold, the Consortium, and all their super tech.

Cindy’s eyes were disbelieving as she looked between Harold and me. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Wish I was, but it’s the truth.”

Mandy was looking me up and down, with apparent astonishment at my transformation. “Cindy, I know it’s crazy,” she said. “But Professor Williams found me when I was coming back from the cafeteria and explained to me what’s going on. Then he started knocking out the hospital staff with that stun disk.”

“Yes, Yes, I’ve taken care of most of the staff on the floor. For the moment, our path out of the hospital is clear,” put in Harold with renewed urgency in his voice. With our clothes more or less back on, he had stopped averting his eyes, and his ill-at-ease stance had disappeared. Bending down, he retrieved the small circular disk from the beside the unconscious Becky. His more in charge attitude was back, and he commanded, “Now, we all need to leave very quickly. Please follow me.”

With a disgusted sigh, Cindy marched out of the room after Harold. I was about to follow, but Abby started to sway, and I slipped my arm around her waist to support her. Concerned, I asked, “Abby, what’s wrong?”

She wrapped her arms my neck and snuggled her head under my chin. Wisps of Abby’s auburn hair tickled up against my nose. “Hold me,” she murmured into my chest.

“The doctors gave her some sort of painkiller, just before we got here,” explained Mandy. “It’s left her a little loopy.” Then with a slightly chagrinned smile, she added, “She’s been kind of worked up ... wanting you.”

“Um ... yeah,” I said in reply, remembering how I had found Cindy pleasuring Abby when I first stepped into the supply room.

Abby continued to snuggle up against me. Not even remotely letting go. Underneath the rather thin and unflattering hospital gown, her body was bare. It was nice, and I liked the feel of her body against mine. But it was going to be impossible for me to follow the others with her latched on to me. I took a moment to stoop down and move one arm lower on Abby’s body.

Fidgeting a little as I squatted beside her, Abby mumbled out, “Jason, what are you... ?”

“This,” I said through partly gritted teeth as I scooped her into my arms. I had to struggle a bit as I got one arm supporting Abby’s back, while my other lifted up her legs. A little burst of giggles came from Abby as I held her. She seemed to like this new position and promptly wrapped her arms around me and then rested her head on my shoulder.

Mandy gave us a soft smile. “Aww ... You two are so beautiful together.”

I just shook my head and stepped over Becky’s unmoving body to join Harold and Cindy. The two were already moving down the hallway. Mandy promptly followed after us. The first thing I noticed when exiting the supply room was several people were laying on the ground. The women I had seen earlier from the nurses’ station were slumped against a nearby wall. Down the hall two men, dressed in orderly uniforms, were also sprawled on the floor.

“ ... there’s no permanent damage,” I overheard Harold explaining to Cindy. I assumed he was talking about the people he must have knocked out with his stun grenade device. “They will be unconscious for the next hour or two. Their short-term memory is also impaired. They will not be able to fully recall what happened.”

“That’s great,” snipped Cindy. “No one will remember any of this insanity. Maybe you can use it on me when we’re done here.”

“Are you alright? I asked as we caught up to Harold and Cindy.

“I’m a little sore,” replied Cindy as she rubbed the back of her neck where Becky had grabbed her. “Likely going to have some bruises.”

Harold made a little bob of his head as we walked along. “Again, I’m sorry for the pain you endured when I used my weapon.”

Cindy’s brows knitted together in agitatedly. “It wasn’t your crazy little gadget. It was that insane MHS woman. She picked me up and chucked me into a cabinet.”

Harold’s eyes narrowed. “Did she? I heard the commotion coming from the storage room and came running. I saw her threatening Jason and I promptly stunned her. I didn’t know she had hurt you.”

“Harold, she was scary strong,” I said. Then remembering Becky had realized the truth about my disguise, “She also knew I was wearing the nanoweave.”

Cindy began to ask what the hell I was talking about, but was cut off when Harold froze mid-step. “Wait,” he said with growing concern, “she could tell you were wearing a nanoweave just by looking at you?” A deepening frown pulled at his mouth. “You should have told me this right away.”

“Well excuse me,” I glowered. “But being tongue tied and trying to stare a hole into the floor because we were all half-naked back there doesn’t make having a conversation with you very easy.”

From behind me, Mandy spoke up. There was a sudden rising note of alarm in her voice. “Uh, guys, that MHS woman is awake.”

The rest of us all spun around to find Becky standing in the doorway of the supply closet. Her hands were clutched onto the doorframe, holding herself up. Then her head slowly turned to look at us. And Becky’s face was deeply unsettling. Her right eye was deeply bloodshot and practically bulging from the eye socket. It focused on us with a baleful stare. But her other eye was unchanged and was lazily unfocused, gazing towards the ceiling.

“Harold ... Williams,” croaked Becky as she continued to glare at us.

“A Hunter,” whispered a horrified Harold. He had gone very pale.

Becky took a step towards us. And then another. It was a jerky, unsteady motion of her arms pivoting and her legs unsteadily kicking forward. Her walk was even more disturbing than her frightful face. It was like she was a marionette doll and all her strings had gotten horribly tangled, and yet the puppeteer controlling her was forcing her forward.

“Run,” said Harold. When none of moved - we were still gawking at Becky’s shambling walk - he shouted, “RUN!” and took off down the hospital hallway. In a moment of almost comic absurdity, the four of us watched Harold retreat, we all then blinked together in confused surprise, and turned back to the stumbling blonde woman.

A toddler could out run the messed-up Becky. But everything about her movements was downright creepy. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” I said. No one argued with me.

We had to put in a hard run to catch up to the fleeing Harold. Carrying Abby didn’t make it any easier. But we managed to reach him just as he got to the far end the corridor. He was fumbling with the doorway to the emergency exit and seemed to be in a near blind panic.

“They would never ... send a Hunter after me ... I’m protected,” wheezed out Harold as he forced open the steel door leading to a cement and steel stairwell.

“Calm down!” I yelled. “It’s not like she’s exactly in high-speed pursuit.”

Already on the first step leading down, Harold took a moment to stop and turn back to me. “You don’t understand! She’s augmented! The stun disk should have left her incapacitated for hours!” He then took off down the stairs, still rambling, “Her nervous system is regenerating. She’ll be back to full strength in a matter of minutes.”

“I don’t know what any of that means, but I don’t like the sound of it,” said Cindy as she followed Harold.

A few patients at this end of the hallway poked their heads out of the rooms, wanting to see what all the commotion was about. Mandy made a half-hearted attempt to reassure them nothing was wrong. Then she stiffened as she looked back down the hallway. “She’s moving faster now.”

I too caught a glimpse of Becky coming towards us. She was no longer stumbling along. Her steps were surer, faster.

In my arms, Abby saw the closing blonde woman as well and ordered, “Jason, go!”

I did not need any further encouragement. I took off down the stairway as fast as I could manage while still carrying Abby. Mandy followed right behind us. We rushed down the first two flights of stairs. Below us, I could see Harold and Cindy had just made it to the last set of steps when the sound of an emergency door banging open reached us.

At the risk of stumbling and dropping Abby, I started taking two steps at a time. I had just made it to the last turn when a loud thud came from above. From behind me, Mandy cried out a warning. “She just jumped down a full flight of stairs!”

Now at the exit to the first floor, Harold barreled into the door. He hit it with enough force to leave it rattling in its frame. Cindy was the next through. With Abby sagging in my arms and my back screaming in protest I managed to stumble our way through the doorway and into the first floor. Mandy was on the last step right behind us when the blur of something white with blonde hair slammed into the bare cement floor of the stairwell.

Becky.

With her immaculate colored dress still billowing about her, Becky rose gracefully from a crouched position and blocked the exit. Mandy, her eyes wide in disbelief, skidded to a stop before the woman and then stumbled back on the steps. Becky had leaped from the landing above, down the stairwell, and landed feet first. That had to be a fall of at least twenty feet. She eyed Mandy for a split second and then she was moving. Striding out into the hallway, appearing completely unharmed from her jump.

We had exited on the first floor of the hospital. Unlike the third floor, the hallway here was jammed packed with doctors, nurses, patients, and visitors. Trying to run through the crowd was impossible. But Harold was doing his best. Terribly frightened, the bearded professor was pushing and shoving his way past people, trying to get away.

“Stop that man!” bellowed Becky as thrust her hand out to point accusingly at the fleeing Harold. “I’m an MHS Agent! I order that man restrained!”

Only myself, Abby, and Mandy had seen Becky’s miraculous landing in the stairwell. Everyone else in the hallway simply saw Harold and Cindy frenzied rush out of the emergency exit. They had initial reacted in confused alarm. Then Harold’s aggressive attempt to force his way through the crowd was met with irritated annoyance at his behavior. But Becky’s announcement immediate changed things. Several doctors and orderlies moved to intercept Harold. He tried to dodge and get past them, but Harold was quickly outnumbered. Many more people pushed themselves up against the wall, getting out of the way. Wide-eyed fear marking their faces at the sight of Becky.

“Under whose authority?” demanded Cindy. She had remained by the stairwell door with Abby and me. Now outrage and fury were spreading across her face like an angry burn as she faced down the would be MHS Agent. “You’re not the police! You can’t just order people to hold someone because you’re from the MHS.”

There was too much Cindy did not know or understand. Not that I could claim to have a mastery of the situation. But I knew enough to grasp the fact this far more than the MHS at work. Harold had said Becky was a ‘Hunter.’ My dad had used that word as well. Becky was also someone not of this world. And, if her strength and endurance were any sign, not entirely human either.

Turning to Cindy, Becky’s wicked smile returned. “I remember you. You were at my rally today. Arguing for your right to use your Restricteral.” Her disapproval reattached up a notch. “No wonder. You were engaged in more meaningless fornication upstairs.”

Cindy snorted, “So what? Who the hell cares what we were doing?”

Becky strode towards Cindy. Clearly remembering how easy it had been for Becky to toss her across the room, Cindy retreated a few intimidated steps backward. Becky’s voice went quiet and dangerous and did not carry to the surrounding crowd of spectators. “We care. We provide order for you. We help guide you. And your disobedience is not appreciated.”

Before Becky could say more, Harold was brought before her. He was held by two doctors in white lab coats and rather burly looking orderly in dark blue scrubs. Harold’s frightened eyes were focused entirely on Becky. One of the doctors holding him, an older man with fine thinning hair, had an anxious look of concern on his face as he approached. “Miss,” he said, “what exactly is going on here?”

“I tell you what’s going on here,” put in Cindy. She was still guardedly keeping her distance from Becky, but there was a growing rage in her words. “This woman attacked me! And now she’s trying to order you about, just because she claims to be with the MHS!”

A good deal of uncertainty entered the doctor’s expression as he gazed over not only over Becky, but Cindy, myself, and Abby. “I think,” he said slowly, “we’ll be calling the authorities.” He nodded to the burly orderly that was doing most of the work holding Harold. “Let’s get security down here. I want these people held until we figure out what’s going on.”

“Unnecessary,” replied Becky, looking rather bored. Then in a blur of motion, she backhanded the doctor hard enough to send him flying off his feet. He landed face first in a crumpled heap on the ground, a good five feet from where he had previously been standing. Startled cries of horrified amazement ripped the surrounding bystanders.

The other two men still holding Harold let go of him and began to wisely back away from the frightening MHS Agent. Harold stood alone before Becky. “Y-You won’t g-get away with this,” he stuttered weakly. “Your sect has broken the treaty...”

“Come now, Harold,” she replied calmly. “You and your miscreants broke the good faith of the peace agreement years ago. We of Unity have been careful and patient in our response. Now you will be ... corrected.”

If I had thought Harold look frightened before, Becky’s assertion that he would be ‘corrected’ caused him to go white in terror and literally start to shake in his shoes. Without actually thinking it through, I suddenly blurted out, “Becky, what the hell is wrong with you!?”

Becky stared at me coldly for a moment. At least both her eyes had returned to their normal crystal blue color. “I don’t know you,” she said. “You’re not from this realm, are you? Do you know a variation of me?”

Not knowing what else to say, I snapped back, “I suppose so.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she sniffed indifferently. Glancing at the quivering Harold. “I’m here for him. But all of you will be coming with me. I want answers.”

In my arms, Abby stiffened. “Jason, what does she mean?” she softly moaned. “What is she going to do us?”

Abby’s fear joined together with Cindy’s earlier anger and began pooling inside me. Who knew what amounts of chemical pheromones were coursing through my body, spinning my hormones levels to heightened levels. Something dark and animalistic started stomping around in the back of my head. Eager to get out. My women were being threatened by this psycho version of Becky Walsworth. It made my blood boil.

As much as I wanted to think of myself as the big, strong, strapping man able to carry my Abby to safety, bringing her down to the first floor had been murder on my arms and back. But as I stood there, glaring at Becky, a surge of adrenaline started coursing through me. The strain on my muscles began to lessen as my heart pounded in my chest.

I was in no position to face Becky while still holding Abby. In what I considered a rather well execute move, I deftly pivoted and slide Abby out of my arms. Her slippered feet touch the ground, and she wobbled slightly as I let go.

As I turned back to face Becky, a worried whimper came from behind me. “Jason, what are you doing?”

I ignored Abby and took a menacing step towards the dangerous blonde woman. “You’re not going to do anything. I’m not going to let you.”

Becky’s expression at my new-found aggression was hard to read. She was not amused, nor was she angry, or even coolly uncaring. The closest matching emotion I guess would have been slight puzzlement.

“Do you even understand what’s happening here?” asked Becky. “Comprehend the seriousness of the situation?”

“I don’t care,” I growled as I took another step towards her. I was right in her face. By now my blood was thundering in my veins. My hands were balled into fists at my sides. Every muscle in my body tensing, ready to fight.

Her first blow came at me. It was just a simple swing of her arm, her palm out. Like someone who was trying to swat away an irritating fly. To my credit, I dodged the blow and threw out my own punch. Becky didn’t even try to avoid it. I slammed my fist into her face, and she didn’t even flinch.

I reared back to put my weight into my next punch when Becky threw out her own. This time I was not so lucky and did not avoid the blow. And now Becky was not trying to only slap me away. Her fist smashed into my side. I felt the air rush out my lungs. It was like being smacked by a bulldozer.