Partners for Life

Chapter Two: The Program

Shelby felt a kick on her knee, and she woke up, not at Costco, but in front of a building somewhere snowy. "Get up. Let's go inside." Shelby slid out of the car, and realized she had handcuffs on her hands, connected to her feet, but her feet cuffs were a little bit wider than her handcuffs. "Where are we?" Shelby asked the man who woke her up. "The Program." He answered, still looking forward. "Oh. How long will I be here?" She added. He just looked at her with a scowl. She walked in silence until she reached the door to the building. "Welcome!" A lady answered. She was wearing a long red dress, and had red ginger hair pinned up. "Are you the new recruit?" She asked. "Yes ma'am." The guard answered for her. "What's your name?" She asked Shelby. "Shelby." She answered. "Ooh, pretty name. Well, Shelby, welcome to the Program! I am the Instructor, and that is what you will call me, Instructor." She walked into the building. "Follow, please!" She called.

Shelby followed the Instructor, and saw multiple things she wouldn't have seen back in California. A room full of girls training in combat, toddlers in ball pits, teenage boys sparring, and a few rooms didn't have windows, but Shelby could hear screaming from behind them. "Don't worry, if Calistro brought you, you'll be fine. She's the main teacher." The Instructor said. "Cal- what?" Shelby asked. "Calistro. She was the woman in the suit." She said. "Oh. Yes, she did. Why are some people wearing suits, and others, fighting suits? I'm just wearing a swimsuit." Shelby joked. The Instructor laughed very loudly in the hallway, and said "Oh, my dear girl, you are funny! The teachers wear suits tailored to their fit, the students wear their fighting suits, white for the girls, black for the boys, and you, well, you're going to get fitted right now for a suit." She walked into a room filled with spools of yarn, string, and leather.

"You will be supplied with combat gear after your training is complete, and your meals are in the girl's dining hall, at six o'clock, twelve o'clock, and seven. You have shower time after dinner for two hours, so take quick showers, because there are a lot of girls. Snacks are strictly prohibited, and you get a pick of one new piece of gear on your birthday." The Instructor informed. "Up, please." She patted a little platform in the corner of the room. "Gustav! We have a new recruit!" A man, about forty or so, walked out of a doorway, wiping his hand. "Yes, I heard." He said with a Russian accent. "Hello, young lady." He said to Shelby. "Hello." She said nervously. "Are you ready to start measuring?" He asked. "I guess." Shelby said, knowing that if she said no, they'd just measure her anyway. "So, how do you know our Rich?" The Instructor asked casually. "Uh, he was new to our town, so my best friend invited him to the beach, and I went. We played volleyball, and that's when you guys showed up." Shelby said. She left out the part about him asking her out.

The Instructor was about to respond, but there were sounds of struggling from the hallway. "No! I'm not going back there! I'll fight any one of you bastards, just let me go and see!" It was Rich screaming. Gustav ignored the commotion, and measured her waist. "Don't hurt her!" He yelled some more. He was getting closer. She finally saw him, being lead by three guards and a teacher, and he was trying to wriggle away from them. "Shelby!" He saw her, and stopped struggling. In fact, he stopped walking altogether. Gustav walked to his table, and Shelby ran to the door. The Instructor was on the other side of the room, and her handcuffs were unlocked for the measuring. "Rich, I-" She started. "It's okay. I've been through this before. It's you I'm worried about." He cut her off. "I'm fine, they're measuring me right now." He grabbed her hand. "Shelby, listen to me. You don't want this life. I certainly don't, and I don't want toy to go through this." Rich said. "Oh, how cute. Little Richie has a crush." One of the guards teased.

"Take him to the Dark Room, boys." The Instructor showed up behind Shelby. "You won't get away with th-" Rich started, then screamed. A guard stabbed a taser to his side. "Shoo." The Instructor shooed. The guards took Rich away, and they disappeared down a hallway. "Shall we?" She asked. "Why?" Shelby asked. "Why are you doing this? This Program?" She added. "Because, they world needs people to help them out." The Instructor responded. "Now, let's get you fitted." She guided Shelby back to the platform. She finished her fitting, and they snapped the handcuffs back on her wrists and ankles. "Now," They turned a corner to a whole bunch of rooms with bunk beds in them, "here's your dorm room, you have four roommates, and you'll get your suit tomorrow before you start your training." The Instructor guided.

"And here, you can wear these tonight." She handed her a tank top and shorts. They will be your nightwear for your stay here. If they don't fit, tell one of your bunkmates, and they will come find me." She started to leave the room. "Dinner is in a few hours, so you can stay here until then. There's a bell that rings over the intercom that tells you when to head to the dining hall." She added over her shoulder, closing the door, leaving Shelby all alone. She changed into her nightwear, and sat down on a bed that didn't have anything on it. A top bunk, just like she liked. She stared at the wall, and started thinking about Rich. She climbed down the ladder, and tried to open the door. To Shelby's surprise, it was unlocked. She walked down the long hallway to where the guards took Rich. Maybe she could find him. She heard arguing from behind a locked door, but it didn't sound like a boy. She turned down the hallway that she thought was the hallway the guards took him down. "Rich!" She called. No answer. She turned back, and tried several hallways, but had no luck.

After a while, the dinner bell rang, and students started emerging from the rooms to the dining hall. She searched and searched for Rich, but no luck. She followed them to the dining hall, where she could finally eat some food. There was baked potatoes, broccoli, chicken, and pudding for dinner. She took one of everything, and sat next to some girls named Alana, Zoe, Quinn and Fawn. They talked about classes, and all the thing Shelby needed to know about the Program. After dinner, she went to her new dorm room, and met her bunkmates, Diona, Charlie, Michelle, and Alana from dinner. They said that she could stay up for a little while, but had to be in bed by ten o'clock. At ten o'clock, sure enough, everything went dark, except for the glowing red clock above the door. She fell asleep, wondering what her first day would be like.