Efferent

Chapter 23

"He-he..." Amelia choked on a sob. "He did not make it out, did he?" A quiet sniffle escaped as she buried her head inside her arms. Blaise rubbed soothing circles into her back as quiet descended upon us all.

"M-maybe he did make it out." Clark said in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Maybe he is just out here in the woods and soon he is going to pop out and ask 'Why are you all crying, children?'" That coaxed a laugh out of Amelia who wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

Travis rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. No more moping around. We really need to figure out what we are going to do now! Since the house was just blown up, the Afferent must be around, somewhere..." He murmured, his eyes scanning the forest.

"He's right." Amelia nodded. "There is no use sitting around like this. I have just been very foolish. Anyways, I suppose we should leave as quickly as we can. Dr. Ross mentioned that the government has hold of the serum."

"Yes. We should travel the way we came, right, Ardyn?" Clark nudged me.

I nodded, agreeing. "My city even has a clinic where people are allowed to go and get injected with the serum. That's how I earned my Efference. If we can travel back there undetected, then all we need to do is sneak inside and grab the serum."

Clark smiled. "And if the clinic in her city closes down, we can always travel to mine. It's not that far, actually, and that's why I was able to find Ardyn easily. I'm sure that we can get our hands on the serum."

"Alright, then. The matter has been settled. We shall travel... South?" Blaise muttered.

"No, North." Clark and I chorused together and Blaise scowled, turning towards the sun.

"Well, then, fine. North. Judging by the sun, North should be that way." Blaise said, pointing towards the green hills.

I sighed. "We technically don't need to stick to directions, we just need to retrace Clark's and I's path. Besides, we change direction frequently so just heading North won't bring us to the needed destination." Blaise's scowl deepened.

He huffed. "Fine, then, if you're so all-knowing, why do you not lead us?" He challenged. "For all we know, you are just bluffing and you will lead us further away from the clinic." My fists clenched together. It was then Clark decided to intervene and he placed a hand on my arm.

"We know the way." He said simply, and with that, he walked off. Blaise and I glared at each other for a moment longer and then I raced after Clark, who was already on the top of the hill.

We continued to trace Clark and my old paths, with Blaise complaining about how we could have taken a shorter way since we walked in a circles for a little while. I bit my tongue to hold my resort back in and gave my attention to Travis, who was telling me more about Katherine and Afference.

Travis walked alongside me, talking. "So, Afference is just simply weaker then Efference, since it was gained from an Efferent." Travis paused. "Me."

I frowned. "Wait, what? How did Afference originate from you-" My eyes widened. "She extracted it from you?" Travis nodded and I gasped in horror.

He sighed. "Of course, it was not as powerful, since she can not extract it all in a concentrated manner. I still have Efference in my veins, Efference that she could not take out. And so the serum that she did manage to gain from me was less powerful."

"Then Katherine used it on normal, poor unsuspecting children?"

Travis chuckled. "Yes, if you put it that way. Since Afference is weaker then Efference, it is more susceptible to mind control, which is how Katherine is controlling them."

"Sort of like how Dr. Ross can?" Amelia questioned.

"Yeah, I would think so." Travis agreed. "Anyways, Katherine found a way to mass produce the Afferent serum, and she injected it to many children. It doesn't help if we, let's say instead of kill, imprison the Afferent children..."

"Because Katherine can always make more!" I finished off his thought, my eyes widening as realization dawned on me. "She can always make more of the Afferent serum and inject it in to more children. So, unless we somehow manage to stop how she makes the Afferent serum-"

"Then she will be unstoppable." Clark cut in.

Travis grinned. "Exactly." We continued in silence after that thought, and I stared at the setting sun as we walked along the river which stretched with the forest.

I stopped at a small glassy clearing, hidden by trees but still able to easily access. "Let's stop for the day. My legs are aching and I'm thirsty and hungry, too."

"What will we sleep on?" Amelia asked. "We have not brought tents, or even sleeping bags. I may have a towel or two, but..." She bit her lip. "It definitely will not be enough for us all."

I shrugged and laid down on the grass. "I do not need one. Clark and I spent days out here, and truth to be told, I have really gotten to like the temperatures. My city was always warm and hot, so I welcome the cold. You guys can keep the blankets."

Clark laid down next to me. "I second that. Besides, I have a jacket to keep me warm anyways." Travis, on the other hand, claimed a white fluffy towel and laid down next to me as well. Amelia passed out cold canned soup, which I eagerly ate.

"So much better then our first journey." I whispered to Clark, who closed his eyes after tasting the soup.

"Agreed. I just hope that-"

Our eyes both widened as we realized the same exact thing. "Officials!" We yelled out together. The three of them just looked at us weirdly.

"Officials." I panted. Of course, the Officials. "How could I forget about them? They are on the hunt for Clark and I, since we are Efferent and they know it. I even have a bounty on my head, so not only Officials will be searching for us."

Clark continued the story. "On the first few days, all we did was try to be one step ahead of the Officials. It was hard, though, since all we relied on were our own two feet, and when things were very desperate, my Efference."

I sighed. "They were always behind us, searching and waiting. Now that we aren't in the safety of the shelter, someone could be bound to find us somehow. Maybe it could just be a lone camper, or a whole team of Officials prowling the forest."

"We need to be careful."