Well, we have made it to our next chapter, which is shorter than some of my other ones (many of them actually). But other than that, I don't have anything interesting to say. So instead of rambling on incoherently, I'll just stop talking.

Oh, I do have one thing to say. Even though Genji is only 22 years old, I made him have white hair. Why? Well, you know how sometimes when you make a character, you just picture them with a certain hair color? I thought that white hair fit Genji perfectly so I went with that. It doesn't mean that he's old, but just that it suited his personality and I couldn't picture him with any other hair color. Even if it typically doesn't fit in with his actual age, I don't see it as a sign of being old. But who knows, maybe he dyes it white. ^_^

Losing Control

Chapter 25

Takuya stared at Sumiyo uneasily as the woman inspected the scalpel. "What are you going to do with that?"

"I don't know," she mumbled, almost inaudible.

"Maybe you can use that thing to cut the bugs out of your skin," Genji teased maliciously, finishing up one of his dumplings. "You know, dig the little bastards out. Who knows, maybe those cuts will make an improvement in your face."

Takuya threw him an angry look. "Will you shut the fuck up?"

"Don't listen to him," Zoe said to Sumiyo. "He's just trying to mess with your head. Whatever he says, just ignore him."

"I'm giving her some useful advice," Genji told them nonchalantly. "Not only will she be getting those bugs out, but she'll be performing her own plastic surgery."

Hiroki scoffed. "There aren't any bugs, you jackass. You know damn well that it's all in her head."

"At this point, she doesn't know what's real and what's not," the white-haired man shot back. "You can see just how crazy she's getting. She's hopping on the psychotic bandwagon."

"And you're not making things any better," Zoe snapped.

Genji shrugged. "What can I say? I'm good at driving people crazy. Literally."

"Keep it up," Takuya warned him. "See how long it'll be before that spike is shoved up your ass."

"Aw, I thought you wanted it as a sex toy for yourself," he quipped. "It can be your makeshift dildo."

The brunette was about to lunge at him, but Zoe stopped him, placing her hands firmly on his shoulders. "Takuya, don't."

"Why not?" he growled, his chocolate eyes burning into Genji. "He fucking deserves it!"

"I know, but now's not the time," Zoe told him, struggling to keep her grip on him. "He has that spike and you don't have anything. He has an advantage over you and could hurt you."

Takuya grunted. "I don't care. I don't give a shit-"

"Well, I do," she cut him off, taking his face in both hands to make him look at her. "I do care if you get hurt. After everything that's happened, I can't watch anyone else die. Especially if it's you."

His gaze softened and he stared into her eyes. "Zoe..."

Unfortunately, no one had noticed that Sumiyo was already getting to work. While Zoe had been busy trying to calm Takuya down, Kouji and Hiroki had been watching them, as had Genji. None of them had even realized what the lavender-haired woman had been up to. By the time they actually turned to look at her, she was already carving into her own face with the scalpel.

"Sumiyo, what are you doing?" Zoe cried out, horrified.

Sumiyo chuckled softly, the blade sinking deep into her cheek, drawing ribbons of blood. "I'm taking Genji's advice. Not only am I cutting the bugs out, but I'm making myself prettier in the process."

"Don't listen to him!" Takuya snapped. "Stop cutting yourself, you idiot!"

"I think it's a bit late for that," Genji told them, then turned his attention to Sumiyo. "Hey, make sure you get under your chin. I see some of those creepy crawlies moving around under there."

She nodded happily, dragging the silver blade to her chin, sinking it in deeply. Blood seeped down her naked chest, while more of it splashed onto the floor. Everyone struggled not to retch up the food they had recently eaten, appalled by the gruesome scene going on in front of them. Sumiyo smiled delusionally as she continued to cut at herself, causing a few bits of flesh to splatter onto her lap.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Hiroki turned his head and began to dry heave.

"I think you are sick," Genji remarked cruelly, though he seemed rather disturbed by Sumiyo's actions as well.

Sumiyo brought the scalpel up to her nose, her smile growing wider. "This will make me pretty enough. I finally understand what Junichi meant by that inscription in the mirror."

Zoe swallowed back some bile as the blade sank deeply into the woman's nose, feeling her stomach grow more queasy as it was mutilated. Sumiyo then picked at a flap of skin on her nose, ripping it away. Kouji turned his head away, more relieved than ever to have that 'present' from his brother. The black eye temporarily blocked half of his vision, something he was grateful for.

"Stop that," Takuya said thickly, his face contorted with disgust as Sumiyo continued to cut at her face. "You're making things worse."

She shook her head, gouging her cheek even further. "No, I'm making things better. I'll be pretty enough soon..."

"Yeah, because guys are definitely into women who cut their faces off," Genji said with a laugh. "We just love our women with holes in their faces."

Sumiyo seemed immune to the pain, for she wasn't even flinching as the blade scraped into her skin. With each cut, her smile grew wider and her face grew bloodier. She paused for a moment, slipping her index finger into one of the cuts on her forehead.

"What are you doing?" Hiroki choked out, already feeling another wave of nausea coming on.

"I'm getting the bugs out," she replied softly, her finger digging around inside. "I can feel them..."

He covered his mouth, gagging at the disturbing spectacle. However, upon witnessing Sumiyo extract her crimson-stained finger, Hiroki abruptly threw up, emptying his stomach of the food he had just consumed.

Zoe had covered her eyes, unable to watch the woman disfigure herself any further. No matter how many times she or one of the others tried to reason with Sumiyo, their words never affected her. They watched helplessly as Sumiyo scraped and sliced into her flesh.

"I'm gonna be sick," Kouji muttered, moving away from her. "That's fucking nasty..."

"Plastic surgery usually is," Genji commented. "Only difference is that the person is usually asleep while it's done. Oh, and it's normally done by a professional plastic surgeon; not some nutcase with a sharp object."

Sumiyo scanned the room, gazing at each and every person with a disillusioned grin. "Am I pretty enough yet?"

"Yes," Takuya and Zoe responded unanimously, praying that their urgency would stop her.

"You need to work on your lips," Genji told her. "They look like the Joker's."

The brunette glared at him, his body shaking with rage. "WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP?"

"He hasn't shut up since we met him," Kouji quipped, a wry smirk on his face. "I don't think he understands the meaning of those words."

"I understand," the white-haired man calmly remarked. "I just chose not to be quiet."

Takuya growled. "Asshole."

Genji snickered, picking up the spike once again. However, he kept quiet as he stared at the rusted object, his whitish-blue eyes filled with malevolence.

"Am I pretty enough yet?" Sumiyo asked, though her voice was distant and she seemed to be talking to herself more than the others. "Am I pretty enough yet?"

She had already cut her lips, causing her mouth to look slitted near the corners. The scalpel was now near her right eye, resting on the dark circle below it. She began to cut into the skin, only for the blade to suddenly slide over the blood on her face. It slipped directly into her eye, slicing it deeply. For the first time since mutilating herself, Sumiyo let out an ear-splitting scream.

"Shit," Takuya grimaced, turning his head away from the sight.

Sumiyo closed her cut eye, blood seeping from beneath her eyelid as she sobbed loudly. However, despite the injury, she kept slashing the blade across her face, desperately trying to 'fix' it.

Genji threw her a disgusted look. "Well, that wasn't supposed to happen, was it?"

Takuya wrapped an arm around Zoe's shoulders, feeling close to vomitting. The blond continued to keep her eyes closed, shaking as Sumiyo's cries echoed off the walls. Takuya held onto her more tightly, hoping to calm her down. Yet with the sound of flesh being cut and blood being splattered onto the floor, calming down seemed out of the question.

With a wail, Sumiyo carved at her neck, crying crimson from her right eye. "Am I pretty enough yet? AM I?"

At that moment, the scalpel slipped a second time, the blade sinking deep into her throat. It severed an artery in her neck, causing a gush of scarlett liquid to spray out. It stained the wall and floor even further, and Sumiyo opened her eyes wide, her ruined one looking grotesque with its deep cut. Her mouth was gaped open as the blood kept spurting out and seconds later, she toppled over to the side in a puddle of the fluid. Her body became covered in the mess and with a raspy pant, she took a final breath. Sumiyo's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she ceased moving, succumbing to her blood loss.

"Oh, my God..." Zoe stared at the woman's body, her green eyes filled with despair. "She's dead...she's fucking dead..."

"Way to point out the obvious," Genji sneered. "It was clear that Sumiyo was going to be the next to die."

Takuya glowered at him. "Don't fucking snap at her! And Sumiyo might not have gone crazy if it weren't for-"

"Me?" he rudely cut him off. "Open your eyes, you stupid fuck. I might've given her a bit of a push, but you knew that she was going to lose her mind one way or another. I already knew that she was going to cut herself with that fucking thing. We could see it in her fucking expression that she was considering that. So I gave her the idea to speed things up a bit."

"That's not the point!" Takuya practically yelled. "The point is that you're the cause of every fucking thing that's going on right now! You're the cause of all this shit that we're going through!"

Genji raised an eyebrow incredulously. "I'm pretty sure that he's the cause of it since he's the one who put us in this shithole in the first place."

He gestured to the video camera, from which Junichi was witnessing everything with malicious intrigue. It was sickening how thrilled he became from their misery.

"That's seven," Hiroki said numbly. "Seven people are dead..."

"And there are only five of us left," Kouji added, his expression dark. "Five out of twelve..."

Zoe shook her head in disbelief, sinking down a bit. "How the hell did this happen? Why is this shit happening to us? What did we do to deserve this?"

The last sentence came out as an angry demand rather than a horrified question. Everyone was wondering the same thing, though it was clear that they hadn't done anything to deserve it. They had simply gone to the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Well, Genji deserves it because he's a dickhead," Takuya snarled after a moment.

"You sound like a damn fourth-grader with your accusations. It's not like I stole your lunch money or anything, Kanbara," the white-haired man quipped.

"Oh, fuck you!" he shot back.

Kouji moved away from Sumiyo's body even further, going as far as his chain allowed him to. He wiped the back of his hand against his clammy forehead, unwittingly smearing it with his brother's blood as he did so. His body had grown increasingly warm and he felt light-headed at the same time.

"We're all going crazy," Hiroki murmured, then let out a small laugh. "Wonder who's going to flip their lid next. I think it'll be me."

"Don't say that," Zoe told him, though her voice cracked.

He sighed with defeat. "Why not? You know it's true that we're all going insane here. And I really think I'll be the next to go. You and Takuya have each other for support, so that's helping you two a bit. Kouji's coping surprisingly well with what happed to Kouichi, so he seems to be hanging on onto his wits for now. And Genji's just an emotionless douchebag. I'm almost on the verge of telling Junichi to put me out of my misery."

"You have a family," she reminded him. "You can't just give up now."

"I failed them, though." Hiroki gazed listlessly at the floor. "I completely fucked things up with my wife, and she doesn't even know about it. And I can't be there for my son anymore. I want to be with them, but I know damn well that I won't be leaving this place."

"I feel the same way," Takuya admitted. "I honestly don't think that I'll ever get out of this hellhole. I don't think any of us will. But I'm not going out without a fucking fight. I'm not going to just roll over and die to make that bastard happy and give him those stupid results that he's looking for."

Genji smirked. "He did have an interesting idea with this shit. It would be intriguing to see the military injected with this crap to make them killing machines. But it's too bad that we were the ones stuck being the test dummies for this experiment."

"Life has a weird fucking way of panning out," Kouji grumbled emotionlessly. "None of us ever should've been dragged into this shit. Some could say that it's our own fault for our stupidity, but who else wouldn't have done what we did?"

Zoe brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "I doubt that many people would've done things differently."

Takuya growled, his eyes narrowing. "We could've pushed the damn car out of the pothole like I had suggested. But Kouji over there decided that he didn't want to get a little wet."

"Oh, so now you're going to blame me for this?" the raven-haired man scoffed.

"Well, if we had pushed the van out of the damn hole, we could've driven away and not be stuck in this fucking situation!"

Zoe looked at him sharply. "Takuya, we had already established that it was too dangerous to drive in the weather. Even if we had pushed the van out, the storm was getting too severe. Remember how hard the hail was coming down? Driving in that type of weather would've been an accident waiting to happen. So don't blame this on Kouji. It's not his fault. Hell, it's none of our faults. But what else could we have done?"

"We could've stayed in he car," he grumbled.

"But the hail was cracking the windshield and the van was beginning to leak," she shot back. "We had no choice but to get out before it shattered all over us. We could've been killed if that were the case."

He snorted with contempt. "Yeah, and if that had been the case, then at least we would've died instead of ending up in this shithole!"

Zoe sighed wearily, sitting back against the wall. "Well, I'm just telling you how it is. I can't blame you for being upset about this, but in all reality, there was really nothing we could've done differently. I'm sorry, Takuya."

"I was in the same boat as you guys," Hiroki added quietly. "I couldn't push my car out by myself and I didn't have any cell phone reception. So I came here to see if I could get any help. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind, though..."

"My question is, how did Junichi manage to get all of our cars out?" Kouji thought aloud, his expression glassy. "If what he said is true, he took our cars and did something with them. But how did he do it if they were all stuck in potholes?"

"It's called a tow truck, you moron," Genji responded dryly.

Takuya thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I can't think of any other way he could've done it. They couldn't be driven or pushed out, so he must've used a tow truck."

"Good job, Sherlock," the white-haired man mocked. "You've cracked the case!"

Takuya growled. "I'll crack your head in a minute if you keep it up."

"I wish you the best of luck in your attempt," Genji remarked flatly.

Kouji suddenly crawled over to Sumiyo's body, trying not to gag as he approached it. With shaky hands, he took hold of the bloodied scalpel.

"What are you doing?" Hiroki questioned.

"Making sure this fucker can't get something else he shouldn't have," he replied, moving back to his regular spot as he glowered at Genji. "It's bad enough that he has that damn spike."

Genji chuckled, spinning the metal object around in his hand. "What, this thing? It's not that bad."

"I'm not even going to say anything," Takuya mumbled as he rolled his eyes.

The room remained silent for several seconds as everyone sat there, trying to avoid looking at Satoshi's and Sumiyo's corpses. The air was filled with death and despair, and with each passing fatality, the others felt themselves slipping closer to the same fate. More often than not, there was at least one body in the room, for even when they were dragged out, another person seemed to meet their end as well before long.

"I wonder if anyone's tried looking for us," Zoe murmured to no on in particular. "You think our families reported us as missing?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Takuya said tiredly. "We haven't spoken to anyone since leaving, and I'm sure that they've tried calling us by now. We wouldn't just not answer, so hopefully they realized that something's wrong."

Hiroki gazed up at the ceiling with deadpan eyes. "Amaya was the last person I talked to. I told her not to bother calling me since I hate driving while on the phone. I said that I would call her as soon as I got to my destination, but...I never made it there. She's probably beside herself with worry. I wish I could at least let her know that I'm alive."

"For now at least," Genji interjected dryly. "But for how much longer? I think that the rest of us will be gone within the next twenty-four hours."

Takuya threw a hateful glare at the camera. "Damn lunatic. I hope the fucking cops find out what's going on and arrest his crazy ass."

"I don't know," Zoe replied numbly. "I hope so, too. But the longer we go through this, the less I think there's any chance of us getting away."

"And even if we do somehow get away, you know that we'll be messed up in the head," Genji added. "So we'll go from one hellhole to the next, which will probably be an insane asylum."

Kouji laughed humorlessly. "I honestly don't think we're ever getting out of here. Four more people will die, leaving one left. And that person will probably be used for another experiment or just killed by Junichi. It's a lose-lose situation."

Hiroki looked at the spike in Genji's hand longingly, a million thoughts running through his mind. Maybe I should just go over there and beg for him to kill me. But...I can't fucking reach him. Or can I?

To answer his question, he tugged at his chain, hoping that more slack would be extracted from the wall. However, it only yielded a few extra inches, and with Genji across the room, there was no way he would've been able to reach him.

Maybe he'll let me use that spike to kill myself, he thought to himself. Then again, I doubt he's going to give that thing up any time soon. He looks like he wants to use it on Takuya. Hell, he probably wants to use it on all of us but is waiting until he gets the right opportunity to do so.

He sighed, running a hand through his short-cropped hair. It felt a bit oily, as he hadn't been able to shower to wash the unpleasant feeling away. He also needed a shave. His beard stubbled had grown longer, above his normal liking as it began to itch.

Looks like I'll just have to suffer in this place for a little while longer. Hiroki looked back and forth between the two corpses, repulsed but unable to look away. And then I'll be joining the other sorry bastards who couldn't get out of here alive. I just hope it's soon...

Meanwhile

Junichi stood in front of a cabinet, gazing at his collection of serums. There were four of them that he was studying, but he put one of them away, deciding not to use it any longer. There were only three that he was interested in, and he intended to use those in combinations with each other. It was time to inject his subjects with more than just one serum each, as he wanted to see how they would react with each other.

He walked back over to his desk, where there were twelve hollowed chains sticking out of the wall. Wanting to move things along to the next phase, he looked at the five chains that were attached to the remaining survivors. Junichi injected the chosen chemicals into the small IVs that were hooked up to the chains, which would send the liquids to the wearers of the collars. However, there was a space in between the walls, where extra length of the chains were stored until he saw fit to adding onto them. Through that space was the white room itself, where his prisoners were kept. Although the chains were removable from the collars, each had a tiny valve that could be linked to the collar directly, which would then allow the serums to be pumped into them. It seemed like a complicated mechanism, but Junichi had perfected it to the point where it worked without any mishaps.

"Okay, there have been two more deaths," the man mused to himself. "And I now have five people left. Now that they're going to be injected with the most powerful dosages and chemicals, I wonder how things will pan out. How soon will the next victim perish? And who will it be?"

He reverted his gaze to look at one of the television screens, taking a moment to observe his test subjects. Everyone was trying their best to avoid looking at Satoshi and Sumiyo in the blood-splattered room, and Junichi thought he could see Kouji and Zoe rocking a bit in their traumatized states. Hiroki appeared to be muttering to himself, while Takuya and Genji were exchanging hateful glowers, each of them looking ready to rip the other one's head off.

"Maybe they will," Junichi said quietly with a chuckle. "Let's push this little button and find out."

With that, he pressed a button on the wall, the one that controlled the chemicals getting transfered through the chains. It would take only seconds for the process to be completed. Only this time, he chose not to knock his victims out first. It would be more exciting this way and there wouldn't be as much waiting.

In the white room

Takuya jolted and hissed through his teeth as the needle sprang from the back of his collar, sinking deeply into his neck. The others had the same reaction, all of them grabbing at the bruised backs of their necks. Zoe whimpered softly as she felt the warm liquid being pumped into her, quickly feeling it coursing through her system.

Genji grunted as he, too, was injected. "Can't this fucker...get some new needles? Dammit..."

Seconds later, the syringes were extracted, disappearing back into the metal collars. Hiroki panted as his sore began to throb, signalling that Genji was right about Junichi needing to replace the needles. Kouji swallowed, keeping down a wave nausea as the stinging sensation traveled up and down his spine.

"We're going to die of infections soon," Takuya grumbled, clearly in discomfort. "Fucking asshole."

Zoe moaned in pain, reaching down the back of her collar to feel her skin. It was excrutiating to the touch, and she could tell that it was, in fact, growing increasingly infected.

If I'm going to die, don't let it be from a slow and painful infection, she thought bitterly to herself, wincing as her wound throbbed.

Takuya gazed at the others one at a time, puzzled that not only was he not passing out, but none of the others were either. What the hell is going on? he wondered. Why aren't we out cold? It usually only takes a few seconds to feel the effects of that fucking chemical.

Yet as the minutes passed, the five remaining subjects continued to stay awake and alert. However, as that time went by, they could quickly feel the effects of the serums that Junichi had pumped into them. Their bodies began to heat up and their breathing grew more rapid and shallow. They soon no longer felt the sore areas on the backs of their necks, and Kouji couldn't feel the throbbing in his black eye. It was still swollen shut, but it wasn't pulsating. Genji soon became oblivious of the pain from his cuts and bruised face, the sensations rapidly disipating.

"What's going on?" Takuya asked aloud, his voice low. "Why aren't we passing out like we usually do after we get injected with that shit?"

Hiroki glanced up at the camera, his hand over his chest, where he could feel his heart pounding. "I think Junichi's taking things up another notch..."

And this is where the chapter ends! I know, I'm a bitch. But hey, everyone will probably like the next chapter and I decided that this one was long enough. Anyway, please read and review, then keep a lookout for the next chapter.