Efferent

Chapter 35

"Here, follow me." James offered, pulling Clark up onto the bed. "We have to leave. I have a safe place that you can go to." I exchanged a wary glance with Blaise, who was frowning. "Here, help me tie him up as you did to Travis- was that his name?"

I looked towards Travis, and he smiled weakly at me, walking on unstable legs. "Yeah. I am fine, now, though. The same cannot be said for Dr. Ross." Travis said, jerking a thumb towards the corner, where Walter was sedated as well. "Should we just leave him here?"

"Yes." James answered, finishing up his ministrations. "He should be fine here, but we should leave. It is not safe here."

"Wait, where are we going?" Blaise questioned, sadly staring at Amelia's broken form. "I-I can not just... leave her here." His voice choked up as another tear made its way to his eye. "She deserves a proper burial, at least."

I blinked back tears of my own. "Ye-yeah, she does." My voice broke at the end, and I turned away from her limp body. That easily could have been me, or Blaise, or Travis. I shuddered at the thought, and then turned towards James, who was impatiently waiting at the door.

"Could someone help me with this? You can hold her," James instructed at Blaise, "and you, Travis, can help me carry the cot." They started to make their way out of the door but I lingered slightly, looking around the room. My gaze landed on Walter, who was slouched against the wall, eyes shuttering closed.

"You monster." I growled and kicked out at Walter's side, hard, then left the building that I hoped I would never see again. James had entered the forest, and I struggled to keep up, as my foot kept tangling in the roots and brambles.

"James?" I asked, and mumbled a reply. "How did you find us? How did you know that we were in that clinic? And why are you helping us? I am not trying to offend you, but for what I know, you could be working for the government into bringing us there."

He bit his lip. "I... let's just get Clark and Travis safely to my cabin and we can talk there. I can not and am not going to divulge answers here, where it may not be safe." With that, he strode in front of me and held Clark's bed higher, turning left towards a small dirt path.

Blaise looked at me and shrugged. "Do you think he is trustworthy?" I whispered. To me, James seemed a bit fishy for showing up just at the right time. "He is an official."

"He did help us sedate Clark and Dr. Ross..." Blaise trailed off, staring at James's brown hair and starched white uniform, ironed and pressed neatly.

"But what if that is just a part of his plan? So that once Clark's out of the way, and he brings us into his secluded house, he can call the rest of the government over to take our Efference. Disabling Dr. Ross might just be a ploy to try and get our trust."

"You are just on your nerves, Ardyn. Not everyone is a bad person. Maybe James really just wants to help us, end of story." Blaise replied. "Start trusting more. If you learned to trust Clark, Travis, Amelia, and I, then you can trust him too."

"You are right." I sighed, remembering Clark's words long long ago.

"But it will not hurt to be on your guard. We need to be careful and logical about every single thing now, especially since we know that Dr. Ross is alive and on the hunt for us as well." Blaise noted, and I nodded.

"I just hope that everything will be fine in the end. I will trust James for now, but the minute I am suspicious I will leave. We will leave." I muttered, and Blaise turned to watch the back of James. "What are we going to do with Clark, anyways?"

Blaise rubbed his temple tiredly. "I suppose that we just need to keep sedating him. He is a danger to all of us in his condition as he is now. Clark and Amelia were on great terms, and he killed her in the blink of an eye. Who knows who he will turn on next?"

"I do not think he knew what he was doing." Travis muttered, as he held the bed with a sleeping Clark on it. "You are right, at the beginning Clark was fighting for Amelia, trying to make sure that her Efference doesn't get taken. He wouldn't just turn on people like that if he was himself."

I glanced at Amelia in Blaise's arms. "I agree. But will he ever turn back to his original form? Do you think there is a possible way?"

"We are here!" James called, interrupting our conversation. We looked at each other, nodded, and then watched as he pushed open a wooden door. "This is my cabin, where I come to when I need some time alone. No one knows it is here."

I walked in cautiously, immediately scanning the room for any signs of danger. It seemed very cozy, though, with a warm fire and a plate of cookies on plush couches. Very homey. I loved the smell of pine that wafted through the air, and how the lighting was warm instead of bright and florescent.

"Nice." Blaise said shortly after looking around the room as I did, and James grinned.

"It is, is it not?" He sat on the rug next to the fireplace and warmed up his hands. "Come. We can place Clark in the empty room of mine." Travis and James disappeared into the room. Then Blaise turned to me with tears in his eyes.

"H-how about Am-Amelia?" Blaise brushed a stray lock of Amelia's hair away from her face. "I think we should bury her in a secluded place in the forest, a pea-peaceful clearing filled with flowers and wildlife. She w-would have liked that, I think."

"I think she would have." Travis said before I could answer, walking out with James in tow. I looked at Blaise, whose face was streaked with tears. "Should we go bury her now?"

"No, you can not!" James burst out. "It is dangerous outside. You can not leave until it is safe enough." He scanned our faces then used a pleading tone. "You do not understand. Just trust me, please, this one time. I promise that you can bury her, but just not at this moment."

"Why?" I asked frustratingly. "Why? Why did you bring us here? Why can we not go outside? What is out there?"

"The Afferent."