Efferent

Chapter 22

I cautiously pushed open Travis's door and walked in, not looking at him in the eye. Instead I studied the patterns on the wooden floor, though slightly charred of the shelter. "Um... Hello?" I greeted when he did not say anything.

He did not reply, and I looked up to see him staring at me intently. Travis remained silent, stretching it thin, still with his gaze fixed on me. "Are... are you okay?"

Travis shattered the silence with his raspy voice. "I am fine." He said shortly. "How are you?"

I blinked, then replied. "I am fine." I copied his answer, not really sure what to say. "I..."

"It does not matter how powerful I am, even with an army of other Afferent children at the back of me." Travis said quietly, but his tone was dangerous, too collected.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You are still too powerful. You are the most powerful. It does not matter if we all banded towards you- at your most powerful part, you could still beat us." Travis stated. "You are too strong for your own good. It does not take a hundred percent brain function capability to figure that one out." He murmured the last part to himself, and then shook his head as if he did not believe it himself.

I shook my head. "N-not anymore." My lower lip trembled but I willed myself not to show weakness in front of him. Travis's gaze fixed onto my lip then narrowed his eyes.

Then he glanced up at me. "What do you mean?"

I closed my eyes. "Do you not get it, Travis?" He seemed surprised at my loud outburst, but I continued. "I am powerless now. I am not Efferent anymore, and I don't contain Efference. I'm back to a normal, low Percentage." My voice broke. "Like how I started."

"Oh." Travis said.

I chuckled lowly. "You did not expect that, did you? You expected me to show off my powers in front of you, talk about how I would not hurt anyone. How I would only use my Efference to protect everyone in this shelter, didn't you?" I inhaled sharply. "Well, you should be happy now."

"I am not."

"Yeah, right." I muttered, slightly hysterical.

"I am not." Travis repeated, his voice serious. "I am really not, Ardyn. You see, I was not even going to bring the topic towards that... I was going... Well-" He stuttered. "Okay. But you see, Ardyn, without your power we are defenseless."

"We? Against what?" I asked, sitting on the chair next to his bed. He didn't object and stared out the window towards the hills in the distance. Then Travis faced me, not making a sound, gesturing around himself. "What?" I repeated, and he repeated the motion.

I looked around me, out the window, at the ceiling, floor, and walls. Oh. "The shelter?"

He nodded. "Yes. Even with all of our collective powers, we might not beat them. It is only with you that we may stand a chance." Travis sighed. "Can you get your Efference back? Maybe with another dose of the serum?"

"Yeah, Walter suggested that. I think it would work."

Travis's eyes brightened. "Then why haven't you taken the serum yet? Who cares if you're still healing or whatever Walter used as an excuse. We should not wait, the Afferent are bound to attack sometime soon!" He gave me a slight push, and I fell off the chair.

I huffed, wincing as my wrist twisted the wrong way. "He does not have the serum, Travis, thank you so much for pushing me off the chair."

His face fell. "Oh."

"What, no 'sorry' or to help me up?" I snapped as I pushed myself off the ground.

Travis smirked. "I am hurt, you know." He motioned at his bruised body and his broken arm. "You do not know, perhaps I am even on my deathbed. So, I just can not waste my precious energy to extend a hand and help you up. Besides, why should I say sorry?"

I rolled my eyes. "Insufferable jerk."

He put a hand to his heart. "That hurt, Ardyn. That really wounded me." I glared at him, and he smiled genuinely back, one side of his lip quirking higher.

The moment was broken as the door suddenly swung open. Amelia, with wide and panicked eyes rushed in. "We have to go, now!"

"Why? What is wrong?" I inquired as Amelia frantically moved around the room, stuffing things into the backpack.

"The Afferent." She replied just as a loud sound thrummed through the air. It sounded like an explosion, and I turned towards Travis. He was just as confused as I was, though, and he grabbed his crutches and hobbled after Amelia.

The smell of smoke invaded my nose once again and I coughed, pressing my sleeve to my face. "What is happening?" Travis asked.

Amelia sighed. "The Afferent are attacking once again. Quick, I am going to find Blaise. You two fill up this backpack." She tossed a black and grey dotted backpack and I caught it, dumping supplies inside. Amelia then came back with a disheveled Blaise behind her.

"Let's go. Walter says that he will be out after us and that he needs to do something really quick." Amelia shouted above the loud ruckus. The wall suddenly quaked and fell inwards towards us, the wood and stucco splintering and flying through the air.

I ducked down and shielded my face from the incoming torrent of debris. "Quick, the other way! The door is blocked!" Blaise screamed as the second floor fell down upon us, the staircase crumbling like a large waterfall of debris.

"Ow!" I exclaimed as a wooden overhead beam fell onto my head. "Wait, we forgot Clark!" I said. No one heard me above the ruckus though, the sound of explosions and walls tumbling down. "We forgot about Clark!" I shouted as loud as I could.

"I will go get him." He muttered. "He can teleport us out of here, you guys go, quick!" Blaise shoved me roughly and I regained my balance to follow Travis. Blaise ran towards Clark's room and Amelia grabbed my arm, leading me away from the two boys.

Travis cursed as a lightbulb splintered onto us. He then stumbled on the broken pieces of wall that littered the floor and tumbled into me. I yelled as he brought us both down, thankful that we didn't land into the glass.

My heart was beating irregularly and I struggled to regain my breath. "Calm down, it is all okay, calm..." Amelia soothed and suddenly I lost all of my panic. "Good, now take a deep breath and follow me." She helped Travis up and finally reached the backdoor.

I glanced back as the whole structure of the shelter began to fall. I screamed as we tumbled out of the door, landing painfully onto the dirt. Seconds later, Clark and Blaise reappeared, just making it out as the whole house crumbled down.

"Where is Dr. Ross?" Amelia asked quietly as we all stared at the shelter. "Where is Dr. Ross?!" Her voice rose higher in urgency. Our eyes widened as we scanned the area around us.

No one.

Then we all simultaneously looked back at the remains of the shelter.