Pfc Anthony Martines had never believed in his assignment. He had a cousin back home in Texas who was bonded, and from what he saw the bonded did a lot of good. He had enlisted to fight the country's real enemies, not Americans who just happened to be different.
But he was a soldier with a job to do, and he would carry it out to the best of his ability. He was in the first wave to attack the Bonded compound, and he took a bullet in the chest.
Darkness.
Light.
"I'm alive!" he thought. He tried to move his arm. It moved easily, but something felt off, wrong. It didn't seem to have any weight to it. His whole body felt different.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, private." he heard in a dry female voice. Anthony opened his eyes.
Everything looked different, slightly more intense, better focused.
"You're looking through the eyes of a seven-year-old girl, which is who you are at the moment."
"What?"
"You've been brought back to life, by us, as a seven year old girl. Basically, private, we're going to send you back to your unit. We don't regard ourselves as enemies to the US military--heck, a lot of us are veterans. But we're not going to send you back if that means you're just going to pick up a gun and come at us again. This was the solution. If your superiors are willing to make peace, we can make you a young man again--assuming that's what you want."
"You can't do this!"
"Can and have, soldier, and the sooner you get used to it the better. Now why don't you get dressed so we can send you back to your lines?"
Pfc Martines looked at the clothing they had laid out for him. It was a dazzling collection of pink and sparkly underwear, tops and bottoms.
"This is what we had available. Most of us who spend time as little girls tend to go for the girly. Now let's get dressed, princess."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Dianne." She held out a pink set of panties. Pfc Martines tenatively stepped in them.
A few minutes later the soldier was dressed out in the girliest outfit imaginable. Dianne smiled. "Now why don't you take a look in the mirror?"
As Pfc Martines looked at the cute little girl in the mirror, she felt a succession of emotions. Shock, horror, and finally something she had never, ever expected to feel.
Pfc Anthony "Snakehead" Martines felt pretty.