Efferent

Chapter 29

"Do we... do we proceed?" Clark asked nervously, his gaze searching the forest for any signs of movement. "We should move."

"Unless... unless it is a trap." Travis mused.

"That's exactly what it is. We can't risk it! Let's go!" Clark said, moving towards the forest.

Travis shook his head. "No... what if the camera is just there to fool us into thinking that they are watching us, but they are not? What if the facility is really unguarded, and we can easily go inside? Would they really spend all their time here, waiting for us? What if we came later, if we were delayed by a month? Would they stay in here at all times, just waiting?"

"He does of has a point." Amelia murmured. "So you are saying that they want us to turn back? So we will never steal back the serum even though we could?"

"Yes." Travis said. "They can not wait in there twenty-four seven. What if we never came at all? We decided to make our own serum, or go to a different clinic? There are plenty of buildings just like these across the world. There are not enough of them to cover each and every building, in every country. What if we go to France? Australia? Japan?"

"No. I think they are really in there." Clark said.

"If they are, then why have they not came out?Confronted us?" Travis countered. "Why wait in there?"

"Because they want us to go in!" Clark sighed, exasperated. "Out here, there are plenty of places to run, and the minute we start running, there is a less of a chance they will capture us. When we are in an enclosed space, such as the building, it is much easier for them to catch us."

I put my hand to my temple. It seemed that both boys were right and they both had a point, but there was not enough solid evidence to prove that either of them was correct. What if they really were in there, waiting for us? Or maybe they were not, waiting at another clinic, such as the one Clark had gone to.

"I honestly do not know what to think." Amelia confessed. "You both are expressing confidence in your answers, suggesting that you both could be correct, and yet that is a paradox, they contradict each other. They both can not possibly both be right."

"So what do you suggest?" Travis inquired, tugging at his hair frustratedly. "There is only one way to proceed, and there is no way knowing which one is right."

"I think we go inside." Blaise spoke up.

"What?" Clark and Amelia choroused together in confusion. "We could die!" Clark added.

I frowned. "I think that I should go in by myself. That way, if there are any Afferent or government officials inside-"

"No." Travis said immediately. "If there are Afferents or officials inside, then they will kill you immediately. Or take your Efference as they did to me. Besides, you are the most important person here. We can not risk losing your power."

"Power that I no longer have!" I exclaimed.

"You are not going in there, Ardyn."

"Then who?" I exclaimed impatiently. "I am not going to let any of you risk entering, either, if you are not allowing me to go in." No one replied. "We are at a standstill. A stalemate, in chess terms." I observed, sighing.

"Perhaps I should go." Amelia offered, quietly, alomost reluctantly interjecting. "Let me continue. I am the one with the least Percentage out of all of you. Besides, my Efference does not do much in fights anyways. I can sense emotions, I can control emotions, but they are emotions. Feelings. I am not that important."

"No." Blaise muttered, his jaw tensed. "No."

She smiled weakly at him. "I will be fine. I will just scout out the path for us. Besides, even if they did take my Efference away, it would not effect the entire group." Amelia clutched at Blaise's arm, quirking her head to the side as she hummed. I felt the knot in my chest loosen as she began speaking softly. "I will be fine. I will be fine." She repeated.

"Be careful." I muttered, staring at the ground. I was not entirely too comfortable letting someone else risk their life for me, and I itched to go in myself. Amelia turned away and walked towards the back door that we were attempting to enter.

Gently, she placed her hand on the handle and took a deep breath. I twitched in my place, fidgeting uncomfortably. We all seemed to be holding our breaths, wondering what was going to happen. Then she twisted it and the door swung open.

Amelia disappeared into the hall and the door swung closed ominously behind her. I exchanged worried glances with Clark, who wrung his hands, trying to stay still. Travis stood emotionless, while Blaise kept pacing in circles around us.

"I can not believe we just let her walk into the facility by herself! At least one of us could have went with her!" Blaise lamented. "How do we know that she is still walking in there, alive and free, or if they have already got to her!"

The door swung open again and we held our breath. Amelia walked out and I sighed in relief, running up to her as the rest of us followed. "It is empty!" She exclaimed, eyes bright. "I have not looked in every single room yet, but I think I found the serum." She wiggled her brows.

"Thank god." Blaise exhaled.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let us go in!" Travis said, and he ran inside the clinic. Clark and I walked side by side, and we shared a look of excitement with each other. The hallway was quite long, and dim, but soon we reached the main room, the lobby.

A feeling of déjà vu overcame me as I realized that I stood in this very spot a few weeks ago. "This way." I motioned, and I retraced my steps to the room where I laid in. The room was the exact same I remembered it, without the patients and doctors though.

I patted the bed. "This was my bed when I came here first." I stared at it, remembering everything. Everything that happened. I shuddered in rememberance of the pain and the fright I had at first. "Anyways, where's the serum?"

"Here. I found a tube labeled 'serum'." Clark called across the room. I ran towards him as he produced a tube out of the cabinet. "I think they have cleaned this place out, except for this one. I can not find anything else."

"But there is only one."