Chapter 5

1

There was a rising pang of anxiety rising in Leah’s gut as she walked down the hallway towards the boys’ wing. Megan walked with her and Leah could sense the girl’s own sense of foreboding, streaming into her brain like a staticky radio signal. Things were growing out of control.

“Tell me again how you left them,” Leah said.

“They seemed out of it. Pale. Passed out. Not too different from how you described it.”

“When I did it, I didn’t give birth to some monstrosity. Besides, you’re different than me. I can feel it.”

“How so?” Megan asked, genuinely puzzled.

“I don’t want to get into it right now.”

It was going on nine in the evening. The girls left the RA’s room once it seemed that both of their newest victims were well under control. Emily already showed telltale signs of transformation, her breasts swelling, her body taking on an unnatural glow of beauty. Even more useful, the mousey redhead now seemed entirely under the thrall of Lindsay, her sire. Both of them were locked in a coital spiral of pleasure like long-time lovers.

Felicia, meanwhile, was nothing more than a crumpled, twitching mass on the tile floor. Whatever the special creature that emerged from Megan’s pussy was, it seemed to have complete shutdown the RA’s higher faculties.

Leah pushed through the double doors and felt her blood run cold. In front of her was a disordered crown of students and public safety officers. The entire wing was filled with nervous chatter. Both girls picked up their pace, plunging into the throng.

They rounded the corner in time to see an EMT hauling a stretcher out of a dorm room. The body on the stretcher was covered with a white sheet.

Leah froze. Had it not been for the mass control over her nerves the parasite that inhabited her body exhibited, Leah would likely have started shaking in her boots. Behind the first stretcher, another emerged. Another body. Another sheet.

“Leah,” Megan whimpered from behind her. “Leah I-”

Leah cut the girl off, her instincts kicking in like lightning.

“Not now,” she said in a quick whisper.

Leah whirled around and grabbed Megan by the arm, dragging her back towards the girls’ wing.

“We need to go.”

They pushed right through the double doors and bolted through the lobby of the dorm.

“Leah, I killed them.”

“Just shut the fuck up until we get back to Felicia’s room.”

Leah caught her breath. Two dead boys. Two dead, human beings, killed by her actions. Not directly, but blood was on her hands. She wanted to feel some pang of guilt. At least horror.

Nothing. Leah felt nothing. Only the urge of self-preservation drove her forward. What the hell was happening to her?

Regardless, there was no time. They needed to regroup. There was also her former roommate to reckon with. The one that got away.

2

It was the kind of rainy day where the color gray saturated every single thing, leaving an empty and drab world. The fluorescent lamps of the dining hall rained sterile, cold light down on Jessie’s head. The small bit of scrambled eggs and cantaloupe on her plate sat uneaten, repulsing the exhausted girl.

Where do I go from here? Jessie wondered to herself.

There was so much to process and yet so little time to do so. Leah had become a monster. A predator, hunting down girls and spreading her affliction. She already had three or four girls now.

An image of Felicia’s desperate face flashed through Jessie’s name. It was the worst image from the night prior.

You left her, a voice spoke in Jessie’s mind. She needed your help and you let her become one of them.

What were they? What had Leah become? Then there was that snake-or worm-that attacked Felicia. It must have been the key to how Leah spread whatever was happening to her.

A rolling burst of collective laughter nearby caused Jessie to jump suddenly.

At one of the larger tables nearby, a large, bespectacled boy with a neck beard was waving his arms and talking loudly to a small group of guys and girls. A rather heavy-set girl with pale blonde hair was letting out a low giggle as she listened.

“The school gives us weapons. LITERAL WEAPONS, and then they give us a broken closet to store them in. Absolutely genius!”

The giggling blonde spoke up.

“Do you think anyone’s going to steal any fake swords though, Bryce?”

“I don’t know, most people don’t know. Besides, the rec building staff and fencing club, most people have no idea.”

“Then it’s a great idea to shout about it,” another girl said, this one with short hair dyed to a reddish-pink shock.

The guy, Bryce, shrugged and the group’s conversation moved on to other things. However, Jessie’s mind was already starting run on overdrive. Leah was out there and her numbers were growing; what was worse, Jessie seemed to be her number one target. Some protection would help.

Jessie slinked up from her seat and put her plate on the conveyor belt at the back of the cafeteria, most of the food remaining uneaten. Then she started towards the front exit, hoping desperately she would not be seen.

Everywhere, Jessie felt eyes bearing down on her. Anyone could be turned. Any girl at least. Maybe guys too.

She reached the double doors that lead outside, here eyes pointed at the ground when she collided against person.

“Hey watch it,” a feminine voice Jessie recognizes said sharply.

Both women stepped back and stared at each other. Jessie recognizes the girl immediately as Casey Mozolla, a blonde, curvy girl on the Hornettes team. Standing at her sides were Nina and Emmy.

Jessie stood petrified, gazing desperately at the girls. If they were turned, what the hell was she supposed to do?

Nina spoke first, a look of concern that seemed sincere enough creeping across her face.

“Hey Jessie, are you okay? You-you look pretty run down.”

Jessie eased up slightly.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“Did your, um, problem get worked out?” Emmy said.

Jessie remembered the night she had spent on the floor of Nina and Emmy’s dorm room. That night had been one of the most confusing and anxious nights for her, only to be bested the day after by a long shot.

“No, I didn’t,” Jessie said. “Have you seen Leah? Talked to her, been around her?”

Nina and Emmy shook their heads, looking increasingly concerned and confused.

“I saw her,” Casey piped up.

She looked annoyed, as if each passing second was one inconvenience too much.

Jessie fixed a hard gaze on the voluptuous blonde girl.

“Where? Were you near her?”

“Chill. I saw her on the path. I waved, but I don’t think she noticed.”

“Good,” Jessie nodded. “Stay away from her. Megan and her roommate too.”

“Why?” Nina asked? Jessie was cutting out a fairly significant portion of her friend group by now.

“I-I can’t explain. Just please listen to me. Avoid them as much as you can for now. They’re-” Jessie trailed off. What the hell were those girls?

“Okay,” Emmy nodded along, “Sure thing. We’ll stay away.”

Jessie knew she was being humored. The sad, sympathetic looks, the verbal head patting. They weren’t going to listen. No one was.

It was all insulting, but the girls’ patronizing gazes were a million times better than the cold hunger Leah showed Jessie the night prior. These girls weren’t turned. Not yet at least.

“Please, just stay away from them,” Jessie murmured in a feeble voice. Then she pushed past them and out into the rain and gloom beyond, making a beeline for the gym.

3

Erin Stephens knocked on Felicia Owens door for the fifth time and again heard nothing from the other side of the door. The hallway was empty save for the timid freshman, most of the girls in the dorm out at class.

“Come one Felicia, I need you girl,” Erin said softly to herself.

“Talking to yourself?” A masculine voice said from behind her.

Erin yelped and nearly jumped out of her skin. Whirling around, she saw Evan Sherman, RA for the opposite, male, hallway. He was wearing his usual dopey smile, but there deep purple circles around his eyes and his skin was pale.

“Why did you do that? You scared the crap out of me Evan!”

“Guess I can’t help myself. What’s up?”

Erin ran a dark, delicate hand through her curly black hair and took a deep breath, hoping to get her bearings.

“I need to check in with Felicia about my recommendation form,” Erin said. “It’s for my RA application.”

Evan raised an eyebrow.

“But you’re a freshman.”

“Under special circumstances, a freshman can become an RA her second semester if there’s an opening. I need a recommendation from my current RA.” Erin pointed back at Felicia’s door.

“Huh, well aren’t you just your goodie-two-shoes self.”

Erin cringed internally. Her reputation quickly morphed into that of the dorm’s dorky little sister. It didn’t help she was the only freshman on the floor.

“It pays well,” Erin shrugged.

“I guess,” Evan said.

“Are you okay?” Erin asked. “You look tired.”

“Not really. Not with what happened last night.”

“Oh God, I totally forgot. I’m so sorry. That’s so sad!”

“Yeah. They were good guys. Pretty freaky that both of them passed.”

“Do they know what happened?”

“Running an autopsy now. Honestly, it’s way above my pay grade. Really shakes you up though.”

“Well let me know if I can do anything,” Erin said.

“Eh, I’ll be fine. But thanks. I’ll keep an eye out for this sleepyhead and point her in your direction.”

“Thanks Evan.”

Erin spared one final glance towards Felicia’s room before walking down the hall leaving Evan at Felicia’s door. The world felt darker and Erin needed some fresh air.

4

“He’s not one of the-” Bethany trailed off as she pulled into the hospital parking lot.

“No, he’s not one of the dead ones,” Eliza snapped. “Don’t say that.”

“Sorry.”

Eliza bolted into the hospital, Bethany trailing behind her. The woman at the front desk looked up Micah’s information at Eliza’s behest whole Bethany took in the sickly atmosphere of the lobby.

The sweet, antiseptic scent in the air sent Bethany back to the days when her grandmother was withering away from pancreatic cancer. I hate hospitals, she thought.

Eliza’s sharp voice cut through Bethany’s unpleasant daydream.

“What the hell do you mean I can’t see him?”

Bethany ambled over to the front desk and found Eliza red faced and broiling.

“Ma’am, he is not on public visiting hours currently.”

“I need to see him. You need to let me go upstairs.”

“Why? Are you his girlfriend or something?”

Bethany could tell the nurse had pushed the wrong button. Eliza was going to blow if she did not do something.

“When will he be on visiting hours? Anytime today?” Bethany asked quickly, slapping on a bright smile to ease the tension.

“Maybe,” the nurse said carefully. “He’s apparently asleep right now. Has a check in with the cardiologist at 11-”

“The cardiologist?” Eliza interjected, her eyes going big.

The nurse continued, ignoring her.

“After that checkup and a few tests, he might be ready for visits, if he’s up to it. He might not be. That’s at least three or four hours down the line.”

“We’ll wait then,” Bethany declared.

“But you have classes. Hell, I have classes,” Eliza said.

“It’s fine. Come on, it’s important to you.” Bethany said to her friend. She then turned to the nurse. “Can you let us know if he becomes available.”

“If I’m still on my shift, sure.”

“Thank you ma’am.”

The pair walked over to the beige waiting room chairs and sat down, Eliza grabbing Bethany’s wrist as she did so.

“Thank you,” she mouthed. There were tears forming in her eyes.

5

“I killed them,” Megan muttered to herself in the dark room.

She was alone with her back against the door. The blinds were drawn and the room had taken on a funeral gloom. Emily was out somewhere, probably enjoying the changes brought by her nascent infestation.

Meanwhile, Megan was at war with herself. Increasingly, her old, timid self shown through the sexual fog of her transformed state.

“I killed Brad. His roommate. I didn’t mean to,” she said softly, tears slipping down her cheeks.

Megan felt her body. It seemed almost alien with all the augmented confidence drained away. Her breasts felt too large and heavy, her body so much fuller than before. What the hell was happening to her?

There was a stirring sensation deep within Megan’s womb. While ever aware of the presence of gift Leah had implanted inside of her core, Only now did Megan fully grasp the horror of her condition. It was not just in her. This creature was her. It was a part of her just as much as her arms and legs.

“I don’t want this,” Megan whimpered. “Get out of me.”

Suddenly, Megan felt a wave of energy run through her body, sending her to the floor. It was a mixture of agony and pleasure and something else. Something that spoke to her without words.

Submit, it told her.

“No! No,” Megan cried, curling into a fetal position from the overwhelming sensation.

An image appeared in Megan’s head. It was Brad as she had last seen him alive. Clearly from Megan’s perspective, the pair were bucking and humping like animals. With the image, Megan could feel the sensations of that fateful moment.

Deep within the girl, tendrils covered in green slime slithered down her love canal. Three of them emerged, one nearly the width of a snake, the other two smaller and more worn-like. The smaller ones immediately began to caress and tweak Megan’s swollen clit while the larger one listened in and out of her pussy.

A wave of unbelievable pleasure washed over Megan as she watched herself drain Brad away. She watched the boy’s skin grow pale and his eyes become sunken.

“This is wrong. It’s bad,” Megan cried, desperately trying to hold onto her old self, the one that knew the difference between right and wrong.

A jolt of electric pain surged up Megan’s spine, causing her to spasm on the cold floor. Then, right on the heels of the agony came more Earth shattering pleasure.

With a sudden rush, Megan came to Brad’s dying grimace.

“No, I can’t. This is wrong,” Megan whimpered futilely.

She saw more boys now. First Brad’s roommate, who she drained even more thoroughly than Brad. Then other faces: boys she had seen or fantasized about. Boys to come.

Each one Megan drained in her vision, siphoning their life energy through her mutant snatch. It all felt so natural.

A voice inside cajoled her, telling her it was alright. In fact, it was natural and good to drain boy after boy. After all, she was a changing girl. A growing girl.

Megan felt a tingle in her dramatically enhanced chest as if to punctuate the point.

“No-it’s, it’s, wrong, oh god but so good,” Megan babbled.

The young woman writhed on the floor as something overwhelmed her last vestiges of humanity, training her to kill and to spread.

6

Jessie looked around the empty gym and the hallway past the line of glass windows on the wall behind her. Not a soul.

She reached out and tested the steel door knob of the closet. At first, she felt a little bit of resistance, causing her heart to sink. Then, after a little more pressure, the handle gave and she opened the closet door to reveal a dark, crowded space with a tall ceiling that stretched nearly twenty feet.

Jessie flipped a light switch, revealing heaps of sports equipment, racks of volleyballs and stands of what looked like hockey pads. The sight overwhelmed her.

Focusing further back into the closet, Jessie saw the glint of metal. There was a bucket of what looked like fencing swords. Another bucket contained helmets with meshed steel fronts and cloth bibs. Then Jessie saw them.

On the back wall of the closet, she saw a series of different swords, some metal and some wood, hanging.

Jessie worked her way through the mess and finally made it within arms reach of the practice swords. The obvious choice that stood out to Jessie was a fancy metal blade with a fat rubber bumper duct-taped around what she assumed was a sharpened tip. If it was indeed sharp, this was something she could use to kill.

Then the rational part of Jessie’s brain kicked in. What better way to keep a low profile than to carry an antique rapier and go around stabbing girls through the heart. Perfect!

Jessie looked at the other options and found what she could only assume was a kendo practice sword. It had a circular hilt and a paneled blade that gave when she squeezed it. Not lethal by any stretch, but probably good for quite a few hard hits.

Jessie lifted the kendo sword off the rack and felt the grip, giving a few half hearted swings to test. This would do just fine, if she could get the damn thing out of the gym without attention.

At that moment, Jessie heard footsteps behind her. She whirled around to see a stern, athletic looking girl with faded blue hair staring back at her.

Jessie froze, the dual paranoias of fear of worm girls and fear of getting caught stealing from a club sticking her in her place.

“Are you authorized to be in here?” The girl at the doorway said, her eyes fixed on the weapon in Jessie’s hands.

“Um yes, I’m here for the swords club-I mean fencing!”

“Fencing meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in the evening and it’s a Tuesday,” the girl said, stepping closer.

“Oh yes, this is for a special training session. You see, I’m new and just getting into, um, Kendo,” Jessie said, hoping desperately that she had the right kind of sword fighting.

“I’ve never seen you with the club,” the girl said, eyes narrowing.

“I’m new,” Jessie said, instinctively moving back towards the wall.

Her heart beat violently in her chest as her mind raced for an answer. Jessie thought back to breakfast and the conversation she had overheard. What had the guy’s name been? Billy? Bryan? Not quite, but she was getting closer.

“Bryce!” Jessie called out, the name crystallizing in her brain. “Bryan sent me in to get some equipment. We have Lit and History one together and he really talked up the club and said he would help me get up to speed. I know I probably shouldn’t have come alone, but he told me the closet was unlocked and he was busy.”

To Jessie’s shock, the girl eased up a bit. She stepped back a few paces towards the door before saying:

“Alright, that makes sense, I guess. Next time, come to the front desk first.”

“Will do,” Jessie said. “I’m so sorry.”

“No worries,” the girl said in a disinterested monotone.

Jessie followed the girl out of the closet and scampered out of the gym. Her heart was beating out of her chest, but she felt just a little bit safer with the kendo sword grilled between her fingers.

7

Erin set her backpack down and brushed sweat off her brow. She felt like a big bundle of nerves with the deadline for the RA application looming.

“You look like you’re having a time,” said Lily Myer, Erin’s roommate.

She was a small, rail-thin girl with sharp features and thick glasses that made her dark gray eyes seem much too big. A little sticking was the most fitting description Erin could come up with.