The figures stopped at the first capsule, opening up one of the canisters and inserting something into a slot on the control panel. Subject: 28 could not see what was happening, but the figures moved on, repeating the action at the next capsule and so on. Eventually they came to a stop before Subject: 28, opening a canister to reveal a ring of tall vials inside. Withdrawing one of these vials, the figure held it up to the light. Inside was a dark, tar-like liquid. Subject: 28 did not like the look of the substance and unease began to set in. The figure began to insert the vial into the slot on Subject: 28's control panel and clear tubes began to snake their way down from the steel roof, thin needles protruding from the ends. Subject: 28 tried to slap at the tubes to drive them away, but they swerved out of the way before darting towards him. Before he could react they had buried themselves into his skin at various points across his body, and the black liquid began to pump through the vein-like tubing. When it entered Subject: 28's body it was like ice-cold fire racing through his veins. Electricity pulsed through every nerve and he convulsed in pain, losing consciousness several times during the episode. Sickness took him and he hung there, dazed and weak. He watched as the figures administered the liquid to Subject: 29, watched as he too thrashed in agony as the vile substance shot through his veins. Subject: 78 pounded on the glass, the fear all too evident in her eyes, but he could not move to assure her. To her he must have looked dead. Eventually her pounding ceased and she resigned herself to hang there, hopeless and alone. When time came for the figures to administer the liquid to her, she did not react as they inserted the vial nor when the tubes lodged themselves into her body. But as the foul black surged into her body, her back arched and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Shudders wracked her body and as she spasmed her eyes rolled up into her head. When at last her movement stopped, she may as well have been dead. And Subject: 28's consciousness fled him once more.
When the light next came, Subject: 28's only reaction was to squint his eyes against the glare. His body was numb and unresponsive. Subjects 29 and 78 seemed to be in similar situations, though he could not tell if they were conscious, unconscious or dead. The figures came, checked their vitals and left. Subject: 28 could not help but feel resent towards them; the pain he has suffered, the loneliness, the cold, what they did to Subject: 27. He hated them, and he hated how it felt to hate. It only worsened his mood, it brought no relief. Hate was exhausting, and since there was nothing he could do to alleviate his feelings, they only festered.
Subject: 29 was the first to stir, his fingers began to move and his eyes fluttered open. As he began to slowly right himself, stretching his sore limbs and neck, the figures came once more. His wakefulness brought much attention, as they almost clambered over one another to view his vitals. Whatever they saw seemed to please them and several of them shook hands and gazed up at Subject: 29 with awe and wonder.
Then he convulsed, his body shaking more violently than ever before. His eyes rolled up into his head, his mouth hung open and his limbs splayed wide. The figures stood still, they may as well have been stone. They did nothing to intervene as he died. As Subject: 28 watched, horrified, black extensions grew from 29's body. The extensions shot through the glass, punching holes through the capsule and impaling the ceiling and ground around it. Subject: 29's veins blackened and bulged, his jaw unhinged itself as it stretched wider still and the flesh at the corners of his mouth began to tear. He cried tears of black blood and his veins burst, spraying the foul substance out into the surrounding yellow ooze. The liquid that he had been suspended in began to leak out through the damaged capsule, creating a slick mess on the floor. As the episode went on, his body contorted and his bones cracked and warped. And when finally his shaking stopped his body began to atrophy. His skin began to blacken and wither away to reveal the pus covered flesh underneath. Before long all that was left of their friend was a half-rotted corpse suspended in the air by the cruel black growths that had emerged from his body at all angles. The figures called it "rejection", and it was a sight that the subjects would soon become accustomed to. Whatever was being done to them was not natural, and oftentimes their bodies could not take to it, hence the "rejection". It was always different, some subjects bloated until they popped, others were inverted, some phased through their restraints and into the ground only to stop halfway and suffocate. The mutations that their bodies were undergoing would vary from subject to subject, though they only became apparent during the "rejection". Subject: 28 still had no idea what that foul liquid had been doing to his body or 78's. But there was no more play, or face-making, no more smiles were had. And as their numbers dwindled so too did the visits increase. They came more frequently than ever, constantly checking vitals and hauling away the dead. 28 did not know what they did with the corpses, nor did he want to. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.