You are a Military Volunteer

[IsabellaRose]

The receptionist’s polite smile is gone, replaced by clinical detachment. Her expression is unreadable, her tone flat, practiced, as though she’s said this a hundred times before.

"Step in, strip off your civvies, place them in the box, and wait until you're called." The words are simple, direct, but the weight behind them isn't.

Your pulse kicks up despite your training. You’ve been through intake procedures before, the routine of medical evaluations and psychological screenings, but this feels different. Your boots scuff against the floor as you step forward, your muscles tight, your mind already running scenarios. As you walk, you look down at yourself and realize that you're a fit young woman wearing jeans and a grey t-shirt that pulls tight across your breasts. Over the t-shirt you're wearing a leather jacket, and you're wearing chunky heeled boots, clearly a civilian outfit.

The room beyond the door is stark and sterile, white walls, a cold metal bench, and a reinforced steel box set into the wall with a sliding lid. One window that is clearly an observation room. No clock, no decorations, just you and the expectation of obedience. You don't know why you're here. Is it an evaluation? Some kind of screening? It feels... off. Strange. The door behind you closes with a soft click.

The receptionist watches through a window in the wall, not with curiosity, not with interest. but with disinterest, like you’re just another body moving through the system. You don't remember being in the military, but you know instinctively how this works. You follow orders. So why does it feel like walking into a cage?

You glance at the box. A single word is stamped onto its steel surface in bold black print:

SURRENDER.

Your breath tightens in your chest. That doesn't seem normal.

• If you follow orders, strip down, and wait, click here. <link forthcoming>
• If you ask questions, demand to know what’s next before you take another step, click here.  <link forthcoming>
• If you turn and walk away now, refuse before you go any further, click here. <link forthcoming>