THE NOVENCENTO UNION (ROGUE LITERATURE)

Your phone vibrates at 3:47 in the morning. An unknown number. You answer half asleep.

“Your application has been approved. You have twelve hours to present yourself. The address will arrive in seven minutes. If you open it early, it will self-destruct and you will lose your place. There are no second chances.”

They hang up before you can say anything.

What application? You haven’t applied for shit. But then you remember: three months ago, drunk, you filled out a bizarre form on a forum you barely even remember anymore. Strange questions. “How much is your dignity worth in euros?” “Would you kill for sexual pleasure?” “If you could erase one memory forever, which one would it be?”

You thought it was a joke. One of those personality tests that tells you what character from some whatever series you are.

At 3:54 a message arrives. Just GPS coordinates and a password: “CATTLE-7734.”

You Google the coordinates. It’s an industrial estate on the outskirts. Nothing special. Abandoned warehouses and empty lots.

You could just not go. Go back to sleep. Forget about it.

But you’re getting dressed before the thought is even finished.

You arrive at 7:23. It’s still dark. There’s a warehouse with a metal shutter half raised. A dim light comes from inside. No cars parked. No sign of life.

You crouch and go in.

The warehouse is empty except for a folding table in the center. On top of it there’s a cardboard box and a manila envelope. Inside the envelope, a contract. Twenty pages of tiny print in legal language you don’t understand. But there’s a summary on the first page:

CONSENSUAL TRANSFORMATION SYNDICATE

Article 1: The Applicant (you) cedes complete bodily autonomy to the Syndicate for a period of 77 consecutive days.

Article 2: The Syndicate commits to returning the Applicant in physically functional condition. Psychological condition is not guaranteed.

Article 3: All modifications will be reversible by approximately 60–80%.

Article 4: The Applicant will be paid €3,000 for each completed day. Single payment at the end. €231,000 total if the program is completed.

Article 5: The Applicant may use the safeword “SLAUGHTERHOUSE” to terminate the contract at any time. He will be paid proportionally for completed days. But he will be permanently marked as “Deserter” in the Syndicate database.

Article 6: There are no cameras. There are no recordings. There is no audience. Only you and the Process.

Article 7: To sign is to consent. To consent is to become material.

There’s a dotted line at the bottom. And a pen.

In the cardboard box there are clothes: an unmarked orange prisoner jumpsuit, rubber flip-flops, and nothing else. And a small electronic device. It looks like a watch but it only has a screen that says: “DAYS REMAINING:...