Efferent

Chapter 33

They inserted a needle in both of his hanging forearms, and a mechanical whirring filtered through the room as the magnets increased their power. At first, I had hoped that he would remain unconscious. But that was before the screams started.

They began as soft moans, hardly loud enough to hear over the machine as Walter and his officials watched his hanging figure intensely. Watching his still face, his mouth had not even opened.

Then they transitioned to garbled shouts, no words echoed across the room, only short series of moans and wordless protests that were gritted through slightly parted lips and clenched teeth. His eyes remained closed. The magnets hummed louder, their pitch growing higher, and I felt the floor vibrate as the power increased. The tubing in his left arm had yet to carry any form of liquid, hanging dry and clear where his right flowed a metallic copper.

I tightened my knuckles, too afraid to look over at Blaise and Amelia, too startled to form any organized resistance.

His eyes flew open, before rolling back into his head, his arms seizing up and bending with the needles still inside, forcibly pushing them in deeper as a moan the rivaled the dead tore through his throat and echoed about the room. Weathered screams filled the enclosed space until I thought I would drown in the ensuing panic.

"Quiet him!" Walter cried out, "His volume will tamper with the results!" Officials rushed forward as they fought to pin him to the table and straighten the angle of his limbs. Clark roared in pain, a savage growl that ended in a deep wail shaking me by the shoulders.

Amelia cried out, trying to cover her ears amongst the chaos. Blaise stood motionless, jaw tightened and eye wide. "Stop it." Blaise growled out, "Stop this madness!"

"Straighten his left arm! The cipher should be allowing the serum through by now!" Walter ignored our mangled protests.

Clark arched his back, the white of his eyes bulging, until they slowly rolled back to reveal darkened eyes with dilated pupils. With a screech that belonged to an animal, he pulled against his restraints, each leg testing each grip, each arm moving at a different time to feel how far he could extend his grip.

His head tilted to the side as far as he could manage, the pupils leaking out into the white of his eyes, and nothing could be heard except his heavy breathing. Even the officials were mesmerized by his sudden silence and change. Clark spread his lips, showing his teeth that were bloodied, and twisted his neck to look one in the eye, pausing, hesitating, and evaluating his enemy.

The warden, blinked, rubbed at his collar, and turned towards Dr. Ross slightly, "Is this a part of the proce-." Clark struck out his right arm, over extended and gripped the soldier's neck, pulling him close before he bit at his ear with a feral scream. The soldier's shouts of agony echoed through the room as I watched with wide eyes.

"Subdue him!" Walter shouted, "Subdue him! The results! The results will be tainted!" The other officials free of prisoners rushed forward, attempting to release their fellow soldier from Clark's inhuman grasp. "Stop him!" Walter clutched at a table, his wrinkled face growing red with his shouts. "Stop him!"

I felt my heart beat in my ears as they tore at Clark's arm's restraint, attempting to gain a better grip and pin his arm more fully to the table, but as soon as the buckle left the hole, Clark ripped his arm away, silencing the soldiers screams with a sickening snap, and a thud as the fatigue clad corpse slumped to the floor.

Walter's face went ash white. Clark reached for another soldier, repeating the process and easily snapping the soldier's neck. He reached up along the edge of the table, unable to see his right arms restraints yet somehow unbuckling the brass pin.

With two arms free, he grabbed at the last remaining soldier, who had thought that he had retreated to a safe distance, and tore at his neck, ripping out a red organ and allowed it to hit the floor moments after the body did.

Blaise stood motionless as his guard shoved away from his charge and pointed his gun towards Clark as he reached for the restraints about his feet. "No!" Walter stood in the corner and shouted, "Do not shoot! We can not extract the serum from dead veins!" He growled lowly. "Subdue him! Subdue him before he makes things worse!"

Clark, loosening both of his leather restraints at the same time, fell to the floor and rolled to face the guard. He crawled into a primal position, waiting and biding his time for the guard to make his next move. The official swung his gun, aiming for Clark's head once more, when Clark let loose a feral growl and screeched loudly as he ducked the blow and wrestled the gun from the guards hands.

Easily, he stalked forwards, his right hand dripping in the last guard's blood. Clark's hand left an imprint on the soldier's neck, long after it too was broken and left lying at a strange angle.

Amelia's eyes were tightened around the edges as she clenched them shut. Her guard never took a step away from her, instead carrying her forward as she limply hang with her broken leg dragging behind her. "Sir-." The soldier never finished his sentence.

Amelia, with her eyes fluttering, was left laying limply in front of Clark. "Cl-clark?" She asked quietly, "Why are you so angry?" She reached forward to grasp his arm, her intention to soothe his rage written clearly across her face. I pulled against my chains, screaming against the gag, unable to tell her to run, to back as far way from him as possible. Instead, I could only watch in fear as her hand inched slowly towards his, and like a striking viper, he grasped it a turned it quickly to the side.

She shouted lowly, trying to push away from him, but unable to get her legs underneath of her. "No!" Blaise shouted, "No! Get away from her! Clark, get away from Amelia!" His chains prevented him from moving towards her, but he pulled tightly against them none the less. "Run, Amelia! Run!"

But Clark had finished toying with his prey, cocking his head to the side, and the quickly grasping Amelia's neck as he whipped it in the opposite direction. "Noaphhh! Noaphhh." I screamed, feet sliding against the tile as I pushed further on.

My heart was pounding, Its echo easily the loudest thing in the room as it beat in time with Clark's labored breaths.

Amelia's eyes remained open, and they had clouded over as death claimed her body for its own.