Chapter Text
The world ended on a Monday; not that the Fosters knew that as they packed their car to go home. The lake house was completely cut off from the rest of the world, with only an old radio for music and news. They hadn’t bothered to turn it on that morning in the rush to pack everything away, and the sky was clear.
It was their last trip before the school year was due to start. Eliza was going into the 7th grade, an exciting time for a girl who was becoming a young teen.
"Ready to go?" Eliza's father, Tony, asked.
Eliza pouted at him. "No. I wish we could stay forever," she said dramatically.
Tony reached out and mussed her silky, dark auburn hair. "I know, kid. School starts next week though, and we still have to do some shopping."
"I know." Eliza sighed and went inside to grab the last of her bags. Once everything was packed into the Jeep, Tony did one last sweep around the house to make sure was turned off and that they hadn't forgotten anything. After the final check, Tony and Eliza climbed into the car and began the three-hour journey home.
Not wanting to listen to the radio, Tony started up a playlist on his phone to play over the car's speakers while his daughter reclined in the seat next to him, and they talked about what Eliza was excited about for the coming school year.
"I kinda missed my friends," Eliza said at one point.
"Well, we're getting home pretty early, so maybe you can hang out with them after we unpack the car?" he tried to encourage.
Eliza made a vague noise of agreement.
Tony's brow creased in concern, but he didn't push. Eliza was at that age where there were likely to be some growing pains, he seemed to remember from being that age, though he had a feeling it was perhaps a little different for girls. It had to be hard to be entering young womanhood with only a father, Tony thought as he drove. Eliza's mother had passed away a few years ago, and it had just been the two of them since then.
Slowly, the tall pines and vibrant undergrowth gave way to farmhouses and fields, and then finally, tall concrete buildings and narrow streets. The trip had been relaxing, and it was a shame they had to return to the real world. Tony was lucky that he had a good job, as well as a good boss, who understood that family mattered and that Tony was a single father.
"Daddy?" Eliza called out next to him sounding slightly alarmed.
"What is it?" He glanced over at his daughter, but didn't see anything obviously wrong.
Next to him, Eliza was sitting straight up, staring out her window. "Dad, stop! They're hurting that lady!"
Cold panic seized Tony, but there was a car behind him and no parking spaces immediately available. His first thought was the safety of his daughter. He pulled over into the next side street and parked. "Eliza, what did you see? Where?"
She pointed out the window. "That alley over there. It looked like two men had a woman cornered." Eliza turned to look at him, hazel eyes wide. "She looked scared."
Tony tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He wanted to help, and he didn't want his daughter to become someone who was frozen by inaction, but he had an obligation as a father to make sure that she was safe. "Did you catch the street name?" She nodded. "Okay." Tony turned off the car and handed the keys to Eliza. "Keep the doors locked. I'll go check it out while you call the police, alright?"
Eliza nodded, and Tony got out of the Jeep, making sure Eliza had locked the doors behind him before he headed for the alley his daughter had pointed out.
As he got closer, he heard a feminine whimper, and then a very distinct, male grunt. Cold sweat gathered at the small of Tony's back. He wasn't a confrontational man by nature, but he couldn't just stand by and let what he suspected was happening continue.
"Stop struggling," one man grunted. From Tony's perspective, he could only see the backs of two men in plain t-shirts and shorts. One of them had a woman pinned against the concrete wall, while the other watched. The first man was tall with sandy hair and an athletic build. As for the second man, he was slightly shorter - maybe the same height as Tony - with darker hair than the first.
The woman whimpered as the man leaned his weight onto her, catching her hands behind her back in one large hand. She was rather petite-looking, at least in comparison to the man that had her pinned. Her hair fell in long, dark waves over her shoulders, and she wore a tank-top and loose jeans, as was the popular style now. She couldn't have been more than twenty.
He shivered as he watched the man slide his hand roughly up the woman's shirt, grasping at one of her breasts. Tony could only see part of her face, but she looked frightened. There weren't many people out on the sidewalk, but there were some, and they all seemed to be ignoring what was going on in broad daylight.
What the fuck was wrong with these people?
Realizing that he was close to becoming one of them himself spurred Tony into action. "Hey," he called out, and tried not to let any of his nervousness show. Tony was only a little more than average height, with the type of build one got from being outdoorsy, not the gym. He probably wasn't very intimidating to most other men, and probably not to the taller, more muscular-looking guy, but he generally didn't come off as a pushover either.
At first, the men ignored him, continuing their assault on the woman. The blond man that had her pinned was attempting to undo the woman's pants now, and seeing how quickly the situation was turning south, Tony called out again, this time grabbing the shoulder of the man who was watching. "What do you two think you're doing?" he asked incredulously. "You can't just assault people!" Even disregarding the illegality of it, it was just plain wrong.
The man he had grabbed whirled to face him, knocking his hand away roughly. "Mind your own fucking business!" The dark-haired man squinted at Tony. "Unless you wanna get in on it?" he asked.
Tony stared at him, aghast. "No, I don't want any part of this! I'm telling you to stop!" He held up his cell phone so they could see it. "Or I'll call the police." Tony sent up a silent prayer that the threat of law enforcement intervention would be enough to get the men to stop, though he'd already instructed his daughter to make the call. Hopefully, they'd be arriving at any minute.
He caught the woman's gaze, trying to tell her with his eyes how sorry he was for not stopping them directly, but he didn't think he could take either of them on in a fight, and he wanted to do this with as little bloodshed as possible. The look in her eyes wasn't one of up, but someone that was on the verge of resignation.
It was strange. Even though they were creating quite the ruckus, most of the people passing by only glanced over before hurrying on. Also, their city wasn't one known for violent crimes. They were perhaps one of the most peaceful "big" cities around. It just didn't make sense that something like this was happening, and especially in broad daylight, out in the open.
"Go ahead," the man holding the woman against the wall said. He finally had her pants undone and was slipping his fingers beneath the waistband. She whimpered, tears rolling down her cheeks as his hand moved inside the cloth. "They won't do shit."
Tony felt himself go numb at the man's careless attitude. He wanted to believe that what the man said wasn't true, but the way the people on the street kept walking by with only second or third glances, and how the second man was casually watching, a bulge beginning to form in his pants, lent credence to his words. "What do you mean?"
"You don't know?" asked the man who'd only been watching the assault so far. "Where have you been? Under a rock?"
Anger and frustration swept through Tony, grinding his teeth together. "What the fuck are you talking about?!"
"Man, turn on your phone," he scoffed. "They made rape legal."
Numb shock turned Tony's body to stone. "What?" His voice was barely above a whisper.
"It's true," the blond grunted. He was guiding the frightened woman's jeans off of her hips now, letting the fabric drop to the dirty asphalt. She wasn't fighting any longer, just staring blankly into the middle-distance. The blond man pulled down her underwear next. They were a plain blue cotton, Tony noted distantly.
"Excuse me," came an authoritative voice from behind. "We got a report that someone was being assaulted?"
Tony spun around. "Them!" He pointed to the two men. "They're… they're…" He couldn't quite make himself say the words.
One of the officers looked at him with pity and understanding. "You must not have heard about the change in the law this morning."
Behind Tony, he heard the woman cry out, a sharp sound of pain and alarm, followed by a pleased grunt. Tony couldn't make himself turn around to look. "N-no. I don't think I have."
The officer - Tony saw that his name tag said 'Miller' - took him gently by the elbow. "Do you live near here?"
Tony gestured down the street to where he'd parked his car with his daughter locked inside. "I was on my way home when my daughter saw a woman being assaulted."
Miller gently guided him towards his car, his partner following behind them. As they walked away, Tony heard the woman quietly sobbing, and the slap of skin on skin followed by little grunts of pleasure. Tony wanted to be sick.
As they walked, the officer explained in plain terms that a new piece of legislature had been passed and put into effect immediately; due to the rapidly declining birthrates, rape was now legal.
Of course, it wasn't that simple. There were rules. Guidelines. Acts within the new bill that were still considered illegal. One of the obvious ones was that it was still illegal to rape any woman under the age of thirteen. Toby felt cold fear at that one. Eliza had just turned thirteen.
Other limitations included committing other illegal acts to commit the rape; for example, one couldn't commit a B&E in the process of a sexual assault. If they did, that person could be charged and convicted for the B&E. Another was that it had to be for the purposes of making a child; so only penis in vagina rape was legal; anal or oral could still be charged as an assault. Marital rape no longer existed. If a man who was not her husband raped a woman, she could potentially have that man charged with assault as well.
Tony's head swirled with the new information. It sounded like something out of a fictional dystopia. In the distance, he saw his daughter's pale face through the window of the passenger door of the SUV. Jesus, but how was he supposed to explain this to Eliza? She was in the age bracket that made sexual assault on her permissible.
Schools were one of the few places where the new law would not take effect, deemed a safe space for students to learn so as not to disrupt their instruction. However, Tony still had to worry about Eliza getting to and from school. Normally, she took the city bus most of the way, but all kinds of people rode on those. Would he have to drive her to school and pick her up now?
He thanked the officers for their time, though he wasn't sorry for having called them. Both officers seemed to understand and left him with a nod. Just as he was getting back in his car, he saw the men from earlier amble out of the alleyway, laughing as they walked away. Miller, the officer that had done most of the talking, stopped at the mouth of the alley and looked down at something just out of Tony's sight.
Gritting his teeth, Tony got back in his car.
"Dad, what happened?" Eliza asked even before he was fully back in the car. "Is the lady okay?"
Tony stared straight ahead at the steering wheel, trying to process what he'd just learned.
A gentle hand touched his forearm. "Dad?"
He shook himself out of his stupor, turning the car on and checking his mirrors for any oncoming traffic. "Let's go home first. There's some things we need to talk about." Seeing that the way was clear, he pulled back out onto the road.
For a long moment, Eliza was quiet. "Okay," she finally responded.
They spent the rest of the drive home in silence.