Chapter 9

Imani

"They TOOK him!"

Karma storms into the dorm room.

Karma is shaken up. He has the cutest distraught face when he is upset. It wrinkles up and his big lips suck in tensing a little bit. There is something about Karma. The first time you look at the guy you think he's just a basic looking guy. Then you see his personality. You realize just how much he cares. You realize just how much of a good person he is. That doesn't happen a lot. Not around the Dread Fort. And all of a sudden he looks more and more attractive. All of a sudden you can't keep his eyes off of him. All of a sudden he is the most attractive man you've ever seen.

"Karma calm down, are you OK?" one of the boys named Joker asks.

I take a look at GQ. We have to be thinking the same thing. Whatever happened we want it to be kept between us. The last thing we needed was our business out there floating around the Dread Fort.

GQ walks over to Karma. He puts his hand on his shoulder. He holds him close. There is this connection that he still has with Karma that makes me immediately jealous. I watch how he is so good at comforting Karma.

"I got this," GQ states.

"You sure?" Joker asks.

A couple of the other guys seemed concerned as well. Karma was very dramatic when he ran in here. The last thing I wanted was to make anyone uncomfortable.

"How about you guys mind your fucking business," I state, "GQ take him in the room."

The guys may not like GQ and Sire anymore but they still respected me. I watch as they all turn around and try not to make a big deal out of this.

We hustled Karma into GQ's room though. We lock the door and turn on the music in case one of those nosy fuckers got any ideas. I look over at Karma. He's still in GQ's arms. It's fucking killing me to see him like that. I want to be the one comforting Karma but I know I can't. I'm the one that is hard to touch. I'm the one who is cold. It's hard for me to let anyone near me.

"What's wrong?" GQ is asking.

He's grasping at Karma, attempting to calm him down by squinting his already sharp slanted eyes at him and giving his this piercing longing stare. I've seen GQ do this before when he was trying to sweep people off their feet. Usually, it worked.

"They took Sire to the Red Room," Karma states.

He's shocked. He's scared.

The truth is none of us knew what the Red Room even was.

"Dammit," GQ states shaking his head, "I knew I should have gone. I knew this wasn't a good idea. It's almost like they are watching us. They know our every move."

"Even now? You think?" Karma asks.

He looks around. I can see a shiver run up his spine at that moment. He looks shaken. He looks scared. He must be thinking the same thing GQ and I are starting to think. This experiment was fishy. Something weird was going on and now one of my best friends was taken just like others who had disappeared.

It is clear that things aren't going to go well in this situation.

I sit on the bed. I don't put my hand on Karma even though I want to. I look over at him and I just start shaking.

"It'll be OK," I state.

He turns to me. I don't think he expects me to give these comforting words. Hell, I don't expect myself to be comforting anyone. GQ looks at me like I'm a whole new person especially when I slowly reach my hand over. It's awkward but I need to do this. I put my hand on Karma's thigh a little bit. I give it a long hard squeeze.

"How do you know that?" Karma asks, "I think this is all my fault man. If I didn't force you guys to go to the cops this never would have happened. I'm such a fucking dick."

"You're not a dick," GQ tells him, "You were showing us that we need to be men. You were showing us that we need to take responsibility for our actions. We appreciate that. Right, Imani?"

He looks over at me. The truth is I am struggling. I want to be happy at the fact that Sire never got the chance to snitch on us, but at the same time, I'm scared about the fact that he was taken away. I care about Sire. Regardless of the bullshit, we been through and how I seem, I'm not that cold. Sire was a good friend and the last thing I wanted was for him to go the route of Jamal Comey.

"Right. We'll get him out," I promise Karma.

GQ is giving me a long look.

"Maybe we should just leave this alone," Karma is explaining, "Maybe they are trying to teach us a lesson. Maybe we should just go to class. We should just act like all of this is nothing."

He's scared. He has every reason to be. The idea that Jamal Comey was dead was still something that I hadn't come to terms with. He was one of my best friends back in the day. He was someone I really cared for. I wasn't going to lose any more friends to the Dread Fort. There was no way in hell I was going to let Sire stay locked up in the Red Room. God knows what they were doing to him.

GQ seems to be on the fence, "Maybe we can just play low key right now. Don't draw too much attention to us, but we keep our eyes open. Something is up with the faculty at the Dread Fort. We need to figure out what it is."

Karma nods, "I like that idea. See GQ. You're smarter than you want everyone to seem."

I'm standing there. I might as well be fucking wallpaper.

Karma smiles at GQ. GQ smiles back.

"I can stay here if you don't feel safe," GQ states.

I want to say something. Anything. I can't look like some desperate idiot in front of Karma though.

"I'll be fine," Karma luckily tells him, shutting down GQ.

I swear I smile at that moment. GQ and I walk out of the room and we exchange a silent stare. There is this understanding. I've known GQ long enough to know what he's thinking. He wants to be there for Karma. He wants to make sure that Karma feels safe and the only way Karma is going to feel safe is if we find out what's going on at the Dread Fort.

I had one goal at that moment. That was to impress Karma.

There was no more running away. Not anymore.

"He's scared," I tell GQ.

There was something about Karma. Maybe it's the innocence. I know he wasn't some little kid but I feel like I have to protect him. I feel like I have to make up for all the shady shit that I've done in the past. Maybe then he'll really look at me as someone who he could see dating. Maybe then I won't be this cold, untouchable asshole in his eyes.

"What are we going to do about it?" GQ asks.

"We have to get Sire out of the Red Room."

"We should wait..."

It's the same thing he said to Karma.

"You said we should keep our eyes open. I have a plan. It's going to require...a lot..."

GQ thinks about it. I can see the look of concern in his eyes. He didn't want to go against the faculty but at the same time I think he didn't want to leave Sire

~

"Hello."

It's after class and I'm in the main hall. From here I can see the red door to the Red Room. The door is there looking perfectly still. There is only one secretary there at that moment.

"Hello," I tell her.

"Hi..." she responds, "How can I help you?"

She has that coldness to her. She had that detachment from life that I've noticed in the other faculty members at the Dread Fort.

"Is Dr. Pine available?"

"He's at lunch. How can I help you?"

"I really needed to talk to him."

"He's busy."

He always is. It's funny how that works, isn't it? I sigh a little bit and cross my arms, "It's amazing because there is a student outside jerking off in front of everyone. I would think that is something he would have been interested in."

Her eyes bulge almost out her sockets.

"One moment."

I watch as she gets up immediately and runs to the door with a notepad in hand. I run to the window and sure enough in the courtyard I see GQ. He's standing there with a black and mild in one hand and his dick in the other. A huge crowd has surrounded him including teachers who are taking notes as though this was the president of the United States.

I didn't know much about the faculty of the Dread Fort but I did know one thing. They were very interested in our sexual lives. The idea of GQ's huge cock being beaten off in the middle of the courtyard was enough to send them into a wild frenzy.

As soon as they are gone I run towards the hallway.

I go to the Red Room.

I'm desperately checking the door and hearing all these groaning sounds. What the fuck was that?

"Sire? Sire is that you?"

There is nothing. No words. The muffled sound gets fainter and fainter. It's almost as though something is sounding off at that moment. I look around. I notice something else that might be of interest at that moment. It's Dr. Pine's room. It's open! He's completely open.

I don't hesitate to go in there and start looking around. It's plain. Mostly nothing is open. I don't know what I'm looking for when I start searching but I keep with it. I open the nearest drawers and realize that they are locked.

There's no way that is going to stop me. I find myself breaking the lock with my foot as hard as I can and taking papers out of the desk.

I look down on the papers. They are notes. Pages and pages of notes, but they aren't in English. Actually, I don't recognize the language. It's something...

It's something...different.

"Sir what should we do with him," I hear a voice.

I jump at that moment into the closet before they see me coming. I stay completely still. I even stop breathing for a few seconds placing my hands over my mouth. I see two people walk into the room. One is a regular faculty member. The other is Pine. They look like they are concerned about something when I peer through the small crack in the door.

"Did he just pull his penis out? That is good data," Mr. Pine states.

They were talking about GQ and his distraction. Usually, they didn't get involved with anything. I wonder what is causing this sudden interest.

"He started saying how we killed Jamal Comey."

"The primitives are getting cynical. Has the subject been detained?" Pine asks.

Primitives?

"Yes," the faculty member responds, "How should we proceed?"

"Send him to the Red Room with the other. Nothing can interrupt our experiment. We are so close to finding it. We are so close to finding it..."

My heart skips a beat. I'm not sure what they are talking about but one thing is very clear. They have GQ! They took him to the red room with Sire.

"What about the other two problems? Imani and Karma?"

"Find them. They are too close to interrupting us. We should send those subjects to the Red Room as well."

"Won't others become suspicious if so many go missing."

"It's a chance we're going to have to take. We can't risk them interrupting us finding it."

He keeps putting emphasis on it. I'm not sure what It is but it seems to be something that they are really interested in.

"Will it all be worth it in the end?"

"It has to be. It just has to be."

"The Miriam Initiative won't be able to survive another disappointment Pine."

"I won't let you all down. I'll find it."

There are footsteps at that moment. It seems like they are going back to the Red Door. I watch how they open the door. They press on it slightly. A series of hand print movements and all of a sudden the door opens just like that.

~

I find him in the gym. I've spent all day looking for Karma. He's in the showers actually when I find him. Water is dripping from his body. I can't help but watch the curves in his ass. My dick hardens as I look at him. My heart is racing. I almost forget why I am down here when I see the soap suds forming around his body. I watch the soap suds dripping down his fat beautiful asshole. They fall down from between his legs. He rinses off putting his whole head underneath the water and opening his mouth slightly, letting the water form bubbles at the sides of his lips.

I've never been so turned on. Maybe that's why I find myself walking forward and slipping a little. I bust my ass in the beginnings of the public shower and all of a sudden he notices.

"Are you OK?"

"Better now,"I respond.

He's butt naked on top of me making sure that I'm ok. I can't help but look up at Karma. Before I notice, my dick hardens. He notices a little bit as well. I find myself licking my lips. I lean up and try to kiss Karma but he shyly moves away a little bit.

"Were you spying on me?" he asks.

"Not in the beginning. I have to admit I like what I see..."

"Imani, cmon..."

"OK, OK. I came because I have information. The faculty. They are looking for something."

"What?"

"They just keep calling whatever they are looking for `IT'."

"What's IT?"

"I'm not sure. The only thing they stated was that they were known at the Miriam Initiative."

Karma gets quiet. Real quiet.

"Have you heard of them?" I ask.

He shakes his head. For some reason, he seems to be affected by the named but he denies ever hearing about it.

"What do they want?"

"They took GQ..."

He nods at that moment.

He's still naked even though he's working on that. He walks over to the towel and wraps it around his waist.

"You were there?"

I don't know why I feel a tingle of jealousy that the guy who I wanted to mine was there to see GQ jerk off that massive snake he called a dick.

"For the whole thing. GQ got pissed off by them taking notes and he just started going in on them in front of the whole school. I figured this had something to do with you. I thought we were going to play it cool Imani," Karma responds, "We were supposed to be smart about this. Now GQ is gone."

Karma looks worried again. It's clear that he's concerned. GQ and Sire are now gone.

"We're next."

It's clear. We were asking too many questions. We were doing too much. We were interrupting their experiment and they were going to isolate us to the red room. The same room that Jamal Comey came out of.

Karma doesn't seem surprised when I tell him this. He has wrapped his towel around his waist.

"What are we going to do?"

"We're going to break in. Tonight."

~

Karma can feel the heat in the middle of the night when Imani comes to get him. Imani is handsome. He's always known he is and he has a level of confidence that rivals only GQ's confidence. When he comes into the room he looking cool, calm and collected as though nothing could move him. It makes Karma feel a little bit better with the situation they are in.

"I'm a little nervous."

"Don't worry...we'll get in there."

Karma nods.

"That's not what I'm worried about," Karma explains, "I've heard the name of the Miriam Initiative before."

Imani looks over at him confused. A sense of distrust surrounds them.

They are on their way to the Red Room and the last thing they want to do is lose trust in one another.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to think I had anything to do with this."

There is a pause. Imani stops walking. He's rethinking going with Karma. That is clear.

"Why the fuck would you not share something like this with me?"

Imani is pissed. His face gets red as he looks at Karma.

"It happened so long ago."

"What happened?"

"I was taken away from my family. I remember the man. I remember it like it was yesterday. He just came to my house and he took me away. I remember the words he said. He said that me and my brother couldn't be in the same house. He said that would ruin the experiment. I remember the words on his jacket. M.I in bold black and white stripes across the letters. I remember asking him what it meant. I was so scared and the only way to get me to calm down was if he answered. So he answered. He said he was from the Miriam Initiative."

Imani stops.

"M.I.?" Imani states.

"Yeah with black and white stripes."

"Holy shit."

"What?"

Something has clicked with him. Something that didn't click with Imani before.

"When I was young, my neighbor used to touch me. Ever since then I didn't want to be touched," Imani explains, "I remember telling my mother. She was going to go to the cops and tell them she molested me but when she did she was stopped. There was this guy who came instead. My mother was surprised because he didn't look like a cop. She told him what my uncle had been doing to me. He said that she shouldn't tell anyone else. He said something about interruptions. My mother wasn't confused but I was. As soon as she left my mother told me we were leaving town. She just had to handle a few things first. That was the day my mother died in a car accident."

The two boys look at each other.

Nothing made sense but one thing was clear. The experiment didn't start when they arrived at the Dread Fort.

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