The Counter

My forehead was slick with cold sweat.

The counter on the screen kept ticking down—00:59:01, 00:59:00, 00:58:59—and I had no fucking clue what to do.

Suddenly, the ominous fanfare cut out, replaced by stark white text on a black background.

Hello, user! Welcome to THE CHECKPOINT!

You’ve done well to get this far, but now it’s time for a true test.

Accessing the Submission Accelerator is a privilege, only afforded to the select few.

Do you deserve to be one of them? It’s time to find out.

Pick out five of your most loyal subjects, and bring them to the location marked on the map. Failure to do so before the counter hits zero will result in losing access to the Submission Accelerator. All your subjects will be freed from their bonds, and you will lose all memories of ever using the application.

Good luck, see you there!

I read it again. A third time. A fourth.

Every memory I had... every command, every surrender, every broken woman... flashed behind my eyes.

Lana’s first whimper.

The first time I choked Gretchen.

Fucking Ulla while Henrika watched.

The thought of it all vanishing, of all my achievements vanishing… I couldn’t catch my breath.

“What’s going on? Terrorists hack your phone or something?” Katie quipped from the chair opposite my desk.

I ignored her, my fingers fumbling as I tapped the notification. A map opened.

The marked location was a warehouse… on the other side of town.

I checked the drive time.

38 minutes.

No. Fuck. No. Shit. God dammit.

The counter read 00:58:12.

I couldn’t waste a single second.

I bolted up from my chair, the motion so sudden Katie flinched.

“I… something urgent came up,” I barked, already moving toward the door. “We’ll continue this soon.”

I didn’t wait for a reply. I was out in the hall, my heart hammering against my ribs.

Five. Five loyal subjects.

That had to mean high submission scores. +100 or close.

I had three of those in the building.

I slammed open the door to the writer’s room with enough **** to make the frame shudder.

Gretchen jerked her face up from between Noriko’s spread cheeks, a string of saliva connecting her lips to Noriko’s glistening asshole. Her eyes were wide with panic.

“J-Jack!” she squealed. “I—I can’t taste any sugar in there, only salty—”

“Shut the fuck up, I don’t care about that right now!” I roared. “You. Ulla. Sophie. Follow me. NOW!”

Ulla and Sophie shared a terrified glance, but their hands dropped from Noriko’s ass cheeks as if burned. In seconds, all three were scrambling after me into the hallway.

I barely glanced at Noriko. The poor bitch was so broken she hadn’t even moved from the table, her body trembling.

Her submission score was still -38. Leaving her like this was a risk. She was independent, she could cause trouble.

But none of that mattered if I was about to lose the app.

Lose everything.

…The notification hadn’t mentioned if the women would forget everything.

Would they all come for me? Would they peel the skin from my bones for what I’d done? All the while my mind-wiped body had no idea what was going on?

I picked up my pace, hitting the stairwell door at a run. I didn’t wait for the elevator. I took the stairs three at a time, my shoes skidding on the concrete.

“Where are we going?!” Ulla shouted from behind me, her voice echoing in the stairwell.

I didn’t answer.

Think.

I had three. I needed two more.

Lana and Anna-Marie? I pulled up their location on the app.

Fuck!

No. Even if I ordered them to leave Gretchen’s house right now, it would take over an hour to get to the warehouse.

Impossible.

Relax. Think clearly.

Gloria?

She could be anywhere.

If she was at Maria’s mansion, it was a detour that was almost impossible.

We burst into the parking garage. I had the car started before the three women fully piled into the car. Gretchen next to me, Ulla and Sophie in the backseat.

“Jack, please—” Sophie whined.

“SHUT UP!” I shouted, slamming the car into gear and hitting the accelerator. Sophie was thrown back against Ulla with a yelp. “None of you bitches fucking talk right now! I need to think!”

The tires squealed as we shot out onto the street.

I **** myself to stick to the speed limit—the last thing I needed was a cop pulling me over—but I rode the line, weaving through traffic with aggressive precision.

I checked the counter.

00:51:15

00:51:14

I had roughly eleven minutes of buffer time. I needed two more women. Fast.

Why the fuck did I have to leave Lana and Anna-Marie in the fucking closet?

Then it hit me.

Michelle. Maddy.

They lived near the quickest route to the warehouse.

Perfect.

I wrenched the wheel, taking a hard left turn that threw Ulla and Sophie together again. Gretchen’s head smacked against the window with a nasty thud, probably leaving a mark.

Nobody made a sound. At least they were well trained.

00:20:16

00:20:15

I screeched to a halt in front of Michelle’s house.

I didn't see Maddy. Only Michelle stood on the curb, wringing her hands.

“What the fuck? Where’s Maddy?” I barked, rolling down the window.

“I—I tried to tell you on the phone! She’s at a casting call, and—”

“WHERE?!”

“On 13th and Mayberry!”

I pulled up the map.

No. No no no.

It was in the opposite direction. There was no fucking way.

The cold hand of failure squeezed my lungs. Time was slipping through my fingers.

“GET IN THE CAR!” I roared.

Her submission score (+95) did its work. She didn’t argue, just scrambled into the already-crowded backseat, cramming next to Ulla.

“What’s going—”

“AND SHUT UP! I NEED TO THINK!”

I scrolled through my subjects again.

Gloria was out of range now.

Henrika?

No, too far. And she didn't have a very high score.

Alexa?

I had no idea where she was, but I'm pretty sure she lived out of the city.

Kara? Abigail? I didn't even have their phone numbers.

Janice?

Janice.

She was +94. She didn’t live far from here.

Yes.

I stomped on the gas pedal.

00:14:51

00:14:50

Janice was standing in her front yard, arms crossed, looking pissed as usual.

And on two feet. A rare sight these days.

At least she still had the collar around her neck.

The few hours a day when I turned her back to human, she could have tried to get rid of the lock somehow. But then again, it’s not like she knew that it was the reason I could make her act like a dog.

I rolled down the passenger window.

“GET IN! NOW!”

She peered into the packed car full of three unfamiliar women and one sister.

“There’s no room,” she said flatly.

She was right. Fuck.

I hit the button for the trunk. It popped open.

“Get in there. And pull the latch down after you.”

Her eyes flashed with pure ****. I didn’t have time for this.

“DO IT!!”

She gritted her teeth, her jaw tight, but she walked to the back of the car.

(JANICE: +1SP) (95SP)

A point. Huh. Guess she found this extra dehumanizing or something.

Before the trunk was fully closed, I was already moving. The car lurched forward. I heard a faint thump and a muffled curse from the back. At least she didn’t fall out.

That was it. Five. A car full of my most loyal slaves.

I glanced at the counter.

00:13:02

The drive was ten minutes.

I’d make it.

I had to.

Whatever waited at that warehouse, at least I had an obedient army of bitches with me.

...For the next thirteen minutes, anyways.