Title: Claim Day
Chapter 21: Looking for a Map
Gabriel
I bent Wendy over my desk, watching her brace herself against the polished wood with practiced ease. She’d already touched herself as instructed, her fingers glistening with evidence of her readiness. The sight should have filled me with desire alone, but instead, a toxic cocktail of emotions churned within me: arousal mingled with disgust, self-loathing tangled with grief.
“Spread your legs wider,” I commanded, my voice harsher than I intended. She complied immediately, adjusting her stance without comment or complaint. No playful retort, no arched eyebrow questioning my tone—just silent, efficient obedience. I unzipped my pants and positioned myself behind her, gripping her hips with unnecessary force.
As I thrust into her, I tried to lose myself in the physical sensation, the wet heat enveloping me, the familiar curves of her body, but my mind wouldn’t quiet. This wasn’t my Wendy. Not really. My Wendy would have reached back to touch my face, would have whispered my name, would have made some wry comment about christening my desk. This woman, this thing wearing my wife’s body, simply braced herself and accepted my intrusion with mechanical precision.
“Is this what you want?” I growled, driving into her harder, watching her body jolt forward with each thrust. “Is this pleasing Cedric enough for you?” The words tasted bitter on my tongue, but I couldn’t stop them.
“I guess?” She shrugged, her tone almost disinterested. “If it helps you, then it’s all that matters.” Here it was: the truth. No more bullshit between us.
I stared at the back of her head, at the familiar auburn waves tumbling down her back, and felt a fresh wave of hatred. Not for her, but for what had been done to her. For what had been done to all of them. She wasn’t human anymore, not in the ways that mattered. Humans made choices. Humans had agency. What occupied my wife’s body now was a concept, a fucked-up misogynistic ideal given flesh, a being whose entire existence revolved around pleasing one man. And it wasn’t even about Cedric specifically. It could have been anyone. The devotion she showed him, the devotion all claimed women showed to their owner, it was meaningless. Their entire existence was now meaningless. These women were just letting themselves fall into whatever life their owners had chosen for them. Like a ball dropped from the top of a building. A ball doesn’t choose the path it takes.
Her body responded to me, I could feel her getting wetter, could hear the slight catch in her breath when I changed angles, but her mind was elsewhere. Probably thinking about anything but the death of her autonomy, of our marriage. The thought made me thrust harder, punishing us both.
Suddenly, she turned her head, meeting my eyes over her shoulder. One eyebrow raised slightly, an expression so familiar it made my chest ache. For a moment, I could almost pretend she was back, that my Wendy had returned. But then I recognized the calculation in her gaze—she was assessing her performance, wondering if she was being of good use. It made me pause, buried deep inside her, as nausea churned in my gut.
I couldn’t bear it. “Don’t look at me,” I muttered, resuming my rhythm, staring at the curve of her spine instead of her eyes that weren’t quite right anymore.
The door to my office opened without warning. Alva stood frozen in the doorway, her eyes widening as she took in the scene before her. “Oh! I’m so sorry, Gabriel,” she said, her voice steady despite the circumstances. “I should have knocked.”
I stilled but didn’t pull away from Wendy, too far gone in my bitter arousal to feel proper shame. Wendy turned her head calmly, acknowledging Alva with a small nod, as if being caught bent over a desk was nothing unusual. The two women exchanged a look that sent a chill through me: casual, unshocked, a silent communication between two beings who shared a fundamental rewiring.
“Should I come back later?” Alva asked, adjusting her glasses with one hand. Then, with a helpful smile that retained all of her efficient, slightly stern personality: “Or would you like me to join you? I’m happy to help if you need me.” The offer was made with the same tone she might use to offer assistance with paperwork: professional, friendly, genuinely eager to be useful.
Wendy turned to look at me over her shoulder again, her expression neutral but open. She clearly had no objection either way, simply waiting for my decision.
For a moment, I was tempted. The thought of having both of them was undeniably arousing. But Wendy was my wife, even if she wasn’t truly present anymore. Alva was my… property, claimed out of desperate necessity. Neither of us chose to be in this situation, this... relationship. If I started indulging these impulses, treating her as the object The Source had turned her into, I didn’t trust myself not to lose whatever flimsy moral high ground I still clung to.
“No,” I said firmly, resuming my thrusts into Wendy. “Go back to work, Alva. Close the door.”
Alva nodded, unsurprised and unoffended. “Of course, Gabriel. Oh, and Ramona and Phoebe asked to see you when you have a moment.” She gave me a small smile before backing out and closing the door with a soft click.
Alone again with Wendy, I increased my pace, wanting to finish this twisted encounter. I gripped her hips hard enough to leave marks, driving into her with a punishing rhythm. She responded physically—a slight arch of her back, a soft moan when I hit the right spot—but the sounds felt performative, disconnected from the woman I knew.
“You’re my cum dumpster now,” I growled through clenched teeth. “You know that?” I expected no answer, no reaction. I simply needed to say it aloud, to acknowledge the ugly reality. “That’s all I have left of you...”
When I finally came, spilling inside her with a groan that was equal parts pleasure and despair, I felt no real satisfaction. Just a momentary physical release followed by a crushing wave of self-loathing.
Wendy straightened up as soon as I pulled away, reaching for the box of tissues I kept on my desk. She wiped herself efficiently, her movements practical and unhurried. “Do you need anything else from me?” she asked, her voice carrying the same timbre it always had, but devoid of her usual wit and warmth.
I zipped up my pants and straightened my shirt, unable to look at her directly. “No. You can go back to our studio. I need to see what Ramona and Phoebe want. I’ll be working with them tonight, so don’t wait for me.”
I left my office feeling unsteady, like the floor beneath me had subtly shifted while I wasn’t looking. My encounter with Wendy had left me hollow, a carved-out space where something vital used to be. The corridors of Echelon seemed longer than usual as I made my way toward the MRI room where Ramona and Phoebe would be waiting.
I focused on my breathing, trying to steady myself. I couldn’t afford to spiral into despair, not when everyone was counting on me to help coordinate our efforts. Not when the world outside was collapsing into chaos while we scrambled for a solution that might not even exist. The weight of responsibility pressed down on me, making each step feel like wading through mud.
Lost in thought, I nearly collided with someone coming around the corner. I looked up to find Lenore, her asymmetrical blonde bob with its distinctive purple streak immediately recognizable.
“Gabriel!” she exclaimed, her face lighting up with genuine warmth. “I was just heading to get some supplies. How are you holding up?” Her gray-blue eyes searched my face with friendly concern, her expression animated and so quintessentially Lenore that for a moment I forgot what had happened to her.
“I’m managing,” I replied, the deflection automatic. I couldn’t bring myself to engage with her apparent normalcy when nothing about our situation was normal.
Her expression softened. “I heard about Wendy. I’m so sorry.” The sympathy in her voice was genuine, but I knew with sickening certainty that she wasn’t sorry for the right reasons. She wasn’t sorry that my wife had been transformed into someone else, that our marriage had been effectively destroyed. No, she was sorry that I hadn’t been the lucky one to claim Wendy, that someone else had gotten there first. The thought made bile rise in my throat.
“How are you doing?” I asked, desperate to change the subject, to find some evidence that the real Lenore was still in there somewhere.
Her face brightened immediately. “Oh, the work is absolutely fascinating! We’re making real progress with the transmission patterns. We’ve managed to isolate what seems to be the language structure of the signal and we’re breaking it down into conceptual units.” She gestured enthusiastically with her hands, a habit she’d always had when discussing her research. “The matrix created by the virus is essentially a translation mechanism. It takes these incredibly simple signals and converts them into complex neurological instructions. Like a decoder, but for your brain! The elegance of it is actually quite remarkable,” she gushed, her eyes gleaming with excitement before she caught herself. “From a purely scientific perspective, of course,” she added quickly.
“That’s not what I meant,” I said quietly. “I meant how are you feeling? About all of this?”
“Oh.” She paused, her expression softening. “I’m fine, Gabriel, really. You don’t need to worry about me.” She touched my arm reassuringly, the gesture achingly normal. “I know this is all… complicated. But I’m still me. I’m still doing what I love: solving fascinating scientific puzzles.”
“And Elaine?” I asked, hoping the mention of her fiancée might trigger something, some recognition of the loss, some flicker of the deep love they had shared. “How is she doing?”
“Elaine’s doing brilliantly as team leader,” Lenore replied without hesitation. “You know how she is: methodical to a fault, organizing everything into these perfect systems. She’s so good at this!”
The fondness in her voice was real, but it wasn’t the passionate love of a fiancée. It was more like the appreciation one might have for a respected colleague.
“Do you two spend time together? Outside of work, I mean.” I pressed, searching for any sign that their connection remained.
Lenore’s expression shifted subtly, a flicker of understanding crossing her face as she realized what I was fishing for. “We don’t have much opportunity for that,” she said gently. “We’re usually with our own groups after hours. Dr. Smith is quite protective of his research team. She smiled reassuringly. “But once we’ve solved this problem and everyone is free again, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to catch up.”
Our own group... I didn’t think she had any qualms about referring to herself as a claimed woman, or Smith as her owner, master. She was avoiding using any of these terms out of consideration for me. The easy acceptance of their separation, the complete lack of distress at being kept from the woman she had planned to marry… It was all profoundly disturbing. Yet her demeanor was so natural, so Lenore-like, that I could almost convince myself nothing was wrong if I didn’t listen to her words.
“I should get going,” Lenore said, glancing at her tablet to check the time. “I’m supposed to pick up some equipment for Dr. Smith before joining the others at the cafeteria for lunch.”
“Of course,” I said, stepping aside to let her pass. “Don’t let me keep you.”
She gave me another bright smile and continued down the hallway, her steps light and purposeful. I watched her go, feeling a fresh wave of determination mixed with dread.
I knocked on the heavy door of the MRI room, waiting for the muffled “Come in” before pushing it open. As I closed the door behind me, sealing us in, Ramona and Phoebe moved from their huddle in the corner to their respective workstations.
“Gabriel,” Ramona acknowledged, her piercing blue eyes meeting mine briefly before returning to her tablet. Her silver-streaked bob was slightly disheveled, suggesting she’d been running her hands through it in frustration.
“We’ve got updates,” Phoebe added, perching on the edge of her chair, her energy seemingly undiminished despite the fatigue evident in her face.
“I ran into Lenore in the hallway,” I said, setting my tablet on the central table and ignoring the usual stench of the room. “She mentioned her team is making good progress on decoding the signal structure.”
Phoebe nodded, a brief flash of excitement crossing her face. “That’s the good news. Team Two has managed to break the signal down into conceptual units. Essentially, they’re figuring out the ‘language’ The Source is using to communicate with the neural matrix.”
“And the bad news?” I asked, recognizing the setup.
Ramona sighed, setting down her tablet. “We’re going to hit a wall soon if we can’t observe how a woman’s brain actually reacts to the programming—specifically, how it translates into neural impulses. We need to see the process in action.”
“Can’t we just scan one of the claimed women?” I asked, leaning against the table. “Put her in an MRI while her… owner… gives her commands? That should trigger the programming, shouldn’t it?”
“We tried that,” Phoebe said, frustration evident in her voice. “Duncan got the old MRI upstairs operational again, and we ran scans on Dr. Thorne while Duncan gave her various commands. We can see unusual activity patterns, but they’re too subtle, too integrated with normal brain function to isolate effectively.” She pulled up a series of brain scans on the main display. “See these areas? There’s definitely something happening, but it’s not distinct enough to map to specific elements of the programming.”
Ramona stepped forward, her movements precise despite her exhaustion. “What we need is to observe the claiming process itself. This event is likely to produce a much more intense neural response, something we could clearly map against the transmission pattern. That would help us identify which parts of the signal drive the claiming process specifically.”
I stared at her, processing what she was suggesting. “Are you saying we need to find an unclaimed woman and… claim her? While scanning her brain?” The words felt dirty in my mouth.
“That would be ideal,” Ramona confirmed, her clinical tone at odds with the horror of what she was proposing. “Unless one of us is willing to subject herself to the programming and then be claimed while in the MRI.”
“We’re not planning on doing that,” she added quickly, seeing my expression. “Not yet, anyway. The risk is too great. We need to stay in control of our teams. Real control...” She glanced at Phoebe, who shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
“It might come to that eventually,” Phoebe murmured, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “If we can’t find another solution.” The thought clearly disturbed her, her fingers fidgeting with a pen, clicking it repeatedly.
“Where exactly am I supposed to find an unclaimed woman?” I asked, running a hand through my hair. “If there are any left, they’re in deep hiding by now. And for good reason.”
“We understand it’s complicated,” Ramona said, her tone softening slightly. “For now, we can continue with our current approach. But having this data would significantly accelerate our progress.”
“We just need you to keep an eye open for an opportunity,” she continued, and I noticed Phoebe flinch at the word “opportunity,” her discomfort with discussing the potential enslavement of another woman evident in her expression.
I looked between them, taking in their exhausted faces, the desperation in their eyes. We were all making compromises we never thought we’d make, crossing lines we never thought we’d cross. And for what? A chance, just a chance, that we might find a way to free the women who had already been claimed.
“I’ll keep an eye open,” I said reluctantly, the words tasting bitter.