Mary would have said she had never been so scared in her life but sitting across from the interviewer was maybe the least scary thing she had done in the past couple of days. Fear when she decided to run away from her “husband”. Fear when she crossed that field in the middle of the night. Fear when she went up to the car sitting at a rest area with its headlights on. Fear when she got in and relief that it was her true love sitting behind the wheel.
“Are we sure we want to do this?” inquired Mike as her “boyfriend” looked at her. They hadn’t been allowed to see each other since Mike had been thrown out of the town and forced to go to the “doomed” world beyond the reach of their former faith.
Both Mike and Mary had been born and raised in what anyone with half a brain would call a cult. In their community located in the desert far away from the eyes of the public. The public had gotten interested in their community for a little while when some of their leaders had been arrested but that hadn’t lasted long enough to do any real change.
Mary had had the bad luck of being born a rather beautiful women in a community where older man had a habit of marrying much younger women and having multiple wives. Her own mother had been the 4th wife to her father, and he had taken a wife no older than she had been when she was forced to marry her husband two years ago at the age at 19.
The marriages were not legal, the government didn’t accept multiple people being married together but it had been a faith union which is how they got away with it. Mary didn’t want to remember her wedding night or the other times her husband, the son of an imprisoned leader, had forced himself on her. She was his 2nd wife which would have given her a place of honor, but she didn’t want that, she wanted Mike.
Mike had come from a small family, which in their community meant his father only had three wives and he had only 20 brothers and sisters. Like so many of the younger men who didn’t come from the blood lines of the higher up church leaders he had been banished for one thing or another and had been sent to the “doomed” otherwise known as the normal world.
“Where else would we go?” inquired Mary “Neither of us have any formal education and live in a group home, I could be kidnapped off the street by the elders and their agents. This is what multiple people recommended for us anyhow.”
“We understand your situation and believe me here at mythtopia we will make sure you are safe.” Reassured the special interviewer who had been handling the interview. “You aren’t the first one from your community to seek a safe space here and depending on your length of employment you will get out with more then enough money to start a new life far…far away from those who wish you harm.”
“Alright, where do we sign.” Said Mike as Mary nodded as well.
“Good all you need to do is decide what you both want to become, we can assure you can stay together if you wish and we have a car waiting to take you to our transformation center now as well.” Stated the interviewer
“Thank you.” Said Mary as the interviewer handed over a computer tablet with a list of options for the two of them, including, type of pay they would get, the jobs they would likely have to do and what species they would become.