Efferent

Chapter 20

"Is he still alive? Is he breathing?" My breath came quickly as I gazed over at an eerily still Blaise.

Amelia was entranced; her lips parted as she cradled his head in her lap and rubbed his temple in small, repeating circles. "He is scared." She whispered, voice cracking. I watched as her eyes welled and the tears spilled over onto her cheeks, as silent sobs wracked her body. "H-he is s-so scared."

"Amelia?" I crouched next to her, pulling her to face me. "Amelia, stop."

"S-stop?" her eyes were wide, and I realized she was still rubbing Blaise's temple. Carefully, gingerly, I pulled her fingers away and held them in my palm. I tried to remain calm and generate soothing emotions.

"You were being consumed." I glanced over at Clark, who was watching the trees around us with a secure expression. "You are over tired too."

"We need to go," Clark called from behind me. "I can move them, but you will have to stay behind once more."

"Clark," I sighed, overwhelmed. "How much do you have left?"

"Enough." He grit out. "I'll take them back to the shelter, we will find Walter, and then I will return to bring you with me."

I shook my head. "We both know that you are toeing the edge already." I took in his sallow face and heavy eyes. "I will make my own way back."

"You can't!" Clark shouted, but he was already moving towards Blaise's still figure.

"I can," I offered slowly, "and I will. I can handle my own, my mindshare has hardly been breached, I can defend against the Afferent. I have to."

I guided a shocked Amelia to his side. "Get them back."

Clark frowned, "Ardyn-." The Afferent, although silent, could be heard approaching in their rhythmic marching. "They are close."

"Go." I stepped back, "Go, now! While you have the time and the stamina."

He did not acknowledge me; only holding Blaise and Amelia close as his eyes moved across my face. And then he was gone.

I sat, waiting for their appearance. There were fewer this time, perhaps under twenty, and yet their presence filled up the small spaces between the trees, filtering through the gaps in the undergrowth and suffocating me. I stood, biding my time, waiting.

"Come out, Travis." I called, turning about their confines and searching for his face.

I did not have to wait for him to reveal his position. The crowd parted for him in an eerie silence, as though they could communicate without talking, without even looking at each other. They were being controlled.

"Where is Katherine?" I bit out. "Is she too afraid to face me on her own?"

Travis's eyes held a cold, steel like glint when he responded. Half expecting his voice to come out in a robotic tone, I found I was even more unsettled when his inflection was the same. Just as the day that he had saved Clark and I from the one he was working for.

"She had more pressing matters to attend to." He twisted his lip, "But make no mistake. Katherine is here, in all of us. Watching, waiting."

He circled me like a vulture closing in on it's prey, although I would doubt he would allow for another creature to have the satisfaction of the kill. "Just as we sit here, watching, waiting," He grinned. "Pending her approval of our intended actions."

"She controls you," I nodded to myself, "Just as I said earlier, she controls you." I inhaled sharply at the confirmation.

"Control?" He hummed, moving about. "Guides, nurtures, influences perhaps. She says that controls carries too much of a negative connotation."