“Good.” Hilary got to her feet, signaling the meeting was coming to an end, and I copied her while she resumed talking. “I will continue to get updates on your health and reproductive cycle via your wristband. The twenty-four-hour block has been suspended now that you’re here, which means that when you are fertile you are to go straight to the clinic on the first floor. I willmeet you there to ensure you’re cooperating and that you have the sufficient support.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled because I didn’t know what else to say.
Hilary gave me a forced smile. “We’re all in this together, Miss Murphy. Don’t forget that.”
I swallowed my scowl as I tightened my grip on the schedule she’d given me, crinkling the paper. Hilary noticed and lifted her brows knowingly but didn’t comment. Probably she would add the reaction to my long list of transgressions after I left.
My minder and I didn’t trade goodbyes before I slipped into the hall, and the second the door was shut, the click of the deadbolt sounded. Apparently, Hilary was as thrilled for me to be on my way as I was to be out of her company.
The meeting had been short, less than fifteen minutes, and was pretty much what I’d expected. The information had been as vague as I’d imagined it would be, and Hilary just as unpleasant and displeased with me as usual, and while I hadn’t anticipated a schedule quite like the one I now held, it wasn’t much of a surprise to have it. Meals and counseling sessions were blocked out, as was my work time, and there were also medical appointments and group sessions and private counseling. All of it started at eight in the morning and ended at eleven o’clock when we were supposed to return to our rooms. That we had a curfew was no surprise since I’d expected it, although I was a little shocked it was so late.
Dropping the hand holding the schedule to my side, I blew out an irritated breath. I never walked away from a meeting with Hilary feeling particularly good, but after this one, I was more annoyed than ever.
Thinking about the list of possible consequences if I didn’t cooperate had me on edge. On the surface, the things Hilary had listed sounded innocent enough, although totally insulting. We weren’t children, and we didn’t need to be grounded or sent to bed without dessert. It was laughable. Until I gave it a little more thought. How long could they confine us to our rooms? I had no idea, but even one day locked in my room would be torturous since there was nothing to do. If there had been a television at one time, it had been removed, and without WIFI or cell service,our phones were useless. Since we’d only been allowed to bring one suitcase, very few of us had any other form of entertainment either. I’d packed two books, but that was it.
Even worse was the idea that I could be sent to a whole other wing where I’d be cut off from the general population or, more terrifying, one of the prison hospitals. I shuddered at the thought. No, I could not let that happen. Even if I had to swallow every snarky remark and stifle every eye roll, I had to cooperate with the minders. And I had to be careful with Marc. We could be acquaintances, but that was it.
All of it would suck, there was no getting around that, but not as much as being sent away. This place was no palace, but I wasn’t stupid. It had to be a hundred times better than the alternative.
Thirty-Three
Over the next couple days, I got into a routine of sorts. My wristband chimed every morning at eight, alerting me to my temperature while I got ready for the day or was eating breakfast. Bette and I ate together, sometimes joined by Malika, but more often than not, it was just the two of us. Ivy was around but keeping to herself, and none of us had seen Ginger since our arrival. Her absence had me growing increasingly uneasy, especially when I thought about her harsh words to Hilary during our group sessions, about how she’d challenged the soldiers when they arrived at the Department of Fertility, and the possible consequences. Had she been sent to solitary or shipped to a prison hospital? I hoped not but wouldn’t put anything past the people in charge.
After breakfast, I did my required work. Malika had pulled lunch cleanup while Bette was exempt since she was so close to her due date. I wasn’t sure if she was lucky or not because there wasn’t much to do to kill time, and even though I didn’t love cleaning up, it at least gave me something to focus on for a couple hours a day.
I’d been irritated to discover that my supervisor was the very minder I’d pissed off on my first day here and did my best to keep my head down while I worked. Apparently, though, the woman hadn’t forgotten me and hated me even more than Hilary. MinderJane was her name, and she was a cow of a woman with a scowl that made her look like an angry pit bull and a tongue as sharp as a katana. And she was the pickiest bitch I’d ever encountered.
“You missed a spot,” she snapped as I vacuumed the dining room, pointing to what I was pretty sure was a piece of lint. “Let’s not leave work for the next shift.”
Determined to keep my cool, I gritted my teeth, ran the vacuum over the lint, then continued. Unsurprisingly, she followed, her eyes narrowed as she gleefully looked for anything else I might have missed. It didn’t escape my notice that I was the only one she was focused on.
Fortunately, my job wasn’t that bad. There were a dozen of us assigned to the shift, which made the workload light and helped us get through it pretty fast. We didn’t have to wash the dishes – there were machines for that – but we did have to load them and put the clean ones away, wipe down tables and the buffet, vacuum, sweep, and clean up any other messes left behind. Really, it was a nice distraction.
Among the dozen women in my group was the androgynous person I’d seen on the first day and a few times since, which gave me an opportunity to introduce myself.
“You’re Vic, right?” I said as we loaded dirty plates into the industrial dishwasher.
They nodded, their expression guarded.
“I recognize you from my first day here,” I explained. “I think we were on the same plane.”
Vic grunted. “I kind of stand out in this place.”
“Well, yeah, that’s true.” I shrugged, trying to let them know I wasn’t bothered by their presence. “I’m Ara, by the way.”
Vic hesitated when I stuck out my hand, but eventually took it. “Nice to meet you.”
“You, too.”
We worked side by side in silence for a bit while I tried to figure out what to say. I had a million questions for Vic but wasn’t sure where the line was. In group, we had to talk about how long we’d been in the program and where we were in the process,but fertile women typically avoided talking about stuff like that when it was just us. It wasn’t something we liked to dwell on since most of us weren’t here by choice, and you never knew how the whole thing was affecting a person emotionally. The last thing you wanted to do was pour salt into an open wound. But I was also curious about Vic’s role in the program because, stupidly, I’d never thought about a trans or non-binary person having to go through this.
“You can ask,” Vic said as they shoved the now full rack into the dishwasher.
My cheeks were on fire at being so transparent. “Ask?”
Vic rolled their eyes. “About this.” They waved to their masculine clothes. “And me being here.” Another gesture, this one to the room.
“Oh. I mean, I wasn’t going to. Of course, I was curious, but I don’t want to overstep.”
