Cytomania

Rebecca Weinstein, a psychology professor, lay gagged and bound to a bed in what looked like some kind of military bunker surrounded by the people in identical white oval masks and blue uniforms who had earlier abducted her from her apartment.

Her head was still hazy from the injection they had given her but she thought she saw, through the fog, hanging on the walls of the bunker red flags with a black symbol on them that resembled a brain cell.
One of her captors removed the gag from her mouth.
"Why are you doing this?", she asked, "I don't have a lot of money. I'm not an important person".
"Well you're important to us, professor", said the man who had ungagged her.
"Why?", she asked.
"Because you wrote a book on the psychological condition which you called Cytomania", said the man, "A condition characterized by the delusion that one is part of a secret organization with the purpose of taking over the world. Like an inverted paranoiac, you said, the cytomaniac does not believe that 'They' are out to get him but that he is one of 'Them'".
"But why should that make you want to kidnap me?", asked Dr Weinstein.
"Well what do you think happens when people with Cytomania meet each other? Then their delusion becomes a reality. People who all, individually, believe they are part of a secret organization for world domination, joining together, become a secret organization for world domination", said the man.
"You mean you're all cytomaniacs?", asked Weinstein, flabbergasted, "Well  then you're just people engaged in a mass delusion".
"We thought you would say that", said another of the masked men, "But what you call a mass delusion, we call a common cause".
"But what cause?", said Weinstein, "You only believe what you believe because you have an imbalance of chemicals in your brain. The only thing you're serving is a mental disorder".
"One persons disorder is another persons blessing", said a third masked man, "You say in your book that Cytomania is hereditary, that means the gene for it can be preserved and spread".
"Those who have seen and heard and touched the great hallucinations know that they are chosen", said another masked man, "We will breed an army of cytomaniacs and they will conquer the world".
"You're all insane", said Weinstein.
"One mans madness is another mans reason, professor", said yet another masked man, "You've been a white coated priestess of the false religion of psychology. Your cabal is one of the most dangerous threats to the human race; a threat that, when we achieve power, we intend to erradicate".
"Alright", said Weinstein, trying to engage with them calmly,  "I understand. You want to take over the world and spread your genetic mental disorder to do it but what do you want with me?".
"You're the worlds only expert on Cytomania, Miss Weinstein", said another masked man, "And as such you pose a threat to us. At first we discussed killing you but then one of my fellow sufferers had a better idea".
She felt a pair of hands reaching up under her skirt and fingers claw hold of the waistband of her panties.
"Wait", she shouted, "What are you doing? Stop it!".
"Your children will understand, professor", said the man pulling off her underwear, "They will have the mania too and it will explain to them why this was necessary".
"But what you're doing is horrific", said Weinstein.
She saw some of the other men start to undo the belts holding up their trousers.
"Call it an act of terrorism", one of them said, sliding his trousers down to his ankles.
Rebecca started to scream and felt the sharp prick of a hypodermic syringe.
Then she woke up.
The door of her room opened and a nurse came in , turning on the light.
"What happened?", he asked, "Why were you screaming".
"The cytomaniacs", said Rebecca, lying in a hospital bed.
The nurse groaned with annoyance as if she had heard it all before.
"You were having a nightmare", said the nurse, "The doctor told you, there's no psychiatric condition called Cytomania. You only imagined it".
"Why would I imagine it?", asked Rebecca.
"Because you're a paranoid schizophrenic", said the nurse.
"You mean none of it was real?", asked Rebecca finding it hard to believe.
"Yes", said the Nurse, "But don't worry. Just keep taking your Risperidone tablets and things will get better, trust me".
But then the Nurse went back out of the room and she heard him talking to another man in the coridoor though she couldn't see his face.
"Do you think she believes our story", said the man.
"No", said the Nurse, "I think she's starting to suspect".