Contract 3.B

Due to the nature of the characters in this chapter, there are several slurs that may offend.

~~~

Christine sighed as she walked out of the movie theater into the crisp night air. Beside her, her two companions made various noises of relief as the cool wind smacked their faces. Even months later, they still hadn't fixed the air conditioning in that place.

“That movie fucking sucked.” Trevor complained, stretching his arms up high.

“Well what'd you expect from a movie with a gook as the main love interest?” Hailey shot back, moving to the teen’s side, “I don't know why you wanted to watch that movie anyway.”

“There was literally nothing else to watch.” Trevor defended, “I'm not watching some kiddy shit or some stupid chink movie!”

Christine just sighed, taking her usual place behind them as they began to make their way back home. She didn't bother saying anything in response to their words, she knew there would be no point.

Hailey and Trevor were two people that Christine had known for bordering on four years now. They had been introduced to her by Justin when she had joined the Empire and had been her ‘friends' ever since.

Christine didn't like either of them honestly, hadn't for years, but she put up with them because they had been the only thing she knew throughout her high school life. After what happened with… Valerie.

Christine felt whatever happy energy that was left in her body fade away at the thought of her friend. Her friend who was an entire city away and the last thing she had given Christine was an apparent rejection…

Christine’s feelings for Valerie weren't new; even before high school, she had a crush on the other girl. She had been Christine’s closest friend for as long as she could remember and it only made sense that her feelings of deep admiration would deepen just that extra bit and become infatuation.

She had even been thinking about confessing before her parents decided to ruin her life by making her join the Empire. It had been sprung on her with no warning one day when she had come home from school and she had had exactly zero say in the matter.

After that, everything had gone downhill for her. She had lost her best friend and crush, had been forced to spend time with people she would soon grow to loathe, and even her grades had suffered for it. Her life for the next several years had been nothing but misery, wishing more than anything that things could go back to the way they had been before.

Christine had been over the moon when they had reconciled with each other, though she wished more than anything that it hadn't happened like it had. Finally, after years, Valerie was willing to exchange more than two or three words with her, and though it took a while for them to get back to where they had been before, they had gotten there. She had her best friend back.

And then she just had to go and ruin it. She should have just been satisfied with what they had managed to rebuild out of their broken friendship instead of trying for even more. Should never have kissed her and let her feelings slip in the process.

Her kind wandered back to the text she had received earlier that week. Valerie had tried to call her but Christine simply hadn't been up for talking so soon after what had happened. The other girl was determined though, and had sent her a message instead.

Hey Chris, I made it to Boston in one piece. I’ll call you tonight and we can talk about everything.

Despite having received it several days ago, Christine still hadn't responded to the text. She hadn't answered the call that came later that night just as promised either, simply telling herself that she wasn't ready, that she'd respond later but later never came. Any time she opened her messages to respond, she simply froze until she closed the app again.

She wasn't sure she would be able to handle to rejection that was no doubt waiting for her on the other end of that line. Valerie was her only lifeline in her life at the moment, and she wanted to hold onto the fantasy that they could become more for just a little longer.

Christine was brought out of her thoughts by Trevor putting a hand in front of her, stopping her from walking. She looked at him, not in the mood for his jokes, “What is it? I want to get home.”

“Look at what we’ve got up ahead.” He said, pointing forward down the street. Christine followed his finger, only to frown in worry at what she saw.

It was a black woman, clearly nervous to be out so late by herself as she kept her hands shoved in her pockets and her head down as she walked. She had long dreads that hung down in front of her face, and as she went to move them out of the way she caught sight of Christine and her group.

Christine didn't think she had ever seen the color in someone's face drain so face. The woman's eyes widened and her face twisted in horror as she noticed them and Christine felt her heart sink as the woman did an abrupt about face and practically ran in the opposite direction.

Christine watched her go, guy churning at the fact that she had warranted that kind of reaction by the woman. She understood of course, this was close to Empire territory and she and the people with her certainly looked the part.

It still made her feel like shit.

Her friend's didn't share her disquiet in the slightest and were instead seemingly satisfied by the woman's fear of them.

As if to prove her point, Trevor spat on the ground, staring after the woman, “Stupid nigger knows her place at least. Not even good enough to walk on the same side of the street as us. Much less anywhere nearby.”

Hailey nodded in agreement while Christine stayed silent, “Yeah, she might be smarter than the rest of those pavement apes, but she should know better than to even be in this part of town. Her kind should stick to the slums where they belong.”

Christine's fists clenched at her sides, knowing exactly what was coming next.

Trevor's face twisted into a sick grin as he stared in the direction that the poor woman had fun off in, “Think we should teach her a lesson then? There's no way she got that far, probably a block away at most. We could find her pretty easily I think.”

Hailey nodded, practically batting her eyelashes at the teen at his sick proclamation, “You read my mind.”

Trevor nodded before turning to her, “Whaddya say Christine? Wanna go nigger hunting?”

Christine could feel her gorge rising at just the thought of partaking in such a horrific activity. She knew she wouldn't be able to stop Trevor from doing what he wanted, but she was in no way going to even consider actually joining them.

“Actually, I can’t stay any longer. My parents said they want me home before ten and it's nearly eight fifty. The walk home will take a while.” Christine lied, looking down at the black surface of her powered off phone.

Trevor scoffed and Hailey clicked her teeth, “Come on dude, we both know you don't give a shit what your parents think.”

Before Christine could respond, Trevor leaned in, slinging an arm around her.

“Look,” He said as she looked at his arm in disgust, “I know what this is about, and I sort of get it. I was like you once you know, too nervous to take that big step and commit myself to something so good, so righteous.”

He leaned in close and she scrunched her face at the smell of stale popcorn on his breath, “But let me tell you. Once you take that first step, it's incredible. Never in my life have I ever felt so right than before that moment. It was as if I had been under water all my life and took my first gulp of air.”

Hailey sighed from her place to the side, “It's incredible, Christine.”

Christine just barely kept the gross movie theater popcorn that she had eaten from making a reappearance all over her shirt. The idea of assaulting someone like that for no reason other than the color of her skin was… abhorrent. She would have no part in it.

“...I've got to go.” She shoved her hands in her pockets and marched off, not giving them any chance to say anything else as she began to make her way back in the direction of her home.

Completely missing the look her friends shared with each other in the process.

~~~

Christine sighed as she closed her front door behind her, taking off her jacket and putting it on the nearby rack, “I'm home!” She shouted into the house.

There was no reply from inside, which was odd because the car was outside.

“Mom? Dad?” She called, walking further inside, “Are you home?”

Nothing. Christine was starting to get a bit worried, slowing slightly as she walked through the dark halls of her home. Up ahead, she could spy the kitchen light on and she approached cautiously, one hand retrieving her phone from her pocket just in case, pulling up the keypad.

She crested the doorway to her kitchen, looking inside somewhat cautiously, only to freeze at who she saw sitting at her dining room table.

It was Justin. Her cousin was in full costume, complete with the spear leaning just nearby. His heavy armor glinted under the kitchen light, clinking as he shifted his weight, and his helmet stared at her from its place on the table.

Her parents were there too, standing off to the side like random onlookers. They didn't meet her eyes as she looked at them, and that just made her gut sink even further.

“What’s going on?” Christine stared at her cousin warily, “What are you doing here Justin?”

He slowly rose from his seated position, armor clanking against itself as he rose to his full height, “I’m here to take you to your new home. For the future at least.”

The pit inside of her gut turned into a chasm and Christine slowly stepped back away from the man, not liking this one bit, “I’m not going anywhere with you.” She said, voice full of a conviction that was sorely absent within herself. She pressed on her phone, using the speed dial function to prepare a call to 911.

She froze as her cousin slowly stepped around the table, face set into a deep frown as he stared her down, “I'm sorry it's come this far, but you've gotten out of hand. It's time to reign you in.”

Justin's visage glowed slightly before it shifted, seemingly doubling as if Christine’s vision had suddenly worsened. The double image grew worse and worse, and soon enough, it separated completely.

Christine stared at the faded blue double floating beside Justin. The aspect of his power stared at her placidly, not a single emotion on its face as it hovered above the ground.

On some unseen signal, the clone surged forward. It made its way forward and behind her with astounding quickness and she yelled in shock as her arms were grabbed in the clone’s grip, the seemingly intangible double clamping around her limbs solidly as it restrained her.

“H-Hey! What are you doing!? Let go of me!” She yelled, trying to jerk her arm free of its grip. As she did so, her phone slipped from her fingers, clattering to the floor in front of her.

Justin stepped forward, picking the device up, “Don't struggle Christine. It will only make it worse for you.” he said, voice soft as if he was trying to reassure her. As if what he was doing wasn't fucked up in so many impossible ways.

That just made Christine struggle harder. Her hair flew wildly as she jerked in the unnamed man's grip, bucking and kicking out behind her in an attempt to get free. It was impossible though, her cousin's power was just too strong and she could barely move an inch in its hold..

“Opportunity after opportunity we've given you. Dozens of chances to prove your loyalty this month alone.” Justin shook his head, “And you didn't take a single one of them.”

He sighed, “Tonight was the last straw. According to Trevor, you had the perfect opportunity to prove yourself, and you didn't take it.”

She snarled at Trevor’s name, that fucking rat. “Prove myself!? By what, assaulting a woman who was minding her own business!?” Christine spat.

“Woman?” Justin said incredulously, “That was not a woman! These are subhumans, Christine! They are the ones draining this country of its resources, and taking jobs from the working man! It is our duty to remind them where they belong! They do not have a place beside us and it’s about time you realize that.”

Christine's lip curled at the dogma spewing from her cousin's mouth. She looked over towards her parents, not at all surprised to see them nodding along with his little speech.

Of-fucking-course they would be fine with this. It was probably all their idea in the first place.

Christine's face burned with betrayal and her eyes stung with unshed tears as she began struggling even harder.

“Valerie’s going to fucking kill you when she noticed I'm gone! She's gonna tear your head from your goddamn shoulders!” Christine screamed hoarsely, bucking against the clone holding her to no avail.

Justin shook his head, “Brad really fucked up with that Becker girl. A perfect Aryan specimen, lost to us just because he doesn't know how to control his temper. And he wasn't even competent enough to kill her. Really, he's the reason this is even happening at all.”

He turned back to Christine, “Your friend may be strong for a new trigger, but from what our boys are able to tell she isn't even in the city. By the time she realizes anything is wrong it will be too late to do anything about it. You will be out of the country before the week is out.”

She paled at the words, realizing what was going on as she remembered the conversation she had overheard weeks prior. “You’re sending me away.” She accused.

“It’s the only thing we can do at this point. The Gesellschaft has already given us too many chances as it is.” He sighed, “I failed in my duty keeping you in line and now Kaiser is stepping in. You will be sent to the home country and reconditioned to our cause. Hopefully when all is said and done, your attitude towards the cause will be fixed.”

Her dad looked towards her cousin, speaking for the first time since she had entered, “And you are sure it will work? I don’t want to go through all this trouble and suspicion for something that won’t even be effective.”

Justin just nodded at his question, “It will, Dorothy and Geoff are proof of our benefactor’s effectiveness. When Christine returns, she will be a much better tool to point at the filth in this city.”

“And our position?” Her dad led. Justin grinned.

“You will be compensated, I assure you. Generous pay raises as well as higher positions in the company for your sacrifice. Kaiser will remember your contribution to the Empire.”

Christine couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They were selling her off like she was a fucking piece of meat!

She snarled, bucking against the clone holding her, practically burning with rage as she tried with every fiber of her being to free herself from the thing holding her still.

This obviously drew attention to her and her parents and Justin frowned as her struggles renewed. “Christine, honey just cooperate! Don't make it any worse for yourself, please!” Her mom begged her.

The woman may have sounded worried for her daughter but Christine knew better. She knew that the woman couldn't care less about her. The fact that she had done exactly nothing to stop what was going on was enough proof of that. She was clearly just in it for the rewards just as much as her husband was.

Christine couldn't give less of a shit about any of that, there was no way she was going to submit to whatever Justin and his boss had planned for her. He was right about one thing though, Valerie wasn’t going to be able to help her so far away, she would have to save herself.

“HELP!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, continuing to thrash against her captor, “HELP! RAPE!”

Christine had no idea if her neighbors would be able to hear her or even if they would care, but she clung to the distant hope that maybe someone would hear her pleas and send an anonymous tip to the police.

Her dad winced at her shouts, stepping forward slightly, “Christine don't do this! He's just trying to help you! Imagine how much better your life will be once you're one of them!”

The clone’s hand closed around her mouth, muffling her screams, but Christine noticed that in the process its grip loosened on her as well. If she tried hard enough, she might be able to get out.

No longer caring about her own safety, Christine’s thrashing grew to an insane pace. She bucked and kicked, growling all the while and eventually, she had bent herself practically in half, pressing her shoes to the clone's middle.

It was an odd sensation. Justin's clones were intangible to anything inorganic. That meant that whole her shoes passed through the clone, her feet did not.

Still, that just meant that she could kick it even harder.

“GET! OFF OF ME!” She screamed out, slamming her feet backwards into the clone's body with all of the force she could muster, thrusting herself forward at the same time.

It worked as the clone's grip on her failed, freeing her. It stumbled backwards, seeming remarkably like a real person as it fell to the ground while Christine landed on her feet.

Justin immediately began glowing once more, another clone flying forth to restrain her where the first had failed. It was just a bit too slow however, and Christine shot past it as she bolted towards the kitchen window. Maybe if she was fast enough, she would be able to fling herself through it.

She was moving too fast however, unable to bleed the momentum that she had gained from throwing off the clone. Soon her sprint turned into a stumble, and then she was tripping over her own feet, unable to do anything to regain her balance.

She yelped as she tripped, practically flinging herself forward with less and less control over herself. Straight towards the kitchen table. Christine threw her hands out wildly, trying to do anything to slow herself or at least catch the corner with anything but her face.

She failed, and she just managed to catch her mother screaming in panic moments before her face slammed into the corner and everything went black.