As Vi turned the lock in her apartment, the first thing she felt was relief. No Rafe. No confrontation. It stung a little that he wasn’t waiting for her here, begging for her to take him back. But in the case of Rafe, he probably figured she’d realize her mistake more quickly if she thought he’d really just leave her.

She would not be that girl though. She texted Marissa: “He’s not here. You can lower the guns of war.”

Vi looked around. Everything looked different somehow– drat, the TV? Why the little wanker–

And, he would think it was his. He’d been the one to talk her into spending her savings on it. So yes, maybe in some weird Rafe and his friends’ logic that meant it belonged to him.

Vi’s headache returned, and she covered her face with her hands. Yet another thing to deal with, because yes, she was getting her damn TV back. Obviously, the real reason he wasn’t here was because he knew she’d show up at his friends' place.

Now, she’d have to change the locks.

The coffee shop didn’t really pay that much. It was only that she didn’t spend much either that she’d been making it, week to week. That and having this shabby, rent-controlled apartment to live in.

First things first, she’d need to get another roommate. No guys this time - especially hot, out-of-work ones - that’s how she’d ended up with the slouch.

The knock at the door startled her out of her reverie. Vi figured it was probably Marissa until she heard the male voice call out, “Violet Dunn, we’re here to collect you. Please open the door.”

“What the–?” Ohhh. This was one of those Fridays. Oh man, this was actually one of those Fridays, and after only a couple years of being eligible, her number had been drawn.

“Well, F–.” She leaned over and pulled the door open. “Come in. I just need to– uh, grab my, uh…”

“Miss, you have three minutes,” the soldier said. He was in uniform and everything. She glanced past him, and two other soldiers were waiting silently in the hall.

“All right. All right.” She turned, leaving her door open, and walked to her bedroom, hauling out her old, ratty suitcase. She tossed in an armload of shirts, stripping them of hangers fast. Then tossed in her favorite jeans, shorts and sweatshirts. Next, she cleared out her underwear and socks, grabbed her favorite swimsuit and workout gear, another pair of sneakers, and her favorite pair of boots. —Wait! And her favorite strappy sandals.

Man, the minimalist wardrobe was really coming in handy today.

Now, just to close it. Okay, not happening. She grabbed a duffel bag out of her closet and scooped the top half into it.

Toothbrush!

She rushed to her bathroom and filled her travel kit with her favorite items. She topped off the duffel bag with her travel kit, hair straightener and curler.

She called back toward the soldier at the doorway: “Do they have converters there?”

She heard the heavy clump of soldier boots coming toward her. “Miss, it’s time to head out now.” He had come into the doorway of her bedroom and was eyeing her luggage.

“Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled under her breath. “Just close these for me, will you?” She glanced over with a smile.

“Miss…” He sighed. “Fine.” He put some muscle into it and soldiered it shut. Meow. A man in uniform was so cute.

Meanwhile, Vi took a moment to look around. Everything she loved was here. Her paintings. She’d have to text her friends so they could come rescue them if she was matched.

She took her favorite from the wall. It was a small 8x5 and the most vibrant of the group. It reminded her of fall in New England on that one trip her family had taken from North Carolina, up the coast, before their parents had died.

Man, she’d have to give her sister a heads up too. Ugh, maybe the army could handle that? Surely they would?

She lurched around and grabbed another bag from her closet. What was it with her and her bags? This one was a nice, large, over-the-shoulder one. Perfect for taking her art supplies when she needed to be mobile. Carefully, she slid her painting inside, hoping it would survive without protective wrapping.

“Miss, I wasn’t kidding. If I have to, I’ll–”

“Sure, I’m ready.” She walked back by way of her desk and scooped her pencils, paints and brushes, and drawing pads into the bag. “Chances are I’ll be back, right?”

“Yes, typically.”

“Okay, good then.”

They headed into the hallway where he handed one of her bags to a soldier waiting there. He lugged her large suitcase, not seeming to complain, although she knew it must weigh a ton.

Not her problem.

They weren’t the ones getting shipped off across the galaxy to screw some alien.

What would happen to her job? Would they have to keep the slot open for when she got back? Did people ever come back? Eh, probably not. They probably would not keep her dumb ass job waiting for her. She’d actually liked that job too. It gave her time to think and breathe. All gone to become some baby factory so their alien warlords could survive.

Well, at least this way she’d know if she had some DNA matched stud waiting for her somewhere in the universe. Please be a hotty, she thought to herself. Sure, she wanted to be able to chat with the guy, but please let him not be one of those ugly beefy aliens she’d seen once on TV…

Her TV!

Damn it. Rafe might get to keep her TV after all. F– That’s just great.

As they loaded her into the jeep, she asked the soldier, “Can I report–” She broke off. She couldn’t do it. Crap, let him keep the TV.

“Never mind. Do you know how far we are from the center?”

“About ten minutes, miss.”

There were two other girls in the jeep already and someone dressed like a nurse.

“Quite a party, I see,” Vi managed with a smile as she sat down. The other two kind of glanced at her with matching, blank expressions and looked away. The nurse nodded solemnly.

“Okay then.” She took her bag off her shoulder and rifled through it, making sure all the lids were tight and halfheartedly straightening the pencils and paintbrushes. She put her hands on her lap and leaned back, staring out the window.

New Jersey wasn’t the prettiest state, kind of drab and over-crowded, at least where she lived.

They didn’t exactly advertise the location of the center, but Vi figured they were probably headed into Trenton.

Only a couple minutes later, they pulled over, and the soldiers got out again, gone to collect another girl. This one was followed out of her building with a crying family in her wake. There were strong hugs all around.

Vi watched as the girl climbed up to sit in the seat across from Vi, tears rolling down her cheeks. The nurse whispered quietly to her, and the girl nodded her head.

Vi texted Marissa: “Number called today. Think you come my place later, grab paintings if I matched? Find place for them?”

“Course! U k?”

“Y. Probly nothing.”

“Y. Probs.”

“He stole my TV.”

“…” pause. “…”

Vi watched as Marissa tried to think of what to type. The message filled with dots, pauses, dots again.

“Rafe a rat. Hot rat. But not worth you. When u back we raid place. K?”

“Sounds good.” One thing was for sure: if she wasn’t matched, she’d draw something to use as a tattoo to commemorate never dating a waste-of-space like Rafe again.

She looked up and realized they were not headed to Trenton. This was some nondescript part of town. They pulled up to a plain building and went through one army checkpoint and then another one.

“Girls, we’re here,” the nurse said.

The two dazed girls looked over, still not seeing anything, while the weepy mouse dried her eyes.

“Are there usually so many tested at once?” Vi asked.

“Just depends on the population. We haven’t been getting a lot of matches the past few times, so they’re probably casting a wider net.”

The two girls next to Vi looked up at that, hope filling their eyes.

The aliens - Mahdfel - whatever they were called - weren’t getting much luck out of their latest world, apparently.

When they pulled up, the nurse helped the mouse out and the other two girls, but Vi waved her off. It was either going to happen, or it wouldn’t. Either way, her life was feeling too complicated at the moment.

She needed simple. That’s why she’d put a state between herself and her sister. Too much drama in that direction.

As they were herded into the room, she noticed there were already five other girls waiting.

Three nurses moved around the room collecting information. When one of them reached Vi, the nurse flipped the page and began jotting down Vi's information.

Vi had to pause when the nurse asked Vi where she wanted the money to go. The money. You know, that stuff they used to bribe your loved ones not to be upset they’d never see you again. A million dollars. That was the price of compliance.

Of course, the money wouldn’t actually help her or women like her - the ones whose lives were actually affected - unless she somehow came back. And it certainly wouldn’t help her if somehow the genetic testing missed something and having sex with the alien ended up killing her.

Apparently, a million dollars, plus the fact that at least most of Earth got to stay alive, was enough to keep the whole crazy draft in place.

Her sister worked long hours at an office. She had a baby now. But Vi’s friends were there for her.

She shook her head. “I don’t know, to be honest. What am I supposed to say?”

“It’s your money. What do you want to do with it?”

“Give it to my sister. She probably needs it the most.”

The nurse made a few more notes and handed Vi the sheet. “Hold onto this. We’ll start the testing in just a minute.”

Violet fiddled with her bag handles for a bit before withdrawing her smaller sketch pad and pencil. She sketched out a few symbols, trying for the one that would evoke the right feeling of ‘good riddance’ and ‘you’ve got this’ but be small enough for her shoulder blade or possibly a collarbone.

She looked up at a heartfelt gasp. The mouse had been tested, and the screen lit up green. The nurse pushed her over to the pad and reached over to press the button to send the girl. The girl looked around, fear in her eyes, then she glanced at Violet. Their eyes locked as the girl disappeared before Vi’s eyes.

Everyone grew very quiet and still, and then a bit of a commotion broke out as the others started freaking out.

Hello? Why were they doing them all together like this?

Violet could not understand people sometimes. Had they not been doing this for years?

“Hey,” she broke in. “You can test me next.” The chaos dissolved, and Violet felt multiple pairs of eyes on her.

“Might as well,” Vi said.

The nurse who’d filled out her form before was busy sending over the girl’s luggage, but another nurse came over and reached for her paper. “Good. Violet Dunn? Date of birth? Okay, yes, we are all set. Here, let me have your arm.”

She felt a small stab as the nurse drew blood. The nurse inserted the vial into a little square box. It murmured and clicked, then blinked rapidly.

…And that’s all it did.

“Is it supposed to do something?” Vi finally asked.

The nurse shrugged. “Perhaps it’s taking a bit longer to get to wherever it’s going. Sit tight. I’m going to keep testing the girls until we get your results.”

For a minute, Vi stared at the device, then she felt herself get a little tweaked about it. “No, I’m not going to be my sister,” she thought. “I TOTS don’t care what the thing says.”

She opened her pad and stared at the half-made sketches, letting the lines speak to her and what they wanted to be. Finally, she had to turn her body away from the infuriating, blinking device.

How horrible was this to do to someone?