Link Six (completed)

Chapter 39 - The Chair

When Leeanna opens her eyes, she's standing in a field. A town is walking distance away, but other than that, the field seems endless. She knows that she hasn't been unconscious long. It occurs to her that she must still be in the chair, so she isn't frightened enough to show it. It takes her a few seconds to remember that she's supposed to be Emma. Once Leeanna remembers, she emotes as her sister would.

"Where am I?" She yells with fear in her voice.

No one answers. She figures that even if the people around her are talking, she can't hear them in this virtual reality the chair put her in. She takes a few shaky breaths, as Emma would, and starts walking towards the town.

As soon as she's within 20 feet of the town, she understands how they were going to use this to target Emma.

She can hear the screams from where she's standing. When she enters the town, she understands why they are screaming, a plague virus is sweeping through the town, turning the people into ghastly monsters that are attacking the rest of the town. Leeanna can't say that she's frightened; she knows that this isn't real, but even so, it's still disturbing.

She looks around, hyperventilating, knowing that her sister would not see things the same way. A woman next to her wails in horror, holding a crying baby in her arms and looking in horror at a plague carrier lunging toward them. The terror in the woman's eyes causes Leeanna to look away, not wanting to see what happens next. Leeanna's attention lands on a scene featuring a terrified man wielding a wooden plank and standing in front of two screaming children. He's fighting off a plague carrier holding a metal-pole.

Looking around, the town is filled with various scenes like this. The atmosphere of fear strikes a chord in Leeanna, but she can imagine that it would strike Emma even more.

With wide eyes taking in everything in stunned horror, Leeanna thinks of the last time she was absolutely terrified. It wasn't that long ago, when Donna had been clamped onto her arm dragging her off to who knows where. Leeanna thinks back to that feeling, and multiplies it by the screams and cries of the 300 people in this town.

Leeanna falls to her knees and starts to cry. The fear is too much. She doesn't know how Emma would cope with this, but then she realizes the reason why this machine is so effective, she wouldn't be able to cope with it.

The screams sound around her, and it's almost as if she could feel their fear, even though she is only multiplying her own feelings. 

Violence breaks out around her as the plague carriers get physical, increasing the amount of fear in the townspeople. Leeanna remembers the terror she had felt when Dr. Greg had pointed the gun at them, and she multiplies that terror by the amount of people in the town, making herself scared enough to scream, a prolonged terrified shriek. She wishes she had never begun to simulate this amount of fear inside herself. But, she knows, as much fear that is coursing through her at this moment, it's not nearly as much as Emma would feel if she were in this chair at this moment.

The tears stream down her face, and she continues to scream, the fear feels genuine, even though she's is only multiplying the fear she had felt earlier. But, then she realizes why she is able to create such an emotional response in herself without acting. The fear isn't simulated, it's real. This is how terrified she really is of the situation, the kidnapping, the chair, Evans' plans, Dr. Greg. She has buried it for so long that all the fear she's felt over the past day is exploding out of her, manifesting itself in fear, and tears. It takes pretending to be Emma to let those emotions surface.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" Leeanna begs, referring to the simulation. Though the simulation isn't what's scaring her, it's not helping assuage her fears either. The screams increase for a few seconds, then everything fades to black again.