Efferent

Chapter 31

"Seize them!" Walter's voice, gravelly with cynicism and rage, rose above our heads and came crashing down, accompanied by the uniform marching of the officials.

"Dr. Ross?" Amelia called out, her eyebrows tightly drawn together, eyes growing red. "Walter? You are alive?"

"So it may seem." He muttered out. "With no assistance on your behalf." He gave us a dirty glare.

The officials, clad in their fatigues, had their guns raised. "Arms," One grunted loudly. I looked over at him in confusion. "Arms up." He clarified.

Slowly, I raised them up, fingers pointed stiffly to the ceiling. I looked casually over my shoulder to see Clark and Amelia following my league. "Blaise," I bit out, watching as he stubbornly crossed his arms. "Blaise, do as they say."

"No." He grit out, "I will not."

I narrowed my eyes and glared, speaking through clenched teeth as I felt fire creep up my neck. "Raise. Your. Arms." I blinked, and my anger grew as I saw his fingers twitch before resuming their crossed position. "Raise your arms, Blaise."

I saw Walter's face go white out of the corner of my eye, as Blaise raised his arms, slowly, keeping them bent at the elbow. His eyes were ablaze, his face painted over in a deep shade of rage. "Watch her," Walter called, hands clenched into fists to prevent them from shaking. "Gag her! Bind her! She is dangerous."

"Wha-?" I furrowed my brows, resisting slightly as two officials rushed forward, stuffing a dirty cloth into my mouth and securing it tightly with rope. I was forced to my knees with a loud crack, my arms pulled roughly behind my back.

"She will warp your thoughts and control your mind." Walter warned, and it settled in my mind. Despite Travis being tied down to a cot, despite my lack of a response to his abduction, he still thought I was Efferent. He thought that I had taken the serum, not Travis.

"If we had gotten here seconds earlier," Walter trailed off, "If you had not drank the formula, you would not have forced my hand."

"Wh-what are you going to do?" Amelia had covered her ears, lips quivering. "What are you going to do to us?"

"Don't listen to him, Amelia!" Blaise called, struggling against his guards, "Don't listen!"

"Amelia, dear," Walter spoke saccharinely, "Dear, Amelia. You are worth nothing to me more than your Efference. I plan to take it from you," He smiled sickeningly sweet. Amelia's eyes widened, tears welling just behind the edges. "Then I plan to kill you." Walter finished. He grabbed Amelia by the hair, pulling her close as she whimpered in pain.

"Be careful with her!" Clark pulled against the officials holding him back. "If you hurt her, I will-."

"What?" Walter tossed her to the side, and he stepped forward, intimidating despite his aged features. "You will run away? Hide amongst the shadows while we drain your friends of their one vital quality?"

"That is what this is about?" Blaise interjected, "Our Efference? But you already have the formula, not to mention the other bottles of the serum!"

"Ardyn Danvers drank the last bottle. We have no more in our possession and the formula can not be found." Walter grit out, pulling at his thinning, gray hair. "The government is calling for higher production. Logically, that leaves me one last option."

"You did not take it?" Clark asked, stating my thoughts for me, "We thought the officials had taken it to prevent us from having it!"

"The Afferent. Katherine." Walter clarified angrily. "They must have taken it before any of us. Before we had gotten here."

"Travis killed them!" Amelia shouted from the corner, her tears falling freely now, encouraged by the immense fear apparent on her face. "All of them."

Walter chuckled. "They are innumerable." His voice grew cold. "If you kill one, two are just as likely to take their place. They are nothing but vermin; they are a disgrace to science, a parasite of my work. They deserve to be exterminated."

"There are more?" Clark asked, eyes wide.

"There are many. "Walter finished for him, brushing lint off of his shoulder. "Easily controlled, and easily defeated once we develop our beta soldiers using your Efference. It is too bad that you will not be alive to join this glorious movement."

I mumbled against me gag, eyes tightening into a scowl as I bucked against the officials hold. Walter met my eye, and took a step back. I lunged at him, baring my teeth behind the cloth in a feral grin and he scuttled back behind the soldiers surrounding us. "D-do not test me, Miss. Danvers."

I narrowed my eyes further, tightening my gaze to frame his terrified face. Blaise watched from the corner, his lips white from being pressed together so tightly. "Coward!" He called, edging as close to Walter as he could in the hold of the officials.

"I was doing my job. Serving a greater purpose for our nation, our government." Walter justified, "You should be grateful you lived this long. When Efference was first discovered they initially had ordered a full extermination. I convinced them otherwise."

"So you toyed with us? Lead us to feel safe, and cared for before you killed us?" Blaise spat at the floor, narrowly missing Walter's perfectly shined shoes. Walter raised a finger, hardly above a twitch, and the official slammed the butt of his gun against Blaise's knee. He fell to the floor with a short cry, hands stretched behind him in what was surely a painful grip.

"No, son." Walter bent down to reach his eye level. "No, I was studying you. Monitoring you. Developing your skills. You have potential for military purposes that the government and my superiors found especially intriguing."

I bucked once more, trying to stand, but remained pinned to the floor. "Subdue her!" Walter shouted, pointing a shaky finger at me. Afraid. He was afraid of me, afraid of the power that I could no longer harness. "Subdue her."

They slammed my head against the cement flooring and I lay still, the room spinning around me. "Bleeding!" A voice called from a distance, "She's bleeding." It echoed. Walter's face came into view as my vision settled. He leaned down, turning my head to the side and a sharp sting made me wince.

"I said subdue her, you fool." I loud bang reverberated around the room and Walter left my view as another body joined me on the floor. "You too, forced my hand."

"He killed him." Amelia whispered, "He killed him, and he is going to kill us too. He is going to kill us!" Her volume rose with each word.

"Take them to the infirmary!" Wlater shouted to the soldiers, his voice serving as a catalyst for a flurry of movement and weak resistance on my behalf. "We will start the extraction process as soon as we possibly can. They are waiting for us."