Waking the Courage 1

'…Yuki…'

Saki stepped forward towards the man showing that she was not afraid of him and willing to go with him unchallenged. She had questions of her own that she needed to discover and cooperating with him could get her closer.

'I have to get Hitomi out of this…'

When the cell door opened and the vines came to grab Saki she stepped forward letting them wrap around her arm and waist. She was not as covered in plants as Hitomi had been making her believe that there was a degree of respect that she was being given for her attitude. Saki walked out of the cell on her leash that she had been granted and stood next to him waiting for him to move.

The man closed the cell door and began walking down the aisle followed up by Saki a moment later.

All of the others trapped held back half trying to keep from sight and half puzzled by Saki's reactions.

'…I'll come back for you…'

The heavy steel door at the far end of the warehouse that had only been heard and barely seen stood before them ajar waiting. The man of vines pulled the door open giving Saki the lead for the moment. He followed behind her bringing the door to a tight close and placing the thick locking mechanism into place.

The room behind the door was bright from an exposed bulb hanging from the ceiling by only the electrical wiring. It was accompanied by several other bulbs attached at the walls of the room painting all of the surfaces in a bleached white. The amount of light made it difficult to see details or judge the scale of the room. At the center of the room, there were two chairs. One of the chairs had straps at the armrest and back of the chair as well as where the legs would lay. The other was a simple metal chair that was just out of the main pool of light from the ceiling.

Saki looked back towards the door out of the corner of her eye when the echoing noise of the door behind her pounded against the wall. She tried to look around the room in the short moments that she had, but it proved to be futile.

'It looks like an interrogation with all of the lights and the chair. It's making it so hot…'

The man passed by her, keeping the vines wrapped around her, going to the chair that would be meant for Saki. He arranged the straps attached to the chair getting it prepared for use. Once it was readied the vines pulled on Saki forcing her to walk towards the chair. The intention was made clear before by the appearance. Saki had cooperated so far that she was not going to start disobeying even though there was a heavy uncertainty weighing on her shoulders. 'What's he planning?' She sat down in the chair allowing him to tie her down, but she was curious to know the purpose if it was going to be an interrogation.

He released the vines from Saki when he was finished with her. Afterward, the man walked over to the second chair sitting down staring through the void of the black gaps in the vines at Saki. A minute in silence passed before a light shined between them turning into form. Out of the ground came a rectangular box that slowly morphed into a rounded smoothed surface that attached itself with a bolted leg to the cement ground. The still changing form soon became a monitor screen and panel with several holes along the back pointing towards Saki. There was a semi-organic appearance in the strange object that was made from plastic and metal.

The man leaned forward placing his hands on the panel that lit up upon his contact glowing from beneath. In front of him, a static-filled screen shined in his face awaiting an image. His fingers tapped across the panel making a series of low noises before a final louder beep could be heard that signaled an accepted task. Out of the holes came wires with a life of their own flying towards Saki setting her off guard. The wires expanded at the end into flat circles that attached themselves to Saki's forehead and face.

'What's going on? What's he going to do to me?'

Saki did not feel any pain from the wires, but the strange sense that something was about to happen that carried a black dread. She heard beeping sounds from out of the thick light that surrounded her preventing her from seeing. The uncertainty that she had grown to fill her entire body weighing her down and making her start to sweat.

'I can handle this…'

The static on the monitor warped for a moment and cycled starting to warm up in preparation. The final commands were input into the machine by the man. The screen sharply snapped to an image of Saki along with data and vitals running across the bottom. A jolt from the machine sparked through into Saki shaking her body and widening her eyes suddenly as she felt like a needle was being stabbed into her eye. The stabbing pain pierced through scrapping along her mind making her pull and turn in the straps trying to get through the pain.

'It feels…like…something is…invading me…I can't…stop it…'