More Agony for the Rabbits

"What do you think that is?" I ask her. I immediately realize that this was a stupid idea and she'll just give another annoyingly vague answer.

Surprisingly, though, she doesn't. "That looks kind of like a geiger counter," she said. "Sounds kind of like one too. From what he said, though, it should be doing something to us."

"Doesn't seem like it is, though. The food didn't either, so he's probably just trying to keep us on edge for some reason. If that's a detector, I wonder what it's supposed to detect."

"You know, I just had a thought," said Jane. "Maybe the rabbits were at the casino because they're not from this universe either, and the casino is one of the endpoints of some kind of multiversal dimensional nexus. I vaguely remember having gotten here through a bunch of corridors. The cage we were originally in only seemed large enough for two rabbits, but when these people captured us, there seemed to be a lot of empty cages. Maybe the arabs, if that's what they were, put cages at other endpoints too."

I find myself laughing out loud. I can't believe I just heard someone use a term like "multiversal dimensional nexus" in real life with a straight face. Then I get this weird tingling all over my skin. I writhe around and scream as the tingling sharpens into pain.

And I am running alone in the streets at midnight. The rain is pouring down and I am trying not to slip, but I can't slow down because they almost have me. I'm running too fast to get a sense of what the surroundings are like. I catch a flash of bright red hair reflected in a rain puddle. Hoping it will buy me some time, I try to duck into a darkened building but the door won't open. Furious, I push on the door handle as hard as I can, and eventually it comes open with a loud click. I don't have much time--I know they heard that. Should I keep running, or should I go inside? I hear what I think is a footstep behind me and jump inside. The hallway is almost totally dark. There seems to be a weird swirling in the darkness ahead of me, but I don't care and run into it.

I stop writhing and slump to the floor. Jane is lying beside me. Were those her memories I just experienced? Just who was she running from, anyway? I try to ask her, but my mouth is dry and I can't open it. The man is laughing maniacally and leaves the room. I guess he got whatever it is he wanted.

After a few incredibly long minutes, two troopers arrive with water and place it in our cage. One is male, with red hair and freckles, and one is female, with tanned skin and dark blonde hair. Both are tall and have an athletic build. In fact, they seem to have exactly the same height. I'm glad they brought water to us and I'm sure Jane is too, but then they pick us up and kiss us. I feel like screaming as I black out again and come to finding myself in the trooper's body. The rabbit that used to be the trooper struggles in my hand.

I am about to try to say something to Jane, but then the man comes in again with three troopers dressed like the helmeted ones from earlier. "Come with us," he says. "This won't take long." I look into the eyes of the body Jane's inhabiting now, probably seeming uneasy. I'm not sure I can trust her any more after what I just went through. Had she just been pretending to be vague earlier to hide something from me? She seems to feel about me the way I feel about her. I find myself wondering whether it's because of something she's afraid I know about her or something she knows about me. The way I got into the black void was more mundane than for her, but I have no idea what my life was like before that.

But I can't reflect for long. The troopers grab us roughly and march us down what feels like several miles of unchanging white corridor. Eventually, we reach a large white room with an enormous black machine in it. "We'll just run a few more tests," said the annoying bastard. "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit. Actually, no. It'll hurt a lot." And then he laughed that annoying laugh of his again, even louder and more maniacal this time.

1. But what choice did we have? There seemed to be no way I could get out of wherever this is, so I allow myself to be strapped in.
2. I'm not taking any more of this. I punch out the guard and try to escape.

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