The Toy Factory

(Woman to Toy Soldier)

Sammy sighed while browsing the classifieds of her local newspaper. After she hadn’t been able to find any jobs online, she’d settled for looking into the near-dead medium for a way to escape her college debt. It was really her last hope—but she honestly should have expected that with an Art History major.

The brunette girl groaned aloud, her eyes narrowing as she looked once more at the classifieds. Even these all had requirements that were beyond her. For God’s sake, how hard was it to find a job? She groaned louder, considering running upstairs to scream into her pillow… Right after looking at the last classified page.

Sammy turned the page, her heart in her chest as she looked to her last salvation. Her pulse hammered a moment later as she gazed at a full-page placement; an ad for a job at the old toy factory downtown.

“‘Grand Reopening’.” Sammy read aloud, scanning the pages with a growing smile. “Become a part of something bigger than yourself; competitive pay; all skill levels desired.” She beamed, a smile growing from ear to ear as she considered the opportunity that had just fallen into her lap.

Hurriedly, she clicked open her laptop to find the toy factory’s job application page. One form later, the girl was done, clicking the ‘submit’ button on the bottom of the screen with a huge smile. “This is perfect!” She grinned happily, crossing her fingers for good luck.

Her phone chimed a moment later, and Sammy looked down in surprise to find she’d received an e-mail from ‘Toy To Be’. She opened it curiously to find a cute image of a Rockette-esque toy soldier happily saluting.

Under it: ‘Congratulations! You’ve been accepted! Come to our warehouse tomorrow at 11:30 AM for your interview to become one of our toy staff!’

Sammy smiled, looking at the image with a smile of her own. She’d always thought about working for a place that preferred cute costumes to boring dress attire, like Disney. And while this was a good deal less glamorous; it was still just as cute. Maybe the factory would be open for the public, and she could greet some of the guests while in uniform… Either way, she’d need to get the job first. Honestly, she couldn’t wait.

Of course, had Sammy known that the factory would look so dilapidated, she might have considered not getting so dressed up for this interview. The girl looked apprehensively at the worn-down factory in front of her. It looked like it had been at least two decades since the rundown building had seen any use—though the entrance seemed at least new.

“Um, hello?” Sammy knocked at the factory’s only visible door. No response came, and the brown-haired girl sighed, taping her foot idly. While it wasn’t uncommon for employers to be a little late; she’d never been left to wait outside of a corporate building before. Generally, they’d ad least let her inside…

Sammy tried to pull the handle to the door to find it locked, as she’d expected. It was a toy factory, after all. There was probably some expensive machinery locked inside of it.

Sammy waited patiently for a moment later, then knocked at the door again. They were probably busy with other applicants; they definitely weren’t closed or anything.

This time, her knock was greeted by a loud click from the door, a chime coming from beside it. Sammy jumped slightly at the sound, then tried the door again.

This time, it slid soundlessly open, revealing a dimly lit warehouse.

“Well, that’s not creepy at all.” Sammy said with a small, nervous smile. She took a step in; then another when nobody came to greet her.

“Hello?” She called, her voice echoing as she walked deeper into the room. A few more steps in, and she saw a human figure before her.

“Finally, I was worried—” The lights to the warehouse finally clicked on, revealing a life-sized doll standing before her. It looked like an old mannequin from the 80’s, with aged, flaking paint around its glassy-eyed smile.

Sammy gulped down her words, feeling more and more apprehensive by the minute. Just beyond this first mannequin lay row upon row of dolls and toys; some life-sized, others fit to be played with. All of them had one thing in common: they were all old or broken in some way or another.

The whole thing left Sammy with a serious horror movie vibe, setting the hairs on the back of her neck on edge. “Maybe I shouldn’t be here after all…” She laughed nervously, expecting some deranged doll to come to life and attack her.

The thought dwelled in her head like a bad smell, and Sammy turned to leave. She’d just need to reschedule the interview for some time later; maybe when they made the warehouse a little less nightmarish.

But as she turned, a new shade of light caught her eye. While the room she was in was bathed in the dull gold of dying incandescent bulbs, this room was bathed in a pleasant white; the mark of newer lighting. Curiosity filled the girl’s chest, and she headed for the room in hopes of finding someone to talk to.

“Hello?” Sammy called loudly, opening the door. Her eyes widened at a new sight: row upon row of toy soldiers: all of them clad in red and white; all of them saluting. It looked like an army of Rockettes, and Sammy giggled nervously at the thought.

Then one of them mumbled.

Sammy screamed, nearly falling as she started to back away. But to her surprise, nothing followed her. All of the toys were frozen in still salutes, every one of them staring ahead blankly. Then, to the girl’s surprise, one of them slowly turned its eyes to look at her.

Sammy would have run in a heartbeat, were it not for one thing: the toy’s eyes looked like they were begging her to stay.

Against her better judgement, Sammy walked towards the toy in question—though she kept an eye out for the other toys around her. The toy groaned again, this time something that had a hard ‘e’.

“Um… ‘Me’?” Sammy asked, slightly unable to believe she was talking to a toy—and that it was apparently talking to her.

“Eee. Eee. Eeekkk.” The toy gunted lowly behind a still-smiling mouth. A moment of silence passed between them before the stiff soldier tried again. “Keeeey.”

Sammy’s eyes widened with understanding, and she looked to its back to see a large, brass key inserted into the center of the toy’s spine. An impulse filled her mind, and Sammy gripped the metal ring in both hands, turning it slowly with a loud clicking sound.

As she did, the toy soldier’s arm lowered to her side, and she started to work her lips as though she was flexing them. It was incredibly lifelike and incredibly surreal, and Sammy could only watch as the toy turned to face her.

“Run.” It said plainly.

“What?” Sammy asked, shaking her head in confusion. Apparently, winding this toy gave it the ability to speak… And it was telling her to run?

“You don’t understand. This isn’t a job offer, it’s a recruitment. I am… I was… There was a time when I wasn’t like this.” The toy’s movements were perfect; it was like it wasn’t really just an animatronic. “I wasn’t always…”

“A toy?” Sammy offered helpfully.

“Yesssno! No, no, no!” The soldier squeezed its eyes shut. “I’m not one of those things; they changed me; they changed all of us!” Its voice grew panicky as it looked back at Sammy, eyes wide and pleading once more. “Please, you have to run… Run before they make you a toy… toy… I’m a toy…” The soldier trailed off, its eyes going glassy.

Sammy watched as the toy soldier stiffly saluted, its arm ratcheting up mechanically.

“Well, that totally wasn’t creepy.” Sammy chuckled nervously ,turning to leave the room.

Then a sharp pain erupted from the back of her head as the toy struck her from behind, knocking her unconscious with a single blow.

Darkness.

A dim haze settled across Sammy’s mind as slumbered, blissfully unaware of what was to come. The toy she wound was carrying her, bringing her to a new room; the room that would forever change her.

Sammy’s unconscious body was lifted onto a metal table, and numerous mechanical arms dropped low from the ceiling as though they were examining the girl. Indeed, one of the arms went as far as to bathe her in the telltale flickering beam of a scanner.

Then, as though contented with their study, the arms waited patiently for the toy soldier to leave. It saluted the arms, turning back to the warehouse to wind itself down once again.

The second the toy soldier left, the bed Sammy was on began to move. Slowly but surely, it sank into the ground. Just as it passed beneath the cool floor, the divot began to fill with a glossy white liquid. It was thick and opaque, covering the knocked-out girl completely.

As Sammy's face slipped below the surface, a few bubbles of oxygen broke the tension of the fluid. Then a few more. Then, nothing.

The machines watched, impassive. This wasn't the first run of this process, and their controller knew that the girl hadn't drowned. Rather, Sammy simply no longer needed to breathe.

The platform raised once more, this time bringing with it a resin-clad body. The glossy plastic dripped off of her form slowly, gravity pulling it down until it revealed a shapely female figure.

Before the resin could fully harden, a large die ground slowly down from above the girl’s body, clamping down firmly on her form. The table she was on shifted slightly as well, adjusting itself to become the lower press on her body.

A loud hiss emanated from the hydraulics; the press cementing a new form on her body. There was a hollow gap in the top, above her head; soon filled by new resin being extruded into the large press. This would become the toy-to-be’s new hat, a permanent fixture atop her head.

Of course, the hat wasn’t just headgear. It was a key part of the reprogramming process; its fibers already sinking through the girl’s scalp. The die held her fast as her body tried to convulse; her brain no longer entirely her own.

Then her spasms ceased, and with a hiss the die lifted from her body to reveal it had perfectly crafted her a new form.

Sammy now looked like an all-white toy soldier, her uniform seamlessly etched into her body. Colorless buttons adorned an unmoving chest; epaulettes etched on her shoulders. Her face was frozen into a blank smile, her eyes stenciled to look as human as possible.

A pair of arms lifted her from the platform, her body stiff and unyielding. It turned her about for her unseen transformer to have a full view of the girl’s body, checking for imperfections. Finding none, the arms held her aloft for a few moments more, new arms lowering themselves.

These each carried a special laser, designed to color-cure the resin on Sammy’s body and trap her completely in her form. They swept along her from head to toe slowly, each time imprinting a darker and darker shade of color on her body.

Her torso and arms were soon cloaked in a deep red; her legs cured from a pearly ghost white to a plainer shade of the color. This shock-white went well with the black coloring that her feet—now boots—were taking on, their thick resin perfectly suited for long marches.

This black coating was also applied to the girl’s hat, changing it to match. Her hair, curled in a bun just beneath it, was cured to a golden blonde; perfectly in shade with the buttons on her coat and her new epaulettes. This gold marked the last changes; the finishing touches of color on Sammy’s body.

Her hat was etched to have yellow chevrons on it, more for style than any denotation of rank. A pair of white stripes crossed her chest like an ‘X’, and her wrists were colored blue. Finally, a pair of red stripes were painted on the edges of her legs, accentuating every march the girl would perform from now on.

With that, Sammy’s changes were complete, and the machines swept her body into a new room, one with countless other toys just like her. The machines set her down, and all was silent as their operator walked into the room. Then they sent a jolt through Sammy’s body, awakening the transformed girl.

Sammy shuddered as consciousness returned to her, intending to ask what had happened. No sooner had the thought passed through her head than she realized her lips were unmoving, frozen in a plastic smile. Her pupils dilated with shock as she realized she was frozen in a salute, her right arm raised to her forehead.

Worse, she could now feel the effect of her hand having transformed into a toy soldier’s mitt, her fingers all fused save for her index finger and her thumb. She tried to scream aloud, only to have a faint and muffled squeak escape her lips.

The girl began to panic—was she frozen just like one of the other soldierettes? Worse, had she somehow become one? No, that had to be impossible—she must be dreaming…

“Welcome to the ranks of my toys.” An authoritative voice announced from behind Sammy.

Sammy tried to turn, but was unable to do much more than inch her head a degree to the left.

“Oh, didn’t you realize? You need to be wound in order to move, my silly pawn.” The woman’s voice was haughty and well-bred.

Sammy tried to deny it, but a moment later she felt cool and feminine hands resting on some part of her back. A loud clicking that filled the air and she could feel herself begin to tense, some energy beginning to fill through her body.

“Do you feel that? The tightening of gears; the winding of your new body? You’re a toy now. My toy.” The woman purred from just behind one of Sammy’s plastic ears, and she trembled in mute horror.

Much as Sammy wanted to scream that it wasn't true, she couldn't deny how inhuman she felt. Instead, she could only shiver and quake, feeling the gears in her back tightening further, the key winding her body into action.

“I am Countess Illyana Francisca de Altenheim, and you are now my toy.” The woman said, releasing the key on Sammy's back.

“What?” Sammy breathed in horror. Then she gasped again, realizing she had the gift of speech again. “Countess? What's going on? What did you do to me?”

The girl turned her head to see a woman in a flowing black dress, a Venetian mask covering her eyes. To Sammy's surprise, the woman was beautiful, with aristocratic cheekbones and a noble posture.

“Hm.” The Countess tapped her chin idly, glaring down at the transformed woman. “It would appear that I still need to teach you some manners.”

“Manners? What's going on?” Sammy's eyes were wide as she brought her hands to her face, recoiling in horror at the utterly alien sensation of resin brushing against resin. “Why am I plastic? What's going on?”

Sammy desperately tried to look left and right to see the soldier from earlier, finding the model perfectly in line with her. However, while before the toy had almost human eyes, now they were glassy and focused forward, a perfectly blank smile on her—its—face.

“Snap to attention, soldier!”

The Countess said it as sharp as a whip's crack, and before Sammy could even reflect on the words' meaning, her arms snapped to her sides and her feet clicked together.

The girl shook her head, whimpering faintly at the realization that whatever had come over her, it couldn't be anything good.

Sure enough, her oppressor followed the command with another. “I said 'at attention'.”

This one was a low growl, and Sammy squeaked, hurriedly shoving her chest forward and raising her chin. She forced her stomach in and her shoulders back, a stiffly blank look on her face.

The Countess tutted at that, and Sammy's mind raced with worry. Had she done something wrong? She was acting instinctively; this had felt right!

“That might work for normal soldiers, but I require all of my soldiers to smile. So, cadet?” The Countess took a step closer to Sammy, trailing a hand along the girl's chin seductively.

Sammy swallowed by smiled nonetheless, her lips parting to show her dazzling teeth to the woman.

“Perfect. Now, hold still.” The Countess dipped a hand to her dress, pulling out a small pouch from its confines. From this, she withdrew a small tube of lipstick, and the woman applied it to Sammy with a faint hum.

Sammy stood frozen, unwilling to admit that she was unable to do otherwise. Instead, she told herself that she was just playing along... At least that sounded better than the truth: that her body's locomotion had been stolen from her.

“Now you look the part.” The Countess said with a smile, pausing to look at the trapped girl. “Well, almost.” She brought the lipstick up again, using it to paint a pair of bright red circles on Sammy's cheeks.

Sammy's heart pounded with excitement. There was a part of her that told her she should be outraged, but this was overwhelmed by the giddiness of her cheeks being red. She couldn't help but feel more than a little warm at how she really did look the part now.

“Thank you, Countess!” The words escaped her cherry red lips before she could stop herself, and Sammy felt herself flush crimson behind her cheeks.

The woman's response was silence. She arched an eyebrow expectantly, and for a moment Sammy wondered what the Countess wanted her to do. Then it came to her in a flash.

Sammy's hand clacked loudly against her plastic forehead as she delivered a smart salute. The second it made contact, she felt an overwhelming wave of pleasure run through her body and she knew she'd done right.

“Good toy.” The Countess dipped her head, a slight inclination to reward the doll for a job well done.

The action was enough to send another spike of pleasure through Sammy's heart, and she smiled contentedly, her salute not wavering.

“At ease.” The Countess waved, clicking her fingers idly. As she did, a pair of toys trotted out from behind Sammy. One fell to all fours, her back facing the air. The other knelt beside her partner, hands held stiffly our before her like she intended to be an armrest.

Sure enough, the toys' ruler took a step back, sitting on her servants with the haughty air of a noble. “Now... Let's put you through your paces, shall we?”

“My... paces?” The thought was odd enough to jar Sammy back to her usual self, and she realized just how surreal her situation was. “Are those other women?” She asked, her eyes wide and her hand flying to her lips in surprise.

“They were. Just as you once were... But you're a toy now.” The woman leaned forward, resting her elbows on her legs. “My toy.”

Sammy bit back the urge to nod, instead shaking her head. “N-no; no, I'm not.” She bit her lip nervously as she realized how hard it was to remember that she wasn't. “I'm a human woman and I was here to apply for a job. I went to college, and—”

“College?” The Countess interrupted her, chuckling derisively. “So tell me, what sort of sorority did you attend? A girl as popular as yourself, you must have rushed early.”

Sammy nodded. “Yes, of course, I was in...” She blinked, unable to think of her chapter. Her plastic brow furrowed in consternation as she struggled harder to recall it, a frown settling on her lips.

“Tau Theta Upsilon?” The Countess smiled, leading her new creation.

Unfortunately for Sammy, the woman fell right into her trap. “Yes, Tau Theta... Upsilon...” The image of the letters flashed through her head: 'ΤΘΥ'. Too late, she tried to blink it from her mind, but it was too late.

The letters wormed their way into her head, her own admission burning them into her head. “I'm a toy... No, I mean, a ΤΘΥ. But I'm not, I... Toy... I'm...” Sammy tried to fumble for words, searching for who she was even as her mind flushed away a few more parts of her.

“You're my toy. It doesn't matter who you were, it matters who you are now.” The Countess leaned back in her toy chair, crossing her legs. “Although you were a toy back then, so I suppose that doesn't really say too much for your current standing.”

“N-no, I wasn't.” Sammy shook her head futilely, her hands clasping the sides of her head as she tried to root herself in the present. “I'm... I'm not a toy, please don't say I am. It's getting so hard to remember...”

“Remember that you're a toy?” The Countess smiled, folding her fingers. She loved this part, loved breaking her creations to her will.

“I… yes… no… toy… Countess, help me. I’m so confused…” Sammy looked up to her owner, knowing that the woman would answer her question and make things right.

Sure enough, the graceful woman stood, snaking a hand around Sammy’s waist and hugging her close. “You’re a toy, my dear. And that’s your name; too. It might be the same name as your sisters, but you’ll always know when I’m talking to you.”

Sammy blinked as the words tore their way through her brain. “Yes, owner. I am a toy, and I am Toy. I’m your Toy, a loyal soldier…” She bit her lip nervously, heart hammering as she waited to be rewarded with a compliment.

“Good toy.”

Toy purred with pleasure, slipping into her new role. “Owner, it is my duty to serve you, and I shall always march for you.”

“Of course you will. But now we need to get rid of all of those nasty old ‘memories’ of yours. No sense in keeping them around to hold you down, is there?”

Toy shivered a little at that. She wanted to obey her owner so much, but weren’t those what made her unique? She wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted to lose her individuality…

“Sink for me, Toy.” The Countess purred, trailing her fingers along the curve of Toy’s plastic cheek.

Toy shuddered, her eyes blinking rapidly as her mind began to flee from her body. “Sink… Yes, Countess… How should I?” The words left her mouth a little airily, her mind beginning to glaze over.

“Sink deep into a trance. Let your mind grow soft; let me mold you to your new form.” The Countess smiled from beneath her mask, her words lulling Toy further into a hypnotic state.

“Yes, owner… Toy is sinking for you…” Toy muttered, her head lolling on her shoulders. “Toy is sinking so deep and is such a good toy…”

“Yes you are, Toy. Now. Think about your past, about your schooling and your friends.”

“Schooling and friends…” Toy murmured, images of a half-forgotten life swirling across her mind. Her eyes drew perfectly blank, and she stared ahead numbly.

The Countess smiled at that, waiting just long enough for the images to materialize in her new plaything’s mind. Then she spoke again, her words acting like a surgical blade. “Now, erase them. You don’t need those any more, you’re a good and empty Toy, whose only friends are her fellow toys and me, her owner.”

“Wh-wha?” Toy slurred, her head swaying slightly from left to right as she tried to fight off the words. Something about them seemed wrong; far too wrong. She couldn’t just forget, could she? That wasn’t right…

Again, the Countess spoke. “Sink deeper, Toy. Let yourself fall to the lowest depths of your mind, and let your resistance crumble.”

“I…” It was the only thing Toy could manage, her brain feeling completely empty.

“Now, erase yourself. Become my toy.”

Toy groaned as a response, her mind too weak to resist anymore. Her thoughts grew to a standstill, all thoughts of fighting gone as though they’d never existed.

Then she obeyed her owner’s command.

Another soft moan escaped her lips as she felt herself ebb away from her body. Thoughts of school; thoughts of her old life: all of them simply vanished from her mind as she reformatted her brain.

She was a toy; she had always been a toy. She’d never been to any school; never knew any humans other than her Countess. She was made in a factory, taught only the barest minimum of what she needed to serve and obey her owner.

Toy’s jaw fell slack as the last of her former intelligence fled her body. She was nothing more than a blank and obedient toy, ready and willing to serve her Countess. The plaything trembled, no longer even thinking of herself as a girl.

She was a toy; always a toy. This was her life, and it always had been.

“Are you completely blank, my toy?”

The Countess’s words helped bring Toy back to consciousness, and her eyes refocused on her owner. Still, she couldn’t quite bring herself to speak, so she settled on nodding numbly, her eyes a little glassy.

“Good toy. Now, I need you to rise back up to your surface; and cement your new mind permanently.” The Countess purred, taking a step back to look at her new toy’s face.

As expected, the soldier that was once Sammy shuddered, her lips moving soundlessly as her brain rebooted; the reformatting complete. “Hello Countess. Toy is ready to serve.” She said, saluting obediently.

“Good, good.” The Countess smiled, crossing her arms. She sat back in her improvised chair once more, her arms resting on the toy’s that served as the chair’s back. “Now, march in place.”

Toy obeyed instinctively, feeling a rush of pleasure as she obeyed her owner’s commands. Her legs and arms ratcheted stiffly up and down in time to an unseen drummer; moving to the unheard beat. Her boots clicked loudly against the ground, and Toy smiled wider at the sound.

“Salute!”

The command tore through the air, and Toy loudly stomped her foot perfectly next to her other; her right arm snapping to her forehead.

“Address your owner!”

“Toy is ready to serve the Countess!” Toy announced loudly, her smile fixed wide on her face.

“Kneel!”

Toy did as asked, her head stooped low as she awaited her next command.

“Now, look into your owner’s eyes, and pledge yourself to me.”

The Countess’s voice was close; almost impossibly so. Toy looked up slowly to see the woman standing just above her, the back of her hand outstretched to her newest creation.

What passed for Toy’s heart pounded, and she inclined her head to gently lay her cool lips against the back of the Countess’s hand. Then, Toy looked up to stare the Countess in her eyes. “Toy exists only to serve, and will always and only serve her owner. Toy belongs to the Countess, now and forever.”

“Good.” The Countess laughed to herself, a musical tone that filled Toy’s chest with joy. “Now, stand again, salute, and be still while I wind up your sisters.”

Toy happily obeyed, loving how her arm stiffly ratcheted to her head, leaving her perfectly still a moment later. She was her owner’s toy, now and forever. She stayed ramrod-straight, her mechanical heart pounding with anticipation as the sound of keys clicking filled the air.

Toy trembled inwardly. From the sound of it, the Countess was using the other toys to wind each other! She was so clever! But… Why wasn’t she using Toy? Was this something to do with how she was a new recruit to the army? Was it hazing?

Or… Toy’s heart soared as she realized the other keys were clicking in time to her own. Her owner was using her to tune the other soldiers!

The Countess reappeared a moment later, smiling at her latest creation. “Now, then…” She took another step back and raised a hand aloft.

Toy’s eyes clicked up to watch it, and judging from the echoes, she wasn’t alone.

The Countess snapped her hand down with a quick motion, a confident smile on her face. “At ease!”

A chorus of whirring clicks filled the air as Toy and her sisters brought their arms to their sides; still standing straight but now having the opportunity to look around. Toy took advantage of this, glancing around to see that her sisters were all just like her: perfectly made toy soldierettes.

“Hello, I am Toy.” Toy said with a smile, looking to the soldierette she recognized from earlier. She gave the soldierette a dazzling smile to be as friendly as possible.

“Hello, Toy. I am Toy.” The toy returned Toy’s smile with one of her own.

Toy smiled happily. It was so great to be surrounded by like-minded—

“Attention!” The Countess cried, grinning as all of her toys’ eyes widened. There was another wave of motion; this time a thunderclap of cracking as every toy there brought their hands up to their foreheads.

Toy stared blankly ahead, her current train of thought totally obliterated by the command. She had to obey, needed a command, she was ready to serve!

“March!”

Toy obediently began to walk forward, her arms stiff at her sides as she gave her owner her best smile possible, striding forth with an army of soldiers that looked just like her. Her smile widened as she saw the Countess was smiling—it was good to serve!

“About face!”

Toy spun on her heel eagerly, finding herself at the back of the ranks of her fellow soldierettes.

“March!”

The Countess’s words were absolute; they were everything to Toy. She clicked her heels against the ground loudly as she tromped back towards her original site.

“Hold! Turn! Salute!”

The toys all froze, spinning back to face their owner. They smiled widely, clicking their hands to their heads in unison.

“Smile and freeze until you all wind down.” Said the Countess with a smile. Then she turned to leave, her footsteps soon fading in the distance.

Yet though they were all smiling, Toy was sure hers was the widest smile of all. She was a good toy, always a toy, forever a toy. A good toy, always a toy, forever a toy. A good… Toy. Always… Toy. Forever…