World-Mart by Leigh Lane

painfully sober as she suddenly questioned aloud, “I wonder if I’ll still be able to work as a cashier associate at my booth?  Deviants don’t work as cashier associates.”
    Virginia suddenly had to apply the same question to her own job.  Had so much changed about her that she was now no longer qualified to handle one of Communications-Corp’s switchboards?  She and Emily looked at one another as the same question hit them both at once: Would they be able to convince anyone, including their loved ones, that absolutely nothing about them had changed other than their eye color?
    “My fiancé hates deviants!” Emily said, the reality of their situation finally sinking in.  “My life is ruined!”
    “My husband isn’t too fond of them, either,” Virginia said, denial forcing her to add, “I know he loves me, though, and I know my kids love me.  I know that won’t change.”
    Emily began to cry.
    “Don’t cry, sweetie,” Virginia said, her throat knotting up.  “Everything will be okay.  You’ll see.”
    Emily shook her head.  “No.  I don’t think it will.”  She stood and turned.
    Virginia reached for Emily’s shoulder, but she brushed her aside.  She watched as Emily walked in long strides, almost in slow motion, toward the medical associates standing in front of the bathroom door.  Virginia wanted to get up and run after her, but she felt frozen where she sat, knowing deep down that there was nothing she could do.  She watched helplessly as Emily signed her life away.
    Emily turned back as she passed through the door, her eyes haunting as she gave Virginia one last pained smile.  She crossed the threshold and the door closed behind her.
    And then she was gone.
    Virginia grieved silently as Olaf exited the bathroom and got dressed.
    He hurried up to her, his hair and beard still dripping.  “Where’s Emily?”
    Virginia looked down.  “She left.”
    Olaf sat down, his body flushing.  “Where did she go?”
    Virginia turned back to him, the tears streaming from her eyes speaking louder than any words she might have to offer him.
    “But why?” Olaf asked, his eyes welling up.  “She was so young!  She had her whole life ahead of her!”
    Virginia shook her head, wishing that she had tried harder to hold Emily back.  “I couldn’t stop her,” she said, trying to amend the memory of it in her mind.
    “Damn it all!” Olaf cried, going to his bed and lying down.
    Virginia surveyed the room, unsure how much longer she would be able to handle being there, herself.  There were now exactly four men and four women left, including her.  She wondered if the m edical m anagement was simply counting on the group to give up, one by one, until no one remained.  Perhaps those who persisted were doing nothing but prolonging the inevitable.
    Virginia watched the camera sweep back and forth, flipping it off once as it passed over her.
    The showers turned off and the medical associates left the room.  The locks clicked shut.  The last of the men dried off and got dressed.  No one else seemed to care that Emily had given up.  Few even seemed to notice that she was gone.
    The locks clicked back open, and one of the medical associates who had just overseen the showers returned with the manager and two security associates.  He had an order from Corporate, just downloaded onto his handheld computer.
    “After due consideration, Corporate has decided to give you two options.”  The medical associate cleared his throat, glancing down at his computer screen.  He punched in a code, bringing up the downloaded file.  “Corporate is interested in a study on live subjects infected with what we have named retrovirus HD-1, to study your antibodies and develop a vaccine.  All those not interested in participating in the study will be euthanized .”
    Virginia and Olaf glanced over at one another in disbelief.
    The medical manager stepped forward.  “We’ll need your signatures on the