Hybrids: Chapter One

There was a long, bored sigh that echoed into Yagi’s room. “Are you always just going to be a creep? There’s gotta be a reward out there somewhere for being one.” Sako asked as he watched Yagi through the vent. “You can stare at them all you want, but it won’t change anything. It never does.”

“I’m not a creep,” Yagi replied, merely glancing at Sako’s direction. He had been sitting on his bed staring at the mirror since he had woken up that morning. He was trying to think of another plan to get out.

Sako chuckled. “Nah, you kinda are. You’ve been staring at them for what? Five hours?”

“I’m not a creep.” He repeated. “You’re the creep for spying on me.”

“Well, then either you’re a creep or you're in a mood.” He said. Yagi could hear him sit down on his bed and rest his back on the wall. “So, which is it?”

“Neither.” He snapped. “I’m thinking.”

Sako clicked his tongue, “Ah, so it's a mood. Is it because of today?”

Today Doctor came in to check on them. He did every Tuesday. He would simply come to make sure they were taking their vitamins and medications.

“No,” Yagi replied. “It’s not that.”

“Have you eaten breakfast?”

“No. It’s drugged.”

Yagi could practically hear his eyeroll. “Probably because you need to try this thing called sleeping. Did you know sleeping is actually good for you?”

Yagi rolled his eyes.

“Has he seen you yet?” Sako asked to break the awkward silence.

“No.”

“Same over here. I think he’s late. Isn’t that weird? He’s never late. He’s usually a perfectionist about that sort of thing, you know?”

“Yeah. It’s strange.” Yagi replied flatly. If anything, he was more suspicious than curious like his friend. Sakuro was right, Doctor was never late.

A door opened in Sako’s room followed by another long sigh from his friend. “Well speak of the devil.” Sako suddenly said, not too enthusiastically.

“Sakuro, apologies for being late.” Doctor‘s voice told him, “Have you taken your morning medication?”

He hesitated, “Uh, for the sake of your sanity, my answer is yes.”

“Sakuro! I told you; you have to take it!”

“But it’s so gross! Plus, it makes me really tired too.” Sako protested.

“Well it’s either that or a shot. Which one do you prefer.”

“Pill. But I still hate being so tired.”

“I’ll give you a lighter dosage but, Sakuro, you must take it. Every day. No matter how gross it may taste or how tired it makes you.”

Yagi could practically hear Sako’s scowl. He laughed and then realized he shouldn’t have. They slid a thing over the vent making it impossible to hear Sako. He scowled as he looked at the mirror, “Since when is it a crime to laugh, jerks?”

Of course, no one answered. No one ever did.

Thirty minutes later Doctor came in with the Nurse right behind him. Yagi growled at him, “What? Did Sako rat on me?”

Doctor sent him his usual warm smile that met his tired blue eyes. He disregarded Yagi’s question and got right to business. “How are you feeling? I heard that you haven’t been eating, sleeping, or drinking much.”

“I feel fine. I’m not thirsty or hungry and I’m not tired.” He answered. He looked at Nurse with a watchful eye to make sure she wouldn’t try to sneak drugs into him.

Nurse caught his gaze and smiled as she gently took his arm to see his blood pressure and then stopped. She ran a finger on the inside of his elbow and frowned. “Doctor, look how dehydrated he is. You can’t see his veins.”

Yagi glared at her and pulled his arm away from her grasp. “I’m not dehydrated. I’m not thirsty either.” Yagi told her. He looked at Doctor’s blue eyes. “I’m not.”

Doctor came over to look anyway, gently taking his arm and examining it. “Yagi,” He started in a scolding voice, “you can’t tell me you’re not thirsty if you look like this. When was the last time you had water or anything to drink?”

Maybe two days ago. It’s when he figured out his food and water was drugged. He had taken one sip and then later felt incredibly tired. He actually was thirsty. He would die for a drink. The small increments he allowed himself throughout the day was torture. “Looks can be deceiving.” He simply told Doctor with a shrug. His light blue eyes darted over to Nurse.

“So can words.” She countered.

Yagi rolled his eyes as Doctor went on to say, “I want you to drink a glass of water.” He turned to Nurse, “Go get him some please.”

“I’m not thirsty.”

Doctor gave him a look, “I’ll force it down your throat if need be.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I’ll bite you first.” He warned.

Doctor put his clipboard down and sat on the bed next to Yagi. His blue concerned eyes met Yagi’s. He asked in a low tone, “What’s wrong? You can trust me, you know that. Come on, talk to me.”

Yagi hesitated. Doctor was right. He wasn’t like the one before him that was cruel and hurt them. Doctor was more patient and kinder and liked a conversation. But Yagi didn’t trust him fully just yet. Sure, it had been four years now, but what if this was just an act? He thought for a moment more. If he didn’t say anything Doctor would know something was up but if he did say something maybe he could dimmish Doctor’s concern. Yagi shook his head. “I don’t want anything and there’s nothing to talk about.”

“Are you worried someone will try to drug you?” Doctor pressed.

He shook his head. A lie. He knew from past experience that drugging them was their idea of a solution if the person was being defiant and refusing the treatment.

Doctor thought for a moment. “Are you scared to sleep?”

“No.” Another lie. Whenever he slept it wasn’t peaceful. Horrible nightmare tormented him every night without remorse.

He sighed. “Yagi, there is something wrong. You need to tell me what it is. You don’t want to end up so bad that I have to move you somewhere else so I can keep a close eye on you.”

Nurse walked in with a tall glass of water and handed it to Doctor before leaving to retrieve more water in a pitcher. He held the glass out to Yagi, “At least drink half and I’ll leave you be.”

He shook his head, pushing the glass away, “No.”

“Why?” He took a sip, “Look, even I drank from it. It’s not poisoned or drugged, see?”

Yagi scowled in disgust. “No, but now it’s contaminated.”

Doctor glared at him, “Drink or I’ll force you to.”

Yagi look directly into the threatening eyes and stood his ground. “No.”

“Give me a real answer then. Give me one good reason why you should drink anything,” He said sternly, putting the glass down on a table next to the bed.

Yagi flinched back. Doctor never had that tone with him. He looked Doctor in the eye, searching if this was fake but it was real. Doctor would really force him to drink if there wasn’t a good reason.

Admitting defeat, Yagi scoffed and looked away, “Fine. Yeah, you’re right. I think they are trying to drug me, and I don’t want to sleep.”

Doctor immediately looked concerned again and Yagi hated it. “Why don’t you want to sleep? Aren’t you tired?”

He nodded and frowned. He looked down at the bed and messed with a loose thread on his blanket, “Yeah, but I know they’ll keep me under and lock me to the bed once I pass out after drinking the water.”

Doctor put a comforting hand on Yagi’s shoulder and tried to get him to look at his eyes. “Because it’s for the best. How about I make a deal with you?”

Yagi glanced up at him and back to the blanket, his interest intrigued. He shrugged, “Depends on your proposal.”

“How about I give you something to drink of your choice, it’ll be drugged. But you’ll only be asleep for five hours. After that for dinner, I’ll let you choose what you want to eat, drug-free.”

Yagi frowned, “You’ll still lock me down.”

“We’ll release you. I will personally release you.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “Yagi, we only lock you down because you’re under such heavy sedatives that we don’t want you to hurt yourself if you aren’t fully aware and try to walk around. But we don’t ever like doing this against your will. This is why if you agree, it will be much easier for everything moving forward. Do you understand that? I promise, Yagi, I will release you.”

Yagi nodded and drank the not drugged water and then another full cup of water was drugged. After the first cup he felt still so thirsty, and the second drink met the thirst.

When he woke up, he was restrained to the bed. But to his word, Doctor came and let him go. For dinner, Yagi asked for some potatoes, chicken, and peas. Doctor kept his word there too. As Yagi ate dinner he thought about Doctor.

Maybe he could trust Doctor.

They stood outside a building, the facility, Yagi guessed. Freedom was the only word that echoed in the screaming air around them. But it felt as if someone was missing. Someone was lost in the facility as smoke began to pour out of the windows. Someone was unable to meet them on the other side. At the door there were bullet casings and trail blood that met his feet. Someone was screaming outside to him to get out. Run, they screamed. But Yagi stood waiting. He couldn’t move, he felt it was his due diligence to wait for the person. No one was allowed to be left behind. Suddenly flashlights and lasers pointed at his face and terror flooded his body. Chains shot out from the facility and wrapped around his limbs. Freedom calling out his name in the calming wind. “Get out! Run!” A woman yelled from inside. But it was too late. Yagi was captured.

Yagi woke up the next morning still very tired from the remnants of the sedatives. When the lights turned on, he pulled the sheets over his head and tried to go back to sleep hoping the dream wouldn’t continue as well as the piercing headache that taunted him. As he tried to go back to sleep, he could hear Sakuro working out. He was always the first to wake up. At first, he tried to ignore Sakuro and act like he never woke up, but a groan of pain from the headache escaped his lips.

“Yagi, are you awake?” Sakuro asked as he did his routine of pushups.

Yagi frowned and tried to ignore him, but Sakuro started to call his name.

Yagi groaned in annoyance and pulled his pillow over his head. “Knock it off, Sako. I’m tired.”

Sakuro paused his workout. “Why? Because of those drugs?” He asked.

Yagi nodded, “Yeah. It gave me an awful headache too.”

Sakuro coughed for a moment and cleared his throat before asking another question, “Are you gonna go back to sleep or stay awake for a bit?”

“Sleep, but I can’t sleep if you keep talking.”

“Oh sorry.” Sakuro mumbled. His feelings obviously hurt.

Yagi figured his friend would forget about it as soon as he resumed his work out and with that he dozed off for another hour, remnants of the dream still flashing in his mind. Around breakfast, one of the staff members woke him up. Yagi waited for them to leave before sitting up. He put a heavy hand to his head as he felt the room spin and nausea flooded over him. He sat there for a moment as he waited for it to stop. When it did, he made his way to the table to eat his breakfast consisting of eggs, toast, and bacon thinking maybe some substance would ease the nausea. Yagi slumped into the chair and rested his head into his palm as he ate. His eyes became heavy, so he ate with his eyes closed.

“Damn drugs.” He muttered before taking a bite. He threw the fork into his plate and rubbed his eyes. But he found no relief from the drowsiness.

He took a drink of cold water to try to wake up, but he was still so tired. He gave up with a sigh and pushed the plate of food away and folded his arms on top of the table with his head resting on them. He needed a little more rest and was too tired to walk to his bed.

Someone shook his arm and when he opened his eyes it was Doctor. Yagi scowled and turned his head the other way. “Go away.”

“Still tired?”

He nodded and Doctor gently pulled him to feet, Yagi was too tired to fight him. Standing behind Yagi, Doctor put his hands on his arms to guide Yagi back to the bed. “I still need to give you a shot so I’m going to have you sit on your bed. That way you can fall asleep after.”

Yagi frowned as he shuffled over to the bed, eyes still closed. “No more drugs. I’m too tired to take anymore.”

“No, it’s just medicine. Sakuro just had his. As you can imagine it was a whole ordeal with him since he hates needles.”

Yagi sat on the bed and kept his eyes closed in exhaustion as Doctor prepped his arm for the needle. As soon as the shot was done Yagi fell onto his back trying to go back to sleep.

Doctor chuckled and tossed a light blanket over Yagi. “You’ll feel much better tomorrow. Rest a bit. You’ll feel better soon.”

Yagi put an arm over his eyes to block out the light in the room. “Can you give me something for the nausea?”

He could hear Doctor’s steps fading towards the door. “No not after this shot. But sleep will help.” With that he left, leaving Yagi alone to sleep for a little while.

“Sakuro, I swear if you keep waking me up with your coughing I’m going to lose my mind.” Yagi growled as he was stirred awake a couple hours later.

Sakuro cleared his throat. “Sorry. I must be catching a cold.”

Yagi scowled. “Keep your germs to yourself. A cold is the last thing I need. Especially with this damn headache.”

He coughed again before scoffing and replying “Rude.”

Yagi only shrugged and then tried to go back to sleep. Throughout the night he would be startled awake by coughing but Sako would assure him it was only a cold, and everything was fine. Every time Yagi would go back to sleep.

This happened off and on throughout the next morning as well. When Yagi woke up the next morning, he no longer felt drowsy, nauseous, or had the headache. But he was hungry and scarfed down his breakfast as Sakuro told him how bored he was when Yagi slept all day, only to be interrupted with periodical coughing fits.

“Are you sure it’s just a cold, Sako?” Yagi asked after he swallowed his last bite of food. “The coughing sounds like it’s getting worse.”

Sakuro continued to cough and it worried Yagi that he wouldn’t be able to catch his breath if it continued to worsen. After another moment and catching his breath Sakuro replied, “Yeah, I’m sure. I feel awful too. It must be a cold. Doctor gave me some medicine today, but I don’t think it did much.”

Yagi smirked, “Leave it to you to have a mystery illness or be the first to catch a cold.”

“It’s just a cold.” Sakuro assured.

The two chatted for the rest of the day but their conversations would continue to be interrupted by fits of couching from Sakuro. The more he coughed the more Yagi grew worried. The coughing fits were longer and more violent causing Sakuro’s voice to be hoarse by the end of the night.

Finally, after begging Doctor for something to help with his coughing, Doctor gave him some medicine to help him sleep hoping when he woke up in the morning, he would feel better. At first it seemed like the medicine seemed to do something.

But Sakuro still continued to cough.

*****

Groaning woke him up that night. Yagi tried to go to sleep thinking it was in his head, but it didn’t stop. Yagi sat up and listened making sure it wasn’t his imagination that had woken him up from his sleep. The groaning continued and sounded more desperate as they went on. Yagi got out of bed trying to figure out where it was coming from. Yagi froze when he realized.

Startled, Yagi stood up on his bed and called Sako’s name, straining his ears to pick up any sort of reply from his friend.

“Sako? Sako, are you okay?” As he tiptoed on the bed trying to see his friend.

All Yagi could see was Sako pull his legs in closer as he groaned again. “No…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I missed my…” He groaned again, “my medicine. I spit out the pill Doctor gave me.”

Yagi tried further to gain height so he could see his friend more clearly. “Are you sure that’s it? You’ve never done this before in the past.” Yagi asked. “This isn’t normal, Sako!”

The groaning intensified. “Has to be.”

“Where does it hurt?”

He groaned again, “Everywhere. It hurts everywhere. I feel like every bone in my body is gonna break and its hard to breathe.”

“Do you want me to call someone?”

He groaned loudly and let out a sob. Yagi felt panic in his chest, “Sakuro, are you crying?”

He never cried anymore. Not since he met Yagi all those years ago.

“No…I’m just coughing.” Another cry escaped his lips, displaying his lie.

The panic rose even more. “Sako, that’s a lie! I can hear you!”

“Then why did…you ask, you damn idiot?!” Sako yelled through choked cries, “Yagi please get help. I can’t take this anymore.

Yagi nodded at the command and jumped off his bed and began to bang his fist against the two-way mirror “I know there are people there! You have to help Sakuro! He needs help!”

He went back to the vent when he saw a light flick on under his door signaling that people were coming down the hallway. “They’re coming, Sako. Just hang in there, okay? You’re going to be fine!”

It seemed like forever for them to unlock his friend’s door. But when three men rushed in, they all paused mid-step in surprise. “What the hell….?” One man breathed.

“Some get the doctor in here!” Another yelled. He pushed through the two stunned men and ran over to Sakuro’s side. “What is that black stuff?”

“Sakuro! What happened?!” The third asked, stepping closer,

They flicked on his light and that’s when Yagi saw it. The light revealed that at the end of Sako’s cot there was a small splatter of red. Yagi saw them make him sit up on the end and he had blood all over him. He cried in his pain as they helped move him to a sitting position. He wrapped his arms around himself and went rigid. “No stop! Please, it hurts!” He begged through gritted teeth, blood dripping from his mouth and onto their arms.

Sakuro found it impossible to sit up. The third man who was the first to come to his aid held Sakuro up with an arm. “It’s gonna be alright. Just sit up, okay. We can’t have you choking on your blood.”

“Sakuro! It’s okay!” Yagi shouted out over his pleas.

Doctor rushed in and like the others stood in shock as he took in the event.

The first man went to Doctor’s side. “What is this? Liver failure? He needs a specialist. This isn’t right!”

Sakuro began to cough more and blood flicked onto the men’s clothes as blood hit the tile ground. Sako stood up to rush to the bathroom, pushing all the men the men’s arms away, but fell to the ground on his hands and knees and threw up. There was more blood and some kind of black substance than anything else.

Doctor rushed to his side and tried to get Sakuro to sit up again but Sakuro shook his head.

He stayed there for a second, breathing hard and coughing with one hand gripping his chest. “Please. Help me.” He begged, tears streaming down his cheeks. The men moved quickly to snap some kind of long metal cuff to Sako's free wrist. Sako tried to get up to keep going to the bathroom, but he fell to his side in pain.

Sako breathed hard and slowly fell unconscious. Yagi stood in shock when he saw the black substance trickle out of Sako’s mouth and form a small pool below him.

Everything went silent and Yagi’s heart dropped to the floor. Sako looked like he was dead.