4: Oh, the Pain!
Over the next si days Vilthuril lay in the cage with fear, poor food & surrounded by normal creatures with strange features; she couldn't work out what was going on, until a rat with si tails told her about it.
"You see," the rat told her, "They capture wild animals alive, they give food to keep them alive, the food is poor because it's easier for them, then after a few days each animal is given one test; that means they take an animal out, do weird things to it & return it back here where they keep watch on it to see what happens. Some animals get free, others are killed when they're usefulness has ended." This shocked Vilthuril terribly, it was only a matter of time before she became eth of the bizarre creatures; this also gave her si fears, she'd either be killed once the men were finished with her or she'd live a life of humiliation with features that could make even those close to her, fear her!
Meanwhile, back on Watership Down, Hazel-rah had finally decided on what to do to rescue Vilthuril, he was holding a restricted meeting in the Honeycomb; it consisted of all of those chosen for the expedition. There was Fiver, needed for advice when his omens flare up again; Bigwig, for guidance towards the location where Vilthuril was; Blackberry, for helping them avoid & get out of problems; and Hazel-rah himself, for motivation. Whilst they were away the warren would be governed entirely by Hyzenthlay-rah, due to Hazel's idea of instating a female rah as well as remaining as male rah himself (see 'Tales from Watership Down'). As Hazel-rah moved to the middle of the group they all went quiet in anticipation of what he was about to say.
"Comrades," He spoke, "I've decided that the best way to save Vilthuril would be that we all go in the direction she went, we should be able to find Vilthuril by scent; remember to try and avoid too much contact with men! Who here would be able to come on this mission?" They all cheered with agreement, this was clear enough so they left the Honeycomb, made their farewells, Hazel-rah instated Hyzenthlay-rah as only rah of the warren whilst he was away, and they set off to the South-East.
About 30 minutes later, back in the lab, a man came into the room where the animals were kept and he headed straight for Subject #229; wearing rubber gloves, he opened the cage & lifted her from where she was, for some reason he could not fathom she didn't attempt to escape, and he left the room with her in his arms.
By the time he'd got to the testing room she suddenly began to start trying to escape, if it wasn't for his fast reflexes she would've got away by now. With a firm hold on her he pushed the testing room door open and entered with her, still firmly held in his arms.
Vilthuril was starting to lose appetite from worrying when she noticed a man enter the room, covered in white clothes; he moved over to her cage & opened her cage. This immediately brought Vilthuril to realise that the time for her test had come, the terror of what might happen to her was so intense, now; that she'd become tharn with the fear. This enabled the man to pick her up easily & carry her silf of the room.
'This is it,' she thought, 'I'm going to become so unusual I wouldn't even be called a rabbit!' After a short while she decided that she might as well try to get away and, so, she started to struggle, but the man made his grip more firm, this proved to Vilthuril that she'd be unable to escape the test! She stared around her as she was brought into the test room with fear and awe.
As the man put Subject #229 on the table, she tried to jump off but was stopped by another man behind her. At this the man that brought her in nodded to the lab assistant and left.
Now a scientist entered the room carrying a syringe, containing the cancer counter-balancing drug, and stood by the table whilst Subject #229 was clamped down on the table with steel hoops; at this the assistant turned on the sun-bed that was being held over the table to infect Subject #229 with skin cancer. When it was certain she had cancer, which she did, the sun-bed was turned off and the scientist moved forward, put the syringe down on a nearby trolley & looked at his watch, waiting for the moment to inject the drug.
When Vilthuril found herself on the table, she attempted to get free, but another man had pinned her from behind; she watched as the man who brought her in left, after which another man carrying a frightening & pointy object entered. Now she found herself being held down at her paws, by iron shapes that prevented escape; after which she felt a terrible burning sensation on her back as a blue light fell upon her body, the terrible discomfort didn't end when the blue light was turned off, it reached deep into her skin; the absence of the blue light, however, made the pain start to fade away. This didn't stop her fear, though, she was always distressed in this room because she was afraid of what she'd become after the test.
After a short while the man with the pointy thing, picked it up again and moved towards her, rubbed her thigh with something soft & damp and stuck the pointy thing into her, the pain made Vilthuril attempt to struggle but the iron shapes stopped her even from doing this. But the pain soon went away after an even shorter while, after which she was unclamped & brought back to the cage in the animal room, where she lay trembling. 'This is it,' she thought, 'I've been through the happening and it won't be long before I become too unusual to be a true rabbit.'