”Let me guess...” Ranae started gently, but projecting her voice. ”You two were near or on a bus crash last week - on Saturday?” Ranae was going to be surprised if they answered no.

Sam's field of vision bobbed slowly, accompanied by the distant sensation of her neck muscles contracting and extending. Vague awareness of her answer to Ranae's question followed shortly after. Bit by bit, she caught up with herself. Sound came back into her grasp of reality, first with the rush of blood through her ears and her pounding heart. She swallowed hard and forced herself to look at both of them.

Perhaps they didn't know yet. They were certainly clothed differently from the doctors, which pointed her toward a different conclusion. Most people do not go to great lengths to interrogate the insane. They ask their questions, then give the injections. These people asked each other questions, examined their surroundings...these were not the acts of abductors, but the abducted.

That knowledge went a long way toward assuaging her fear, but fear was not replaced with foolishness; her eyes shifted through a range of emotional states, finally settling on suspicion and mistrust. Sam could not decide whether this was better than cardiac arrest brought on by acute emotional stress, but she knew it was safer [i]and[/i] more productive. She had her own questions, but they would wait until she knew who to ask them of.

"Yeah," she finally whispered. "Bus crash. Nobody knows how to drive anymore."

---

[center][img=http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii81/BlessedWrath/SamColesBanner_zpsc6ec858a.png][/center]